Double Winning St Johnstone FC Thread

[Saint Stevo]

I felt we were a lot better today until Hallberg got sent off. His legs in midfield were helping us get in and around the box to support May and Hendry. I think Crawford should bury his chance.

I agree that playoff looks like its where we will end up. But if we can play with the energy shown in last couple of games, adding in a couple of the new faces getting game time, I'm feeling confident that we can stay up thru the play offs. I certainly didn't think that a few weeks ago.

[RandomGuy.]

I'm maybe wrong but I think he's sticking with Brown/Booth because they're "reliable" defensively and he's desperate to build some momentum/confidence. At least what I'm hoping the plan is.

Once the results have steadied out and we don't look a clownshoe outfit, we can open up and play more expansive options there, which I'm presuming Sang is considering his CV.

It's really too late to be doing that if we want to be finishing 10th, but the challenge for us realistically is 11th, so you can sort of understand it. 

[Munoz]

2 hours ago, Radford said:

Our prospects don't look good at all. We went on a run of 8 defeats, which is why we are where we are. As others have said, we probably need another team to go on that sort of a spiral to undo the damage. That obviously looks unlikely as St Mirren, County and Livingston are all decent sides and the bigger teams just above them will always pick wins with some of the individuals they have. 

I'm very much a points target type but think we almost MUST win on Wednesday.

Sorry in advance. 

[Shaggy Jenkins]

Could the person that brought us up end up putting us down?

[tree house tam]

Callum persistently playing it safe will be his downfall, it'll end up getting us relegated. 

[RandomGuy.]

1 hour ago, tree house tam said:

Callum persistently playing it safe will be his downfall, it'll end up getting us relegated. 

I did have a small glimmer of hope he would go aggressive after the red.

We had a guy who's played RWB and CM at EFL Championship level, so surely he'd have been perfect on the right side of a midfield if you're a man down?

Could've sacrificed a CB and gone 4-4-1

Clark

Brown - Gordon - McCart - Booth

Sang - Davidson - Butterfield - Middleton

Hendry

Defensively Sang drops to RWB with the back four shuffling to be a back 5. In attack the CMs can go or camp, but the two wide men support Hendry. Sang should have the energy to run for 35 minutes and beat men. Same with Middleton. It also prevents United FBs playing as wingers which allowed their wingers drift everywhere.

Kind of felt United were there to be caught on the counter but we never had the legs on the park, or enough men playing forwards, to do it.

As I say, willing to see if he's just trying to build foundations and we open up as performances improve. Battle for 11th might go to the split regardless, to me as long as we know how to win games, and have a settled line up/momentum heading into the split, then we'd be in a good place for the potential play off.

[PauloPerth]

Last season 10 goals at home in 19 matches was horrendous, but we got away with it by scoring 26 in 19 away matches and defending well.

This season we are on 9 in 12 at home, but a shocking 4 on the road. Prior to the Livingston game, we’d scored 2 in 10 league matches away from home!!

Despite these stats, and as mental as it sounds, if we can somehow find a way to win matches, I still think we can get out of the bottom two.

The gap to the three teams in poorest form: Motherwell 14 points, Hibs 12, Utd 11. Game in hand on each. 

Motherwell and Hibs especially could struggle to win many more matches.  Both are struggling to score now, and only taken 2 points out of their 5 league matches since the break.  It’s a tall order, but if we can get the gap down to 4-5 points at the split I’d think there’s still hope. 

It seems miles off just now, admittedly. Just need Callum to wake up to the need for wins rather than 0-0’s. 
 

[PSJ.84]

Play-off final 2nd leg is exactly a year on from the Scottish Cup Final, can already see the headlines. 

There’s your random and pointless piece of information for the day. 

[Jamie_B]

Reference Hallberg’s red on Saturday, here’s the rule as stated in the Laws of the Game. You can’t book a player for preventing a promising attack if you play the advantage. Colin Steven didn’t have the option to send off Hallberg once he allowed play to continue but he did it anyway. It’s surprising that none of the four officials present on Saturday seemed to be aware of that and, tbh, this should be an avenue of appeal in a just system. Unfortunately it isn’t.

[tree house tam]

1 hour ago, Jamie_Beatson said:

Reference Hallberg’s red on Saturday, here’s the rule as stated in the Laws of the Game. You can’t book a player for preventing a promising attack if you play the advantage. Colin Steven didn’t have the option to send off Hallberg once he allowed play to continue but he did it anyway. It’s surprising that none of the four officials present on Saturday seemed to be aware of that and, tbh, this should be an avenue of appeal in a just system. Unfortunately it isn’t.

Send it to the club my man.

[Valentino Bolognese]

1 hour ago, Jamie_Beatson said:

Reference Hallberg’s red on Saturday, here’s the rule as stated in the Laws of the Game. You can’t book a player for preventing a promising attack if you play the advantage. Colin Steven didn’t have the option to send off Hallberg once he allowed play to continue but he did it anyway. It’s surprising that none of the four officials present on Saturday seemed to be aware of that and, tbh, this should be an avenue of appeal in a just system. Unfortunately it isn’t.

Why is it not grounds for appeal - because it wasn't a straight red?

Edited February 7, 2022 by Valentino Bolognese

[Theyellowbox]

On 05/02/2022 at 19:31, Radford said:

Our prospects don't look good at all. We went on a run of 8 defeats, which is why we are where we are. As others have said, we probably need another team to go on that sort of a spiral to undo the damage. That obviously looks unlikely as St Mirren, County and Livingston are all decent sides and the bigger teams just above them will always pick wins with some of the individuals they have. 

I'm very much a points target type but think we almost MUST win on Wednesday.

I disagree. If you look at even the next few matches, we win on Wed vs St Mirren and we are only 7 points behind them with a game in hand or at worst (Given County play livi), either 7 points behind Livi and County also with a game or 10 Behind Livi, but only 4 behind County with game in hand.

What I took from Saturday is that despite us not winning, that is the type of game we'd have lost recently, especially going to 10 men. It feels like the team and support are in a much better place than just a few weeks ago. Let's not forget, we are a very streaky team. I wouldn't put it past us going on an undefeated run (Rantic aside). 

[Jamie_B]

6 minutes ago, Valentino Bolognese said:

Why is it not grounds for appeal - because it wasn't a straight red?

Basically yes. You can only appeal a yellow on very strict grounds (mistaken identity and simulation I think).

[Valentino Bolognese]

10 minutes ago, Jamie_Beatson said:

Basically yes. You can only appeal a yellow on very strict grounds (mistaken identity and simulation I think).

Think I know the mistaken identity one. It's mental that there will be a ref's report that (assuming that he did say that he was booked for stopping a promising attack) will confirm that the rules weren't actually applied properly but we can't even raise it as a complaint / appeal. 

[RandomGuy.]

1 hour ago, Theyellowbox said:

I wouldn't put it past us going on an undefeated run (Rantic aside). 

An unbeaten run wouldn't be enough if we're not winning games.

County, Livi, St Mirren aren't going to just stay on the same points while we catch up, they'll be picking up wins every 3/4 games.

For me we need to be within 4 points of a side at the split and that gives us a realistic chance, anything more and we're likely needing to win 4 games from 5.

We play Hearts and Rangers in our next 5 game, we need to win at least one of those if we don't win on Wednesday. Its a huge ask.

[Theyellowbox]

33 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

An unbeaten run wouldn't be enough if we're not winning games.

County, Livi, St Mirren aren't going to just stay on the same points while we catch up, they'll be picking up wins every 3/4 games.

For me we need to be within 4 points of a side at the split and that gives us a realistic chance, anything more and we're likely needing to win 4 games from 5.

We play Hearts and Rangers in our next 5 game, we need to win at least one of those if we don't win on Wednesday. Its a huge ask.

Agree that we need to be close at the split, but we've picked up 5 points out of a possible 9 since we halted the horrific run. If we get similar between now and the end of the season, that would likely keep us up and possibly out of the playoffs too.

The Rangers game we can write off, but St Mirren and County, we need 4 points minimum and I think Aberdeen we can take something from. 6 points from these 4 games would be a decent return. Obviously not if the 6 points dropped is to County and St Mirren. 

[RandomGuy.]

5 minutes ago, Theyellowbox said:

Agree that we need to be close at the split, but we've picked up 5 points out of a possible 9 since we halted the horrific run. If we get similar between now and the end of the season, that would likely keep us up and possibly out of the playoffs too.

The Rangers game we can write off, but St Mirren and County, we need 4 points minimum and I think Aberdeen we can take something from. 6 points from these 4 games would be a decent return. Obviously not if the 6 points dropped is to County and St Mirren. 

Aye the next 4/5 games feels decisive. We've stopped the rot so now it's time to start moving forward. If we're still 7/8/9 points behind after the Rangers game then we're fucked. Beating County is vital too.

[Lang Toon Saintee]

2 hours ago, Jamie_Beatson said:

Basically yes. You can only appeal a yellow on very strict grounds (mistaken identity and simulation I think).

Surely you must be able to challange a clear  breach of the laws of the game..

[Trackdaybob]

I think it's possible to make 10th. Not sure we'll make it though. Big ask i think. 

[The Saintee]

19 minutes ago, Trackdaybob said:

I think it's possible to make 10th. Not sure we'll make it though. Big ask i think. 

Can't see it. Unless these new strikers can hit some amazing form and subsequent numbers. A secure playoff and good form going into it is the best I'm hoping for.