ECL Fir Park Motherwell v Sligo Rovers 21/07/22

[mfc]

21 minutes ago, GazzyB said:

I want to start off by saying that I disagree with the sentiment that Sligo were the better team. They were not, they sat in and defended while we had plenty of possession. We were the better team, but that doesn’t mean we were good. Far from it. We were fucking minging, unable to break down a disciplined team who worked their arses off. The way to beat this team was to switch the ball quickly, work the overload on the wing and whip low balls in for Van Veen and the attacker on the other side to attack. The ONE time we did that Shields managed to miss from 6 yards. Our left side linked up well in the first half a few times but did nothing in the second half.

 

We absolutely must turn this around next week. We can’t get knocked out by a mid table Irish team. Get Bevis and Shields to fuck and find a way to start Tierney in behind a front two of KVV and another striker we sign ASAP.

 

Losing at home to Sligo is very poor, but getting put out the tie altogether and it’s time for Alexander to go.

 

Sitting in Glasgow airport just now and the Sligo squad and a ton of fans are here. Fair play to them they are absolutely buzzing the lot of them. 

I totally agree with that,we've all seen us playing lower ranked teams many a time and we played right into there hands last night by playing slow pedestrian stuff,I'm not saying woolery would have been the saviour but we were crying out for a player with pace that would be direct.shields has pace and puts himself about but it's not enough,he offers nothing beside that,as you say him and mugabi should be benched for next week.i would go 352 with tierney in behind two strikers,atleast that way we would have a player who's first thought is to turn and go at the opposition,I would have cornelius in as well to offer a bit more energy in the middle of the park.if we see no reaction next week and it's more of the same then alexander should be sacked.

[wellfan]

33 minutes ago, mfc said:

I totally agree with that,we've all seen us playing lower ranked teams many a time and we played right into there hands last night by playing slow pedestrian stuff,I'm not saying woolery would have been the saviour but we were crying out for a player with pace that would be direct.shields has pace and puts himself about but it's not enough,he offers nothing beside that,as you say him and mugabi should be benched for next week.i would go 352 with tierney in behind two strikers,atleast that way we would have a player who's first thought is to turn and go at the opposition,I would have cornelius in as well to offer a bit more energy in the middle of the park.if we see no reaction next week and it's more of the same then alexander should be sacked.

If history has taught us anything, it will be more of the same 433 nonsense next week. And Alexander won't be sacked because the Club stupidly gave him a contract extension. 

[mfc]

Just now, wellfan said:

If history has taught us anything, it will be more of the same 433 nonsense next week. And Alexander won't be sacked because the Club stupidly gave him a contract extension. 

I think we will see a couple of changes to the starting line up next week but that will be all,I'm fully expecting the same formation and approach to the game.sadly last night is the norm for us,it's not like we can say this team has 2 or 3 levels it could go up and there's nothing to worry about.

[Kat]

4 minutes ago, wellfan said:

And Alexander won't be sacked because the Club stupidly gave him a contract extension. 

TBF he had a great first year all things considered, it was after he signed his deal everything sadly took a turn for the worse. 

[SteelmaninOZ]

6 hours ago, Kmcalpin said:

Good to see a large crowd last night but as so often happens the team let them down.

Main Stand was an absolute shambles last night and a few emails will no doubt be sent to the club this morning about it, including one from me.  I have no idea about the other 2 home stands. We got to our usual area well before kick off to find others occupying our seats. They refused to move saying they had been told they could sit anywhere - I wonder who told them as we couldn't find any stewards. This situation got steadily worse nearer and after  kick off with folk standing about looking for seats, groups being split up etc. I've seen  many games in a packed Main Stand but this was the worst experience ever. Come on MFC if the Hydro can organise larger crowds with everyone sitting in their correct seats why can't we? Stewarding was totally inadequate.

The Club says 

click on supporters update 

[grizzlyg]

Find who threw the bottle and ban them for life, we don't need clowns like that at our games 

[texanwellfan]

52 minutes ago, grizzlyg said:

Find who threw the bottle and ban them for life, we don't need clowns like that at our games 

Not even sure why. Officials were fine. Still can’t believe Ref never gave PK against Carroll. 

[wellsince75]

9 minutes ago, texanwellfan said:

Not even sure why. Officials were fine. Still can’t believe Ref never gave PK against Carroll. 

one we got away with.   The benefit of no VAR and limited away fans to make much noise.

[Lobey_Dosser]

A really disappointing, but largely unsurprising return to Fir Park last night. Going into the game, I had reservations about our lack of preseason friendlies but hoped we had learned from our mistakes in the league cup last summer. Clearly that wasn’t the case however and our lack of sharpness and speed of thought proved to be the difference in the game. That aside, I don’t think we were terrible - we do however lack quality in at least three key areas and unless KVV is firing on all cylinders, we don’t look like scoring from open play. 

Which brings me onto our signing policy this summer. I welcome us bringing in three steady pros but I did expect some additional quality or potential to arrival. Last summer, we brought in Kelly, KVV and Slattery amongst others - we have fallen way short of that standard so far this summer. Maybe it’s the case that we are holding out for players of a higher standard? Alternatively, has the budget been spent or, have the Board lost faith in Alexander’s signing policy? 

Off the park, things were no better. I was one of the ones caught up the main stand farce. It was particularly frustrating as the club emailed me on Wednesday to say I had bought a ticket in a cordoned off area, unfortunately the new ticket they allocated me was in another cordoned off area. As more fans in a similar position arrived, this took the shine off the pre-match countdown, which was a shame as Fir Park was looking tremendous with the new pitch and the colour oozing from the packed out home stands. The club have acknowledged the mixup today which is fine, however it points towards the office staff being spread a little thin as such mistakes shouldn’t be happening.

Across the other side of the pitch, the ‘singing in the chapel’ was a real low point of the night. I admire the atmosphere the bois bring to Fir Park, they had the East Stand looking great but such chanting undermines the positives. It was weak of the club not to call it out for what it was in their statement earlier today. Here’s hoping the Sligo fans are a little more welcoming. 

[ZT_1886]

Not even sure why. Officials were fine. Still can’t believe Ref never gave PK against Carroll. 

It was right when the ref stopped a promising attack to check on a Sligo player. Not sure what role the linesmen was supposed to have played in that.

[texanwellfan]

2 minutes ago, ZT_1886 said:

It was right when the ref stopped a promising attack to check on a Sligo player. Not sure what role the linesmen was supposed to have played in that.

Especially when the officials done what they have been told to do. Stop the game for head injury. 

[MJC]

12 minutes ago, Lobey_Dosser said:

Across the other side of the pitch, the ‘singing in the chapel’ was a real low point of the night. I admire the atmosphere the bois bring to Fir Park, they had the East Stand looking great but such chanting undermines the positives. It was weak of the club not to call it out for what it was in their statement earlier today. Here’s hoping the Sligo fans are a little more welcoming. 

Agree with that, any shite like that should be being called out by the club. Any religious or political related chanting or banners should have no place at Fir Park. There is, or should not be, any kind of ideology when following Motherwell FC.

[spudmfc]

20 minutes ago, texanwellfan said:

Especially when the officials done what they have been told to do. Stop the game for head injury. 

Step forward all the cheats in the game,clutching at the face/head will b a new one this season

[grizzlyg]

23 minutes ago, MJC_mkII said:

Agree with that, any shite like that should be being called out by the club. Any religious or political related chanting or banners should have no place at Fir Park. There is, or should not be, any kind of ideology when following Motherwell FC.

Club needs to deal with this asap, I get more angry the more I think about it.  

[SteelmaninOZ]

Just in case you need to be reminded 

COYW 

[texanwellfan]

56 minutes ago, spudmfc said:

Step forward all the cheats in the game,clutching at the face/head will b a new one this season

Sligo player not cheating but I see what you mean. 

[Kmcalpin]

9 hours ago, mfc said:

we played right into there hands last night by playing slow pedestrian stuff,I'm not saying woolery would have been the saviour but we were crying out for a player with pace that would be direct.shields has pace and puts himself about but it's not enough,he offers nothing beside that,as you say him and mugabi should be benched for next week.i would go 352 with tierney in behind two strikers,atleast that way we would have a player who's first thought is to turn and go at the opposition,I would have cornelius in as well to offer a bit more energy in the middle of the park.

Agreed, but what changes do we make? Once in front, Sligo wanted to slow the game down and we duly obliged.  We simply couldn't up the tempo.  I wonder if we could have retained Woolery for an extra fortnight or so to see us through the Sligo games? Not suggesting for a minute that he'd have been our saviour, but he would have given us an extra option up front and have given us some much needed pace. 

I understand the 3-5-2 option but who would we play as strikers? An unfit Van Veen and Shields?

Agree 100% about Cornelius and I prefer him to Maguire as he provides a few different skills and energy as you say. However, he'll have had even less gametime than those who played last night.

[Yorkyred]

A massive factor was match fitness, play that half a dozen competitive games later and you get a totally different result.

[mfc]

11 minutes ago, Kmcalpin said:

Agreed, but what changes do we make? Once in front, Sligo wanted to slow the game down and we duly obliged.  We simply couldn't up the tempo.  I wonder if we could have retained Woolery for an extra fortnight or so to see us through the Sligo games? Not suggesting for a minute that he'd have been our saviour, but he would have given us an extra option up front and have given us some much needed pace. 

I understand the 3-5-2 option but who would we play as strikers? An unfit Van Veen and Shields?

Agree 100% about Cornelius and I prefer him to Maguire as he provides a few different sklils and energy as you say. However, he'll have had even less gametime than those who played last night.

I actually thought the same about woolery,if we could have maybe kept him until this tie was over giving how short we with attacking options.i would like to see us go 352 and have odonnell and carroll force there players back and give us a much needed threat out wide,I would have tierney in to give us a direct running threat from the number 10 position.like you it's who we play up front that could give the biggest headache,van veen looked so far off the pace last night,you would have to think he won't train much if at all between now and thursday to try and get over whatever injury he's carrying.i don't rate efford that much but I would fancy him over shields with whatever chances come our way.were staring down the barrell after last night,I really hope we don't stick with the same formation that's been failing for months,we don't have a lot of options but I think a change in formation and getting some width from the wing backs with tierney hopefully providing a threat behind two strikers should be attacking enough without leaving ourselves open.weve joked about alexander's tombolo style team selections but he really needs to pull something out the bag on thursday.

[joewarkfanclub]

16 hours ago, Ya Bezzer! said:

Some 'Premiership' standard results this season so far.

Hibs 0 Falkirk 1

Greenock Morton 1 Hibs 1

Partick 1 Kilmarnock 1

Livingston 1 Inverness 2

Ross County 1 Buckie Thistle 1

St Johnstone 0 Annan Athletic 0

Queen of the South 2 St Johnstone 2

St Mirren 0 Arbroath 1

Airdrieonians 2 St Mirren 0

Motherwell 0 Sligo 1

I said before the match I didn't have much confidence having seen us struggle against Glentoran and Coleraine, both poorer teams than Sligo, and us with better personnel then.  Then you go and look at other Scottish results in Europe in recent times like Kilmarnock being eliminated by Connah's Quay or Hearts going out the Scottish Cup to Brora Rangers or St Johnstone going out to Kelty Hearts and the penny should start to drop.

From 3rd down our league is trash. 'Premiership' standard is virtually a meaningless phrase.  There is no standard in the premiership.   

 

 

Aye fair doohs.......

[GazzyB]

Does anyone have match stats for the game last night? Can’t find em anywhere. Mainly looking for the possession, shots, and shots on goal.

 

Also where would I get a spare programme? I need one before I leave for Sligo on Thursday. If anyone has one spare please drop me a dm. 

[Kat]

9 minutes ago, GazzyB said:

Also where would I get a spare programme? I need one before I leave for Sligo on Thursday. If anyone has one spare please drop me a dm. 

You can order the programme on Curtis Sport's website, they're generally rapid at getting them out as well.

https://www.curtis-sport.com/online-store/Motherwell-v-Sligo-Rovers-21-07-22-p478710365

[spudmfc]

24 minutes ago, GazzyB said:

Does anyone have match stats for the game last night? Can’t find em anywhere. Mainly looking for the possession, shots, and shots on goal.

 

Also where would I get a spare programme? I need one before I leave for Sligo on Thursday. If anyone has one spare please drop me a dm. 

Fotmob quite good for that info and more

[Big Stall]

1 hour ago, Yorkyred said:

A massive factor was match fitness, play that half a dozen competitive games later and you get a totally different result.

Did you see any of our games since the turn of the year??

[GazzyB]

Thank you Kat and Spud.

 

I thought we would be in the 60s with possession stat. 58% of the ball, 14 shots on goal, 8 corners and a 1-0 defeat tells us two things we already knew: 1) we are seriously lacking in creativity/effectiveness with the ball, and 2) we are prone to a complete fuck up at the back to result in losing games we shouldn’t be losing.

 

Alexander has 6 days to fix both.