St Johnstone boss Simo Valakari spells out ‘non-negotiables’ to star striker Benji Kimpioka

Simo Valakari has laid out some St Johnstone “non-negotiables” after explaining to star striker, Benji Kimpioka, why he was taken off in midweek.

Kimpioka made himself the joint top scorer in the Premiership early in the contest with St Mirren and then had a second goal disallowed for offside.

But, in the second half, the 10-goal forward was robbed of the ball in the build-up to the Paisley side’s second goal and again before the Buddies thought they’d scored a third, chalked off after VAR official, Alan Muir, spotted a shirt pull.

It was at that point, on 67 minutes, that Valakari substituted Kimpioka.

The Finn believes the former Sunderland man can keep progressing and get “even more fantastic”, however he stressed that learning “there is a time and a place” to take a defender on will be part of his development.

“Since day one we have been discussing our values, our culture, what type of team we want to be,” said Valakari.

“We want to work hard as a team – and you have seen how hard our strikers have been working.

“But at the same time we want to do football actions that are beneficial for our team to progress our game.

“Never, ever do I want to take the creativity out of our players. They have a lot of that.

“But we have some kind of structure of what we need to do in certain situations.

“If you are not ready to do that – not only 15 minutes, 20 minutes or one half, it needs to be for 90 minutes – then you cannot play for our team.

“Benji was very disappointed to come off in this moment and he was thinking: ‘Why me?’

“But when I explained my reasons after the game – that, like it or not, I’m doing it for the benefit of the team – he totally understood it.

“It’s not about taking away creativity and becoming a robot – we want to be a fluid team that players enjoy playing in.

“But there are certain non-negotiables.”

Time and a place

Valakari added: “It was the wrong place and the wrong time.

“It was not just one incident, there were many incidents.

“He’s still a young player, who is very talented and scoring important goals for us.

“I want him to show his skill.

“But after he’s got rid of his opponent and he has some of our players free, then it’s the moment to play a pass that will benefit the team, not turning back and thinking: ‘OK, I’ll take the defender again’.

“There’s a time and place and if he learns that he can be even more fantastic.

“When you look at the real top strikers – do you see them doing that? Do you see Haaland doing it? No. Everything for the team. Scoring for the team, winning for the team.

“That will take Benji to the next level.”

Lewis Neilson won’t be able to face his parent club Hearts, as Saints seek to bounce back from their defeat on Wednesday night.

And Valakari reported that Andre Raymond is unlikely to feature either.

Bozo Mikulic doesn’t yet have a work permit but there’s a chance that could change before next Saturday’s trip to Motherwell.