Scottish Premiership Game 8: Partick Thistle (H) Saturday 30/09/17

[creaser09]

It shows how far Campbell has come!

[middleeastdave]

Another fantastic performance today, no negatives at all, the only problem we have is the players that we have brought in that are not getting a game e.g. Plummer, Lithuanian and I am sure some of our under 20's must be concerned that will be lucky to break through to the first team, so it must be difficult to keep a happy medium with all players.

Anyway it is a nice problem for SR

[MFCL84]

A really solid performance all round today. A very dominant display with the result never in doubt. It has been a long time since a Motherwell team has been so comfortable with a lead. The midfield gives such protection to the back line, and the back line is so strong that Carson must be one of the least worked keepers in the league.

[fizoxy]

Video of the third courtesy of @kennyMFC1886 on Twitter

 

https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/914202209658834946/pu/vid/1280x720/78Zu5oruwM-WxX2c.mp4

[stuwell]

Let's not kid ourselves, Thistle were shite and never caused any problems.

That aside we strolled the game and yet again looked a class team.

[daver]

He had absolutely nothing to do today. Thistle had no shots on target and my Thistle supporting mate can't remember a worse performance in recent years.

 

Although we played well (but still well within ourselves), Thistle normally st least offer a decent workrate. They've had a difficult start to the season but if they don't get results against weaker opposition over the next few games patience will be wearing thin.

[Welldaft Mk1]

Let's not kid ourselves, Thistle were shite and never caused any problems.

That aside we strolled the game and yet again looked a class team.

A double negative or positive

 

Nobody is kidding anybody.

 

I am enjoying watching Motherwell for the 1st time in a couple of years. Yes there was the odd good performance during that time, but this team are poles apart.

 

Anyone who finds ANY negative over this seasons start needs their head examined or are just permanently miserable feckers.

 

It was hard to fault anyone today. So Partick were poor. Maybe that has something to do with how we played. A novel concept but worth thinking about.

 

Hard to pick a man of the match. Thought Tait and Kipre and Cadden were very good. But to think we got £400k for Henaghan and got Hartley in return. Just WOW. Nothing against Big Ben. Liked him while he was here but nothing like the goal threat Hartley is. In my opinion a better fit for Kapitan than McHugh.

 

Let's do Hamilton is a couple of weeks and then bring on the h**s. If we can maintain same momentum and work ethic we are in with good chance of causing an upset.

 

What a great step forward that at 2-0 I did not see Partick coming back. Changed days indeed. Mon the WELL

[Ya Bezzer!]

Finally the universal equilibrium of May for Kirk + McGrillen plus £100,000 has been restored by Heneghan plus £400,000 for Hartley.

 

As for where we are

 

Assuming Celtic beat us we'll have taken 1 point from 15 from the Top 5, while beating all the other Bottom 6 regulars. That's exactly where we are right now - between two poles.

 

We've also been lucky to have 6 out of 8 at home with most of those against winnable opponents.

 

The next round of matches is going to be tougher but we can be happy for now that we have points in the bag.

[Kmcalpin]

felt Louis Moult was too wide too often today. Even if we did score three today we need our best finisher in the box, not crossing from wide.

Absolutely. Too often today and this season so far he's been playing the role of provider either from the wing or behind the other striker and midfielders. A small issue in the great scheme of things though. No doubt Robbo will address this and other weaknesses from today's performance. Lets put matters in perspective though, we won and won well against a poor Partick side who never at any point troubled Carson. Perhaps that was down to our defence which protected him well. I thought that Kipre, Hartley and Campbell were the pick of the bunch. In particular Hartley goes about his business unobtrusively and effectively but not quietly. The whole team shows fight and determination and that is great to watch. Three different scorers today as well. Dunne is not as accomplished as Hammell whilst on the ball but is a far better defender than him whilst off it.

 

The referee today was not the worst we've had this season although he made several major errors being a failure to red card Cerny; a failure to issue a second yellow card to Partick's big midfielder, and a failure to adequately punish a Partick player for a 2 footed lunge on McHugh, who has been red carded for similar tackles.

 

All in all a good day's work that keeps our good run going. A lot of credit is due to Robbo and Keef for completely transforming the side. Its great to know that even after winning 3-0 they'll be poring over our mistakes to rectify them. What more can we ask of our management team?

 

Its a great time to be a Well fan!

[MelvinBragg]

Another fantastic performance today, no negatives at all, the only problem we have is the players that we have brought in that are not getting a game e.g. Plummer, Lithuanian and I am sure some of our under 20's must be concerned that will be lucky to break through to the first team, so it must be difficult to keep a happy medium with all players.

 

Campbell should be all the evidence any of the U20s need. This summer we signed Rose, Bigirmana, Tanner and Grimshaw. Campbell is still playing because he's worked hard in training and maintained his performances. Tanner is another that has fought his way back in.

 

Under Robinson, it seems there are no favourites and if you work hard then you'll get a chance...

[grizzlyg]

Nothing jammy about Hartley's Cruyff turn!!.....I'm here all week

[Gadgey]

As for where we are

 

Assuming Celtic beat us we'll have taken 1 point from 15 from the Top 5, while beating all the other Bottom 6 regulars. That's exactly where we are right now - between two poles.

 

We've also been lucky to have 6 out of 8 at home with most of those against winnable opponents.

 

The next round of matches is going to be tougher but we can be happy for now that we have points in the bag.

Talk about stating the obvious and hammering the shit out of it !!!

 

Are you a health and safety inspector for your day job???

 

Here's a novel idea. Why don't we just enjoy this fabulous spell of supporting our team for what it is and let the management team who actually know about football do the worrying about the next round of games.

[Londonwell]

Talk about stating the obvious and hammering the shit out of it !!!

 

Are you a health and safety inspector for your day job???

 

Here's a novel idea. Why don't we just enjoy this fabulous spell of supporting our team for what it is and let the management team who actually know about football do the worrying about the next round of games.

What?

 

Why wouldn't he look at our next round of fixtures? He's a fan that has an interest in the club. Why are you upset with that?

[swami]

Not normally one for being negative after an easy victory, but what is Charles Dunne's pass completion rate? About 4%? Murder.

[Welldaft Mk1]

Not normally one for being negative after an easy victory, but what is Charles Dunne's pass completion rate? About 4%? Murder.

I think that is being kind :-) It is fair to say that neither Dunne nor Kipre will win the pass completion stats. Their distribution is fairly poor. But the 0 in the scoreline is what pleases me most.

 

If they could pass and defend great, but after the last few seasons a robust defence and a positive goal difference is a HUGE improvement and both deserve credit for that. Yes the midfield has helped. But Kipre was very good again yesterday. That mazy run in the 2nd half where he went past 3 Thistle players was worth the entrance fee alone.

[Andy_P]

Finally the universal equilibrium of May for Kirk + McGrillen plus £100,000 has been restored by Heneghan plus £400,000 for Hartley.

That made me smile. But to be honest for me McLeish could just about justify that transfer. Kirk was by that stage something like 32 or 33 and was falling out of contention. McGrillen was behind Coyne, Arnott and Burns. May was recognised as one of the best attacking midfielders in the country.

 

What the clown will always struggle to justify however was to play him at right wing-back and bomb out Shannon had been perfectly capable in that position over the previous eighteen months.

 

 

As for where we are

 

Assuming Celtic beat us we'll have taken 1 point from 15 from the Top 5, while beating all the other Bottom 6 regulars. That's exactly where we are right now - between two poles.

 

We've also been lucky to have 6 out of 8 at home with most of those against winnable opponents.

 

The next round of matches is going to be tougher but we can be happy for now that we have points in the bag.

You like your statistics as we know so whilst the fact of the matter is that you are quite correct in what you say the margins of error have been so slight in some cases that the facts as they are could easily be somewhat different.

 

You make the point about luck in terms of fixture scheduling but what if the luck had gone with us against Rangers with a contestable penalty decision, the two contestable penalty decisions at Easter Road or Moult's effort being six inches lower, what if the flip of a coin game against Aberdeen had gone our way?

 

In short I still think it's too early to say with any assurance what the summit of our ambitions will be at this point.

[Andy_P]

Dunne is not as accomplished as Hammell whilst on the ball but is a far better defender than him whilst off it.

That remains up for debate. Hammell's performance against Aberdeen in the League Cup was of a level that Dunne has yet to get anywhere near since he came to the club.

[grumpy]

I think the best description of our performance yesterday was efficient, how much of that is down to how much better organised we seem to be this year and how much was down to how poor Thistle were is open to debate. The inclusion of Hartley seems to have turned our back three into a very solid defensive outfit although, it probably helps them that the work rate of Campbell and McHugh ensured that Thistle rarely threatened them, Carson cold have worn slippers yesterday and still kept a clean sheet.

Midfield going forward we were arguably still too reliant on Cadden's energy although Tanner grabbed his chance with both hands yesterday which gives the management team more food for thought and Bowman is turning into a very important cog in the machine, who would have thought that last season.

It was by no means a flawless performance, Dunne and, to a lesser extent, McHugh, need to practice their passing skills and Moult is drifting too wide too often but, given where we were last March these are minor quibbles.

It's good to see a team playing for themselves and the manager, look at Fisher's face when Tanner is celebrating his goal and you can see how 'together' the squad is.

One final thing, I was disappointed the highlights didn't show Cerny's challenge on Bowman, from the Cooper stand it seemed a clear goal scoring opportunity, and given some of the decisions we have already suffered from this year, I'm not sure why the referee decided to only issue a yellow card, not that it mattered much 'cos we were totally dominant.

[Kmcalpin]

Not normally one for being negative after an easy victory, but what is Charles Dunne's pass completion rate? About 4%? Murder.

If we had a tall, fast, defender who could pass, cross and defend he wouldn't be with us long. At our level no player is going to be perfect. Its hard to judge just how good our defence was yesterday as Partick were so poor. However, Carson was given sound protection and didn't have a shot to save. Some of that, at least, is down to our defenders including Dunne. I suppose many are comparing him to Stevie Hammell, naturally, who is a completely different kind of defender.

[Gadgey]

What?

 

Why wouldn't he look at our next round of fixtures? He's a fan that has an interest in the club. Why are you upset with that?

Not upset with that in the slightest and no desire to cause upset to others.

 

We all look at fixtures ahead of course we do. Some see hope some see despair. Personally, I like to choose hope. I have no reasoning for this other than I'm a glass is half full sort of guy. I have no football qualifications so don't sweat the small stuff.

 

The club pay people with the appropriate skills to do that.

 

I do however find it tiresome reading the same warnings week in week out. This is the second week in a row we have been reminded of our apparent failure to beat those above us.

 

In truth, I'm well happy with being in that split between the two halves of the league. It's an obvious sign of progress.

 

I do think though, that based upon the obvious spirit around the team at this moment, we fans have reason to be optimistic about the upcoming fixtures. I for one am confident that this current Motherwell team will not confine beating the big teams this season to just cup games.

 

We may not finish in the top 6, we may not maintain this momentum but we will acquire some great memories from this season. And when those memorable moments come, it's really tiresome when the usual glass is half empty folk piss on those chips with their precautionary messages using stats that can be manipulated.

 

Carpe diem !!!!

[Kmcalpin]

That remains up for debate. Hammell's performance against Aberdeen in the League Cup was of a level that Dunne has yet to get anywhere near since he came to the club.

We shouldn't put too much store on one game though Andy. Your assertion that "Hammell's performance against Aberdeen in the League Cup was of a level that Dunne has yet to get anywhere near since he came to the club." is 100% spot on of course. However we must take into account the number of games both have played for the club. I can't say hand on heart that Stevie's performance was his best ever in hundreds of games, but it must certainly rank in the top 10. I would say that it was atypical of his career with us. There's no doubt in my mind that he's better with the ball in terms of passing and crossing and that part of the 2 players' games is easy to pick out. However Hammell's weakness has always been his positional sense or lack of it whilst off the ball. That part of his game was never as easy to pick out. Too often he's given attackers too much room or got on the wrong side of them. Thats the stronger part of Dunne's game.

 

As I say they're both different kinds of defender with different strengths and weaknesses.

[Andy_P]

It was far from the kind of game I expected.

 

All I've heard for the past few weeks is how unlucky Thistle have been with their fixtures, that they've been so close to it clicking and that it's only a matter of time. You know who they reminded me of? Us, in the death throes of the Stuart McCall reign. In fact their display actually put me in mind of an abysmal performance we turned in at their place about five or six weeks before McCall walked.

 

However you deal with what's in front of you and that we did with aplomb.

 

I enjoyed the fast start and if we weren't exactly peppering their goal with efforts they couldn't get out of their half for about 15-20 minutes such was the pace and intensity of our play and how high we were squeezing them up the park. They did come into it a little but I would attribute that more to the fact it would be difficult to play at the intensity we did for the whole of the half rather than any great shift of momentum.

 

We were actually so comfortable that I was concerned that the biggest threat to our lead might be through ourselves becoming overly complacent or something freakish happening like a penalty from nowhere or a daft deflection. I think the only thing you could feel disappointed in at half-time was that it was a only a single goal lead.

 

Second half as has been said the goal came at the perfect time. Perhaps the free-kick they won on the edge of our box a minute or two before our second goal was a good thing as it may have served as a little wake up call on and off the park as we were already set to make changes but getting the second just gave us that breathing space and killed them off.

 

The remainder of the game was saw out professionally with tweaks to formation and personnel nullifying the changes Thistle made completely and without any negative impact on the flow of the game and of course the icing on the cake came with Bowman getting the third.

 

It was important to get back on track after last Sunday and I was intrigued to see how Thistle approached the game after seeing how Aberdeen attempted to strangle the game last weekend. If they did have any hopes of replicating Aberdeen's style the start we made simply never gave them a chance to implement it.

 

A great win and the positive start continues.

[steelboy]

Happy Clapper Manifesto 2017.....

 

I see where you are coming from but if we ever want another day like the 91 final or Nancy we'll need to take every opportunity to improve. It's obviously down to the manager but there's no harm in discussing it here. Until we win this league cup, then we'll all be happy clapping and stalking players on twitter asking for retweets.

[CoF]

Assuming Celtic beat us we'll have taken 1 point from 15 from the Top 5, while beating all the other Bottom 6 regulars. That's exactly where we are right now - between two poles.

 

We've also been lucky to have 6 out of 8 at home with most of those against winnable opponents.

 

 

Between two poles but further away from one that the other. Of the 4 games top 6 games so far we've been beaten by a 1 goal margin in 3 of them. We drew the other.

 

We've had a good run at home in terms of opposition however as the last few seasons have shown, we have no right to expect to win any game and the margins between most of the Premiership teams are so slim that we shouldn't be taking anything for granted. Every point gained so far has come from sheer guts and determination.

 

You are right though - some bigger tests are on the horizon.

 

If we had a tall, fast, defender who could pass, cross and defend he wouldn't be with us long. At our level no player is going to be perfect. Its hard to judge just how good our defence was yesterday as Partick were so poor. However, Carson was given sound protection and didn't have a shot to save. Some of that, at least, is down to our defenders including Dunne. I suppose many are comparing him to Stevie Hammell, naturally, who is a completely different kind of defender.

 

Absolutely agree with your point that Dunne has played a huge part in how solid our defence is. We're only behind Celtic and Aberdeen in the goals conceded column - (conceded 10 in 8 with 4 in the one game - that says it all).

 

However, I don't think we're looking for perfection from Dunne by asking him to do the absolute basic task of passing the ball to a Motherwell player. The number of unforced errors was something else yesterday. It's frustrating to watch as it seems like such an easy fix however I've every confidence in Keef to help the lad correct it.

[Gadgey]

Happy Clapper Manifesto 2017.....

 

I see where you are coming from but if we ever want another day like the 91 final or Nancy we'll need to take every opportunity to improve. It's obviously down to the manager but there's no harm in discussing it here.

Agreed.....

 

Fully paid up member of the happy clappy club