*** Official St Johnstone v Hearts Match Thread ***

[Bazzas right boot]

2 hours ago, dougal said:

Rather than worry too much about the team selection I'd just like us to actually turn up during the first half. The amount of games where we've been dire in the first half and then turned it around second half is ridiculous.  Let's start on fire and blow teams away rather than chasing games. I think I read somewhere that our last 14 league goals have all come in the 2nd half of games. Let's put the games away by half time and let us fans enjoy the game rather than being nervous for the whole 90 minutes.

 

It's that pesky other team again!

 

we need to give the opposition the memo-

 

"Please don't defend or try,  we'd like to blow you away nice and early and have an easy game.

We have nervous fans, who really, really want to enjoy the game and relax the second half -We'd greatly appreciate your cooperation in this matter"

 

Yours gratefully 

HMFC

 

 

 

 

 

 

[tartofmidlothian]

Same team as Saturday, but I'd go Kingsley or Rowles for Sibbick, Vargas for Oda and possibly Fraser for Grant, if the coaching staff think he's fit enough. He certainly looked keen on Saturday.

[Hannibal]

https://www.perthstjohnstonefc.co.uk/travelling-support

 

A - 25

B - 105

C - 154

D - 110

E - Not yet on sale

Total - 394

 

[By The Light..]

Hearts even money fav with the cream cookies, hopefully we can blow them away in the 1st half but if not I'll be going to bet in play in the 2nd half for a Hearts win.

 

Levein will build from the back and set up to frustrate

[Benny Klack]

For the first time in seasons I find myself going to Perth confident of 3 points and will be bitterly disappointed if we get anything less.

 

In Naismith (& Shankland)I trust 

[upgotheheads]

The game is on PPV, so I'll stump up to avoid the kind of FAWA News problems we had on Saturday.

[Chimp]

2 hours ago, tartofmidlothian said:

Same team as Saturday, but I'd go Kingsley or Rowles for Sibbick, Vargas for Oda and possibly Fraser for Grant, if the coaching staff think he's fit enough. He certainly looked keen on Saturday.

 

Exactly where I am 👍

[PapaShango]

1 hour ago, upgotheheads said:

The game is on PPV, so I'll stump up to avoid the kind of FAWA News problems we had on Saturday.

Is the link on the St Johnstone site? 

[RustyRightPeg]

6 hours ago, dougal said:

Rather than worry too much about the team selection I'd just like us to actually turn up during the first half. The amount of games where we've been dire in the first half and then turned it around second half is ridiculous.  Let's start on fire and blow teams away rather than chasing games. I think I read somewhere that our last 14 league goals have all come in the 2nd half of games. Let's put the games away by half time and let us fans enjoy the game rather than being nervous for the whole 90 minutes.

 

It's mental. It's almost like the opposition stifle us, and have a gameplan on how to defend us because you know....we're a good team.

[1953]

Another winnable game and I'll be very disappointed if we don't. It'll be nice not to have to have a second half fightback to get the points. 3-1 to us after St J level it at 1-1 in the second half. 

[upgotheheads]

16 minutes ago, PapaShango said:

Is the link on the St Johnstone site? 

yes

[PapaShango]

Just now, upgotheheads said:

yes

Cheers will buy and watch via that! 

[kingantti1874]

Gordon deserves a start. 

[Thought Police]

4 minutes ago, kingantti1874 said:

Gordon deserves a start. 

Based on?

[kingantti1874]

10 minutes ago, Thought Police said:

Based on?

1. being the best keeper at the club.

2. zander hasn’t exactly lit it up the past few games. Conceded a few I belive craig would have stopped.

 

its harsh but I firmly believe you play your best players always.  In every position including keeper

Edited February 5 by kingantti1874

[tiger Rudi]

3 hours ago, tartofmidlothian said:

Same team as Saturday, but I'd go Kingsley or Rowles for Sibbick, Vargas for Oda and possibly Fraser for Grant, if the coaching staff think he's fit enough. He certainly looked keen on Saturday.

I also think Atty should start ahead of Lembikisa, assuming both him and Rowles are available for selection. 

[tartofmidlothian]

30 minutes ago, kingantti1874 said:

Gordon deserves a start. 

 

I'm sure we'll see him on Sunday.

[Lord Beni of Gorgie]

Any word on the Aussie contingent? Take it they were home Saturday?

[Graham Thomson]

13 hours ago, Geoff Kilpatrick said:

2-1

 

Shankland and Tagawa

The goalscoring machine that is Tagawa 😳

[Graham Thomson]

34 minutes ago, kingantti1874 said:

Gordon deserves a start. 

Why? 

[Dallas Green]

The St Johnstone boy who scored their goal at the weekend looks rapid. I like Atkinson and would normally have him back in but Dexter has more pace and maybe could be a reason to start?

[davemclaren]

42 minutes ago, upgotheheads said:

yes

Are you sure it's video and not just audio?

[Thought Police]

17 minutes ago, kingantti1874 said:

1. being the best keeper at the club.

2. zander hasn’t exactly lit it up the past few games. Conceded a few I belive craig would have stopped.

 

its harsh but I firmly believe you play your best players always.  In every position including keeper

But we've seen him once in 14 months, we don't know he's the best. They see him every day in training.

 

For me, in that one game he watched a volley from outside the box sail past him that wasn't exactly in the corner.

[Chillidigits]

7 hours ago, dougal said:

Rather than worry too much about the team selection I'd just like us to actually turn up during the first half. The amount of games where we've been dire in the first half and then turned it around second half is ridiculous.  Let's start on fire and blow teams away rather than chasing games. I think I read somewhere that our last 14 league goals have all come in the 2nd half of games. Let's put the games away by half time and let us fans enjoy the game rather than being nervous for the whole 90 minutes.

Yeah I think all of us want a better first half. But I don't want that if we ease up second half and let teams back into it. For as close to 90 plus minutes as we can we go for the throat.

[Chillidigits]

4 hours ago, Bazzas right boot said:

Bit suspect at cross balls on Saturday and St Johnstone will go direct.

 

Having Cochrane,  Dexter and  Sibbick in the defence does leave us weak in that area,  I think we'll need a bit more strength at the back or we might find ourselves having to score 2 or 3 to win again.

 

Confident we'll win tho.

 

Agree with this. Their big striker will be a handful

[RustyRightPeg]

23 minutes ago, Lord Beni of Gorgie said:

Any word on the Aussie contingent? Take it they were home Saturday?

 

Presume so. Silvera came on for Middlesbrough yesterday, albeit was an unused sub on Friday for Aus.

[Watt-Zeefuik]

9 hours ago, iantjambo said:

You dropping Dexter?

 

If Natty is fit to go, yeah. Play Natty in Perth where we need our RB/RWB to be sharp against the counter and put Dex back on against Airdrie when we're going to be chipping through concrete block to get at the goal.

[Lord Beni of Gorgie]

6 minutes ago, RustyRightPeg said:

 

Presume so. Silvera came on for Middlesbrough yesterday, albeit was an unused sub on Friday for Aus.

👍

[GorgieFifeLife]

3 minutes ago, Watt-Zeefuik said:

 

If Natty is fit to go, yeah. Play Natty in Perth where we need our RB/RWB to be sharp against the counter and put Dex back on against Airdrie when we're going to be chipping through concrete block to get at the goal.

I would stick with Dexter.  Better going forward and a more physical presence.  There is not a lot in it between the two in their defensive abilities so overall I think we have upgraded with Dexter and Atkinson will have to work hard to get a sniff again.

[Bunny Munro]

Clark

Lembikisa Kent Kingsley* Cochrane

Tait Beni

Vargas Fraser Forrest

Shankland

 

*Assuming he's well enough 

[Watt-Zeefuik]

1 minute ago, GorgieFifeLife said:

I would stick with Dexter.  Better going forward and a more physical presence.  There is not a lot in it between the two in their defensive abilities so overall I think we have upgraded with Dexter and Atkinson will have to work hard to get a sniff again.

 

I think Natty's positioning and recovery are better, and (no fault of Dexter's here) he's better integrated into the full squad.

 

Also, hate to be mercenary about it, but Natty is our player and Dex is not and likely will never be. We've ****ed ourselves twice if we drop Natty to the bench and kill his confidence and continuity, then lose Dex in the summer anyway. There's room in the squad for them both to play, but I think the Perth game suits Atkinson a bit better.

[colinmorewasgash]

Be nice to turn up in first half for change can't keep going 1 down and expect comebacks all time. 

Still think midfield isn't dominant enough.

[MR INCREDIBLE]

                Gordon

Dexter/Kent/Kingsley/Cochrane

              Hoff.  Tait

Vargas.      Fraser.       Forrest

                 Shanks

[GorgieFifeLife]

19 minutes ago, Bunny Munro said:

Clark

Lembikisa Kent Kingsley* Cochrane

Tait Beni

Vargas Fraser Forrest

Shankland

 

*Assuming he's well enough 

Gordon in goals and that would also be my team.

[GorgieFifeLife]

2 minutes ago, MR INCREDIBLE said:

                Gordon

Dexter/Kent/Kingsley/Cochrane

              Hoff.  Tait

Vargas.      Fraser.       Forrest

                 Shanks

This.

[Bongo 1874]

Keep doing us, and I'm confident we beat anyone.

 

Not one tackle shirked, not one 50/50 lost,everything you have got, for the shirt that's on your back.

[Gorgierools]

16 minutes ago, MR INCREDIBLE said:

                Gordon

Dexter/Kent/Kingsley/Cochrane

              Hoff.  Tait

Vargas.      Fraser.       Forrest

                 Shanks

Love it

[jamboozy]

23 minutes ago, MR INCREDIBLE said:

                Gordon

Dexter/Kent/Kingsley/Cochrane

              Hoff.  Tait

Vargas.      Fraser.       Forrest

                 Shanks

Ooft, like it.

[soonbe110]

1 hour ago, kingantti1874 said:

1. being the best keeper at the club.

2. zander hasn’t exactly lit it up the past few games. Conceded a few I belive craig would have stopped.

 

its harsh but I firmly believe you play your best players always.  In every position including keeper

I agree, he didn’t look clever at their second on Saturday and he was fortunate not to lose another one when he came for a corner and was nowhere near it. 
Difficulty though is we think Craig would have saved them but that was before the injury. Need to find out quickly whether he is back to close to what he was because if he is he should be first pick 

[soonbe110]

1 hour ago, davemclaren said:

Are you sure it's video and not just audio?

Saints tv only offering audio at the moment. 

[dougal]

2 hours ago, RustyRightPeg said:

 

It's mental. It's almost like the opposition stifle us, and have a gameplan on how to defend us because you know....we're a good team.

And during half time they forget what they were doing so well in the first half and we keep doing what didn't work but it now works and we dominate and win. Or at half time we suddenly come up with a game plan to combat their game plan from the first half and go on to win?? We know that certain teams will play in a certain way but forgetting that we have a tendency to start slowly and poorly compared to how we start the 2nd half of games. It shouldn't take the manager (possibly going mental) at half time to get us up for the game and to come out on the front foot, yet it seems to be happening more and more lately. I'm not expecting us to race into multiple goal leads but just don't look like we've never seen each other or played together during the opening period of games. All I'm hoping for is to start the game the way we've recently been starting the 2nd half of games. Not too much to ask for really.

[David McCaig]

1 hour ago, kingantti1874 said:

1. being the best keeper at the club.

2. zander hasn’t exactly lit it up the past few games. Conceded a few I belive craig would have stopped.

 

its harsh but I firmly believe you play your best players always.  In every position including keeper

 

The big issue here is that Clark seems to be the man in possession until he makes a howler, which to his credit he isn't doing.  The problem is that even at the top of his game Clark isn't remotely in the same class as Gordon, so therefore despite not making mistakes Clark is still conceding goals Gordon possibly wouldn't.

 

If you think about the shots that have beaten Clark recently from McGhee (Tynecastle), Miovski and Cameron, in my opinion whilst all 3 have beaten Clark fair and square and he's done nothing wrong, they are all in the Gordon potential wondersave territory that lesser keepers just can't make.

 

The best example of this is Gordon's tour-de-force at Livingston last season, the save CG makes from Holt is one that Clark isn't getting within a yard of.

[David McCaig]

I'd line up 433 on Wednesday night:

 

Gordon

 

Dexter

Cochrane

Rowles

Kent

 

Beni

Fraser

Hoff

 

Forrest

Vargas

Sir Lawrence of Shankland

[1971fozzy]

14 minutes ago, soonbe110 said:

Saints tv only offering audio at the moment. 

that’s disappointing. Can’t get there due to work.  Fawa it is

[David McCaig]

9 minutes ago, 1971fozzy said:

that’s disappointing. Can’t get there due to work.  Fawa it is

 

Surely video coverage will be on Hearts Tv to International (VPN) subscribers

[1971fozzy]

2 minutes ago, David McCaig said:

 

Surely video coverage will be on Hearts Tv to International (VPN) subscribers

I need to get that sorted 

[kingantti1874]

1 hour ago, Thought Police said:

But we've seen him once in 14 months, we don't know he's the best. They see him every day in training.

 

For me, in that one game he watched a volley from outside the box sail past him that wasn't exactly in the corner.

🤣 behave. No one was saving that 
 

Everyone at the club is saying he’s back to his best. so he’s either back to his best, Craig has said he feels great so he should be playing or they are telling lies.  
 

 

[kingantti1874]

31 minutes ago, David McCaig said:

 

The big issue here is that Clark seems to be the man in possession until he makes a howler, which to his credit he isn't doing.  The problem is that even at the top of his game Clark isn't remotely in the same class as Gordon, so therefore despite not making mistakes Clark is still conceding goals Gordon possibly wouldn't.

 

If you think about the shots that have beaten Clark recently from McGhee (Tynecastle), Miovski and Cameron, in my opinion whilst all 3 have beaten Clark fair and square and he's done nothing wrong, they are all in the Gordon potential wondersave territory that lesser keepers just can't make.

 

The best example of this is Gordon's tour-de-force at Livingston last season, the save CG makes from Holt is one that Clark isn't getting within a yard of.

Has Clark made any howlers? No .  Under normal circumstances should he be dropped ? Probably no.  It’s not normal circumstances though. 
 

he also hasn’t done anything special, 2 or 3 occasions on Saturday he got a bIt lucky when he pushed the shot into a dangerous area and stayed on his line for a player to have a free header inside 6 yards. (Not only his fault)

 

just play our best players . 

Edited February 5 by kingantti1874

[David McCaig]

10 minutes ago, kingantti1874 said:

Has Clark made any howlers? No .  Under normal circumstances should he be dropped ? Probably no.  It’s not normal circumstances though. 
 

he also hasn’t done anything special, 2 or 3 occasions on Saturday he got a. It lucky

 

just play our best players . 

If Clark was keeping clean sheets every week  it would be hard to argue against him staying in the team, but we're actually conceding a fair number of goals at present and whilst none are glaring errors, some of those are preventable if Gordon was playing.

 

We should be playing our strongest team at all times and I'd be amazed if Gordon wasn't starting to get a bit pissed off that a player clearly not as good as him is continuing to be selected ahead of him.

Edited February 5 by David McCaig

[Pasquale for King]

43 minutes ago, dougal said:

And during half time they forget what they were doing so well in the first half and we keep doing what didn't work but it now works and we dominate and win. Or at half time we suddenly come up with a game plan to combat their game plan from the first half and go on to win?? We know that certain teams will play in a certain way but forgetting that we have a tendency to start slowly and poorly compared to how we start the 2nd half of games. It shouldn't take the manager (possibly going mental) at half time to get us up for the game and to come out on the front foot, yet it seems to be happening more and more lately. I'm not expecting us to race into multiple goal leads but just don't look like we've never seen each other or played together during the opening period of games. All I'm hoping for is to start the game the way we've recently been starting the 2nd half of games. Not too much to ask for really.

Spot on, these slow starts have been an issue for a few seasons too.