St Johnstone’s two-game surge up the table has turned into a two-game fall back in the direction from which they came.
Wins over Ross County and Dundee have now been followed by defeats to St Mirren and Hearts.
Nicky Clark scored a goal at both ends on Saturday before Kenneth Vargas grabbed the Jam Tarts’ winner.
And Saints will feel frustrated that, for the second match running, long spells of dominance haven’t yielded any points.
Courier Sport picks out five talking points from the McDiarmid Park loss.
The penalty
Saints suffered more than any other team from VAR injustices last season so those who watch them week on week should know a poor decision from the out-of-ground officials when they see one.
Kyle Cameron’s reaction to the Cammy Devlin shirt pull tells you all you need to know.
He makes a half-hearted appeal to referee, Chris Graham, before the ball goes out for another corner but then makes no attempt to properly claim one when there’s a break in play.
In the main, there’s been an improvement this season compared to last in the judgments made regarding what is and what isn’t worthy of a penalty.
Saturday’s equaliser was one for the latter category.
Back to Rae
Valakari made it clear that Ross Sinclair’s half-time substitution was injury-driven.
But, even if it doesn’t prove to be serious and Sinclair is available for selection at Fir Park next weekend, there appeared to be a big hint that Rae will make his first start in over two months.
“Pity for Ross but now a big opportunity for Josh,” said Valakari.
That sounds like a man who has already made his mind up.
It was only one half of football, but Rae played well against Hearts.
He made an excellent one v one stop to deny Kenneth Vargas a second goal and couldn’t have done anything to prevent the winner.
Valakari’s biggest dilemma isn’t whether to play Sinclair or Rae against Motherwell.
It is whether he waits until January to do what Craig Levein should have in the summer – sign an experienced goalkeeper – or he decides that picking up a free agent before then is the more prudent course of action.
There are pros and cons of both routes.
The ball is now in Rae’s court to persuade Valakari that he can afford to take his time and wait a couple of months before making a further assessment about what to do.
Get it in the box
Under Valakari, Saints are playing in a fashion that suits their players, has given them an identity and has given the supporters a sense of enjoyment on match days after they leave the ground.
More often than not, this strategy will be the right approach because it won’t often be the case that a team will sit in with virtually a whole team behind the ball, protecting their 18-yard box.
However, in the last few minutes of the game and seven minutes of stoppage time, Hearts were in a ‘what we have we hold mindset’ and Saints were unable to cause a bit of chaos in front of Craig Gordon and create so much as a half-chance.
The patient build-up was too patient and, with the seconds ticking away and the centre-backs pushed forward, there was even a passage of play where there was the possibility of an overlap on the left that was turned down in favour of recycling the ball all the way back to the goalkeeper.
The visitors were nervous – so were their supporters – and Saints needed to be a bit more direct.
It was the latest example where Uche Ikpeazu would have been a real asset (Wednesday night in Paisley when they couldn’t get up the pitch at the start of the second half was another).
If ever there was a striker built to cause that chaos I was referring to, it’s him.
Ikpeazu be a valuable plan B off the bench while he’s building his match fitness back up and then a strong contender to start when Valakari chooses to mix pace and/or guile with power.
Hopefully it’s very soon.
The bench
Valakari used a lot of the same players for a three-game week and maybe it showed in the Hearts winning goal.
Jason Holt (who didn’t have a club in the summer) and Sven Sprangler (who barely got a game under Levein) didn’t have an explosive burst in them to shackle Beni Baningime when he burst through the middle of the park.
As Valakari rightly pointed out, the fact that both men were on yellow cards was also a factor.
January will be crucial in terms of strengthening the Finn’s starting line-up in two or three positions.
It will also crucial in terms of strengthening his game-changing options when the fixture list gets busy.
In the meantime, there are a few fringe players who have work to do to earn Valakari’s trust.
Five of the substitutes on Saturday (I’m not counting Scott Bright) have yet to get on the pitch in the three matches since he secured his work permit – Max Kucheriavyi, Josh McPake, David Keltjens, Fran Franczak and Aaron Essel.
And the last of those was the only one to appear from the bench when Valakari was in the stand for the Ross County game.
It’s stating the obvious to say those players have a real challenge on their hands.
Positivity
Valakari gets his pre and post-match messages across to supporters more effectively than most managers for whom English is their first language.
He strikes me as a person who thinks deeply before he is put in front of a microphone, camera or a notepad and pen and chooses his words carefully.
Valakari is a naturally positive character and there was barely a trace of public negativity in his reflections on a home defeat to a team below Saints in the table and the concession of another two pretty ugly goals from a Perth perspective.
And he was absolutely right to take that approach.
I didn’t expect the St Johnstone style of play to be transformed this quickly and to look like it has already become ingrained.
Saints fans were at a generational low in terms of what they expected to see from their team on a Saturday afternoon.
Now, even after a loss, they can come up with an evidence-based list of what the players have done well.
Back-to-back wins raised expectations but the bigger picture remains the same.
The goal in this section of the season is to not be bottom or, at the very worst, be in touching distance of second bottom, when Valakari gets the opportunity to bring in his own players on January 1.
He will be backed by the owners.
And he will be signing square peg in square hole players to fit tactics that fans are already able to identify with.
Make no mistake, that is significant progress in less than a month.
Conversation