Motherwell V Celtic Sat 17 Oct 12:00

[stv]

New manager rejigged a team he hadn't seen play before .Well thank fuk for that .The team at Dundee was pathetic and needed some dropped. That left a first half display today a bit disjointed but ok , in the second half he changed things and we got better and even tried to attack . Given the chance he has the experience to make us hard to beat , organised , then score some goals in that order. He tried Laing in midfield and dropped some regulars ,so what, if he had kept the same team as before what was the point of a new manager. Give him til after Christmas then judge him on improvements or not. Job done today ...we didn't get humped and he sussed out his squad . Bring on the stuttering Dons .

[Yassin]

Fuck sake, our squad is no worse than Partick Thistle's,Killie's or United's and we should still be able to compete with ICT, Accies and Dundee. Bottom six dogfight- possibly. But a bit too early to be relegating ourselves.

[Pettywulliegrew-2]

Marvin Johnson should be embarrassed at his lack of..........wait a minute......can't find the word.....so will use "application"........ time and time again if he had pushed on to Izzaghery the out ball for Smellic would not have been there......."school boy stuff at throw ins as well chasing the ball when the player walks round him

Anisworth when he came on was playing hide in seek but... miles in front of effort .......but now papering over playing Moult and Laing in midfield

 

Moult and Fletcher looked as if they had never controlled a ball ever

 

How we escaped with a one nil is a miracle........Dingus again does not seem to rate our current midfield options

 

Now why the feck is there not player up the park we we defend a corner ?? I know that's not a new thing........rant over Take away arrived

[stv]

Celtic done it like that too when we had corners .What did you get ?

[BigWeegieDosser]

Fuck sake, our squad is no worse than Partick Thistle's,Killie's or United's and we should still be able to compete with ICT, Accies and Dundee. Bottom six dogfight- possibly. But a bit too early to be relegating ourselves.

Doomed , Captain, we're all doomed!

Tell me if all you cheery people miss your bus, do you just go home to bed for a month?

I am under no illusions but to think our squad and manager are worse than the majority of the rest by a mile is just nonsense . FFS even today the cream of the crop were hardly magnificent .

Reality check , it's all mediocrity and the party has only just started. Loads of fun still to come...

[Yabba's Turd]

Wrong to play Moult wide left, wrong to play Laing in midfield, wrong to leave Johnson on the park after half time.
Worst performance against Celtic for a long, long time.

[madscot]

Yabba's Turd, on 17 Oct 2015 - 8:00 PM, said:

Wrong to play Moult wide left, wrong to play Laing in midfield, wrong to leave Johnson on the park after half time.

Worst performance against Celtic for a long, long time.

Managers first game , give him time and im sure we will climb up the table .Btw not disagreeing with your comment .

[Pettywulliegrew-2]

Celtic done it like that too when we had corners .What did you get ?

Yo

 

Feck me thanks for pointing that out !!!!

Unfortunately Celtic also seemed to have this thing called finding a man in the same colours/closing down your opponent and having a shot on target etc etc etc etc etc etc

[Yabba's Turd]

Managers first game , give him time and im sure we will climb up the table .Btw not disagreeing with your comment .

To beat better teams you need to work hard, and at least have some countering nous, unfortunately we looked like we'd set up with damage limitation in mind and not much else.

[stv]

Yo

 

Feck me thanks for pointing that out !!!!

Unfortunately Celtic also seemed to have this thing called finding a man in the same colours/closing down your opponent and having a shot on target etc etc etc etc etc etc

No problem .Should you need any further advice on any finer points of the game just give me a shout .

[punk_in_drublic]

We've all written about poor performances due to bonuses, playing out of position, not liking the manager etc etc etc. I'm coming round to thinkin that some in our squad are plain old shite. Just shite footballers.

 

I know he's gone now. But what the fuck was Anthony Straker all about. Plus giving Josh Law a two year deal. Is it just me or is that fucking insane.

 

We have some real pish in our ranks at the moment. I reckon it's salvageable, and relegation isn't a foregone conclusion. But at what financial cost.

[fat_tony]

Bit of a strange one today, and I was flummoxed when I saw the starting lineup. The more I think about it though, given that today's game was in some ways a "freebie" for McGhee, I think he's taken the opportunity to experiment a little with a few things, and also to evaluate some of the players he doesn't know so much about in order to see what the capabilities are and where the problems lie. From his post-match comments, the Laing-to-midfield move was an experiment to see if he'll be capable of being the defensive shield our midfield badly needs, while the combination of Moult/Fletcher/Johnson rotating with McDonald/Ainsworth/Thomas was to see if our forwards were capable of rotating and interchanging with each other dynamically.

 

There's no excuse for not being able to achieve even a basic level of technical ability, such as controlling a ball, or finding a team-mate with a pass, but I don't believe it's just that they're shite. Something has clearly been wrong at the club (and perhaps still is) that is affecting the mentality of the players (some more-so than others). I don't see McGhee being the sort to stand for that sort of thing though, so I wouldn't be surprised if a few players end up with an ultimatum before too long.

 

I just hope it doesn't take too long to start the healing process.

[Ianc]

Just back from holiday.

 

Tell me at least we can now take a shy without fuckin that up?

[Jacol]

Just back from holiday.

 

Tell me at least we can now take a shy without fuckin that up?

No although I did notice we didn't mess around at throw ins just as much today. We just gave possession away even quicker.

[ankles]

Training game for Celtic.1st game for manager so i'll let slide the bizarre team selection and everyone behind the halfway line tactics pish.How many times did we lose possession through shit passes or not controlling the bloody ball. You can blame any manager for things but when the players cannot do simple things ,then it falls on them. Day off!! i'd have them in everyday next week and kick their arses.

[StipeIsGod]

Day off!! i'd have them in everyday next week and kick their arses.

Then they'd revolt because he'd fucked up their golfing schedule, shut down and get him sacked.

[Andy Harrow]

We've all written about poor performances due to bonuses, playing out of position, not liking the manager etc etc etc. I'm coming round to thinkin that some in our squad are plain old shite. Just shite footballers.

 

I know he's gone now. But what the fuck was Anthony Straker all about. Plus giving Josh Law a two year deal. Is it just me or is that fucking insane.

 

We have some real pish in our ranks at the moment. I reckon it's salvageable, and relegation isn't a foregone conclusion. But at what financial cost.

Aluded to that possibility in the Baraclough out thread. Just have a gut feel that Baraclough has loaded the team with utter dross, not helped by some of McCalls previous signings and us being a bit blinkered and excited by Unknown prospects, who particularly shone when playing against such a terrible Sevco team. I'm quite sure a lot of the players will be leaving at the end of their contracts on frees.

[Maxi]

One thing we missed massively yesterday was that playmaker in the middle of the park to ease the transition from defence to attack. Like the Stephen Hughes type from his last reign. When Louis Laing's the one bombing forward trying to thread through passes to your attackers you're going to have a problem. So it might be something in the system that probably won't be rectified until January. So could be a frustrating 2-3 months unless some players adjust.

[Tweed]

I thought we looked like a disjointed team of guys bursting a gut for the cause yesterday. There seemed to be nobody who knew who was going where apart from a couple of times we pressed effectively as a unit.

 

Because of that we struggled to get Fletcher and Moult involved at the business end of the pitch. Kudos for the two of them for tracking back and getting involved but the result of that was when they did they had nowhere to go and neither had the pace to run at them.

 

For all that is a poor Celtic team, they are still the best team we will play this season and if we work hard in the next couple of weeks and continue with that endeavour there is every chance we can beat some of the teams we have to play between now and the end of November.

[SaintJohn]

I actually thought the tactics were spot on. Maybe Thats just my optimism coming over, but I thought given the personnel we have there wasn't too much we could have done differently.

 

Celtic were to a man a class above us on every level. We could have played that game 10 times with different formations in each one and I don't think the results would have been any different. I think the east stand mafia are needing a dose of realism - the boos and howls at HT/FT are a rid neck.

 

Old firm behaviour that.

[Kmcalpin]

In terms of the result and scoreline I don't know that we could have achieved much more. The performance was something else. The line up was a bit surprising especially playing Moult wide left - I thought that experiment was a dismal failure at Dundee and therefore unlikely in the extreme to be repeated. At least Mark McGhee has shown that he has the balls to drop any player he thinks warrants it for whatever reason.

 

The formation was set out with damage limitation in mind. A bit puzzled by Louis Laing in midfield even moreso by Mark McGhee's post match comment along the lines of "We were unexpectedly forced to play Louis Laing in midfield" - does anyone know what was behind that remark? Our off the ball play was very poor and Celtic certainly gave us a lesson there. They got in our faces and closed us down and were physically able to bully us. It was a bit of an eye opener pre match to see several Celtic players tower over Kieran Kennedy. Our play in possession was equally as poor as we gave the ball away too easily. All that said Celtic could only muster 2/3 shots on target (we could muster none).

 

As others have said we sat far too deep and, despite having so many defenders, too narrowly. Fletcher received little or no support and all too often we had no outball for the under pressure defence. We just don't seem to be able to play with a single striker up front. Both full backs were poor with Chalmers being slightly the better of the two but he badly lacks pace. In the middle I thought I thought Kennedy was an absolute standout.

 

The midfield was posted missing for most of the match. Grimshaw had a quiet but just passable game; Pearson went missing after a promising start; Laing was like a fish out of water, although he had a slightly better second half; Moult - don't know what on earth he supposed to be doing; Johnson had a poor game although he received utterly abysmal service it has to be said. He was receiving the ball behind him and when covered by 2/3/4 defenders . Up front Fletcher had a thankless task against physically much bigger and more powerful opponents and with no support - looks more of a poacher to me.

 

A bit of predictable outrage at Keith Lasley's omission. Well this is now mid October and he won't be in the first team next season. I had assumed, from Ian Baraclough's comments that Grimshaw was being signed as a short term replacement for him. The central midfield has gone missing all too often with him in it and it went missing when he wasn't in it. So the change was neither here nor there in my eyes. That said maybe facing the best midfield in Scotland over 90 minutes isn't the best time to judge such a change. Mark McGhee does like a physically powerful midfield, rightly in my view, so future line ups will be interesting.

 

Well, now that he's had 2 days training with the squad and seen them in action against Celtic it'll be interesting as he starts to form his own opinions of players and implements his own ideas as opposed to letting his assistant call the shots.

[prideoflanarkshire]

Some people on here really need to take a long look at themselves.

 

The people that are moaning we were crap yesterday were the same people that said we will get a pumping!!! Yesterday wasn't a pumping so can't maon about both.

 

I though we played ok in spells, it wasn't that bad and certainly was better than Dundee and Morton to name a few

 

Get a grip

[Big Wispy Flossy]

In terms of the result and scoreline I don't know that we could have achieved much more. The performance was something else. The line up was a bit surprising especially playing Moult wide left - I thought that experiment was a dismal failure at Dundee and therefore unlikely in the extreme to be repeated. At least Mark McGhee has shown that he has the balls to drop any player he thinks warrants it for whatever reason.

 

The formation was set out with damage limitation in mind. A bit puzzled by Louis Laing in midfield even moreso by Mark McGhee's post match comment along the lines of "We were unexpectedly forced to play Louis Laing in midfield" - does anyone know what was behind that remark? Our off the ball play was very poor and Celtic certainly gave us a lesson there. They got in our faces and closed us down and were physically able to bully us. It was a bit of an eye opener pre match to see several Celtic players tower over Kieran Kennedy. Our play in possession was equally as poor as we gave the ball away too easily. All that said Celtic could only muster 2/3 shots on target (we could muster none).

 

As others have said we sat far too deep and, despite having so many defenders, too narrowly. Fletcher received little or no support and all too often we had no outball for the under pressure defence. We just don't seem to be able to play with a single striker up front. Both full backs were poor with Chalmers being slightly the better of the two but he badly lacks pace. In the middle I thought I thought Kennedy was an absolute standout.

 

The midfield was posted missing for most of the match. Grimshaw had a quiet but just passable game; Pearson went missing after a promising start; Laing was like a fish out of water, although he had a slightly better second half; Moult - don't know what on earth he supposed to be doing; Johnson had a poor game although he received utterly abysmal service it has to be said. He was receiving the ball behind him and when covered by 2/3/4 defenders . Up front Fletcher had a thankless task against physically much bigger and more powerful opponents and with no support - looks more of a poacher to me.

 

A bit of predictable outrage at Keith Lasley's omission. Well this is now mid October and he won't be in the first team next season. I had assumed, from Ian Baraclough's comments that Grimshaw was being signed as a short term replacement for him. The central midfield has gone missing all too often with him in it and it went missing when he wasn't in it. So the change was neither here nor there in my eyes. That said maybe facing the best midfield in Scotland over 90 minutes isn't the best time to judge such a change. Mark McGhee does like a physically powerful midfield, rightly in my view, so future line ups will be interesting.

 

Well, now that he's had 2 days training with the squad and seen them in action against Celtic it'll be interesting as he starts to form his own opinions of players and implements his own ideas as opposed to letting his assistant call the shots.

Hard to disagree with any of that. Perhaps would add yesterday was a free game for McGhee only a couple of training sessions beforehand and a game we were expected to lose.

 

That said if we are going to go down the road of 433 long term, which will no doubt be in mcghees plans, we will need to trade a couple of strikers for midfielders in January.

[Coolhandluc]

ankles, on 18 Oct 2015 - 01:14 AM, said:

Day off!! i'd have them in everyday next week and kick their arses.

'ankles, on 18 Oct 2015 - 01:14 AM, said:

Day off!! i'd have them in everyday next week and kick their arses.

 

Then they'd revolt because he'd fucked up their golfing schedule, shut down and get him sacked.

Then they'd revolt because he'd fucked up their golfing schedule, shut down and get him sacked.'

 

I'm sure MM said post match that they'd be in every day this week, travel to Aberdeen on Friday and even some light training on Sat am !

[capt_oats]

That said if we are going to go down the road of 433 long term, which will no doubt be in mcghees plans, we will need to trade a couple of strikers for midfielders in January.

Watching back the pre-game stuff on BT it was notable that Craigan remarked on the imbalance of the squad. Specifically pointing out the 5 strikers playing for one central role.

 

If we're going to be going 433 then it needs players with specific attributes, there were pages of discussion on the ins/outs thread about the sort of midfielder that we're lacking and Baraclough completely failed to address that area of the park hence, presumably, McGhee's experiment with Laing in midfield. As much as the game seemed like a training game for Celtic equally, and a bit weirdly, it was even more so a training game for us.