Valentino Bolognese
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Posts posted by Valentino Bolognese
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Week 1: Falkirk
Week 2: Queen's Park
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1 hour ago, mizfit said:
Bit concerned about the centre of the park with rumoured injuries, as with RB. Wouldn’t normally want to see a player thrown in the deep end so soon, but if Brown is out I can see us going with something like this.
I now await being ripped to bits.
I'd be happy with the personnel but shuffle Wright to WB and Carey on the left of a front 3.
As per other thread though, unlikely to go with that shape.
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9 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:
I think the back 5 is a decent option for our situation but I don't see him using it to start the season with.
Probably not, especialy at home.
Back 4's not exactly worked in competitive games so far though.
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8 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:
I can't see him not having him in there tbh, Phillips hasn't shown enough to be trusted as the holding midfielder and theres nobody else.
Do wonder if he'll go to 4-3-3 for this. McGowan/Ballantyne + 1 (I'd have Phillips being more aggressive, but unsure thats what will happen) with May either left and Jephcott up front or May alone up front with Carey playing. Probably depends how fit Carey/Wright are.
Risky starting either Brown or Dare as a RB (are either fully fit) and we know Wright doesn't work there and McGowan isn't great either, and it takes away the midfield option. With that in mind I think we might see a back 3 to let Wright and Gallacher be WBs and bring McGowan into the middle to hold and Dan to do box-to-box.
Ahead of that no idea but I' think that Carey, May and Jephcott would be the option.
If we get the WB's high enough up the park (we know Drey can do this but less sure about Gallacher) that doesn't need to be as negative as it looks on paper.
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1 hour ago, tree house tam said:
we're likely to get a half hour of Smith at the most so he won't start.
Surely he won't even be on the bench - has he actually signed yet?
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1 hour ago, The Real Saints said:
He’s there! On the right of the midfield three. Some might argue that this line-up is a bit too attacking and lightweight, but we’ve got Phillips and Gilmour available from the bench.
Gilmour's not injured?
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What happened to the McGrandles chatter? Dead?
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Hearts shook off the Curse Of McDairmid last season and the spell is broken. It holds no more power.
Also, we're absolutely rank. Still, it's football after all.
St Johnstone 1 - 0 Hearts
(Doak, 93)
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Week 1 - Falkirk
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Just now, Valentino Bolognese said:
To be fair to the Andorran facilities they do have a better scoreboard than the one at McDairmid.
Today we lost to a team that don't have player names on the back of their shirts.
Again.
Edit - just realised that this seems a wee bit salty. It's not. Genuinely well done to the Binos, hope they get a good draw.
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10 minutes ago, PauloPerth said:
Lost to a team playing at a leisure centre! Visions of them turning up being handed a key for changing room 4.
To be fair to the Andorran facilities they do have a better scoreboard than the one at McDairmid.
Today we lost to a team that don't have player names on the back of their shirts.
Again.
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35 minutes ago, SJFCtheTeamForMe said:
@RandomGuy.tagging you rather than quoting your post cause it's long and it's a nightmare deleting stuff when posting on the phone.
I think he'd be absolutely mad NOT to go with the shape you suggested.
If we're starting with one up front, I'd go with Jephcott. May's been honking and even on his best form can't play that role.
At last, as I understand it, Jephcott has.
Saying that he looks miles of fitness. And he wasn't kidding when he said in the press he wasn't quick.
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34 minutes ago, Radford said:
There is no doubt the process has been slow but half-a-dozen short-term fixes would have just been another nail in the coffin for St Johnstone.
Whether we've stopped the bleeding in time will obviously become the pertinent question but, make absolutely no mistake, this was a playing squad living on borrowed time.
I said at the time that giving Steven MacLean three years was both good and necessary as any new manager needed to feel they were in an environment where they could attempt to rebuild.
He will always ultimately be judged upon whether these signings are good but it was absolutely imperative that we brought in players at peak age or lower on permanent deals this summer and I've been impressed by the fact he's remained true to that when undoubtedly there would have been moments where he could have panicked.
If he can add the other two he wants and they are in the same mould and on the same terms as the first three then he can really pleased with his summer's work and we can explore (good) loan options towards the end of the window.
Agree with this entirely. The age and potential profile of the signings is right but the club's hand is forced and it might be too late to pull out of the tailspin, as innevitably with this signing policy we'll have starting players still learning their trade as the season goes on and with less experience relegation pressure might be a factor.
CD was in a self-created circle of brining in 'experienced' players who perhaps he thought would be able to handle the pressure, but in actuality they weren't good enough, too old etc. Plugging gaps with loans didn't help. Montgomery was great for us but now we've got a starting left back that's lost a full season of his career and no cover or options at CB. Which is even more mad considering he played 3 and McLean's playing 2.
Edited to add ... I actually think that we're doing as good a job on the signings front as we could have realistically expected, still on the fence on McLean, overall I'm 50/50 on whether we'll go down.
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Signing Bair would absolutely qualify as 'banter'.
But if he scored a (consolation) goal against for you at McDairmid, the home crowd would be on their feet.
Ideally played in a front 2 with Jahmal Hector-Ingram.
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Saints TV seem to have a stream avaialble but no information if this is for UK or international subscribers.
Separate link to PPV stream.
Anyone?
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2 minutes ago, Broughty said:
Much better today and worth the PPV price which for some reason had Saints commentary. Makes such a difference when you have instant replays.
Hope Saints PPV is organised for Tuesday.
At the game it looked like Alloa had a really good shout for a penalty when McGowan handballed.
From where I was standing it looked like one that VAR would definitely give.
Did that get picked up?
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48 minutes ago, Izatubob said:
Surprised to learn Dan Phillips picked up a booking.
Are you also surprised that it was a joke of a booking, for his first foul?
Ref was dreadful today.
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1 minute ago, nelsjfc said:
Its not ideal but having McGowan in midfield has helped. Once Phillips, McPherson and Brown are fit can't see it happening too often.
Agree with that.
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4 minutes ago, The Real Saints said:
Very much a work-in-progress, but a lot better so far. A couple of nervy moments from Considine, and ideally Wright will be playing in a more advanced position when we’re at full-strength, but a lot of positives. Think that Jephcott has already shown a bit of promise and he could potentially be an ideal partner for May.
We seem to be playing Wright as a right back. It's not working.
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Am I being a bit daft thinking that the delay in this announcement is because we want to do two at once?
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8 hours ago, PauloPerth said:
I look at the list of players out and don’t get that excited about anyone’s return in a ‘make an impact’ kind of way as you would with the likes of Rooney or Hendry.
Even with a makeshift team I didn’t see much of an identity or method we were trying to play. Talk of the high pressing all energy system beforehand.
Sound like a dinosaur here, but with the squad we’ve got I wish we’d just go for a straightforward 4-4-2 when we get Phillips/ Clark/ Kane back fit. This would get the best out of Wright and Carey in wide midfield, and someone partnering May up front.
Said this in the car back yesteday, but I have a feeling that despite the paper talk about 4-3-3 (did he actually say this or are folk just assuming?) if/when Kane and Nicky are back in the squad we'll be looking to play a 4-2-2 and we will be better for it. If the rumour that we're bringing in a wide player is correct then I would think that would support that line of thought.
As others have said biggest problem yesterday, to me, were the CBs. The lack of pace, mobility and distribution aren't so much of issue with a back 3 where there are more outball options and you'd have a 3rd CB to do that ball-carrying work. This was made worse by McGowan having his worst performance in a Saints shirt (he was absolutely rotten) and Gallacgher being a downgrade on Montgomery (with, to be fair, not much to base that on so far).
I simply cannot believe that McLean is playing May as a lone striker by choice.
If we are to take positives from yesterday wee Max and Fegusson at least brought some energy although to me Ballantyne seemed a bit scrappy.
Knicker status: damp
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16 minutes ago, Savage Henry said:
Is there any reason beyond individual incompetence?
Yes.
Collective incompetence.
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3 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:
Both, maybe?
MacLean being picky as he witnessed the issues Davidson had scattergunning, and knows he has limited budget.
But the players hes wanting are also every other bottom half club want, and whats our selling point now?
Club up for sale, 2 relegation battles in a row, squad being turned over every Summer, and a rookie unproven manager in charge of a rookie unproven squad.
Why pick us ahead of Kilmarnock or County?
The only reasons I can think of are that we're not based in Kilmarnock and our manager's not a racist.
But a fair point.
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1 minute ago, Theyellowbox said:
I think it is that MacLean is probably being very picky. He is trying to do thinks as differently from Davidson as possible, so no scatter gun signings and looks to be giving youth more of a chance. But, this is tricky from a squad position where we have been very poor the last 2 seasons and what is left, as decent as some are, is lacking in quality.
Gut feel is that we will have a couple in before next weekend, although not ready to play the first game and another couple before the league season starts, but that may be about it, unless he shifts another couple out.
I suppose he may want to be wanting to kick off a new era and sees a lot of the youth players as his opportunity to mould the club for the next period. We have possibly the most successful group of young players we have ever had at the moment, so if ever there is a time to do it, then it is now.
Agree with that assessment on quality. I would say that we need to bring in at least 4 starting players and you could argue that they would have to be our 4 best players. We do have good youth but they are pretty much unproven, particularly at this level. I agree that's the base we need to look to build on but after 2 years of flirting with relegation, to me it's very high risk. We might not have a choice though.
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Double Winning St Johnstone FC Thread
in Scottish Premiership General Chatter
Posted
I thought that first half we were on the front foot but going in level at half time the instructions were to camp in a bit and play for the point. Seemed to me that we sat noticably deeper after the break. First half looked promising in bits but for the most part the second half felt more like Davidsonball.
We can point to injuries, new players having lack of time with the squad but so can Hearts.
As others have said, clearly a work in progress and I think we should be prepared to be bottom, or at least bottom 3 until maybe even end October. I'm hoping e start to see something more coherent after the international break.
On a different note after being initially excited about Jephcott I think the jury is very much out. Of the new recruits, McClelland looks a prospect, and that's a few games where Ballantyne has looked very average. Smith will surely take his starting place as of next week.