On the Precipice

Much has been made of Danny Lennon’s record since he led St Mirren to their first ever League Cup triumph in March earlier this year. The statistics surrounding the run since then have been done to death, so I won’t bore you with those. Instead, we will take a look into some of the reasons why so much is going wrong for the Paisley side.

For starters, the squad is weaker than it was six months ago. From that cup winning eleven Ismael Goncalves, Craig Samson and Paul Dummett all left the club during the summer. The team may have found itself in even worse shape had the services of Paul McGowan and Conor Newton not been retained.

David Cornell, who, from his early season form, is a downgrade on Samson in goal. And you don’t need me to tell you just how much weaker the defence is without Dummett. The Welsh Under 21 international excelled at left-back last season, and centre-back when required.

The likes of Dougie Imrie, Sam Parkin, Lewis Guy and Graham Carey, less prominent names, followed, leaving the squad thin just about all over the pitch, particularly in attacking areas. Jake Caprice and Stéphane Bahoken increase the options but it is far too early in their St Mirren careers to assess their potential impact.

Another new signing, Gary Harkins, seemed a good addition to the squad in theory. In practice Danny Lennon has failed to get the best out of the former Dundee playmaker. When stationed behind Steven Thompson in attack - who, it must be stated, has scored only once in his last sixteen league matches - their partnership lacks pace. Experimentation with Harkins in one or two other positions has also done little to inspire.

Perhaps it all could have been different for St Mirren had referee Kevin Clancy not unjustly awarded Inverness Caledonian Thistle a penalty when the ball struck David van Zanten’s arm on the opening day. Any hopes of salvaging a point were then doomed within seconds when some cataclysmic ball retention saw them concede directly from the restart.

Within another ten minutes it was three. They have failed to recover since.

A draw at home to Kilmarnock, their sole point thus far, was followed by another thumping in the Highlands. This time Ross County was the ruthless opponent with the lack of confidence and motivation evident in the St Mirren ranks a particular concern.

For the third goal in another 3-0 defeat, Richie Brittain was given the freedom to run around twenty-five yards without anyone tracking him before latching onto a Graham Carey corner. When he strikes to score there are five defenders stationary and within the six-yard box. Additionally, for the second goal, a Brittain penalty, only two St Mirren players are bothered about any potential rebound giving the County captain an easier time following up David Cornell’s save.

Lennon’s side took the lead in their next two fixtures but lost both 2-1. One of these came against Queen of the South in the League Cup. This result all but banished the sole remaining defence of the St Mirren manager: that his side were the holders of the competition.

The most worrying aspect of St Mirren’s situation is the downbeat post-match interviews given by Lennon. Week after week we hear to tired platitudes and clichés from a man who sounds like he lacks fresh ideas or the motivation to find any. Facing the media on Saturday slightly bucked this trend but still done little to convince. Lennon bemoaned a penalty decision – even though it was, eventually, called correctly – then went on to take the positives from the new system they had been working on.

That may not suffice for the St Mirren faithful, who are growing increasingly impatient with their team’s inability to trouble opposition goalkeepers. Just a single shot on target was achieved during Saturday’s defeat. A distinct lack of strikers, apparent since the end of last season when Lewis Guy, Sam Parkin and Ismael Goncalves left the club goes a long way in explaining why St Mirren have scored at least three goals fewer than every other team in the division.

And constantly switching formations and shoehorning players into different positions, hoping that it will just all click into place eventually, is not the way to get the best out of your squad of players.

The season is still young, St Mirren have played a game less than most, the new signings are still to be given their chance and Darren McGregor’s return from long-term injury should improve the side. Unfortunately for Lennon, the responsibility for halting St Mirren’s decline and acting upon these few positives will likely be handed on to one of the current BBC Sportsound regulars within the next few weeks.

The little under three years between Danny Lennon’s appointment as manager and the cup success consisted of a steady progression of the playing squad and an valiant, if not always effective, attempt to instil a purer form of the game. However, one league finish of 8^th, two in the bottom three and another that is heading in the same direction does not bode well. Even for a club with only modest ambitions.

The cup win was a high that was above and beyond the remit of the St Mirren manager even if it masked another terrible league campaign. Since then Danny Lennon has poorly negotiated the transfer window and seems unable to instil a system, or a confidence in his players, to compensate for the squad’s reduced quality. The way things are going at St Mirren Park, he will not see another transfer window to rectify the situation. 

Dunfermline 0 St. Mirren 0

Dunfermline marked their return to the SPL with a 0-0 draw at home to St. Mirren.  Jim McIntyre lined up his side in a 4-4-2 formation with David Graham and Joe Cardle flanking Martin Hardie and Gary Mason in midfield.  Jason Thomson made his debut at right-back after a loan move from Hearts and John Potter and Paul Gallacher both made their second debuts for the club against their most recent previous employers.  Steven McDougall was preferred to Andy Barrowman in attack.

Danny Lennon gave debuts to Steven Thompson, Gary Teale, Jeroen Tesselaar and Nigel Hasselbaink.  Their formation was somewhere between a 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 depending on the position of Paul McGowan.  Teale and Hasselbaink began on the wings and switched regularly throughout the match.  Jim Goodwin patrolled the area in front of the back four, allowing the St. Mirren full-backs the licence to push on.

St. Mirren dominate

St. Mirren completely dominated the first half, doing everything right except find the net.  In an interview before the match, Lennon expressed his willingness to instil a passing approach, pointing out that he had signed players who are comfortable in possession.  This approach was evident throughout the match as St. Mirren routinely passed it out form the back and kept possession well.  Hasselbaink, McGowan and Teale were all finding space between the lines and the away side really should have done better with a few early opportunities, especially given how shaky Gallacher was looking in the Dunfermline goal.

To add to their frustration, Thompson passed up the opportunity to open his account with his new club when Gallacher denied him from the spot but despite their inability to score, St. Mirren can be pleased with their overall performance.  David van Zanten and Tesselaar got forward to support attacks and the movement of the front four was superb: Thompson would often pull deep and wide, Hasselbaink would cut in from whatever wing he found himself on, Teale would look to drop deep to collect the ball and McGowan was given something of a free role.

St. Mirren not only dominated possession, they worked so hard off the ball that they stopped Dunfermline from building any momentum.   Hasselbaink and Teale were quick to close down the Dunfermline full-backs, who were rushed into direct passes down the channels, almost all of which were inaccurate.  Other than this, the home side’s only strategy was for the goalkeeper to hit Hardie with long balls.

It was perhaps surprising that Dunfermline manager Jim McIntyre decided to set up in a 4-4-2 formation.  He too articulated his intention to retain a passing approach in an interview during the close season.  However, the fact that he chose to go with two banks of four and two strikers, therefore conceding the midfield battle, suggests that his strategy, initially at least, was to soak up pressure and hopefully catch their opponents on the break.

Their set up in opposition to St. Mirren’s meant that they were met with the classic problem of the 4-4-2 versus a three men central midfield: a man disadvantage in the centre of the pitch.  The fact that neither of Dunfermline’s strikers looked to drop deep and help out only perpetuated the problem.  Further, the presence of Hasselbaink and Teale pushed high up the pitch meant that the Dunfermline full-backs could not advance and help out the midfield as much as they’d like to.

As the half progressed Dunfermline became deeper and deeper as a unit and whenever they regained possession they struggled to find any sort of out-ball.  This, again, was partly due to how hard St. Mirren worked off the ball.

Dunfermline’s second half changes

The second half continued in much the same vein as the first, St. Mirren dominating possession but struggling to find the net.  They came close through efforts from Teale and Thomson early in the second half but struggled to create anything clear-cut after that.

As the half wore on it seemed that St. Mirren were beginning to run out of steam and McIntyre responded by making a few substitutions.  The first change was to bring on Barrowman for the ineffective McDougall, a straight swap which did little to change their set-up.

With around twenty-five minutes remaining, McIntyre then introduced Paul Burns for Graham, which at first seemed like it may have been another straight swap but in actual fact, Burns positioned himself closer to the centre circle than Graham had, and with Jason Thomson now pushing on from right-back, this meant Dunfermline were now effectively matching up 3v3 in the centre of midfield.

McIntyre now sensed that his side could potentially snatch the victory and made his final change, withdrawing Andy Kirk in favour of Ryan Thomson, another holding midfielder.  This meant that Dunfermline were now lined up 4-2-3-1 and this coupled with St. Mirren’s growing lethargy (it was surprising that Lennon made no substitutions at all) meant that Dunfermline enjoyed their best spell of the match.

Conclusion

Dunfermline were completely outplayed in this match until McIntyre switched their formation and matched St. Mirren man-for-man in the centre of the pitch.  It is surprising that this wasn’t noticed and responded to earlier but, as alluded to earlier, perhaps the strategy was to hold a deep defensive line, remain compact and then go for the victory late on.

If so then it is a very risky strategy to say the least.  St. Mirren carved out many opportunities and should have had the lead through Thompson’s penalty kick.

St. Mirren were very unlucky not to win and if last night’s performance is anything to go by then they will likely achieve their highest finish since their return to the SPL.  Lennon has brought some exciting attacking talent to the club.  Thompson looks an excellent signing despite his penalty miss and his height, strength and first touch looks like it will be complimented nicely by the pace (with the exception of Teale) and trickery of the three just behind him.  The real test for St. Mirren will be how their defence and goalkeeper cope against better opposition.

St Mirren 1 Aberdeen 1

An injury time equaliser from Rory McArdle earned Aberdeen a replay at St Mirren Park.  The majority of the match was a scrappy, turgid affair which saw both teams struggle to find any sort of rhythm or create anything bordering on a decent chance.  It wasn’t until substitutions were introduced later in the second half that anything resembling a cup tie took place.

St Mirren boss Danny Lennon dropped Michael Higdon and Kenny McLean - both of whom would go on to have a massive impact on the match – from the 1-0 defeat to Rangers, with Craig Dargo and Darren McGregor restored to the line-up in a 3-5-2 formation.

Craig Brown lined-up his side 4-4-1-1 and made three changes from the 3-1 defeat at Tannadice on Monday.  Ryan Jack, Sone Aluko and Darren Young all missed out, with Josh Magennis, Chris Maguire and Nikola Vujadinovic preferred.

Lack of physical presence in St Mirren attack

Due to the set-up of the St Mirren side it was a surprise to see Higdon on the bench.  David van Zanten and Jure Travner provided width and played high up the pitch – the reason St Mirren’s formation was 3-5-2 and not 5-3-2 - and on the rare occasions when they did manage to work the ball into the final third and deliver a cross, there was such an obvious mismatch in height that the strategy failed.  The Aberdeen back four were all six foot plus and St Mirren’s two small strikers along with Hugh Murray and Steven Thomson, who often joined them in the box, were never able cause any problems in this regard.

Aberdeen edged the first ten minutes and it seemed for a while as if Paul Hartley and Robert Milsom would pull the strings in the centre of midfield.  Chris Maguire was given the freedom to drift deep and wide to link play but failed to get involved much after the initial stages.  This was partly down to the performance of Jim Goodwin, the best player on the pitch for the scrappy first hour, who patrolled the area in front of the back three.

Higdon and McLean change the match

After half time, the match continued in a similar vein until Higdon replaced the injured John Potter.  McGowan moved to the right of midfield, Travner and van Zanten returned to full-back and Higdon joined Dargo in attack in a 4-4-2.  The change brought about an immediate impact when Higdon controlled, turned and shot just wide from the edge of the area.  Shortly afterwards, McLean took to the field in place of Goodwin.

The substitutions swung the game in the home side’s favour for several reasons.  Firstly, and most obvious, was the physical presence of Higdon.  As already mentioned, St Mirren were struggled to hold up the ball and get someone on the end of their crosses. 

Secondly, even though St Mirren were 4-4-2, once again Paul McGowan’s position was not easily defined - similar to the recent match against Hibernian.  Whereas McLean took up an orthodox left-sided midfield role, McGowan’s movement was such that he often formed a front three and looked to pick up the scraps from knock-downs and flick-ons.  Relatedly, Higdon’s presence meant that Dargo was now the second striker rather than the focal point of the attack, a role which suits him better.  He was now, like McGowan, free to drift around the space between the Aberdeen defence and attack and link play.

Lastly, the introduction of McLean brought more of a creative presence to the St Mirren midfield and the chances he, sometimes single-handedly, created should have been enough for St Mirren to progress to the semi-final.

Within a minute of coming on, the nineteen-year-old played a one-two with Higdon at the edge of the Aberdeen box and should have scored after finding himself one-on-one with the on-rushing Jamie Langfield.  The Aberdeen goalkeeper blocked the shot and the subsequent rebound that fell to Higdon.

The ball then crashed off the underside of the bar from a Higdon header but it wasn’t long until St Mirren had the lead.  Some decent play down the left involving Travner and McLean saw Dargo cut inside and cross towards the back post from deep.  Higdon volleyed the ball back across goal and McGowan escaped the attention of Vujadinovic to tap the ball into the net.

Aberdeen made some changes of their own, bringing on Nick Blackman for Scott Vernon in a straight swap, and Sone Aluko coming on for Steven Smith.  Aberdeen now resembled more of a 4-2-3-1 with inverted wingers, a tactic that worked well although failed to produce a goal against Hearts last month, but their best chances were strikes from around the edge of the St Mirren penalty area which failed to trouble Paul Gallacher much. 

St Mirren poor finishing comes back to haunt them

After the goal, St Mirren carved out three opportunities that should have put the match beyond their opponents, all three of which involved McLean.  After missing a chance himself, on separate occasions he sent perfectly weighted through balls for Higdon and Dargo but both failed to take advantage of being through on the goalkeeper.

St Mirren were punished for their poor finishing in the ninety-third minute when McArdle pounced on a loose ball in the St Mirren box.  Paul Hartley’s free kick appeared to hit the arm of Murray but McArdle, who was the only Aberdeen player not to stop and claim for a penalty, stabbed the ball past Gallacher.

Conclusion

Overall it was a very poor match that was only brought to life when Danny Lennon made changes to his line-up.  Initially, van Zanten and Travner took up advanced wing-backs positions, however, the crosses that the pair managed to deliver lacked a target man.  Higdon’s introduction instantly gave St Mirren what they had been missing and culminated in the opening goal.  McLean had just as much of an impact, opening up the Aberdeen defence on a handful of occasions, but the subsequent chances were not taken advantage of.

Aberdeen’s main problem was creating opportunities.  Maguire and Vernon weren’t involved nearly enough, Milsom and Hartley were overrun in midfield - even though it initially appeared as if they would dominate - and their makeshift wingers failed to trouble St Mirren.

Craig Brown’s side have now scored an injury time goal in each of the three rounds of the Scottish Cup this season but none will be less deserved than this.  Despite their efforts, they were hardly threatening as an attacking force, yet managed to snatch an equaliser that now makes them favourites to progress to the semi final.

St Mirren 0 Hibernian 1

Hibs secured a vital three points against fellow strugglers St Mirren in a very poor match in Paisley with Francis Dickoh heading home with three minutes remaining.

The home side brought Jim Goodwin and Jure Travner in for David van Zanten and Lee Mair and lined up as 4-4-2/4-3-3 depending on the position of Paul McGowan, who began on the right of the three central midfielders but regularly moved forward to join the attack.  Travner provided the width on the left side from full-back.

Hibs again opted for a 4-1-3-2 with Ian Murray and Matt Thornhill missing and Liam Miller and Martin Scott brought in to replace them.  Victor Palsson started just in front of the back four and just behind a central midfield three, although David Wotherspoon would often drift wide right.  Derek Riordan began just off Akpo Sodje in attack and would switch between dropping deep and wide and forming a front two with Sodje.

Both teams began by hitting long balls towards their respective target men.  For St Mirren, McGowan and Craig Dargo would often stay close to Michael Higdon in the hope that one of his knock downs would come their way.  On one occasion McGowan managed to get on the end of a Higdon flick and cut the ball back with Graham Stack out of his goal but the Hibs defence scrambled the ball clear.

The best chances of the first half fell to Scott who struck the woodwork twice.  The first of these came when Wotherspoon worked some space for himself on the wing and sent a lovely cross towards the near post.  Scott’s header was a fraction away from opening the scoring with goalkeeper Paul Gallacher stranded.  Scott was one of the better players on the park and covered a lot of ground, often getting beyond the forwards, and also put in a shift defensively.  He has been the most impressive of the six new signings, providing the necessary battling qualities and energy that Hibs were sorely lacking prior to his arrival.

There was little to report in a less than eventful first half as both sides cancelled each other out in midfield and failed to hold the ball up effectively when attacking.  The match took a pattern something along the lines of: goal kick, long ball, throw in, free kick, corner, goal kick, long ball ad nauseam.

Hibs were the first side to get the ball down and play a little football and their most likely source of creativity came from Wotherspoon on the right.  St Mirren’s shape was such that they had no out-and-out left midfielder which had the consequence that the Hibs youngster was afforded time to run at St Mirren left back Travner.  He set up Riordan who shot straight at Gallacher and towards the end of the half he again sent in a decent cross from the right which was inadvertently turned towards his own goal by Marc McAusland.  Luckily for the St Mirren right-back, Paul Hanlon’s touch took the ball wide of goal rather than towards it.

As the first half drew to a close, McGowan had a shot from the edge of the penalty area which was saved comfortably by Stack and at the other end Scott hit the bar for a second time after he got on the end of a Dickoh flick on.

No changes at half time in terms of personnel or in terms of formation and the second half was a scrappy (and almost as non-eventful) as the first had been.  Yet again, Hibs were the more likely to get the ball down and pass it around but they failed to create any decent chances.  Riordan had another poor shot saved and from the resulting counter attack Craig Dargo was unlucky in his attempt to chip the goalkeeper after being sent through by McGowan.

Colin Calderwood then withdrew Miller and the ineffective Sodje and replaced them with Lewis Stevenson and Colin Nish.  Nish was a like for like swap but Stevenson took up a left sided midfield role with Scott pushed in to the centre.

Most of the chances – if you could call them that – were from set-pieces and it was no surprise that the only goal of the match came from a corner.  With three minutes remaining, Callum Booth sent an inswinger towards the back post.  Paul Hanlon rose above John Potter to head the ball across goal and Dickoh was there to knock the ball into the net.  St Mirren manager Danny Lennon will be furious with his defence considering three of them were within touching distance of Dickoh when he scored, yet each of them were caught the wrong side and didn’t put a in decent challenge between them.

Overall it was a poor match in which both teams resorted to long ball regularly.  Higdon was the most successful of the target men and Sodje struggled to hold the ball up and bring the Hibs midfield into play.  Hibs were the more capable side of getting the ball down but created little from such attacks.  It was no surprise that the only goal of the game was a result of a set-piece.

The win lifts Hibs further away from the sole relegation spot and after winning their last three matches they can begin to look up rather than down the table.