CALLUM DAVIDSON has revealed that he could utilise Ali McCann in a more attacking role when St Johnstone visit Motherwell this weekend.
The young midfielder has been a star performer for Saints after being brought into the McDiarmid Park first-team by Tommy Wright last season.
McCann's performances have merited interest on the international front, where he is now a key part of Northern Ireland’s under-21 outfit.
And the 20-year-old was used in an attacking midfield role as the youngsters defeated Malta and lost to Denmark over the break.
Perth boss Davidson doesn't think McCann's number one position is in all-out attack, but he does believe the experience of playing in a different post could prove to be a vital asset for the Perth club moving forward.
Ahead of St Johnstone’s trip to Lanarkshire, he said: “Ali texted me, I asked how he was feeling and he said ‘great’. It is a great attitude to have so he really enjoyed his time away.
“He played in a 5-2-3, but I think he played the attacking one in the front three. It is good for him that way that he’s played in another position.
“Obviously, I’ll watch the games to see how he did and see if he can actually play higher up if needed.
“I don’t quite see Ali in that position myself but it is good that he understands it. It does give me food for thought.
“He has great energy and I think he could play different positions.”
“Ali has the game intelligence to do it and he is very versatile. It’s about trying to get the best out of him.
“Fortunately for Ali I have enough attacking players but pushing him forward might be something I would do towards the end of games if we were winning, making it a little bit harder to get through us.”
Davidson will welcome back Zander Clark into his squad this weekend after the big goalkeeper missed the start of the season with a knee injury.
On Clark's return he continued: “It is great to have Zander back, he’s a big presence in the goal.
“Big Elliott has done well since he has come in so it will be up to Zander to dislodge Elliott from the goalkeeping jersey.
“I think with Zander, whether or not he will play tomorrow I don’t know yet, we’ll need to have a look at his match sharpness rather than his fitness. I am happy with his return to play with his fitness.”
Davidson remains wary of Motherwell despite knowing Stephen Robinson's side are still without a victory this season.
He told Herald and Times Sport: “Motherwell are a good team. I’ve watched a lot of their games and thought they probably haven’t got the points they deserve.
“If you watch the games back, they play really well, they’ve just been unfortunate that they haven’t scored.
“Probably a little bit akin to ourselves, how we’ve played in certain games.
“They are probably thinking they should be on more points so yeah definitely a good team and we need to be aware of it.
“You never look at league positions, where they are, over the course of the season with the quality of players they’ve got, they’ll climb the league.
“We just have to make sure it is not on Saturday when it starts.”
On the transfer front, Davidson added: “A couple of the younger players will be going out on loan next week.
“We are still working away trying to get a couple of players in. Whether we will get one in for Saturday, I don’t know.”
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