St Johnstone are bottom of the Premiership.
Sunday’s opponents, Hearts, moved above the Perth side after their 2-1 victory at Tynecastle.
Combined with the fact that Edinburgh rivals, Hibs, are finding some sustained form at last and Kilmarnock are grinding out results like Derek McInnes teams tend to, Saints fans are not going to enjoy a merry Christmas by looking at the league table.
If Ross County pick up a couple of wins things could get very ugly very quickly.
Courier Sport analyses the weekend contest and the overall picture as a do or die transfer window looms large.
Formations
Simo Valakari has tried out a few now.
He set-up with a 4-4-2 against Hearts and it didn’t work.
Sven Sprangler returned to the starting line-up but the fact he wasn’t screening the back four as a holding midfielder, which had been his traditional role pre-suspension, played a part in Saints being overrun in the early stages.
We’ve seen enough tweaks of formation from Valakari (and his predecessor) now to realise that the one which suits this group of players best is the midfield diamond.
That in itself is an indictment of the summer recruitment business because it highlights the glaring lack of wingers at the club.
But it gives the team a strong spine and the chance to play their way up the pitch through technically sound central midfielders.
Once signings start arriving in January, Valakari will have the opportunity to look at things again.
For the rest of the festive football, though, the 4-1-2-1-2 looks his best bet.
The goals
We’ll keep it short because this part of the post-match reflections is becoming extremely repetitive.
Suffice to say, the soft goals catalogue has another two additions.
And, as always, the big concern is the fact several players are implicated.
For Hearts’ first, Andre Raymond doesn’t close down Adam Forrester with anything close to the required intensity and then Aaron Essel and Jack Sanders either don’t speak to each other, or don’t listen.
For the second, had Bozo Mikulic got his body position right he would have been able to usher the ball out for a goal-kick or, at worst, clear for a throw-in.
Then, after the corner comes back to James Penrice, Essel directs his clearing header straight to Blair Spittal, Sprangler doesn’t sense the shooting danger quickly enough and Josh Rae’s technique looks questionable.
A startling comparison
The end of the season is the time for big picture post-mortems and assessments.
But hitting rock bottom in the league necessitates a bit of “how has it come to this?” perspective.
The fact that it was a pre-Christmas clash with Hearts at Tynecastle also shone a bright light on the steady and depressing slide of St Johnstone Football Club.
It was impossible not to let your mind drift back five years to the day Tommy Wright’s team faced Daniel Stendel’s in the capital city, when Saints went into it propping up the table and without a win in 17 away games and Hearts were in the thick of the relegation battle as well.
Here’s the team Wright picked to get the job done – Zander Clark, Anthony Ralston, Liam Gordon, Jason Kerr, Callum Booth, Murray Davidson, Ali McCann, Jason Holt, Stevie May, Michael O’Halloran, Matty Kennedy.
The three subs he brought on that day?
Two club legends – Liam Craig and David Wotherspoon – and Callum Hendry, who scored the winner and would go on to almost single-handedly keep Saints in the Premiership three years later.
Scott Tanser and Drey Wright stayed on the bench.
We’re not talking about a cup-winning Perth side here, or one that would qualify for Europe. The fact they were bottom speaks to flaws in the team at that time.
But half a decade on from a performance and result that summed up how St Johnstone habitually responded when they were put under a bit of pressure and really needed a result, would any of Sunday’s line-up join Holt in a ‘best of’ XI?
If you want an emblem of the neglect and sliding standards at McDiarmid Park that Valakari has been tasked with arresting, you’ll struggle to find a more powerful one.
January
The performances and results in the last two matches (even though both games had good parts, especially the St Mirren one) have punctured a bit of growing optimism.
They are a reality check and, given the timing, could yet serve a valuable purpose.
Minds need to be focused.
Valakari hasn’t got everything right since taking over from Craig Levein. But he’s got far more right than wrong.
He’s the biggest asset St Johnstone have and appointing him has been the new owners’ biggest success.
He deserves to be backed. He NEEDS to be backed.
That doesn’t mean acting like the St Johnstone of old, taking their time with agents and clubs, squeezing every last drop of value out of a deal.
If there are more transfers near the end of the window than the start of it, Valakari will have been let down.
Nobody in relevant authority covered themselves in glory in the last week of the summer transfer window.
To fail to recruit an experienced goalkeeper and an experienced centre-half was eye-watering mismanagement.
The first week of January has to be different. It has to be busy.
St Johnstone’s Premiership status rests on deep pockets and decisiveness.
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