NOBODY presses like St Mirren. Here's how they do it

The most consistent team outside the top two have built an identity not on star players but the way they terrorise opponents all over the pitch

Adam Clery writes about football tactics for Nutmeg every month. But he writes about football tactics ALL THE TIME on 87 Minutes (subscribe below). And his videos about football tactics are some of the best football content on the internet and you should check them out, too.

Not to show you how the (lorne) sausage is made, but I can rarely take full credit for the concepts of these columns. Having to pay as much attention to what’s going on at Leverkusen and Levante as I have to do Livingston, the nuances of The Best League In The World™ and its playing exports are quite often flagged up to me by the great men of Nutmeg.

Some of them are pretty easy sells — “Scott McTominay has become a cult-like figure in Naples”, “Lewis Ferguson is going to spray a bottle of ginger all over the Coppa Italia like he’s just won a grand prix” — but others… less so.

“You’re not going to believe how good St Mirren are high pressing” elicited an audible “...ok?” from me in a way that scrunched up my face exactly like you’re imagining it did. But hey, credit it to them, because after some thorough investigation it turns out there’s a fascinating tactical development to be unearthed there.

Under Stephen Robinson, St Mirren have just recorded a third consecutive 40+ point season, and narrowly missed out on a second jaunt of European football after going unbeaten in the Premiership’s Championship group. It makes them the league’s most consistent team over the last three years outside of… [checks notes]... Celtic and… [squints]... Rangers.

It’s a remarkable achievement, but it’s one that’s come about as much from a strategic mindset as it has personnel. Caolan Boyd-Munce, Mark O’Hara and Mikael Mandron have been the standout individuals, but the real star of the show has been the relentless high press that the team has managed to maintain all season.

Robinson’s 3-5-2 shape has been tweaked a number of times, and even briefly went to a ‘less-faffing-around’ back four when a rotten start saw them rock bottom of the table, but the idea has remained constant. Don’t just outwork your opponents, outwork them as high up the pitch as possible. The beauty of their wing-back use is that Ryan Alebiosu and Declan John are perfectly positioned to squeeze the enemy full-backs in one third, and drop in to make a solid back five in the other.

A first win at Ibrox since fish suppers cost about a quid came about from this flexibility. You can see above the way the two wing-backs were really happy to leave their three pals in the midfield to shut off access into the spaces down the sides of the centre-backs. The rest of the midfield were happy to do the extra work required to pressurise players on the ball in the areas they’ve left. It’s a lot of running, and it’s not something that’s easy to coach, but it limited Rangers to a meagre three shots on goal and none of them qualified for the Opta ‘Big Chance’ badge of honour.

Meanwhile, up the other end, both goals came about as a direct result of St Mirren harassing a defender facing his own goal, pinching the ball, and finishing effectively. Clinton Nsiala lying down out of pure embarrassment on the left there, not because he’d been in any way fouled.

This aggression at the top end of the pitch is impressive when it’s individuals winning you games, but that’s not what ultimately drags you up a league table. What St Mirren have done is make this their entire identity to the point where it’s almost always how they both attack and defend. Observe the following two screenshots and steel yourself for being impressed.

They’re playing Celtic. A team flying at the top of the league and capable of playing through them like a bunch of training cones if they get everything right. And yet St Mirren are still, in the middle of the pitch, confident enough to lock on man-for-man and deny them any real time on the ball. Which is interesting, sure, but look at the scoreboard in the top left. They’re 3-0 down with 15 minutes left.

To press is to run, and to run is to work, and if you’ve ever met a professional footballer you’ll know a lot of them aren’t above taking any available excuse to not do that. Three down at Celtic Park is game over when there are 15 minutes on the clock, never mind that many left, and you’d forgive anyone for just sitting in and trying to keep it respectable. But that’s not how St Mirren play.

Thanklessly, fruitlessly, they harried Celtic back to their own goal time and time again in the dying embers of the game, routinely getting played through and risking a fourth goal, but in the 89th minute it nearly brought them a deserved reward.

Five players closing down in the opposition third when there’s less than the duration of a pop song remaining and you’re already dead and buried. But for a great save from Kasper Schmeichel, it would have yielded another one of their patented pinch-and-score finishes to match the pair at Ibrox and the dozen others this season. Team Nutmeg were right lads, this is really good.

Predictably, the merry-go-round on their playing squad has already begun this summer. Player of the year Killian Phillips finally made his loan move from Crystal Palace permanent (good), while Richard Taylor and the aforementioned Boyd-Munce departed on frees despite the club busting their arse to keep them (bad). But whatever shape they’re in come August, Robinson’s greatest weapon remains the brand of football he’s coaching rather than the individuals he’s got implementing it. Few will relish their trips to the SMiSA - it’s got the best Paisley blueprint since that “jazzy” tie your dad bought in the 60s.