Baraclough Out

[ONeils40yarder]

The Last minute goal only papers over the cracks. That was yet another truly dire performance from Baracloughs team and after backing him to the hilt, I'm afraid to say that I'm sick and tired of watching route 1 football and inept performances from certain players who look to be untouchable.

 

Baraclough out

[StipeIsGod]

Dismal game today. I'm loathe to say it but with how devoid of creativity and tactical nous that game was, I'm coming very close to wanting shot of Baraclough.

[milo]

The football being played this season is enough to make your eyes bleed and is getting worse by the week. The team selections are bizarre and ineffectual. The fans are voting with their feet if yesterday's attendance is anything to go by. People have stopped listening to the managers pre and post match interviews as it's the same tired cliches getting rolled out every week with little relevance to the game that's just been played.

 

If the results were the same but there at least appeared to be some deliberateness in our play, some semblance of tactics where the players appeared to know the game plan then that would be something, but we have turned into route one hoof ball merchants and it is completely ineffective and brutal to watch.

 

I've seen more than enough to suggest this guy is taking is nowhere.

[steelman1991]

It's been a really strange start to the season. Was remarking to my bro-in-law coming out of the game yesterday of the difference between the team today and the one which played the second half of the PNE friendly. OK we're missing Pearson and IIRC Fletcher from that line-up, but at that point the passing was crisp, players were full of energy wanting to get on the ball and I left that game with a degree of optimism I hadn't had in previous seasons. Roll forward 2 months and reflect on that performance yesterday - they were like the proverbial night and day. Suddenly we have a centre back (McManus), who thinks he is Xabi Alonso and wants to launch diagonal long balls to .................well nobody really, missing out the midfield with alarming regularity (anybody else drawing comparisons to the Craigan/Gannon relationship). Barraclough talked about a high pressing/passing game, well clearly we haven't adopted that philosophy, is that down to the personnel, tactics or coaching - I really don't know, but what I do know is that my patience is beginning to wear very thin with the Manager.

 

Unless Kennedy has a stinking attitude in training, it's surprising how he gets dropped in favour of Laing.

 

C'mon Barraclough stick with the philosophy you talked so much of and give us something to at least get excited about. Even the Bois have deserted the team in their droves.

 

Cause for concern - you bet there is.

[Pepper]

The most balanced we have been set up that I've seen us so far was in the first hour of the Dundee Utd game. Hammell, Chalmers, McDonald and Fletcher all linked up really well and it looked like there was a real understanding between them. There was a definite route out of defence via the midfield which we have been badly lacking since. I think Chalmers can feel really hard done by for not seeing more game time since. When he went off and we reverted to two traditional wingers it was the start of us losing our shape entirely. Funnily enough I actually came away from that game feeling more positive than I did yesterday.

 

We have got to drop the idea of playing two wingers and revert to a more traditional midfield, whoever it may consist of, as IMO the formation first and foremost is not working and is actually making the players look much worse than they are.

[Big Wispy Flossy]

It's been a really strange start to the season. Was remarking to my bro-in-law coming out of the game yesterday of the difference between the team today and the one which played the second half of the PNE friendly. OK we're missing Pearson and IIRC Fletcher from that line-up, but at that point the passing was crisp, players were full of energy wanting to get on the ball and I left that game with a degree of optimism I hadn't had in previous seasons. Roll forward 2 months and reflect on that performance yesterday - they were like the proverbial night and day. Suddenly we have a centre back (McManus), who thinks he is Xabi Alonso and wants to launch diagonal long balls to .................well nobody really, missing out the midfield with alarming regularity (anybody else drawing comparisons to the Craigan/Gannon relationship). Barraclough talked about a high pressing/passing game, well clearly we haven't adopted that philosophy, is that down to the personnel, tactics or coaching - I really don't know, but what I do know is that my patience is beginning to wear very thin with the Manager.

 

Unless Kennedy has a stinking attitude in training, it's surprising how he gets dropped in favour of Laing.

 

C'mon Barraclough stick with the philosophy you talked so much of and give us something to at least get excited about. Even the Bois have deserted the team in their droves.

 

Cause for concern - you bet there is.

Kennedy has been injured the last 2 weeks that's why he never started yesterday but hard to disagree with anything else you say.

 

Thankfully I never had the pleasure of watching that yesterday only heard 2nd hand how bad we were.

 

What annoys me is, despite it being proved not to work for 3 games in a row and by all accounts was the same yesterday, bara continues with Lasley and Taylor as a midfield two thinking they compliment each other. It doesn't work. The sooner Pearson gets back fit the better and hopefully grimshaw can offer us something different from which the current two are producing.

[Kmac]

. Even the Bois have deserted the team in their droves.

 

Cause for concern - you bet there is.

 

Spot on.

 

To me, that is the really noticeable thing. If you look at the highlights from yesterdays game, there are score of empty seats in the East Stand - go back even 3/4 years and that wouldn't have been the case.

 

The bois (who should become this generations die hards) have now started walking away.

 

Fans thrive on seeing players, who, if not blessed with huge quality, burst a gut for the team.

I fear that both Baracloughs manner and his signing policy are manifest in a lack of 'soul' on the park - a little something to get behind.

We are now inundated with players who have worked their way around the English lower leagues without settling and for good reason. I'm aware that we aren't blessed with cash however there are ways to put a squad together which gets everybody gelled and fighting a common cause. All I see however is three quarters of a team who are looking to move on elsewhere ASAP and a manager who isn't hard enough to knock that mentality out of them and have them playing for 'Motherwell'.

 

Something fundamental needs to change at the club and that has to start with Baraclough. I want someone who shows ambition and is quite frankly willing to piss a few people off to achieve it. We are pandering to ego's and reputations at the moment and it's costing us dearly. The support can see through it and are walking away.

[underboyleheating]

For the last 18 months we have been like a patient with a mystery illness, however, Doctor Baraclough and his football medical team seem no further forward in being able to find the cure. Like any serious illness, if a solution is not found by the end of the year we could be facing a St.Mirren style epidemic and sadly there is no cure for a terminal disease. Our illness has been masked somewhat by a few other sickly clubs, however, we need to hope that we can find the solution before them.

[delboy]

last season Ross County took all 3 points with a last minute goal

 

this season we battle back and steal a point from an on form Ross County

 

I call that an improvement

 

As for die hard fans who stop attending games, I don't call them die hard fans

 

When Baraclough took over his job was to keep us up and he did that.

 

Baraclough next job was had to rebuild the team and that takes time,

 

We also started this season with games against top SPFL sides and although we lost the games we didn't get played off the park and at time push the opposition which was a lot more than we did last year

 

I see signs of improvement but with so many new players it will always take time for players to settle and get use to the team and Scottish football

[postiejim]

If crowds keep falling that in itself will see him sacked.

[wellman]

I take it you are fuckin clueless.

 

Of course I was at the game. Why would I post such comments if I was not.

 

Your subsequent response tells me all I need to know.

 

I will get in to a debate when you post some sense

I I'm surprised you can even spell debate MORON

[Andy_P]

last season Ross County took all 3 points with a last minute goal

 

this season we battle back and steal a point from an on form Ross County

 

I call that an improvement

 

As for die hard fans who stop attending games, I don't call them die hard fans

 

When Baraclough took over his job was to keep us up and he did that.

 

Baraclough next job was had to rebuild the team and that takes time,

 

We also started this season with games against top SPFL sides and although we lost the games we didn't get played off the park and at time push the opposition which was a lot more than we did last year

 

I see signs of improvement but with so many new players it will always take time for players to settle and get use to the team and Scottish football

 

Hmmm...

 

As I recall the Ross County game you refer to they didn't take all three points, they got the same single point they got yesterday. And whilst they might well have only equalised at the death as I recall they were certainly the better side that afternoon. So an improvement? Questionable, slight at best I'd say. But in the grand scheme that's neither here nor there.

 

But let's keep the focus on Ross County for a minute. If so many players always need time to bed in, get used to the team and Scottish football how do you explain County's development as a team since Baraclough took over in comparison to our own?

 

They signed more than half a dozen players in the January transfer window, as did we and made more than a dozen signings in the summer again along similar lines to ourselves, yet they look a bit good further ahead in their development in comparison to where we're at. I don't think it's unreasonable for fans to pose the question why that might be.

[1991]

I also was behind Baraclough up until recently.

On occasions his substitutions have lost us games especially at Perth.

I actually think the signings have been ok but we can't gel as a team for example look at Killie, Thistle and even Accies there's only a couple of players from there squads I feel are better than ours which for me shows the problem may be with the manager.

Yesterday our bench was the strongest we have had for some time, there aren't many teams with a game changing bench, I feel the 3 changes yday def changed the game.

I think the majority of fans would want Kennedy, Chalmers, Robinson and Grimshaw start next week with Law, Hammell Skippy and Taylor all dropped but there's no way he will as he appears to watch a different game from the majority

[star sail]

 

Hmmm...

 

As I recall the Ross County game you refer to they didn't take all three points, they got the same single point they got yesterday. And whilst they might well have only equalised at the death as I recall they were certainly the better side that afternoon. So an improvement? Questionable, slight at best I'd say. But in the grand scheme that's neither here nor there.

 

But let's keep the focus on Ross County for a minute. If so many players always need time to bed in, get used to the team and Scottish football how do you explain County's development as a team since Baraclough took over in comparison to our own?

 

They signed more than half a dozen players in the January transfer window, as did we and made more than a dozen signings in the summer again along similar lines to ourselves, yet they look a bit good further ahead in their development in comparison to where we're at. I don't think it's unreasonable for fans to pose the question why that might be.

 

I don't really understand the logic in what you say. You are using Ross County as an example of a team who, thanks to a good management team have improved considerably having quickly brought together the new signings into a cohesive unit.

 

Motherwell matched them yesterday. This is a team that is on a good run (3 victories in a row before yesterday) and everybody is happy (and rightly so) to give the Ross County team and management praise and plaudits. We matched them yesterday suggesting that we have improved and there is next to nothing in the way of positivity and praise. I do not understand why our own fans are using all kinds of reasons to have a go at our team and management.

 

Here in one big positive. For the last 18-24 months, I have watched Motherwell teams lose goal after goal in the last 10 mins of games to lose or draw matches from winning positions due to fading badly in the second half of matches. Yesterday we scored in injury time to salvage a point against a fit, strong RC side. That's good. That for me is progress.

[Shire Greats]

 

Spot on.

 

To me, that is the really noticeable thing. If you look at the highlights from yesterdays game, there are score of empty seats in the East Stand - go back even 3/4 years and that wouldn't have been the case.

 

The bois (who should become this generations die hards) have now started walking away.

 

Fans thrive on seeing players, who, if not blessed with huge quality, burst a gut for the team.

I fear that both Baracloughs manner and his signing policy are manifest in a lack of 'soul' on the park - a little something to get behind.

We are now inundated with players who have worked their way around the English lower leagues without settling and for good reason. I'm aware that we aren't blessed with cash however there are ways to put a squad together which gets everybody gelled and fighting a common cause. All I see however is three quarters of a team who are looking to move on elsewhere ASAP and a manager who isn't hard enough to knock that mentality out of them and have them playing for 'Motherwell'.

 

Something fundamental needs to change at the club and that has to start with Baraclough. I want someone who shows ambition and is quite frankly willing to piss a few people off to achieve it. We are pandering to ego's and reputations at the moment and it's costing us dearly. The support can see through it and are walking away.

[BigWeegieDosser]

I think he has assembled a decent enough squad. Problem is he does not select right players from it.

 

Jake Taylor should not be near the starting 11 based on his performances so far. Nor should Skippy or Laing. The team that finished today should start next week.

 

What did Kennedy do to be benched for Laing?

According to Flow Kennedy missed the BWFC game with a training ground knock. Maybe just not worth risking him .

Bottom line is we have had a massive squad turnover that was well overdue and expecting us to turn into the Galacticos instantly is just not realistic. I think binning Baraclough is way too premature , given that any new boss would have the same squad to work with and probably way beyond January.

Let's face it , on our wages we're not going to have a Mourinho, are we?

[Haggischomper]

Thank fuck. Mourinho is a cunt and not too good at developing his own youth players...

[Welldaft Mk1]

I I'm surprised you can even spell debate MORON

A witty and splendid retort.

 

I am hurting.

 

I should not have swore, but in my defence your response to my original post was just illogical.

 

Anyway back on topic. I think we have a better squad and when we get the chance to play our strongest 11 we should be okay. The key Q is whether the majority of fans strongest 11 resembles Baracloughs. On the evidence of yesterday - we have concerns here.

 

If Kennedy was carrying a knock then fine, but Skippy and Taylor deserve to be benched. Maybe too early to see what Grimshaw will offer, but cannot be worse than what we have seen from Jake Taylor.

[Shire Greats]

[quoI don't disagree yesterday was a hard wstch, but the decline in crowds has been ongoing for years.We have come off the back of 2 wins,so there was no greatv reason for the poor starting attendance.Its a sad fact that for various reasons the crowds have fallen away, I don't believe the poor fare is the main reason]te name="Kmac" post="452504" timestamp="1442138505"]

 

 

Spot on.

 

To me, that is the really noticeable thing. If you look at

the highlights from yesterdays game, there are score of empty seats in the East Stand - go back even 3/4 years and that wouldn't have been the case.

 

The bois (who should become this generations die hards) have now started walking away.

 

 

 

 

 

Fans thrive on seeing players, who, if not blessed with huge quality, burst a gut for the team.

I fear that both Baracloughs manner and his signing policy are manifest in a lack of 'soul' on the park - a little something to get behind.

We are now inundated with players who have worked their way around the English lower leagues without settling and for good reason. I'm aware that we aren't blessed with cash however there are ways to put a squad together which gets everybody gelled and fighting a common cause. All I see however is three quarters of a team who are looking to move on elsewhere ASAP and a manager who isn't hard enough to knock that mentality out of them and have them playing for 'Motherwell'.

 

Something fundamental needs to change at the club and that has to start with Baraclough. I want someone who shows ambition and is quite frankly willing to piss a few people off to achieve it. We are pandering to ego's and reputations at the moment and it's costing us dearly. The support can see through it and are walking away.

[milo]

I didn't think the crowd felt that sparse at the time yesterday but watching the highlights back it looks absolutely horrific!

[Andy_P]

 

I don't really understand the logic in what you say. You are using Ross County as an example of a team who, thanks to a good management team have improved considerably having quickly brought together the new signings into a cohesive unit.

 

Motherwell matched them yesterday. This is a team that is on a good run (3 victories in a row before yesterday) and everybody is happy (and rightly so) to give the Ross County team and management praise and plaudits. We matched them yesterday suggesting that we have improved and there is next to nothing in the way of positivity and praise. I do not understand why our own fans are using all kinds of reasons to have a go at our team and management.

 

Here in one big positive. For the last 18-24 months, I have watched Motherwell teams lose goal after goal in the last 10 mins of games to lose or draw matches from winning positions due to fading badly in the second half of matches. Yesterday we scored in injury time to salvage a point against a fit, strong RC side. That's good. That for me is progress.

 

No, no desire to have a go at the management and team here, and I don't disagree that team-building is far from instantaneous.

 

But it's an argument that I think will only wash with some for so long and rightly or wrongly frustration will grow if we don't see a more marked improvement on what went last season over the course of this season.

 

You can say it takes time until you're blue in the face but it's difficult to continually make that point when one of our peers who undertook a rebuild in much the same fashion as we did (mid-season change of boss, large incomings in two transfer windows) appear much further along the road than we are. Yes we certainly were of County's equal yesterday but you could argue the same since Baraclough took over? Certainly not.

 

I think it would help enormously in building belief in Baraclough if we could put a good sustained run of unbeaten games together. Something that would clearly illustrate things are going in the right direction. It's not even so much getting a good result. It's the good result and then building on it. I mean we horsed Hamilton and St Mirren last season but within a couple of weeks of those results we were not only losing to those very same teams again but turning in utterly abject displays. We are so horribly inconsistent some don't yet have any faith in us to go beyond taking one step forward, then one back.

[mjw]

I I'm surprised you can even spell debate MORON

Someone who nicknames a player 'McMinging' really isn't in a position to call anyone a moron.

[Ya Bezzer!]

Bottom line is we have had a massive squad turnover that was well overdue and expecting us to turn into the Galacticos instantly is just not realistic.

 

I don't think many people are looking for that. Personally, I'd like us to go out on to the pitch and look like we have some kind of game plan that we are at least working towards.

 

There is a total absence of game plan, tactics, instruction. What happens is the goalkeeper boots the ball 80 yards down the pitch, opposition defenders or their goalkeeper take possession and then it's repeat, repeat, repeat.

 

You don't have to be some managerial genius to say to the players - "OK the goalkeeper rolls it out every time, make yourself available. If you don't make yourself available, you don't fit into the style of football I want to play and you won't be in the side."

 

Likewise you don't have to be managerial genius to instruct players to take certain positions or make certain movements at a throw in. These absolutely basics elements of football are happening week after week after week and nothing happens to improve the situation.

 

In both these situations we give away possession about 80% of the time.

[punk_in_drublic]

I don't buy into the "team needs to gel/time to settle" view. The starting line up yesterday had the following:

 

Defence

 

Hammell - he's been playing for this club pretty much since 1999 with a short one and a half year break in the middle of those 16 years.

 

Law - he's into his second year with us now.

 

Laing - he's been here since January 2015.

 

McManus - he's been here for over 2 years.

 

That's plenty of time for a defensive unit to gel. Given that they should spend around 4 or 5 hours together each day 6 days a week I'd expect that's enough time for professional footballers to be familiar with one another and how they play.

 

Midfield

 

Ainsworth - he's in his third year at Fir Park.

 

Lasley - similarly to Hammell he's spent pretty much his whole time here.

 

Taylor - granted he's brand new to his colleagues and us.

 

Thomas - he's been in and around the team for at least a year now. He's been training with the first time for at least that period as well.

 

Like the defence, these guys should be more than familiar with one another with the exception of Taylor. But one new guy can't be used as an excuse for an entire midfield 4 being incoherent.

 

Attack

 

McDonald - a bit like Laing in that he's not been here a huge length of time, but I consider it past the length that it can be used as an excuse.

 

Moult - brand new. Like Taylor I can understand the argument that he needs time to bed in.

 

With the exception of Taylor Moult and Ripley I don't think there is an excuse with regards to time for gelling. This team have played together for a decent amount of time. Certainly at least enough to form an overall cohesive unit with the odd exception.

 

I actually think we've got a good set of players but we don't have a management team to utilise them properly. Someone earlier mentioned that Bararclough is a good scout and no more, that might just be right. The errors are consistent,?but we persist and persist.

[star sail]

 

No, no desire to have a go at the management and team here, and I don't disagree that team-building is far from instantaneous.

 

But it's an argument that I think will only wash with some for so long and rightly or wrongly frustration will grow if we don't see a more marked improvement on what went last season over the course of this season.

 

You can say it takes time until you're blue in the face but it's difficult to continually make that point when one of our peers who undertook a rebuild in much the same fashion as we did (mid-season change of boss, large incomings in two transfer windows) appear much further along the road than we are. Yes we certainly were of County's equal yesterday but you could argue the same since Baraclough took over? Certainly not.

 

I think it would help enormously in building belief in Baraclough if we could put a good sustained run of unbeaten games together. Something that would clearly illustrate things are going in the right direction. It's not even so much getting a good result. It's the good result and then building on it. I mean we horsed Hamilton and St Mirren last season but within a couple of weeks of those results we were not only losing to those very same teams again but turning in utterly abject displays. We are so horribly inconsistent some don't yet have any faith in us to go beyond taking one step forward, then one back.

I agree with almost everything you say. The only one thing to remember is that McIntyre and Dodd's have had a few months more in the job to get there house in order so should be a few months further ahead in their plans for the their team.

 

I was very interested in yesterday's game because I believe Ross County to be the benchmark for us this season. They had similar problems to our own last season with management change and a fight against relegation. Furthermore as I have said, McIntyre and Dodd's are widely recognised as doing a great job so to match that much represent success surely. (unfortunately I think for a section of our support that will not represent success).

 

I don't think that the gulf between the teams is as wide as some would have us believe. Consistency is key and I think that will be the next piece in the jig-zaw for our slowly developing side. Mouth watering performances may take a bit longer. As always time will tell