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

[stonehouse well]

Like any good team you have to start at the back. If there is chaos going on behind you then it spreads throughout.Last few seasons McManus - has been found out with no Hutchy to cover for him. Second goal an easy tackle for him that he manages to miss, then has the cheek to give Samson a hard time. Dick at right back- shown promise going forward and crossing but his first job is to defend and that is clearly not his position. He can't get near a player to put in a tackle. Chalmers - players can develop and improve however i think most of the regulars can see he's never going to make it at this level. Its hard to judge Samson with this going on in front of him.

Great time of bring in the youth / fringe players also for the fact the only way the club can financially survive is to develop and sell.

When Alex Ferguson was asked if the players were ready during the start of the now famous cant win the League with kids season, he replied |

"Of course they are not ready, they hasn't had a run in the team yet, but what they have got is potential and they know i believe in them."

So McGhee, Faddy .Crags - Who is champing at the bit to get a game, who will run all day for the cause, Who has potential ?

Who do you believe in ????

[Ya Bezzer!]

My comparison between Clay and Carswell was because I have now seen Clay 4 times and each time I've seen him he's had absolutely no influence on the game whatsoever.

 

Central midfield was non existent against Kilmarnock and again yesterday. You can point fingers at Lasley if you want, he was also poor yesterday, but he's had a stop start season because of his suspension and he didn't play in the first league match. McHugh didn't play yesterday. Clay has had a run of games now so he's the consistant factor there.

 

I said in the build up to the match that St. Johnstone wouldn't let us get away with an absent midfield like Kilmarnock did and I was proved right. We desperately need to improve in this area of the pitch or my season ticket will have paid for 11, 12, 13 x yesterday and that would be a very poor investment from my point of view.

 

Is it too early to judge Clay's worth as a signing - yes. But it's not too early to point out that contributed nothing of note so far. I sincerely hope he does improve for the sake of the team but having seen what I've seen I'm worried, about the signing of Clay and the midfield in general as neither Clay or McHugh (or Lasley) have impressed me.

 

I also do not understand why Clay was signed in the first place when we already had McHugh and Lasley in the squad. We are crying out for a direct, running attacking midfield to replace Pearson. Pearson scored more goals last season than Clay has in his entire career.

 

So far we've got by this season with a little bit of individual pace, a little bit of individual skill, usually against weaker opposition, that won't see us through a full season.

 

I'd expect us to improve in the forward areas when Moult returns but I'm still wondering where the central midfield improvement comes from. If you don't compete in central midfield you'll lose 8 or 9 out of 10 and there's the problem right there.

 

Players old and new will have to step up but I'm telling you right now so far we have been very, very poor in the centre of the park.

[GazzyB]

Only skimmed through the comments but my thoughts are that McDonald was howling, Marv won't be going anywhere playing like that, Chalmers was very, very good and Clay was decent as well. Also get Brill in there ASAP.

['WellMagic!]

Clay is a strange one, I'd give him man of the match yesterday solely on the basis of getting stuck into their midfield. However, I agree with the sentiment above that we really should of been pushing for an attacking minded midfielder, and Clay doesn't seem like he's this type of player.

We had no threat coming from the centre what so ever yesterday, and were second to almost every loose ball. McDonald can't play the lone striker role, his first touch is far too ropy and this resulted into pinball far too many times, we need Moult back pronto. Tait is good at going forward, and his delivery is great but I'm yet to be convinced that he's any more positionally (is that a word?) aware than Josh Law was, they look like pretty similar players thus far.

[stonehouse well]

Agree with above. I know the perfect attacking midfielder- He currently plays for Inverness !

[Tonicg]

Clay has been largely anonymous until yesterday. His performance was nothing spectacular but he is a damn sight better than the Icelandic 2nd tier (which is where Carswell is currently...)

[Jacol]

 

Chalmers turns his back constantly never a defender dosnt tackle dosnt block crosses IMO he's a liability[/quote

 

Unfortunately Chalmers is just not good enough, he constantly fails to do the simple things that you would expect from a junior player never mind a player earning a decent wage. Yesterday he was constantly caught out of position, was never solid in the tackle, and even passed the ball straight out of play when under little pressure.

I always have and always will give my full support to all players fortunate to pull on the Claret and Amber jersey and will never boo but Chalmers is pushing my tolerance levels.

[mjw]

Who do you believe in ????

2pac.

[postiejim]

Early days especially with so many new faces, another 5 or 6 games before we will get a better idea how were progressing.

[Lukemfc1]

That was one of the worst games of football I've seen in some time, especially the first half. So flat. Basically in agreement with McGhee comments for once, I thought we were really lethargic looking from the off.

No pace or innovation. I'm confused regarding what the attacking philosophy is supposed to be for this team. Any time we got the ball we would either lump it up to McDonald who is one of the smallest guys on the park and has no pace or we tried to play intricate passes which never came off. The thing that struck me defensively was similar to Wednesday we didn't seem to press the opposition when they had the ball, instead electing to stand off them. We are badly missing Moult and McHugh. I'm hopeful once they are back we will look more like a team. In my opinion we need to start playing to our strengths, get the ball wide to Johnson or Ainsworth and get up the line. Too many times Johnson would hesitate or pass inside on Saturday.

 

Special shoutouts to Lasley for being 4 yards off play, Cadden for having a mare, McDonald for standing moaning with a petted lip and McManus for being generally shitty.

Only players that did okay for me were Clay, surprised at the flack he's got tbh and I thought Ainsworth movement was pretty good.

[ONeils40yarder]

Clay is on to a really tough gig at the moment, hes come into a new Club, and been placed into central midfield alongside a near-geriatric.

 

I agree that he doesnt seem to influence the game much, he's neat and tidy and looks like he isnt frightened to make a challenge, but hes never a replacement for Pearson

[Joeboy]

It is a cause for concern that Hammell is injury prone and our backup player is Joe Chalmers. He looked once again like a fish out of water for me, just has nothing about him. When the ball went out for a shy for their first, he just sauntered back with no urgency or alertness and they threw the ball into the area where our left back should be. I hope McGhee is caning him for it this week. You don't expect guys to be world beaters but simply do the basics well. People on here seem to be quick to slate Hammell these days, yet every game we misses, our team looks so much worse without him it is unreal.

 

I never have been one to advocate players being hastily dropped, but I do think Brill should be given a shot. A "one strike your out" culture would be bad, but in truth Samson has been making these same errors all season, the only difference being on Saturday we were directly punished for them. He was being credited for making great saves against Celtic, which were in essence opportunities created by his inability to catch the ball.

 

Funny how people see things differently about Clay. I thought he got stuck in well and while it wasn't a show of great technical prowess from him, he done enough to get my vote for MOTM. He might not be a direct Pearson replacement, but we had a spell last season of a three man midfield of Pearson, Lasley and Grimshaw. I think Clay is not too dissimilar to Grimshaw and Cadden has many of the attributes needed to fill Pearson's role, so we could see our midfield three set up in that way.

 

Everyone seems to have written Lasley off on this thread and I do agree he did look a yard off the pace on Saturday. However, I'd attribute that more probably to the fact he played 90 minutes twice in three days, than I would to him being "finished". I'd like to think that had McHugh been fit, we would have managed that situation better and that we will manage similar situations better in the future. It does however beg the question as to why we bothered putting Lucas on the bench.

 

I also like how Blyth has been referred to as "the carthorse" after two sub appearances. Deary me.

[Well 4 Europe]

It is a cause for concern that Hammell is injury prone and our backup player is Joe Chalmers. He looked once again like a fish out of water for me, just has nothing about him. When the ball went out for a shy for their first, he just sauntered back with no urgency or alertness and they threw the ball into the area where our left back should be. I hope McGhee is caning him for it this week.

That never actually happened though, did it?

 

Chalmers actually got back in and tackled the boy the ball was thrown to. Cadden was the one that was caught ball watching and he was the one that let his man Swanson run off him for the goal.

[Joeboy]

That never actually happened though, did it?

 

Chalmers actually got back in and tackled the boy the ball was thrown to. Cadden was the one that was caught ball watching and he was the one that let his man Swanson run off him for the goal.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/scotland/37078886

 

I refer you to around 2:20 onwards on that video. The ball goes out for a shy, and you can clearly see Chalmers sauntering back with no alertness or energy. They then threw the ball easily into the massive gap between our centre back and left back, whilst Chalmers indulged in a lifeless jog in his own time.

 

I think you'll find at no point did I mention anyone, let alone Chalmers losing their man for the goal in my post. Sometimes more than one person can be culpable for a goal, that one being a prime example.

 

So to answer your question, aye, it did actually happen.

[Desp]

Fair play to Joe for referring to a throw-in as a shy.

 

You don't get that too often anymore. Well done.

[Kmcalpin]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/scottish/gossip

 

A very interesting snippet in the BBC/Scotsman. It seems that Mark McGhee didn't think we worked hard enough. That assessment is something a few of us have been saying for months now. When we don't have the ball we don't chase and harry but simply retreat. Is that down to the lack of a work ethic, atitude or having too many 30+ players in the side - who knows? Hopefully the management team can figure this one out.