St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson is confident his team will be “a lot better” after the mid-season break.
The Perth boss believes that a combination of new recruits and a return to form of the players the January signings have joined can be a powerful force and kick-start a traditional second half of the season surge up the Premiership table.
A rise to mirror last year’s, which produced two cups and a fifth-place finish, would be too much to expect.
But making sufficient improvement to secure the club’s top division status certainly wouldn’t.
“Things can change quickly, as happened last season,” said Davidson.
😃#SJFC pic.twitter.com/YTQXZuFQTx
— St. Johnstone FC (@StJohnstone) January 17, 2022
“But we have to focus on where we are and play a style of football which will get us out of this position.
“I firmly believe in the group of players we’ve got.
“With the ones we have added we will be a lot better in the second half of the season.
“I am expecting better performances and results.
“Let’s just hope we get some luck with better refereeing decisions and breaks with Covid issues and hopefully we can fire up the league.”
Break but no break
With three signings made already and other deals in the pipeline, Davidson has had plenty to occupy his time while football has been on hold.
“My wife will tell you I have been on my laptop most of the days we had off,” he said.
“It has been a tough time.
“I don’t like losing games and the run of form we were on.
“St Johnstone is a club which is close to me and my family. We want to make sure we get better and improve.
“We want to give the fans something to cheer about.”
Final preparations 🔋#SJFC
— St. Johnstone FC (@StJohnstone) January 17, 2022
For some clubs, bringing forward the January break interrupted upward momentum.
Not Saints, who were in an eight defeats on the bounce tailspin.
“The break probably came at a good time,” said Davidson.
“With Covid and injury issues, it was a tough little period.
“And it’s great that we’re able to get the fans back as well.
“That’s the most important thing because they’re a massive part of football.
“It wasn’t much of a break – they had a few days off and then came back in to train hard.
“It’s always nice to get a few new faces through the door.
“We’ve got Charlie Gilmour back with us as well.
“I’ve got players here who are hungry and want to fight to get us out of the position we’re in and start climbing the table.”
Daunting first game back
Saints will hopefully be a team that bears little resemblance to the one that looked incapable of winning a game of football at the end of 2021.
But, even if the McDiarmid Park side improve significantly, a trip to face Hearts is still one of the toughest fixtures they could get to resume the league campaign.
“Hearts have been brilliant this season,” said Davidson. “They’ve been really good to watch.
“And they’ve made some great signings to improve even more.
“I’ve watched a lot of their games and Tynecastle is a really tough place to go at the moment.”
