St Johnstone V Motherwell 19/03/2022

[middleeastdave]

I know there has been comments that we are making referees the excuse for our defeats, well I just saw Bobby Madden giving Rangers a penalty which was pretty soft in fact if referees gave a penalty for that incident at Dundee there will plenty of penalties…..sorry Rangers/Celtic will get plenty of penalties, I know it was missed the penalty but my point is that referees do make a difference to the results.

[wellwell91]

1 hour ago, ZT_1886 said:

I don’t understand why we go with the 5-2-3. If he doesn’t trust the defence (who can blame him) then why sacrifice a body in the midfield when you’ve got 3 players up top getting very poor (if any) service.

That front 3 yesterday will never work neither Shields nor Efford are wingers and there’s no point trying to play someone off KVV as that not how he plays (greedy bastard)

Play KVV up front on his own with 5 in midfield and have 2 of them (Tierney and Shaw) breaking their butt to join him.

As for Slattery feck knows what’s going on there not the fastest but he can put his foot on the ball actually pass it to a teammate and breaks play up and win us free kicks.
 

[fizoxy]

I agree with KVV as the lone striker with two more in midfield. Our wingers are ineffective, and Van Veen doesn't use them anyway. Two out of Goss, Tierney, Slattery and O'Hara is probably an upgrade over shields and Efford.

However, that lineup would only work if we start passing the ball. My worry would be that we'd set up that way, and punt the ball up to KVV anyway.

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

[Yabba's Turd]

I thought Efford had a very poor game yesterday, as did many others. Season is almost over top 6 or not

[Kmcalpin]

Just brought myself to watch the goals from Saturday's game. Our goal through Van Veen was very well created and taken but it was a solo goal which is his trademark.

St Johnstone's first goal was schoolboy defending from us. The St Johnstone player had all the time and space in the world to pick out his target for the  cross. How many goals like that have we conceded?  Do we never learn. This is despite playing with a back/midfield 5. If Nathan McGinley had been playing he'd have been slaughtered on social media for that.

St Johnstone's second goal. Exceptionally well taken, as many of our opponents goals are, but what a mess by our central defence.  Caught out badly on the wrong side.

[Great Balls of Shire]

23 minutes ago, Kmcalpin said:

Just brought myself to watch the goals from Saturday's game. Our goal through Van Veen was very well created and taken but it was a solo goal which is his trademark.

St Johnstone's first goal was schoolboy defending from us. The St Johnstone player had all the time and space in the world to pick out his target for the  cross. How many goals like that have we conceded?  Do we never learn. This is despite playing with a back/midfield 5. If Nathan McGinley had been playing he'd have been slaughtered on social media for that.

St Johnstone's second goal. Exceptionally well taken, as many of our opponents goals are, but what a mess by our central defence.  Caught out badly on the wrong side.

yep, mcginley would have been , it was his turn to let the cross in last week v hibs.  Full backs , in general, are terrible,  they don't even get forward either 

[Ya Bezzer!]

On 3/19/2022 at 4:59 PM, Fairhill said:

I'm reflecting...how can a tea that did so well before Christmas get so bad after?  I'm thinking...I wonder how long it will be before the lads clamour for the manager's head???

We aren't.

We got some luck before Christmas, for instance the Ross County match where we were totally outplayed and still somehow won, versus now when things just aren't falling for us, for instance the Ross County match that was pretty even but we lost to a dodgy penalty.

It's not like we are being turned over every week.  OK, you can say a loss is a loss but we are losing 0-1 or 1-2 then getting a draw that maybe we should have won, then losing 0-1 or 1-2. 

We are 11 league games without a win but we have never lost more than 2 in a row and the last 5 there has never been more than 1 goal in it.

We are not a million miles away from getting a result.  You can't go on losing narrowly forever but honestly, in the position we are in right now, people are over reacting.  I'm not saying anyone should be happy about things as they are but the level of furore is a bit off IMO.

['WellMagic!]

I've never really called for a managers head, but Alexander is pushing it. It seems like he has less and less of a clue every single week and I think his luck is running out. Even at the beginning of the season, the games we won, we won narrowly and the performances were similar to how they are now. We were giving up a huge amount of possession, and just getting away with it a lot of the time. 

He just makes some bonkers decisions though, for example, I have no idea why he isn't starting Woolery, who has been by far our most threatening player the last few games. The majority of chances come from him ,and when you combine that with things like: never playing Slattery, persisting with Shields, and playing centre backs at wing back - it becomes pretty hard to see any positives. 

There is no doubt in my mind that the front three, or two, should be a combination on KVV, Woolery and Roberts, they are clearly the best we have. He really needs to stop dropping players that are having a good game, I can't imagine the constant switching will be good for morale. I don't think our squad is particularly bad, he just has no idea what to do with the players. He needs to be held accountable as it's basically his team now, he's signed the majority. 

I think the level of rage is probably a bit over the top, but it's really hard to see positives sometimes when the starting 11 continuously changes and the football in general is so eye-bleeding. 
 

[Busta Nut]

I'd like Alexander to go.

The players don't want to play for him. I doubt they are able to with his tactics anyway but I don't think anyone likes him. 

He's killing my interest completely. 

The players look like they don't know each other. They look like they've never spent the last 8 months playing together.
2 midfielders in a team is a fucking joke. He can try tell you it's a 3-4-3 but he's fucking at it if he thinks we don't see it.


I am fucking scunnered. 

['WellMagic!]

Just now, Busta Nut said:

He's killing my interest completely. 

Yes, this is it. I feel exactly the same. 

[MJC]

28 minutes ago, 'WellMagic! said:

Yes, this is it. I feel exactly the same. 

Likewise. I don’t think there’s any way back for him with the support to be honest.

[I'll*no*be*back]

41 minutes ago, Busta Nut said:

I'd like Alexander to go.

The players don't want to play for him. I doubt they are able to with his tactics anyway but I don't think anyone likes him. 

He's killing my interest completely. 

The players look like they don't know each other. They look like they've never spent the last 8 months playing together.
2 midfielders in a team is a fucking joke. He can try tell you it's a 3-4-3 but he's fucking at it if he thinks we don't see it.


I am fucking scunnered. 

The tactics are basic and awful. Fair enough if you have players who can capitalise on the long ball game, we don't. We just surrender possession time and again and when you do that you lose goals.

[I'll*no*be*back]

12 minutes ago, MJC_mkII said:

Likewise. I don’t think there’s any way back for him with the support to be honest.

oh there is , there is if we finish in the top 6 there are Motherwell fans who don't care if we play mind numbing shite..

[Winning by Name]

3 hours ago, Ya Bezzer! said:

We aren't.

We got some luck before Christmas, for instance the Ross County match where we were totally outplayed and still somehow won, versus now when things just aren't falling for us, for instance the Ross County match that was pretty even but we lost to a dodgy penalty.

It's not like we are being turned over every week.  OK, you can say a loss is a loss but we are losing 0-1 or 1-2 then getting a draw that maybe we should have won, then losing 0-1 or 1-2. 

We are 11 league games without a win but we have never lost more than 2 in a row and the last 5 there has never been more than 1 goal in it.

We are not a million miles away from getting a result.  You can't go on losing narrowly forever but honestly, in the position we are in right now, people are over reacting.  I'm not saying anyone should be happy about things as they are but the level of furore is a bit off IMO.

My dad used to always say that a team who keeps losing closely by the odd goal is a team who are going to struggle against relegation. Which nowadays means the play-off spot too.

[Great Balls of Shire]

2 hours ago, MJC_mkII said:

Likewise. I don’t think there’s any way back for him with the support to be honest.

nah, fans are fickle...IF we were to win next 2 and make top 6...I know , unlikely, fans would be back on board for a wee while

[sinjy]

I swore after Ross Co, Dundee and Hibs I was done with away games. At 2.50 withdrawal symptoms set in and I paid £17.50 to watch one of the worst games of football imaginable. No creativity, no finesse or skill. Two bad teams with one worldy shot that won it. I would regard myself as a happy clapper but that was unacceptable. I really fear that if we do not make the top six we will end up in the play off. A couple more defeats and we could be only five or six points in front of St Johnstone at the start of the run in.

The problems seem to stem from January. Watt was a big loss as he got us up the park holding the ball and buying fouls. Combine his loss with the players who came in. Roberts was poor before. What is the point of Shaw, and Tierney looks like someone's son playing in his dad's testimonial.

Team selections are strange. Woolery did well at Ibrox but has been on the bench since. Slattery was a star before Xmas but has disappeared. Playing five at the back against Hibs was a change that I thought might work but not to have O'Donnell and Carroll's the wing backs was wrong McGinley and Mugabe are basically defenders. Admittedly that didn't work too well on Saturday. Then on Saturday only two midfielders, Donnelly and a rookie, Cornelius, just made it clear we were going to hoof it and miss out the midfield.

I thought Alexander was great booking but I am now having severe doubts.

[El Grew]

3 hours ago, Winning by Name said:

My dad used to always say that a team who keeps losing closely by the odd goal is a team who are going to struggle against relegation.

You beat me to that.

[Winning by Name]

4 minutes ago, El Grew said:

You beat me to that.

What was he your dad too?

[MJC]

12 hours ago, I'll*no*be*back said:

oh there is , there is if we finish in the top 6 there are Motherwell fans who don't care if we play mind numbing shite..

Mmm,  I’m not even convinced that that would happen. If we managed to scrape into the top six then that would almost certainly ensure a ‘6th placed’ finish with two pumpings off both halves of the OF, one point(if we’re lucky) against the Edinburgh sides and more awful, eye bleeding football.

Football is meant to be an entertainment business and we offer absolutely nothing in that department. The grumbling of the fans both at the ground and online over the past few months would suggest that the support as a whole are absolutely scunnered with the fare on show.

[Spiderpig]

5 hours ago, MJC_mkII said:

Mmm,  I’m not even convinced that that would happen. If we managed to scrape into the top six then that would almost certainly ensure a ‘6th placed’ finish with two pumpings off both halves of the OF, one point(if we’re lucky) against the Edinburgh sides and more awful, eye bleeding football.

Football is meant to be an entertainment business and we offer absolutely nothing in that department. The grumbling of the fans both at the ground and online over the past few months would suggest that the support as a whole are absolutely scunnered with the fare on show.

If we go on a run of wins now and finish up 4th or 5th and qualify for Europe most fans won't give a feck how we've played since Christmas. 

As for football being an entertainment business  it's not its all about results  and where you finish at the end of the season, the entertainment is a bonus.