Taxi For Davidson

[Melbourne Saint 167]

I like the way CD is prepared/ has to change formations to suit opposition & injuries. Never quite sure what he's up to... Surprisingly the players do. I don't think Covid really affects us that much- financially yes, but we play in a morgue at home. Maybe the players prefer it 

[Cagey 2,439]

Has the team playing as a team. Always looking for a pass rather than punting up the park & treating the ball like a hot potatoe.

Hopefully when crowds are allowed back,we will see the return of the fans that got bored with the football we were subjected to for the past couple of seasons.

[Linky 132]

Well, he's won me round.

Whilst I'm not sure about his signings (although I don't know if he really had much choice), I think in terms of tactics and game management it's pretty spot on. The players understand the system now. I think some of the problems at the start were that he was building his attack around Hendry, and that didn't really work. Now they are playing to May's strengths instead and it's paying off.

[Cleveland-Saint 641]

We all have a level of accountability in our jobs. No different for CD, but for him its all very public. Its tough, but every manager has a 'taxi thread' of some kind, its not an embarrassment, its just the job. Look at Lennon right now....brutal, we all know he's gone if rangers win the league.

Early in his tenure, CD didnt have them playing as a team, we questioned that, as they lacked passion (post tommy blues maybe, new manager etc), then we saw the heart come back into this team. Was the celtic loss for me where  I saw that hunger and since then we keep improving, looking sharper with better passing and pressing. We consistently make other teams play badly, the secret is pretty obvious and it's not a voodoo doll.

Keep it up Callum, but lose the next 5 and the taxi will be lurking   or maybe an Uber if you have them over there!

 

[RandomGuy 3,158]

The players had gone about 6 months without a game, of course the tempo would be lower.

PPDA is a metric that effectively measures how hard teams press. The average in the league this season is lower than than last seasons "worst" side...

[saintgscot 113]

3 hours ago, Cleveland-Saint said:

We all have a level of accountability in our jobs. No different for CD, but for him its all very public. Its tough, but every manager has a 'taxi thread' of some kind, its not an embarrassment, its just the job. Look at Lennon right now....brutal, we all know he's gone if rangers win the league.

 

If rangers win the league I’m just hoping he still there when we play them next week LAUGH OUT LOUD another manger to the sword after saints defeat.

[Cleveland-Saint 641]

2 hours ago, RandomGuy said:

The players had gone about 6 months without a game, of course the tempo would be lower.

PPDA is a metric that effectively measures how hard teams press. The average in the league this season is lower than than last seasons "worst" side...

I'm comparing tempo versus our opposition, so we were all in the same boat. And it wasn't even just pressing, We felt flat overall (versus our opponents), in the early part of the season.

[blueheaven 2,537]

On 9/27/2020 at 4:17 PM, blueheaven said:

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?

Just thought I'd re-visit this comment I posted after our 2-0 loss to Livingston (which at the time was our fourth defeat in five matches, and we'd only scored one goal in all five of those matches). I said I felt that after the Celtic game in early October we had a good run of fixtures to look forward to and that we should be aiming to use those games as a big opportunity to turn things round. We're now at the end of that run of fixtures and we've played 10, won 6, drawn 4 and lost none. We've also scored 23 goals in those ten matches. I don't think anyone could have asked for a better return than that and personally I'm really pleased with how things have gradually been improving. Even though I still have some reservations with the system at times, I'm impressed with how CD has quietly halted a slump without any fuss, and has us playing some strong, positive football which, most importantly, is now getting results. And on top of that we've drastically improved upon the previous season's League Cup performance. I've no idea what CD's targets are for the season but I'd say there's no reason at all why we shouldn't be aiming to be firmly into the Top 6 by the turn of the year.

[dave mc 1,380]

As you say BH,a great return,and probably deserved more from some of the draws,I’m enjoying our football this season,albeit from tv,but we’re more proactive and attractive imo 

[blueheaven 2,537]

This thread's famous:

https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/international/how-st-johnstone-got-over-their-early-season-struggles-and-now-look-set-make-push-europe-3052866

[Cagey 2,439]

1 hour ago, blueheaven said:

This thread's famous:

https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/international/how-st-johnstone-got-over-their-early-season-struggles-and-now-look-set-make-push-europe-3052866

Fair summery. Must either watch Saints or follow the forum.

[garydavidson 1,596]

"leading fans’ forum"

I imagine that went down well on P&B!

[dave mc 1,380]

Excellent read, the writer is on “view from the terrace” tv show,which tends to be a good watch 

Edited December 1, 2020 by dave mc

[Abernethy Saint 3,428]

Good article, although this thread was surely started with tongue firmly in cheek?

[Cagey 2,439]

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....

Happy now ?.

[blueheaven 2,537]

Have to hand it to Callum - he has us playing very, very well at the moment.

I have a feeling Top 6 is still very much achievable for us this season, but even if it doesn't happen, I'd like to think that if we can keep the bulk of this squad together and perhaps strengthen in a couple of places then we'll be very well-placed going into next season. Perhaps we'll even see an uplift in crowds ... if crowds are a thing by then.

[montrosesaintee 3,653]

I don't think the taxi need keep the engine running.

[langside-saint 239]

guess who looks like an arse again 

[dave mc 1,380]

A lot of eggs on a lot of faces,knicker wetters are us,you know who you are 

[dave mc 1,380]

45 minutes to save his season? 

[dave mc 1,380]

 some so called fans need to bite their tongues at times 

[Abernethy Saint 3,428]

I suppose Gerrard has to get Manager of the Year, but Callum can’t be that far behind, with the Cup still to come......

[Cagey 2,439]

3 minutes ago, Abernethy Saint said:

I suppose Gerrard has to get Manager of the Year, but Callum can’t be that far behind, with the Cup still to come......

Has to be manager of the month with Rooney player of the month but don't want the curse.

[cristo 725]

As a player, assistant manager and now manager he has become my favourite Saint of all time. 

[Shipa 19]

What Callum has achieved, in his first year as a manager, with such a small squad and budget, is really outstanding. Never mind Jason Kerr, should we be worried about other clubs courting Callum?