Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Matt Smith: St Johnstone boss Craig Levein explains why midfielder ‘hit a brick wall’ and is now back to his best

The Welsh international has caught the eye in Saints' first two Premiership matches.

Matt Smith has been an early season star for St Johnstone.
Matt Smith has been an early season star for St Johnstone. Image: SNS.

St Johnstone manager, Craig Levein, is confident that the real Matt Smith is back.

And the Perth boss believes he knows the reason the former Manchester City midfielder’s form dropped off towards the back end of last season.

The Welsh internationalist was Saints’ star performer in the Premiership opener against Aberdeen and backed it up with another accomplished performance in last weekend’s victory over Kilmarnock, twice coming close to scoring.

Levein was impressed by the high standards Smith consistently hit after he took over from Steven MacLean a few months into the 2023/24 campaign.

The fact that those standards dipped during the Premiership run-in can be attributed to the perpetual motion player hitting an energy “brick wall”.

‘Took its toll’

“Matty reached what I consider to be his true levels against Aberdeen and Killie,” said Levein.

“When Andy (Kirk) and I came in last year, early on, he was our top player, week in and week out.

“He tailed off towards the end of the season.

“It was maybe something to do with how much he was asked to play.

“He’s been in the academy at Man City, hasn’t had a load of week in, week out, first team football.

“Maybe it just took its toll.

Matt Smith in action for St Johnstone.
Matt Smith in action for St Johnstone. Image: SNS.

“When you watch him in training and stuff like that, his energy is unbelievable.

“So I just think he hit a brick wall last year.

“His work was very good in pre-season.

“He looks like the Matty Smith that was playing mid-season last year.”

Different positions

Smith is one of a few players at McDiarmid Park who can be tasked with different match-day roles.

“Matty’s really about energy and running but he’s got really good quality as well,” said Levein.

“He’s not physically the most intimidating person but his grit and determination and his boundless energy are really useful.

“You can see why he’s got the amount of caps for Wales (19) that he has.

“He’s played in a load of different roles as well – I actually don’t know where he’s best.

“Sometimes he plays really well off the side, even though he’s not a winger, and other times he’s in the middle.

St Johnstone midfielder, Matt Smith.
St Johnstone midfielder, Matt Smith. Image: SNS.

“He’s not one of these guys who says ‘I want to play here’ or ‘I want to play there’.

“Wherever he’s asked to play, he just plays and does his best.

“He can provide so many different things.

“You can go through a discussion in the coaches’ room about who plays where, and Matty’s picked in all four positions at some point.

“That’s a compliment, isn’t it?”

Conversation