It is usually the manager’s job to tell his team to play things down.
The reasoning is that there is nothing to be gained by raising expectations regardless of how good a run a side is on or how high up the table they, secretly, feel they can finish.
Such cautious strategic planning has brought us the wonderful one-game-at-a-time clich as bosses rein in their excitable players.
However, at St Johnstone it has gone all topsy-turvy.
As the McDiarmid men prepare to face Dundee at home tonight, it has been left to midfielder Chris Millar to be conservative in the face of optimistic chat from manager Tommy Wright.
In the wake of a win over Dundee United that moved them within touching distance of Hearts and Aberdeen respectively, four and three points behind Wright suggested the Perth men could, if they carry on as they are doing, split the Jam Tarts and Dons.
There has even been heady talk of a possible second-place finish in the Premiership.
As Millar revealed, however, the players have been rather taken aback by all that.
“We were surprised to read the manager’s words about splitting Hearts and Aberdeen because our style has always been to stay under the radar,” said Millar.
“It does give you a confidence boost, though, and I think the manager is trying to generate a bit of interest in the club.
“We have been under the radar in the past and have come on late in the league, so we’re ahead of where we usually are at this stage of the season.
“But nobody here will get carried away.
“The lads were talking the other day and Steven Anderson made the point that he doesn’t even look at the league table until the new year.
“I think most of the boys are the same.
“We’re on a good run at the moment and are only three points behind Aberdeen.
“But look at what happened to them, they were flying and then hit a slump and are coming back from it now.
“So the same could happen to us and everyone can beat everyone in this league.
“People are waiting for us to come a cropper now, that’s the nature of the beast.
“You get bummed up and after that people want to put you in your place.
“So it’s good to hear what the gaffer has said but we’re not getting carried away and looking further than the Dundee game.”
Maybe so but three points against their Tayside rivals tonight and it will be six successive victories for Saints going back to mid-October.
That would be quite something and they would, of course, put pressure on Hearts and Aberdeen to win their own matches tomorrow.
Millar said: “It has been a great couple of months and the most pleasing thing is the way the squad has coped with losing players.
“We have been missing guys at times but have still managed to grind out wins and that says a lot about the squad.
“I think we’ve been finding ways to win.
“We read (Dundee United boss) Mixu Paatelainen’s comments about long balls last weekend but things like that don’t matter.
“We just laughed it off because there’s more than one way of winning matches.
“We have been in people’s faces this year and we’ve also played some really good football.
“That shows in the results we’ve had this season but we want to keep it going.”
Dundee’s results and performances have been mixed this season and Millar is wary of them.
He said: “Games against Dundee are always great but they are tough matches.
“They are one of those teams who are able to play some wonderful football because they have fantastic players in their squad.
“With guys like Greg Stewart, Kane Hemmings, Kevin Thomson and Gary Harkins they have loads of quality.
“They have probably been a bit inconsistent this season but they will go on a run because they have the players to do that.
“With the team they have they will be up there this season, so it would be good for us to get another three points ahead of them.
“But there’s no doubt it’s going to be tough.”
Like Millar, Saints boss Wright is expecting Dundee to really test them tonight.
Saints will be without the suspended Liam Craig but David Wotherspoon is OK after his dead leg.
Wright said: “They have a lot of attack-minded players and have flexibility in their squad.
“Paul Hartley can change his system. He can play two or three up top. Loy, Hemmings and Stewart all have good movement and goals in them.
“But we are adaptable ourselves. So it is set up for a cracking game.”