The task for St Johnstone over the next few months, according to Graham Carey, is acquiring the ability to “win games ugly” while retaining their new-found capacity to play passing football.
The Irishman, whose penalty at Tynecastle counted for nothing as a result of Saints’ conceding a winner to Hearts just a few minutes later, knows that the error count needs to be slashed if the Perth club are to retain their Premiership status.
But the balancing act will be ensuring the necessary “streetwise” improvement isn’t at the expense of the possession-based style boss, Simo Valakari, favours.
“Both their goals were preventable,” Carey pointed out. “I’ve said it over and over this season.
“Teams aren’t having to work really hard to score against us.
“A lot of our problems are being caused by ourselves.
“The first one is either poor communication or not listening to the communication, which leads to a free header.
“For the second one, we could prevent the corner leading up to it and nobody gets out to Blair (Spittal) at the edge of the box and he’s got all the time in the world to get his shot off.
“We need to get out and block that.
“Listen, if we keep conceding goals the way we are then it’s going to be a tough fight.
“There are a lot of positives in the way we’ve been playing since the manager came in.
“If we can just be less naïve, I feel we can climb the table.
“We need to learn how to win ugly but that doesn’t mean moving away from playing the way we are trying to.
A run of wins
A win over Dundee United could make Saints’ stay at the bottom of the table a brief one.
“This league is always the same,” said Carey. “If you go on a run of games you go past three or four teams.
“It’s about sticking together – keep doing the good things and cut out the soft goals.
“The manager has been so positive and he wants us to play positive football but he’s a winner and he wants to win games.
“We’ve lost games, having played well, to teams who have been more streetwise.
“Sometimes you do have to be able to win ugly.”
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