St.Johnstone V Hearts - Wednesday 7th February


SaintJet
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Watching Kirk and Levein go mad at points when players were picking sideways and backwards passes, makes me think that they want to see us on the front foot more.

The main issue for me, is we didn't have a player on the park that could find space and move the ball forward. I am not defending Max, but it's hard to pick a forward pass when you have a single striker surrounded by defenders and two wing-backs choosing to stay really deep.

The biggest issue for me is that in order for this formation to be more creative, both wing-backs need to be attack minded when in possession. Get Wright back/Fran used to pressing on and find a new player for the left side and I think the team will suddenly be able to create much more. Especially if we play with two up top.

On Wednesday, Dare was obviously told to push forward when in possession, but it looked to me like he was told to advance into a central position (crowded) in order to give passing options to Fran. Fran looked hesitant to get forward early on and in turn the idea wasn't working. Dare was getting some stick from the crowd, but it was clearly the position he was told to advance into.

Defensively they also looked confused. Every time Hearts full-back went forward and stayed very wide, neither boy seemed to know who should be picking him up.

They have sorted the basics and made us alot more solid. I actually think we now have the tools to improve the attacking play and one more player on the left side would really make a difference. It's not been great viewing, but I trust the process just now.

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22 hours ago, blueheaven said:

Personally I think we should have tried to send Olufunwa out on loan in the second half of this season to get him some much-needed game time and experience. I think there might be a player there but he seems incredibly raw and needs a lot of instruction.

We'd have been better off with James Brown in Olufunwa's role last night. I know Brown's been told he can go but we're still paying him so why not use him if he's still needed until we're able to further strengthen in the summer? Last night we didn't even use up our full allocation of allowed players on the bench, but we had five strikers on there and only one defender. I'd have thought that at the very least, a versatile right-sided defender like Brown would make sense to have as an option on the bench in case of injury.

unfortunately for Brown, his attitude since being told he can find another club has been awful, so much so that he is now just training with the kids.  So that is why he will not even be considered for a spot on the bench anywhere. 

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16 hours ago, Cagey said:

Not sure about decent performances .Last 10 mins in this game and second half against Aberdeen. The rest has been dire.

First half we let Hearts dominate by sitting in our own half and never ventured out .

The odd punt up to our striker didn't work but it did for Shankland without whom Hearts are an average .

I'm not sure what you expect really. We're in 10th place, Hearts are comfortably in 3rd. It was a close game, with both teams playing defensively, won by a player who is too good for the team that won. Not so long ago we were getting pumped 4-0 by the might Stirling Albion. Only just losing 1-0 to Hearts, I'm quite content with.

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54 minutes ago, Linky said:

I'm not sure what you expect really. We're in 10th place, Hearts are comfortably in 3rd. It was a close game, with both teams playing defensively, won by a player who is too good for the team that won. Not so long ago we were getting pumped 4-0 by the might Stirling Albion. Only just losing 1-0 to Hearts, I'm quite content with.

That's the problem with this support. Happy to accept mediocrity.

We are a different team than the one that got knocked out of league cup .

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2 hours ago, Linky said:

I'm not sure what you expect really. We're in 10th place, Hearts are comfortably in 3rd. It was a close game, with both teams playing defensively, won by a player who is too good for the team that won. Not so long ago we were getting pumped 4-0 by the might Stirling Albion. Only just losing 1-0 to Hearts, I'm quite content with.

I think in a way that's what makes it frustrating. If they'd looked streets ahead of us on the pitch on Wednesday night, and we'd kept it to 1-0, I think people would have been grudgingly content that we'd got an OK result against a far better team. But to me it looked like if we could just have been that little bit braver and more positive, we might have been able to get something more from that game. Hearts didn't look like anything special and we showed towards the end of the game that we had it in our armoury to cause them problems.

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3 hours ago, Cagey said:

I actually thought Gallagher was ok ,better than turnaround Robinson.

The only other player I was disappointed in ws Max. Don't know what has happened to him since Levein came in. Is he trying too hard for his uncle or does he feel his place is safe in the team.

Give me one example of Gallagher being “ok” (pretty low bar to be “ok” by the way).

I tell you why you are disappointed, it’s because up until Levein came in, you were watching Sven Sprangler playing the same role, just a lot better. Tackling, passing, positioning, leadership all been downgraded blindly sticking with Max. Incredibly frustrating considering a midfield including Phillips, Matt Smith and Sven Sprangler would probably be the most naturally gifted and balanced midfield outside of the old firm. Persistently plonk Max in there and it all becomes very average.

Edited by R.B.B:- Adz
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2 hours ago, Linky said:

I'm not sure what you expect really. We're in 10th place, Hearts are comfortably in 3rd. It was a close game, with both teams playing defensively, won by a player who is too good for the team that won. Not so long ago we were getting pumped 4-0 by the might Stirling Albion. Only just losing 1-0 to Hearts, I'm quite content with.

Yeah , Le vein quoted as saying he is happy with a 1-0 defeat to 3replaced Hearts .

So he like you happy with mediocrity .

He set up not to lose but we did lose . Failure.

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40 minutes ago, blueheaven said:

I think in a way that's what makes it frustrating. If they'd looked streets ahead of us on the pitch on Wednesday night, and we'd kept it to 1-0, I think people would have been grudgingly content that we'd got an OK result against a far better team. But to me it looked like if we could just have been that little bit braver and more positive, we might have been able to get something more from that game. Hearts didn't look like anything special and we showed towards the end of the game that we had it in our armoury to cause them problems.

Yeah, I'd rather be frustrated that we could've won rather than look like League 1 material, which we were before. The fact that we are frustrated is a sign of progress.

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5 hours ago, Linky said:

I'm not sure what you expect really. We're in 10th place, Hearts are comfortably in 3rd. It was a close game, with both teams playing defensively, won by a player who is too good for the team that won. Not so long ago we were getting pumped 4-0 by the might Stirling Albion. Only just losing 1-0 to Hearts, I'm quite content with.

I find it hard to argue with this.

Some people are getting ahead of themselves with their aspirations. The main objective this season is to stay in the league. If we do stay up and we are still not making any progress under Levein I'll understand the critisim.

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