Kai Watson: St Mirren Impress AGAIN
Last week I wrote about how impressed I was by St. Johnstone, so I was excited to see them take on St. Mirren on Saturday given how impressive Craig McLeish’s side were against Falkirk last week. They comfortably won 2-0 at the Falkirk Stadium which was a result that not many would have predicted.
Personally, I questioned the appointment of McLeish as, like many others, I predicted his side to struggle this year and thought they would have benefited from a more experienced manager in charge. There were signs he could get them playing decent football last season, there was the first half against Celtic at Celtic Park and the second half in the Scottish Cup Semi-Final at Hampden (before the extra-time collapse).
He wants his team to play football ‘the right way’ and that was something I just couldn’t see working in Paisley, especially after how last season ended with them scraping through the Relegation Play-Off against Partick Thistle.
The club changed their recruitment strategy over the summer and brought in Gavin Miller from Motherwell in what seems like a shrewd appointment. One of the first bits of business they did was bringing in Samuel Ramos who impressed for the same club that Hearts bought Alexandros Kyziridis from in Slovakia and that was a very non-St. Mirren type signing.
He came in off the back of an impressive season, at a good age and was the type of creative player they had been crying out for, for years. A Spaniard playing in Slovakia, signing for St. Mirren? It really was the beginning of something new!
Miller made it clear that McLeish was the driving force behind bringing in Ramos though and had spoken to the player himself to convince him of the project which he has now bought in to.
They also added Paul Nsio on loan, who impressed at Raith Rovers last season, Eseosa Sule who was at Motherwell but cut his loan short due to injury but has an incredibly impressive physical profile and Scotland U21 international Ryan Carr.
They’ve added youth to an aging squad alongside genuine technical ability throughout the midfield and wide areas, McLeish has been backed with players that suit how he wants to play and it’s working a treat.
They are still the physical side that everyone knows and hates (sorry St. Mirren fans) but now they also like to get the ball down and play and have been really enjoyable to watch so far. It will be hard for them to sustain this over a full season but at least now they have players with potential that will get better instead of relying on the old, experienced heads to pull them out of a hole.
Aside from the missed penalty and Diabate hitting the post, they didn’t look in much danger vs St. Johnstone and are the only team yet to concede in the league. Like I mentioned, it’s early days but the fact that they are a younger side that like to attack and get the ball down is exciting for the fans.
Even if they can’t sustain this form, the future looks brighter than it has in a while for the Saints.
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