Steve Lomas and the Deathly Hush
Steve Lomas has been taken aback by the Scottish training facilities since his arrival three months ago. One can only imagine what his private thoughts are about the level of support his team gets at home.
Let’s put aside the argument that “we pay our money, we can say what we like”. We are sitting in fourth place in the SPL; unlike St Mirren, Inverness, Killie and Dunfermline we are through to the next round without the need to play an extra game. Not bad for a club that budgeted to finish eleventh. Our rookie manager has made very few mistakes and our performances at home have been much improved under his stewardship.
Folk also have very short memories. I’ve read much about what a great cup tie we witnessed at Glebe Park in 2011, I’ve read very little about how we only just scraped a win in the replay with a stuttering performance on McDiarmid’s tattie field.
At kick off on Saturday, everyone connected with Saints would have taken a victory in any circumstance. In the end, we got a comfortable albeit turgid win. None of the players can hold their heads particularly high after that sort of performance, but neither can the home support.
Steve Lomas didn’t lambast his players, nor should he have done so, but his tenure in the stand was notable by its brevity; he cut a most irritated figure for the bulk of the afternoon. He wasn’t helped by what appeared to be poor communication from his players. Murray Davidson gave a very clear indication that he wanted to be subbed, Mooner was shouted to the dugout yet Muzz, despite going down injured in front of Enckleman, stayed on for the 90. There was some confusion over Lomas’ gesture to Fran. Some folk thinking the gaffer was asking more of Fran and threatening him withdrawal, others thinking that he was re-assuring Fran that he’d be off in five minutes. Whatever the truth, Lomas picked the right team and they got the job done.
I love the fact that we scored very early in both halves, yet some expert has questioned Lomas’ team talks... Irony not lost on him, then! Once again the big ginge delivers a much needed result. We have three very tricky fixtures coming up and we need to ensure we get some points from the next nine. It’s not impossible that we could win all three, but it’s equally feasible for us to lose all three. We must work extremely hard to ensure we stay on course to sneak into the top six.
It’s worth considering that Saints are struggling to find decent pitches to train on at the moment. Many first team regulars are unable to train on the Astroturf so getting ball time into players hasn’t been easy. The pitch behind the east stand isn’t suitable in its current format. It would be folly for the club to spend money on McDiarmid until the new stadium/road matter has been resolved and that won’t be in time for the summer spend.
I’ve said it to death over the last few reports but we need solidarity and unity between; coaches, players and fans if we are to sneak into the top six. Outside of the park, I am all for freedom of speech and disagreements – I keep arguing with myself about Enckleman – but in the park the negativity and reckless abuse is bang out of order. I’m not the biggest fan of our club captain, but to lambast him as not being good enough is clearly nonsense.
Even the players who have grievances with Jody wouldn’t deny his undoubted ability. He still sits quite deep at times, but it’s clear to see that Lomas is working at making the midfield more fluid and that Jody is an integral part of that change. Personally, I remain firm in the belief that Mooner is a better player, we’ll probably not get the chance to see that much over the coming months unless Jody gets an injury or a ticket to Bristol. He judgement and skill let him down badly for the Brechin goal, though the striker reacted well and showed great strength against Ando and great bravery against Enckleman. He also finished it with great confidence given the tricky nature of the pitch.
It’s important to recognise that the ball was always out of Anderson’s reach, so kicking it out of play wasn’t an option. When he saw Enckleman on one of his outfield foray’s he had little option but to try and clear a path for Big Pete to get his boot to the ball. As at Dunfermline, it seemed that Enckleman hesitated when he came off his line and that made all the difference. The televised coverage was very poor so we’ll never know if my supposition was right or wrong, all that matters is Morris fecked up and we lost a goal as a result. Other than a well worked move late in the game, they didn’t threaten us much after that.
The back four were in decent form. Dave Mackay’s crossing was very poor and Alan Maybury probably could have been more adventurous against lower league opposition. That said, Mackay has been in great form ever since Lomas arrived and Maybury slotted in so well at left back that we simply didn’t miss Callum Davidson – that’s praise. We are very lucky to still have Maybury on board. Lomas would do well to ensure that Maybs gets a new deal sooner rather than later. He always seems to play in our important wins.
McCracken and Anderson had a curious afternoon. The wind was horrendous, the pitch was tricky and the midfield very as lazy as they’ve under Lomas yet they really had very little to do. They still put their bodies on the line but there were no really outstanding moments from either of them. Good players though – let’s hope they don’t get split up for the visit of Glasgow Blue on Saturday.
In midfield, the gaffer has a dilemma on his hands. Finnigan simply hasn’t cut the mustard on the right wing and a change would be nice ahead of the Rangers game. His options are very limited. We need to ensure that Davidson isn’t risked for the game as it’s the “least winnable” of the next three, that means that the defence should remain unchanged for next week.
He might choose to play Haber wide right, but that’s a waste. He might choose to put Mooner wide right but it’s not a position he plays well. Then it boils down to Robbo (who has never played well for us) or one of the bairns. Both Rikki and Scotty deserve a chance, but playing against Rangers is a big ask, especially when they haven’t played a competitive game for almost two months. Oh aye, the overweight Wullie Gibson is here until 22 January...happy days.
Given that, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him go with a five man midfield, hopefully with Mooner in the most advanced role and Haber on the right. That gives solidarity with the ability to move forward quickly and break in numbers. Of course if he goes to 4-4-2 for the second half, I’ll be delighted.
Sandaza has been a man in the news over recent weeks and his agent has probably been called every football insult by the board and the management. Fran ought to be old and wise enough to recognise why he ended up at Saints in the first place. Of course football clubs and managers are often as fickle and thick as the average fan; but he had few, if any, admirers last August.
Rumours continue to circulate that he didn’t want to play against Dunfermline and rumours also suggest that he is a poor worker at training. I don’t know enough to comment on the East End Park story but he’s certainly not the worst player at training, far from it. He doesn’t come in “under the weather”, he hasn’t ballooned in weight during his time with us and he managed to turn up for training over the festive period. That puts him three places ahead of some...
My own opinion is that nobody will front the cash to release him. We don’t need the money that badly and few clubs will be happy to pay the requisite fee when they can secure his signature on a pre-contract agreement. It would be different if a club could trust him to stay for two and a half years without causing bother.
One way he might be sold is if Rangers really have secured a deal with HMRC. It’s feasible that he could go to Ibrox in a double part-exchange deal that sees Murray Davidson head west with Cole or Wylde coming to us. As Steves Lomas and Brown have said, the deal must be right for St Johnstone. We will not roll over and let Rangers tickle our balls,
Three final comments:
- The referee was a joke – for both sides.
- Gerry McLaughlin didn’t deserve to be red carded – neither foul merited a yellow. I was ashamed of Fran and Marcus.
- Our home crowd is a pitiful disgrace. Would love to see us clap for 90 minutes solid at a home game, bet it wouldn’t last three. We act like a bunch of uncommitted, passionless hangers-on. If we continue to behave like that, we’ll not get top six because we won’t win enough games at home.
The atmosphere when the players run out affects their mental state, that’s beyond any doubt. It’s only natural that any player will take confidence from hearing a raucous noise heaping adulation on them; it’s the main reason why venues such as Parkhead, Ibrox, Tynecastle and Easter Road are tricky places to win. When an army marches into hand to hand combat they use noise to intimidate their opponents. If it’s good enough for warfare, it’s good enough for football.
Lomas cannot make McDiarmid a fortress without our help, it’s embarrassing that we’re not doing more to help him. Come on folks; let’s try uplifting noises, positive cheers and encouraging clapping. It costs nothing, but it could be priceless. Please help our club!
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