ONeils4oyarder Posted January 24, 2019 Report Share Posted January 24, 2019 I never made Saturdays match, so won't try and make any sort of comparison with it. However, last nights performance was entertaining and gritty. Much like Turnbull, I'm surprised its taken so long for us to get Hastie into our line-up...he offered drive, enthusiasm, a balance to the team and an absolutely fantastic throughball for our goal. The biggest compliment that I can give to last nights starting 11, is that picking a man of the match is extremely difficult, and for the right reasons. Both full-backs were excellent, with Tait absolutely owning Ryan Gauld in the 1st half. Gorrin (in one 90mins), has gone from a player I've literally known nothing about to a player on that evidence that looks like he has the composure AND the tenacity to be a decent player at our level...while wee Campbell, was back to his best, virtually clubbing their 6footplus monster (Barkley) to death at certain points of the game. Both wingers, were excellent to watch...yes, its not going to come off everytime for them, but in terms of getting you off your seat, and actually enjoying what you are seeing, Ariyibi and Hastie were great. Main, tried like fuck, ran himself into the ground, but hes never going to score the goals we need, and if we continue with one up top supported by three attacking mids, we need a striker who can a) hold the ball up and b) take a chance or two...I don't think Main is the man for us unfortunately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Stall Posted January 24, 2019 Report Share Posted January 24, 2019 I was livid at the performance on Saturday, but what a turn around that was last night. Robinson showed some balls, dropping the older underperformers and giving the young boys a shot. He got rid (in the main) the long ball and had the team attempting to play fast, flowing football. I thought we were excellent in the first half and for the first time in a while, enjoyed watching it. Yes, we had a bit of a dip in the second half but give them time. What a goal that was as well. Fast, attaching football and a one touch finish. Superb! Great team effort all round but really enjoyed watching Campbell, Turnbull, Hastie, Grimmy and Aribyi lastnight. If these guys can keep that form up, we should have a good run to the end of the season. (Just a shame we don’t have a shot at Hampden to look forward to) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milo Posted January 24, 2019 Report Share Posted January 24, 2019 Probably the most I’ve enjoyed a game all season and the absolutely perfect response to Saturday. I liked the look of the starting line up and hopefully that’s the team we start with at Dens. Main was the only player who wasn’t impressive. He’s not going to score anytime soon sadly but his role involved wrestling with the Hibs players which he’s quite good at and his hold up play was decent in fairness. 3 goals in 30 games is pathetic though. Hastie was sensational! Him over Frear all day long. As was Turnbull whose touch and passing are on w different level. The new boy is fast and exciting. Gorrin and Campbell did well and Grimshaw’s runs and tenacity were a joy to watch. Defence solid. McCormack came on and had a few good touches but looks a mile off the pace. Despite what Lennon said, we were comfortable and they created nothing bar the odd cross. Gauld flattered to deceive. All for nothing if we lose at Dens though but I’m going to sit back and enjoy what I witnessed last night for a bit! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ropy Posted January 24, 2019 Report Share Posted January 24, 2019 If we accept that Dunne cannot pick out a pass (good at other things) why do we consistently funnel the ball to him. That's the next wrinkle to be ironed out. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
santheman Posted January 24, 2019 Report Share Posted January 24, 2019 11 hours ago, Ya Bezzer! said: What about the fight inside the ground! The Bois Infiltrated by a Hibs fan apparently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaz7 Posted January 24, 2019 Report Share Posted January 24, 2019 i get the criticism of mains lack of goals but his workrate is outstanding. Due to this he occupied their 2 cbs which gave arriyibi and hastie room. I think we need to be careful what we wish for and if he could finish then he wouldnt be at us as he does loads more. 3 footballers in midfield enabled us to also get balls to wingers and i loved it at end when we were trying to see out game we were passing it about rather than just butting up the park. Only disappointment brought on by last night is how we could not have done that on Saturday as im still raging with that. grimshaws run. arriyibi and hastie attacking full backs.gorrin and turnbulls composure on ball.campbells tenacity. meant loads to be excited about but ultimately we have nothing to play for now i feel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supermarv Posted January 24, 2019 Report Share Posted January 24, 2019 23 minutes ago, gaz7 said: i get the criticism of mains lack of goals but his workrate is outstanding. Due to this he occupied their 2 cbs which gave arriyibi and hastie room. I think we need to be careful what we wish for and if he could finish then he wouldnt be at us as he does loads more. 3 footballers in midfield enabled us to also get balls to wingers and i loved it at end when we were trying to see out game we were passing it about rather than just butting up the park. Only disappointment brought on by last night is how we could not have done that on Saturday as im still raging with that. grimshaws run. arriyibi and hastie attacking full backs.gorrin and turnbulls composure on ball.campbells tenacity. meant loads to be excited about but ultimately we have nothing to play for now i feel. Could equally find someone good enough to do Mains job aswell someone who can actually fucking score a goal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shotts Well Fan Posted January 24, 2019 Report Share Posted January 24, 2019 I find the criticism of Main surprising. He played well last night held the ball up and gave McGregor a torrid time. I do understand folks frustrations he does not score enough but i would argue he was a major contributor to our style of play last night by holding the ball up and allowing our midfield to get on the ball. Overall a superb performance with particular standouts for me being Gorrin, Grimshaw, Turnbull, Campbell and Hastie. Only complaint would be that Campbell was really tiring towards the last 15 mins and should have been subbed. But overall very pleased and Robinson should be commended for the chance in team shape and style of play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellowell Posted January 24, 2019 Report Share Posted January 24, 2019 I wound not give Main hard time last night as 10 out of 10 for effort but don’t get this good performance lark . In 1st half he held ball up 3 times in succession only to pass to Hibs players which started dangerous attack’s . His attempts at goal we’re woeful and actually now struggles to actually reach the goal currently with his attempts . Yes he was a nuisance to Hibs all night and improved 2nd half imo ,but unless he can start scoring or even making goals then we have a major problem . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmcalpin Posted January 24, 2019 Report Share Posted January 24, 2019 A great result last night and a vastly improved performance to boot. Robbo has a knack of pulling these great results out of the hat when under pressure. As much as he got it badly wrong on Saturday he deserves credit for changing things and getting it very much right last night. The team looked right as did the tactics. A great all round team performance and its heart warming to see the likes of Gorrin, Ariyibi and ther young lads shine. Hibs showed they can put it about and all told deserved nothing from the game as we were the better team. My only concern is misfiring strikers. We can't rely solely on the likes of Hastie and Turnbull doing the busienss week in week out. Striker is one position we have to get sorted. An encouraging night last night though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steelboy Posted January 24, 2019 Report Share Posted January 24, 2019 1 hour ago, gaz7 said: i get the criticism of mains lack of goals but his workrate is outstanding. Due to this he occupied their 2 cbs which gave arriyibi and hastie room. I think we need to be careful what we wish for and if he could finish then he wouldnt be at us as he does loads more. 3 footballers in midfield enabled us to also get balls to wingers and i loved it at end when we were trying to see out game we were passing it about rather than just butting up the park. Only disappointment brought on by last night is how we could not have done that on Saturday as im still raging with that. grimshaws run. arriyibi and hastie attacking full backs.gorrin and turnbulls composure on ball.campbells tenacity. meant loads to be excited about but ultimately we have nothing to play for now i feel. Aye Main offers much more than Johnson or Sammon despite having no composure in front of goal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joeboy Posted January 24, 2019 Report Share Posted January 24, 2019 Enjoyed both the game and the result last night (who knew actually playing football could work) but I'm trying to use the fact that it was a rank rotten Hibs side as reason not to get carried away, especially after Saturday. The back four looked to have a much better balance to it, even with a left footer at right back. I'm not as negative about Hartley and McHugh but it was quite clear to see how our style of play benefited from their absence. Grimshaw for me was excellent against Accies at right back and was very harshly dropped against County and was again superb last night. Lets give him a run of games there. He seems to be the one player in the squad that doesn't let frustration or how the games going alter his good attitude, you get the same from him every week in that regard. I was very impressed with Hastie both physically and technically and whilst I feel sorry for Frear, who's been waiting so long for us to play a formation with wingers, I'd like to see Ariyibi and Hastie continue. Main scored 9 in his first 16 games for Motherwell and has scored 5 in 31 since. I guess the fact he came in and played with an arrogant swagger, which we all enjoyed at the time, is possibly counting against him now. It must be difficult to go from a ratio of better than 1 in 2, to worse than 1 in 6. I don't know if he's now a good player going through a bad patch, or a bad player who went through a bad patch, but his best career return being 10 goals (in a season he played 44 games) probably tells that story. I thought he was dreadful against Ross County in both quality and application, his body language looked like he couldn't be arsed. It's good to see that at least the application part of that was sorted last night. I'd probably have gone with Sammon last night (who I perceived to be the lesser of two evils) but on the night Main done the job asked of him effectively. Hopefully we can halt the stop-start nature of our season and get a result against Dundee on Saturday, who'll be buoyed by last night's result. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEWELL Posted January 24, 2019 Report Share Posted January 24, 2019 Would like to see how Johnson does up top with Hastie. Main carries zero goal threat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joewarkfanclub Posted January 24, 2019 Report Share Posted January 24, 2019 5 minutes ago, DEWELL said: Would like to see how Johnson does up top with Hastie. Main carries zero goal threat. In what formation? Johnson cant do what Main does up front on his own. He is a penalty box player. He appears to be a better finisher but if you merely swap the 2 you dont necessarily get more goals. If you change the formation again, you may not get the same level of performance. Catch 22. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fizoxy Posted January 24, 2019 Report Share Posted January 24, 2019 Mains performance aside, signing a goal scorer in January isn’t easy, since we’re probably at the back of a very long queue of clubs wanting one, and the players/clubs rightfully ask for more money. Yesterdays performance was one of the best of the season, and part of that was putting main in for Johnson. We’ve not had a settled lineup all season, so hopefully this is the start of one, as every player who started deserves another start on Saturday. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_P Posted January 24, 2019 Report Share Posted January 24, 2019 I don't know if Main will ever reproduce the kind of return he delivered in his opening two or three months with us but I'm hopeful if he is presented with the same number of chances every game that he got last night, sooner or later he'll score, his confidence will return and he'll go on to improve on what has been a poor return from this season. There have been spells where he's been presented with three chances in a month far less three chances in an hour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weeyin Posted January 24, 2019 Report Share Posted January 24, 2019 1 hour ago, steelboy said: Aye Main offers much more than Johnson or Sammon despite having no composure in front of goal. It's not an either/or situation, though. If we are just playing Main up front, we immediately diminish our goal threat. It's like playing a keeper and saying "Aye we know he sells 2 or 3 goals a game, but he passes it really well out of his box". Main missing all these chances is as costly as a keeper selling a goal or two every game. Likewise, Johnson on his own has goal potential, but doesn't do the hold up play as well. What we need is either Main to find a bit of scoring form, or for someone else to support Johnson that can score a few more. The more often we play Main the less likely he looks to score - and that isn't helping him out of his goal slump. If anything, Main's other attributes are hindering him finding his scoring form because he drops a bit deeper and is able to avoid runs into the box while still looking like he's doing something. If you watch him jump, he's lost the confidence to even do that well. It's great to be a rounded player, but sooner or later a striker needs to score a goal or two. I'm not sure right now that we are playing him the right way to let him find that form again - we are slowly converting him into a hard working midfielder with strike rate of Alex Fisher. I agree we don't have many other options right now, but our lack of goals has been a concern all season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weeyin Posted January 24, 2019 Report Share Posted January 24, 2019 5 minutes ago, Andy_P said: I don't know if Main will ever reproduce the kind of return he delivered in his opening two or three months with us but I'm hopeful if he is presented with the same number of chances every game that he got last night, sooner or later he'll score, his confidence will return and he'll go on to improve on what has been a poor return from this season. There have been spells where he's been presented with three chances in a month far less three chances in an hour. A big part of that, though, is because his lack of confidence has caused him to hold back a yard and not take those risks in the box that a confident striker takes. When he's feeling good, like all strikers, you seem him peel off his man and scream for a pass, or take up position to pick up rebounds or misguided shots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joeboy Posted January 24, 2019 Report Share Posted January 24, 2019 I know we are talking teams of totally different scales and ability, but Main's performance last night reminded me of Giroud for France at the world cup. Nothing of note at all inside the box, but a lot of graft as the focal point outside the box, allowing the ball players behind him to play. After his initial purple patch, it would be a bit sad if that's all he ever was, but it might be what the team needs just now. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sinjy Posted January 24, 2019 Report Share Posted January 24, 2019 I was very critical of Main at the game last night. His miss when clean through showed he has lost all confidence when you think how he finished against Aberdeen in the semi. Then he had a five minute spell where he gave the ball away three or four times. However I have just watched the whole game again on Alba and he played much better than I thought. Great to see the youngsters do so well and what a goal. Thought Gorrin had a great game. When he broke up the play he usually then picked a pass. And why were Campbell and Grimshaw left out on Saturday? County would not have dominated if they were playing. Here's hoping McCormack does not become the new Brian McClair. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weeyin Posted January 24, 2019 Report Share Posted January 24, 2019 For all my comments about Main, I'm not really criticizing him for losing form. I get that happens to the best of strikers. I'm more concerned that, by the way we are using him, we're slowing down his chances of finding that goal scoring form. We're turning him into even more of a Bowman when what we need is a Moult. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steelboy Posted January 24, 2019 Report Share Posted January 24, 2019 Between Saturday and today he had 5 or 6 good chances in about 90 minutes of football. He's getting into positions and fluffing them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 24, 2019 Report Share Posted January 24, 2019 16 hours ago, Big Wispy Flossy said: McCormack isn’t fit everyone knows that and I was worried when he was replacing Ariyibi but he was very disciplined when he came on. Didn’t leave Tait exposed at all Weird how folk see things differently eh? I thought he was an absolute liability, and thought him and Tait were having a bit of a word with one another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weeyin Posted January 24, 2019 Report Share Posted January 24, 2019 1 hour ago, steelboy said: Between Saturday and today he had 5 or 6 good chances in about 90 minutes of football. He's getting into positions and fluffing them. Take a look at him for the Ariyibi cross, as an example. A confident Main would have already made the run to tap that in - last night's Main held off a second too long. It's that second, and that risk taking that are difference between a confident striker and one that lacks confidence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bart Verheul Posted January 24, 2019 Report Share Posted January 24, 2019 3 minutes ago, weeyin said: Take a look at him for the Ariyibi cross, as an example. A confident Main would have already made the run to tap that in - last night's Main held off a second too long. It's that second, and that risk taking that are difference between a confident striker and one that lacks confidence. In fairness to main regarding this one incident, how many times this season has he played with a winger who has beaten his man and then put a cross like that in for him. He's been used to the ball either hitting the first man or getting shelled 3feet above him from the full back in a supporting position. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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