Ross County v St. Johnstone

[PauloPerth]

Kyle Turner bringing energy,  supporting runs from midfield and a hunger to create and score that we are missing.

He looks like he would have been an ideal signing for us.

Smith new and early days, but you’re still looking for a bit more from an international players. Folk saying he was out of position, but he says himself he can play multiple roles in midfield, so I don’t think where he was playing today should have been that difficult for him.

[RandomGuy.]

2 minutes ago, PauloPerth said:

Kyle Turner bringing energy,  supporting runs from midfield and a hunger to create and score that we are missing.

He looks like he would have been an ideal signing for us.

Smith new and early days, but you’re still looking for a bit more from an international players. Folk saying he was out of position, but he says himself he can play multiple roles in midfield, so I don’t think where he was playing today should have been that difficult for him.

Turners off the back of a great season with a promotion chasing side.

Smiths off a dreadful season with a relegated side.

Confidence is huge for a player and lack of it is how we've ended up with him. We're stuck signings b*****ds and broken things (we've already got the cripples) so its MacLeans job to turn them around and get them performing, then you get the upside. Downside is they might never actually get out the rut, particularly if we struggle early on, and then you're stuck with them.

[The Saintee]

7 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

Turners off the back of a great season with a promotion chasing side.

Smiths off a dreadful season with a relegated side.

Confidence is huge for a player and lack of it is how we've ended up with him. We're stuck signings b*****ds and broken things (we've already got the cripples) so its MacLeans job to turn them around and get them performing, then you get the upside. Downside is they might never actually get out the rut, particularly if we struggle early on, and then you're stuck with them.

[PauloPerth]

12 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

Turners off the back of a great season with a promotion chasing side.

Smiths off a dreadful season with a relegated side.

Confidence is huge for a player and lack of it is how we've ended up with him. We're stuck signings b*****ds and broken things (we've already got the cripples) so its MacLeans job to turn them around and get them performing, then you get the upside. Downside is they might never actually get out the rut, particularly if we struggle early on, and then you're stuck with them.

You’re overthinking things here.  By that argument every player who moves away from a team who were poor will struggle. We should have signed half the Patrick thistle, Queen’s Park or Stirling Albion squads then we’d be flying.

Max played and stood out for a promotion chasing team who reached the SC semi-final but his performances haven’t looked like Turner’s today.

Being a professional footballer takes a mental resilience that most of us wouldn’t get close to. Thousands of folk shouting at you or judging your every move just for doing your job.

Confidence is obviously a big part of sport, but saying any player who played in a struggling team the previous season will automatically be low on confidence is a huge leap.

Smith was just poor today, like a lot of his teammates.  Early days though.

 

[RandomGuy.]

2 minutes ago, PauloPerth said:

You’re overthinking things here.  By that argument every player who moves away from a team who were poor will struggle. We should have signed half the Patrick thistle, Queen’s Park or Stirling Albion squads then we’d be flying.

Max played and stood out for a promotion chasing team who reached the SC semi-final but his performances haven’t looked like Turner’s today.

Being a professional footballer takes a mental resilience that most of us wouldn’t get close to. Thousands of folk shouting at you or judging your every move just for doing your job.

Confidence is obviously a big part of sport, but saying any player who played in a struggling team the previous season will automatically be low on confidence is a huge leap.

Smith was just poor today, like a lot of his teammates.  Early days though.

 

Its about quality and confidence though.

Turner is a good player with confidence = shows what he can do

Smith is a good player with low confidence = struggles to show what he can do

Max looks like a poorer player than both with confidence = doesnt perform

People get braver and more aggressive the more confident they are. Smith should hopefully get better the more he believes in himself and others.

[The Saintee]

Smith needs to play in the middle where he's got options IMO.

[Comrie]

fwiw I actually thought Daniel Phillips played alright for St Johnstone too. Kept Loturi completely out of the game. Pity everything else around him was shite.

[Torean]

22 minutes ago, Comrie said:

fwiw I actually thought Daniel Phillips played alright for St Johnstone too. Kept Loturi completely out of the game. Pity everything else around him was shite.

Agree about Phillips.

[SJFCtheTeamForMe]

Seen the usual "hatchet team St Johnstone". "Animals" etc being chucked about online. People love a complete  over exaggeration. Aside from Gordon's tackle there another strong tackle in the game. 

As a side note, why does Simon Murray scream when throwing himself to the deck?

Edited August 12, 2023 by SJFCtheTeamForMe

[Staggie52]

Just come in so haven’t read the rest of the thread. For me we could have won by more.
 Murray runs about a lot but needs to produce more from his efforts. if Brophy stays fit, he shoukd replace Murray.

Leak looks like he’ll be our best central defender for the last couple of years. We are better than last year defensively, Baldwin is our weakest defender.

after a couple of seasons slagging off Randall, he’s becoming one of my favourites, he’s not a right back bur he’s a decent midfielder.

Philips is the only player I’d take out the St Johnstone side for County. St Johnstone are a shower of hammer throwers.

 

[PauloPerth]

1 hour ago, RandomGuy. said:

a good player with confidence = shows what he can do

a good player with low confidence = struggles to show what he can do

Max looks like a poorer player than both with confidence = doesnt perform

People get braver and more aggressive the more confident they are. Smith should hopefully get better the more he believes in himself and others.

I’m not disagreeing with the point in bold, what I’m questioning is the assumption that Smith is low on confidence because his team had a poor season.

Anyway, I’m not giving up on Max just yet, he looked the part against Celtic at McDiarmid last season so i still think there must be something there.  In that game I remember him matching opponents physically, whereas this season he gets knocked off the ball and falls over regularly which I don’t really understand.

We don’t play a style that suits him, but it’s up to him to impose himself more. From the limited amount I’ve seen him, he seems to like sitting centrally playing short intricate passes to feet regularly and keeps things ticking along; whereas we don’t really play a style that involves keeping the ball.

[Sensible Soccer🏴]

33 minutes ago, SJFCtheTeamForMe said:

Seen the usual "hatchet team St Johnstone". "Animals" etc being chucked about online. People love a complete  over exaggeration. Aside from Gordon's tackle there another strong tackle in the game. 

As a side note, why does Simon Murray scream when throwing himself to the deck?

Gordon, Considine & McGowan put in some horrible challenges all game, but especially on Dhanda in the 1st 25 minutes.

How Gollum/VAR allowed it I don't know, well we all do know, it's their absolute incompetence yet again.

I haven't seen it myself but anyone tagging St Johnstone hatchet team, or animals are being slightly ott but it's hardly unwarranted.

[tree house tam]

What a lot pish you boys talk.

Both sides.

[RandomGuy.]

2 hours ago, PauloPerth said:

I’m not disagreeing with the point in bold, what I’m questioning is the assumption that Smith is low on confidence because his team had a poor season.

Anyway, I’m not giving up on Max just yet, he looked the part against Celtic at McDiarmid last season so i still think there must be something there.  In that game I remember him matching opponents physically, whereas this season he gets knocked off the ball and falls over regularly which I don’t really understand.

We don’t play a style that suits him, but it’s up to him to impose himself more. From the limited amount I’ve seen him, he seems to like sitting centrally playing short intricate passes to feet regularly and keeps things ticking along; whereas we don’t really play a style that involves keeping the ball.

Smith is just what ive seen from him for us and MK Dons compared to Doncaster. He looks like a different player.

Max at Falkirk was a ball shuttler. Just keeping the ball ticking over. He'll never make it in the top flight in that role for us which is an issue.

[bunglebonce]

Seeing the highlights on Sportscene, it looks like Dhanda was clutching his ribs after the meat-grinder. The last County player I remember to break a rib was Michael Gardyne in December '14 and he took six weeks to be fit again. 

[Staggie52]

Just now, bunglebonce said:

Seeing the highlights on Sportscene, it looks like Dhanda was clutching his ribs after the meat-grinder. The last County player I remember to break a rib was Michael Gardyne in December '14 and he took six weeks to be fit again. 

From the East Stand it was clear that he wasn’t bothered by his legs but was clearly holding his lower chest. If it’s broken rib(s) it’s easily six weeks out.

[Sensible Soccer🏴]

2 minutes ago, bunglebonce said:

Seeing the highlights on Sportscene, it looks like Dhanda was clutching his ribs after the meat-grinder. The last County player I remember to break a rib was Michael Gardyne in December '14 and he took six weeks to be fit again. 

 

Against celtic, I remember it well, Midge started well and they didn't like the look of it. Again, refs bottled it, nothing to see here type reaction.

[Cardle is Magic]

9 hours ago, PauloPerth said:

Max played and stood out for a promotion chasing team who reached the SC semi-final but his performances haven’t looked like Turner’s today.

He played around a dozen or so L1 games for a shite Falkirk side and managed one goal.

He also got a grand total of 81 minutes in their (ridiculously easy) run to the Cup semi before they got bodied by a completely average af Caley Thistle team.

[Radford]

County miles ahead of Saints yesterday, helped no doubt by a familiarity. Made a mistake in the Saints thread where I spoke about only one new signing when it was two but they looked like a team and a unit with a plan.

The midfield didn't see a lot of the ball but what's the need when you can easily get at a fragile defence with diagonals or simple balls over the top.

Will they do well this season? Probably not exceptionally but at this moment in time, Saints have a long way to go to even reach their level.

That is the polite part.

I think @SJFCtheTeamForMe mentioned it but the away section was absolutely rank. Seats and floors covered in bird shit. £28 and you can't even make the effort to clean the stand.

[Sonam]

17 hours ago, Savage Henry said:

The keeper makes a difference.  But Dundee United had two clown shoes central defenders in front of him.  I don’t think St Johnstone are quite that bad.  I do have to question why they didn’t go for either of the two centre backs County signed though.  

I also don't think St. Johnstone are that bad, nowhere near as bad as Dundee Utd last season. Don't know the full extent of their injury problems either. I seriously doubt they will play like that for the full season. However, they were very, VERY poor today and it was a really easy win for County in the end. Should have won by a lot more than 2 goals, especially if more composure was taken by both Murray and White. It should really have been a 4-0 type match IMO. Lots of great crosses in too which was encouraging. Randall was superb, as was Turner when he came on. Leak looked solid also which is promising. I also would have liked to see Brophy on earlier and supriser Henderson didn't make an appearance. Maybe for the Airdrie game next week which I hope the team are up for. It's time for a cup run, or at least we get a pay day against the old firm if knocked out next round.

The extremely disappointing thing which every County fan will know, is Dhanda going off with what looks like a serious injury. The challenge looked very bad, but will have to see it on replay and haven't watched yet. Hope he isn't out too long as sure will be missed against better teams especially. Unfortunately I don't think we can read too much into yesterday's game, Saints were miles behind and County will play far more organised, quicker, fast passing teams in the matches ahead. Great result though