St Johnstone boss Simo Valakari admitted that time is not the Perth club’s friend in the January transfer window.
And there is an urgency to ensuring some of their recruitment business is completed at the start of the month rather than the end.
“We’ve got a lot of games in January,” said Valakari, whose team lost their third game in a row on Boxing Day.
“We all know this window isn’t easy, especially this year when there isn’t a break.
“I really hope that in the close future we can get players in.
“We need to get players as early as possible because of the position we are in.
“I’m confident that we will get results with the players we already have but we can’t wait until the very end of the window to do our business.
“If we were eighth or seventh we would still be looking to strengthen but when you’re higher in the table it gives you a bit of breathing space.
“We don’t have that.
“We have put ourselves in this situation and we need to get ourselves out of it.”
Squad not balanced
Increasing the number of square pegs for square holes is a new year priority.
“Sometimes I feel sorry for certain players because I’m asking them to do things they’re not comfortable with,” said Valakari.
“We have good players but the squad is unbalanced.
“We have a lot of players for some positions and not many for others.”
Conversation