SPL 4 - Celtic Away

Perfection

As with last week’s report, this is a balanced article. Sunday’s victory, irrespective of the sheer pleasure, counts for one thirty eighth of our SPL campaign. Mackay’s deflected shot is our only goal of the season and Derek McInnes has done nothing to redeem himself in my eyes.

Now that we’ve cleared the air, some other points need to be noted. The lack of fans was disgraceful. Irrespective of whether or not you rate Del, the players or the board; St Johnstone are a great club, a local club, our club. They deserve our support and we deserve days like Sunday. Indeed, supporting St Johnstone will never be better than the moment Mr Winters called a halt to the play. Beating the Old Firm is special; beating them in their home stadium is the pinnacle.

Jody Morris, a man who unexpectedly played 10 yards higher than any other game this season, says we rode our luck; he’s right. However, luck was not the defining factor. We created chances and played with a conviction that simply hasn’t been seen in our opening three games. Other than Sheridan, we had no failures in the team.

If you wanna read about Derek McInnes, you’ll have to wait because we’re starting the review in our 18 yard box. Peter Enckleman is far from my favourite player, indeed he’s my third favourite goalkeeper! The big man looks and acts like a man with no belief in his own ability. His kicking is dreadful, his eye for a cross seems wonky and his shot-stopping has never filled me with confidence.

In the early moments of the match he was involved in a controversial incident. Having watched the incident on several occasions, I simply can’t decide if referee Winters got the decision right. Enckleman’s reaction suggested that he was guilty, but TV pictures were far from clear. The good news is that Commons slipped during his run-up and hit a penalty that was as poor as Liam’s last week. Enckleman parried the ball back into play before the Saintees cleared their lines. It was from Enckleman’s only save, but it was the only unexpected save.

Despite the praise being heaped on Big Pete, the fact remains that many of his saves were only possible as a result of poor finishing from Celtic; much like Smith’s performance at Ibrox, the fans over playing the performance of Mr Enckleman. Perversely, you could argue that his showing cements his place in the team and that is to the detriment of the club....

At right back, the amiable wee ginger, Alan Maybury, made his first appearance of the season. I certainly wouldn’t have put him in at right back; I’d have Mackay in his normal position with Maybs in right midfield. Nevertheless, right back was where he was asked to play and boy did he play well. Despite taking a right clattering in his own box, the wee fella performed admirably throughout. Only once did he get properly caught and that stemmed from slipping on the very wet pitch.

Towards the end of the game, he tired and Jamie Adams was stripped to come on. That clearly provided the necessary shot in the arm; Maybs dug deep and finished strongly, keeping Adams on the touchline and costing him a few bob in the process. He has his doubters, but I’m not among them and neither is Dave Mackay who said, "Alan Maybury came in and did a great job at right back and the manager asked me to do the same just in front of him. It's not a role I'm particularly familiar with but I thought the two of us linked up really well." Amen, to that.

The right sided centre half is the latest addition to the 101 Saint hall of greatness. David McCracken’s capture left me cold in June, but as ever I judge players after their first game. Given that I’m a pessimist, I doubted my own judgement after watching him stroll through the Dunfermline game; watching him stroll through the game at

Parkhead confirmed that we have a great player on our books.

Retaining his place as left sided centre back, despite three horrific performances to date, was Frazer Wright. The big man has shown nothing to merit a start, let alone a place on the bench, but was arguably the man of the match. Only two big mistakes spring to mind, one in each half; the first resulted in the injury to Maybury as he gave too much space to the Celtic attacker, the second one was at the death when he took a rush of blood and waded into a battle which Jody Morris had under control. He escaped the second one, as the linesman adjudged some sort of offence had taken place.

I write what I see and simply won’t allow favouritism to blur my reports. Frazer has been awful to date, but he was great on Sunday. If he can retain that form, I’ll become a fan; if he reverts to the form shown in our other games, I’ll stay on his back. As I said at the top, it’s only one game. No decisions will be made, nor opinions changed, on the basis of a 90 minute showing.

At left back, Callum Davidson returned following a leg injury. The former Scotland international wing back is carrying a Duberry sized belly and no longer enjoys a youthful athleticism but he still has talent in abundance. Given that Danny Grainger was never gonna be in our price range, Callum is a cracking replacement. Del spoke of having “the right types” at the club, Callum is such a man. His performance on Sunday simply can’t be viewed in isolation.

Times without number he linked with Liam Craig to snuff out a Celtic attack. It wasn’t pretty at times but it did work well. Liam backed off where possible, inviting the attacker to go wide and Callum stopping the cross ball. It’s a dangerous tactic because if the attacker had cut inside, he’d have a decent goal scoring chance, the Hoops players failed to switch on to this and as such, praise must go to both men. I’d still have preferred to see Liam stand up to his man.

Liam himself is like a man re-born this year. I wrote many times that last year was just a bad year for Liam, this year he’s proved me right. I couldn’t be happier for him. Liam, to my mind, embodies all that is great about this club. Both Liam and Graham Gartland are the types that turn up to under 19 games to support our young guns. They are humble types who earn wages that would embarrass some of our fans. They love the game, they enjoy our club and they do us proud. We should be delighted to have boys like them at our club.

Speaking of which, who wants Jody Morris dropped now?! I can’t deny that he often annoys me with some of his “safety first football”, but he has skill in abundance. The real frustration with Jody is that Del instructs him to play too deep. Sadly I no longer receive dressing room texts so I can’t tell you what was said on Sunday. What I can tell you is that Jody played at least 10 yards higher up the park and the difference was incredible.

Rather than Murray Davidson, blundering forward with his dyslexic feet, Jody was in a more attacking position and able to spray incisive, probing passes which led to goal mouth attacks. Towards the end of the game, in our final foray towards the Lisbon Lions Stand, he was our furthest forward player. The only similar performance from Jody was at Firhill in the first half of the game when Irvine made that incredible goal mouth clearance with a diving header. If he adopts this position against Livi, we’ll annihilate the lions.

Alongside him, I hate to say that the game once again by-passed Murray Davidson. It’s very difficult to establish what’s going with young Muzz. Against Aberdeen, he was simply the best; in all our other games he’s been poor and unable to grab hold of the game. If this continues, he will lose his place in the team. I fervently hope he gets back on track and earns a big money move. I tipped him for the top when we signed him and now we desperately need money. For all concerned, I hope his form changes quickly.

The final midfielder is natural wing back Dave Mackay. You won’t like this, but it needs to be said, Dave’s shot at goal wasn’t great. Furthermore, big Fraser would have made an easy stop were it not for a wicked deflection in the six yard box. Thing is, that’s partly irrelevant. By striking a ball, especially on a volley or half-volley, you create the possibility for such circumstances. Dave had the option to shoot because of a great cross and because he was in space. We played 4-4-2, by the way.

So the front pairing was Sheridan and Sandaza, or should I say chalk and cheese? In Cillian Sheridan we have a man for whom football seems to be a dastardly inconvenience to his business of having fun, whilst Fran seems to embody the best parts of a talented, schoolboy striker. Feisty, determined, aggressive, confident and blessed with a velvet touch; he looked a constant thorn in the flesh of the Hoops. He has shown enormous promise since his capture and vindicated, in my book at least, Derek’s claim that he’d make exciting signings. Cillian Sheridan is a thoroughly miserable signing. Talent hidden by lethargy shall be his epitaph.

He looks unfit, he plays without heart, he’s contact lenses seem to come with blinkers fitted as standard and yet underneath his vices, there’s a pretty talented footballer and he comes out to play every ten games. If only he’d tell us which ten games.

So, I guess we better discuss Mr McInnes then. We’ll, I can’t be bothered. Other than allowing Sheridan and Muzz to start, he got things right. At the crucial moment, he had the bollocks to make the right subbies and he kept us at 4-4-2 when I feared he’s try to park the bus. The thing is, this is no defining moment of inspiration, no landmark victory. Derek McInnes will return to the 4-3-3/4-5-1 with which he has become so obsessed. He hasn’t learned a thing.

Look at Sunday’s victory, he spoke of sticking two fingers up to folk; well he certainly didn’t stick two fingers to me. I’ve pleaded with him to play 4-4-2, involve Jamie Adams and Sean Higgins. He merely vindicated my authority on the matter. But he needs to explain why having pursued Higgy for a couple of years, he gets no involvement all season until we rock up at Parkhead. Was he treating Parkhead with contempt, as he has on so many previous occasions? Was he just getting game time into fringe players? I don’t know, I’ve given up trying to fathom Del. He’s a crazy little fella, with totally bizarre ideas on team selection and tactics. If anything, Sunday merely caused frustration that we’ve wasted great points by playing silly shapes. He doesn’t learn, he’s too arrogant to do so. Check out this quote:

“We tried to be positive with two strikers and we got our just rewards.” Why not try it against other teams? Is it because he backed himself in a corner at the Dunkeld Road club when he called me an “idiot” for stating that 4-4-2 is the only way to play the game?

Two texts keep coming back to me, both from the dressing room of St Johnstone last season. One stated that Del was childish, the other said he treats Ando like a c@nt. I remembered that when I heard McInnes celebrate a momentous victory by saying; "It's great because it's like two fingers up to a lot of people who I think have started to doubt us this year; and I know who they are.”

Del must go.