ST JOHNSTONE manager Simo Valakari has stressed that his players are ready to combat David Martindale’s dark arts ahead of their Scottish Gas Scottish Cup quarter-final against Livingston at Almondvale on Monday night.
Valakari has watched the West Lothian outfit, who are in third place in the William Hill Championship table with eight games remaining and pushing hard for a quickfire return to the Premiership, twice in person ahead of their last eight encounter.
The former Finnish internationalist has been impressed with what he has witnessed in those outings and knows that his charges will need to be switched on to the threat which their opponents will pose on their artificial surface from kick-off.
He confessed that he will approach the game differently to the last match which St Johnstone played on a plastic pitch because of how streetwise Livingston and their manager Martindale are.
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“Every artificial pitch is a little bit different from what I have seen so far,” said Valakari. “But it’s funny, they put water on only one half of the pitch. They soaked it and the field is extremely fast.
“Before the Kilmarnock game at Rugby Park we went to just play a football match. But what we learned from that experience is that maybe you need to think a little bit of the personalities.
“People talk about how well we play with the ball. But in this match we need to defend well, we need to be solid, compact, not get frustrated. If they can switch from side to side, if they can use the midfield, if they can get a couple of crosses in, then we need to defend those moments.”
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He added: “If we are not compact enough then they have enough quality to pick us out. Then they can attack against our back line and it is much more difficult. The compactness, patience and understanding will be important.
“We will play against players who can pass the ball. They have a goalkeeper who is very confident on his feet who can spread the ball. We want to press as high as possible, but sometimes we need to wait until the right moment to go and press.
“We have got ourselves here, but Livingston are at a similar level to us in the overall standings. They are at home, they will feel the pressure is on the Premiership club going there.
“They have got a good manager who knows all the tricks and some experienced, quality players. So they will feel they have got a chance as well.”
