Source: Team_Talk
Strachan defends misfiring strikers
The Hoops' hitmen have borne the brunt of the criticism during the club's poor recent run of form which saw them win just three SPL games out of the previous 10 before the visit of the Buddies.
Rangers' 1-0 win at Hamilton at lunchtime piled pressure on Celtic but against a dishevelled St Mirren team they equalled their own SPL record-winning margin - held jointly with Hibernian - to go within four goals of the Ibrox side at the top of the SPL table with both sides on the 60-point mark.
Remarkably, though, neither Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink or Scott McDonald, nor substitute strikers Georgios Samaras and Ben Hutchinson, scored as the champions cruised to victory with a Shunsuke Nakamura hat-trick, a Scott Brown double, Marc Crosas's first goal for the club and a John Potter own goal.
Vennegoor of Hesselink even managed to have a penalty saved by Paisley keeper Chris Smith after St Mirren right-back Jack Ross had been sent off for a 'last-man' foul on McDonald.
Strachan, understandably, refused to place any importance on the names on the score sheet, stressing the value of his strikers with regards his side's overall performance.
"When your rivals play before you then your job is to win the game and I was glad that we did," he said.
"All the players were good, the movement and passing was good and the centre halves were good with the ball.
"If you look at the chances made when the two strikers were on, then you have to say that Scott and Jan were good,
"When they were off, we started to get scruffy, so that says a lot about their performances when they were on.
"They allowed us to have a landing area where we could pass the ball and play from.
"Jan was our original penalty taker and I did say to him a couple of months ago that he was back taking them but he has been out injured.
"I think that's the first time we have had a penalty since he has been back."
St Mirren boss Gus MacPherson had his players in at training as normal on Sunday morning as he looks to make amends against Aberdeen on Tuesday night before facing Celtic again in the Homecoming Scottish Cup next Saturday at St Mirren Park.
The Buddies boss, however, is focusing only on the next game against the Dons.
He said: "We are not thinking about the cup tie, we are thinking about the Aberdeen game on Tuesday.
"There is a chance in front of their own fans for the players to show how much they want to eradicate the Celtic game from the memory bank.
"The cup game will take care of itself but that's not important at the moment."
