St Johnstone boss admits Jonathan Svedberg has found it ‘tough’ in Scotland but backs Swede to come good

Player and manager both know that St Johnstone fans haven’t yet seen the best of Jonathan Svedberg.

But Perth boss, Simo Valakari, is confident that will soon change.

The transition from the Swedish top-flight to the Scottish Premiership hasn’t been seamless for the January recruit, despite the fact Saints’ recent defeat to Hibs was his sixth start.

Valakari has seen Svedberg show his class on the training ground.

Now he has to produce it on a match-day.

“It is tough for Jonathan,” said Valakari.

“He is a very honest player, and we have been talking a lot.

“It is frustrating for him and, as the coach, it’s frustrating for me also because we can see the qualities he’s got.

“Players always take time to acclimatise but with the situation we’re in, we don’t have the luxury of time.

“We knew the situation – we needed the players we brought in to step up and hit the ground running straight away.

“In this league, it’s very tough and it’s a special country to play football.

“Jonathan believes in himself.

“He knows his strengths and knows what he can make happen for the team. He will get there because he has a lot of experience and a lot of quality.

“We know the passing range he has, and we know how he can get around the pitch into good positions and shoot from distance.

“Jonathan is capable of making those penetrating runs from midfield and that’s what we’re looking for.

“We need goals from our midfield as well as our strikers and he is one of the players who can give us that.”

Goals and assists

Svedberg isn’t the only player who has to step-up in terms of bolstering Saints’ attacking threat.

“Yes, we have been playing with the two sixes, but we need some assists or goals from everyone to make us more dangerous,” said Valakari.

“The Hibs game looked like we were just passing the ball along the back line, and it did not go anywhere.

“Our defenders are not stupid – they don’t just want to kick the ball and hope something happens.

“There weren’t enough co-ordinated movements, not enough good movements up front to free up the spaces so the defenders could pass to them.

“That’s why we ended up going back to Andy (Fisher) and having to go again.

“The players higher up were not showing enough co-operation between them and our defenders that we could progress in a good way.

“It looked like we didn’t have options. We need to fix that.

“When we do get through to the last line then we can’t hit the first player when we get the chance to cross.

“We need to get the ball in the box and ask the question of the opponent.

“That’s what we didn’t do on Saturday and that’s why everything looks so bad. It wasn’t just one reason.

“It was a lot of little things we were not doing right.

“Now it is a sign of what kind of team we are – how you bounce back from these moments.

“That’s what we are concentrating on.”