Max Kucheriavyi shone against Celtic on his first start for St Johnstone.
But Saints boss Callum Davidson says his Ukrainian star has yet to truly dazzle fans.
Kucheriavyi was thrown into the deep end for the Hoops’ visit to McDiarmid Park – and justified his manager’s faith with an all-action display.
Davidson was delighted with the 20-year-old’s contribution against the Champions.
But he reckons Perth supporters will soon see the midfielder is even better on the ball than he has already shown.
“I was really pleased with Max on Saturday,” said Davidson.
“It was a very good full Premiership debut from him.
“He’s a young man and he showed really good ability and tactical awareness.
“Celtic have top players so coming up against them will have shown him the level he needs to be at.
“He can be very pleased with his performance – and now he has to build on it.
“Max has huge belief and confidence in himself. He’s better on the ball than we saw but it was a game where we had to be very disciplined and dogged.
‘Learned a bit more’
“That’s what impressed me, he came into the team and was able to carry out what we’d asked of him.
“He has good intelligence, he understands the game and you could see that from his performance.
“When you play against the top teams you learn about players and we learned a bit more about Max last weekend.
“As a manager it’s great to see someone come in, make their first start at this level and slot in so well.”
Davidson was as frustrated as any supporter with the way Saints lost to Celtic after fighting their way back into the game.
But with the dust now settling, the Perth boss sees plenty of positives in the performances of both starters and substitutes ahead of the weekend’s trip to Livingston.
“I was also pleased with the subs when we made them,” he said.
“Ali Crawford did well when he came on, Theo Bair as well and so did Stevie May.
“That shows the strength in depth we have in the squad at the moment.
“I think we look a stronger team than we did at this stage last season so I’m happy with the squad we’ve got in place.
“I think a draw against Celtic would have been a fair result for us given what we put into the game but we can take the positives into Livingston this weekend.”
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