Some bear the scars from last season’s torment, while others don’t have any déjà vu fears to banish.
Whichever camp they fit into, Nicky Clark is confident that the St Johnstone players will make sure they don’t get dragged into ever deeper and ever more dangerous waters.
“Form will turn” is the message from the former Dundee United striker as Saints attempt to halt a five-game losing run against Rangers in the Scottish Cup.
“I was shocked at how Saturday (the 4-2 defeat to Livingston) panned out,” said Clark.
“In previous games our starts had been horrendous and that was one of the things we talked about and worked on – making sure we start well.
“And I think we did – until losing that goal after eight minutes from the throw-in. Five minutes later, same again.
“It’s really frustrating just now. It’s a tough period we’re going through.
“But I’ve no doubts with the players we’ve got in that dressing room it will change.
“We’ve proved we can go on good runs. We were six unbeaten before the break. The form will turn.”
Much has been made of the experience in the Saints’ squad as they were marching into the top six.
Players’ chats
Never is that know-how more valuable than at this point.
“We have chats as players together,” said Clark. “That happens everywhere when teams go through tough periods.
“We are the ones on the pitch, the ones who can fix it. We know we are more than capable of doing that and getting good performances and wins.
“We spoke about it because we know it’s not good enough. We’ve let ourselves and our fans down recently. But I am sure we will turn it round eventually.
“It’s a bit hard to get our head around how it’s happened. Listen, it’s a tough league, everyone goes through wee patches where they struggle and unfortunately ours is now.
“We’ve experienced players in there who know how to win games so I’m sure that will happen in the next few weeks.”
Clark added: “There are a lot of new boys in here. The boys last year did great to get out of the situation they were in.
“Listen, no one wants to be involved in that in football. It’s horrible down there.
“But we’re only looking up the way. We were sitting in the top six before the break and that’s where we want to be. We want a result to get us back on track.”
Cup upset capabilities
Before lifting themselves higher up the Premiership table is back on the agenda, there’s a cup tie to be won.
“We can take confidence from beating Rangers last time,” said Clark, who scored Saints’ second goal in the victory over Rangers the last time the two teams met.
😱 𝐄𝐂𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐒𝐘 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐒𝐓 𝐉𝐎𝐇𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐍𝐄 😱
Nicky Clark's magical finish makes it 2-0 against Rangers 🚨 pic.twitter.com/51h2BUvKTp
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) November 6, 2022
“That was right in the middle of our good run.
“We need to get back to that. We know we are good enough to go and cause that type of upset.
“It will be a tough challenge but we believe we can beat them again. Why not? There’s no point going into any game not believing you can win.
“There’s nothing I can pinpoint to say what Rangers are doing differently since then.
“We will pick up on things they’ve got better at, though, and things we can hopefully exploit.
“Their confidence is high and I am sure they’re looking forward to the game as well.
“The last time we knew were in good form, playing good stuff and confident going into the game. We felt we could do something – and we did.
“Although we are on a bad run now, we still believe we can go and get a good win.”
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