With Sunday’s trip to Tynecastle carrying the jeopardy of dragging St Johnstone to the bottom of the Premiership for the first time this season, Simo Valakari isn’t blind to seriousness of their situation.
But, even though deep-rooted playing flaws continue to undermine their chances of moving to mid-table safety, the Perth boss insisted that Saints are anything but a crisis club.
The off-pitch foundations are being strengthened in the wake of a summer change of ownership.
And it’s the job of Valakari and his players, aided by new recruits in January, to ensure they build on them.
“We have a good owner who wants to take the club forward,” he said.
“We have good fans who want to support the club.
“We have a good group of players who are together.
“We have a good coaching staff who will put everything in to improve the team.
“We have good people working here, making the right steps towards being more professional as a club.
“So, as a manager, I don’t need to focus or use my energy to try and fix other things.”
Valakari added: “We don’t have leaks in our group, we don’t have players who don’t get on together and this and that.
“We can concentrate on football problems. Yes, we have a few football problems but we can fix it.
“We don’t need to concentrate on anything else because that is going the right way.
“It’s easier for the players as well.
“They don’t need to think: ‘Oh, I hate my team-mate, I hate this and this.’
“No, they are a good group, they are together.
“So, we just have to fix our problems on the field.”
Siege mentality not needed
Valakari knows there is no shortage of people in the Scottish football community who think that Saints have had their new manager bounce and are now back on a route to relegation.
But he isn’t trying to tap into an ‘us against the world’ mindset at McDiarmid Park.
Extra incentives aren’t needed.
“We are not wanting so much to use outside motivation,” said Valakari.
“That’s the realistic assessment of St Johnstone.
“Everyone thinks that OK, a new manager comes in, they do a lot of good things but they are not getting results and they are now going where everyone expected them to go this season.
“We see our situation. We know what we need to do.”
‘Stay in the race’
On Sunday’s game against Hearts, and the high stakes, Valakari said:
“The fact is it’s bottom against second bottom.
“The build-up of course will be like that.
“If you don’t win games in this league, you go down the table. If you get the three points, you climb up.
“We need to stay in the race. There are still many games. We have put ourselves in this position, no one else.
“We need to handle this. It’s where we are and we need to face it with reality – nothing to fear.”
Andre Raymond will be fit to play, having trained all week. Sven Sprangler returns from suspension, while Lewis Neilson can’t feature against his parent club.
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