New formation a winner for McNamara with More still to come
DANNY McNAMARA says the best is yet to come from St Johnstone – and reckons the Perth outfit have a unique weapon in their arsenal that their opponents simply cannot deal with.
Callum Davidson’s men overcame St Mirren on Saturday to record their first home victory of the season, and in truth should have won by more. They carved their opponents open time and time again in the first half but were unable to find a breakthrough before Stevie May came off the bench to poke the ball in from close range with 20 minutes left to play.
The visitors struggled to lay a glove on their opponents, with St Johnstone dominating from the start. McNamara, in particular, caught the eye, marauding up and down the right flank and could have ended up on the score- sheet himself but for a couple of fine stops from Jak Alnwick in the St Mirren goal.
Davidson’s new- look Saints lined up with a back three, with Jason Kerr and Jamie McCart flanking Liam Gordon and the two outside centrehalves making overlapping runs down either wing.
It was a strategy that Jim Goodwin’s men could not cope with – and McNamara believes the Paisley side will not be the last team to come undone by the tactical ploy.
“As we’ve seen, the formation can really help and it can hurt teams,” he said. “We’re still learning it but once we nail that down there’s no reason we can’t get further up the table and start giving top teams good games.
“You don’t really see it often in football. Sheffield United do it, I think that’s where it’s come from. It’s so effective. Teams don’t really know how play against it so it’s good for us going forward.
“Teams don’t know how to press against it. When I get the ball at wing- back, Jason Kerr is overlapping me. Unless the [ opposing] centre- back steps out, it creates so much space in behind that allows Michael [ O’Halloran to feed] the striker.
“It’s very effective and we still haven’t nailed it properly yet but once we do, we’ll be very good with it.”
McNamara is a new face at
McDiarmid Park after joining on loan from Millwall, where Davidson previously worked as assistant manager. The 21- year- old has wasted no time in forcing his way into the starting line- up in Perth and has been rewarded for his displays with a call- up to Ireland’s Under- 21 squad.
It has been an excellent start to life in the Scottish Premiership for the defender, who says he is in constant contact with his parent club, picking up pointers and working on aspects of his game that need improvement.
“I’m just trying to stay as consistent as possible, as are the team,” McNamara said. “Hopefully we can keep it up and get points on the board.
“I’m getting noticed which is a good thing and it’s always an honour to get called up by your country. I can’t wait to join up with the lads.
“I get feedback once a week from the [ Millwall] Under- 23s manager. He keeps close tabs on me, asking what I’ve done, what things I could do better and he also watches all my games back as well. It’s always good to get feedback.
“When I first came in, I didn’t expect to start the first game of the season. There’s good competition around me. I knew there were two very good right- backs in front of me and I’ve just done what I had to do. The gaffer put his trust in me and I’ve been starting.”