BigCDawg Posted August 12, 2015 Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 Can someone please explain WHY Lasley was subbed and not McDonald?????What where we playing towards the end with Johnson up front??Johnson looked completely off and couldn't be bothered.Every team so far has played a diagonal ball towards Law and its paid off, but I'm not slagging Law off in anyway as my auld man said when the ball is on the left he gets pulled too far inside.No idea what Bara's thinking was in that game at all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superward Posted August 12, 2015 Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 Wasn't there but sounds a poor performance.Early days though. I was expecting 3 points from the first 4 games when I saw the fix ture list. Looks like to will be that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobey_Dosser Posted August 12, 2015 Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 I was hoping we had shaken the habit of failing to turn up for away games but not to be. Hopefully the long term plan is not to keep Skippy in midfield or else it's been a pointless signing. Moult and Fletcher need the experience of McDonald alongside them. Howler from big Connor for the 2nd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steelman1991 Posted August 12, 2015 Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 It's not that Skippy looks unfit - he's just been shite (James McFadden second season syndrome by the looks of it). He's contributed the square root of f..k all. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_P Posted August 12, 2015 Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 Well that wasn't very good at all. And what makes it worse is that I don't think Hearts were particularly great either. Never really got going at all in the first half but we did have one or two things in an around their box that we could have done better with. Our distribution and inability to find our own men I felt was as much a threat to us as Hearts largely were. Didn't see the actual challenge for the penalty as someone blocked my view just as the Hearts player came into the box but from McDonald's reaction he looked disappointed with himself (as well he might for his performance across the night as it happens). Even if it were a shade on the dodgy side I doubt the ref would have needed much persuasion to give it, given how the merest brushes with someone in claret and amber were seemingly enough for him to awards Hearts. Not going to blame the ref for the defeat, but it has to be said, he was pish! Our best spell came early in the second half where for a 10-15 minute spell we looked like doing something. Nothing remarkable chance wise but balls were getting into box with the wingers getting service and doing positive things with it. But we remained vulnerable to the killer second even throughout that spell and so it came. At first glance my thoughts were the keeper might have done better. Hearts nothing startling for all the hype. Well deserving of their win no question, some decent displays by one or two but not a night they had to work particularly hard for their win. All a bit disappointing but on to the next one.,,, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siebsbarmyarmy Posted August 12, 2015 Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 I thought Lasley was honking tbh. Kept getting dragged around and left Bauben with loads of space after running into emptiness for their 2nd goal. You could have taken off almost any of the midfield & forward line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steelman1991 Posted August 12, 2015 Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 Spot on Andy - but by the f..k you're being kind to the ref - he was a f....g sitck on homer if ever there was one. Maybe Rangers are his team and we were subject to payback, but he was clearly biased (sorry incompetent might be better) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milo Posted August 12, 2015 Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 It's not that Skippy looks unfit - he's just been shite (James McFadden second season syndrome by the looks of it). He's contributed the square root of f..k all. Was thinking along similar lines myself.... Play him upfront or don't play him at all. If we line up on Saturday with McDonald in a similar position then I worry for our season on a number of levels. Barracloughs inability to spot a glaringly obvious failing being one of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Welldaft Mk1 Posted August 12, 2015 Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 Wasn't there but sounds a poor performance.Early days though. I was expecting 3 points from the first 4 games when I saw the fix ture list. Looks like to will be that way. I was expecting a draw at Inverness and a draw at home v United and then possibly a draw at Tynie before a home defeat to Aberdeen. So we still have the 3 points and I still expect Aberdeen to turn us over this weekend. My concern is that we have scored 1 goal in 3 games and despite creating chances we look like we are going to struggle to score. Fletcher looks OK but is injury prone and Moult has shown little apart from a solitary strike v Preston. Early days I know but I have started already to revise my expectations to avoid bottom 2 spots this season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fat_tony Posted August 12, 2015 Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 Didn't see the actual challenge for the penalty as someone blocked my view just as the Hearts player came into the box but from McDonald's reaction he looked disappointed with himself (as well he might for his performance across the night as it happens). Even if it were a shade on the dodgy side I doubt the ref would have needed much persuasion to give it, given how the merest brushes with someone in claret and amber were seemingly enough for him to awards Hearts. Absolutely no complaints with the penalty. The hearts player burst past McDonald and he simply threw himself into the back of him. Had me thinking back to his red card against Dunfermline all those years ago in terms of sheer stupidity. Ref, as poor as he was, got that one spot on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the traveller Posted August 12, 2015 Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 Normal service resumed under Baraclough. Now that didn't take long to happen in a new season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmcalpin Posted August 12, 2015 Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 Out of interest how much would the manager have to spend before you would expect more than 0 points from 12 ? I wasnt one of the cheerleaders who was fooled by the play offs , thought Johnson was Ronaldo or even got anywhere near excited by the summer signings. It's early days , hopefully the goals start going in for us soon. Definsively im not expecting them to improve much if any , we know what we have back there and have decided to stick with it, Hopefully the supposidly lesser teams will cause us less damage at that end of the park. In answer to your question probably about twice what we have spent. Ok perhaps Inverness have gone back a bit but they're still a solid hard to beat side on their ground. Dundee United have spent a good bit more than us. That then leaves Hearts and Aberdeen. I know its not a popular thing to say but Hearts have spent big. The youthful side of 2 seasons ago has largely moved on because they weren't good enough and they've been replaced by expensive incomers. Aberdeen too have a very large budget compared to us. I agree with most of the remainder of your post. My abiding memory of last season won't be the play offs but a series of utterly abysmal performances and an unacceptably high goals against column. Given that, I was expecting drastic surgery to our defence and central midfield but that hasn't really happened. Hopefully Conor Ripley will prove to be an improvement on George Long and Louis Laing seems to be a better player but thats about it. That said, we may sign another central midfielder. On the basis of who we have signed so far, I'm not expecting us to improve very much defensively. Attack wise I think we're very much an unknown quantity. The likes of Moult and Fletcher may take time to settle in and we shouldn't draw too many conclusions too soon about them. Overall I'm sensing a modest improvement. On that basis I expect us to finish somewhere between 8th and 10th, probably the latter. Tonight I think we played the wrong team and used the wrong tactics. That said I don't know if we had the critical players in the key positions. Pearo's absence was certainly a body blow and Taylor will take time to settle. Our central midfield 2 (should it have been 3 like Weeyin suggested?) was always going to be under great pressure to firstly protect our defence and secondly feed the 2 wingers and striker with a continuous supply of quality balls and I don't think they managed that. Early days and despite my realistic (?) view of Saturday's game we have to show fight and determination. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malky79 Posted August 12, 2015 Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 3 games, 2 decent performances and one shite one. 3 points isn't a great start but it could easily be worse. Sounds like very little positive to take from tonight though. Clearly McDonald is a player we need to see much improvement from, if fitness is the issue then the more he plays the quicker he'll get sharpness back. If in the next few games he isn't contributing more positively then you can think about dropping him and Barraclough certainly shouldn't hold back from doing so. The deeper role worked well in the play offs but ideally he needs to be getting closer to our main striker. Quicker Pearson is back the better, and while Taylor may have had an unimpressive debut but at least it was 90 minutes game time hopefully with another training session on top of this game under his belt he to will show more on Saturday and beyond. Similarly a full 90 for Ainsworth after missing our first two games. Roll on saturday and have a go at Aberdeen, they should be clear favourites but provided we get stuck in and give them a game I'll be fairly forgiving if points don't follow. Then will start the run that will define our season between now and end of September, a decent run of games against what looks like mid and lower table fodder. If we pick up a decent chunk of points we can all relax, if not then as September winds to an end it will be time to look for the heavy garden utensils and flaming torches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmcalpin Posted August 13, 2015 Report Share Posted August 13, 2015 Just watched the BBC highlights of the game and wasn't impressed. Hearts seemed to have far too much energy, enthusiasm and pace for us in midfield. In general our defence looked to be very weak. We gave them far too much room around our box for the first which was a stupid penalty by MacDonald. The second was schoolboy stuff with our midfield, and Hammell & Johnson in particular posted missing. Ripley too didn't cover himself in glory. All in all it looked like a replay of a game from last season. We really need to get the midfield and defence sorted out and if that means putting one or two noses out of joint then so be it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cornelius_Tabernacle Posted August 13, 2015 Report Share Posted August 13, 2015 Lasley pulling out of taking the boy down for a free kick before McDonald bringing him down in the box, and letting Gomis (Gomis FFS) breeze by him for the second. Been a good servant, but it's time to take a backseat. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
underboyleheating Posted August 13, 2015 Report Share Posted August 13, 2015 we are painfully inconsistent under Barraclough This has been my main concern, as at times it is difficult to predict which Motherwell team is going to turn up for the game. However, It’s still a little early in the season to judge how this campaign will pan out. Personally, I would give it 10-12 games before I start to show concerns or delight at the direction our season is moving in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well Up For It! Posted August 13, 2015 Report Share Posted August 13, 2015 Hearts are going to stroll to top 4 this season and I fully expected to lose last night given we are still bedding in new players, have injuries and were away from home. The optimism on here before the game was great to see, a bit of positivity around the supporters again. But I (rightly) feared it was more wishful thinking. When the result on paper becomes reality, folk start going nuts and back to the good old pessimism of this forum. It's early days, 3pts from opening 3games is not bad considering how bad our start is. Another very tough ask against Aberdeen, then we have a run of 6 games against the teams will be around us come the end of the season in the bottom half of the league. If by the time we face Celtic on 17th October we have less than 12pts, then I will be concerned. The reports of the poor performance are more concerning than the result. As I did not see the game last night, I can't speak for myself, but have been given the impression by two friends that were there that it was more Hearts not allowing us time to play. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busta Nut Posted August 13, 2015 Report Share Posted August 13, 2015 A lot of folk have it in for Lasley eh? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
underboyleheating Posted August 13, 2015 Report Share Posted August 13, 2015 I fully expected to lose last night given we are still bedding in new players However, most sides could probably say the same and I am sure the Hearts team that played last night will have made a good few changes from the squad that won the championship last season. Just curious, are the new players Hearts recruited over the summer really that much of a better a standard than what we have brought in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Wellfan 2k7 Posted August 13, 2015 Report Share Posted August 13, 2015 Had some time to settle myself down and think about the game, which was as bad as, if not worse than, anything from the Malpas Reign. Thought Ripley made one mistake all night. McManus played well defensively but only looked for one option when playing the ball forward. Laing was fairly solid. Law was the best of the back four IMO. Midfield and you have to say this is where we lost the game. Mistake after mistake. The Penalty is laughable, McDonald lost his temper and tried to rugby tackle Sam. Lasley and Taylor played okay on the ball but failed to close down Gomis and Bauben. On the wings Marv struggled to do much until the closing seconds. Ainsworth shat it out of every single challenge. Up front Moult was out of his depth. Target man with no support for large spells. Think Barra set the team out with the wrong tactics and did nothing to fix this. Bringing off your Captain when the team is 2-0 down and not bringing on any attackers until late on caused us to rut at the back and basically wait for full time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobey_Dosser Posted August 13, 2015 Report Share Posted August 13, 2015 In answer to your question probably about twice what we have spent. Ok perhaps Inverness have gone back a bit but they're still a solid hard to beat side on their ground. Dundee United have spent a good bit more than us. That then leaves Hearts and Aberdeen. I know its not a popular thing to say but Hearts have spent big. The youthful side of 2 seasons ago has largely moved on because they weren't good enough and they've been replaced by expensive incomers. Aberdeen too have a very large budget compared to us. I agree with most of the remainder of your post. My abiding memory of last season won't be the play offs but a series of utterly abysmal performances and an unacceptably high goals against column. Given that, I was expecting drastic surgery to our defence and central midfield but that hasn't really happened. Hopefully Conor Ripley will prove to be an improvement on George Long and Louis Laing seems to be a better player but thats about it. That said, we may sign another central midfielder. On the basis of who we have signed so far, I'm not expecting us to improve very much defensively. Attack wise I think we're very much an unknown quantity. The likes of Moult and Fletcher may take time to settle in and we shouldn't draw too many conclusions too soon about them. Overall I'm sensing a modest improvement. On that basis I expect us to finish somewhere between 8th and 10th, probably the latter. Tonight I think we played the wrong team and used the wrong tactics. That said I don't know if we had the critical players in the key positions. Pearo's absence was certainly a body blow and Taylor will take time to settle. Our central midfield 2 (should it have been 3 like Weeyin suggested?) was always going to be under great pressure to firstly protect our defence and secondly feed the 2 wingers and striker with a continuous supply of quality balls and I don't think they managed that. Early days and despite my realistic (?) view of Saturday's game we have to show fight and determination. Is it definitely the case that United are spending more than us? I get the impression that we are still investing significantly and our budget would comfortably be in top 6. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobey_Dosser Posted August 13, 2015 Report Share Posted August 13, 2015 Baraclough's reported downfall at Sligo was his obsession with 4231. Before Skippy arrived in February, he experimented with the likes of Law and Moore playing in the advanced midfield role. While it worked at treat at Ibrox I don't see the point in signing Fletcher, Skippy and Moult unless you are committed to a front two more often than not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superward Posted August 13, 2015 Report Share Posted August 13, 2015 Very poor by Skippy to give that penalty away. Goalie should have saved the second. Poor. 4231 will work fine. But only if McDonald plays closer to the striker. Not as a central midfielder. Like you say, that worked fine against Rangers. But we need him further up on a normal week as well as Ainsworth/Johnson pulling in more central when fine to do so (when the ball is on the opposite wing). Otherwise the striker will be isolated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well Up For It! Posted August 13, 2015 Report Share Posted August 13, 2015 However, most sides could probably say the same and I am sure the Hearts team that played last night will have made a good few changes from the squad that won the championship last season. Just curious, are the new players Hearts recruited over the summer really that much of a better a standard than what we have brought in? Take your point. All teams look to improve year on year and have to bed in new players. Difference is Hearts were flying last year and won Championship at a breeze and they only really lost Danny Wallace outwith their control. They are a team riding with confidence, getting stronger. Oshaniwa played all matches for Nigeria in Brazil 2014 and has real pedigree. The got Gavin Reilly from QotS with many teams reportedly interested and their new boy Juanma looks the business. We finished 11th, had the play-off, etc. Great result in it, but arguably we had a weaker squad. We then proceeded to lose almost a full squad, including a few we wanted to stay, and replace them with new faces. Our marquee signing was Skippy, who was actually wish us last season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coatsy Posted August 13, 2015 Report Share Posted August 13, 2015 Just watched the highlights they must be well edited because we did not look as bad as everyone on here is saying were a new team settling in a penalty and a goalkeeping error not exactly a thumping against Hearts who as others have said are riding high on last years exploits. Lets see how its going by Christmas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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