Adama Sidibeh’s double red card towards the end of St Johnstone’s 2-0 defeat to Dundee United will force Craig Levein into a change up front for the first time since the Premiership season began.
In all three league games (and the Premier Sports last-16 clash with Rangers), the Perth manager’s starting line-up has seen Sidibeh partnering Benji Kimpioka.
The 26-year-old will be suspended for four matches and will almost miss the whole of September.
Courier Sport examines the options open to Levein while he’s out, with a home match against Motherwell this weekend the immediate challenge.
1 – Kimpioka and the veteran
The Kimpioka-Sidibeh partnership was flourishing and would undoubetdly have been kept intact on Saturday had events not taken a frustrating turn.
But the consolation for Levein is that he has a vastly experienced centre-forward who appears to be ready for his first league start of the season.
As at the end of last season, at the beginning of this campaign, a cautious approach has been adopted with Nicky Clark.
But the 33-year-old has quietly built-up a bank of game-time off the bench.
He’s come on against Aberdeen, Kilmarnock, Rangers and United and played an hour of the SPFL Trust clash with East Fife.
A start feels like the logical next step.
Stylistically, Kimpioka with Clark has shown it can work.
They played together in one of Saints’ best away displays of last season – the 2-0 win at Pittodrie in February.
The flip-side of the coin is the other three games – a defeat to Aberdeen in May, a draw with Livingston at McDiarmid and Kimpioka’s debut at Airdrie – were far less convincing for the double-act.
Given the Swede’s ability to hold the ball up has markedly progressed since they last combined, this is the likeliest and safest bet for Saturday.
2 – Kimpioka on his own
If Kimpioka was banned, then the merits of Sidibeh going it alone up top could prove persuasive for Levein.
The Gambia international is powerful and effective at getting his team up the pitch.
As mentioned, though, this side of Kimpioka’s game has improved significantly of late.
The issue probably isn’t Kimpioka – it’s who plays off him in the half-attacker/half-midfielder positions.
You’d be confident Graham Carey would slip straight into a role on one side as support but Josh McPake’s minutes total in the Premiership is next to nothing, while Max Kucheriavyi and Taylor Steven have been talked about as candidates to be sent out on loan.
3 – Kimpioka and the rookie
Pace and more pace hasn’t been a bad strategy so far.
And if Levein is minded to continue along that road he does have a life for like forward to call upon.
Makenzie Kirk is fast. And he has an eye for a goal.
Ready to start a Premiership game, though?
That would be a leap of faith, especially with Clark fit and available.
It would be Levein’s boldest selection call of the season but would speak to real faith in the exciting young striker, signed from Hearts a few weeks ago.
Replacing Clark when he tires after the hour mark feels like a more likely weekend scenario.
4 – Kimpioka and the forgotten man
Sidibeh won’t be back anytime soon.
By early October, Levein’s first signing of the summer, Uche Ikpeazu may well have been back in at least a couple of match-day squads.
The most recent report on his recuperation from a knee injury was “hopefully September”.
Levein said that he didn’t have a particular partnership in mind when he targeted Ikpeazu.
But pairing the 29-year-old, renowned for his physicality and hold-up expertise, with Kimpioka feels a bit more natural than with Sidibeh.
It’s just a matter of time before Saints get to see that combination, you would think.
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