Players ‘had their say’ in meeting

St Johnstone aren’t trying to shy away from their problems, Danny Swanson has insisted, writes Eric Nicolson.

And the Perth midfielder is hoping a meeting after last week’s defeat to Partick Thistle during which “a few boys had their say” will help them get back on track against Inverness Caledonian Thistle tonight.

“We have to defend better as a team,” said Swanson.

“We have been going behind in games over the last few weeks. That has been a problem for us.

“We got together and spoke about it at a video meeting so hopefully that will change. A few of the boys had their say.”

“We watched the first half of the defeat from Thistle. They went up the park and scored with their first attack. It was the same old story, conceding an early goal and chasing the game again,” said Swanson.

“To be fair we came out of it in a positive frame of mind. We had a good session after it.”

The former Dundee United man added: “I try to watch every game back anyway and a few of the other lads do as well.

“But when you sit down and watch it as a group a few things come out that you might have missed.

“In addition to the manager obviously Callum (Davidson) has played at a high level. He knows his stuff as well and that helps.

“Little things are causing us problems and we are being punished. Maybe we are going long when we should be playing shorter passes. We have been punished so we have to stop it.

“But it’s not just a question of losing goals, we have to be scoring at the other end.

“We haven’t got the first goal in any game since I came back here.

“I know from before that we are a team that is strong when it gets in front. We know how to defend a lead.

“That has to be the aim against Inverness. Get the first goal and take it from there.”

A win against Caley Thistle this evening will put Saints six points ahead of their top six rivals and be a big step towards ensuring they finish on the high side of the split line.

“I haven’t been looking at the league table,” Swanson pointed out.

“I know we are still in the top six but we just have to win the next game rather than look any further ahead.

“I watched Inverness against Hibs and they are a good footballing side. We need to stop them playing, keep a clean sheet and get goals ourselves.

“We were really good in the first half against Aberdeen up at Pittodrie. We still lost the first goal but came in at half time asking how we could be behind. That is a tough place to go and we stuck to the task and came away with a point.

“Playing against St Johnstone teams knew they would be in your face for 90 minutes. We have to get back to that. Apart from the Aberdeen game we haven’t been up to that recently for some reason. We have to get back to being a unit that is hard to beat.”

On Swanson’s personal contribution to the Perth cause since he returned for a second stint at McDiarmid Park, he said: “It has gone all right for me since coming back but I feel I can do better.

“I am looking to score goals now. But it’s results that are more important. It’s not nice coming into a dressing room after being beaten.”

Brian Easton and Chris Millar are both back in training but tonight’s match may come too early for them.

SNS. Same old story for Saints, says Danny Swanson.