St Johnstone need midfield control and Cammy MacPherson can help them seize it, says Craig Levein

St Johnstone boss Craig Levein wants more control from his midfield.

And he believes Cammy MacPherson can help provide it.

The former St Mirren man’s time at McDiarmid Park has been severely impacted by one injury after another.

Levein has only been able to call on MacPherson in the last couple of matches – giving him a few minutes off the bench in the defeat to Hibs and then half-an-hour against Aberdeen last weekend.

There was real encouragement in the fact the 25-year-old posted impressive passing accuracy numbers of over 90% – the highest Saints player and the second highest on either team, behind Connor Barron.

Turning the ball over has been at the root of the recent slump in form after Levein’s side won at Easter Road.

And fixing that could be the key to an end-of-season revival.

St Johnstone boss: ‘We need that kind of player’

“Cammy is someone I believe can add a bit of control for us in the middle of the park,” said Levein.

“If you look at our games, we do a lot of good things but have been guilty of giving the ball away too much.

“Too much of our energy is spent scurrying, trying to get the ball back.

“If you look at our best performances or the best spells we have in games, a lot of it is when we have someone, like Graham Carey for example, who can bring a level of calmness to us.

“We need that kind of player, someone who can retain it and help us switch the play.

“There have been moments in a lot of games where we’ve had spells of keeping the ball, very controlled.

“But we need more of those moments, more calmness when we’re in possession.

“It all feeds into each other, if you don’t have that control then it’s difficult to create chances by keeping the opponents penned in for a period of time.

“That’s where you create opportunities to score and that’s something we’ve been working on because we need to have more of a threat.”

Keltjens in midfield

Meanwhile, David Keltjens has played plenty of football as a midfielder in Israel.

And Levein is open to the idea of exploring that as an option next season.

“David can play in a number of positions and the middle of the park is something we’ll look at,” he said.

“He’s got really good combative qualities.

“With getting Cammy back and Sven (Sprangler) coming back soon, we’ll have options in there, but I think maybe moving into next season that’s something we’d look at.

“That’s the kind of thing we’ll use pre-season games to assess.”