Are Motherwell A Dirty Club ?

[Spiderpig]

It seems that we are joint top of the league with Hearts when it comes to being the dirtiest teams in the league.

 

"Hearts have been revealed as the dirtiest team in the Scottish Premiership alongside Motherwell, according to data from WyScout and Transfermarkt, only days after manager Craig Levein said players needed protection from Celtic captain Scott Brown. (Daily Record)

 

So is it justified, are we a team of thugs or just being physical, given the standard of refereeing a lot of perfectly normal tackles seem to be penalised, especially against the blue and green ugly sisters as they always get more publicity.

[MFCL84]

Not dirty and not even overly physical. In the St Johnstone match I'd say that they were as physical as Motherwell and had a dirty player on the pitch putting it about. I don't think that Motherwell have a dirty player on their books.

[Haggischomper]

Depends on whether we have an upcoming game against Celtic or not. Basically depends on what Brenda tells the press to print.

[Donaldo87]

Aye sounds like Saint Brendan sent that in. The only time the article mentions us is in that opening line.

 

Partick have just as many yellow cards but obviously that doesn't fit the agenda.

[Guest]

You better believe it.

[Del_Superwell]

We've had our card marked since we beat Rangers in the semi final and the public outcry from them and Brendan Rodgers about our physical style, ever since then referees have been on our case desperate to dish out cards for the smallest thing even when they aren't proper fouls half the time.

[Richie]

It doesnt necessarily mean you're dirtier, just that you are penalised more.

Not entirely mutually exclusive, particularly against the OF, as alluded to above.

[Kmcalpin]

We've had our card marked since we beat Rangers in the semi final and the public outcry from them and Brendan Rodgers about our physical style, ever since then referees have been on our case desperate to dish out cards for the smallest thing even when they aren't proper fouls half the time.

Thats about it. Other teams trend to be more streetwise. Poor refereeing is also a factor. On Saturday Osman ought to have seen red but didn't. Last night St Johnstone were by far the dirtier team and could easily have picked up a red card and 4 yellows. Matty Willock's elbow on Campbell in front of the referee was astounding. A straight red.

[sbcmfc]

Surely Craig Levein was making the point that Scott Brown should be penalised more, which may affect said table.

 

Using the disciplinary table as a retort to Craig leveins point doesnt really work in that context.

[sbcmfc]

Id imagine just as an example based on Saturday Thistle (and Im sure accies) will have picked up a lot of bookings for tinewasting and the likes, so using the number of yellow cards to decide who is dirtiest doesnt really work either.

 

Most cynical or least sporting probably could be taken from the table.

[swami]

I have had the same socks on for a couple of days, to be fair.

[joewarkfanclub]

I dont think we are a dirty team at all. We are combative sure, but its a physical contact sport. I dont think any of our players are prone to leave the boot in or commit cynical fouls. One or two may over commit at times (McHugh springs to mind) but not dirty.

[Ya Bezzer!]

Only in training!

[Yodo]

Not since the days of Willie McVie Stuart McClaren Gregor Stevens Willie Watson have we had so many no nonsense defenders in our team and it's great to see ,long may it continue who cares what the stats say and other teams

[BobWilson (Anchorman)]

Surely Craig Levein was making the point that Scott Brown should be penalised more, which may affect said table.

 

Using the disciplinary table as a retort to Craig leveins point doesnt really work in that context.

Agree with this.

 

I no longer have any idea what constitutes a foul, and even less so when a booking is / is not deserved. The inconsistency of refereeing decisions has hit a new low, most games now seem riddled with baffling decisions. For example, I have absolutely no idea how Murray Davidson escaped a booking last night, despite committing at least 5 or 6 (punished) fouls. Game after game the same shite decisions are made, but, as always, are only ever highlighted when they don't go the way of the ugly sisters.

 

I don't believe for a second we are a "dirty" team, but I also don't believe ref's have it in for us... They're just appalling at their jobs.

 

Full article here if you want to throw away 90 seconds of your life:

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/hearts-revealed-premierships-equal-dirtiest-11979818

[Happy Dosser]

_{​I immediately discount anything written in that utter rag. I'm pleased that we are now a physically-committed team, which is not what dirty means. In fact, we often seem quite naïve when it comes to the time-wasting and diving of some of The Usual Suspects. Compare our present defence with the porous shambles we had under McGhee and there is no comparison: strong, brave and good tacklers.}

 

_{Motherwell made the mistake of beating Rangers in the semi when The Powers wanted an OF final but Rodgers angered me much more by getting his retaliation in first before the final and monstering Ryan Bowman. His hypocrisy when he fields Brown every week really gets on my nazzums. I actually agreed with Levein's comments on Brown and Neil Lennon (when NL was complaining about Hearts' tackling). Of course our fearless footballing press will continue to suck up to Holier-Than-Thou-Brendan.}

 

_{​The only criticism I would level at our manager is that he often goes out of his way to refer to our physicality, which gives the grateful hacks plenty of ammunition. When we get the ball down we can play, no question.}

.

_{​Now the Hearts team of the 80s, well, that WAS a dirty team.....}

 

_{​And Gregor Stevens, either in C&A or blue and white? GAC!}

[weeyin]

Gregor Stevens wasn't a dirty player when he played for us the first time around. It was moving to Ibrox that changed things.

 

It used to be the "Crime Count" in the Sunday Post gave a fair reflection of who was the dirtiest team, but as others have pointed out, these days it's less useful given what constitutes a foul.

 

And while I agree with what Levein says about Brown, he might want to have a word with guys like Lafferty too.

[numpty]

We've had our card marked since we beat Rangers in the semi final and the public outcry from them and Brendan Rodgers about our physical style

We'd already had four players sent off by the middle of August, mind you (albeit reduced to three on appeal), so we were on some folks' "dirty" radar before that.

[Guest]

Agree with this.

 

I no longer have any idea what constitutes a foul, and even less so when a booking is / is not deserved. The inconsistency of refereeing decisions has hit a new low, most games now seem riddled with baffling decisions. For example, I have absolutely no idea how Murray Davidson escaped a booking last night, despite committing at least 5 or 6 (punished) fouls. Game after game the same shite decisions are made, but, as always, are only ever highlighted when they don't go the way of the ugly sisters.

 

I don't believe for a second we are a "dirty" team, but I also don't believe ref's have it in for us... They're just appalling at their jobs.

 

Full article here if you want to throw away 90 seconds of your life:

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/hearts-revealed-premierships-equal-dirtiest-11979818

I thoroughly enjoy that the stats back up what Levein says, players do need protection from Scott Brown.

[sbcmfc]

We'd already had four players sent off by the middle of August, mind you (albeit reduced to three on appeal), so we were on some folks' "dirty" radar before that.

This is where dirty isnt the correct word. For example Carsons red in the game we got 3 at McDiarmid was a marginal call for handling outside the box. Dunne at Ross County was for DOGSO, not quite the same as leg breaking challenges...

 

Kipre in the final...

[fizoxy]

As per above, our red cards were hardly a result of being dirty, dunne was clumsy for both of his, carson had a brain fart and picked up the ball a bawhair outside the box, and Kipres wasnt even a foul.

 

There doesnt seem to be a set rule for what constitutes a yellow card either, refs cant consistently apply the same standard during a single game, never mind a season. So a card table doesnt have much meaning.

 

Are we even streetwise? Hasnt looked like it so far, as we still seem to be outdone by these kind of teams.

 

Did we forget to roll out the red carpet for the big Glasgow team and their irritating wee nephew? Guilty.

[star sail]

Surely Craig Levein was making the point that Scott Brown should be penalised more, which may affect said table.

 

Using the disciplinary table as a retort to Craig leveins point doesnt really work in that context.

 

Agree 100% with what you say but unfortunately this requires some thought. As the Glasgow press well know, the headline is often all you need to sway the Old Firm readership,

No coincidence that the people that this headline will appeal to is Rangers fans (Motherwell is a dirty team) and Celtic fans (Scott Brown is innocent), Why should they want to read on? The facts might get in the way of their firmly held prejudices.

[well_said]

I cannot be bothered to read the article , but could hazard a guess as to who the cleanest team in the league will be and they play in green and they are not from Edinburgh.

[something else]

_{​I immediately discount anything written in that utter rag. I'm pleased that we are now a physically-committed team, which is not what dirty means. In fact, we often seem quite naïve when it comes to the time-wasting and diving of some of The Usual Suspects. Compare our present defence with the porous shambles we had under McGhee and there is no comparison: strong, brave and good tacklers.}

 

_{Motherwell made the mistake of beating Rangers in the semi when The Powers wanted an OF final but Rodgers angered me much more by getting his retaliation in first before the final and monstering Ryan Bowman. His hypocrisy when he fields Brown every week really gets on my nazzums. I actually agreed with Levein's comments on Brown and Neil Lennon (when NL was complaining about Hearts' tackling). Of course our fearless footballing press will continue to suck up to Holier-Than-Thou-Brendan.}

 

_{​The only criticism I would level at our manager is that he often goes out of his way to refer to our physicality, which gives the grateful hacks plenty of ammunition. When we get the ball down we can play, no question.}

.

_{​Now the Hearts team of the 80s, well, that WAS a dirty team.....}

 

_{​And Gregor Stevens, either in C&A or blue and white? GAC!}

Great post and 100% correct.

[Inthebasement]

We are not dirty, and this guff is costing us points. Hibs game in particular we were not allowed to compete for the ball and hibs were gifted continuous free kicks from midfield into our box (which led to first goal).