Scottish Cup - Morton at Fir Park 22 Jan

[Stuwell2]

Terrible game yesterday but thankfully we’re through. 
Morton set up to make things difficult and they did. Had Shields decent effort not been saved it could have been a different game. 
Not getting the McGuire was shit stuff - thought he tried to get the ball and pass it about quite successfully yesterday. 
Tierney looks promising but Carroll isn’t a centre half - IMHO. 
 

[well_said]

The entire back four were terrible yesterday as they were at Ross county.

[Yorkyred]

1 hour ago, well_said said:

The entire back four were terrible yesterday as they were at Ross county.

The midfield was the problem again for me until Slattery came on.

[Spiderpig]

8 minutes ago, Yorkyred said:

The midfield was the problem again for me until Slattery came on.

Correct, mcguire looked panic stricken every time he had the ball, as for Donnelly he was the invisible man for 120 mins and 45 seconds, Goss was the only one who looked capable,I can't understand why Slattery or Tierney  never started alongside him.

[GazzyB]

17 minutes ago, Spiderpig said:

Correct, mcguire looked panic stricken every time he had the ball, as for Donnelly he was the invisible man for 120 mins and 45 seconds, Goss was the only one who looked capable,I can't understand why Slattery or Tierney  never started alongside him.

Agree re Donnelly, but I thought Maguire was the only one who managed to get on the ball and play passes. I thought he was very good actually.

[Onthefringes]

Goss’ influence on games doesn’t happen alongside those two. That’s an easy fix.

[Richie]

Agree re Donnelly, but I thought Maguire was the only one who managed to get on the ball and play passes. I thought he was very good actually.

Agree with this.
To me Maguire was one of the few who showed any composure and was looking to retain the ball, rather than hoof it/launch it down a channel.
He was having to continually double back on himself though due to options.

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[Kmcalpin]

55 minutes ago, Spiderpig said:

Correct, mcguire looked panic stricken every time he had the ball, as for Donnelly he was the invisible man for 120 mins and 45 seconds, Goss was the only one who looked capable,I can't understand why Slattery or Tierney  never started alongside him.

Thats pretty much it Allan as we said during the game. We may have a good number of midfielders on paper but not all are decent first team material.

[maz]

I'm just delighted to get through to the next round as we have been beaten by far worse tbh.

I was quite surprised that lots of people have chosen Maguire for MOTM in the other thread, I thought he seemed really nervy and I don't know how often he swivvled round in a circle to play the ball with his left foot as it stifled the attack on numerous occasions.

If we started with VV up top I think we would have won the game in the 90 minutes, Morton rarely threatened but they probably should have done better with the shot right on the 45th minute. The only other shot they had ended up in the back of net.

Morton fans seem to think Mr Walsh gift wrapped the game for us but I think he done alright to be fair, overly fussy yes but he didn't get anything major wrong. I thought Morton were quite robust with some challenges and got lots of soft free kicks around the middle of park. The penalty incident was quite ludicrious from the Morton defender as if he tried to head it he would have won that battle against Tierney all day but instead he pushed him to the deck.

I've been wanting to see Carroll back in at left back, I would admit I would rather he didn't slot back in at the centre of defensive, he lost a lot of headers, a better side would obviously punish that.

It was nice to see Imrie freak out after our winner, after the initial thousand yard stare after he realised what happened he was raging with someone on his bench, Andy Millen I think. Loved his tirade of F's.  I was massively dissapointed in the lack of Mattress songs. Least he'll remember his first mangerial lost was to Motherwell, with a 120th minute peach.

Just on another note, after our winner the last 30 seconds was utter madness, Kelly almost handling out the box and both Carroll and McGinley slicing the ball backwards.

 

 

[mfc]

The team selection on saturday was baffling,carroll can't get a game in his natural position but he gets brought in at centre half when we have two defenders on the bench,I think this would have been an ideal game to give o'connor some minutes.saturday showed yet again that maguire and donnelly shouldn't be in the team at the same time,there both far to slow in possession,which would be fine if we had  just the one in the team and there role was to keep it simple and move the ball onto others but both in a three man midfield just doesn't work,we have some decent options to pick from in midfield,hopefully we see atleast one change for the hibs game.like maz in the post above I think we would have been a couple up had van veen started,there was 3 or 4 times in the first half where there was a decent ball in from out wide and none of our forwards were in a position to do anything about it,if we had a natural centre forward on the park,I think we would have been up by half time.i think we need another striker to compete with van veen through the middle,it would be madness to rely on just him as our main source of goals for the rest of the season.

[dennyc]

5 minutes ago, maz said:

 

I was quite surprised that lots of people have chosen Maguire for MOTM in the other thread, I thought he seemed really nervy and I don't know how often he swivvled round in a circle to play the ball with his left foot as it stifled the attack on numerous occasions.

 

Strange how folk view things differently. I thought the main reason Maguire had to check back so often was because several players were not making themselves available for a pass. Woolery and Roberts, for so called wingers, spent most of the match trying unsuccessfully to be centre forwards and Goss and Donnelly were just nowhere to be seen. If it was not for both (much maligned} full backs, Maguire would have had no outlet whatsoever. Maguire was the only midfielder prepared to go looking for the ball. In fact it was a re-run of Dingwall for much of the match.

And I don't get the Goss love in either. Sure, he can make a lovely pass from time to time (the touch to Donnelly for the winner) but too often he passes the buck and plays others into trouble. I lost count of the number of times McGinley in particular was sold short and then moaned at for not getting a cross in because he was closed down. I expect more from Goss as he certainly has the ability. Van Veen, Tierney and Slattery had an immediate impact as we all saw. It's amazing what energy,  movement and demanding the ball can achieve. Even then Tierney was often ignored as he found space to receive a pass.

I hope Alexander finds a way to include all three of those substitutes from the start against Hibs, but I'm not sure where Tierney will fit when Alexander sticks to his usual formation. I think he would be best suited to slotting in behind two strikers, which is the position he excelled in before he joined us. 

[weeyin]

19 minutes ago, mfc said:

The team selection on saturday was baffling

It surely wasn't that baffling. We obviously had injuries/illnesses to key players and GA did his usual trick of keeping quiet about them.

[wellwell91]

15 minutes ago, dennyc said:

I hope Alexander finds a way to include all three of those substitutes from the start against Hibs, but I'm not sure where Tierney will fit when Alexander sticks to his usual formation. I think he would be best suited to slotting in behind two strikers, which is the position he excelled in before he joined us. 

Agree ……… Think a front 2 of KVV and Shields with Tierney playing just behind them would work 

Unfortunately don’t think we’ll see Tierney on Wednesday looked like he did himself some damage at our winning goal

[mfc]

9 minutes ago, weeyin said:

It surely wasn't that baffling. We obviously had injuries/illnesses to key players and GA did his usual trick of keeping quiet about them.

To play a left back at centre half when you have two centre backs on the bench is slightly baffling,I get not starting ojala as the last thing we want is him getting injured again in a game like that but there wasn't a better time to play oconnor.

[Coatsy]

5 hours ago, mfc said:

To play a left back at centre half when you have two centre backs on the bench is slightly baffling,I get not starting ojala as the last thing we want is him getting injured again in a game like that but there wasn't a better time to play oconnor.

Can you imagine the stick O'Connor would have got if he played on Saturday and we were 1 nil down.

[Great Balls of Shire]

19 hours ago, dennyc said:

Strange how folk view things differently. I thought the main reason Maguire had to check back so often was because several players were not making themselves available for a pass. Woolery and Roberts, for so called wingers, spent most of the match trying unsuccessfully to be centre forwards and Goss and Donnelly were just nowhere to be seen. If it was not for both (much maligned} full backs, Maguire would have had no outlet whatsoever. Maguire was the only midfielder prepared to go looking for the ball. In fact it was a re-run of Dingwall for much of the match.

And I don't get the Goss love in either. Sure, he can make a lovely pass from time to time (the touch to Donnelly for the winner) but too often he passes the buck and plays others into trouble. I lost count of the number of times McGinley in particular was sold short and then moaned at for not getting a cross in because he was closed down. I expect more from Goss as he certainly has the ability. Van Veen, Tierney and Slattery had an immediate impact as we all saw. It's amazing what energy,  movement and demanding the ball can achieve. Even then Tierney was often ignored as he found space to receive a pass.

I hope Alexander finds a way to include all three of those substitutes from the start against Hibs, but I'm not sure where Tierney will fit when Alexander sticks to his usual formation. I think he would be best suited to slotting in behind two strikers, which is the position he excelled in before he joined us. 

Full backs are much maligned and there's a reason for that, GA for the time being isn't going to drop them . 

[Coatsy]

2 hours ago, Great Balls of Shire said:

Full backs are much maligned and there's a reason for that, GA for the time being isn't going to drop them . 

Don't agree, we have had plenty of full backs that well well received, Tate, Hammell, McKinnon, Boyd, Wark, McMillan.  Plenty of others were rubbish, bur don't think they get any more stick than other poor players.

[stephmc1886]

22 hours ago, dennyc said:

Strange how folk view things differently. I thought the main reason Maguire had to check back so often was because several players were not making themselves available for a pass. Woolery and Roberts, for so called wingers, spent most of the match trying unsuccessfully to be centre forwards and Goss and Donnelly were just nowhere to be seen. If it was not for both (much maligned} full backs, Maguire would have had no outlet whatsoever. Maguire was the only midfielder prepared to go looking for the ball. In fact it was a re-run of Dingwall for much of the match.

And I don't get the Goss love in either. Sure, he can make a lovely pass from time to time (the touch to Donnelly for the winner) but too often he passes the buck and plays others into trouble. I lost count of the number of times McGinley in particular was sold short and then moaned at for not getting a cross in because he was closed down. I expect more from Goss as he certainly has the ability. Van Veen, Tierney and Slattery had an immediate impact as we all saw. It's amazing what energy,  movement and demanding the ball can achieve. Even then Tierney was often ignored as he found space to receive a pass.

I hope Alexander finds a way to include all three of those substitutes from the start against Hibs, but I'm not sure where Tierney will fit when Alexander sticks to his usual formation. I think he would be best suited to slotting in behind two strikers, which is the position he excelled in before he joined us. 

Agree, I thought Maguire knocked his pan in covering for the hide and seek champs in midfield!

[Winning by Name]

2 hours ago, Coatsy said:

Don't agree, we have had plenty of full backs that well well received, Tate, Hammell, McKinnon, Boyd, Wark, McMillan.  Plenty of others were rubbish, bur don't think they get any more stick than other poor players.

Tate couldnt get a game for Liam Grimshaw for goodness sake. How can you compare him with the others?

[Coatsy]

Tate couldnt get a game for Liam Grimshaw for goodness sake. How can you compare him with the others?

122 games over 3 seasons not bad for someone who couldn’t get a game


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[maz]

3 hours ago, stephmc1886 said:

Agree, I thought Maguire knocked his pan in covering for the hide and seek champs in midfield!

Like the other poster said, it's funny how people view the game differently. I just felt he slowed the play down far to often, I don't know how often he spun in a circle taking the ball from his right foot onto his left when Woolery and O'Donnell had space to maraude forward. While he did bring out a comfortable save from Hamilton in goal, he tried a long ranger at one point when he had many bodies blocking him and his shot almost put us in a spot of bother, thankfully that Ugwe put in a powderpuff cross. The main thing is we got through to the next stage of the competition, thanks to a bit of quality from our hide and seek champions never the less.

[pretzel]

5 minutes ago, maz said:

Like the other poster said, it's funny how people view the game differently. I just felt he slowed the play down far to often, I don't know how often he spun in a circle taking the ball from his right foot onto his left when Woolery and O'Donnell had space to maraude forward. While he did bring out a comfortable save from Hamilton in goal, he tried a long ranger at one point when he had many bodies blocking him and his shot almost put us in a spot of bother, thankfully that Ugwe put in a powderpuff cross. The main thing is we got through to the next stage of the competition, thanks to a bit of quality from our hide and seek champions never the less.

He also shat out of a challenge at one point, quite disappointing as you would have thought as previously being a defender he would have fancied a meaty challenge. Not quite Vigurs pirouette but he seemed to be more comfy getting the ball turned  onto his stronger foot and finding McGinley down the left when better options were available.

[weeyin]

Maguire is a good example of a player that has come through our system and is still developing as a player.

When people ask about youngsters getting their chance, he is a good example.

He's also a good example of the lack of patience some fans have  with developing younger players, as they are pretty unforgiving about any mistakes.

My preferred midfiled this season has been Slattery, Maguire and Goss as I think that provides the best balance of dig and passing. Tierney and Shaw, of course, might change that for the remainder.

[Winning by Name]

29 minutes ago, Coatsy said:

122 games over 3 seasons not bad for someone who couldn’t get a game


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How many games did Wark play for us?

How many games did Hammell play for us?

How many Scottish caps did Boyd get?

Nothing against Tate but he is not in their class and you didnt even mention Martin Corrigan. I am also old enough to talk about Davie Whiteford and a few others. I will stop now cos I thought Tate was a good Well player and was a bit hard done by at the end.

[Toxteth O'Grady]

It seems the Aberdeen game in the next round will be at 3pm on the Saturday as it hasn't been selected for TV coverage:

https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/news/fifth-round-scottish-cup-televised-fixtures-confirmed/