Double Winning St Johnstone FC Thread

[Mr Positive, sometimes.]

League Cup Semi final. Saturday 23rd January. 

5:30 kick off on Premier Sport. 

[Valentino Bolognese]

6 minutes ago, Mr Positive, sometimes. said:

League Cup Semi final. Saturday 23rd January. 

5:30 kick off on Premier Sport. 

So the only legal way for either set of fans to watch is  to take out a subscription and hope you can cancel it I guess? 

Utterly daft business model IMO. Offering PPV for this would be much more sensible. 

[csteinle]

So the only legal way for either set of fans to watch is  to take out a subscription and hope you can cancel it I guess? 
Utterly daft business model IMO. Offering PPV for this would be much more sensible. 

Took out a monthly no-contract sub on their website for my Sky box the night before the Utd game they screened in November. Waited until they definitely weren't showing any other Saints game before the month ran out and cancelled it online. Cancellation went through no problems, but was offered three more for £6 per month on the endless "are you really really sure?" screens. Almost regret not taking that now, especially as the monthly price with no contract is now £13.99. Cheaper than a lot of PPV so no issue signing up again near the end of Jan.

[Valentino Bolognese]

12 minutes ago, csteinle said:

36 minutes ago, Valentino Bolognese said:

So the only legal way for either set of fans to watch is  to take out a subscription and hope you can cancel it I guess? 
Utterly daft business model IMO. Offering PPV for this would be much more sensible. 

Took out a monthly no-contract sub on their website for my Sky box the night before the Utd game they screened in November. Waited until they definitely weren't showing any other Saints game before the month ran out and cancelled it online. Cancellation went through no problems, but was offered three more for £6 per month on the endless "are you really really sure?" screens. Almost regret not taking that now, especially as the monthly price with no contract is now £13.99. Cheaper than a lot of PPV so no issue signing up again near the end of Jan.

So in your experience it will be easy enough to cancel? Will only need the 2 months to cover the semi and the final. 

[Honest Saints Fan]

I've cancelled and signed up plenty times. I'm currently on a £5.99 a month package. Try the promo code SALE.

[Mr Positive, sometimes.]

 

Apparently no one will be subscribing though?

[Valentino Bolognese]

20 minutes ago, Mr Positive, sometimes. said:

 

Apparently no one will be subscribing though?

They will. But not for very long.

[DukDukGoose]

2 hours ago, Valentino Bolognese said:

So in your experience it will be easy enough to cancel? Will only need the 2 months to cover the semi and the final. 

It's a piece of piss. Did it after our game v St Mirren. You just do it through your account page online.

[csteinle]

So in your experience it will be easy enough to cancel? Will only need the 2 months to cover the semi and the final. 

I mean, it's only one data point but for me it was no bother at all online. No idea what it would have been like over the phone though.

[crispy]

On 17/12/2020 at 16:55, PauloPerth said:

Tynecastle is 100 x 64m, apparently one of the smallest.

 

It’s often said our pitch is “tight” and the ever reliable Wikipedia states 98m x 69m. I think this is a leveller when combined with a combative style in recent times and, to an extent, is overlooked as a factor because of the astrolawn seethe. Smaller pitches/runoffs and fans closer, please.

Edited December 19, 2020 by crispy

[Mr Positive, sometimes.]

Simply cannot defend crosses into the box. 4 goals in 2 games from crosses. 

10 men today I appreciate but really struggling to see what a few of you are seeing when you suggest we'll be there or there abouts for top 6. Absolutely convinced were in a relegation battle.

Generally unable to score and predictable going forward and now becoming extremely soft and quite unconvincing at the other end of the park - more than concerning. 

Edited December 19, 2020 by Mr Positive, sometimes.

[nelsjfc]

Oh look. Set pieces again.

Still must be difficult to when you have to defend right to your own goal line.

Two headers inside the six yard box. 3 goals from 4 shots on goal. We have plenty of issues but have one really glaring one at the moment

[RandomGuy.]

Davidson harmed us with his selections v Livi and Dunfermline, and then the switch to a back 5 today after the red.

Has to learn when the back 5 is needed and where its not. 

[Kyle]

Wonder if we actually work on defending set pieces in training, or if it's just pretty passing patterns and rubbish crosses all day.

I think we need to face up to the fact that we're not very good. I'm not sure if post-January's form last season was the outlier and we're regressing back to the mean or if the new manager has made a decent side rubbish. The reality is 9 of the 11 players starting today were with us last season and I wouldn't swap Ralston/Wright for McNamara.

[Mr Positive, sometimes.]

For me it's less about formation and more about coaching and instruction. 

After we went down to 10 men today I can't remember many times when we made an attempt to retain possession when we won it back in the second half. No composure shown and the ball just booted as far as possible. Easier said than done but you can't just hope we'll hang on. 

Were over complicating things with players who simply aren't up to that task and IMO it's only going to end badly. 

We've a goal keeper lacking any real confidence as well. 

Edited December 19, 2020 by Mr Positive, sometimes.

[PauloPerth]

Relegation battle looking likely. Thank f**k for Ross county as they’re the only team looking like keeping us off the bottom.

Was always a concern when you can’t keep clean sheets and can’t score (in general) that when the pretty passing dried up we would be in trouble as it was masking those issues a bit.

Thought we might be on for a shit fest win which is exactly what we need, but couldn’t defend for the 45 minutes.

Thought Danny Mac was poor defensively today; you obviously want to avoid him coming up against big strikers at the back post, but when they get a man over he still has to get in there and put off a free header or block the run a bit. 
 

Thought it also invited them onto us when we went 5 at the back in the second half, we’d looked comfortable up til then. Was thinking Rooney was coming on for MacNamara to give us more height at the back.

But Jason Kerr has to take the biggest share of blame for that one. Poor decision by a dreadful ref, but why lunge into that challenge on the edge of our box just after we take the lead only 2 minutes before half time. An experienced player and our captain, absolutely stupid.

[RandomGuy.]

6 minutes ago, Kyle said:

I'm not sure if post-January's form last season was the outlier and we're regressing back to the mean.

This is what I tried to, badly, explain a while ago.

We weren't good post-January, Hendry was just scoring chances at a rate he had no right to do so. Really basic but he was worth about 6/7 extra points last season. Remove them and we would've been 10th. Thats this squads level and the *6th place finish last season was a bit of a red herring IMO.

I still think we'll be fine, and the 5-2-3 can work, but theres pretty major flaws with both the system, managers decisions, and the players just now, so you just can't rule out relegation.

Hopefully the Government money means we can start adding flesh back onto the club after stripping it bare this Summer due to "uncertainty". We're still 5/6 short on quality.

[Mr Positive, sometimes.]

How long till Wright is appointed County Manager?

[Valentino Bolognese]

Have to agree with others that changing back to the back 5 when there was absolutely no need  was a game-losing move, it gave them the time and space to get down the flanks and put in the crosses that we are just hopeless with. 

A bit of me feels sorry for Kerr, 9 times out of 10 that's a yellow and watching the replays only confirms that but what a daft, needless challenge. 

Said last weekend that the next 3 games could be season-defining. Well, we've played way below where we were earlier in the season and seem to be going backwards when others are getting stronger. Yes we're still in the cup, but by one  penalty after extra time against a team that we could well be seeing a lot more of next year. But we've got zero points from the league games when we should have been looking for 4 at least. 

It is all starting to feel a bit relegation-ey, but I don't agree that we don't have the players and there's still a lot in this season. This team has got enough quality, and Davidson surely has enough experience even if he's never been in the big chair himself. I'm just crossing my fingers that's him made his mistakes now, can't really afford to put a foot wrong from here on in. 

[PauloPerth]

There are many flaws with our formation for me:

Our attacking players are playing as our first line of defence, putting in huge amounts of energy and effort to close down constantly.  Is this to the detriment of quality when they do get on the ball?  

There was a few times today that McCann joined the front three in closing down the st Mirren defence, and they played a pass through us and we were wide open for them them to advance through.  We have very little central protection for our defence.  Look at that first goal today, though I think McNamara could have reacted better to close down the goalscorer, ideally you'd be looking at a midfielder in that area to cover any runners, or if the ball breaks there.

Our defence is set up to play, not to defend.  Our wing backs and attacking wide centre backs are key aspects of our play when in possession, but we cannot defend crosses and keep teams out.

 

So basically we have attackers as defenders and defenders as attackers, and it's not proving very effective. 

 

Ironically, it might be the best formation for the next two fixtures where we will be under a bit of pressure.  After that, would like to see us try a 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 for the home match v Accies.