The St Johnstone coaching team are trying to ingrain habits that will ensure they don’t get “embroiled” in a type of contest that doesn’t suit them.
The four-day contrast between winning in Aberdeen and drawing with Livingston was stark in terms of the football Saints were able to play.
And, as assistant manager, Andy Kirk, explained, it showed that being capable of imposing their style on a game when their opposition has a different vision in mind is still a work in progress.
“When we (Kirk and Craig Levein) came in the three was the system we picked up,” said the former Brechin City boss.
“It made us a bit stronger and more rigid at the back.
“As time has gone on we’ve needed to try and create a bit more.
“When we changed to a four it helped us get higher up the pitch.
“It’s about trying to get the players comfortable in a shape and with how we want to play.
“You could see the difference between us last Wednesday against Aberdeen to Saturday against Livingston, when we got embroiled in this second ball game and playing long.
“There are times in a game when we have to do that.
“But there are also times of having calmness to bring the ball down and maybe make two or three passes to get ourselves into positions to go forward when we’ve got numbers.
“We’re working on that a lot.”
‘Signs of things we like’
With Saints yet to win two in a row, unpredictability continues to be the dominant theme, after the mid-season break in particular.
“There’s just been that inconsistency in terms of performance,” said Kirk, given major strategic and coaching responsibility by Levein from day one.
“We’re seeing signs of things we like.
“The more points we pick up, the higher we get in the league, the more confident players get.
“Then these things become easier to push across.
“There’s continual work on the training pitch and a constant message in how we want to play moving forward.”
Summer rebuild
Levein and Kirk have only had one transfer window to tweak their squad.
With more players soon to be out of contract than under, it could well be a busy summer on that front.
And future recruitment will impact on future tactics.
“It comes down to what players we can get in the building,” said Kirk.
“We will look to recruit again and get players in that will suit the way we want to play.
“If we can’t then we have to adapt it to the players that we have.
“The top teams like Celtic and Rangers play a certain way and will recruit players who will fit that way.
“The lower down you go, it becomes a slightly different challenge.”
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