St Johnstone have gone into the World Cup break on the back of a five-game unbeaten run that has put them in sixth place in the Premiership table.
Had it not been for the late Hearts equaliser against Livingston, it would have been fifth.
Manager Callum Davidson is satisfied with both his team’s league position and their form curve.
Courier Sport takes a deeper look at the development of his side and assesses the improvements that can be made when top flight football resumes.
Looking like St Johnstone again
Between the 23rd of May and the 23rd of July, the McDiarmid Park feelgood factor created by a second half thrashing of Inverness Caledonian Thistle and the relief and optimism that Premiership status-saving 45 minutes of play-off football engendered was under serious jeopardy.
Although another Championship side, Ayr United, had been defeated by one goal to nil two months later, Saints were heading out of the League Cup following a thoroughly uninspiring group stage.
They didn’t have a number one goalkeeper, didn’t have a focal point striker, hadn’t recruited a combative central midfielder and the heart of their defence was worryingly error-prone.
It added up to widespread predictions of relegation from outwith Perth ahead of their day one clash against Hibs and to Callum Davidson critics within the Saints fan base finding their voice on social media again.
A dramatic win at Fir Park the following weekend didn’t really change the narrative, surrounded as it was by four league defeats.
After the last of those (a 3-2, shot themselves in the foot, loss to Hearts), an Andy Considine interview on an all would come good and “even fourth or fifth” is attainable theme wasn’t a message that cut through.
For some, it was perceived as delusional.
I was reserving judgment.
So much rested on the last few days of the transfer window.
That Saints would bring a number nine to McDiarmid Park wasn’t in any doubt.
But would it be one capable of knitting together a team of common sense signings into a unit that matched the sum of its parts, or even exceeded them?
Since Clark arrived, Saints have lost only one game out of 11 on grass.
After assessing options north and south of the border, Nicky Clark was the player Davidson settled on and Saints paid good money to Dundee United for.
To witness his impact on debut against St Mirren, scoring a fine goal and helping others like Stevie May shine, brought instant reassurance.
Since Clark has been a Saints player, they have lost only one game out of 11 on grass.
And that was against Celtic, deep into injury-time.
Perfect angle of the goal ✅
Ran toward the camera ✅
Celebrations in the away end ✅Think this might be worth a second watch 🤩#SJFC | @spfl | @nickyclark91 pic.twitter.com/ouYvRVpTMP
— St. Johnstone FC (@StJohnstone) November 10, 2022
There is no getting away from the fact that he has proved to be a transformative signing.
May is rolling back the years in the pockets of space Clark’s intelligent striker-play open up.
And when the team is purring (St Mirren and Dundee United first halves; Hibs, Celtic and Rangers second halves) the creative players are finding they have far more and far better attacking options open to them than at the start of the season.
It also needs to be pointed out that there hasn’t been a single ‘this isn’t working out’ signing of the other 10 who were brought in over the summer.
Remi Matthews, Andy Considine, Alex Mitchell and Ryan McGowan are all player of the season so far contenders on the back of high standard consistency.
Graham Carey, Drey Wright, Adam Montgomery, Jamie Murphy and Connor McLennan have made points-winning contributions and put down a platform for better things to come.
Jamie Murphy fired Saints in front on Saturday with this precise finish!
Theo Bair assist 🐻
Jamie Murphy finish 🎯@Jamiemurphy89 | @ttbair | @spfl pic.twitter.com/S3nl3IqS2M— St. Johnstone FC (@StJohnstone) August 8, 2022
And Dan Phillips is being afforded the time to acclimatise to the frenetic rhythm of Premiership football’s central midfield zone after an injury crisis necessitated an ahead of schedule baptism at Ibrox and Tynecastle.
That you could make a strong case for not a single January signing being made tells you everything about the depth and calibre of the current Saints squad and its suitability for the job in hand.
This looks like, feels like and plays like a St Johnstone team.
After a tortuous season that almost ended in relegation, a summer of unprecedented transfer activity and an underwhelming start to this campaign, rediscovering the side’s (and club’s DNA) was the primary task, the importance of which shouldn’t be under-estimated.
So far, so good.
The next level
A gap of nine points to the bottom of the table and six to the play-off position shouldn’t bring on complacency.
Seven teams in this league could yet finish last – I’m ruling out Livingston – and St Johnstone are one of them.
But, from what I’ve seen so far, there are four sides with realistic-looking claims for the final two top-six places below Hearts and Aberdeen – sorry Dundee United, Ross County, Motherwell and Kilmarnock.
And St Johnstone are one of them as well.
The even better news is there is obvious room for significant improvement in Davidson’s team.
For starters, they have still to produce a 90-minute overall performance.
There has been near constant defensive resilience and cohesion but it’s to Saints’ great credit that matches have been won and drawn on the back of patchy, not persistent, attacking excellence.
You’d like to think more goals and points will come from Carey’s set-piece work and David Wotherspoon’s post-World Cup influence on the team getting back to 2020/21-type levels.
Central midfield is the area of the pitch with greatest scope for an uplift.
The blend between dig and craft in midfield will get better.
Davidson has been extremely bold with his team selections of late – starting without a natural shield for the backline in the last three matches since McGowan’s return to defence.
The nearest player to a traditional CDM is Melker Hallberg but robustness, timing of a tackle and mobility are behind passing capability and decisive forward runs in the Swede’s skillset.
The manner in which he was beaten to the ball by Sean Goss – not known for his tenacity either – before Drey Wright conceded the free-kick that led to Motherwell’s equaliser in the last game before the break highlighted the point.
If Phillips builds on his encouraging late cameo appearances and can establish himself in the first 11, or Cammy MacPherson at last gets an injury-free run, the blend between dig and craft in midfield will get better.
Murray Davidson is unlikely to become a first team regular with Saints again but the veteran can certainly be a useful second half of the season disrupter option to call upon as well.
Other clubs will be gambling in a notoriously difficult mid-season transfer window in the hope of elevating their performance level and Premiership status.
St Johnstone can expect to get better by utilising what they’ve already got.
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