Callum Davidson confident of St Johnstone improvement but survival the priority
Callum Davidson is confident this season will see an improvement from St Johnstone, although the manager admits their principal objective is to survive in the cinch Premiership.
Later finishing in the top vi for nine out of the previous 10 campaigns, Saints endured a grim 2021-22 every bit they sat bottom of the table for long periods before somewhen securing their safety with victory over Inverness in the play-off final in May.
Asked what success will look like for the Perth side this season, Davidson – whose team are ane of the favourites to finish bottom – said: "Staying up. Nosotros desire skillful cup runs but first and foremost we take to stay in the league.
"That e'er sounds negative but we've always said it at this club for equally long as I can remember. Nosotros need to brand sure we get-go the season well and give ourselves an opportunity to score some goals and push ourselves as high up the league as we tin.
"For me, it'due south about playing with enthusiasm and positivity, and giving the supporters something to shout about. I hope this season'south better than the last one or I won't be sitting here. I'yard confident. I think we've got a good squad together."
Davidson has lost some big characters like Shaun Rooney, Zander Clark, Jamie McCart and Liam Craig over the summer but he is happy with his recruitment so far and believes he has signed players in the mould of those who have brought relative success to the club in previous seasons.
"Information technology'due south been quite a big turnover and it's hard to get players in only I'chiliad pleased with the ones nosotros've got in," he said. "I call up nosotros've got a real good attacking threat at present.
"We've got a good balance as well – we've got some experienced boys in to replace the ones nosotros've lost and we've got some young players in too. We've signed some slightly older ones who take got expert experience at bigger clubs and know what information technology takes. They tin help the younger ones.
"I think if I went and signed also many immature players from England or other places, it would be hard to build that squad nucleus. To me that's one of the nigh of import things. That's been the success of this club over the past 10 years, so I didn't want to veer also far away from that.
"We've got a few injuries at the moment and we want to get our long-termers dorsum soon and, with that, the squad volition be pretty stiff and nosotros'll be in a good place."
After suffering a Premier Sports Cup exit, Saints boot off their league campaign on Saturday at home to a Hibernian side who have also undergone significant transformation nether new manager Lee Johnson over the summer.
"Hibs are a little fleck unknown," said Davidson. "They're one of the teams that have signed a lot of players and then nosotros've done as much research every bit we can on them.
"I expect a actually tough, tight game. For me, it's about what nosotros do with and, nigh importantly, without the ball and give ourselves a chance to win. It'south going to be a really tough league then information technology'southward really important we offset well."
Cheers for reading five manufactures this month* Join now for unlimited access
Enjoy your first calendar month for simply £1 / $1 / €1
*Read 5 free manufactures per calendar month without a subscription
Bring together now for unlimited access
Endeavour first calendar month for just £1 / $1 / €1
Source: https://www.fourfourtwo.com/news/callum-davidson-confident-of-st-johnstone-improvement-but-survival-the-priority-1659086385000
Posted by: thomasthicalin.blogspot.com
0 Response to "Callum Davidson confident of St Johnstone improvement but survival the priority"
Post a Comment