St Johnstone v Heart of Midlothian

[FrankChickens1]

1 hour ago, Theyellowbox said:

I think Crawford may be my most disliked saints player in all the time I have been going to see saints. 

I hate the circumstances of signing Crawford and the reprehensible  length of his contract (Davidson actions) much more than I hate Crawford. All this time later and I'm still as furious as I was when it happened. 

Crawford will always be tarnished by, and additionally 'disliked' because of, the above. That said, the fact he's useless and half hearted in 90% of his appearances doesn't help. 

Gary Mcdonald the other name thar comes to mind? I think he ended up getting released partway through his contract? Although still a calendar year until Crawford reaches the same point. 

[RudiSkacel51]

Fantastic win! Absolutely delighted with that, a ground that is not a happy hunting ground for us hearts fans (first win there in 12 years in the league) 

Couple of weird penalty calls aside I thought we were excellent tonight, in the first half especially, we fully deserved that win tonight.

Zander Clark looks like a more than capable no1 keeper.

also just how good is Lawrence Shankland? Boys been absolutely immense for us this season, if he keeps this up he won't be at us much longer, so need to enjoy it while he is still here.

[Radford]

Ended up a decent game but takes a bit of effort to look past that first 20 minutes or so from Saints. Just absolutely miles off it.

The manager needs to get a grip on his (extensive) midfield options and always ensure he has a correct balance in there.

[RandomGuy.]

8 hours ago, FrankChickens1 said:

I hate the circumstances of signing Crawford and the reprehensible  length of his contract (Davidson actions) much more than I hate Crawford. All this time later and I'm still as furious as I was when it happened. 

We'll see what happens with McLennan, but ive every feeling hes already been offered a 2/3yr deal and if we sell MOH in January we'll end up paying to get McLennan in January permanently.

It cant happen

[tree house tam]

28 minutes ago, Radford said:

The manager needs to get a grip on his (extensive) midfield options and always ensure he has a correct balance in there.

This is the same manager that signed the mish mash of midfield options we now have, all to try and suit the system he doesn't prefer....

 

 

[Meesterrodriguez]

He’s doing something right this year though as last season that would have been a slaughter. He’s still not learned anything about the loading the midfield with shitebags unfortunately 

[Kyle Reese]

Good match. Great result. Bring on the Hibees.

[Kyle Reese]

I actually think that Halberg looks like a decent player. Was he at Hibs a couple of seasons ago?

[lennyzer0]

12 hours ago, PauloPerth said:

Thought Drey and May were our standouts, and MacPherson and Murphy looked decent when they came on. 

I was impressed by both of them, which was a surprise as Wright was shit at Hibs and I've always thought of May as living off one good season at the start of his career.

I don't think anyone could argue Hearts deserved to win, but on another night our occasionally ropey defence could have cost us a couple more goals. No idea what the penalty was given for against Snodgrass, but as everyone says, he didn't seem to complain much - but Rowles' suicide ball to Shankland who had three Saints players on his shoulder was a recipe for disaster. Sometimes it's better just to boot the ball up the pitch.

Still, fantastic to get another bogey put to bed and I'd have bitten your hand off for 3 points clear in third come New Year at the start of the season.

[VincentGuerin]

We're starting to rack up goals away from home now, which is quite unlike us. Three at Motherwell and St Johnstone, two at Killie, Ross County, Dundee United.

No shock to see that the three now-OF teams with the most goals scored on the road have the three best non-OF away records. We're picking up points despite basically never keeping clean sheets.

We're running at 1.2 points a game on the road, which should be fine for Europe along with our home record. Just need to keep the foot down now.

[Insert Amusing Pseudonym]

The only thing i don't understand about us atm is why we try to sit on a lead when we've got a defence that couldn't keep a clean sheet if their life depended on it.  Hitting on the counter is fine if you've got the players to soak up pressure.  

Some really good play again last night, just get your foot down when you're on top

[Jamie_B]

1 minute ago, Insert Amusing Pseudonym said:

The only thing i don't understand about us atm is why we try to sit on a lead when we've got a defence that couldn't keep a clean sheet if their life depended on it.  Hitting on the counter is fine if you've got the players to soak up pressure.  

Some really good play again last night, just get your foot down when you're on top

To be fair I think the game changed fairly massively when Hallberg went off and we were forced into a more sensible line up. We took much more sure of ourselves and started to actually look dangerous and I think Hearts were fairly fortunate to be two ahead at the break - even without the missed penalty we were in behind them two or three times.

Our problem was having a parade of shitebags in midfield from the start for some absurd reason, thus handing Hearts the initiative and total control for the first half hour. I think the remainder of the 90 was fairly tight and if we'd managed a late equaliser it wouldn't have been a total surprise.

[glenrothes 1884 saint]

1 hour ago, RandomGuy. said:

We'll see what happens with McLennan, but ive every feeling hes already been offered a 2/3yr deal and if we sell MOH in January we'll end up paying to get McLennan in January permanently.

It cant happen

I don’t think he’s that impressive tbh, not really fussed if he goes back to the sheep 

[topcat(The most tip top)]

12 hours ago, RandomGuy. said:

Hearts 2nd goal will look great for them but its embarrassing for us and is down to the system as much as anything. We're back to rigidly sticking with a back 3 even when we're desperate for numbers higher up the park.

The second is all about Ginnelly dragging Considine sideways and Halliday reacting to the gap that briefly opens up before St Johnstone can

[SEETHING]

Does Stevie May play as well against other teams as he does against Hearts? For years we've been making him look like a homeless Messi.

[SJFCtheTeamForMe]

11 minutes ago, SEETHING said:

Does Stevie May play as well against other teams as he does against Hearts? For years we've been making him look like a homeless Messi.

This season he has played quite well. Misses too many chances though by miss hitting the ball all the time. Having a strike partner who stays close to him helps as well. Old fashioned front two almost? 

Porteous made him look like Ronaldo as well at Easter Road. May out jumping him in the air to score

[Elixir]

7 hours ago, RudiSkacel51 said:

also just how good is Lawrence Shankland? Boys been absolutely immense for us this season, if he keeps this up he won't be at us much longer, so need to enjoy it while he is still here.

Will he want to take the risk again, though? He'll be well paid at Hertz, have regular European football, and might feel he can build something here and inspire us to another cup win. It's already been too long in that regard.

[paranoid android]

Was oot last night, so just catching up - sounded like a great game, and a big big win for us - delighted.

[The Marly]

14 hours ago, PauloPerth said:

Disappointed to lose a match where if we’d had our shooting boots on we’d have easily got something.

Davidson had a howler with his team selection. A powder puff midfield three that every Saints fan could see before kick off gave us a mountain to climb. We were getting a pummelling, was as if we were playing either of the OF for the first 20 minutes or so.  Hallberg getting injured ended up being the best thing that could happen for us.

McGowan is an average centre back, not as good as Mitchell, but is probably our most effective and reliable centre midfielder since McCann left. Fucking play him in there Callum!!

When he did go to CM it freed up Crawford and Carey to get on the ball more and up until our penalty we were excellent. May, who had a great game, had 3 chances through on goal that he wasted.

Dreadful penalty. Just hit the target ffs.  

Strange that both times we did score we then seemed to sit off and lost all momentum we’d built up.

Hearts were very good going forward, and scored a couple of decent goals, but for that third somebody has to step out to close the ball down surely.

Thought Drey and May were our standouts, and MacPherson and Murphy looked decent when they came on. 

Dropped points for sure but have to say after some of the turgid pish we saw at home last season, nobody could complain about lack of entertainment or attacking play.

I absolutely agree about McGowan, much more effective in midfield.  However, he was at fault for their third goal,  very poor attempt at a tackle (very unlike him tbf).

[PauloPerth]

4 minutes ago, The Marly said:

I absolutely agree about McGowan, much more effective in midfield.  However, he was at fault for their third goal,  very poor attempt at a tackle (very unlike him tbf).

I think his earlier booking probably played on his mind in terms of committing to challenges.