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Motherwell V Kilmarnock 07/03/15


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Gary Locke ought to take a hard look at his charges, watching at close quarters as he did, several of them take blatant dives, none of which were punished. In fairness though Killie looked a half decent side.

 

I can't remember the last time I saw as much blatant diving but to be fair it wasn't just Kilmarnock that was doing it. You'd have to point the finger at Marvin Johnson and Scott McDonald as well.

 

There was one where Johnson did about 5 'sausage rolls' across the pitch that was especially ridiculous.

 

Maybe it was all down to having an especially weak referee - Beaton vies with Willie Collum as the worst in top flight Scottish football.

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I can't remember the last time I saw as much blatant diving but to be fair it wasn't just Kilmarnock that was doing it. You'd have to point the finger at Marvin Johnson and Scott McDonald as well.

 

Maybe I'm biased but the amount of diving going on in our past 2 games is nothing short of ridiculous. Managers are standing and watching this cheating from less than 10 metres away and doing nothing about it. It makes you wonder if players are actively encouraged/coached to do this. There was one instance yesterday of a Killie player going down, as if poleaxed, when in fact there had been no contact whatsoever.

 

 

 

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Kilmarnock were cynical hammer throwers second half, they took turns at chopping us down and killed the momentum of the game.Ainsworth was the correct sub to bring on, the manager saw that we needed to stretch them a bit although it didn't quite come off. I see he is coming in for stick for holding back on a 50/50 challenge but some of our support need to realise that he doesn't have that type of dig about him. However he can be a match winner and we don't have too many players in our squad who can be described as such. To be frank if he had dig as well as a great engine for tracking back he would be playing at a far higher level than us.

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Sorry but this was a cup final against 10 men for the whole 2nd half and a marvellous chance to bag 3 precious points which we didn't do and with Ross County winning and us away to 2nd top Aberdeen next week we remain FIRMLY in the shite. We cant throw away too many chances like we had on saturday or we're fecked. <_ cup finals to go.>

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1425845942[/url]' post='434627']

Sorry but this was a cup final against 10 men for the whole 2nd half and a marvellous chance to bag 3 precious points which we didn't do and with Ross County winning and us away to 2nd top Aberdeen next week we remain FIRMLY in the shite. We cant throw away too many chances like we had on saturday or we're fecked. <_ cup finals to go.>

 

In terms of making chances, we can't really do much more, should have had a pen, why the ref booked him us a mystery, it's an unenviable job , but they really do go out if their way, sometimes to make the wrong calls

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95% of us would have been happy with 4 points from ICT and Killie after the Dundee game. However upon reflection it's safe to say if we'd got a point from ICT and 3 on Saturday (based on how things panned out over the 90) there would have been a much happier mood on here.

 

It's a strange thing but even though we have seen a big improvement over the last couple of weeks and as you say most of us would have been happy with 4points, results elsewhere have not gone for us and we are in probably a worse position now than we were a couple of weeks ago in terms of avoiding the bottom 2 spots.

 

There is still a lot of football to be played of course but I think if you are looking at our situation in any kind of impartial way it's looking less and less likely that we can finish ahead of Ross County. Not only are they in better form than us, on paper at least, they have the easiest run in of all the teams.

 

Partick Thistle could still be dragged into things but they have (realistically) 7 points on us, have two home matches coming up and entertain us at Firhill before the split. I reckon Partick only need 9 points to be more or less guarenteed safety, so taking that on board we are probably going to have to go there and win.

 

Next week is going to be a big week. Both Ross County and Partick have winnable games (St. Mirren also) while we have a tough one at Aberdeen. I don't think we can afford to come away from that one with nothing but time will tell.

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1425862160[/url]' post='434635']

It's a strange thing but even though we have seen a big improvement over the last couple of weeks and as you say most of us would have been happy with 4points, results elsewhere have not gone for us and we are in probably a worse position now than we were a couple of weeks ago in terms of avoiding the bottom 2 spots.

 

There is still a lot of football to be played of course but I think if you are looking at our situation in any kind of impartial way it's looking less and less likely that we can finish ahead of Ross County. Not only are they in better form than us, on paper at least, they have the easiest run in of all the teams.

 

Partick Thistle could still be dragged into things but they have (realistically) 7 points on us, have two home matches coming up and entertain us at Firhill before the split. I reckon Partick only need 9 points to be more or less guarenteed safety, so taking that on board we are probably going to have to go there and win.

 

Next week is going to be a big week. Both Ross County and Partick have winnable games (St. Mirren also) while we have a tough one at Aberdeen. I don't think we can afford to come away from that one with nothing but time will tell.

 

I think if we play like we have done, last couple of weeks, we won't finish bottom, I don't really think Ross County are that great a team either, so there is still a chance , we might finish above them.Partck look like they should have at least taken a point off them

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Yeah but roaster posters need to justify their earlier comments.

 

On countless occasions Ainsworth hid from a pass from Law when there was acres of space on the right wing in behind their fullback, which is where he should be looking to get to. He continually clogged up the right channel and restricted Skippy's play as a result.

 

Not one of his crosses on Saturday beat the first man, his corners in particular were diabolical.

 

He shirked out of several 50/50s that could have resulted in him being in behind 1 on 1 with their centre half, potentially leading to scoring that winning goal or providing a winning ball in that we were all desperate for.

 

He made 2 or 3 half arsed attempts at tracking that left Law horrendously exposed at RB and led to a few chances for Killie to nick a goal.

 

Happy?

 

Also, for the record; I agree with what other posters have said. He's easily the most frustrating player at Fir Park but he hasn't been anywhere near the same player as last season in ANY of the games he's played this year. Today was the final straw for me, that's all. We can't carry someone who's half arsed through a game when we're fighting for our Premier League survival.

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My first thought at the time was that a goalie shouldn't be beaten at his first post but I have to admit that, sitting right behind Long, the shot was moving so fast I didn't see it moving from when it left his foot until it hit the back of the net. Law had a difficult game against him and certainly did better in the second half but if he was trying to blame anyone else at the goal he had a cheek.

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Law had a difficult game against him and certainly did better in the second half but if he was trying to blame anyone else at the goal he had a cheek.

 

You've hit the nail on the head. Defending is a team game and we should look also at the amount of cover in front of the central defence prior to the ball being passed out to our right but yes, Josh Law appears to be in no mans land. Whatever the reason, we tend to lose this type of goal quite often. In the second half Magennis continually had acres of space on our left but fortunately his teammates didn't use him much.

 

 

 

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On countless occasions Ainsworth hid from a pass from Law when there was acres of space on the right wing in behind their fullback, which is where he should be looking to get to. He continually clogged up the right channel and restricted Skippy's play as a result.

 

Not one of his crosses on Saturday beat the first man, his corners in particular were diabolical.

 

He shirked out of several 50/50s that could have resulted in him being in behind 1 on 1 with their centre half, potentially leading to scoring that winning goal or providing a winning ball in that we were all desperate for.

 

He made 2 or 3 half arsed attempts at tracking that left Law horrendously exposed at RB and led to a few chances for Killie to nick a goal.

 

Happy?

 

Also, for the record; I agree with what other posters have said. He's easily the most frustrating player at Fir Park but he hasn't been anywhere near the same player as last season in ANY of the games he's played this year. Today was the final straw for me, that's all. We can't carry someone who's half arsed through a game when we're fighting for our Premier League survival.

 

Yep, can't disagree with any of that. When you see Ainsworth purposely move into the middle while we're attacking down the right with the sole purpose of hiding behind some Killie players you know you have someone who isn't up for the battle.

I've never been so annoyed at any of our players than I was with Ainsworth on Saturday, heading into injury time, ball breaks to him and we have a great chance to get in behind the Killie defence and Ainsworth tried to pass the buck at the earliest possible opportunity, playing an awful pass straight to a Killie defender rather than driving at the Killie left back. Infuriating. He can "play for a contract" all he wants between now and the end of the season but over this season he's not done enough to earn one. Door.

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Whilst a draw against a team that have had, and are having, a not too bad season in places isn't a disaster, we really needed to match Ross County's result and as it now stands we are probably in a worse situation than we were a couple of weeks ago. Albeit we are now playing 100 times better than at any stage of the season.

 

On reflection it certainly looks like a penalty and I certainly believe Long should've done better with the goal.

 

We had most of the ball and Johnston in the first half in particular put in some fantastic crosses. You can't really ask much more of him. Might be idea to reinstate Sutton for those of us who believe that if you give him service he will score?

The subs on Saturday didn't really provide us with much although I can see why they were made. For all Ainsworth appears to be unhappy with not starting he didn't do enough when he came on to suggest the manager is/was wrong.

 

I actually think that Pearo and McDonald could've maybe have done more throughout but I still feel their presence allows and motivates others around them. I though Law settled into a great game and Straker wasn't actually that bad either. I agree with the comments made on here that people were on his back instantly for nothing but disagree that the East Stand/Well fans in general need someone to hate. That's nonsense.

 

My fear and/or prediction is that Ross County are going to pull away and be safe with a bit to spare leaving us, St Mirren and possibly Partick Thistle, depending on the next few games, to fight it out for the lesser of 2 evils (which I'm not sure if that is going straight down or down via the play offs)

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Would have taken a draw before a ball was kicked on Saturday, but coming away from the match all I could think of was 2 points dropped.

 

Had a discussion with our resident Kilmarnock-supporting-rodent-shagger on Saturday night and he was of the belief that Kilmarnock were the better team and that 11v11 they were confident of a victory...now either this highlights that he does, indeed, know fuck all about fitba', or that two sets of football supporters can watch the same game but having totally polar views on the gameplay?

 

 

Me? I thought Motherwell made a sluggish start, 1st 5mins or so was knoweher near as impressive as the start of last weeks match, but once we got in our rythmn, Kilmarnock couldnt live with us, particularly the link up play between Skippy, Pearo, Erwin and Marvin. I've not seen the stats but we must have had 3 or 4 times as many attempts on goal, corners and crosses in the 1st 45mins than Killie did...which leads me to the 2nd half and how frustrating it was watching us trying to break down a 10-man wall. Baraclough made the subs that I'd have made, but too late in my opinion. Johnson, was immense in the 1st half but either tired badly, or had one kicking too many of the hatchet men who were trying to put him out the game and he should have been replaced by Thomas much earlier. Ainsworth was also the correct sub to come on for Grant (who is utterly wasted playing wide), but Ainsworth is an utter enigma, talent in abundance but just does not have the stomach or desire to put it to use often enough.

 

 

I'm also a huge critic of Fast John, but I'm not convinced by Erwin either, as i dont see where the goals are going to come from with him, he has had a wee run this season and played in most games, but he seems to lack the killer instinct to get into positions to score. The question is though whats more important, Erwins movement, work-rate and link-up play or do we lose all that and re-instate Fast John to hang about in the centre of the 18-yard box for 90minutes?

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If we did find ourselves in 11th at the end of the season , I am a lot more confident that we'll get through them than I was pre ict game. It will ,however, still be a very tough task.

 

 

If its Hibs or Falkirk yes, but if it's Sevco then we will probably bottle it as usual against them, but that said pumping them in the playoffs would be a great end to the season.

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I'm also a huge critic of Fast John, but I'm not convinced by Erwin either, as i dont see where the goals are going to come from with him, he has had a wee run this season and played in most games, but he seems to lack the killer instinct to get into positions to score. The question is though whats more important, Erwins movement, work-rate and link-up play or do we lose all that and re-instate Fast John to hang about in the centre of the 18-yard box for 90minutes?

 

I'd be more confident playing Sutton up alongside McDonald now that Johnson is up to speed, and we've got people who can actually get the ball across the box. Do that with Sutton on the pitch, and the chances are, you're going to get goals.

 

There's an argument for both though, and it probably all comes down to the opposition we're facing, and who we've got available for selection on the day.

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