If we are to take anything from this game we'll need to keep things tight at the back. Hibs are an extremely attack minded team (which I'll come on to later) and they'll probably play with three up front tomorrow. I'm usually against us adapting our tactics to deal with the other team rather than posing our own problems, but anything other than a back four would be sheer lunacy tomorrow. The likely combination is Jack Ross, John Potter, Will Haining and Franco Miranda - however the last two were at fault for at least one of the goals Saints conceded last week and manager of the month Gus MacPherson may opt to drop at least one of them. Scott Cuthbert is the ideal person to replace Haining if that change is made, while Ryan McCay is the only suitable replacement for Miranda.
If Saints do return to a 4-4-2 for tomorrow, it's likely Steven Robb will be back in the team. The winger has been in impressive form since he recovered from his injury problems but was surprisingly omitted last week at Tannadice. On the other side of midfield, Hugh Murray surprisingly performed well on the right wing and should keep his place. With Garry Brady in superb form in midfield and Gary Mason being his usual self, Andy Dorman will have to make do with a place on the bench once again. If you'd said six months ago that Brady and Shuggy would have been keeping the former New England Revolution man out of the team you'd probably have been taken away by the men in white coats, yet that's the situation we currently have.
Up front, it's time for Billy Mehmet's strike partners to stand up and be counted. Mehmet has contributed a superb eight goals for the cause this season, but the only other striker to score so far is Craig Dargo - and his contribution has been a single goal against Dumbarton. It's simply not good enough and, whether it's Dargo, Jim Hamilton or Dennis Wyness that partners Mehmet, it's about time someone else helped out the big Irish/Englishman.
Talking of people with split nationalities, tomorrow sees us come up against David van Zanten for the first time since his summer departure from Saints. The Dutch Irishman has made a decent contribution at Easter Road (when not being assaulted by Celtic striker Scott McDonald) and it'll be interesting to see how he copes with our attacks tomorrow - although given his attack minded approach to the game he could cause us problems at the other end.
Vanzy isn't the only one with an attack minded approach at Hibs. Manager Mixu Paatelainen - who used to play for Saints and will serve a touchline ban tomorrow - seems to set out his teams to attack from the off and has done pretty much since he returned to Easter Road earlier this year. Last week he played three up front at Parkhead, with Colin Nish being joined by Steven Fletcher - supposedly being tracked by Real Madrid - and Derek Riordan, now back with the Edinburgh club after two unsuccessful years at Celtic. With forward Dean Shiels also in the side, it wouldn't have been a surprise to see Hibs get destroyed last week. However, big Mixu seems to have got the blend of defence and attack just about right and they were perhaps unlucky not to emerge with a point. Saints are far less of a threat so it's likely Paatelainen will go with all three strikers again tomorrow.
There's a very good reason why we'll lose tomorrow - Gus MacPherson is manager of the month. Whenever this happens, the manager usually loses his next game and it'll probably happen tomorrow, with Hibs sneaking a 1-0 victory.