ST JOHNSTONE assistant manager Callum Davidson believes Scottish football must try something new to help its teams in Europe. The Perth side lost 2-1 at home to FK Trakai on Thursday in the first leg of the Europa League first qualifying round against a team who were sitting second in the Lithuanian league after 16 matches of their season.
The game came less than five weeks after the William Hill Scottish Cup final and only 19 days since last season ended with Scotland’s World Cup qualifier against England, and with more than five weeks until the Ladbrokes Premiership campaign kicks off.
Former Scotland left-back Davidson told Saints TV: “For me, and Scottish football as a whole, we need to do something to make sure our teams are up to speed. Whether the season starts earlier, or something else happens, because it’s very hard to go into competitive games so early in the season and having to compete with teams who are 18 games into their season.
“The games are now so early in the season, you are talking six or seven weeks before the season starts. So something has to be done to help us, not just St Johnstone but all the teams. We want our teams to do well in Europe. You can change it, try it, if it doesn’t work you can try something else. But I wouldn’t just stand still and carry on with what’s going on.”
Saints warmed up for Thursday’s second leg with a 3-0 friendly defeat by Aberdeen. Murray Davidson played for 90 minutes after missing out the first leg as he works his way back from an ankle injury, while summer signings Stefan Scougall and Scott Tanser both started.
Davidson added: “We have to get the right balance, when we attack, when we defend, when we sit off them, when we press. We can’t go gung-ho and flying at them as they are very good at counter-attacking – all Eastern Europeans are. If they score, we still need to score two.”
Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes, meanwhile, aims to sign three or four players as he waits on news on moves for Shaun Maloney and Stevie May.
Scotland international Maloney is expected to complete a move from Hull but Aberdeen’s attempts to sign former St Johnstone striker May have been hit by Simon Grayson’s decision to leave Preston to take over as Sunderland manager.
McInnes has until Friday night to register his Europa League squad although he could add one more player before Aberdeen face Kazakhstan’s Ordabasy or Bosnians Siroki Brijeg at Pittodrie on July 13.
McInnes said: “Out of respect to Shaun Maloney and Hull City I don’t want to say too much. Hopefully there might be an announcement next week. I am confident but we have been here before. Until someone actually signs and all the paperwork is complete I don’t like saying anything. He is the type of player in terms of level of ability we want and a player who can handle the demands of our club and that is important.”
On May, McInnes said: “Again I don’t want to speak too much about it. My high regard for him is well known but he is Preston’s player. He is someone we have had conversations about with Preston but it is their call. Obviously they have a manager to appoint.”
McInnes added: “We probably have another three or four signings to make.
“We would like to bring in another centre-forward. We would like a wide player – you could see we were playing with no real width because young Scott Wright was injured. We would have liked to have started him but he has been feeling his hamstring a little bit so we did not take a risk.
“We have work to do and we have targets we have been looking at. We are working hard to try and bring them in. Whether we can get them in before the European deadline remains to be seen. It is more important we get the right ones in regardless of the deadline.”
Aberdeen have German defender Berkay Dabanli on trial but McInnes said Kevin McNaughton was only with them to keep his fitness up.
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