SPL3 - Dunfermline @ Home

A penny dropped, a bottle crashed...

Much was assumed of this report before I started to write. Many accusations and rumours have surrounded my emotions during and after Saturday’s game. The truth is what follows.

I am a passionate fan of St Johnstone. That involves striving to improve the club in any way possible. It also means that, on various occasions, I say/write things which I later regret. What it also means, is that I hurt with every point dropped; less so against the Old Firm, more so against SPL minnows and lower league opposition. Saturday hurt at the time and continues to sting my heart tonight.

All know my feelings on Derek McInnes and I will endeavour to report the game rather than use this piece to force pressure on our board. Unlike the majority of the forumers on WAP, I have remained consistent in my views over several years. I have enough moral fibre and intellect to form an opinion and thereafter adhere to that opinion. I also have enough nous to amend my position where appropriate.

I wanted Del sacked last season and the season before that. I have rarely seen any talent in Murray Davidson and this season has again highlighted his failings. I have always believed in Jamie Adams and Steven Anderson; the foolish behaviour of our manager does not change my mind. Derek McInnes is tactically inept and has no idea how to sign to players, when to sign players nor does he understand which type of player is necessary to do a job.

Another thing to get clear is that Jody Morris, whilst not blameless, is not the villain our half-wit fans perceive him as. He arrived here as an attacking, goal scoring midfielder. At the end of Saturday’s game, he showed that his attacking play remains of a high level. Our fans bemoan the link between midfield and the front line and blame Morris. Look instead to the dugout. Del is the man responsible for creating the “Jody Role”. Do these fans really think that Jody prefers to forego the glory of scoring for the dirt of defending? In a midfield lacking width and drive, how is he supposed to find a man?

Of course there are times when I wished he’d gamble on a through ball rather than give the ball to a centre half, but when you think that Dunfermline had two chances in the game (both half chances, actually) hiss philosophy isn’t that bad. Playing in a midfield of three will never suit him, though. I fundamentally disagree with Jody when it comes to footballing philosophy. I find his modernity to be inefficient. Derek McInnes called me an “idiot” for suggesting that 4-4-2 is the only way to win games of football. If that’s so, I relish his answer to this question; “When did we last beat an SPL side, in a league match, playing other than 4-4-2?” Readers are free to answer on his behalf.....

So, we started the game wrongly; in every possible way. The team was entirely wrong from goalkeeper to front line. I argued hard for Fran Sandaza to start against the mighty Glasgow Rangers FCLOL, folk now know why. Whilst Morris had an ineffective and half-hearted Murray Davison and an out of position Kevin Moon as his colleagues, the frontline was simply crazy. Carl Finnigan, heavily maligned by fans who hadn’t seen him play, got his first SPL start for Saints, partnering the useless Cillian Sheridan. Marcus Haber was unceremoniously placed in no-man’s land, wide on the right. To compound this ludicrous decision, the trio of central midfielders all seemed to operate in our left of the pitch. Insert ironic comment about tactical genius; remind readers that Bev is selling “In Del we trust T-Shirts in the 208”......

As we move to the backline, the idiocy of McInnes rumbles on. Callum Davidson missed out due to a leg injury, not a hand injury as one forumer intimated. As we all know, Callum Davidson is particularly injury prone; as such you’d expect Del to have a back-up plan. My own backline would have been, Maybury-McCracken-Mackay-Anderson but there are several ways to line up the same four players. Del, for reasons only known to him elected to drop our best defender and retain the bomb scare that is Frazer Wright. Liam Craig, a man slowly getting back to his best, was removed from his customary position on left midfield and forced to play left back. Enckleman continued his heart-stopping act in the sticks. A penny for the thoughts of Mr Mannus.

From the first whistle it was clear that Jim McIntyre’s mob were simply out to avoid a hammering. Despite some very biased reporting, Martin Hardie played a blinder. Linking front to back with irritating ease, he was a constant rock at defensive set pieces and a prickly thorn when they were attacking us. We have a player, cast from the same material but younger, fitter and hungrier; his name is Jamie Adams. Sadly, he seems certain to be a Dundee player before this article gets published.

His “understudy”, Murray Davidson had a very poor game. Murray is a player that truly baffles me. When he signed, I said he was one for the future. Instead, Mr McInnes gave him a regular start and he was a handicap in almost every game.

Last year, when he should have cemented his place in the team he was poor again. At the tail of the season, some awful team performances flattered the blue nose and he was naively called into the full Scotland team. Since then he has had a couple of decent games.

Against Aberdeen he was simply excellent. Lacking in matches and struggling with fitness, he was a commanding figure in midfield. Indeed, he probably earned the point himself. Against Rangers he was awful and against Dunfermline he was anonymous. I cannot fathom how a man with great potential can struggle so badly against mediocrity. What is certain is that Adams would have sparkled like the gem he is.

The lightest midfielder pulled the shortest straw. Kevin Moon, a man with more natural talent than anyone else in the squad, was once again shackled by Derek McInnes. The wee man is a central midfielder, pure and simple. He struggles to play wide right, especially against teams like Rangers and he cannot play wide left against any SPL team. As such, there is no point discussing his performance, suffice to say that when Jody got rattled and bombed forward, Moon filled the Jody role and looked far superior. Nuff said. With our Annual Report set to drop through letterboxes in the coming days, it’s worth mulling over the distinct possibility that Moon not be offered a contract and could be an Aberdeen played in January. That’s right; we could well lose our two best centre midfielders in the coming months.

So what of right midfield, I hear you ask. Well, we were all asking the same questions during the game. It really is the simplest of tasks to observe that Marcus Haber cannot play wide right. Now, as much as I think McInnes is clueless, I am certain that even he knows Haber is wasted out wide. In fact, I suspect the only man in the world who disagrees, posts under the name of Mainstand on the forum. Marcus is certainly working harder this stint, but effort is no match for skill-set. Haber does not have the right attributes to pay wide and therefore struggled, despite the opposition. He showed glimpses of his old self with direct runs and willingness to direct headers towards the goal. There is no doubt the man is a class act; paired through the middle with Sandaza, they’ll trouble many an SPL defence.

Sandaza himself was allowed a short period of the second half to prove his worth and he grasped the opportunity with both hands. Replacing the woeful Cillian Sheridan, Sandaza immediately showed his mettle with a series of bold runs and a boot-full of tricky footwork. He won the penalty with a courageous run into the box and he’ll win more doing the same. Unfortunately, the penalty was a totally debacle. Del’s failure to give clear instruction meant that Sandaza thought he had a right to strike the spot kick and duly collected the ball from the south west corner of the pitch. He marched with style and confidence to the 12 yard plook, only to find Liam standing with his paw out. What followed was a fairly normal situation when a new striker wins a penalty. Derek, clearly ill-prepared for such a scenario, decided that Liam should take the penalty. The rights and wrongs of the decision can be debated endlessly. Suffice to say that Sandaza’s confidence should have swayed McInnes and would have swayed me. They didn’t, Liam’s penalty was poor and we lost a point, at least.

Up until that point, Liam had played very well. We all know he struggles at full-back, but aided by the performance of the visiting team, Liam looked calm and assured throughout. Of course, he would have played better in midfield, but that’s not his fault. We can only judge the players based on the circumstances of the day. The circumstances were a man playing well in a position that’s not naturally his. I have no problem in saluting his efforts.

Alongside him was Frazer Wright and I’m already sick of writing about him. Even when Dunfermline went down to 10 men, he always looked like a man under pressure. His distribution is crap, his timing is crap, his positioning is crap, his heading awful and he doesn’t bully enough. Three consecutive headers, late in the second half, were mis-hit; one going high in the air, the other spinning to his right whilst the third fell far short of its target. Against a true SPL team, those mistakes would be punished....

His partner in central defence was new boy, Cracks. The big man strolled through the game, showing some classy touches and offering real assurance in front of big Pete. It’s easily the most accomplished defensive debut of the millennium. Of course, we must remember that the opposition were awful, but you can only beat what’s put in front of you. It was a great start and the only positive in a dark afternoon.

Cup tie played well on the right, supporting as much as possible and rarely giving the ball away. Defensively, he had nothing to do. Likewise, Enckleman had a boring afternoon. The plus side is that he only screwed up two kicks.

Out of respect, I won’t pass comment of Robertson’s contribution.

It was a horrible day. It hurt at the time and it hurts tonight. It hasn’t catalysed the departure of Del, it simply cost us three easy points.

The training schedule is now ripped up for a couple of weeks and squad rotation will come into play. Parkhead is next, quickly followed by a banana skin cup tie and a derby battle at home. We’ll be out sung and outnumbered in at least two of the games; we need you all to attend, all to support and all to encourage. Away from the ground we can bitch and squabble, in the stadia, we need to urge our troops to victory. Finances are bleak, but our squad is strong – our support should acknowledge this and turn up in force.