Max Kucheriavyi is now the St Johnstone player Steven MacLean was hoping to have a couple of months ago.
And the Perth boss has praised his young midfielder for taking on board the lessons that he needed to learn.
Kucheriavyi started all four of Saints’ League Cup group matches but, even though he scored against Ayr United, didn’t seize his early-season opportunity after returning from a loan spell at Falkirk.
Saturday’s derby double was the culmination of sustained improvement MacLean has noticed and rewarded.
And he hasn’t backed down on the ambitious post-match goals target he set the Ukrainian under-21 international – double figures for the campaign.
“Max’s level has gone up in the last few weeks,” said MacLean. “I’ve seen it in training.
“He’s got better and he’s now playing like the player we thought we were getting in pre-season.
“He’s maybe just taken a little bit of time to get used to coming back in and being a first team player.
“The thing I like about him is, he takes what you’re telling him on board.
“He probably didn’t have as many touches as he wants against Dundee, but he affected the game and scored two goals.
“That maybe shows him something, about getting in the right areas and making the right runs.
“We had one winger crossing for another and then a full-back picking out a winger for the second goal.
96th minute of the match ⚠️
His 2nd goal of the game ⚽️⚽️Max Kucheriavyi 🇺🇦#SJFC pic.twitter.com/I0nytuOPKy
— St. Johnstone FC (@StJohnstone) September 4, 2023
“Where did Max score his goal in the League Cup? The back post.
“So it’s about him learning about where he needs to be on the pitch to have the maximum impact.
“And you can see from both goals he scored against Dundee that he’s learned, he’s picking up what he needs to do.
“The challenge for Max now is, can he go and get double figures for the season? He’s got three now and it’s only the start of September so it’s a good start.
“Any winger or wide player scoring double figures of goals has had a great season and I believe he can do that.”
Steven MacLean has to kick Max Kucheriavyi and young players ‘off the pitch’
Kucheriavyi and the other young players are setting impressive training ground standards, according to MacLean.
“He’s got all the tools and he lives and breathes football, which is great,” he said.
“Max has a great attitude. He goes home and thinks about things.
“More and more young players are like that, they want to stay out and practise as much as they can.
“We have signed a lot of younger ones and they’re all like that – sometimes I have to kick them off the pitch to stop them overdoing it.
“They’d stay all day, hitting free-kicks and practising shooting if you let them.”
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