Simo Valakari wants St Johnstone to perform for 90 minutes against Aberdeen

St Johnstone boss Simo Valakari is looking for a start to finish performance against Aberdeen at Pittodrie on Saturday.

The former Finland international has been impressed by his players since taking over as boss.

However, with just one win in five Premiership games, he noted improvements are required and that his side ran out of steam in the 1-0 defeat at home to Rangers last weekend.

He said: “Yes, I’m very pleased with how we take these steps forward. I’m very pleased with how my players work every day, but at the same time, I’m little bit frustrated.

“And again, it’s a good learning for me that we all need to be patient, with so much big desire, starting from the players, going to the coaching staff, whole club.

“We take this club forward because we see the potential in what we are doing, but it doesn’t go that way. You need to take your time.

“Sometimes you take the set-backs like last weekend. .

“We need to put the maximum effort in every day.

“Then we go and see on Saturday where we are with this process and these games, they’re like a celebration days for us, that we can all, go and play and show to our fans what we have been working on and sometimes it’s very good. Sometimes, there’s a lot of things we need to improve.

“Maybe the biggest improvement, what we need to do this moment, is like we saw in the last match, yes, in spells or short periods, we are very good.

“But how we can get this to last all 90 minutes? That’s our job and what we are working on now.”

Valakari has been impressed with Jimmy Thelin who has guided Dons into second place in the table after taking over in the summer, albeit they are without a win in four games.

He said: “I have been very impressed with what he has done in a short time, where he has taken this club.

“So that’s why it is possible in football, when you do the right things, you have right people inside the club who are supporting the process, and everyone is pushing the same direction.

“So even in a short time, it’s possible to take steps.”