St.Johnstone V Hibernian - Saturday 27th November

[Coltrane]

Our midfield ... do we have one??

[Rob]

4 minutes ago, Coltrane said:

Our midfield ... do we have one??

Need a whole new midfield. No question.

[rik2304]

6 minutes ago, Coltrane said:

Our midfield ... do we have one??

Yes. One that Davidson really rates worryingly.

[Rob]

We just let Hibs walk into our box today and take shots, pathetic.

[MrBored]

Did we really need to be as defensive as we were in the second half. Fair enough being down to 10 men...but those late goals seemed inevitable. 

Bryson should be 'wiser' than that given his experience. Didn't think the first one was  booking, but having been booked the second was stupid.

Doesn't matter much, but did the Hibs player get booked for celebrating with the crowd?

[Cagey]

3 minutes ago, MrBored said:

Did we really need to be as defensive as we were in the second half. Fair enough being down to 10 men...but those late goals seemed inevitable. 

Bryson should be 'wiser' than that given his experience. Didn't think the first one was  booking, but having been booked the second was stupid.

Doesn't matter much, but did the Hibs player get booked for celebrating with the crowd?

They never seemed to get booked for anything. Every time they threw themselves to the ground they got a free kick & feined injury to get us booked.

Brown got taken out on the 18 yard line & never got a foul & they broke away & almost got a third.

[Cagey]

Ultra defensive even before we went down to 10. Played a back 5 & hardly got out of our own half in the first half.

Second half I expected us to sub Eetu and go even more defensive but not sure if we sat too deep or Hibs pushed us back. Second half Crawford never touched the ball until we tried o push forward after their second goal. To be under the cosh & not use your final sub until 2 minutes from time is diabolical. I would have had Craig on for Crawford midway through second.

[california_saintee]

4 hours ago, blueheaven said:

Isn't that what we were told last year too?

Not quite. Last year there was some confusion about handing the EL place reserved for the winners of the ECL (because there weren't previous winners), and folk incorrectly guessed that they'd handle it in a certain way which would benefit the Scottish team.

This time round we know for sure, since the coefficient went up.

[akuram]

Another horrible game to watch. We just never got going because we have nobody to put a foot on the ball hold it like Jody or Chris Millar did. 
We really are struggling and to me looks like it’s going to be a big ask for us to stay in this league unless goals come.

[Kinnoull Kicker]

Don’t usually post but that was awful. There is zero creativity in our midfield. Bryson - contributed very little bar two idiotic challenges. Davidson - no longer justifies a start based on that performance. Crawford - perhaps it’s a lack of support but contributes little. We rode our luck in the second half ( and most of first half) and but for Zander and poor finishing it could have been 5 or 6. Scott Allan in a short spell showed precisely what we are missing. Up front Vertainan showed some nice touches and deserves more time. The new guy seems to have something we don’t have - will he get a start though? 

it was clear that legs were going but no subs until after they score the second goal ! Surely Craig should have been on in place of either Davidson or Crawford. 
 

real important game next week - a must win. Cd needs to start earning his corn and come up with a means to win with this group and unless he has a plan to strengthen in January I fear for how this season will end.

[Rob]

34 minutes ago, Cagey said:

They never seemed to get booked for anything. Every time they threw themselves to the ground they got a free kick & feined injury to get us booked.

Brown got taken out on the 18 yard line & never got a foul & they broke away & almost got a third.

Browns booking was a terrible decision as well. It was hardly anything, wasnt like it was due to a string of fouls. It was a game where I could see someone else like Murray getting sent off. It used to be that you only had to worry about him or Craig getting sent off but we seem to have too many now. Todays sending off ruined the game. We might not have won but we wouldnt of played so defensive in the 2nd half.

Edited November 27, 2021 by Rob

[rik2304]

Just now, Kinnoull Kicker said:

Don’t usually post but that was awful. There is zero creativity in our midfield. Bryson - contributed very little bar two idiotic challenges. Davidson - no longer justifies a start based on that performance. Crawford - perhaps it’s a lack of support but contributes little. We rode our luck in the second half ( and most of first half) and but for Zander and poor finishing it could have been 5 or 6. Scott Allan in a short spell showed precisely what we are missing. Up front Vertainan showed some nice touches and deserves more time. The new guy seems to have something we don’t have - will he get a start though? 

it was clear that legs were going but no subs until after they score the second goal ! Surely Craig should have been on in place of either Davidson or Crawford. 
 

real important game next week - a must win. Cd needs to start earning his corn and come up with a means to win with this group and unless he has a plan to strengthen in January I fear for how this season will end.

We might go for the defender from Ireland but I firmly believe nothing will happen in January other than to try and sign Crawford and MacPherson.

[Cagey]

15 minutes ago, akuram said:

Another horrible game to watch. We just never got going because we have nobody to put a foot on the ball hold it like Jody or Chris Millar did. 
We really are struggling and to me looks like it’s going to be a big ask for us to stay in this league unless goals come.

We had one in McCann & a composed defender in Kerr but never mind we have £1.5 million in the bank in the championship.

[Cagey]

I feel sorry for the 500 or so season ticket holders that got a ticket on the strength of the football we played last season. I never went into a game ,even against OF expecting to get beat. This season I don't expect us to win in any game.

[Kinnoull Kicker]

20 minutes ago, rik2304 said:

We might go for the defender from Ireland but I firmly believe nothing will happen in January other than to try and sign Crawford and MacPherson.

Pity help us in that case Rik - and Cagey hits the nail on the head. Swap Allan for McCart, bring in the Ireland defender, do our best to keep Zander and identify someone that will give us at least a goal threat because without goals we’ll probably be playing Championship football next season.

[Templar Saint]

Well what can we say about today.

Bryson for a man of his experience should not be making the second bookable tackle just before the break.  Hope he gets as big a fine as possible because he cost us the game.

Ali Crawford is ineffective - never tackles does not burst a gut to get into a 50/50 and jogs around to try and shadow opposition.

With 10 men we were up against it the whole of the second half and all Hibs subs were attacking hence how towards the end of the match we were breached twice.

Do not understand why Liam Craig was not put on.

Wednesday night now a 6 pointer but need to have Kane and Eetu both starting along with Viv who looked like he could do something for us.

[Cagey]

9 minutes ago, Templar Saint said:

Well what can we say about today.

Bryson for a man of his experience should not be making the second bookable tackle just before the break.  Hope he gets as big a fine as possible because he cost us the game.

Ali Crawford is ineffective - never tackles does not burst a gut to get into a 50/50 and jogs around to try and shadow opposition.

With 10 men we were up against it the whole of the second half and all Hibs subs were attacking hence how towards the end of the match we were breached twice.

Do not understand why Liam Craig was not put on.

Wednesday night now a 6 pointer but need to have Kane and Eetu both starting along with Viv who looked like he could do something for us.

Viv did look good but Callum might have to give him a month to get used to the pace of Scottish football , on the bench.

Can understand why Callum hasn't played Eetu but he isn't a lone striker.

[SlickDT]

Few things confirmed for me in this game.

Thought once again Liam Gordon was fantastic. Continues to defend extremely well.

Bryson made a terrible decision to Lunge in to a challenge when he was on a booking. From that point on we were always going to lose. Bad decision from an experienced player.

As far as I'm concerened Crawford can go come January. Time and time again he is lacking off the ball. More than once he slowed down his run in order to avoid a 50/50. He continually "fakes a press" on opposition players where he moves in the balls direction but doesn't actually put any pressure on the opposition player what so ever or attempts to cut off any passing options.

Eetu started well, but quite quickly was losing the ball the majority of the time when it came to him. I wouldn't rule him out of the basis of one start, but he is going to have to adapt to the style of game and start using his body better. The new lad looked a very tidy player when he came on. Good with the ball at his feet, picked a pass and looked fairly sharp. I'd prefer to see him start on Wednesday.

Today was the sort of game where you really see how badly we miss McCann. Whilst replacing him with a similar quality player is near impossible, we do need to address this area of the pitch. Davidson, Craig and Bryson are getting closer and closer to the end of their careers. Crawford isn't the solution. MacPherson is a squad player for me...... huge job on Davidsons hands there.

Callum has had a rotten run of injuries, European ties and losing two of our best players at the last minute in the window. He's going to have to earn his wage over the next few weeks.

[Rob]

Our new winger Viv looked decent. I know he was only on 8 mins or something, but the way he passed the ball and his movement off the ball in that short time suggests he will be an asset. Would like to see him play alongside someone like Kane. And agree Eetu needs more game time, there is something there but he looks like he needs to be told where to be by the surrounding players. Thought he found himself in a great position on one occassion in first half and the wrong choice was made not to pass to him. Too many wrong choices being made going forward. I always thought McCann was great at making the right passes, really missing him in midfield.

Edited November 27, 2021 by Rob

[weesainty]

For me the team are running on empty a shadow of the team we were last season the loss of mcann Jason doesn’t help but there not the only problem all to often we don’t even look like scoring 

[crieffsaintandy]

Same awful stuff as we have become use to most of this season, can't string two or more passes together, and the usual big punts up to the front men. No width, and why after we had rode our luck and still are ahead at 80 minutes is Ali fcuking crawford still on the park, it was crying out for Liam to come on to shore it up. As others say midfield needs totally sorted in January and would get shot if crawford and Macpherson.

Honeymoon over for Davidson as this is becoming the normal and makes Tommy wright's football look decent, then maybe no much in it!!

And that Porteous is a grade a bellend.

[bluesaint]

10 minutes ago, weesainty said:

For me the team are running on empty a shadow of the team we were last season the loss of mcann Jason doesn’t help but there not the only problem all to often we don’t even look like scoring 

9 league goals tells the story, it’s not good enough.

Coupled with the coags starting to pick up points it’s all very worrying indeed. 

[poang]

40 minutes ago, Cagey said:

I feel sorry for the 500 or so season ticket holders that got a ticket on the strength of the football we played last season. I never went into a game ,even against OF expecting to get beat. This season I don't expect us to win in any game.

 

Yeah I'm one of those. I'll be taking a break until after Xmas to save on fuel costs. Clubs got my money anyway so I won't feel guilty.

It's just boring watching us right now. Absolutely awful style of football. 

Relegation material unless something  changes and quickly.

 

[Sergei]

The worst part of Bryson's second yellow was the mis-control that saw him lunge in to try and get the ball back. I thought that bit was almost instinctive but awful Hibs playacting or not Bryson had to go. I thought the first yellow was stupid and totally needless. It was only Porteous after all so nothing was going to happen. 

For all Crawford's faults it was a superb cross he put in for Liam's header. Not a stats fan but as they're there, I suppose he won't get an assist given Porteous slid it in.

As soon as Bryson went I said it'd be the end of Eetu. Again, he's meant to be a versatile attacking midfielder so I would've just dropped him back instead of bringing MacPherson on. He certainly couldn't have been worse. Could have done with his height for defending set pieces too.

Thought MOH was absolutely awful. Couldn't retain the ball even if his boots were covered in super glue so we never gave ourselves a chance to properly move upfield. The passing in general was also unbelievably bad but that's nothing new. 

McCann should never have been allowed to leave until there was a suitable replacement signed or lined up. To not strengthen for Europe was ridiculous and actually go into the season weaker than last season was unforgiveable. We should've beaten Lask and been in the group stages right now instead of being an utter shambles starting to take a look over the shoulder at the table instead of upwards. 

On the bright side, the chairman did fork out for a long overdue new t and s for the club signage so he has kept his 2014 promise of spending on the infrastructure. Ok, the cardboard s only lasted a couple of days but it's the thought that counts.

 

[Cagey]

Callum says last season we played good football with good energy,we have to get back to that again. Sorry Callum but it's you ,& Macca that changed things.

For some reason they don't have the confidence to pass the ball especially to a colleague,instead it's just get rid of the ball as far as you can.

As for Zander it looks like the tactic is to punt it up to Mikey who looked like he was jumping just to make it look like he is trying. The other tactic is to aim for Rooney out wide only for the ball to go out of play.