Just when the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle were falling into place at St Johnstone, Craig Levein is going to have to do without a very big one, possibly until after the mid-season break.
Nicky Clark’s calf injury is a significant blot on an otherwise increasingly attractive McDiarmid Park landscape.
His partnership with Chris Kane – and his three goals – have helped spark a Perth revival under Alex Cleland and then Levein, elevating Saints from 12th in the Premiership to 10th.
Now the recently-appointed Perth boss is faced with the dilemma of how he fills a Clark-shaped hole in his team’s attack.
Courier Sport examines the options.
The safe bet
Stevie May was last season’s top scorer.
That he hasn’t found the net in the league yet in the current campaign is one of the reasons the team was rock bottom of the table for months.
The 31-year-old’s last start was back in September, when he and Saints toiled against Hibs.
It’s been substitute appearances ever since – on six occasions.
The last of those six was very encouraging, though.
The goal to seal the 3 points 🤩#SJFC pic.twitter.com/5VzOhREcLS
— St. Johnstone FC (@StJohnstone) November 12, 2023
May replaced Clark just after the hour mark, set-up Graham Carey for his winning goal, could have scored one himself and generally looked like the all-action forward who shared the player of the year prizes with Drey Wright in May.
He knows Kane’s game better than anyone else in the squad and invariably produces his best form when he’s stripped of get-the-team-up-the pitch, focal point duties.
The penalty box predator
Let’s be honest, the signing of Luke Jephcott has yet to pay-off.
The former Plymouth Argyle man recently admitted that a summer without a club has left him playing fitness catch-up ever since and there’s no doubt that has impacted his ability to impress in the Premiership.
Jephcott doesn’t share Clark’s aerial ability but he was signed as a number nine who comes alive in the box.
Arguably, given Kane can be the link-up forward, it’s the second part of that equation that takes priority in a Clark replacement.
Jephcott has impressive EFL pedigree when it comes to goalscoring and Saints are now creating more chances than at any point since his arrival.
In theory, combining with Kane should work.
Pace and power
Levein hasn’t been able to call upon Dara Costelloe yet.
In the one Saints game he watched before taking the job, the Irishman was the right wing-back as Kilmarnock were beaten 2-1.
That could well be the position Levein believes Costelloe is best suited to (I do) but the athleticism and directness he brings out wide also has its uses through the middle.
The on-loan Burnley man’s goal against Livingston was one such example.
🏃♂️ Dara Costelloe is up and running for Saints!
The on-loan @BurnleyOfficial forward was on target at McDiarmid#cinchPrem | @StJohnstone pic.twitter.com/zErBlJ9aN4
— SPFL (@spfl) October 2, 2023
As Brechin City captain Euan Spark has outlined, Levein’s assistant Andy Kirk likes his strikers to stretch defences with their runs into wide areas.
Costelloe is the best-equipped of the forwards in the Saints squad to do that.
The biggest gamble
It’s been a frustrating start to his season with Saints for DJ Jaiyesimi.
A hamstring injury after signing on loan from Charlton wasn’t serious but it delayed his debut until MacLean’s last game in charge against St Mirren.
Jaiyesimi played at left wing-back and looked very comfortable on the ball.
A minor injury picked up in Paisley prevented him from being part of the recent three-game unbeaten streak but he was back in action on the same turf in a closed-doors match last Thursday.
MacLean talked about Jaiyesimi as an option through the middle and you could see why when his quick feet and acrobatic shot produced the closest thing to a goal for Saints in that end-of-era 4-0 loss.
Swindon got the best out of him as a goal threat when he scored 10 times in League One over two seasons, with one StatsBomb graphic above highlighting the positions he took up in the first of those campaigns and the other his penalty box work in the second.
Could St Johnstone do the same?
The player he knows best
Levein brought Max Kucheriavyi to Scotland when he was at Hearts and then became a mentor of the Ukraine under-21 international’s at Glebe Park.
A September interview in The Courier revealed the admiration the then Brechin advisor had for his young protégé’s mental strength and football skillset.
On the latter, Levein observed: “I don’t think St Johnstone have another player like Max.
“He does his work, rolls his sleeves up, creates and scores goals.
“I don’t think we should pigeon hole him into one position but anyone who has ever seen Max in training will tell you about his incredible technique.”
Kucheriavyi’s one appearance for Saints under Levein so far was as a replacement for Clark against Motherwell.
He did his best work in those 15 minutes high up the pitch and was instrumental in regaining parity, maybe even control, in the contest for his team.
Max Kucheriavyi's crucial cameo! 🇺🇦
His late double salvaged a point for Saints v Dundee 😇@cinchuk | @StJohnstone pic.twitter.com/4gliDSfVK9
— SPFL (@spfl) September 4, 2023
And let’s not forget, he’s still the club’s joint top scorer on three goals – all of them back post finishes a striker would be proud of.
Kucheriavyi as a 10 to Kane’s nine is a November and December solution that has a lot going for it.
The formation change
Saints under Levein, and Cleland before him, have won two and drawn one with what could be described as a 3-1-4-2 formation.
Given the profile of the centre-backs at the club, playing with one less in the heart of the defence is unlikely to be on the cards anytime soon.
A more realistic set-up tweak would be one Callum Davidson liked and won two cup finals with – from 3-1-4-2 to 3-4-2-1.
St Mirren 0-1 St Johnstone
GOAL!
Chris Kane puts the ball in the net effortlessly for St Johnstone!— BBC Sport Scotland (@BBCSportScot) May 9, 2021
Kane was extremely effective as a lone striker in 2021 and would quickly take to it once more.
And there are no lack of options to play the wide forward cutting in roles that Glenn Middleton, Craig Conway and David Wotherspoon excelled in.
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