St Johnstone’s season has reached its first crisis point before the league campaign has even begun.
Loudly booed by their supporters at various stages of a 4-0 defeat to Stirling Albion, it was an embarrassing conclusion to a wretched Viaplay Cup group campaign.
Courier Sport picks out four talking points as the Premiership opener against Hearts looms large for Steven MacLean and his squad.
No excuses
It is tempting – and right in St Johnstone’s case – when a result and performance like Saturday’s sinks in that the focus quickly moves to the broader narrative that has brought us to this point.
But the display was so poor, and so far removed from the brand of football the manager expects, that those involved in one of the worst results in the club’s history have to take responsibility for it.
#SaintsTV spoke to Andy Considine after our 4-0 defeat today. #SJFC pic.twitter.com/142bVlgA6G
— St. Johnstone FC (@StJohnstone) July 29, 2023
Dead rubber in terms of the League Cup? Yes.
Injuries in key positions and players working their way back to match fitness? Yes and yes.
Youngsters finding out what real football means? Yes again.
Mitigation, all of it.
However, none of the above comes close to offering up an excuse for the lack of energy, pressing, bravery on the ball and ability to do defensive basics like sticking with your man in the penalty box.
Almost entirely to a man (and boy) it was collectively and individually awful.
What next for the young guns?
That Ben McCrystal was the St Johnstone player who finally took responsibility to put his head on an in-swinging set-piece late in the game spoke volumes for what had gone before.
The 17-year-old was brought on a few minutes after Stirling scored their fourth, with more of his team-mates hiding than showing leadership.
Circumstances don’t come much more demanding than that.
58’ I Saints 0-4 Stirling
Change for Saints
Off Daniel Phillips
On Ben McCrystal#SJFCLive #Viaplaycup pic.twitter.com/s5dK8fPhMJ
— St. Johnstone FC (@StJohnstone) July 29, 2023
It wasn’t quite Ali McCann at Celtic Park all those years ago but, make no mistake, on an afternoon when reputations took a kicking, McCrystal enhanced his.
I would imagine MacLean will be thinking ‘he’ll do for me’ – not yet but at the right time.
For the more senior juniors, this was a chastening afternoon.
Liam Parker and Alex Ferguson will surely be sent out on loan again, while Cammy Ballantyne and Max Kucheriavyi may well be kept at McDiarmid Park but have a lot to prove to earn four starts in a row again.
The task for all of them is to make sure that the response to Saturday defines their career trajectory rather than the performance.
Could the cull continue?
From MacLean mentioning sidelined injured players in his post-match verdict at Stenhousemuir to a more recent pre-Stirling comment that the speed with which they become available to him may impact his recruitment plans, it’s been clear that the long injury list has been at the front of the manager’s mind.
No wonder.
Trying to fashion a leaner first team squad was – still is – a sensible summer approach.
Doing it while so many senior pros are in the treatment room is an unenviable task.
There’s no easy or cheap solution to this.
If MacLean has come to the conclusion that he simply can’t count on certain players being fit for their day job, they will have to be paid up.
Either that or the can is kicked down the road to January – when moving them on would be easier – and the policy of getting players out before replacing them is temporarily shelved.
A changing landscape
“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”
Like all good sporting clichés, the Mike Tyson quote ahead of a fight with Evander Holyfield is trotted out again and again because it’s pertinent to all manner of circumstances.
End of July, 2023 St Johnstone being the latest.
"Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth"
– Mike Tyson pic.twitter.com/MYpcKPJWiV
— The Long Game (@thelong_game) July 25, 2023
Saints are cost-cutting.
As was minuted in a recent meeting with supporters, new chief executive Stan Harris didn’t attempt any smoke and mirrors talk.
“Total football expenses last year were the highest ever, it is not sustainable.”
You can’t argue with that.
Both Harris and MacLean have got a sound grasp of financial realities, the DNA of St Johnstone and the need to modernise the football operation behind the scenes.
It should be a reassurance to fans that neither are hand-to-mouth custodians passing through McDiarmid Park.
They hold the club close to heart and will act sensibly for the long-term.
But Stenhousemuir and Ayr United have put out range-finding jabs.
And now Stirling have landed that “punch in the mouth”.
League Cup group football isn’t the most reliable barometer of how a season will pan out.
In St Johnstone’s case, though, it does feel like it fairly reflects squad deficiencies that have been building.
And, while not pushing into the realms of recklessly chasing losses, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that addressing those squad deficiencies will require scaling up recruitment plans.
