Taxi For Davidson

[THE LARK SAINT]

So to all those wanting to change formation. 4.4.2 at kick off!How did it go ?

Callum should have stayed with his beliefs. 

[Salguodinmethven.]

6 hours ago, Templar Saint said:

That would be two of you then as Callum looked as if he was doing the same.

Callum seems to look like that in every game, never seen him shout or rage from any game, (fair enough only on camera this far),to much Mr nice and not overly impressed when he got the job but bided my time, now I'm pretty well convinced he not da man.

[Salguodinmethven.]

5 hours ago, Cagey said:

Thought that about Macca since start of the season. I thought he would be bad cop to Davidson's good cop. He was supposed to have got the team motivated in the cup.

Certainly hasn't had a good effect on our strikers who have regressed from last season.

Yeh McLean brilliant he's back,what a guy to have in the dressing room, well fekin stay there cause you done nothing out on the training field to impress me ..

[Johnny B]

6 hours ago, THE LARK SAINT said:

So to all those wanting to change formation. 4.4.2 at kick off!How did it go ?

Callum should have stayed with his beliefs. 

I saw 4 5 1 then he made 2 subs and went back to his usual formation with MOH wingback and Hendry up front with May. However the formation is not the biggest problem it is the inability to keep clean sheets and more importantly score goals.

[THE LARK SAINT]

2 hours ago, Johnny B said:

I saw 4 5 1 then he made 2 subs and went back to his usual formation with MOH wingback and Hendry up front with May. However the formation is not the biggest problem it is the inability to keep clean sheets and more importantly score goals.

Radio said 

4.4.2 change 4.5.1 change 3 . 5.2 Billy Dodds i think it was 

[Johnny B]

10 minutes ago, THE LARK SAINT said:

Radio said 

4.4.2 change 4.5.1 change 3 . 5.2 Billy Dodds i think it was 

Don't believe the radio especially Dodds . What I saw was May was up front on his own and MOH wide left.

[Radford 72]

You always get the attention seekers that have to be OUTRAGED about absolutely everything but for the sane section of our support that are even countenancing this, give yourselves a shake. 

The man is 9 games into a managerial career. Unprecedented times with the pandemic, added to working under a structure where money is more of a concern than success. His team have been on the wrong end of some tight swings.

Get behind the man and offer him the support that makes his job that bit easier and doesn't pile unnecessary pressure on him and his players. 

Thankfully, for his faults, Steve Brown won't wet the bed and will give Callum Davidson the time he needs but more importantly, certainly deserves.

[sixties saintee]

16 minutes ago, Radford 72 said:

You always get the attention seekers that have to be OUTRAGED about absolutely everything but for the sane section of our support that are even countenancing this, give yourselves a shake. 

The man is 9 games into a managerial career. Unprecedented times with the pandemic, added to working under a structure where money is more of a concern than success. His team have been on the wrong end of some tight swings.

Get behind the man and offer him the support that makes his job that bit easier and doesn't pile unnecessary pressure on him and his players. 

Thankfully, for his faults, Steve Brown won't wet the bed and will give Callum Davidson the time he needs but more importantly, certainly deserves.

Get the ba in the net a couple o times a game might just change things.

[blueheaven]

12 hours ago, RandomGuy said:

15 players have left this Summer, and he's been given almost nothing to replace them with.

Last season TW had Butcher, Holt, McCann and Craig when Davidson was out. CD has had McCann and Craig.

Smallest squad in the division by a distance and not allowed any more signings. TW got out at the right time.

Sorry but I don't believe that any of the above excuses our results or league position. The quantity of players may have been reduced but I don't think there's been any significant reduction in quality. We may have struggled to fill the needlessly large subs' bench at times this season, but we haven't struggled to put a good team out on the pitch and the starting XI being picked most weeks hasn't been vastly different to the XI we were seeing last season. It's not as if the size of his squad is forcing him to play kids, or play lots of players out of position ... if that was the case I think we'd all be viewing results with a lot more sympathy.

I do acknowledge that we haven't had a lot of options in central midfield, I'd also say that central midfield was always the area where we needed more legs to be brought in ... and yet the manager chose to use his limited budget to sign a right-back (even though a new right-back had already been signed), a striker (who never gets a chance, even when we're losing), and a winger (to play in a formation that apparently doesn't need wingers). We have at last signed a central midfielder, but he's 33 years old and so far hasn't been fit enough to play. I really hope he makes a difference, though.

You might think TW got out at the right time, but he was very used to being told he can't sign any more players, and he was also very used to pulling rabbits out of the hat and finding ways to grind out results regardless. I think it's the fact that we can't fall back on knowing whether Davidson has any ability to do that that has put a lot of fans on edge. Of course, the only way he can demonstrate an ability to turn the situation around is by being given more time. But I also feel there are a lot of big red alarm signs at the moment and right now my gut feeling about this is not good.

[RandomGuy]

1 hour ago, blueheaven said:

Sorry but I don't believe that any of the above excuses our results or league position. The quantity of players may have been reduced but I don't think there's been any significant reduction in quality. 

Hes lost Butcher, Holt and Wright, who would all walk into our starting line up just now, or be upgrades on those on the bench.

Hes also lost a genuine match winner in Swanson, plus the loss of Anderson at training.

Hes been given almost no money to replace them, and the club provide him with no scouting facilities. 

The players went around 6 months without a game, before going straight into league fixtures.

He has around 16 senior outfield players, and hes had Clark, Booth, Davidson, Bryson, Kane and May miss more games than they've played, while Craig and MOH have both missed games due to suspension. 

How can you see all that, see the narrow defeats to the likes of Aberdeen/Hibs, and decide that the best course of action is to be part of a frenzied group who pile pressure onto him and the players?

Hes signed two boys from Millwall, and then two experienced players, because he needs players he knows about. I dont think people understand how ****ing amateur the club actually is at scouting players. Davidson will have walked in and the only hints at players the club were looking at would be whatever TW tells him over the phone.

This'll come out wrong, but Brown/Robertson have been lucky that Covid has given them an excuse to strip the squad and club back to the bare bones, as otherwise there would be far, far, more uproar about how they're acting.

[Shaggy Jenkins]

1 hour ago, RandomGuy said:

This'll come out wrong, but Brown/Robertson have been lucky that Covid has given them an excuse to strip the squad and club back to the bare bones, as otherwise there would be far, far, more uproar about how they're acting.

It is a very convenient excuse.  No doubt times are hard but I would love to get some figures on PPV audiences. If we work to 2500 season ticket holders v an average attendance of 4091 leaving 1591 paying customers, not all of whom would be paying full price. Hooky streams aside it's not unreasonable to suspect the PPV figures at £17.50 would at least be on par if not higher. Also take in slightly reduced overheads, in staff, police, food ect is there a significant down turn in match income?

There is also the extra expenditure of covid testing and probably reduced hospitality income across the board to take into consideration however (are the restraint and function suits back open at reduced capacity?)

In all though, along with cash reserves greater than the majority in the top division that should of seen us better placed than most, I struggle slightly to swallow the pleading poverty line especially when it comes to using match day income specifically.  If the overall downturn in business has been sighted it would of made it more palatable, after all it has been said in the past we could run this club without fans.

But it still begs the question, how other clubs are managing to run larger squads etc when from the outside we looked to be one of the strongest placed going into this. Which makes me question are we cutting to maintain " profits" or are we cutting because the profits are being wiped too quickly. Also if it's the latter how quickly is too quickly? I think the fans right now and the chairman would have a different feeling on the speed of that reduction.

 

[Cagey]

Fine margins. If we had drawn with Livvy & Motherwell we would have been above them.

Hopefully he can get the striker problem sorted but 1 up front is not going to trouble most of the clubs around us which are about 8 ,pack their defence. We can't break them down with the same cross & corner time after time. We have tried various combinations of one up front . Mikey is a winger end of.May is not just a yard short,nearer 2. I don't think he has or will recover fully from his knee injury. Hendry has proven he can do it but not as one up front. Kane is not a decent goal scorer but does a lot of work that could advantage a fellow striker,but he seems to be continually injured over the past 2 seasons so not a viable option.

Biggest criticism I have is what he has done to McCann who can set up & score goals but Callum is holding him back.

[MrBored]

I haven't been impressed, but you have to give the man time.

I suspect part of the issue is the players having difficultly getting used to the new situation at the club with new manager, new tactics etc.

Wright always said we were a 'streaky' side going on poor runs and then turning it around, sometimes when we least expect it. 

Personally, I don't think we are going to turn the corner any time soon and I doubt we will get anyone else in, unless it is a very cheap loan....but in the circumstances, despite the cash in the bank, I can't blame the club for being cautious (or more cautious).

[Templar Saint]

Random Guy bit of a push to say Swanson was a match winner when he only made 7 league appearances last year and contributed nothing.

Ando was also at Raith full time so hardly in our dressing room.

Stretching your argument a bit with these comments in my opinion. 

 

[blueheaven]

4 hours ago, RandomGuy said:

Hes lost Butcher, Holt and Wright, who would all walk into our starting line up just now, or be upgrades on those on the bench.

Hes also lost a genuine match winner in Swanson, plus the loss of Anderson at training.

I take this point to an extent but I also think you're taking a very rose-coloured view of the above players. Swanson barely played for us last season and hadn't been in the "genuine match winner" bracket for quite some time. Anderson spent a lot of last season out on loan so wasn't available anyway. Holt was OK but I don't think many would consider him a major loss. Wright was a player I really liked, but his lack of end product in terms of either goals or assists has been well documented on here. Butcher was certainly a good, promising young player.

In terms of numbers I'd say the loss of Holt and Butcher is the most significant as it's left us so short in central midfield - but that only brings me back to my point that perhaps Davidson should have focussed more on finding someone for this area as a priority over making the signings that he did.

4 hours ago, RandomGuy said:

The players went around 6 months without a game, before going straight into league fixtures.

We played some friendlies though, right? Besides, every club was in the same predicament. I actually think most of our players have looked pretty fit this season, particularly in the opening couple of games. Dundee United in Week 1 found our pressing and our running very difficult to cope with.

4 hours ago, RandomGuy said:

He has around 16 senior outfield players, and hes had Clark, Booth, Davidson, Bryson, Kane and May miss more games than they've played, while Craig and MOH have both missed games due to suspension. 

How can you see all that, see the narrow defeats to the likes of Aberdeen/Hibs, and decide that the best course of action is to be part of a frenzied group who pile pressure onto him and the players?

Hes signed two boys from Millwall, and then two experienced players, because he needs players he knows about. I dont think people understand how ****ing amateur the club actually is at scouting players. Davidson will have walked in and the only hints at players the club were looking at would be whatever TW tells him over the phone.

I agree with you about the scouting system. By all accounts it's crap. We know it's something Tommy Wright had been banging on about for years, and in hindsight it was probably one of the things that eventually pushed him out the door. I've said it before and I'll probably say it again: the club should have done more to keep our greatest ever manager happy.

But I still don't think the squad situation has been as bad this season as you're trying to make out. I actually think we've put out a pretty strong team most weeks. It's not the small squad or budget constraints that have influenced Davidson's ineffective tactics. It's been Davidson's own decision to pump high crosses towards a striker who doesn't thrive on them, to play McCann in a role that has nullified his impact, and to repeatedly drop Wotherspoon even though he is, to me, one of our players who is most likely to create something for us.

Don't get me wrong - if I was in charge I wouldn't be sacking Davidson. But I would be growing concerned, and I would be looking for some pretty quick improvements. We have a pretty good run of fixtures coming up. Celtic is basically a write-off and I just want us to avoid getting destroyed - but after that we have Cup games against two lower league teams, which we can hopefully use to score some goals and get the confidence back up. Then we have a run of league games against Hamilton, Dundee United and Killie - three teams around our level who we should be able to get something from. Then it's another couple of cup games and a home game against Motherwell, before we're back to playing Celtic again. For me, that should be a good spell for us and we should be looking to get a run going and pick up some better results from those games. But if that doesn't happen, and we get to early December and we're still struggling to score and still losing regularly - what happens then?

4 hours ago, RandomGuy said:

This'll come out wrong, but Brown/Robertson have been lucky that Covid has given them an excuse to strip the squad and club back to the bare bones, as otherwise there would be far, far, more uproar about how they're acting.

I guess we'll never know what the situation would be right now had Covid not happened. But, given that it has happened, do you not think the club has done the right thing in making cut-backs?  

[cristo]

We can be thankful that County and Well both got hammered today. It's going to be a tight bottom six in the coming months and we don't want any gaps opening up. Get this Celtic game out the way, take a long hard look at themselves and get a couple of wins on the board, then we can all get off the manager's case and this thread can remain redundant for a while.

[south inch]

Not being funny about our scouting system but frankly I wasn't aware we had one.  I thought we simply relied upon the manager's contacts and his ability to identify prospects from amongst the recommendations he would get from agents and other interested parties such as ex players.  So far off his own bat Callum has come up with the two Millwall lads one of whom looks promising and the other should be given more game time on the basis that he can hardly be any worse than the strikers (??) we have been playing.

Tommy, for example, was a blue nose and a great pal of wee Neil.  Lets give Callum some time yet, did the great Alec Ferguson not have a terrible start to his Man U career?

[HOODLUM65]

On 9/26/2020 at 3:40 PM, George Grieve said:

The last time I started a similar thread, we went on an unbeaten run and I looked quite a t***.

I’m sorry but the selections and formations engender no confidence.

Happy to look like an arse again, but this doesn’t look like it’s going to work....

Taken me a while to realise that  you run a taxi business. 

[RandomGuy]

15 hours ago, blueheaven said:

But I still don't think the squad situation has been as bad this season as you're trying to make out. I actually think we've put out a pretty strong team most weeks. It's not the small squad or budget constraints that have influenced Davidson's ineffective tactics.

I guess we'll never know what the situation would be right now had Covid not happened. But, given that it has happened, do you not think the club has done the right thing in making cut-backs?  

We have 15 senior (more than 10 top flight games) contracted outfield players.

15.

How can having a squad that size not influence your tactics? For the first half of the season so far he literally only had 2 CMs, and 1 ST, to pick from. Youve got every other club bringing on fresh legs to change the game for them, while we had kids making their first steps in the senior game. The injuries still haven't cleared up.

As for Covid, the club are right to cut back, but its a huge mistake if they think its better financially to retain the £2m+ they've sat on for the past decade and put yourself at high risk for relegation, than it is to give yourself a fighting chance to stay up and whittle that money down to under £1m. The "rainy day fund" has literally been maintained for so long for a situation like this, to prevent the club having to go through a season stripped bare. It doesnt matter how good your starting 11 is, you simply cannot go through a season with just 17 outfield players, especially when any can be ruled out for 2 weeks without notice, and expect it to work out.

[RandomGuy]

For summation, we have a manager in his first ever job, during a worldwide crisis, with 15 contracted senior players, a chunk of whom have been injured, hes been given no money to identify or sign players, and he was put in charge and given less than 5 weeks with the squad, under Covid restrictions, before the season started.

People have given him 9 games, and 2 months, before writing him off.

[Old Lethamite]

As a matter of interest, how many points did we have after nine games last season?

[blueheaven]

44 minutes ago, RandomGuy said:

We have 15 senior (more than 10 top flight games) contracted outfield players.

15.

How can having a squad that size not influence your tactics? For the first half of the season so far he literally only had 2 CMs, and 1 ST, to pick from. Youve got every other club bringing on fresh legs to change the game for them, while we had kids making their first steps in the senior game. The injuries still haven't cleared up.

As for Covid, the club are right to cut back, but its a huge mistake if they think its better financially to retain the £2m+ they've sat on for the past decade and put yourself at high risk for relegation, than it is to give yourself a fighting chance to stay up and whittle that money down to under £1m. The "rainy day fund" has literally been maintained for so long for a situation like this, to prevent the club having to go through a season stripped bare. It doesnt matter how good your starting 11 is, you simply cannot go through a season with just 17 outfield players, especially when any can be ruled out for 2 weeks without notice, and expect it to work out.

Not sure I'd agree with your definition of "senior" (McNamara, for example, has played less than 10 top flight games but is very much a first team regular). Maybe I'm miscounting but I make it we have a squad of 21, which includes two goalkeepers and a couple of inexperienced youngsters in Olaofe and Robertson ... I really don't think that's all that bad. The squad should include some youngsters who are breaking through. It's tight, yes, and in an ideal world we'd have two or three more players ... but under the circumstances it's not a horrendous number to be working with. And as I've said previously, I think a central midfielder should have been Davidson's priority signing when he arrived, which would have helped with the problem of having only two of them available when the season started.

I think in a round-about way we're pretty much in agreement on the cut-backs. I think it's a balancing act that the club has to get right. We need to make savings by reducing the budget, but not do it to the point that it gets us relegated. But again, I think our squad as it is should be good enough not to get relegated. And I'd be quite surprised if the "rainy day fund" everyone keeps referring to isn't already being eaten into. If the club still has reserves in the bank a year from now and we find ourselves in the situation where we're still playing in front of limited/no crowds while other clubs around us are going into administration, I think we'll be relieved that the money hasn't all gone.

[blueheaven]

6 minutes ago, Old Lethamite said:

As a matter of interest, how many points did we have after nine games last season?

4, I think, based on this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019–20_St_Johnstone_F.C._season

[Johnny B]

Murray Davidson doubts whether even Sir Alex Ferguson could not improve St Johnstone this term. (Sun)

Does this mean CD has run out of ideas and can not improve the team. If this is the case, he should return to his 3 at the back and hope we can keep a clean sheet, cut out silly mistakes and also pray at least one of our strikers take a couple of our chances.

[tucker]

Unfortunately Callum needs to start working the media better like Tommy did.may struggled for form first time round till macca returned,need a player like that and the club won't splash the cash at the moment.cant see many fans returning even if aloud to,tells you it all when the match day topic starts on the day of the match.