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Motherwell Vs St Johnstone Discussion Thread


David
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No surprise really.With a severe lack of options in defence and upfront, there will be many results like this.Well done to St Johnstone, that will feel good after failing to turn up at Hampden in April.

 

Revenge is sweet and all that. Stevie H got it pretty tight from the Saints fans for about the last 20 mins. I hope he remembers this and reacts (by that I mean plays very well) accordingly in Perth. Best wind up is to win.

 

Terrible performance. Hardly threatened their goal. I would like to have seen Daley and Forbes come on after 60 mins with Humphrey and Jennings going off. I also would have liked to have seen Page come on even at 3-0.

Frustrating times for a few of the 'fringe' players that is for sure.

 

Massive two games coming up.

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Its at times like this i miss Jim Gannon....."Right, Get Aff, yir pish.....the young boys are going on"

Thats what we needed today. Our Defence without Hutch is appalling, Craigan...FFS!! Hateley will make a defender the day i become President of Azbekerstan......and Clancy, i think we viewed today why Kilmarnock were not willing to put him in their first team!!

I dont want to even start on the midfield or our Lone Forward....sky sports stats were on him today and in the 90 minutes of Messi like movement from Higdon, he ran 37.5 yards.....quite the shift he put in!!

 

I'm angry...skint....and the wife is watching All star family fortunes!! Life is Bad!!!

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I also would have liked to have seen Page come on even at 3-0.

 

 

McCall said at the Q&A night that when we lost 5-0 to Rangers last year he threw on a couple of kids and they couldn't get into the game and it set them back which is why he didn't throw them on when we got humped by Rangers this time. I think there is something in that. The time to put them on is when games are won not when we are dejectedly passing it about the middle and the fans are on the team's back.

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As has been said, utter pish today. What has happened?

 

Randolph made a good save but in general looks a shadow of last seasons self. The two centre halves were a bombscare. Jennings looked like he had just got out of bed. Didnt notice murphy was playing until the second half. Higdons had his worst game for us...yet still not the worst player.

 

We have a very strong starting 11 and our early season form shows that but they have become unbelieveably complacent. We need to drop a few and bleed in the youngsters to give them a wake up call.

 

Folk will say that we cant rely on youth but one way or another we have to i'm afraid. Its part of our club to bring through youth and sell on so that we can compete at the top end of the spl.

 

For the hibs game we should be dropping clancy for page, humph for daley, murphy for lawless, jennings for forbes, higdon for mchugh and call me mental but hollis for randy.

 

I'm actually looking forward to the tuesday to see how we react. But I for one will not be a happy chappy if its the same, predictable starting 11 again.

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McCall said at the Q&A night that when we lost 5-0 to Rangers last year he threw on a couple of kids and they couldn't get into the game and it set them back which is why he didn't throw them on when we got humped by Rangers this time. I think there is something in that. The time to put them on is when games are won not when we are dejectedly passing it about the middle and the fans are on the team's back.

 

I can see that train of thought. However, the other way to look at it is these lads aren't getting on when we are winning and going on at 5-0 at Ibrox, in my opinion anyway, is a good bit harder than 0-3 to St Johnstone. Forbes and Page have played domestic and European football for us so imo they are neither kids or inexperienced. I'm not convinced a run out for either of them today would have set them back. Quite the opposite infact.

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I actually thought the fans were pretty easy on the players (from where i was sitting) I couldnt shout and moan because were were so bad it was farcical and actually. became funny at times. People realised the whole team was off the ball by a mile and given our good form up till now were willing to let a bad day slide. Just my opinion though.

 

 

As for youngsters not being able to get into the game when put on, where the fook were the 11 that played today cause they were nowhere near in a game at least not one that two teams play in.

 

However loose the next 2 and i dont think the fans will be so forgiving.

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Lets get back to a 4-4-2 formation with Murphy up front playing off Higdon.

The last 2 weeks, the players look totally bewildered about what they are meant to be doing.

 

FFS - I like the idea of playing intricate football on the deck, but, 10-12 passes to get to the halfway line and then 1 pass to lose possession is not on.

Ditch the 4-1-4-1 ....... 4-5-1....... and 5-4-1 formations and lets get back to basics.

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Lets get back to a 4-4-2 formation with Murphy up front playing off Higdon.

The last 2 weeks, the players look totally bewildered about what they are meant to be doing.

 

FFS - I like the idea of playing intricate football on the deck, but, 10-12 passes to get to the halfway line and then 1 pass to lose possession is not on.

Ditch the 4-1-4-1 ....... 4-5-1....... and 5-4-1 formations and lets get back to basics.

 

Don't forget getting to the corner of the box for Law to lay it off to Hammell, for Hammell to give it back to Law, Law to cut inside into traffic and pass it back to Lasley, who in turn passes it back to the defence and we're back to square one!!!

 

FFS I'm all for good football but try fucking crossing the ball occasionally!!

 

We over do it so often. At least when Daley came on, he brought the ball down cut inside and had a reasonable attempt at goal, more than the other forwards managed in the previous 80 odd minutes. Good football is great to a point, but there has to be a shot or a cross at the end of it. Far too often today we tried to play too much and basically just ran into trouble and gave the ball away.

 

EDIT- Should add the above criticism was when we tried to play football and didn't just resort to pumping aimless long balls forward, which happend to often today as well.

 

Just a shite day all round, even after the first 20 mins you could just tell it was going to be one of those days.

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One of the worst in a long time today. Not one player played well and none deserve any plaudits. I see a few folk singling Jennings out for criticism, certainly not one of his better games but yet again he was doing the job of two men as once more Lasley was posted missing throughout and looks a yard off at every opportunity. Carrying an injury? I don't know but I'd have Carswell or Forbes in there on Tuesday.

 

Sadly I fear a reaming from Hibs as we are static at the back and they have good pace up top.

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Its at times like this i miss Jim Gannon....."Right, Get Aff, yir pish.....the young boys are going on"

 

 

Gannon and McCall are at opposite ends of the scale.

 

Gannon changed things unnecessarily when it was going well and there was no need to.

 

McCall doesn't change things when things are going shite and its obvious there is a need to.

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Bad day at the office all-round. Too many poor performances, which unfortunately resulted in the entire team being unable to make anything work. It summed it all up for me that Murphy was having to coming back to the half-way line to get a touch. Not singling him out, but I also thought today was the worst performance I've ever seen from Jennings.

 

Too many times a player would have to drop back to collect the ball, turn and be looking for a pass to find no-one beyond a defender. None of the players were moving enough to try and take a player out the game or open up for a pass. It was a case of dropping back for the ball and still having a man to beat every time.

 

Hopefully much improved for the Hibs game.

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Complete and utter shite today, whole team back to front and I include the management team as well should be fucking ashamed of that gutless pish today, nobody gets anywhere near to pass marks totally inept. Just so so disappointing given the start that we have made to the season and some of the excellent football that we have been playing.

 

 

BUT, fuck it, apart from that pish today and against the old firm we've had an excellent start to the season so fuck it, it's in the past now onwards and upwards and let's stop the rot and set about the Hibs shite on Tuesday.

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Lets get back to a 4-4-2 formation with Murphy up front playing off Higdon.

The last 2 weeks, the players look totally bewildered about what they are meant to be doing.

 

FFS - I like the idea of playing intricate football on the deck, but, 10-12 passes to get to the halfway line and then 1 pass to lose possession is not on.

Ditch the 4-1-4-1 ....... 4-5-1....... and 5-4-1 formations and lets get back to basics.

 

Seconded Al. This formation just isn't working for us. Much of today's failure was due to off the field errors. We need 2 out and out strikers if we're going to score goals. Fundamental errors have been made this season in deciding the size of squad and its composition and we're now paying for them.

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Sounds like a sore one today but we normally bounce back after a poor result (I'm discounting last weeks result as we don't seem to compete against the OF away from home any more).

 

The game against Hibs is a big one now as the good start to the season will soon be forgotten if we put in another poor performance.

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We'll be OK, you can see from the first 15 mis we're capable of playing decent stuff.

 

One of the big problems for me remains to be that the fundamentals of football management are not being applied and that will begin to cause long term problems.

 

If the 11 players the management picks week in week out stay on the park for 90 mins (by and large) regardless of how bad they are playing and regardless of how early that is apparent. What message does that send them?

 

If our subs remain on the bench, by and large, for 90 mins regardless of what pish unfolds in front of them. What message does that send them?

 

If a player comes in for a suspension and has an excellent game in a victory for instance and is then dropped as soon as the sinner becomes available.What message does that send.

 

Yeah our squad is small. But that's the way we're running it.

 

But if you don't do the basics of squad management. You end up with 11 'untouchables' that believe that any old shite will do. And 5 or 6 players on the bench that are no use to you that have been so badly treated that their confidence is shot.

 

McCall''s job as well as keeping his sacred cows on their toes is to fire his subs up to be valuable and confident additions to his team whenever they're required no matter what anybody thinks of their ability. If someone's having a mare, get them fuckin hooked.

 

That's not all that has been wrong the past few games but its a big part of it.

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For me, what was noticeable was that when Higdon won headers (and despite his detractors, it happened a fair bit) no Motherwell player was aware/keen/quick enough to get on to the loose ball.

 

The contrast for me was tben when Sandaza won the ball, the St Johnstone players were picking up the second ball. Our "defensive"midfielders were not helping stop this. I suggested at the time subbing Jennings and Lasley for Forbes and Daley and going with

 

Daley Forbes Law Humphrey

 

Someone suggested it was too attacking a midfield. I'd argue that we were getting no protection from our centre midfield anyway.

 

That's simply what caught my eye yesterday. The point Diggle makes about having eleven "untouchables" is one I'm sure we've all noticed. Would it surprise anyone if we saw the same eleven start on Tuesday as started yesterday? It would not surprise me, but it would disappoint me..

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For me, what was noticeable was that when Higdon won headers (and despite his detractors, it happened a fair bit) no Motherwell player was aware/keen/quick enough to get on to the loose ball.

 

The contrast for me was tben when Sandaza won the ball, the St Johnstone players were picking up the second ball. Our "defensive"midfielders were not helping stop this. I suggested at the time subbing Jennings and Lasley for Forbes and Daley and going with

 

Daley Forbes Law Humphrey

 

That's simply what caught my eye yesterday. The point Diggle makes about having eleven "untouchables" is one I'm sure we've all noticed. Would it surprise anyone if we saw the same eleven start on Tuesday as started yesterday? It would not surprise me, but it would disappoint me..

 

Some good points being made. The team all played poorly on the pitch but I think it was the off field failings that proved critical. The first goal was always going to be crucial and off the field tactical mistakes cost us dearly.

 

We have made a fundamental mistake in going with such a small squad that contains 3 wingers and only one striker and is very short in central defence. The squad is so limited that we have no Plan B. A lack of substitutions tells its own tale. By default the manager would appear to think that we have only 15 players (including two lads on the injured list) capable of playing in the first team. Although an extra body is always welcome the last thing we needed was an extra winger (when we have Murphy, Humphrey and Lawless on the books).

 

Tim Clancy is no centre back as his previous manager admitted and it shows but thats not the player's fault. The central midfield lay far too deep creating a huge gap to the isolated Michael Higdon. In many games Lasley & Jennings are not the right combination. We badly need Nicky Law's pace in the centre. We are simply not playing Jamie Murphy to his strengths which are being totally wasted. He didn't seem to know where he was meant to be playing yesterday (not for the first time) and instead of supporting Higdon more often than not tracked back to take the ball out of defence.

 

We should forget playing a lone striker, despite our limited options, and revert back to a 4-4-2 formation.

 

Again the squad is lightweight, as the Manager has acknowledged, and against bigger stronger opponents like St Johnstone we'll struggle. Make no mistake our provincial rivals will have watched yesterday's events with interest. Contrast yesterday's performance and result with the last time we met at Hampden Park a few months ago. Saints would appear to have been a lot more astute in the transfer market than we have been.

 

Our off the field errors came home to roost big time yesterday. On the field errors - I'll say no more.

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