A Smooth Progression
All the ingredients for a cup shock were in the mixing bowl on Wednesday night, but by 2130 St Johnstone were confirmed in the ball draw for the next round of the League Cup. Indeed, after just 23 minutes the game was effectively over.
The win against Celtic, started a run of three wins in a week and, with training heavily disrupted by the sequence, changes were perhaps inevitable. The scale of the changes was perhaps unforeseen, especially given that Derek McInnes allegedly denied having an interest in signing Crawley Town’s, Wullie Gibson.
The wide boy, who’s signing I’ve vociferously attacked, started on the left wing and performed fairly well. He flighted in a couple of decent crosses, though worryingly many of them had no bend on them. He drifted out the game completely, and whilst some will justify his lack of fitness, I won’t. Irrespective of his desire to leave Crawley Town, he is a professional football player and he should be fit at all times, especially when negotiating a move. I doubt that our managers are impressed by his fitness levels. His pace, on the other hand, is a much needed asset.
I could only laugh when I read this on the forum, “I would like to see a creative midfielder as most of our current midfielders are all the same kind and we could do with a bit more guile in that area of the pitch.” Guess they don’t like Gibson? Maybe they don’t like tattoos, purple boots and naff hair or maybe they don’t like Leigh Griffiths... Whatever, I’m pleased to say that Gibson was better than feared but regret to say that he doesn’t look good enough for this club. Remember that Cleveland Taylor looked good against, big Fotheringham.
Speaking of fat, former full-backs, Gary Bollan must have been deeply unhappy as he travelled home. His side simply didn’t turn up. Kenny Deuchar was clearly injured and it’s crazy that he was allowed to continue to half time. Wee Boaby Barr, didn’t impress at all when he came on and he was one I’d have put money on causing us bother. I guess they used all their energy humping Dundee.
Other than a couple of petulant challenges, I simply didn’t witness any passion from them. Anyone that thinks they watched a good, old-fashioned cup tie is deluded. We witnessed complete and utter capitulation from a team over-awed by all that was put before them. These circumstances make it very hard to rate St Johnstone’s performance.
What is clear is that we won in a comfortable and professional manner. At no point were we in trouble, at no point did we look flustered. Some are disappointed that we didn’t have a higher tempo in the second half, but that was the natural consequences of having little recovery from Sunday and leading a bunch of haddies by three goals to scud. The drop-off is irrelevant and in no way should it reflect on Derek McInnes.
What does reflect on him, and badly at that, is his constant tinkering. He switched between 4-3-3 and 4-4-2 on four separate occasions, usually whilst giving Wullie Gibson an earful. That’s not how football should be played. He confuses players and leaves them wondering where to stand, how far back to travel and when to release the pass. It was dreadful and I have little doubt that it emanates from Largs.
I guess the only real point of note was the injury to Murray Davidson. A few of us have bemoaned the fact that the club are simply not being pro-active enough to sell off M Davidson; Wednesday night highlighted three areas of concern. Firstly, and most importantly, Jamie Adams is a far better player. It’s no longer a secret that Del rushes players back from real injuries, yet folk don’t find it strange that Adams was so often sidelined with niggles! You decide what’s happening there. As with Kevin Moon, it seems that Del simply won’t play him as a first pick, for reasons known only to himself. We should be looking to have Moon and Adams as our first picks next year, yet somehow I suspect that at least one of them will be gone.
Even now, with Muzz out for a couple of months, it seems unlikely that big Jamie will get a decent run ahead of Moon, Midgie and the infuriating Robbo. The big man’s career is a tragic tale of horror injures and managers that don’t believe in him. Let’s hope that changes soon.
The second factor is that Murray Davidson’s tackles are often mis-timed and always full blooded. As such, it’s almost inevitable that a serious injury will come his way, sooner or later. We don’t want to pay for an injured player and we are doing just that at the moment.
The third point, which was really nailed to the mast on Wednesday, is that we, along with every UK football club are strapped for cash. Our crowd on Wednesday was a paltry 2439, despite entry being slashed to £10 for adults, £5 for concessions and £1 for nippers. The game is on its knees, clubs will go into administration (some might even die) and I suspect in five years time, the face of our sport will have changed dramatically. Whatever happens, it’s important that we remain solvent. Selling players helps the financial situation and we have now lost the chance to sell Murray before January. That’s poor work from our board. We should have issued public statements and whipped up a frenzy, just like Dundee United did with Goodwillie.
Also injured in the game was Frazer Wright, though thankfully not seriously. His injury gave Alan Maybury another run-out and he again performed superbly at right back. The partnership of Anderson and Mackay looked flawless and Liam Craig was just grand at full-back.
Morris deserves a mention too. I defended him earlier this year, blaming McInnes rather than Jody, for the captain’s poor form. Against Livingston, we again saw Morris playing further forward than he traditionally has. He starred in the game, though it’s hard to judge his performance because of the poor opposition. Nevertheless, it’s good to see him play in this advanced role and long may it continue.
The front line is a repeat of the Celtic blog; Sandaza was excellent, Sheridan was awful. There really is little more to add. Sandaza scored three good goals, though again he was flattered by the Livi team. I was so excited by his capture and the rest of the fans now agree with me.
I was disgusted by the capture of Sheridan and remain so. He offers nothing to the team and on Wednesday, he picked the wrong option or pass every single time he got the ball. He needs to go, he serves no purpose and he’s keeping real players like Haber, Higgy and May on the bench.
Overall, it was a satisfactory result and undoubtedly we avoided a banana skin. I simply can’t be happy with the game as it highlighted too many of Del’s flaws; poor tactics, odd man-management, guaranteed starts for Sheridan and poor signings. I remain perturbed by his tenure and fear that we will again fail to capitalise on our squad. Still, we’re in the pot; let’s hope for the best.
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