Kmcalpin

I would have taken a point prior to kick off, as I didn't expect us to come away with anything. So, not a bad result and we're off bottom. A few players like Donnelly, Slattery and now Shields still getting up to speed. That said our midfield and defence are still big worries. Hopefully Ojala will add a bit of presence and leadership at the back. O'Donnell should not shoulder all of the blame for Saints' goal - someone, not sure who, made a blunder and failed to connect before the ball even reached him. Defence at the moment doesn't give rise to any confidence. Still some fresh blood required.

To be fair, Donnelly is still getting up to speed after being out for the best part of a year. Once he's full fit, we'll see.... Maguire was pretty anonymous today and we do need a creative player in there. As has been said often before the 4-3-3 formation puts the midfield under great pressure.

I know where you're coming from but GA has said very recently that he wants to add to the squad to cover for Covid and other eventualities. I reckon we still need another cente back and a creative midfielder, so thats 2 extra bodies. Hints that he's also looking at another striker as well.

This game has probably come 3 or 4 weeks too early for us as we're still a few players short. Still, the proof of the pudding and all that......

Who knows. It wouldn't be the first time that a player hasn't fitted in at a particular club. We need to look no further back than John Sutton, who just didn't perform at Tynecastle due to the way he was being played as a lone striker.

Any update on this worthy collection?

Absolutely. That defending needs to start with our midfield. Let's hope we make St Johnstone work damned hard to get anywhere near our box.

Fingers crossed that the self isolation outbreak amongst our young players has not/will not spread to the first team squad.

A dangerous assumption on this site. There's always at least one poster..........

Saints will be hard working, organised and solid as ever. You're right our defensive frailties could be crucial.

Both are fine as back up but thats it.

Highland Council allowed Ross County to welcome up to 300 St Johnstone fans last Saturday. However I believe that Perth & Kinross Council has stipulated that no Well fans should be admitted this weekend. I'm sure McDiarmid Park is larger than Victoria Park. Wheres the logic in that?

Absolutely Iain. This is possibly my biggest frustration as a Well fan. We've been doing this for years. For Jake Carroll read Stevie Hammell - he was doing this for season after season. I don't know if its because of individual lack of positional awareness; a 4-3-3 formation (I doubt it though); or managerial instructions. We do it irrespective if we're retreating after a broken down attack or whether we're under the cosh and defending deeply. Opponents very rarely give us this freedom. In the LC group stage games, I frequently noticed opposing teams successfully crowding out our wide players with up to 3 defenders at times. If we get a ball into the box from a wide area we usually have to work damned hard to do it. By making it easy for opponents to cross or pass into our box from a wide area it puts unnecessary and unwanted pressure onto our central defenders and keeper. Puzzled.com

Over a long spell we have largely been a stable club off the pitch due to a good set of Directors and to a lesser extent good managers. Over that time we haven't tended to have great teams and very poor teams as other clubs have had. Less of a fluctuation if you like. Ridiculous stadium criteria? I didn't agree with it but rules are rules but we stuck to them, whereas Falkirk tried to get round them. They reaped what they sowed.

I agree. He is yet to develop further but he looks, at the moment, to be ok as back up to Slattery perhaps?

Is Barry Maguire the creative player we need in engine room?

Result was in no way unexpected but extremely disappointing to lose 3 goals at home. On the plus side we look to have a decent strikeforce with the bonus that Shields has yet to feature. What we lack is a bit of creativity in midfield and another solid centre back to partner Ojala. We have to take into account that Donnelly and Slattery are not match fit, but they will improve. We badly need a creative midfielder to augment these two. The defence is still giving cause for concern though but will improve once Ojala slots in with a new partner. Solidity and reliability is again a quality thats proving elusive for us, but I'm hopeful we can address that before the month is up. Penalties are already causing us problems and that won't be rectified until we stop giving opposing teams time and space to pass into our box, sling crosses over and get shots in on goal. The more time they get in our box the more penalties they'll win. Our midfielders and full backs will need to work far harder and smarter to deny them opportunities. Up front, Van Veen looks very promising and I'm looking forward to seeing Conor Shields enter the fray. Given that we've still got players to sign, and yet others to get match fit I'll be quietly happy if we can take 4 points from our next 3 games.

Hopefully we're not trying to beat last season's penalty conceded record! Thats 2 in 5 games so far.

Absolutely. Pre match I was expecting a 2 goal defeat but so far we've scored 2 and limited Hibs to a couple. We know we're weak in midfield and defence and I'm sure GA will rectify that.

Three?

No problem with that. I think St Johnstone can easily afford to exclude away fans. Perhaps Perth & Kinross Council had a say.

No doubt they mentioned him as an ex Well youngster.

On purely numbers alone I agree Greg, but its possible someone could be shipped out (just speculation on my part). Presumbaly you're counting McGinley and Lamie as left sided centre halves. However, what is the overall split of central defenders i.e. left or right sided? In terms of midfielders its the mix or balance if you like, thats lacking. How many of those 6 players are creative? GA has made various comments about bringing yet more players in - surely they won't all be strikers?

On paper, a good signing.

So it doesn't matter how you achieve the results on the pitch? Maybe a case of the old adage thats there's just 2 golden rules "Just do it" and "Don't get caught".