2019-20 League Cup

[DEWELL]

A good win against poor opposition. Liam Donnelly must be the most improved player I've seen in years. Grimshaw too had a really good game . Polworth  has a lot of room for improvement and Long is crap I'm afraid as bad  a number 9 as I've  seen at FirPark. Every ball played up to him was lost. Young Scott looks a real prospect but we really are crying out for an experienced target man.

[wellup83]

1 hour ago, AllyMax said:

Donnelly is the new Turnbull....

Had this very thought myself today 

[BAZ]

Thought Donnelly was first class. Polworth and Semple were good in the first half. Thought it was quite a difficult game as Annan were outclassed and pushed and fouled too often. Too early to say as the opposition has not been great, but have hopes for the new season. If the complainers think we aren't good enough then maybe they should compare us to the other Premier teams!

[Yorkyred]

Not the greatest of games but I guess it was never going to be.  It shows though how far we have come in the last year that Hartley now looks a million miles away from being the right player given the way we now play, his distribution and composure is just not close to that of Gallagher. I liked the look of Sloth and can see him claiming a place in the first 11 unlike Long who I just don’t see as our target man. Guess what, I think Donnelly could be this seasons player that proves the haters wrong, he’s improving game on game and knows where the back of the net is ( please give him a chance). I thought Polworth did ok although he was sitting too deep at times, Seedorf had a poor game sadly. This squad shows a lot of promise, certainly the most exciting in my four years watching the club, if we sign a forward that’s fits in we can look forward to an entertaining, and hopefully successful season.

[weeyin]

Was always going to be a tough game for Seedorf. His strength will be getting in behind defences - never easy when a team beds in around the box. 

[FJ-94]

2 hours ago, Spiderpig said:

The 8 seeded teams for the last 16 are Ross  County, Hibs, Livingston, Motherwell, Aberdeen, Celtic, Kilmarnock and Rangers, 

Do you think a bookmaker will offer odds on us getting Hearts away? 

[Yodo]

The pitch was magnificent sadly the the players never matched the pitch we really need to sign a creative midfielder some of our passing was shocking .  Those who are saying Scott should be put out on loan I think today he showed why we might need him if we don't sign a first choice striker . Long was very poor and Illic and Seedorf contributed nothing Sloth looked capable but our captain will have to settle for a place on the bench 

[smiddy]

15 minutes ago, Yodo said:

The pitch was magnificent sadly the the players never matched the pitch we really need to sign a creative midfielder some of our passing was shocking .  Those who are saying Scott should be put out on loan I think today he showed why we might need him if we don't sign a first choice striker . Long was very poor and Illic and Seedorf contributed nothing Sloth looked capable but our captain will have to settle for a place on the bench 

hi ya yodo ma big pal nice to read your posts again I was missing you ,hope we can spar this year again and probably get up some peoples noses lets get going 

[MelvinBragg]

14 minutes ago, Yodo said:

The pitch was magnificent sadly the the players never matched the pitch we really need to sign a creative midfielder some of our passing was shocking .  Those who are saying Scott should be put out on loan I think today he showed why we might need him if we don't sign a first choice striker . Long was very poor and Illic and Seedorf contributed nothing Sloth looked capable but our captain will have to settle for a place on the bench 

I know there were issues today but I could swear that we won 4-0. I know we weren't up against much but the players did the job. Unlike other SPL teams this summer. And unlike some Motherwell teams in the past. Not that long ago Albion Rovers knocked us out of the Scottish Cup..

[Ya Bezzer!]

3 hours ago, weeyin said:

Was always going to be a tough game for Seedorf. His strength will be getting in behind defences - never easy when a team beds in around the box. 

Seedorf took a hissy fit about 20 minutes into the game and then just didn't ever seem focused.  Caught on his heels, being a bit lazy, not getting into the right positions, trying to showboat instead of doing the basics.

Perhaps he needs a wee bit maturity and game experience.  He's got pace and ability, he needs to supplement that with a better attitude than he showed today. 

[texanwellfan]

St Johnstone not having the best start to the season. 

[steelman1991]

4 hours ago, steelboy said:

Scott will need to start next week. I haven't seen Cole yet but Long didn't offer much at all. He's definitely not a lone striker.

Sloth looked good when he came on, he showed some class on the ball and upped the pace a few times. I thought Polworth was poor, it was another game where he basically had to drop back to the defence to get on the ball. Semple looked promising, nice passing and played with his head up, the ball through for our second goal was just about the only decent bit of play in the first half.

Our tactics weren't up to much. Two wingers who we struggled to get on the ball and when they managed to get it we had absolutely nothing in the box for them to aim at. Illic looks like he has something but i'm not sure what we are going to get out of playing him on the right hand side.

Were you at the game caller? Agree on Scott, but thought the exact opposite of Semple/Polworth - Semple poor, played with his ample head up his arse - Polworth first class some nice incisive passing and very comfortable on the ball.

[ropy]

Thoroughly enjoyed the 4 games, lots of players introduced, flashes of exciting, attacking play, and lots of possession.  I do wonder if we will be a bit lightweight against the bigger teams.

[Ya Bezzer!]

11 minutes ago, ropy said:

Thoroughly enjoyed the 4 games, lots of players introduced, flashes of exciting, attacking play, and lots of possession.  I do wonder if we will be a bit lightweight against the bigger teams.

One of the keys will be getting a level of consistency out of the wide players.

Hylton has shown that, the other guys have shown flashes of ability but perhaps lacked that level of consistency over the four matches. 

Felt that we weren't at maximum intensity in the last two games, when the season starts proper I think there will be more edge and a faster tempo.

I like Scott, I think he's the real deal but due to the formation we are playing we really need the wider players to put a shift in otherwise he's isolated.

[MelvinBragg]

So who are the non seeded teams through so far?

[Kmcalpin]

52 minutes ago, ropy said:

Thoroughly enjoyed the 4 games, lots of players introduced, flashes of exciting, attacking play, and lots of possession.  I do wonder if we will be a bit lightweight against the bigger teams.

A good summary.  We qualified as seeds, collected the maximum of 12 points and withourt conceding a goal.   Compare that to the poor start made by other Premiership teams.  You can only beat the teams in front of you and we did that.  However like you I wonder how we'll compete against other Premiership sides.  I've only seen two games but we looked a bit lightweight today, at times, and against Morton.  How will we fare defensively when put under some pressure?

Some thoughts from today's game.  I thought we missed Gallagher's aerial ability today at set pieces.  Donnelly is fairly hitting the net but I wonder how he'll cope defensively against better sides. I quite like the look of Long but he's no number 9. Without having seen Cole, I think we'll need to sign an experienced one before the window closes.  For long spells we seemed to lack a killer touch in the box. The wingers today were less effective against a team who predictably came to park their bus. Defenders doubled up against them and we can expect to see more of that in the coming weeks.   I must say I like the look of Ilic and am sure there's more to come from him.  The same goes for Sloth and it'll be interesting to see what he can do once he's fully match fit.  Semple had a reasonable game and the experience will have done no harm.  Would liked to have seen something of Adam Livingstone but it wasn't to be today.  Annan were a bit fortunate today not least in keeping 11 players on the park after some quite dreadful challenges.  

Hopefully we'll get a decent draw tomorrow - its time we had one. 

[Kmcalpin]

6 minutes ago, MelvinBragg said:

So who are the non seeded teams through so far?

Hearts, Forfar, Morton, Accies, Partick, Dunfermline,

[joewarkfanclub]

Thought we did what we had to do today without bringing any real intensity to the game. Got to be happy winning 4-0 without being forced out of 2nd gear. Felt some of our defending towards the end was unecessarily scrappy and better opposition would certainly pounce on our mostly self inflicted wounds. Hopefully when the real stuff starts next week we can iron out any wrinkles.

No real stand out performances today which disappointed given the level of opposition and much improved playing surface. Had hoped one or 2 would stamp their authority on the match.

Thought Polworth was decent first half not sure why he was subbed other than to give Sloth some gametime. Sloth looked composed on the ball 2nd half. Hopefully more to come from him.

Semple shows some nice touches but seems a little lacking in confidence and his positional play still needs some work. He is young and hopefully will improve with gametime.

Donnelly was our best player over 90 minutes and scored 2 good goals. However, there were a good few loose passes out there which he is going to need to cut out.

I agree with the others that James Scott must start next week. He is proving himself as our best option up front at the moment. Long was pretty ineffective today and Cole is still an unknown quantity.

Overall the group stages have been a worthwhile exercise for us. 4 wins, 13 goals, 0 conceded. Lots of gametime for the new players and no serious injuries that we know of. Some good football played and some cracking goals.

Starting the season from a much stronger position than this time last year.

 

[johnstone]

I don’t get this sign an experienced striker. Why? Scott looks the real deal. He is strong, skilful and is starting to find the net. He has started this season like he finished the last - scoring goals. I say stick with him as the number one striker. 

[Goggles & Flippers]

1 hour ago, johnstone said:

I don’t get this sign an experienced striker. Why? Scott looks the real deal. He is strong, skilful and is starting to find the net. He has started this season like he finished the last - scoring goals. I say stick with him as the number one striker. 

100% about Scott.

Add into the mix Cole, Long, Manzinga with possibly Tanner, Ilic and Hylton who can act in a forward role (by which I mean not isolated). Surely a club of our size and budgetary constraints can't afford to supplement the forward players much more than we already have.

[Yorkyred]

6 hours ago, johnstone said:

I don’t get this sign an experienced striker. Why? Scott looks the real deal. He is strong, skilful and is starting to find the net. He has started this season like he finished the last - scoring goals. I say stick with him as the number one striker. 

I still think he will struggle against premiership defenders, I don’t think anyone is saying he’s not got the qualities needed.

[Yodo]

11 hours ago, smiddy said:

hi ya yodo ma big pal nice to read your posts again I was missing you ,hope we can spar this year again and probably get up some peoples noses lets get going 

Smiddy ma man  U been on holiday thought you had been barred aff . Just watch what yer saying lots of happy clappers aboot and check yer spelling or the wee fella fae across the water will be giving out lines 

[Blakey]

12 hours ago, Yodo said:

The pitch was magnificent sadly the the players never matched the pitch we really need to sign a creative midfielder some of our passing was shocking .  Those who are saying Scott should be put out on loan I think today he showed why we might need him if we don't sign a first choice striker . Long was very poor and Illic and Seedorf contributed nothing Sloth looked capable but our captain will have to settle for a place on the bench 

Are you mjc who posts on P&B? You sound as miserable as him!

I thought we played well yesterday.

[Cumbaeyabas]

28 minutes ago, Blakey said:

Are you mjc who posts on P&B? You sound as miserable as him!

I thought we played well yesterday.

I can categorically state that these are two different persons, else a touch of the Andy Goram's.

MJC doesn't bleet like the spoilt brat out of The Railway Children, and Yodo, to date, doesn't show uber h*n tendancies.... 

Each, though, are, in my view, as tiresome as each other.....

[Kmcalpin]

3 hours ago, Yorkyred said:

I still think he will struggle against premiership defenders, I don’t think anyone is saying he’s not got the qualities needed.

This 100%. 

He's showing up well but will shortly start meeting taller, heavier, nastier and more experienced central defenders once the league action starts. He did struggle towards the end of last season.  Don't forget either he's only 18 and has a lot to learn. He'll also struggle more to get the close support he needs from others and he'll need to learn how to hold off hulking defenders until the cavalry arrives. Robbo has alrweady said that he needs how to use his body better. I'd like to see him get gametime but I don't think he's quite ready to shoulder the burden of being our main number 9 week in week out just yet.  His time will come.