All Activity

Longelo was very frustrating yesterday. Never went by his man once. I did wonder whether he wasnt 100% fit or if he had been instructed not to leave any spaces in behind him (albeit that would seem to fly in the face of how we play). Similarly Maswanhise was very disappointing. He is such a frustrating player at times. Capable of lighting up a game and scoring from nowhere, but an empty jersey the rest of the time. I felt there were too many of our players just not at their level yesterday and wonder whether the exertions of Wednesday night took too much out of them. It does raise more questions of JBAs game management on Wednesday night now that we have seen yesterday play out.

The macaroni and Scotch pie combo I got after their second goal. They charged and refunded my card at the same time and I only noticed today. Winner. Small victories in a day of shite.

Also and it might seem like I am being picky as I just don't rate the guy but I feel if Ward fully outstretched his arms he might actually save more. The 2nd goal is a peach but Ward's arm not fully stretched. However I was more disappointed with Longelo and Watt yesterday. We wondered if Longelo was carrying an injury, if yes why start him?. As for Watt he has been immense but him and Fadinger yesterday were terrible. Hopefully next week we can repay the fans with a strong performance and victory. COYW

100% this mate. And as we saw under SR, GA and SK - once it goes stale it can be really bad. I believe in JBA's philosophy and wish the rest of the fanbase would be more patient. Having said that I do feel the wimmer appointment was a bit more of a happy medium so would have been nice to see that play out. Would like to see us play with a bit more punch though, as we have seemed to move forward with a bit less purpose as teams have started to sit off. Still early days though and the right recruitment could make all the difference.

We can absolutely piss and moan about poor officiating all day long, and in this case it is justified, but their first goal came from a corner we failed to defend, as usual.

It’s almost a blessing those final 2 goals went in. If it had finished 2-1 then the injustice re the 1st goal would be huge Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hendry for his goal. Not much more i can add

Watched the highlights again. That starting eleven wasn’t good enough. I’d happily see the back of half of them. Far too much jogging about and too many mistakes in a cup semi-final. JBA needs to be realistic. His system will fail more often than it succeeds until we get a competent GK, one or two strong ball-playing CBs, a proper RB, and a physical CF who can actually lead the line. He needs to make adjustments now and have a plan B to see us through to the January transfer window.

Some of our fans would've missed the game yesterday if it had gone to a smaller stadium. In hindsight....

He made a few quips at us but one was “football with a purpose…. Total domination” talking about st mirrens style. whether you view he has a point or not he was our captain and was well liked at Fir Park, try and be a little respectful rather than mocking the style of football we play. i look forward to him inevitably failing as a manager.

I don't know what Hartley said but I mind him being smart when he broke a rangers players cheekbone, in a challenge I think it was. We won so we kind of went along with it

The attendances fairly rose after 1991...not Just need to accept a lot of people turn up for a big event, it's not a criticism, it can be an expensive pastime and ultimately frustrating..we are all emotionally invested but other people not so much

I was at the game and empty seats add nothing to atmosphere or spectacle..hardly obsessing suggesting ithat it goes to a smaller stadium

Watching StMirren is like watching a really well organised, extremely fit and half decent junior team from the 1980s We were awful yesterday to a man and it was just a terrible day at the office and it did just feel St Mirren wanted it more and I did mention before we were maybe believing our own press a bit. gutting to go out to that side and it’s gutting listening to some comments flying about on social media from their fans and ex players…. Disappointingly one from our old captain Peter Hartley making smart ar5e comments about style of play. in saying that and as much as I dislike him, I thought Gogic was the real difference yesterday, he was the driving force behind their win…. I’ll clear the vomit from my throat now

The height difference was so obvious. Apart from Gogic and I think 1 other all their players towered over ours… Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What seemed very obvious to me was that St Mirren and to a lesser extent Livingston did not pressure the goalkeeper or back four when we were taking goal kicks. They sat off and allowed the defence to pass it about at the back and concentrated their players in the midfield which restricted our midfield space to impose their passing game, which nullified our ability to go forward with any real urgency. If other managers employ this tactic, I think it will be a long season.

Decided to watch brief highlights, 3rd goal is like scene from a keystone kops movie. Longelo and Watt been excellent but both decided to have worst game of season yesterday. Also he wasn't reason we lost but Ward doesn't inspire confidence in me. I also feel Maswanhise blows hot and cold. However......if askou and players can learn from this there is no reason we cant get back on track for a good season. January transfer window will be very interesting and hopefully we bring in the right players for key positions. COYW

Absolutely spot on.

Our style of play will fail. Like all the other styles have been a roaring success. Fans want to be entertained. We have been this EARLY in the season. We are Motherwell and as history shows are not consistent in performances. We are all disappointed but stop the OTT reactions and get behind the team and encourage them to improve. There seems almost like a smugness by some that we failed to win yesterday. A sort of I told you so that it would fail. There is no patience in society and realism of where we are in the football world. Fans moaning no matter what we do. What the hell do they want from a team that's unlikely to win a league or fluke a cup. After all you do need abit of luck to win a cup. Our team is much better than 12 months ago. We can only improve. Finally St Mirren are an effective team and even the very best teams in world football struggle against that type of team. That style gets you so far and I don't recall any teams playing like that winning a league or a cup on a regular basis. Motherwell doing Motherwell things ain't new. You would think we would be used to and expect it by now. That's what makes supporting our club special. You just never know if it's going to be awful, average or brilliant. It hurts today, but you just know that won't last.

Fair bit of chat about the need for recruitment. Two players that were brought in to be integral to JBAs style of play are Just and Said and are presumably amongst the highest earners. I like the pair of them but both went missing on the big stage yesterday.

I agree about the atmosphere. St Mirren players and fans were more up for the game from the start. When the direct blood and thunder approach of a good Scottish football side works in can certainly stir the emotions and St Mirren did it very well yesterday. You could see the passion in their play. SR had them well up for the game and he had clearly used the negative press about their style to his advantage. I actually thought SR was a great manager for us and I don't think his achievements were ever fully appreciated for the very reason that supporters now believe that they should be watching budget Barcelona's every week.

Flat because we lost a stupid early goal with their first attack .

Great post! Bigger picture is top 6 so far, a semi final appearance and a great style of football to watch every week (after less than 20 games in charge). We lacked a physical presence in both boxes yesterday and didn’t get the rub of the green. Whilst 4-1 looks awful the scoreline flatters them massively if you watched the game. As others have said we are 2/3 players away from being a really good team with an attractive style of play. Question is can we find those 2/3 players on our budget, time will tell but it’s much better to watch than Kettlewell or Hammell’s poor teams over recent years.

I agree with much of that, but the jury is still out for me as to whether the change in style will work. For me the $64 m question is whether we can successfully recruit the type and calibre of players we need to complete the jigsaw. As others have said, we need a reliable keeper who can also play sweeper; a right back; a physical but talented central defender (for this season) and a more robust but effective goal scoring striker. This may already be in hand, I don't know. Although we have some cash in the bank, it may not be easy to recruit these types. If we can, and we retain our better players, then our new system will succeed. If not, it will fail. For me the whole atmosphere at Hampden yesterday was flat and our support muted. In large part that was down to onfield proceedings. I sincerely hope that many won't lose faith but yesterday was huge let down that won't be forgotten in a hurry.

It doesn't matter what style of football you play fans like to moan. Even more so these days when pretty much everything is infused with a sense of entitlement. We put in a better performance against a better team in last year's semi final and the knives came out. It shouldn't surprise anyone. Right now we are Top 6 and got to a semi final. We are playing the best football since David Turnbull was in the side, which is 5 or 6 years ago now. The manager has less than 20 games in charge and we are a work in progress. There is areas we need to improve in but since football perfection can't be achieved by teams spending half a billion in the close season, why don't we just accept that and let the manager try to improve in those areas.