There will be teams who were quite content with life before the World Cup break but will find everything a bit harder after it.
St Johnstone don’t look like being one of them.
Not only did the Perth side pick up where they left off at the weekend in terms of extending an unbeaten run of Premiership form dating back to mid-October, they actually had an energy and crispness to their football that suggested five weeks away from the league grind may actually have improved them.
Courier Sport picks out four talking points from Saturday’s 2-1 win against Ross County.
Scenes (again)
The price of attending a top flight SPFL match on the road is in urgent need of attention.
The Twenty’s Plenty campaign should be embraced as a matter of urgency.
It’s not up to me to say what represents getting your money’s worth for a football away day but this is turning out to be quite the season for the sort of dramatic highs that strengthen the bond between players and fans and make the emotional and financial investment feel worthwhile.
Saints have won four Premiership games away from McDiarmid Park already.
In all of those, the decisive goals have been scored at the away end of the ground.
The late ones have been particularly memorable.
Stevie May at Fir Park; Nicky Clark and May against Hibs; Clark in Paisley and now Saturday’s Ali Crawford double have been the very definition of what a travelling supporter craves.
Long may it continue.
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
Big landmark in sight already
That this is turning into a night and day season for St Johnstone compared to the one preceded it will need no explanation for anybody with so much as a passing interest in Scottish football.
All over the place there are favourable then and now statistics.
At the top of that list is that Saints managed eight wins over the course of the 2021/22 campaign and have reached seven before Christmas in this one – despite spending five weeks in cold storage.
With 12 points’ worth of blue water between them and the bottom of the table and nine between them and the play-off, a couple more victories will end any talk of the McDiarmid men being potential relegation candidates.
Keeping going like this and sights will be set much, much higher.
Next weekend’s team
It’s always dangerous to put different teams and different eras up against each other but I’m struggling to think of a St Johnstone squad with the strength of depth to rival this one.
Three of the four men who missed out on Saturday (sorry Melker, you’ve been good as well) are player-of-the-season so far contenders.
Big 3 points 💪 safe journey back everyone 💙 https://t.co/PxsxtUimOD
— Remi Matthews (@Remi_matthews) December 17, 2022
No wonder Callum Davidson said he was as pleased with the quality of his team’s performance as the result.
The concession of the first goal was a reminder of who was sat at home but, other than that, this was peak Saints.
People (rightly) talk about the strength of a bench as the mark of a team’s quality but for Saints you could extend that to the quality of the players who get left on it.
I know managers love the ‘it’s a good dilemma to have’ mantra when they’re talking about team selection but Davidson will be excused changing his mind seven or eight times ahead of the trip to Celtic Park.
The real Dan Phillips
One player whose place shouldn’t be in doubt is Dan Phillips.
Crawford wrote his name all over the comeback victory but Saints’ best player for the full match was the Trindad and Tobago international who hadn’t started since August.
It was an all-round display of holding midfield excellence – positioning himself expertly, gaining and retaining possession for his team and driving it forward (the winning goal) when opportunity arose.
Delighted for Ali Crawford with his brace, but I’d like to take a moment to appreciate Daniel Phillips’ contribution to todays’s win. 👏🏻 😎#SJFC pic.twitter.com/n6b8dtVziw
— St Johnstone FC SLO (@SJFC_SLO) December 17, 2022
Saturday was a big day in Phillips’ St Johnstone career.
He was under-cooked when he arrived.
This was the real starting appearance that mattered.
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