New formation a winner for McNamara with
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