The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Saints boss not scared to rotate squad – Craig
Callum Davidson likes his golf. And very good at it he is, too. So if there are any St Johnstone players who haven’t heard of Brian Barnes, maybe the manager should talk them through the charismatic tour pro’s day in the sun before tonight.
Barnes, who passed away a year-and-a-half ago, enjoyed four decades of dining out on the story of beating the great Jack Nicklaus in Ryder Cup singles matches on two occasions in one day.
Familiarising themselves with the finer details of how the greatest-ever golfer at the peak of his powers could be defeated twice in quick succession by a journeyman might make Saints’ job of becoming the first side to take three points off the runaway Premiership champions and then knock them out of the Scottish Cup on their own pitch seem a bit more achievable.
Denying Rangers their league invincibility, now just four games away, and then a trophy double is Scottish football’s present day answer to capturing lightning in a bottle.
But, as a larger-than-life, pipe-smoking golfer once proved, that doesn’t mean it can’t be done.
“It’s a huge week for the club and one we are all looking forward to,” said Liam Craig.
“Obviously it’s going to be very difficult because Rangers have only lost one game domestically all season and none in the league. They have been relentless.
“To go and beat them twice in five days is going to be a huge ask.
“But at this stage of the season it’s great to be in the latter stages of a cup competition and fighting against the best in the top six
“That’s where we wanted to be so we are looking forward to it.
“We want to finish the season as strongly as possible and to catch Livingston.
“Fifth place might give us a European spot as well.
“There is so much to play for.
“Rangers will want to go through the league season unbeaten so it is going to be difficult.
“But they come to Perth first and we want to win the game.
“We have to be at our best and to carry an element of luck, as you always need against the top teams.
“We want to win both games but we know how difficult it is going to be.”
The scheduling of the Ibrox cup tie for Sunday evening rather than Saturday afternoon has given both sets of players some precious extra recovery time.
However, the turnaround from midweek to weekend still lends itself to mixing and matching of starting line-ups in both camps, according to Craig.
As such, the former Falkirk and Hibs man believes the matches will stand alone distinctly rather than become two blended halves of a whole.
“We have to separate these games,” he said.
“Steven Gerrard has already said he’ll be rotating his squad and I would imagine our manager will have his own views on how he wants to use our squad.
“Everyone has played their part in getting us to this stage.
“The manager has not been scared to rotate the squad and the boys who have come in have probably given him a headache for the next week.
“Nobody has let him down all season.
“You see Charlie (Gilmour) come in, Glenn Middleton scoring a massive goal against Ross County.
“He can’t play in these two games but he has done his bit.
“The pleasing thing for the club and the manager is that everyone is playing their part.
“I keep going back to it. “Over every season where we have been successful over the past 12/13 years it has taken the full squad to play their part.
“Again, it has been the case this year.
“Everyone has been fresh and everyone has had minutes.
“The last two Saturdays he has rotated the squad to make sure everyone is ready for this final push.
“There will be no excuses on our part in terms of preparing properly.
“We just want to make what has been a great season an even more memorable one.”
He added: “Rangers have shown domestically and in Europe how strong their squad is.
“But the manager will set us up in a way we can hurt them and hopefully how we can stop their attacking players causing us a threat.
“It could be two different formations, two different teams. So much can change in games.
“I think looking back we played Celtic in the League Cup in 2012.
“We got beat 5-0 on the Wednesday and then we drew 1-1 10 days later in the league.”
He continued: “We will take the league game first. We will learn a lot about ourselves and personnel in the Rangers set-up.
“We will look forward to the cup game regardless of what happens on Wednesday.”
Not only are Saints yet to draw or beat Rangers this season, they are yet to score against them.
“We have tried to have a go at them,” said Craig, who has featured in all three of their league defeats, starting the first one and coming off the bench in the others.
“We aren’t naive enough to think you can do that from the first minute because they have match winners all over the pitch.
“They are a very good side and have proved that at home and abroad.
“You need a game plan and part of that is staying in the game.”
The big picture for Saints in this match is their pursuit of Livingston, four points above them in the table, and the place in the Europa Conference League that would likely be theirs if they overtook the club they defeated in the Betfred Cup final.
“We have had a really good season with loads of memories but if we can finish fifth and make Europe that would really make it one to look back on in years to come.”