Callum Davidson: What now for manager & St Johnstone after defeat by part-time Kelty Hearts?
- Published
Callum Davidson is under pressure as St Johnstone manager
From double cup hero to 10 successive games with zero to show for it, Callum Davidson admits his job as St Johnstone manager is under threat after the holders crashed out of the Scottish Cup following a 1-0 defeat by League 2 part-timers Kelty Hearts.
It's a scenario few would have predicted prior to the 45-year-old's second season in charge, having ended his first by lifting the Scottish Cup three months after doing likewise in the League Cup.
Ahead of a crucial midweek showdown with Dundee, who sit two points above Saints at the bottom of the Scottish Premiership, BBC Scotland examines what's gone wrong at McDiarmid Park and Davidson's prospects of turning round his and the team's fortunes.
Stats tell the sad Saints story
Davidson's report card shows his side are scoring 0.5 goals per top-flight game compared to 0.9 last term, with a significant drop in their number of goal attempts and attempts on target per game as well as their touches in the opposition penalty box.
That has culminated in only 11 Premiership goals this season - fewer than any other team in the division and six fewer than the next worst, Dundee United. They also have the worst chance conversion rate and the fewest shots on target from the second worst number of efforts on goal behind Livingston.
Considering their possession stats and number of passes into the box are still worthy of mid-table, it's easy to see where their main problem lies - the quality of that possession and their finishing.
However, although their ratio of goals against is similar to last season, the number of chances conceded has increased from 9.4 to 14.7 per game and their reputation for a stingy defence is in danger of evaporating with now the fifth worst defensive record of the 12 teams.
No wonder Davidson said last week that he is still looking to improve all areas of the park in the remaining days of the transfer window.
What has triggered the decline?
Ali McCann's exit for Preston North End was a blow to Callum Davidson
Davidson has cited injuries and problems with Covid-19 as reasons for the current form slump, but other clubs have faced similar scenarios - and he thought they had turned the corner ahead of Saturday's cup exit.
His prospects were not helped by the sale of the talented Ali McCann, whose midfield performances led to a call-up for Northern Ireland, to Preston North End and influential captain and defender Jason Kerr to Wigan Athletic on the last day of the summer transfer window.
Left-back Scott Tanser had already exited, going on to become one of St Mirren's top performers this season, while veteran former Scotland winger Craig Conway's deliveries and thrusts into the penalty box have not been matched by any of Saints' summer recruits.
The fee paid to Ilves Tampere for Finland Under-21 striker Eetu Vertainen has failed to deliver a goal in seven appearances, veteran former Celtic, Hibernian and Livingston centre-half Efe Ambrose last played in October, while only Bolton Wanderers midfielder Ali Crawford has become a regular starter from five summer loan signings.
New additions, new beginnings?
With Davidson seemingly determined to stick with the style and formation that proved successful last season, he and Steve Brown will be hoping January signings prove more successful after the chairman promised to back his manager.
Former Derby County midfielder Jacob Butterfield arrived from Melbourne Victory as an early Christmas present to compensate for the loss for the rest of the season of key playmaker David Wotherspoon, whose absence since November has almost exactly coincided with the current slump.
Tony Gallagher has been recruited from Liverpool, Dan Cleary from Dundalk and John Mahon touched down from Sligo Rovers just too late to help out against Kelty.
However, those three are all defenders and it is to Nadir Ciftci who they are looking to for a relegation-avoiding goal threat.
The former Dundee United, Celtic and Motherwell man, 29, has looked lively in his two outings so far, but Davidson is likely to need more firepower than having to rely on a striker who has managed only one goal in 12 appearances for Ankaragucu in his Turkish homeland's second tier.
Repeat performance needed
St Johnstone hope Nadir Ciftci can provide much needed goals
Davidson will look to this time last season as evidence he can turn St Johnstone's season around.
On 16 January 2021, his side beat St Mirren 1-0 to end a run of nine games during which their only win was against second-tier Dunfermline Athletic on penalties in the League Cup.
They would go on to finish the season with only four defeats in 24 games, completing a historic cup double and finishing fifth in the Premiership.
Brown also stood by Davidson when he suffered seven defeats in his first 10 games in charge in 2020 and began the current campaign with one win in 10.
However, it is now 11 games without a victory, one win in 15 during which they have failed to score more than once and scored a total of six.
It culminated in Davidson and his players having to endure a barrage of abuse from angry fans as they made their way off the tight New Central Park in Kelty.
Will the Saints chairman stand by his man before or after Wednesday's game at home to a Dundee side whose manager, James McPake, is under intense pressure of his own?
'He probably has to turn it round in next match' - analysis
Former Scotland and Hearts manager Craig Levein
Callum set the bar enormously high and, as far as the pendulum swung one way last season, it's swung just as far the other way for him this season.
Unfortunately, the things you've done in the past in football don't actually count in a situation like this. If you lose matches, you're under pressure - it doesn't matter if they had won the Premiership as well as two cups last season.
You can hear in his voice that he's under pressure and it's a horrible place to be. The one thing that's certain is that he'll be working his backside off and sometimes the harder you work and spend analysing stuff, the worse it gets.
I thought St Johnstone had enough chances to win the game yesterday, but they couldn't score and Callum will know he has to turn it round very quickly - probably his next match.