European football came with a big cost for St Johnstone last season, according to manager Callum Davidson.
And not having to the navigate the Thursday-Sunday August minefield will hopefully help the Perth boss get the League Cup and Premiership fast start he is targeting.
Davidson believes a “culture shock” early campaign programme of nine competitive games, and the travelling involved with their two Euro away fixtures, played a part in injuries stacking up as 2021/22 progressed.
This time around, the demands on his squad will be more familiar.
“Looking back, I think Europe caused us more problems than we expected,” said Davidson.
“Playing during the season was a different challenge to what we’d faced before because in the past we had games in July before the Premiership had started.
“This time we were playing league games and juggling the ties against Galatasaray and LASK and it took a huge toll on the squad.
“Playing Sunday and Thursday in such big games is very demanding physically and mentally.
“You see it with big clubs who have huge squads when they get back from playing in Europe.
“Rangers and Celtic struggle with their energy levels afterwards and you see it down in England too.
“We played nine games in four weeks, with a lot of travelling included in that – so it was very demanding on the squad.
“It was a bit of a culture shock for us and I think that contributed to the slow start we had.
“Although we did well in Europe, that month of playing Thursday and Sunday took a real toll on the players.
“I think that contributed to the injuries we had last season and a squad of our size wasn’t able to cope with it.
“Sometimes you need a bit of luck on that front.
“We had that the season before, but this time the injuries to key players were very costly.
“We have all been assessing the season, looking back at what happened and there’s no doubt the injuries played a big part in it by costing us key players.
“Getting off to a good start is so important so what happened last season put us up against it from the start.”
2022 reflections
Davidson has had time to reflect on what else contributed to a season that nearly ended in relegation from the top flight – and what it took to avoid that calamitous conclusion.
“The big emotion after the final whistle against Inverness was relief,” he said. “That was how everyone felt I think.
“From the turn of the year it was all about staying in the league, no matter how we did it and every day was geared towards that.
“Not many clubs are bottom at the half-way stage and manage to get out of the automatic relegation place. It’s quite unusual for that to happen.
“We’d had a horrible run in November and December, a time when there are a lot of games to be played, and that really got us into a rut.
“But the players were brilliant in the second half of the season. They realised the situation we were in and worked so hard to get out of it.
𝙁𝙐𝙇𝙇 𝙏𝙄𝙈𝙀 𝙎𝘾𝙀𝙉𝙀𝙎
All the on pitch reaction after the final whistle 🤩#SJFC | 📷 @16smithlewis | @spfl pic.twitter.com/BkqVQx4Isg
— St. Johnstone FC (@StJohnstone) May 24, 2022
“It’s very difficult to play when you have that pressure on you, knowing you’re in a relegation battle and that every mistake could be so costly.
“But they responded to the challenge, showed spirit, determination and grit to get off the bottom and into 11th place.
“Obviously we wanted to get further up the table than that but couldn’t manage to reel in the clubs above us.
“But once we got into the play-offs, apart from a 15-minute spell in the first leg, we did the business against a very good Inverness team.”
Tough again
Dundee have been replaced by Kilmarnock in the Premiership and the overall standard of the league is unlikely to drop.
“You have all the big clubs back in the league now,” said Davidson. “There’s very little between a lot of the teams.
“So it’s going to be another tough season and our challenge is to make sure we’re better and stay in the league a lot more comfortably next time before setting other targets.”
Matt Macey is a St Johnstone target but Luton Town are strong favourites to sign Hibs goalkeeper
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