Scottish Premiership Motherwell V St Johnstone Sat 13 Aug 15:00

[fergi4]

What a lacklustre and pathetic team we look.

Took 25 mins for the central midfield to make a single forward pass on the deck, and i don't remember many more after that.

Back 4 constantly punting to miss the middle out says it all. Punts were totally ineffective as our front guys cant win headers, and there were few balls in the channels or in behind St Johnstone for them to do anything productive. Short of some counter attacks (with Marvin looking good at these points), there was nothing to be excited about.

Every defensive header from Mcmanus and Ben was picked up by St Johnstone.

Already said Law would easily oust 4 from the team today, and any of last year's fringe strikers look more mobile and competent than Blyth.

Goalkeeper needs to communicate better and do more than flap like a circus seal.

If Marvin goes before transfer window it's going to be a difficult season.

McDonald looking sluggish, don't know if he is playing with injury or the late entry to preseason,but really need the guy from latter part of last season to be turning up for us to have a chance.

[Well 4 Europe]

Game swung on McDonald's miss at the start of the 2nd half, score that and I'm confident we'd be sitting right now on 6 points despite a largely insipid performance. We were all over them at that point and a 2nd goal would have taken the stuffing right out them. Sadly McDonald fluffed his lines and literally a minute later St.Johnstone went up the park and scored with their first attack of the half, an utterly avoidable goal as well. That gave them a huge lift and put them in the ascendancy and our performance got progressively worse from there.

 

The first half was the turgid shite you usually associate with a game involving St.Johnstone. They do what they do and they do it well but it rarely makes for an entertaining game. Both teams had a few half chances but I don't remember either keeper having a great deal to do.

 

Samson's had a shocker and it's fair to say most seen it coming. He's looked shaky so far and doesn't inspire confidence in his team or the supporters, judging by his performance today he doesn't even seem to have much belief in himself. The much maligned Chalmers and Clay were far from the worst players on the park. I'd give that award to the sponsors motm Lasley who was so far off the pace of the game it was unbelievable. Johnson was below par and Ainsworth continues to frustrate. McDonald had some nice touches and battled well but grew visibly frustrated as the game went on with the increasingly poor service and support he was receiving culminating in his petulant handball.

 

Don't think we were quite as bad as some people are making out, certainly seen a lot worse in recent seasons, however it was quite a disappointing performance on the whole. St Johnstone are a good team though, an experienced settled side who are sadly a fair bit ahead of us at this moment of time and they'll comfortably be top 6 again this season.

[Kmcalpin]

Many telling comments today but although we looked tired Saints had a slightly more hectic schedule than we did. Mistakes were made in terms of team selection and tactics but I wouldn't go so far as to say we would have won had we done things differently. The back four and goalie were poor but in mitigation they had no cover in front of them. The midfield was a complete mess. Again they played too narrowly. Ainsworth contributed nothing but in fairness didn't seem to know what he meant to be doing. He's a winger end of. Marvin spent far too much time defending and as such his attacking threat was diminished. Cadden had an OK game but no more and showed his inexperience today - scored a good goal that said. He does need to learn how to defend though and was another who didn't quite seem to know where he was meant to be playing. Clay was largely anonymous but didn't make many mistakes. Keith Lasley now looks to be well past playing at this level. Skippy is not suited to a lone striker role especially when his midfield support is yards back down the park. He played too deep and when he wasn't trying to win high balls unsuccessfully he was forced to play short and end up playing behind others. A final word on Samson - didn't impress me today esepcially with his bloomer. He also doesn't organise his defence and that led to a couple of totally unnecessary corners being conceded.

 

We need to sort out midfield and pronto. In future I'd go with a midfield of McHugh, Cadden, AN Other and Johnson.

 

Not impressed with the ref today. Had no major decisions to make but was very inconsistent especially with throws in free kicks. Anyone know why Tait was booked? We sat near where the tackle was made but saw nothing untoward.

[Coolhandluc]

Was thinking of our possible options for replacing the ineffective performers today. I thought McManus looked slower than normal and as a result had to punt everything away. I know Kennedy seems to be out the picture, but I think it would be worth trying him with Heneghan.

Doubt that will happen as Mcghee has never dropped Mick I don't think.

Agree with others that Clay was OK but can do same job as Lasley, no more than that.

And if Mcdonald needs z kick up the arse them Lionel needs a rocket

[grizzlyg]

What annoyed me was the negative attitude at times, what are folks expectations?. Chalmers on hiding to nothing and wasn't the worst today. I though Clay came onto a good game and tait was OK. Samson is a problem but I feel we have good replacement in Brill.

[fat_tony]

Bit of a weird one today. The first half was a total non-event, and when we scored it looked like we'd go on and get more, but then conceded a hugely avoidable goal and went downhill from there. I thought we lost any sense of being a cohesive team (what little we had) when McGhee took off Cadden and moved Ainsworth into midfield.

 

It's a funny old game, when you see just how different everyone's opinions of the players today are.

 

Samson - Was very worrying throughout. Several times he came for a ball and then changed his mind, and his error for the goal was absolutely shocking stuff. No command of his area whatsoever. I had thought he looked decent any time I've seen him in the past, but he may just be one of these keepers who plays the odd blinder.

 

McManus - A number of blunders today, seems to have started this season in the way he began the last.

 

Tait & Chalmers - A mix of good and bad, some nice attacking play from Tait and some good set pieces from Chalmers offset by some poor defending. Both made important blocks in the first half though.

 

Clay - Looked pretty unsure and made some mistakes but got stuck in and, I thought, started to move the ball about pretty well. Given some time to settle in, I think there might be a player there. Great pass to McDonald that started the move for the goal.

 

Ainsworth - Contrary to some of the other comments, I thought Ainsworth looked really up for it today. He made runs, worked defensively, and closed people down. He was involved in most of the positive play we had until he was moved out wide where he looked like he'd run out of steam. Not his most effective performance, but I thought definitely one of his most committed.

 

McDonald - Good link up with Clay and Tait for the goal. What the fuck was with his handball though? Absolute lunacy. McGhee should be having words about that one.

 

Overall, disappointing to lose, and lots of room for improvement, but only the second league match of the season, so plenty of time to sort it out. I suspect we need a bit of time with a settled team to really gel, hopefully it won't take too long.

[2/6 tae get in]

Dismal performance today.Team did'nt look fit to me. No clue as to why Blyth replaced Cadden as he plays up front and this left an even bigger hole in midfield and to me he was doing ok. Mc Donald should have been hooked at halftime and benched for next week because he looks as if he doesn't want to be playing for us.Totally ineffectual .Chalmers tries but hasn't got what it takes. Keith's needing to step down unfortunately ,way to slow now. Ainsworths occasional burst of pace not worth the start. Could go on but no point.Next week could be all different. Joys of being a WELL supporter.

[Graeme Bremner]

Tactics where all wrong high balls to guys like ainsworth and mcdonald are not going to work we showed a worrying lack of creativity and felt st johnstone where by far the better team today

 

samson cost us the goals shouldnt be beaten from that angle for the first and should have held the second

 

Need a reaction next week now in my opinion missed a chance for a good 3 points today due to so may players being off the boil

 

In saying that i guess when the manager says its acceptable to ship 5 goals it is a bit of a put down to our players as proffesionals

[ropy]

. Anyone know why Tait was booked? We sat near where the tackle was made but saw nothing untoward.

Tait was booked for pulling his man back which is a yellow card every time. Not helped by the fact that Cadden played the ball behind him setting the Killie player up.

[texanwellfan]

what was the McDonald handball mentioned by so many?

[MFCL84]

Right through the middle of the team there is a lack of pace. Heneghen and McManus, Lasley and Clay all appared to be very slow compared with their opposite numbers today. We struggled to get Johnson into the game without Hammel as Chalmers just doesn't provide the same attacking support. I thought that McDonald's played reasonably well . He tried to hold the ball up and link up and bring others into the game. The less said about the handball the better.

[Richie]

what was the McDonald handball mentioned by so many?

We were chasing late in the game and a cross came into the box.

McDonald, in his wisdom, decided to punch the ball Maradona style into the net (except far more blatantly) ruin our attack and give away a free kick in what can only be explained as schoolboy petulance.

[Kmcalpin]

Right through the middle of the team there is a lack of pace. Heneghen and McManus, Lasley and Clay all appared to be very slow compared with their opposite numbers today. We struggled to get Johnson into the game without Hammel as Chalmers just doesn't provide the same attacking support. I thought that McDonald's played reasonably well . He tried to hold the ball up and link up and bring others into the game. The less said about the handball the better.

Yes we do have a worrying lack of pace through the middle. As far as Johnson was concerned either by accident or design for long spells he played very deep and as such posed little in the way of an attacking threat to St Johnstone. For quite a spell he played more like a full back, with Chalmers tucked inside. Not surprisingly this caused problems for MacDonald.

[The African]

A poor result but an early season result so pointless getting too upset about it. The issues raised by the performance need to be addressed but we have an experienced manager who has the ability to turn things around. Our new players will be learning and our injured players can come back and make a difference. We all knew that this, like every year, was going to be a transitional season with the usual ups and downs. We need to regroup and prepare professionally for next week where we should be capable of taking something from the game.

[Brazilian]

[Ya Bezzer!]

Craig Clay is Stuart Carswell all over again on the evidence provided so far.

[Pepper]

From the highlights Samson certainly sold the winner but there were a couple of attempted "tackles" in the lead up to the goal that were nothing short of pathetic.

[CrosshillWell]

Samson is nothing short of a nightmare. Sorry to say, but he does not instill confidence in the defence at all.

This theme goes all the way back to the Hibs friendly at Easter Road where McMannus was nothing shirt of woeful and so it seemed yesterday as well.

 

From the highlights it does look as if Clay was the best player in our midfield, despite some nice play from an apparently jaded Cadden.

 

I'm a bit more forgiving of McDonald. We've watched high balls continually being punted in his direction and couple this tactic with the five feet, what, five of Ainsworth, it really is no surprise that we failed in an attacking sense so often.

 

Saying that, we are never going to win with such a wayward cental defence and a poor goalkeeper. I was more confident with Lee Hollis.

 

 

 

 

 

From the highlights Samson certainly sold the winner but there were a couple of attempted "tackles" in the lead up to the goal that were nothing short of pathetic.

[Welldaft Mk1]

Craig Clay is Stuart Carswell all over again on the evidence provided so far.

I think this is a touch unfair. He has played a couple of games.

I thought he started poorly as did the rest of the team. But the fact he leads the MOM poll suggests quite a few fans agree with the view that he became better as the match wore on and I though he did reasonably well. Some of his forward passes were very good.

It could go either way but I think there is as much a chance he will prove a good addition as becoming another Stuart Carswell.

[milo]

First goal went through Samsons legs. We already knew the second was shocking. Looks even worse on the highlights.

 

Needs benched. Absolute liability.

[superward]

Craig Clay is Stuart Carswell all over again on the evidence provided so far.

Disagree. He at least passes the ball fairly well.

 

Did much better than Lasley who was so far off the pace it was frightening.

[BigWeegieDosser]

Craig Clay is Stuart Carswell all over again on the evidence provided so far.

You are having a laugh, Clay did a couple of things that Stuart Crabswell was incapable of:-

- he passed the ball forward

- he won a number of tackles

 

Far from perfect but no comparison

[Shire Greats]

Craig Clay is Stuart Carswell all over again on the evidence provided so far.

At least you've given him a fair crack of the whip

[Shire Greats]

At least you've given him a fair crack of the whip

And Carswell never played a forward pass or had a shot in 100 odd games , so poor comparison

[Kmcalpin]

Craig Clay deserves a chance and it may take a month or two to fully assess him. A lot will depend too on the players who play alongside him ie will they complement him or will they duplicate what he brings to the team. Irrespective of how good he is however I'm just not sure if he's the kind of player we need. Yesterday the midfield was a shambles with players not knowing what they were meant to be doing and being played out of position.