It took him a few days, but Saints boss Gus MacPherson has used the dreaded "R" word after Tuesday's game. It usually happens in the post-match interviews but it's taken him until Friday this week to utter "reaction" after the defeat to Dunfermline. And usually we do get a bit of an improved performance in the following game, but very quickly we return to the previous level of performance. There is an underlying problem at the club that needs to be sorted - games like tomorrow where we see the "reaction" are only the short-term fix.
MacPherson has talked this week about doing passing, crossing and shooting drills in training - which makes you wonder what we normally do. If recent weeks are anything to go by you could argue we certainly don't do crossing or shooting. We're good at passing though - lots of sideways ones before eventually hoofing the ball in the general direction of one of our strikers. Fingers crossed the extra training in the other basic areas of our game have some pay-off tomorrow.
Most fans have been calling for changes after Tuesday's defeat, ranging from changing formation to changing the manager. The latter probably won't happen for some time but there's a good chance there will be a few changes to the team tomorrow. The strikeforce of Jim Hamilton and Billy Mehmet will probably remain, but Andy Dorman should return in midfield along with Steven Robb while Scott Cuthbert could come into defence if Will Haining is injured - although given the former Oldham defender's form recently he should perhaps be dropped even if he is fit. It would be nice to see something radical and a few other changes, such as giving Dennis Wyness a start, but it probably won't happen. Craig Dargo is unsurprisingly injured again, while David Barron is also out. Tonet is fit again and could make the squad.
Motherwell also suffered a cup defeat during the week, although they at least lost to an SPL side in the shape of Hamilton Accies. They've actually had a slightly worse start to the season than ourselves, which is a surprise considering how well they did last season. Chris Porter will be suspended for tomorrow's game after being sent off against Hamilton, but former Saint John Sutton will be in the team. The striker has already scored three goals since returning to the Scotland and seems to be enjoying himself at Fir Park - the scene of his finest performance in a Saints shirt in the famous win in May 2007 when we came from two goals down to win 3-2.
For once, I'm going to predict a Saints win tomorrow. We often put in good performances after embarrassing defeats and I think we'll win 1-0.
MacPherson has talked this week about doing passing, crossing and shooting drills in training - which makes you wonder what we normally do. If recent weeks are anything to go by you could argue we certainly don't do crossing or shooting. We're good at passing though - lots of sideways ones before eventually hoofing the ball in the general direction of one of our strikers. Fingers crossed the extra training in the other basic areas of our game have some pay-off tomorrow.
Most fans have been calling for changes after Tuesday's defeat, ranging from changing formation to changing the manager. The latter probably won't happen for some time but there's a good chance there will be a few changes to the team tomorrow. The strikeforce of Jim Hamilton and Billy Mehmet will probably remain, but Andy Dorman should return in midfield along with Steven Robb while Scott Cuthbert could come into defence if Will Haining is injured - although given the former Oldham defender's form recently he should perhaps be dropped even if he is fit. It would be nice to see something radical and a few other changes, such as giving Dennis Wyness a start, but it probably won't happen. Craig Dargo is unsurprisingly injured again, while David Barron is also out. Tonet is fit again and could make the squad.
Motherwell also suffered a cup defeat during the week, although they at least lost to an SPL side in the shape of Hamilton Accies. They've actually had a slightly worse start to the season than ourselves, which is a surprise considering how well they did last season. Chris Porter will be suspended for tomorrow's game after being sent off against Hamilton, but former Saint John Sutton will be in the team. The striker has already scored three goals since returning to the Scotland and seems to be enjoying himself at Fir Park - the scene of his finest performance in a Saints shirt in the famous win in May 2007 when we came from two goals down to win 3-2.
For once, I'm going to predict a Saints win tomorrow. We often put in good performances after embarrassing defeats and I think we'll win 1-0.