Kyle

Outstanding performance from our bois. The swagger is back.

I think the crowds are dropping because going to the football is expensive and the football on display for much of the last couple of years has been pretty poor, making it more difficult to justify the expense.There are obviously lots of other reasons that have been well expressed on this thread but I believe that'll be the most consistent reason given by people who have stopped attending. Given that most people only get 2 days off a week - whether they're working or in education - I think the lack of entertainment is pretty legitimate reasoning to stop going personally. It hasn't stopped me travelling up from Glasgow every second week yet but I came mighty close to just letting my season ticket lapse in the summer and attending games either closer to home or as and when I could be arsed.

Thank god for that. Doesn’t sound like it was pretty but by Christ did we need that

Zander just ahead of Anderson.

A continuation of the performances against Celtic and Rangers for me. We created a few chances and could've scored more than one goal, but realistically we're lucky Hearts didn't score a few more which I felt their play probably deserved. Kennedy was and has been poor for a while now and that has to be addressed with the introduction of Swanson, but my biggest concern is the centre of midfield. None of our available options are capable of tackling, taking the ball out from the back or passing at a consistently high level. Alston and Callachan both look capable of popping up with goals and have plenty of energy which addresses other problems from last season, but it's criminal that we don't have a central midfielder in the entire squad who is comfortable in possession, can take the ball in under pressure and recycle the ball. It's not like we're short of numbers either - Davidson, Craig, Alston, Wotherspoon, Callachan, Nydam, McCann and McClean would probably all make arguments that the engine room is their strongest position. I've left Scougall out because he's more comfortable in an advanced role and there's probably more chance of Jason Kerr playing there than him right now. Moving on to the strikers, I thought Kane offered virtually nothing and should've been hooked before McMillan in favour of Watt, who made a bit of a difference and did well at our goal. Wright continues to impress and was everything Kennedy wasn't in terms of application, potential attacking menace and supporting Foster. They did their best to keep Mitchell and Djoum bay on the right - two players who are more than capable of punishing any lapses in defence. I thought Tanser coped reasonably well on the left considering he had virtually no support against Morrison and Smith, who I was glad to see exit the match. If Hearts had scored from open play, it probably would've stemmed from that side. Saints have been maligned for years for having an old squad and a pragmatic manager but what I wouldn't give for some of the cuteness we used to have back in the team. Even one or two of the old guard - Maclean and Millar as examples - would make a huge difference in a team which clearly has much more energy and creativity as they chances we are creating shows, but much less ability to manage a match. They'd make the required fouls, take the required bookings and talk their team mates through matches - something that no one in that team on Saturday seems capable of doing. There's no way, for example, that we would've conceded 64 shots on goal and only conceded 21 fouls in the last 3 matches with the old boys in the team. I reckon this team will come good in time but still needs a proper midfield general to help us through matches. a 29 year old Chris Millar would be perfect. If we have to sacrifice Scougall (who seems most likely given he can't even make the match day squads any more) and Nydam then so be it.

Only one winner for me - Zander Clark.

I was disappointed with how we set up last night to be honest. Wright seems to be in a habit of picking favourites over form - Wotherspoon shouldn't have started on the basis that his form hasn't been great recently - he was good which will hopefully help build his confidence back up again, but surely when we have a squad the size we do it needs to be both a meritocracy and horses for courses. Wotherspoon is probably that in a game against the likes of Rangers and Celtic, but he's the only one of the 4 'wingers' who started and saw out both games. I thought we imposed ourselves more as an attacking threat with the introduction of McMillan and I'm disappointed he only got 6 minutes in the two games over the last few days. I don't agree with but understand the starting 11 and sticking with it for an hour or so, but we had our own attacking players who could have given us a bit more in an attacking sense against a tiring and poor by Celtic's standards defence. You don't get a point for a draw in a knock out cup match after all, and Kilmarnock showed the damage that can be done if you have ambition to play on the attack against this Celtic team. We're probably not as good as they are but we do have players that have the ability to hurt them. In terms of the game itself, we played well but ultimately we didn't really deserve anything other than a defeat. Celtic (Griffiths in particular) missed several chances that they would normally have put away. Clark was superb and it started to look like he just wouldn't be beaten on the day, but realistically anything other than a Celtic win would've been a bit of a smash and grab. I thought there were some excellent individual performers - I can't really fault the back 4 who were under almost constant pressure. They gave up some chances, but that will inevitably happen when we let Celtic come onto us so far up the park without much pressure. Alston was the stand out in midfield again, although I thought Callachan did well and Wright continues to show how good a player he is, particularly in the first half. He does the defensive side of the game very well but I'm looking forward to seeing him unleashed in an attacking sense again after the last couple of games. The aforementioned Wotherspoon kept Tierney quiet and supported Foster well. Watt was completely isolated and didn't really get into the game before his half time sub - hope he's alright for Saturday. Having said all that, there's more to be positive about after last night's game than there was on Sunday.

I'm starting to wonder if the reverse is true - that Alston we had in his first two seasons looks like a pale imitation to the one we've seen since he majestically appeared off the bench against Dundee. Maybe all he needed was a bit of faith to play in what he considers to be his best position. He looks much more confident and assured on the ball, his energy has been a real asset to the team and his reading of the game seems so much better there too. He's certainly looking much more like the player I was expecting to get a couple of summers ago.

Wasn't able to attend this match on Saturday but watched the full 90 minutes on Alba. A very encouraging performance again. We have much more energy and pace in the team and you feel that we could score whenever we come forward. We look much more comfortable in possession and in Kennedy, Wright, McMillan and Watt we have several outballs, stopping us from being stuck defending for big chunks of games like I felt was a feature last season. Alston was our best player for me. At times in the second half I felt he was our entire midfield as he was popping up everywhere. The biggest compliment I can think to give him is to say that we haven't really missed Davidson over the last couple of games. I hope we go to Ibrox next week and play without fear. We are good enough to impose ourselves on Rangers playing our own game and hopefully Wright has the confidence in his players to let them do exactly that. There's a swagger about this team that I've not seen for quite a while and I'm loving watching them play so far.

If players are then Tommy certainly should be! I'm quite surprised to read that regarding wages too. Maybe the budget isn't as bad as the manager lets on!

I went for Alston. I’d argue that was his most complete performance for us. Came at the perfect time with so much competition in his position.

Given the number of minutes Scougall has had recently, I can quite believe this story unfortunately. Scougall and a few youngsters out (on loan perhaps) and Swanson and Callachan would be beautiful. Edit: only because it means we'd have Swanson back. Can't say I'm that fussed about Callachan.

I think he's been told he's free to leave Hearts.

That’s Nydam now signed. A year long loan. Happy with that! Edit: the club have now changed it to January. Would rather it was the full season if I’m honest as we could find ourselves in the same position again come January, but he seems like a quality player.

Is he decked out in Saints training gear?

Some excellent performances to choose from. I think the current top 3 (Foster, Wright and Craig) were the best of them and I went for Craig personally, but would be happy for any of the 3 to receive the accolade at the end of the day. There were no failures though - I'd happily pay to watch that style of play every week.

Showing your age there, Radford. Even more so than the '72' in your username.

Additional prize money, maybe one or two younger players heading out on loan too. I'd imagine that would all amount to an extra player for us.

Clark Foster Gordon Kerr Tanser Wright Davidson McClean/McCann Scougal Watt Kane/McMillan Plz.

RandomGuy is correct for me. First game of the season or not, we were playing a team 2 divisions below us and their keeper had one save to make in 90 minutes. Rustiness or not, that's concerning. We passed the ball about with tempo for 15/20 minutes at the start of the game, then spent the rest of the match either being sluggish or not really in control - a team 2 levels below us were able to expose our obvious weakness in midfield and we had no outball on the left hand side. We are crying out for someone with composure in midfield and a left winger and those problems wont disappear until players are brought in. In the mean time, I'd rather see Wotherspoon play left wing and McClean/McCann in the middle of the park as what we lined up with on Saturday just didn't look like working.

So Cleland is the new assistant and we've brought Alan Maybury back in as youth coach.

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/sport/football/st-johnstone/676984/st-johnstone-boss-confirms-callum-davidson-exit-to-stoke-city/ Also mentions the potential for a couple of foreign trialists too along with Dean Lyness training with us. There seems to be legs in that one as he joined up with us towards the end of last season.

It's glorious. Take my money, St Johnstone.

Wednesday I think. I’m sure it was in the squad numbers update on the website.