Simo Valakari will take charge of his first game as St Johnstone manager at the weekend.
Starting with the visit of Ross County to McDiarmid Park, he’s got a big job to do over the next few months.
The Premiership table may not say it but there’s an argument that Saints are effectively bottom, as few expect the one team beneath them, Hearts, to stay in 12th position for much longer.
When you look at all the likely candidates to finish last or second last in May, the Perth side’s form is the most concerning.
Courier Sport picks out seven challenges facing Valakari in his bid to keep Saints up.
To press or not to press?
Three Celtic players passing the ball around Sven Sprangler as he fought a lonely battle to win possession high up the pitch and then quickly turning that basic training ground triangle into a move that resulted in their second goal was the most obvious example of St Johnstone being caught between two stools.
Of course, the mitigation was that Brendan Rodgers’ side were at their very best that Saturday evening and they are the finest exponents of playing their way up the pitch in Scottish football.
But the general point stands – too often, Saints have been a team which presses in ones or twos, not as a cohesive unit and the result has been attacks launched on top of their defence too quickly after big gaps open up in midfield.
Valakari won’t be able to transform them into a pressing machine.
He may even think that taking up a structured shape closer to their own box is a more prudent approach with this set of players.
The likelihood is, though, that he will work on the training ground at picking the right times to press and the right times to drop and making sure all 10 outfield players are singing from the same hymn sheet.
If Smith, or anybody else, goes, that has to be the trigger for others to follow.
Long or short?
That Saints have tried to play more football on the ground this season compared to last is undeniable.
Craig Levein wanted to make his team a better watch and there have been spells in most of the league games when that has indeed been the case.
Matt Smith is tidy and efficient on the ball and you would expect the same of Jason Holt when he gets a run of games.
But, generally speaking, there’s huge scope for improvement if Saints are to become a reliable possession team.
After the goalkeeper plays it short, they get turned over in their own half far more regularly than they pass their way through midfield, let’s put it that way.
Now that Benji Kimpioka and Adama Sidibeh are available again, Valakari has the attacking weapons to be more direct. Hopefully he’ll soon have Uche Ikpeazu as a hold-up option as well.
It wouldn’t be a sign of weakness to be pragmatic and simplify the game-plan with a view to rebuilding confidence and picking up a couple of wins.
Midfield runners
Every solution brings a potential problem.
If Saints do go more direct to their flying forwards, the problem will be getting team-mates close enough to profit once Sidibeh or Kimpioka are on the ball.
The squad isn’t blessed with pace out wide or in central midfield.
It will be intriguing to see if Valakari identifies Fran Franczak as player who can help in that regard.
The 17-year-old came through the academy ranks as a box-to-box midfielder and is regularly at the front of the pack when it comes to training runs.
After including Franczak in his first match-day squad just over a year ago, then manager Steven MacLean said: “He will be a central midfielder but he can play off a side and in behind.”
Under Levein, however, he was invariably used at wing-back.
Now back to fitness after rolling his ankle on international duty with Poland, could Franczak solve a problem for Valakari further infield?
Winning headers
The performance against Rangers was a step in the right direction but, having watched footage of Saints’ other recent games, Valakari won’t be fooled into thinking all the problems of defending their box from open-play and set-pieces have been solved on one Sunday night in Govan.
The Finn’s first game in charge, against Ross County, will be a far more informative test.
Talk about facing your fears.
The sight of Akil Wright rising for a free header in the 97th minute in Dingwall will have caused sleepless nights among the Perth squad and fan base.
Any opportunity to get the centre-half into the box at the back post for a long diagonal, County are going to take it.
Jordan White is another huge target to aim for.
Valakari’s biggest and most immediate task is drilling his team to nullify County’s aerial threat.
Strengthening the squad – soon
While Levein was still in the job, an African left-back was being lined up for a Perth trial spell.
But, after cooling on the idea of signing Charles Dunne, there was nothing imminent as far as picking up a centre-back was concerned.
Recruitment, understandably, was paused while the club sought to appoint Levein’s successor but the need for a commanding central defender and an experienced goalkeeper remains.
The free agent market is a notoriously difficult one in which to find match-ready, or close to match-ready, signings.
Valakari has the advantage of knowing the Scandinavian market so that widens the possibilities and he’s already brought Bozo Mikulic, a Croatian defender who played for him in Latvia, to McDiarmid for a trial.
There’s a likely deal to be struck there.
There are 12 Premiership games to be played before the January window opens.
That’s a lot of football. A lot of damage can be done.
There’s only so much Valakari can do with an imbalanced squad. It urgently needs reinforcing.
Getting his subs right
The timing of substitutions is the bugbear of football supporters the world over.
And it’s no different at St Johnstone.
Rightly or wrongly, Perth fans identified it as an area of weakness in Levein’s game-management.
There was a perception that his changes either came too late or didn’t alter the story of the match for the better.
It might come down to some good fortune in terms of the options Valakari has fit and available on the bench, or the good fortune of a replacement scoring or assisting, but he’ll be on to a winner with supporters if the perception settles that the 51-year-old is a coach who successfully influences a game through his subs.
Home sweet home
The task of arresting a truly awful run of results at McDiarmid Park is too great a responsibility to put on one man’s shoulders.
There are plenty of people who should be embarrassed that it’s now 10 months since St Johnstone won a home league game.
Saints can’t expect to survive this season by eking out victories and draws on the road.
Supporters will desert them, some emotionally and others physically, if they don’t win some matches in Perth before the end of the calendar year. Three out of the six is a reasonable target.
To do that, a lot of the things mentioned above need to come together.
Valakari is already making a difference with his positivity and charisma.
He can amplify that with touchline energy that spreads on to the pitch and into the stands.
Twelve home games have been played since Saints deservedly beat Hibs on a December afternoon when they sustained pressure and created chances.
More often than not in that dozen, they have been far too passive in front of their own supporters.
Patient and calculated are OK in away games.
Valakari needs to put teams on the pitch in Perth that bring dynamism and fury.
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