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Graham Carey: St Johnstone players need to ‘man-up’

The Perth side haven't kicked their soft goals habit.

St Johnstone's Graham Carey at Fir Park before the game against Motherwell.
St Johnstone's Graham Carey. Image: SNS.

The St Johnstone players need to “man-up” if the Perth side are going to become the team Graham Carey believes they are capable of turning into.

The Irishman knows there is no escaping the fact that cheap goals are undermining them this season, the two they conceded at Motherwell in their weekend defeat the most recent examples.

But he is equally convinced of the potential at McDiarmid Park, which has translated into Premiership victories all too infrequently this far.

“We have to keep believing in what we are doing,” said Carey.

“We are a really good team but we are just not picking up points.

“We need to man-up now and find a way to get results.

“The way the manager wants us to play, his philosophy and positivity is great.

“Everyone has bought into that.

“But unfortunately we are still making the same mistakes we were making at the start of the season.

“That’s down to us as players not from the staff.

“It’s up to us to be more streetwise and not conceding sloppy goals.

“They were soft goals. Motherwell didn’t have to work too hard to get those chances.”

Graham Carey in action against Motherwell.
Graham Carey in action against Motherwell. Image: SNS.

Carey added: “It’s not just the defenders, it’s the whole team.

“We can stop the ball getting into those areas as well, the midfielders and strikers can do that.

“The defenders can obviously defend crosses a bit better. But we do that most of the time.

“We just seem to switch off sometimes and concede sloppy goals.”

Not enough chances

The former Plymouth star knows that Saints were far from their best in attack at Fir Park as well as defence.

“We are playing really well as a unit going forward,” he said.

“But with the possession, I think we can hurt teams more in the final third.

“We are controlling the game without really hurting the opposition. We didn’t get clear cut-chances ourselves.

“Both keepers really didn’t have too much to do. They took their chances and we didn’t create enough.

“We can be better. Defensively, we are really good at pressing teams but seem to concede the same goals over and over.

“If we cut that out, we’ll be a really good side.

Tom Sparrow scores to make it 2-0 for Motherwell.
Tom Sparrow scores to make it 2-0 for Motherwell. Image: SNS.

“We know if we cut out silly mistakes we will win games. We’ve got enough quality on the pitch and the manager sets us up in a way we can control games.

“We just need to take a bit more responsibility at both ends of the pitch.”

Saints fans got their first glimpse of new centre-back Bozo Mikulic, who was brought on towards the end of the game.

He will be a contender to start after the international break.

“Bozo is a big unit alright,” said Carey.

“As soon as he’s up to speed he can really help us out. The squad is starting to fill out a bit, we’ve got quality on the bench.”

Two VAR handballs

Carey had no complaints with Jack Sanders’ late equaliser from his corner being chalked off for handball.

And he pointed out that the VAR decision to award Saints a penalty when his shot struck Andy Halliday’s hand is a part of modern football everybody has no option but to get used to.

“For me, I don’t think it is a penalty but I will take it,” he said.

Graham Carey's shot hits Andy Halliday.
Graham Carey’s shot hits Andy Halliday. Image: SNS.

“He’s unlucky. His arm is not really away from his body but that’s just the way they give them now.”

“Big Jack said straight away that the ball hit his hand.

“I think both decisions are right, going by the rules.”

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