WE DON’T WANT TO PLAY IT NICE...
O’Halloran fired up by LASK’s jibe over tactics
BY the end of the first leg in Klagenfurt last week, St Johnstone had not only succeeded in getting under the skin of LASK, they were living rent free in their minds.
Having predicted that the Scots were no more than a long-ball team before the match, Austrian manager Dominik Thalhammer doubled-down on his theory afterwards by declaring their opponents were ‘disgusting’ to play against.
If the embattled LASK boss was probably only scratching around for the reasons behind his side’s underwhelming display, his phraseology certainly left something to be desired.
In a dressing room that prides itself on an ability to do all aspects of the game, Thalhammer’s pigeonholing of Callum Davidson’s side has been duly noted.
‘We take it as a compliment as it means we are doing something right,’ said forward Michael O’Halloran.
‘We don’t exactly want to be a nice side to play against. He said we were horrible and that’s his opinion. We have shown we can do the dirty side of the game but we can also play good football.’
Although Saints’ success has largely been built on defensive solidity and work rate, it would amount to little without the class of Ali McCann, the efficiency of their wing-backs and the pace offered by the likes of O’Halloran.
‘It’s good we have pace in the team but we have plenty of strengths,’ O’Halloran added.
‘If you look at the team last week, Kano (Chris Kane) was excellent and he led the line as well as getting a goal.
‘At home, we want to be on the front foot and in the ascendancy.’
It wasn’t just the fact that Kane scored his first European goal in Austria that suggested he is now comfortable at that level.
The striker played with guile and intelligence throughout. Having often found himself playing the understudy to Guy Melamed and Stevie May last season, the 26-year-old appears to be relishing stepping into the limelight.
‘In Europe, his hold-up play and that ability to buy you fouls in good areas is a real bonus for us,’ added O’Halloran (right). ‘He has become a real goal threat. All good strikers score most of their goals in the six-yard box and he is getting himself in the right areas. ‘It was a great ball in for his goal last week, but Kano was in the poacher’s position to take advantage of it. ‘Kano has always given 100 per cent, but I think Macca (coach Steven MacLean) coming in, with the striker he was, has really helped him. The other night Macca kept shouting about the six-yard box and sure enough that’s where the goal comes from.’
Whether tomorrow’s game is the most important in Saints’ history is a matter of debate.
With upwards of £3million waiting them in the group stage of the Conference League, though, it is certainly the most lucrative.
‘The bonuses have been mentioned!’ O’Halloran smiled.
‘No, we’ll treat it like any other game. It maybe helps that we’ve got such a young squad. You’ve seen it in all the big games before — we don’t treat them any differently. We know the incentive. Playing football until December against some top European sides would be massive.
‘We need to make sure we’re at it because they’re a really good team. The footballing side is more important to us as players than the financial side. It would be the chance to put yourselves up against big teams. There are clubs like Tottenham in this competition.
‘You’ve already seen what it was like here for the Galatasaray game and Thursday is going to be a big crowd as well. To get three more big nights at McDiarmid Park would be unbelievable.’
If Galatasaray ultimately had a little bit too much for Davidson’s men over 180 minutes, LASK did not appear to have quite the same scope to crunch through the gears.
‘We watched a bit of them before the game but I didn’t expect them to be so direct, especially in the first half,’ said O’Halloran.
‘You don’t get any mediocre teams in Europe — they had a few really good players. We were a bit disappointed over there not to come away with the victory.
‘That shows how far we have come as we go away in Europe expecting to get a result.
‘The cup final experience helps. We have such a good blend of experience and the young boys have that bit of invincibility in them where they just go out and play.
‘People say we can be a horrible side to play against but we have some really good footballers as well. The more games we play in Europe, then it stands us all in good stead.’