Motherwell v St Mirren 02/04/2022

[wellup83]

Much better performance today particularly going forward. More purpose to our play and a clear intent on going forward at every opportunity. That said, the defence was all over the place in the first half. Thankfully much improved in the second. 

[steelboy]

That was encouraging today. Goss finally got a goal after a lot of bad luck, Shields made an impact, Cornelius was excellent and took his goal brilliantly and Slattery gave us a bit more composure in the middle of the park.

Van Veen's run for the fourth was genuine quality, I'm looking forward to seeing it later on. It seemed like the game plan was for him to play a bit deeper and Shiels and Efford to run in behind the defence.

 

[stv]

3 hours ago, Yorkyred said:

A line up that actually makes sense, I see a glorious win on the cards.

Give that man a ceegar. What a prediction.

[Ya Bezzer!]

Two sides of Motherwell there.

Played decent stuff first half but crazy bad defending then second half, kill the game and look for a goal on the break.

Did well to come back from 1-0 down.  We were much the better team up to that point but you could see our game go right off and the confidence drop.

Got the wee bit luck that we haven't had recently with St Mirren hitting the post when they should have scored and the keeper conceding a poor goal from Goss.

It's stating the obvious but we were much better with Donnelly out the team.

We really need to sort the defence out though because that's ten without a clean sheet and the standard of goal we give away is so, so poor.

Overall can't complain too much about entertainment tonight, think a point probably gets us Top 6 and a win definitely does.

 

 

[weeyin]

2 minutes ago, Ya Bezzer! said:

It's stating the obvious but we were much better with Donnelly out the team.

As I mentioned earlier, I always want to Slattery and Goss to start in the midfield as I think that's a good balance of dig and passing. Then the question is who supports that. I know he's not everyone's choice, but I like Maguire in there. In his absence, Cornelius is a good option too.

[Stevie73]

A lot better going forward today, still a bit of a bomb scare at the back, guys need to talk to each other more, calm down, play simple easy pass rather than Cruyff turns just outside your own box. Hopefully monkey off our back now and team can relax and carry on to next week which is a very winnable game, Slattery big difference today for me. 

[texanwellfan]

Still some long balls but that is perfectly fine. Coupled with some midfield play, it strikes a balance so at least the opposition don’t just have to sit back and mop up the hopeful (hopeless) long balls all game long. Surely he starts same team next week? O’Donnel decent performance at left back today. Over to you Mr Tombola! 

[I'll*no*be*back]

1 hour ago, couttsy said:

Great result. Defended much better 2nd half.

Lots of permutations but I think a point does us next week as long as Hibs and Ross C don’t both win against Hearts and Aberdeen (unlikely). 

The permutation I want .. is Dundee Beat Dundee Utd, Hibs beat Hearts, Motherwell beat Livingston and Ross County beat Aberdeen puts Aberdeen and Utd (and Tony Watt) in the bottom 6

[texanwellfan]

6 minutes ago, I'll*no*be*back said:

The permutation I want .. is Dundee Beat Dundee Utd, Hibs beat Hearts, Motherwell beat Livingston and Ross County beat Aberdeen puts Aberdeen and Utd (and Tony Watt) in the bottom 6

Aye! You are right. I was thinking Utd were safe in top 6 but those results are not too far fetched for that scenario to happen. I’d gladly go along with that. 

[mfc]

We needed that today,that's a big win for us.we started the game brightly then conceded a comical goal and I bet we were all thinking here we go again,we got a bit of luck with our equaliser but we were due that against that mob after there dodgy penalty and retake against us earlier in the season.the finish by shields was pure quality and deano showed real composure with his,how much of a difference it makes having a midfielder getting forward into a goal scoring position.the midfield that started today definitely has the best feel about it,alexander can't go tinkering with it,leave it as is for the rest of the season if possible.ive been critical of odonnell but he had a good game at left back,it might not be a long term solution but I would leave him there for the remainder of the season.that win has gave us a real chance of a top six finish and with fourth still up for grabs,we need to keep a settle side now and hopefully have a good end to the season.

[yosemite sam]

Don't think the manager kows what "settled" means. But we can always hope he breaks his Tombola machine, and has to play the same team twice.

 

[texanwellfan]

I hope that instills some confidence in the players and we take care of our result next week and not have to rely on help from the other results. 

[C&A not the shop]

2 hours ago, Spiderpig said:

Livi can still make the top 6 so it will be a tough game a definite must not lose match.

They can't if we draw with them next week.

So aye a draw would mean both County and Hibs would have to win for us to be out the top 6. 

Wild that St Mirren in 10th can still get top 6 with the right results elsewhere (we win, Hibs lose and Aberdeen and County draw and St Mirren win obviously which since they have Rangers is the least likely result)

[Mccus28]

Enjoyed that game today.

DC was excellent in midfied as was Slattery.  KVV at times is as lazy a player as ive seen for a long time but then he does some awesome stuff as well!!!!

Mugabi was a bit of a bombscare at right back today but incredibly O'Donnell was excellent at left back.

 

Most important thing was the win!!!!

[grizzlyg]

Think I am now banned from FP, didn't make it today as was on my way back from holiday with Mrs grizzly.  Maybe I am the jinx!)!) Lol .Great result today,  COYW

[Kmcalpin]

2 hours ago, Ya Bezzer! said:

Two sides of Motherwell there.

Played decent stuff first half but crazy bad defending then second half, kill the game and look for a goal on the break.

Did well to come back from 1-0 down.  We were much the better team up to that point but you could see our game go right off and the confidence drop.

Got the wee bit luck that we haven't had recently with St Mirren hitting the post when they should have scored and the keeper conceding a poor goal from Goss.

Agree with much of your post but the Buddies also enjoyed some good luck. We also rattled woodwork and how Power escaped a second yellow card I'll never know.

[SteelmaninOZ]

The gaffer said 

 

 

[joewarkfanclub]

On 4/1/2022 at 11:07 AM, joewarkfanclub said:

I think that is a little naiive.

If we win our next 2 games we could end up top 6 and of course relegation chat does look ridiculous if you are then pushing for a European spot.

But given the form we are in would it really be a big surprise if we lost them both by the odd goal?

If we end up in the bottom 6 and St Johnstone get any sort of result in there remaining games then the gap really is too close for comfort. 

With all the bottom 6 teams having to llay each other, it could very quickly become a dogfight, so its not ridiculous at all.

I will feel far more comfortable if we can win tomorrow and give ourselves some breathing space.

And breathe! 

[johnstone]

Loved that today. Proper entertainment 

[joewarkfanclub]

What a difference.

Feared the worst when I saw SOD line up at left back when the obvious thing was to push Lamie out there, but SOD had a decent game in that position and certainly assisted with the attacking play down the left in the first half.

The midfield of Slattery, Conrnelius and Goss was far more cohesive than anything we have seen for most of the season and gave us a platform to play from. 

Shields looks a much better player when he can play through the middle and run the channels. His first goal had shades of Dougie Arnott about it.

A couple of defensive blunders aside we dominated the first half and throughly deserved to be in the lead.

Second have Saints changed it up and it took too long for me for us to make the change to combat their new shape, but we defended well enough and when the changes did come, they were the right ones and we finished strongly.

Much improved, and if the manager can avoid any brainfarts next week, top 6 is within our grasp.

[Welldaft Mk1]

6 hours ago, GazzyB said:

What a save from the St Mirren keeper from Slattery's effort.

 

Stephen O'Donnell has been fantastic at LB today.

Not read all the posts but not having this. I assume u have been sarcastic ?

I thought he was poor today.  An unfortunate header maybe for the 1st goal but his passing was woeful. Mainly back to Kelly.

Second half he was robbed of the ball by simply fannying about. 

I call it as I see it. I want him to be successful but he was poor today 

[texanwellfan]

I thought O’Donnell done a decent job at LB and i’d be happy to see him start again there next week. 

[Welldaft Mk1]

Just now, texanwellfan said:

I thought O’Donnell done a decent job at LB and if be happy to see him start again there next week. 

He was average at best. Even thought Sol was dodgy at times today. Mugabi struggled against Jones. 

Need to totally revamp that defence today. Conceded 2 but could have been 3 or 4 easily.

[texanwellfan]

2 minutes ago, Welldaft Mk1 said:

He was average at best. Even thought Sol was dodgy at times today. Mugabi struggled against Jones. 

Need to totally revamp that defence today. Conceded 2 but could have been 3 or 4 easily.

I’d say Lamie and O’Donnell were better today than Bevis or Sol.  Not sure how we are going to revamp the defence. O’Donnell, Bevis Lamie, McGinley?  I think the midfield played better today at the expense of some defensive duties which left us quite open on occasion but we got the benefit in attack. But agree too much fannying around on the ball at the back.  That’s not too say howf  it away but make the easy pass, there were plenty available. 

[wellgirl]

I personally think Stephen ODonnell gets far too much criticism. Way too much. I thought he had a solid game today. I also really like Graham Alexander on so many levels. He praises his players when they deserve it. The thing that struck me today was the backing the fans gave the players. At one point the whole of the east stand was on their feet clapping the players and that was when we were at 2-2. For me the one thing I was happy about today was the win so that people would give Alexander a break. For context I’ve been going to fir park since 1987 and I don’t think he’s a poor manager. Also. If you go on twitter tonight you will see their fans calling for Robbos head. Yes Alexander has made mistakes but 3 points next week and we are top six. That will do me. The fans were phenomenal today and they really should be applauded for that. I’ve not seen support like that for the team in a long time. The whole stand was on its feet clapping the team and that’s the way to get behind them. Particularly when we’ve been struggling lately.