Buddies are suffering just like Andy Murray!

Steven Thompson reckons St Mirren may have suffered the same psychological problem as Andy Murray.

The Paisley striker watched the tennis superstar crash out of the US Open last Thursday night as he attempted to defend his crown on the back of finally winning Wimbledon.

And he believes Danny Lennon’s players have struggled to reach their full mental capacity since they defied all the odds to lift the League Cup last season.

Saints have only managed one win in 13 competitive matches since their Hampden heroics.

Now it is rumoured the manager’s job could be on the line if results don’t improve and fast.

Thompson, a scorer in that Final and a prominent figure in the post-match celebrations, doesn’t hide from the club’s current problems.

“I’m obviously well aware we’ve only won once since winning the Cup,” he says.

“After the Cup Final and I’m not going to make any excuses maybe reaching such a high has had an impact.

“I heard Andy Murray say after his US Open defeat, that after winning Wimbledon, his psychology shifted in terms of being able to prepare himself and push himself the way he had done.

“I wonder if we possibly thought: ‘Oh, we’ve won a cup. We’ve done it what else do we need to do?’

“Even though you’re not doing that on the pitch, I wonder if that slight shift in psychology has affected us.

“It certainly had an effect on our results in the latter part of last season.

“I’ve under-performed at the start of this season, and I don’t think there is any player in the team who can say he has performed to his maximum level.

“If you want to win a game of football, you need seven players at their maximum. We’ve been lucky if we’ve had two or three. We need to look at that.

“There needs to be improvement and quickly. We are well aware of that.

“I’ve got my own personal goals and ambitions of wanting to keep the longevity of my career.

“If you dwell on your past successes, possibly like Andy Murray again, you’re not going to go forward.”

Thompson knows there has been speculation surrounding Danny Lennon’s future and he hopes the results can improve quickly to avoid a situation where the Board might be forced to make a decision.

He admits: “You can’t avoid that speculation. You see it in the newspapers, hear it on the radio and wherever.

“It’s part and parcel of the game and I think the manager has dealt with it well so far.

“If we were four games from the end of the season and about to get relegated, it would be an entirely different scenario.

“We are four games in and, yes, it’s been disappointing.

“But we have to believe we can turn it round or there’s no point turning up for work in the morning.”