2018/19 Game 33: Rangers (H) April 7th 12.30pm Kick Off

[Yassin]

16 minutes ago, Andy H said:

Huh??  Cadden on for Main,  Playing with no striker?

No change there then.

[Well Well]

14 minutes ago, fizoxy said:

 We played some good stuff but didn’t make anything of it, 

When??? 

[texanwellfan]

We looked fairly comfortable for most of the game but toothless up front and of course, lethal in defense.

[weeyin]

Our last 4 games have just reinforced the fact that we're one of the better bottom 6 teams, but not good enough to be top 6.

[Well Well]

5 minutes ago, texanwellfan said:

We looked fairly comfortable for most of the game but toothless up front and of course, lethal in defense.

I must have been watching a different game. Fairly comfortable?, extremely nervous, couldn't control simple balls, terrible tackling. No control over any area of the park. That's what I saw. Not bothered really as it is exactly what I was expecting from Motherwell.

[texanwellfan]

5 minutes ago, Well Well said:

I must have been watching a different game. Fairly comfortable?, extremely nervous, couldn't control simple balls, terrible tackling. No control over any area of the park. That's what I saw. Not bothered really as it is exactly what I was expecting from Motherwell.

Yes. Despite all that I still thought that Rangers didn’t really threaten us that much. 

[postiejim]

Our midfield  in particular was poor today ,rangers were comfortable throughout the match and worthy winners  ,but we have this uncanny knack of making a decent rangers side look like world beaters .

[Welldaft Mk1]

Due to work commitments I had to make do with watching on the box. 

Up until the self destructive first 2 goals we were comfortable and passing the ball around. Had 60% possession at one point. 

You cannot legislate for 2 defensive blunders gifting their 2 goals. 

It is exactly why we are in the bottom half. Some decent young players who are better than bottom half jobbers but not full internationals even if they are for the most part past their sell by date. 

A bad day at the office. We move on and try to win bottom half trophy for 2nd year in a row..

[Ya Bezzer!]

I'm afraid Robinson is back in my firing line again after that.  I read Japanese better than Robinson reads a match.  It was obvious at 55 minutes we had dropped right out the game, nothing was happening, Rangers were gaining more and more ascendancy and the third goal was more or less inevitable and Robinson sat and  watched and guess what....Rangers score about 5 minutes later to kill the game.

Coaches can take the team during the week, the line up came be picked by a committee but that is when managers earn their money.  A decision was required and Robinson wasn't up to it.

Also his tactical inflexibility isn't good enough.  You can't just go with the same shape every match and then run that into the ground until it's useless.  We've lost 4-1 v Celtic, 2-0 v Hibs, 3-1 v Aberdeen and now 3-0 v Rangers.  Any team with any semblance of quality about them is hammering us.  Maybe the manager needs to pick up on that and try and identify the problems, our own shortcomings, what the opposition brings to a game, our strengths, our weaknesses.  But no, the Robinson way is just to do the same thing over and over again because at some point we had a wee bit of success doing it.  

Overall the match was sub standard and sloppy from both teams.  We weren't outclassed but in an error strewn match we made worse mistakes.  All the goals we lost today were poor, poor goals to concede which only strengthens my opinion that we aren't good enough across the back line.

At 0-2 down we showed little heart until the changes were made far too late in the match.

Since there is going to be a fairly major rebuild in the summer I'd suggest that Robinson uses the matches to blood younger players and experiment with formations.  Let's try and actually learn something from the matches and I'd much rather do that than win 5 out of 5.

[steelboy]

We badly need a left back. Tait does well on that side but it's still a weakness.

Some of our play was comical. Dunne not clearing it at the second goal and trying to gift them a fourth for most of the second half. Allan Campbell looked like he had played 90 minutes yesterday. Gboly just isn't good enough, zero end product and gives the ball away all the time.

[Yorkyred]

14 minutes ago, Ya Bezzer! said:

I'm afraid Robinson is back in my firing line again after that.  I read Japanese better than Robinson reads a match.  It was obvious at 55 minutes we had dropped right out the game, nothing was happening, Rangers were gaining more and more ascendancy and the third goal was more or less inevitable and Robinson sat and  watched and guess what....Rangers score about 5 minutes later to kill the game.

Coaches can take the team during the week, the line up came be picked by a committee but that is when managers earn their money.  A decision was required and Robinson wasn't up to it.

Also his tactical inflexibility isn't good enough.  You can't just go with the same shape every match and then run that into the ground until it's useless.  We've lost 4-1 v Celtic, 2-0 v Hibs, 3-1 v Aberdeen and now 3-0 v Rangers.  Any team with any semblance of quality about them is hammering us.  Maybe the manager needs to pick up on that and try and identify the problems, our own shortcomings, what the opposition brings to a game, our strengths, our weaknesses.  But no, the Robinson way is just to do the same thing over and over again because at some point we had a wee bit of success doing it.  

Overall the match was sub standard and sloppy from both teams.  We weren't outclassed but in an error strewn match we made worse mistakes.  All the goals we lost today were poor, poor goals to concede which only strengthens my opinion that we aren't good enough across the back line.

At 0-2 down we showed little heart until the changes were made far too late in the match.

Since there is going to be a fairly major rebuild in the summer I'd suggest that Robinson uses the matches to blood younger players and experiment with formations.  Let's try and actually learn something from the matches and I'd much rather do that than win 5 out of 5.

To be fair we’ve lost most games against teams with more quality simply because “ they have more quality” that’s surely been the way most seasons of late ? I think regardless of what Robinson or any other manager does we will still lose way more games against Celtic and Rangers than we ever win. We’ve not now gone 43 games without a win against Rangers because every manager has been tactically inept. It’s not hard to identify the problem, they have better players than we do. 

[Ya Bezzer!]

Just now, Yorkyred said:

To be fair we’ve lost most games against teams with more quality simply because “ they have more quality” that’s surely been the way most seasons of late ? I think regardless of what Robinson or any other manager does we will still lose way more games against Celtic and Rangers than we ever win. We’ve not now gone 43 games without a win against Rangers because every manager has been tactically inept. It’s not hard to identify the problem, they have better players than we do. 

I'm not discussing other games, I'm discussing this match.

We had to make a change and didn't.  Would it have won us the match, salvaged a draw or even got us a consolation goal or a better 2nd half performance?  I have no idea.  What I do know is it was obvious we had to make that change or cede the match to Rangers and that's what happened. 

At 0-3 the game was dead.  Robinson then made changes that improved us a bit long after the horse had bolted. 

I'm certainly not criticizing Robinson for losing to Rangers, I'm criticizing him because he didn't make the decision to change it while it was still cogent.

[Shaka]

22 minutes ago, Yorkyred said:

We’ve not now gone 43 games without a win against Rangers because every manager has been tactically inept. It’s not hard to identify the problem, they have better players than we do. 

And in that time every other team in the SPL have beaten them multiple times, and teams like Queens Park, Arbroath, Raith Rovers and Alloa have beaten/taken points from them. Its a fucking embarrassment

[yosemite sam]

We played a very ordinary Sevco team, and made them look good, with all the silly mistakes and wrong decisions we made. I thought we actually played quite well first half, but when you gift the opposition goals like we did, you give yourself no chance.

[Wellfan1984]

36 minutes ago, Shaka said:

And in that time every other team in the SPL have beaten them multiple times, and teams like Queens Park, Arbroath, Raith Rovers and Alloa have beaten/taken points from them. Its a fucking embarrassment

And we've beat them in that time at least three times... and also taken points of them...  this season.  

[underboyleheating]

Basic defensive errors cost us and good players/strikers punish you at this level. Also that’s now 43 league loses to Rangers and counting which is not a record to be proud of.

Another disappointment is the inevitable fine we will receive for the lighter that was thrown by some idiot in the crowd. This is money that we can ill afford to pay and I hope the individual who did it is caught and punished for their actions.

[postiejim]

Beat them in the play offs and in the cup semi final, in fact we best them convincingly on the three occasions. But these games were the exception rather than the rule, which is generally pants down and a damn good thrashing.

[steelboy]

5 minutes ago, underboyleheating said:

Basic defensive errors cost us and good players/strikers punish you at this level. Also that’s now 43 league loses to Rangers and counting which is not a record to be proud of.
 

We have had a few draws tbf.

[purestate]

I wasn’t overall dispirited by today’s performance - we’ve seen a lot worse this season - so hopefully we’ve got some of the ridiculous mistakes all out in this game.  

I agree we should look to play the last 5 games with a view on next season e.g. Scott ahead of Main,  but we should be looking to finish 7th with attendant prize money.  

[Shaka]

1 hour ago, Wellfan1984 said:

And we've beat them in that time at least three times... and also taken points of them...  this season.  

Yes, in one off cup games! Which in itself makes our efforts in the league all the more pathetic

 

And as for the arseholes throwing things, they should be banned for life! Fucking retards getting triggered by a player stealing 5 yards for a throw in, which will now result in a Rangers moral crusade and us receiving a fine. Clear as day on tv as well, the ref picks up the lighter and beside him ANOTHER object is chucked! How fucking special do you need to be?

[Fairhill]

Not often we get a live television game in Canada, and we had to get this one. First of all this was a very ordinary Rangers team, and second, our passing was terrible. Then there were the dreadful defensive mistakes, but when you add the hoofball tactics there was never a chance of constructive football. We never did have an answer to how Rangers doubled up on our kids so they might get a first chance, but never a second. Rangers just bundled them over, if they didn't just pick their pocket in the first place.

The referee seemed a bit unfair at times, but the bottom line is still a huge gap between us and the top six Teams. Reality is that with 2 Glasgow giants, 2 Edinburgh well supported teams, and the Dons, everybody else is trying for one top six place left, and the difference this year was down to Killie having a very good manager who got incredible results from his players. The divide gets worse every year, and it's basically about money.

[Yorkyred]

5 minutes ago, Fairhill said:

Not often we get a live television game in Canada, and we had to get this one. First of all this was a very ordinary Rangers team, and second, our passing was terrible. Then there were the dreadful defensive mistakes, but when you add the hoofball tactics there was never a chance of constructive football. We never did have an answer to how Rangers doubled up on our kids so they might get a first chance, but never a second. Rangers just bundled them over, if they didn't just pick their pocket in the first place.

The referee seemed a bit unfair at times, but the bottom line is still a huge gap between us and the top six Teams. Reality is that with 2 Glasgow giants, 2 Edinburgh well supported teams, and the Dons, everybody else is trying for one top six place left, and the difference this year was down to Killie having a very good manager who got incredible results from his players. The divide gets worse every year, and it's basically about money.

Yep, money talks in the end regardless and the Premiership now has all the major Scottish clubs in it with none of them in a complete mess. It really is one top six place up for grabs at the moment, we had a shot at it but it was always pretty obvious we did not have enough quality.

[Kmcalpin]

4 hours ago, Well Well said:

I must have been watching a different game. Fairly comfortable?, extremely nervous, couldn't control simple balls, terrible tackling. No control over any area of the park. That's what I saw. Not bothered really as it is exactly what I was expecting from Motherwell.

Pretty much my take on it.  Despite a fairly bright early period (in which we looked toothless up front) things just didn't seem right defensively as soon as the game kicked off.  Overall Sevco deserved their 3-0 victory and truth be told it would have been far more if they'd punished us for all our defensive blunders and general defensive weakness. They weren't great up front but were a class above us in defence and in midfield.  They worked far harder off the ball than we did and showed us no respect whatsover.   Early doors we left too many gaps and simply didn't pressurise them when they had possession.  Covering and marking was abysmal.  We never looked comfortable with their high pressing game.  The blunders, of which there must have been at least 8 or 9, were just one part of our game.  We looked devoid of confidence and s**t scared of our opponents and defended far too deep. I just wonder if Gillespie was fully fit - hence the high number of poor throw outs.

Attacking wise we began brightly and created several chances but just didn't have the ability to convert them.  Main, despite being strong, was outmuscled by bigger guys and failed to make much impact.  This type of line up just doesn't suit him.   I was puzzled by the substitutions, although I agree they were required.  If you're a few goals down why play without a striker?  Scott should have been on sooner like half time and I'm afraid Frear is just too lightweight and made no impression.   Tactics wise teams now have us sussed and we need a change of plan.  

Some positives though. In this kind of game its great to avoid red cards and injuries and we did.  We were also matched against one of the best teams in Scotland and hopefully will have learnt more about our shortcomings.  Again not so much about ability, but more about attitude, work rate and reliability. 

Nick Walsh? Shocking performance throughout.  

[twistandshout1983]

In a way I am glad we are bottom 6,  not from a financial point of view but at least we wont need to play against this mob again this season or their bigot brothers across the city.

On a serious note I had a good feeling we could get something from todays game, but gifted them goals and made them look really good.

 

 

 

[grizzlyg]

Cheap goals conceded today but I am more raging about the p***k throwing a lighter. Hopefully they are identified and banned for life. Our fans are great but there is an element that are dragging us down. If you aren't capable of supporting team without throwing objects then away and support someone else, sick of it