Odense - Europa League Play Off 2nd Leg

[Welldaft Mk1]

I think the most valid point about tonights game and in fact the season so far - is Humphrey crossing the ball into the box to no-one in particular. He must take some share of the blame as he rarely looks up to see who if anyone is in the box. But to be fair (this season) most of his crosses have been there or thereabouts but there has been NO attacking player to get on the end of them.

 

I don't know whether missing out last night will mean the end of our signings. Probably will but how about instead of chasing Gow we get a Kyle type target man who can get on the end of Humphrey's crosses.

 

Still hurting this morning - but home gates of 23,000 combined + hospitality + programme + merchandise sales = a reasonable sum to the club. Hopefully will help us back into the black this year.

 

TBH in getting through to the group stages we would have fecked up our league campaign. Even with a couple of extra signings we would not have had a strong enough squad to compete on both fronts. That PLUS less Sunday games - always look on the bright side of life

[johnstone]

Humphrey put in loads of really good crosses. it was just our front line had no one sitting at the back post. the amount of goals we could have scored if we had a player who could ghost into the back post. The mind boggles.

 

Anyway we were just really, really unluckly last night. We had shots cleared of the line, naltys missed played against 9 men and they had two shots on goal and scored one of them.

 

Just got to take it on the chin and say it was a good experience for the younger lads and they did themselves proud.

 

But special mention to Humphrey who looks twice the player he was lat season. Few more tweaks to his game and he will be a revelation at Fir Park.

[underboyleheating]

Is there any highlights available from last nights game? I wouldn’t mind seeing some of the penalty incidents and goal attemps again.

[Welldaft Mk1]

I think some are being a little unfair on Odense. Yes they did represent probably the best chance of progression to the group stages, but we did not take it. Over the two games and especially last night we had many more chances to score - but we did not.

 

They are not a great team, but they are a solid experienced bunch and Utaka and Djema Djemba will be on many times what our players earn.

 

At times when they had the ball and we tackled them - they came away with the ball - mainly down to body strength. We had young boys playing last night - they had experienced players. They did what they had to do - we did not.

 

Up front + midfield they are strong - at the back a bombscare and that will be their undoing when they play better teams in the group stages.

[Steve Diggle]

This Humphrey thing is gettin on my thruppenies!

 

He continually looks for the ball. he continually looks to take the opposition on - looks as if he fuckin loves it as well. Beats men, gets towards the bye line and gets it over if he can and he'll do it all day for us.

 

It's not his job after all of that effort to locate Sutton / blackman with his tracking device and slide rule it onto their napper. It's his job, for the most part, to throw it into the box at a height and to an area that our forwards should be in. On the occasions when he can get a quick look up and see that there's nobody there he stops until there's someone to eventually catch up with him.

 

For me he's doing all of that - it's the forward getting onto it part that's missing at the moment and that is not Humphrey's problem.

 

 

As johnstone says - if we can get someone to match his run and get towards the back post - we might start slaughtering teams

[Wellarmy]

This is the pots for the group stages if anybodys interested.

 

Europa League Pots.

[BullRipCheddar]

Same old story.

 

I went to the game last night hoping to get through but expecting to come up just short. Although over the 2 games we were a tad unlucky, it woudl be nice, for a change, to not be the gallant losers and get the fucking desired result.

 

I fear we will never have a better opportunty than we did last night.

 

And in future, for a big game, they should limit it to 5,000 tickets. Every time we get a big crowd we fuck it up.................never fails <_>

[TAM]

And in future, for a big game, they should limit it to 5,000 tickets. Every time we get a big crowd we fuck it up.................never fails <_>

 

Almost in agreement.

 

Sat in South Stand for 3 huge European games now - Dortmund, Nancy, Odense.... common theme lost them all!! Maye it's my fault for not getting in gear and getting ticket for DC before it sold out.

[Ernie]

Almost in agreement.

 

Sat in South Stand for 3 huge European games now - Dortmund, Nancy, Odense.... common theme lost them all!! Maye it's my fault for not getting in gear and getting ticket for DC before it sold out.

 

Nice to know that we now have the person to blame <_ src="%7B___base_url___%7D/uploads/emoticons/default_thumbup.gif" alt=":thumbup:">

[Wellarmy]

Dortmund, Nancy, Odense

 

Dortmund and Nancy were way better sides than Odense when weve faced them.

 

Still tearing my hair out with the game. The penalty, Blackmans misses, the one fuckin chance they had. It feels like we lost a cup final, pretty hard to take.

 

Back to the shite of the SPL but it is our bread and butter so we just have to take last night on the chin and get on with it. If we get a result on Sunday itll go someway to easing the pain of last night.

 

CMON THE WELL!!!

[Ernie]

This Humphrey thing is gettin on my thruppenies!

 

He continually looks for the ball. he continually looks to take the opposition on - looks as if he fuckin loves it as well. Beats men, gets towards the bye line and gets it over if he can and he'll do it all day for us.

 

It's not his job after all of that effort to locate Sutton / blackman with his tracking device and slide rule it onto their napper. It's his job, for the most part, to throw it into the box at a height and to an area that our forwards should be in. On the occasions when he can get a quick look up and see that there's nobody there he stops until there's someone to eventually catch up with him.

 

For me he's doing all of that - it's the forward getting onto it part that's missing at the moment and that is not Humphrey's problem.

 

 

As johnstone says - if we can get someone to match his run and get towards the back post - we might start slaughtering teams

 

I totally agree I think that Humphrey is the most improved player in the team over the last year. His crossing is not perfect 100% of the time but hey none of us is perfect at work all the time. <_>

[LadywellToi]

Well if you consider the three home Europa qualifiers this year over your normal pre-season friendly fare then the club has made an extra £300k in gate receipts this season.

 

For a club of our stature and position that's not too shabby and maybe next year we'll get that little bit further. Just got to hump the unwashed from the East End of Glasgow on Sunday for the second time in a week.

[numpty]

Funnily enough, main thing I find myself reflecting on this morning isn't the fact that we're out, but the unpleasant financial aspects of the UEFA competitions these days, i.e. inevitably making the rich clubs richer, and the poor clubs poorer.

 

A win last night might well have seen us sign a couple of decent players either now or in January, increasing our chances of doing it all again next year, which of course is partly how the other top clubs manage to compete year after year. The loss means we might just about be able to attract some journeyman on loan for the rest of the season for a dogfight to scrape into the top six again.

 

Of course, hypocritically I'd have bitten your hand off for the £1.5m as much as anyone, but it's a pretty depressing cycle, really.

[Finlay]

Indeed. I just hate the 'seeding' system. All but guarantees the VAST majority of smaller teams in Europe don't make any serious inroads due to getting put out early. UEFA want the big teams in their competitions for as long as possible. We recently have had no problem getting our foot on the ladder but unable to climb it any further due to the 'restrictions'. For me Juventus should be able to draw Liverpool in the Play Off Round and we should be able to get TNS, but it is glaringly obvious why UEFA don't want that.

[maxywell]

Indeed. I just hate the 'seeding' system. All but guarantees the VAST majority of smaller teams in Europe don't make any serious inroads due to getting put out early. UEFA want the big teams in their competitions for as long as possible. We recently have had no problem getting our foot on the ladder but unable to climb it any further due to the 'restrictions'. For me Juventus should be able to draw Liverpool in the Play Off Round and we should be able to get TNS, but it is glaringly obvious why UEFA don't want that.

 

completely agree, tbh i've always thought that must be against some sort of competition rule because it's clearly giving teams an unfair advantage.the seeding shyte just makes the euro comps more predictable and the later stages become increasingly boring with the same teams every year.if they want just the top teams then stick them in a seperate league and give the smaller teams a chance.

[Well Up For It!]

Finally gonna get me two cence in on last night...

 

Basically I think we beat ourselves last night. By far the better team, especially in the first hald, and we were at times unlucky. They had once real chance, one goal. And that goal destroyed the buzz in the ground and effected the team. In all honesty, if we had played for 5hours last night I don't think we would have scored. We badly missed a creative spark to open up play and create a clear cut chance.

 

Anyway, my grievancies about last night...

 

1/ Humphrey - he is my worst nightmare! Tones of pace, skips by men for fun, always looking for the ball, always getting into to space....BUT his end product is shocking! I read hear that it's the strikers fault for not being in position, what a load of utter balls! He needs to work on it and if he can get to a point where 1 in 2 crosses are decent instead of his 1 in 7 or something then we have a real player. He did put a few half decent ones in tonight, but at least 10 went far to long. I'm not ready to crucify him just yet as it's all he is missing from being a top drawer player, just getting working on it on training!

 

2/ Craigan/Long Ball game - at the start of the 2nd half, and a large section of the 1st we punted the ball up the park straight to the opposition. Craigan is murder for it, but the whole back four were at it. It was so obvious it wasn't working but we only changed to playing up the wings when they went down to 10men - basically having just wasted 30mins of play with a game of piggie in the middle!

 

3/ No subs, no "All Out Attack!" - the most dissapointing thing was when they went down to 10 men we kept the same 4-5-1 shape. When they then went down to 9men, we kept the same 4-5-1 shape. When we are needing to score two, as soon as they went down to ten we should have hooked Saunders for McHugh and played with at least two up front, maybe even three. Leaving three at the back. When they went to nine, we should have went all out attack - push Sutton, Murphy, Blackman, McHugh and Humphrey up the park and then switch to a long ball game. Most tactically inept I've seen from Brown and Knox.

 

4/ No urgency - even in the last 10mins when they were down to nine, we played at a slow tempo, switching the balls from wing, to wing, using backpassing, etc. Get it fucking up and in the box rapid! We actually played at times last night like we were the team 1-0 up!

 

That all said, I don't want to be too harsh as I put a lot of it down to bad luck and stupid mistakes. Had we had a referee that was retarted or blind in the first leg we would have had two penalities and Jennings in the team last night. Had Murphy just put is kick a centimetre to the left we would have scored last night. If Blackman had only managed to position himself better for the his two chances surely he'd score one. If Murphy put a fraction less power on his dink it would have been the net.

 

But the truth is I've not felt this gutted since we blew up in the CIS Cup Final. That team were there for the taking, we were arguably the better side over both legs, we had chance after chance last night, we lost 3 goals over the two legs that were schoolboy defensive errors, but most of all...we will NEVER have an easier chance to reach the group stages of a European competiton and see the cream of European talent at Fir Park!

 

Oh well...there's always the Champions League campaign next year!

[SuperCC]

This Humphrey thing is gettin on my thruppenies!

 

He continually looks for the ball. he continually looks to take the opposition on - looks as if he fuckin loves it as well. Beats men, gets towards the bye line and gets it over if he can and he'll do it all day for us.

 

It's not his job after all of that effort to locate Sutton / blackman with his tracking device and slide rule it onto their napper. It's his job, for the most part, to throw it into the box at a height and to an area that our forwards should be in. On the occasions when he can get a quick look up and see that there's nobody there he stops until there's someone to eventually catch up with him.

 

For me he's doing all of that - it's the forward getting onto it part that's missing at the moment and that is not Humphrey's problem.

 

 

As johnstone says - if we can get someone to match his run and get towards the back post - we might start slaughtering teams

 

 

Totally agree and well said.

[Steve Diggle]

Finally gonna get me two cence in on last night...

 

Basically I think we beat ourselves last night. By far the better team, especially in the first hald, and we were at times unlucky. They had once real chance, one goal. And that goal destroyed the buzz in the ground and effected the team. In all honesty, if we had played for 5hours last night I don't think we would have scored. We badly missed a creative spark to open up play and create a clear cut chance.

 

Anyway, my grievancies about last night...

 

1/ Humphrey - he is my worst nightmare! Tones of pace, skips by men for fun, always looking for the ball, always getting into to space....BUT his end product is shocking! I read hear that it's the strikers fault for not being in position, what a load of utter balls! He needs to work on it and if he can get to a point where 1 in 2 crosses are decent instead of his 1 in 7 or something then we have a real player. He did put a few half decent ones in tonight, but at least 10 went far to long. I'm not ready to crucify him just yet as it's all he is missing from being a top drawer player, just getting working on it on training!

 

2/ Craigan/Long Ball game - at the start of the 2nd half, and a large section of the 1st we punted the ball up the park straight to the opposition. Craigan is murder for it, but the whole back four were at it. It was so obvious it wasn't working but we only changed to playing up the wings when they went down to 10men - basically having just wasted 30mins of play with a game of piggie in the middle!

 

3/ No subs, no "All Out Attack!" - the most dissapointing thing was when they went down to 10 men we kept the same 4-5-1 shape. When they then went down to 9men, we kept the same 4-5-1 shape. When we are needing to score two, as soon as they went down to ten we should have hooked Saunders for McHugh and played with at least two up front, maybe even three. Leaving three at the back. When they went to nine, we should have went all out attack - push Sutton, Murphy, Blackman, McHugh and Humphrey up the park and then switch to a long ball game. Most tactically inept I've seen from Brown and Knox.

 

4/ No urgency - even in the last 10mins when they were down to nine, we played at a slow tempo, switching the balls from wing, to wing, using backpassing, etc. Get it fucking up and in the box rapid! We actually played at times last night like we were the team 1-0 up!

 

That all said, I don't want to be too harsh as I put a lot of it down to bad luck and stupid mistakes. Had we had a referee that was retarted or blind in the first leg we would have had two penalities and Jennings in the team last night. Had Murphy just put is kick a centimetre to the left we would have scored last night. If Blackman had only managed to position himself better for the his two chances surely he'd score one. If Murphy put a fraction less power on his dink it would have been the net.

 

But the truth is I've not felt this gutted since we blew up in the CIS Cup Final. That team were there for the taking, we were arguably the better side over both legs, we had chance after chance last night, we lost 3 goals over the two legs that were schoolboy defensive errors, but most of all...we will NEVER have an easier chance to reach the group stages of a European competiton and see the cream of European talent at Fir Park!

 

Oh well...there's always the Champions League campaign next year!

 

My two cents is that this post comes across as a bit like - "here's the final world, i'll have my say after ye've all talked pish"

 

Typical Shotts man

[Rickoza]

completely agree, tbh i've always thought that must be against some sort of competition rule because it's clearly giving teams an unfair advantage.the seeding shyte just makes the euro comps more predictable and the later stages become increasingly boring with the same teams every year.if they want just the top teams then stick them in a seperate league and give the smaller teams a chance.

 

 

Anti-Competition Law

 

UEFA bleat on about fair play. Hypocrites. You want it fair? Get everyone in the big pot late June. So what if Juve get Real Madrid in the 1st preliminary round preliminary leg preliminary preliminary or whatever? I know it's all about money sadly.

[Easy Target]

Humphrey couldn't cross the fuckin road. Fair play he has pace to burn and can get by a man but what is the fuckin point when all you do after that is kick the ball into the stand. His final product is terrible and he needs to improve it.

[Shaka]

absolute nonsense there, by your reckoning Humphrey should stop,look and cross every ball straight to the temple of the striker? bollocks, if that was the case EVERY match in world football would end up with 25 goals in it. A wingers job is to beat his man and cross the ball into the danger area, you cant ask for more than a ball whipped across the face of goal,5 yards out at head height, Its the strikers job to get on the end of those chances, the best strikers do exactly that! If Humphrey put every cross directly onto the forehead of Sutton or Blackman he would be the best player the world has ever seen.

 

The long ball game pisses me off too but what else can the defenders do when the boys in the middle are hiding behind the opposition, no-one is looking for the ball, Humph stays wide. Las + Hateley moved less than a crippled elephant and so if Humph was marked, the only targets were long balls to Sutton + Blackman. Having a playmaker who looks for the ball would have helped that last night, and having a midfielder capable of running onto the target mans flicks would have helped too but we cant/wont pay to bring those guys in so Its gonna be a long season of the same thing,unfortunately were just gonna have to get used to it

 

Also, we werent just passing the ball sideways last night out of choice, once we went forward and the ball to Humphrey wasnt on we had nothing else, no creativity,no ideas and Odense knew that, so they put a line of 6 men across the box and shut us down,even when we threw it in the box,their players were bigger + stronger so they mopped up the majority of our crosses

[Well Up For It!]

Competition_law#European_Union_law

 

UEFA bleat on about fair play. Hypocrites. You want it fair? Get everyone in the big pot late June. So what if Juve get Real Madrid in the 1st preliminary round preliminary leg preliminary preliminary or whatever? I know it's all about money sadly.

 

And that's where the debate ends I'm afraid. Uefa or Fifa will never disadvantage the big guns as they need them more than they need them. If Uefa cracked went with the fairer draw you'd get the big teams forming a money spinning Franchise like American football. I beleive that will happen one daw and the Uefa big wigs are shitting themselves at the prospect as it means they become effectively redundant. Its sad, but unfortunately money rules football now and I believe it's one of the things destroying it.

 

All it takes is one small team to go to court with Uefa over equality laws, ect and you're opening up a whole can of worms...! How it about it Mr. Boyle??!

[Well Up For It!]

absolute nonsense there, by your reckoning Humphrey should stop,look and cross every ball straight to the temple of the striker? bollocks, if that was the case EVERY match in world football would end up with 25 goals in it. A wingers job is to beat his man and cross the ball into the danger area, you cant ask for more than a ball whipped across the face of goal,5 yards out at head height, Its the strikers job to get on the end of those chances, the best strikers do exactly that! If Humphrey put every cross directly onto the forehead of Sutton or Blackman he would be the best player the world has ever seen.

 

Since when did the opposite wing become the danger area?! At least 10 times he put the ball way over the heads of EVERYONE and Murphy or Hammell would have to head out and pick up the ball. And I think only twice did he manage one across the face of the goal.

 

He biggest problem is he is clearly very inconsistent when crossing and the strikers in the box don't know what to expect from him, making it hard for them to get on the end of things!

 

The majority spoke last night, as the game went on you had more and more groans everytime he fluffed a cross.

 

And no not 25 goals per game, more chances and more work for defenders. Why can't he stop and put his head up everytime. David Beckham has made a very good career of it and all his great crosses aren't converted?!

 

I like him as a player, has good potential. Just needs to work on his delivery and then he will be, maybe not quite the best player ever seen, but a major player for Motherwell.

[Geedub]

Seeding is to keep the games even. What's the point in Manchester City playing Llanelli, Bangor City, Crusaders? They would field their reserves and still utterly destroy them. None of their fans would go either.

[Easy Target]

absolute nonsense there, by your reckoning Humphrey should stop,look and cross every ball straight to the temple of the striker? bollocks, if that was the case EVERY match in world football would end up with 25 goals in it. A wingers job is to beat his man and cross the ball into the danger area, you cant ask for more than a ball whipped across the face of goal,5 yards out at head height, Its the strikers job to get on the end of those chances, the best strikers do exactly that! If Humphrey put every cross directly onto the forehead of Sutton or Blackman he would be the best player the world has ever seen.

I'm not asking him to fire a pinpoint cross onto the strikers head. I'm asking him to try an at least keep it in the park.