Stephen Robinson spoke about being third in the table, the prospect of more to come from the squad, the threat St Mirren pose and Declan Gallagher’s international credentials on Friday.
Here’s what he had to say to the broadcast media ahead of the match.
On early season good form
“It’s early days. We won’t get too carried away with things. It is tempering expectations a little bit.
“We’ve done great. We’ve started well.Our away form has been really, really good. We’ve had a couple of upsets at home that hopefully we can put right on Saturday.
“We are going in the right direction. With people I think there’s still more to come in terms of fitness and understanding. And hopefully we will keep improving.
“I wasn’t too down after the Ross County game. Of course the result dictates everybody’s emotions.
“We played well against Ross County but people don’t see that. We didn’t play particularly well against St Johnstone and we won. So everybody thinks you’re great.
“It’s tempering again that emotion and realising what was still very good about the Ross County game. What we can improve on were the two goals and, with the St Johnstone game, what we can make better.
“So this week we’ve worked hard. We haven’t taken our foot off the gas because we won a game. We’ve actually worked even harder this week to make sure we are ready to go and well prepared for St Mirren.”
On players buying into the style
“They are a really good group of boys. It’s one of the biggest pre-requests we have when we sign players, that their attitudes to learning, their desire to work hard and to be as good as they possibly can.
“It’s free to be as fit as you can, as strong as you can, to try and prevent injuries. All that is free.
“We do our homework. Some we get right. Some we get wrong. I feel we are getting the vast majority of them right, and it’s shown. It’s shown by the pure commitment to what we’re trying to do tactically or how we press and what we are trying to do off the ball and on the ball.”
On facing St Mirren
“You don’t have the third best defensive record in the league if you’re not hard to break down. I watched Rangers play them away at St Mirren, and they were very difficult to break down.
“They will sit in, they will make it hard, they’ll hit us on the break. And they’ve got players that can do that. So it’s up to us to try and break them down.
“Again, I think patience is going to be the key.People who watch us play know we will have quite a lot of the ball.
“It’s what we do in that final third. Not everybody coming to the ball. People running in front of the ball, making space for others and sometimes being unselfish is what we’re trying to work on.”
On Declan Gallagher’s potential to play for Scotland
“I don’t tell anybody how to do their job. International management is a difficult enough job.
“Steve Clarke’s got a big pool of players to pick from. Some very, very good players.
“Declan Gallagher has been fantastic for me. He really has. As a boy. In the changing room. Especially on the pitch. I think he is getting better and better.
“I think it is only a matter of time before Declan gets picked for Scotland.
“Steve will be well aware of him. He’s been at our games. Him and his staff will be very aware of Declan.
“For me, it’s only a matter of time. He just needs to keep doing what he’s doing.”