Hearts 1 St.Mirren 0

Written by B&W Army Webteam.
The storm clouds darkened over St.Mirren yesterday afternoon as the side slumped to their sixth successive SPL defeat, succumbing by a single goal to a Hearts side roared on by a full house at Tynecastle.

The result, coupled with Dundee's resurgent form which saw them dismantle table topping Hibs by 3-1, sees Saints now just a point clear of the foot of the table with a massive match looming at home to the dark blues at St.Mirren Park next weekend.

It's still early in the season of course, and talk of a six-pointer at this stage may be premature but there is little doubt that the under-fire manager needs a big performance from his players next week in front of a beleagured support that is losing faith in his ability to put a winning side on the park.

You will find great match reports elsewhere so instead I'll try and look at what I think is going wrong. You may disagree, happy and interested to read your own comments below the article on your own thoughts.

Yesterday we saw more changes with yo-yo men Reilly & Carey back in favour again, and Goodwin back from suspension. Out went Imrie, Parkin and Robertson as the gaffer went for a more compact 4-5-1 formation.

On the face of it there was certainly some sense in an initially more conservative approach yesterday. Tynecastle was always going to be rocking early on.

Steven Thompson however does not, in my opinion, operate well as a lone striker and never has done.

Thommo needs a runner alongside him or at least a partner to take the weight off his shoulders and provide or feed knock downs to or from. Lennon has consistently struck with two up front during most of his tenure and with good reason. Our results generally speaking when playing with a lone striker have been dismal.

The loss of Paul McGowan, more so than the loss of Darren McGregor who we coped without for most of last season, has left a gaping hole in the team in terms of creativity, and a willingness to take the ball in brave positions, retain possession and create space for Saints players going forward. It's been a hammer blow to the dynamics of the team but let us not forget that we scored five goals against Ross County without him.

That team saw a transformation in the second half of that match when we had Gary Teale on the right wing, Graham Carey on the left wing, and Kenny McLean operating in the McGowan role in midfield. A front two of Parkin and Thompson helped themselves to three goals with the introduction of the former as a sub being a pivotal moment in the game.

Fast forward to our only other win during the intervening period, a brilliant win in the cup at Pittodrie. Exactly the same team bar Imrie playing instead of Carey got Saints through to the semi-finals of the league cup. A front two of Parkin and Thompson fed by two wide men.

There is no shame in playing to our strengths and with Lewis Guy seemingly struggling with fitness at the moment we must play wide men, delivering balls into the box, for the two target men. I'm not suggesting we abandon all passing principles, but it isn't difficult to see where our problems lie. We lose possession too easiily in the middle of the park. Without McGowan in there we do not have the ability to retain possession and pick a pass. None of the players we have to deputise are as good at that role as McGowan is, so let's not ask them to do it.

Get the ball down quickly and move it wide. Get Teale and Carey moving forward with the ball and get some delivery in to Parkin and Thompson. Ask McLean and Goodwin to hoover up scraps that fall back from those balls and get some shots in. It's not rocket science, it's playing to our strengths.

Later, when games are more stretched and legs are tired, we can introduce Imrie for either Teale or Carey, we can introduce Guy or Reilly to play up top off one of the bigger strikers and mix things up a bit.

Carey needs to be playing every week, Teale currently deserves to be playing every week, Parkin needs to be playing every week.

Stop messing around, get back to basics, and let's turn this season around.