Stenhousemuir v St Johnstone, League Cup group stage, 15/07/2023

[Bruno Strasser]

Nothing created in 90 minutes. Woeful

[R.B.B:- Adz]

17 minutes ago, MrBored said:

That side has a long way to go.

Two major areas for me. Central defence, the Gordon/Considine paring is just way to cumbersome and slow on the turn. Considine does try to some out from the back with the ball, but Gordon's passing ability is poor as seen with the build up to the goal.

Second element pretty clear from that is if May comes out to be involved in the build up there is absolutely no one who is going to be available in the box.#

Difficult to have a go at the youngsters in that and I turned it off after 60 odd mins as it was pretty clear what was happening. Ferguson and Max did show some nice wee touches in the first half, but they were too few.

Wonder what Maclean will say to it?

Definitely need at least three players who can start, not squad players, or we are going to see a very difficult first half of the season. 

 

3 minutes ago, Bruno Strasser said:

Nothing created in 90 minutes. Woeful

I repeat 

 

 

… once we have all injured players back, we still need a strong starting right back, a starting ball playing left centre back, another centre half to challenge Gordon, a starting left sided attacking player and a striker possibly to develop as back up for May, Clark and Kane.

[Shibbydoo]

4 minutes ago, Bruno Strasser said:

Nothing created in 90 minutes. Woeful

12 shots, 5 on target.

Definitely a wake up call though!

[Linky]

The squad is threadbare and would struggle in the Championship. We looked fairly positive at times, and certainly got the ball forward more quickly than under Davidson, but with nothing at the end of it. Against the lower league teams I always think you need to play a physical game, and really could've done with Philips and Kane. We started with 7 experienced senior players, with 2 on the bench, which is always going to be tough. My worry is that some of those experienced players don't even look good enough (e.g. - Gordon). Crawford was actually the best player on the park when he came on, and Considine was decent, the rest were a worry.

[templeofsaints]

1 minute ago, Linky said:

The squad is threadbare and would struggle in the Championship. We looked fairly positive at times, and certainly got the ball forward more quickly than under Davidson, but with nothing at the end of it. Against the lower league teams I always think you need to play a physical game, and really could've done with Philips and Kane. We started with 7 experienced senior players, with 2 on the bench, which is always going to be tough. My worry is that some of those experienced players don't even look good enough (e.g. - Gordon). Crawford was actually the best player on the park when he came on, and Considine was decent, the rest were a worry.

This. Experienced players let us down. McGowan and Wright looked like strangers and barely linked up on the right flank. Considine is too slow and Gordon was outmuscled too easily. Add to that the constant hoofball to try and find May or over Careys head and out of play and it made for a frustrating afternoon. 

At least the youngsters put in some better effort.  Max, Cammy and Ferguson had decent enough games. 

We need some quality in the squad and a team that plays to one another's strengths. Too much today was kick and hope just like the last 2 years

[Cagey]

Hope this convinces Macca and whoever holds the purse strings we need signings. We are short up front even if Clark and Kane are ever fit. May as a lone striker who is rarely in the box but we need midfielders who could do what Hallberg did when he was supporting the striker.

6 stress free weeks and now back to this. I wish at times I could walk away.

[templeofsaints]

10 minutes ago, Cagey said:

Hope this convinces Macca and whoever holds the purse strings we need signings.

Two signings expected imminently according to postmatch press conf

[R.B.B:- Adz]

McGowan, Considine, Carey and Crawford do not justify the wages they are being paid… bin them and sign replacements 

[saintee in exile]

3 minutes ago, templeofsaints said:

Two signings expected imminently according to postmatch press conf

I'd be shocked if they are good ones

[Havana Saint]

That was a horrendous watch. The team is nowhere near Championship quality nevermind Premier League. At least 5 players needed. Young lads and auld faced poor.  Does Liam Gordon ever find a St Johnstone player when he tries to pass?

 

[templeofsaints]

14 minutes ago, Havana Saint said:

Does Liam Gordon ever find a St Johnstone player when he tries to pass?

 

That's one of the aspects of our play that really bugged me today. If we're going to play long balls from defence then they need to be a) accurate and b) not just be targeted at the wee striker or a risky ball out on the wing over the head of our winger. 

Ideally we should have a holding midfielder come short pick up the ball and take it forward / spread it wide safely without just giving the ball away. Midge was great at that and arguably Cammy/Philips were coming into that role towards the end of the season. Gordon is not and will never be a skilful ball player - he initially had Jason to do all that for him. Considine can pass the ball but seems intent on knackering himself running up the park instead these days leaving us more exposed.

[Lubolzer]

31 minutes ago, templeofsaints said:

Does Liam Gordon ever find a St Johnstone player when he tries to pass?

Is he even looking for a St Johnstone player?

Looks like a boot up the park.

[RandomGuy]

Its an easy way out, Considine is as bad.

Cant see any options, hoof it down the channels. 

[Cagey]

9 minutes ago, RandomGuy said:

Its an easy way out, Considine is as bad.

Cant see any options, hoof it down the channels. 

Like Liam but the last couple of seasons he has been poor.

I might be wrong but I am sure when we had a decent run last season Gordon was out injured.

[Strawman]

Am I the only one that wouldn’t be disappointed if we tried to get Euan O’Reilly back ?

I liked him when he was with us and was hoping he d play today, that was when I was thinking we d win comfortably. Thought he was best player for first hour.

Shocking performance and nowhere even remotely close to what Macca promised.

Can be no excuses, against a part time team who couldn’t name a full bench.

[cristo]

15 minutes ago, Strawman said:

Am I the only one that wouldn’t be disappointed if we tried to get Euan O’Reilly back ?

I liked him when he was with us and was hoping he d play today, that was when I was thinking we d win comfortably. Thought he was best player for first hour.

Shocking performance and nowhere even remotely close to what Macca promised.

Can be no excuses, against a part time team who couldn’t name a full bench.

No, you're not. He was the best player on the park and it was only at half time I discovered he used to play for us, didn't recognise the name at all. Their number 10 was good as well, Matty Yates I think?

Max was our best player, great vision in picking out and making a quick, accurate pass. Not the finished article yet but the potential is there to become as close as you'll see to an Ali McCann since..eh, Ali McCann 

[Saline Saint]

2 hours ago, templeofsaints said:

Two signings expected imminently according to postmatch press conf

“Just two?” After that shit show today.

[pezza70]

Let’s take a positive out of this result, all the talk from Macca regarding us playing upbeat football which as a fan is great to read and hear, he has been given a serious dose of reality of our teams massive short falls, hopefully this is the wake up call he needs just how far off the pace we are and the last six games last year are long gone 

[Stumpy1949]

7 hours ago, Saints11 said:

Not correct. Stenhousemuir 3 pts, Ayr 2 pts, Stirling 1 pt & Saints & Alloa 0 pts. Doesn’t help Saints much.

[RandomGuy]

You can get through on 8pts, but only a few teams have I think, so 9pts is the only acceptable target.

[pezza70]

St Johnstone manager Steven MacLean apologised to supporters following Saturday's Viaplay Cup loss at Stenhousemuir.

Euan O'Reilly secured League 2 Stenny a 1-0 win against Premiership Saints.

We can still win the group if we win our three games, but that performance today isn't acceptable," MacLean told Saints TV.
We need to be better than that. I'm really disappointed for the fans. I take responsibility for my team and all I can do is apologise to the supporters and hopefully put it right next week."

St Johnstone next face hosts Alloa Athletic in Group A, on Saturday.
I'm not pleased but we've got to move on and try and get better," MacLean said.

I still felt we should have scored two or three goals but we didn't put our bodies on the line to get on the end of things and that final pass at times was lacking."

[PSJ.84]

****ing hell standards are really low if we’re happy with signing Euan O’Reilly. Whilst it’s concerning, I don’t buy some of the knicker-wetting going on here. Performance-wise yesterday arguably worse than Kelty, particularly once the goal went in. Still 6 weeks to go in the window, with at least one signing imminent, plus we’ve 5 players out injured who’d all be there or there about when it comes to the first eleven. 
 

This season might well be a total disaster, but I’d much rather we went down trying to bleed youngsters into the first team, compared with the shite we’ve had to endure the last two seasons. 

[Pat McGroin]

33 minutes ago, PSJ.84 said:

****ing hell standards are really low if we’re happy with signing Euan O’Reilly. Whilst it’s concerning, I don’t buy some of the knicker-wetting going on here. Performance-wise yesterday arguably worse than Kelty, particularly once the goal went in. Still 6 weeks to go in the window, with at least one signing imminent, plus we’ve 5 players out injured who’d all be there or there about when it comes to the first eleven. 
 

This season might well be a total disaster, but I’d much rather we went down trying to bleed youngsters into the first team, compared with the shite we’ve had to endure the last two seasons. 

This is more or less where I’m at. 
 

Yes, we evidently need players in. But with a tight budget, those cannot be filler. I’m behind Macca sticking to his guns and looking for quality. Even if that means a little pain for now. It might just be a necessary evil. 
 

a few weeks back I was thinking we probably just about had enough for the LC groups but we’ve lost Brown, Cammy, Dan and Kane to injury since then. That’s 4 out of the 10 that would have have started if fit. 

[Cagey]

Such is our standing in Scottish football that a makeshift Championship team getting beat from a First division side is bigger news than a Premiership team being beaten by a bottom half Second division side.

The players should be ashamed.

[Cagey]

I think the best we can hope for is one of the 3 runners up spots but we have to find someone to put the ball in the net.

I think we saw last season that May up front on his own doesn't work but Macca has gone back to it. It will be a back 5 next.