JIM Goodwin is looking forward to taking the shackles off his St Mirren side when they travel to Livingston this afternoon, writes Kyle Gunn. 

The  Irishman has had to set the Saints up to be hard to beat and hit on the break so far this season as he endured a baptism by fire to life as a top flight manager. 

And, although that worked to perfection in the 1-0 victory against Aberdeen, the Buddies boss hopes to see something different from his team.

He said: “We have had a very difficult opening three games, which has been well documented, and I think the players have managed those games really, really well.

"Very disciplined and good defensive organisation. But we have a run of games coming up now where we need to try and keep that organised structure but we also need to try and impose our on game on the opposition as well, so hopefully you will see a bit of that.

“In the three games that we have had, we’ve had to be defensive minded, because we have been playing against three of the better teams in the league.

"Particularly Sunday against Rangers, it’s always difficult to play against the Old Firm. They are not games I have terribly great memories of or I ever really enjoyed because you just spend the afternoon pretty much in your own half defending.

"I think the players are looking forward to having a bit more possession and a bit more time on the ball, being able to be a bit more creative and a bit more adventurous at the top end of the pitch.

"At the end of the day, that solidity we have had in recent weeks will stand us in good stead going forward, there is no doubt about that. But we need to now get our better players on the ball higher up the pitch and hopefully cause some problems to Livingston today and Ross County and Hamilton the weeks after.”

Goodwin is happy with the squad he has at his disposal and even has the luxury of different options for different scenarios.

He continued: “The team has pretty much picked itself in recent weeks, the guys have been excellent. We have played a system that suits the squad we have at the moment.

"We have got good competition for places which is what we have always wanted. It’s not really a difficult one for me, the guys that are in the team are in it on merit.

"If we need to make a tweak here or there personnel wise because we feel that one player may be better suited to a particular game then we will do that.

"People don’t necessarily come out of the team due to bad performances. Sometimes, as manager I need to pick the best player for a particular game so we’ll do that accordingly over the weeks and months, but it’s great I have the options we’re talking about.”

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