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Motherwell V St Johnstone 30/08/14


Yabba's Turd
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I don't feel half as bad after that defeat than the ICT one or even our win v St Mirren. Looked a lot sharper and hungrier. Ainsworth was beginning to look like the player from last season and even Lasley was half decent. Ojaama will need a few more games to get up to speed and then Sutty will bang in the goals. Keep the faith

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the only reason for the sub was to get ramsden an appearance fee.

 

Josh law was dire in the first half on the left so mccall sorts it by sticking him behind the striker so he could ruin more of our play.

 

Angol was injured and had signalled to the bench a bit before McManus hobbled about, hence the sub. They delayed it til McManus said he was OK. That said, why he had to disrupt it by moving Reid about is beyond me.

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I'm afraid we've hit the wall!! No money, few good players, and apparently no plan. Perhaps McCall has done as much as he can, but I'm afraid it's much deeper than that, and I fear for the future. No SPL sponsor, and no Rangers, Hearts, or Hibs. Thankfully we're above St. M and Ross C, but that I'm afraid just masks the reality of the situation. Community ownership is not working and there are no white knights out there prepared to invest in teams like us. Oh dear, the sky is falling!!! What we need is for it all to come together and give somebody a good skelping. Right?

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Can someone tell me when we are allowed to moan about McCall yet....

 

I wasn't there today as at a Stag doo instead.

 

 

Were never allowed to moan about mccall! Dont you remember we were shite 30odd years ago!

 

Remember guys, We are all Stuart McCall whistling.gif

 

But on a serious note, we are in big, big trouble here and the Ross County game in a fortnight is already a six pointer. I really don't see how McCall can get us out of this now as we are too slow, too rigid and key players like Lasley appear to have been asked to go to the well once too often and the manager doesn't appear to have any plans up his sleeve to improve things.

 

I know people will point to last season but if we are honest we were very, very lucky to finish where we did as we rode our luck in several matches last season yet managed to scrape wins somehow despite being overrun and creating little.

 

This season however we haven't been so fortunate and we need things to change drastically asap or we are looking at a threw way dogfight with Ross County and St.Mirren. I know its still early days but the signs are not good.

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Despite an another defeat I actually thought there was a slight improvement in our performance. For what it's worth we deserved at least a draw. In saying we need to start picking up points soon.

 

Agree with that 2nd half we were playing not too bad, but offering no goal threat, but that said neither were St. 1 decent chance and they took it a draw would have been a fair result. Still 99 points to play for, onwards and upwards brg get on

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I think this one perfectly illustrates how the scales have tipped. Not much in it over the piece, but in the past few seasons we've been masters of eeking out a single goal victory when there hasn't been anything in it or even if maybe didn't fully merit it.

 

Our turn to be on the receiving end today.

 

Thoughts Saints edged the first half. They had more efforts on goal and there was the Craig Reid goal saving tackle too but we at least looked a good deal more balanced than in recent weeks - with the obvious exception of Josh Law. Not creating a huge amount but we even had a midfielder willing to have a pop at goal. Wow!

 

Second half, frustrating how it ebbed it away. The initial switch of Law and Ojamaa helped - in proving again that Law most certainly isn't at all comfortable at left-mid - as did a more general upping of performance levels offered a degree of encouragement but crucially again we weren't creating a huge amount and when we did Sutty fluffed his lines, in particular with the header straight at the keeper.

 

And then of course we lost it in the last five minutes.

 

We'd had due warning with a similar free header being plucked out of the air by Twardzik shortly before but I have to say I've a little sympathy for the team and management here.

 

Having already what appeared a decent change in Erwin for Law he made another, in my eyes at least, a sensible substitution in bringing Ojamaa off who looked done. He couldn't really have legislated for ZFA having to go off and then McManus pulling up within minutes of the changes though and with a striker at left-mid and right-back at left-back it's perhaps no surprise how much joy Saints were getting down that wing as the game edged towards full-time.

 

I didn't think we deserved to win, but I don't think we deserved to lose either. I like the look of O'Brien, Lawson had a decent outing considering it was his first in however long and it was a bonus to see Ramsden back also.

 

I'm downsizing my hopes on a week-by-week basis at the moment but if we were able to have a backline of Twardzik: Ramsden, O'Brien, McManus and Hammell all fit and playing together for a bit, and we get the forward trio of Ainsworth, Sutton and Ojamaa clicking we've the potential for much more than we're seeing at the moment.

 

It's hard going, it's worrying, it's bloody annoying having Hamilton looking down on us but I do think it'll get better. Maybe perhaps only as good as fighting for the top six better but still better than this.

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If we're being honest, it was a slight improvement on what has gone before, but still utter fucking garbage. We didn't deserve to lose but never looked like winning either.

 

O'Brien and Lawson were excellent, Sutton, Lasley and Law were for the umpteenth game in a row atrocious. I would rather not see the 3 of them anywhere near the first team for the immediate future. Everyone else in between.

 

Panic button has been pressed as far as I'm concerned. The team today wasn't much short of a first choice pick and still it has little shape, drive, ability, pace.... I could go on.

 

1 goal in 5 games?!?! Seriously? Malpas had us playing better than this. There's no positive spin that can be put on anything about our season so far. Completely unacceptable.

 

Win or bust in Dingwall in a couple of weeks

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Andy_P's seems an excellent, level headed post.

 

On another note, my current concern isn't so much the potential for a relegation battle (I still see us happily 7-10th), so much as the mediocre, lethargic, bland, obvious football which we're currently trying to peddle. Somehow, we ground out the results, and finished second last year, despite, in my mind, the dullest season of football I've ever seen at Fir Park. I can't see our luck running to such a degree this year, and unless some inventive personnel changes are made come summer (both in playing squad, and inevitably management), I can see us lapsing into the grim St Mirren-esque 7-10th, crap hoofball which our finances realistically lead to, yet we've avoided thus far, but will be seeing this season.

 

I'm really not utterly desperate to get second place, and the European jolly which comes with it. I'd settle for looking forward to some decent play, and hoping for a result, and I think a number of the more apathetic fans would somewhat agree with that. (Oh, and I'd still love a damn cup, as I still need to see that...)

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1409421636[/url]' post='420365']

If we're being honest, it was a slight improvement on what has gone before, but still utter fucking garbage. We didn't deserve to lose but never looked like winning either.

 

O'Brien and Lawson were excellent, Sutton, Lasley and Law were for the umpteenth game in a row atrocious. I would rather not see the 3 of them anywhere near the first team for the immediate future. Everyone else in between.

 

Panic button has been pressed as far as I'm concerned. The team today wasn't much short of a first choice pick and still it has little shape, drive, ability, pace.... I could go on.

 

1 goal in 5 games?!?! Seriously? Malpas had us playing better than this. There's no positive spin that can be put on anything about our season so far. Completely unacceptable.

 

Win or bust in Dingwall in a couple of weeks

 

Glad you are remaining calm and keeping things in perspective

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I've only missed Killie away and I can only go with what I've seen with my own eyes so far. This team doesn't have the ability nor the fight to win the mess that we are in. That goes for the back room team as well.

 

If you can present a case to suggest otherwise we're all ears.

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We were not great but better than recent performances and deserved a draw.

 

maybe it is blind faith, but i feel we have a better squad than most in the league outside Celtic, United and Aberdeen.

 

Ojamma is still off the pace and we have had injuries week to week to contend with including Zaine today which probably cost us the game.

 

I am confident we will turn it around but believe top 6 might be beyond us - certainly if we dont pick up wins v Ross County and Hamilton at home.

 

The international break is welcome. Hopefully we can get our near strongest side out v Ross County. Sadly i expect them to have a new Manager in place by then, which will make them more difficult opponents.

 

O'Brien looked good today and hopefully ee can stay

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Just watched McCall's MFC TV interview and agree with everything he said. We didn't create the chances our territory deserved because we took a lot of wrong choices. Lawson, Lasley, Ainsworth, Ojamaa, Sutton and Law were all guilty of it. Defending was well organised, he explained the sub of Angol as well and we had a good shape throughout. Still looks like we run out of steam in last ten minutes but not as early as some other games. Obviously we were still not brilliant but when I was at work when we played Inverness, the attempts stat at half time was 1-17 so if you think back to what happened that day at least we are making inroads. Confidence is the big thing just now and I think we have to work on building it back. Slightly concerned Carswell rushed to hospital, hope he gets better soon.

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I missed the ICT game (blessing I know) but I actually thought we were ok today. We didn't offer anything much going forward. I liked O'Brien and thought Lawson had a decent game and will improve when fit. Neither team looked like scoring till they did. Ojamma is trying too hard as he did when he first joined but I think he'll come good. Ainsworth was better also. I'd like to see Law drop out as think too much is being expected and hasn't adapted to this level. We would be better balanced with Vigurs back in his place.

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I think this one perfectly illustrates how the scales have tipped. Not much in it over the piece, but in the past few seasons we've been masters of eeking out a single goal victory when there hasn't been anything in it or even if maybe didn't fully merit it.

 

Our turn to be on the receiving end today.

 

Thoughts Saints edged the first half. They had more efforts on goal and there was the Craig Reid goal saving tackle too but we at least looked a good deal more balanced than in recent weeks - with the obvious exception of Josh Law. Not creating a huge amount but we even had a midfielder willing to have a pop at goal. Wow!

 

Second half, frustrating how it ebbed it away. The initial switch of Law and Ojamaa helped - in proving again that Law most certainly isn't at all comfortable at left-mid - as did a more general upping of performance levels offered a degree of encouragement but crucially again we weren't creating a huge amount and when we did Sutty fluffed his lines, in particular with the header straight at the keeper.

 

And then of course we lost it in the last five minutes.

 

We'd had due warning with a similar free header being plucked out of the air by Twardzik shortly before but I have to say I've a little sympathy for the team and management here.

 

Having already what appeared a decent change in Erwin for Law he made another, in my eyes at least, a sensible substitution in bringing Ojamaa off who looked done. He couldn't really have legislated for ZFA having to go off and then McManus pulling up within minutes of the changes though and with a striker at left-mid and right-back at left-back it's perhaps no surprise how much joy Saints were getting down that wing as the game edged towards full-time.

 

I didn't think we deserved to win, but I don't think we deserved to lose either. I like the look of O'Brien, Lawson had a decent outing considering it was his first in however long and it was a bonus to see Ramsden back also.

 

I'm downsizing my hopes on a week-by-week basis at the moment but if we were able to have a backline of Twardzik: Ramsden, O'Brien, McManus and Hammell all fit and playing together for a bit, and we get the forward trio of Ainsworth, Sutton and Ojamaa clicking we've the potential for much more than we're seeing at the moment.

 

It's hard going, it's worrying, it's bloody annoying having Hamilton looking down on us but I do think it'll get better. Maybe perhaps only as good as fighting for the top six better but still better than this.

 

 

 

 

 

Mate I agree it was a better performance........but you state that Law is no comfortable at left midfield player...n

 

But that was the substitution that cost us a point.........Law for Erwin??????

 

A rookie at SPL footballer who plays up front has been handed a midfield role in our last 2 home games......why?????

 

After that master stoke it was only a matter of time..........why not bring on Leitch ????

 

I fear the worst this season when McCall is constantly playing players in the wrong position/area :dash2:

 

 

 

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Mate I agree it was a better performance........but you state that Law is no comfortable at left midfield player...n

 

But that was the substitution that cost us a point.........Law for Erwin??????

 

A rookie at SPL footballer who plays up front has been handed a midfield role in our last 2 home games......why?????

 

After that master stoke it was only a matter of time..........why not bring on Leitch ????

 

I fear the worst this season when McCall is constantly playing players in the wrong position/area :dash2:

 

You think it was down to Erwin coming for on for Law that cost us a point? Really?

 

Law had been playing off Sutton for the whole of the second half until he went off. Erwin took up a central position when he came on and only then went to the left-hand side when Ojamaa had to go off because he was goosed.

 

It poses a question certainly as to why Dom Thomas, assuming he is fit, wasn't considered for the bench with him seemingly the next best fit for a left-mid/left-wing role but then Ainsworth hardly has a sparkling record of lasting the full ninety so perhaps why Cadden was given the nod over him?

 

I don't know, but I do think it's being very simplistic - and wrong - to break down as much to suggest that bringing on Erwin for Law cost us a point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Don't know if Josh Law was just a flash in the pan in the Euro game , or if he has genuine potential to be a player at this level , but on current form he should be nowhere near a starting jersey , just woeful , but several others are little better at the moment .O'Brien looks as though he will be a good addition in a settled back line along with Reid McManus and Hammell when the injuries clear , but it's upfront that's the most worrying aspect , where we are totally lacking in creativity , guile , and confidence .A lot of work to be done during the international break including general fitness and stamina before a big game in Dingwall .Too early for panic stations after just 5 games , but a real test of character ahead for McCall and the squad , hopefully they have the stomach for a fight to get the season back on track , and start climbing the table .

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You think it was down to Erwin coming for on for Law that cost us a point? Really?

 

Law had been playing off Sutton for the whole of the second half until he went off. Erwin took up a central position when he came on and only then went to the left-hand side when Ojamaa had to go off because he was goosed.

 

It poses a question certainly as to why Dom Thomas, assuming he is fit, wasn't considered for the bench with him seemingly the next best fit for a left-mid/left-wing role but then Ainsworth hardly has a sparkling record of lasting the full ninety so perhaps why Cadden was given the nod over him?

 

I don't know, but I do think it's being very simplistic - and wrong - to break down as much to suggest that bringing on Erwin for Law cost us a point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes......that's what cost us a point.......totally in/un balanced the team

 

Erwin took up a "Central Position".................(Central fir park???)

 

Centrally doing what ????? ..................Did it create anything????????

 

Can you say hand on heart that was the best swap that could have ben made at 0-0???

 

Other than damaging another young players confidence/morale playing him in an unnatural position

 

.Ojamaa was" goosed" = (feckin shite/could not control a bag off sand) = Boab :blush:

 

Thankfully you agreed It poses a question certainly as to why player were not consider for the correct position............Don Thomas in goals...............:D

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I certainly think the first two subs (Erwin and McHugh for Law and Ojamaa) took the impetus out our team. But we were tiring before the changes so he had to do something. Did it cost us a point? Maybe, Was I unhappy when he made the changes? Certainly not.

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