Source: FOOTYMAD
Killer Instinct Required
St Johnstone will have no sympathy for Rangers problems when they meet tonight in Perth. The home side have their own worries to contend with. Derek McInnes has urged his St Johnstone players to be more instinctive around the penalty box as they prepare to give Rangers a game. McInnes admitted he is embarrassed by his team's tally of 18 goals in 30 league games following their goalless draw against Kilmarnock on Saturday, which put a severe dent in their hopes for a top-six finish. The Perth side have had few problems at the other end in recent times, having kept nine clean sheets in 10 game at McDiarmid Park this year. And McInnes will continue working on his players' attitude in a bid to sharpen their goalscoring impulses before the visit of Rangers. He said: "I think confidence comes into it, and belief. We need to be more instinctive and determined to score, and intelligent in and around the box. I must stress some of the performances as a team have been more than fine. We just need that missing bit of polish to get results. Maybe we just need a break. I felt we should have had a penalty on Saturday. Sometimes you need some deflections and things to go for you, but as a manager and a coach you can't be dependent on it. You have to instil confidence. Hopefully that comes on the back of scoring once. But I do think we can be a bit more instinctive.'' McInnes hopes to have defender Steven Anderson back in contention for a place in the squad after he missed Saturday's draw with Kilmarnock with a minor knee injury but the defender is hopeful of recovering. Collin Samuel hopes to brush off a hip knock but Jamie Adams (hamstring), Graham Gartland (groin), Jody Morris (back) and Sam Parkin (knee) remain out. Meanwhile, Rangers captain David Weir admits lack of numbers is a concern but insists shortage in personnel was no excuse for their defeat to Dundee United. Rangers' injury troubles were highlighted by the fact they were able to name just five substitutes for Saturday's 3-2 loss at Ibrox. Rangers twice surrendered the advantage in the game before eventually conceding a last minute winner to United, and Weir knows those players who were available should have done better. He said: "I don't think it helps but it's not an excuse. Everybody who played were experienced players. We are not looking for excuses. It's easy to find excuses but we know we've just got to do better. That's the nature of football, you don't have the same people next to you every week. I don't think that was the reason we lost the game. I don't think it was anything to do with the players we had missing, we just didn't play well enough on the day and we made mistakes and Dundee United were good.'' On-loan defender Kyle Bartley has returned to Arsenal after being ruled out for the remainder of the season through injury, while Madjid Bougherra, Vladimir Weiss, Kirk Broadfoot and Lee McCulloch are all still out of action ahead of the visit to Perth. Weir went on: "It is a concern, I don't think you can get away from that. It's not a gimmick or psychology or anything, it's the bare bones and that's what we are down to. We had a couple of lads who were injured soon before the United game and that's all we had available to put on the bench. That's the situation we've been in for a while and it's gotten a little bit worse. We can't bring any players in so that's where we are and we've got to get on with it.'' Asked if Rangers, still in the hunt for the title despite depleted resources, are over-achieving, Weir said: "That's for other people to say. We don't feel we are, we feel as though we have a good team, with good players, and we are capable of winning trophies and winning games. That's what we expect of ourselves. The group are very disappointed we lost the last game and we will see how we respond.''
