Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Levein explains why he ‘lost the plot’ at Saints after Buddies defeat
ST JOHNSTONE manager Craig Levein has explained why he “lost the plot” with his players two days after their abject defeat to St Mirren.
And the Perth boss has already seen signs that his Paisley rant will result in Pittodrie progress this evening.
“Last Saturday caught me by surprise,” said Levein.
“They are a good, honest group of boys but when you have some who are not performing then it can bring the levels of everyone down.
“I kind of lost the plot yesterday.
“It happens every now and again because if you ignore it it’ll happen again. Training was very good today.”
Levein saw a vicious circle at play on Saturday.
“You have to compete to a level where you can do no more because if you don’t do that and drop off a bit, the opponents get confidence and feel on top,” he said.
“Once you let that happen, it’s so hard to get back up again – and that’s what I think happened.
“We got off to a poor start, got stressed and that led to bad decisions.
“For me, that was all down to not competing well from the outset.
“If someone drops off and doesn’t do the running, with the margins in this league, that costs you.
“It’s not always good football that wins you games. It’s sometimes dominating your opponent.
“If you can get your foot on someone’s throat early in a game and take advantage of it by scoring, then it’s huge in these games.”
Saints are now the lowest scorers in the Premiership and Levein believes sorting the issues mentioned above will result in more chances created and shots put away.
“When we can dominate games then I’m sure we can play and give ourselves a chance of scoring,” he said.
“Confidence is the thing that helps you make good decisions and you get that from being on top in a match.
“The creative stuff comes on the back of that – if you are feeling good, fit and on top, then the decisions you make in that regard are good.
“We have to get to the point where we’re making good decisions again and that means getting over this hurdle at the moment where we’re getting stressed in games.
“We had been resilient, I’ve seen that – but we need to get on top in games.”
Adama Sidibeh won’t be available for the Aberdeen match this evening.
“The protocol is that Adama has to get a scan which is organised by the SFA, so once that’s sorted that’ll be him,” Levein reported.
“You have to be hugely cautious in these situations, so we are doing everything properly.
“He feels fine but it was a bit of a fright for everyone.
“We’ll just see what the experts advise and they will guide us on when he’s back.”
Fran Franczak will be back in contention, though.
“Fran had a problem with his ankle but he’s in training again and will be available tomorrow,” said Levein.
“David Keltjens will be available too.
“We’ve been cautious with him because he’s had a few sprains which have been down to not being up to speed.
“He’s really fit but it’s not the same as playing football matches.”