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Motherwell V Hamilton Accies 27/09/14


Yabba's Turd
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Even as someone who generally tries to look on the positive and often gives some of the resident merchants of doom short shrift it would be impossible to try to defend that today. I rather expect some will be going to be town, and today at least I must admit it would be well deserved.

 

Today raised many questions for me, the first the sweeping changes from midweek. Who was injured, and which were tactical? If it was as was suggested during the week that we had players "running on empty" why has it got that stage by the end of September? Why are we having to put patched up teams out on the park game after game after game?

 

When it started I thought we were eager but looked a little uncertain as to who was meant to be playing where. Not unnatural given the volume of changes. When the tactic of hoofing it to Erwin was sussed by Accies we had almost nothing to offer. By contrast it seemed fairly clear that it wouldn't be if Hamilton scored but when. That we gifted them that opening goal wasn't any consolation and we hardly covered ourselves in glory with their second either.

 

In fairness any hope of a revival was put to bed by what at first glance at least, appeared a harsh penalty decision against us. We'd dominated the second half and you felt it we could get one at that stage we might well have been able to claw our way back into it.

 

After the third though they saw it out really comfortably and were toying with us by the time they walked in their fourth.

 

I do wonder where we go from here.

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I am happy that I missed todays game as it looks as if we are in free fall. Hamilton have beaten us both on plastic and grass in the last few days, so any excuses about the artificial pitch will hopefully be put to bed. Even this early on we are looking like a team that will be battling at the wrong end of the table for most of the season.

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I am happy that I missed todays game as it looks as if we are in free fall. Hamilton have beaten us both on plastic and grass in the last few days, so any excuses about the artificial pitch will hopefully be put to bed. Even this early on we are looking like a team that will be battling at the wrong end of the table for most of the season.

 

If anything the plastic pitch held Hamilton back rather than being a disadvantage for us. Todays result and performance can be used as evidence to support the statement.

 

It was embarrassing how much better Hamilton were today.

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I don't know anything but it certainly looks that way. The players heads have been down from the start of the season, unless they are so fragile that the Europa League defeat set us up for the season, why would that be the case? Especially since we've always had a good team spirit up till now.

 

Add in, Dempster leaving, the controversial internal appointment, Stuart McCalls general after match demeanour, the small squad and lack of turn a round of players.

 

My own suspicion is there are serious financial problems but I might be adding 2 + 2 to get 5.

 

 

Not forgetting John Porteous leaving I think this has had a bigger impact than most things. He ensured we had a team to put out every week, now we are getting crocked and struggling to get back to fitness...

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Last season we rode our luck and I got pilloried last when I pointed out we had a shocking performances and results against the other top 6 teams prior to the split. Our league placing no doubt led a few into a false sense of security and no doubt superiority.

 

This season we've been plagued with injuries and rarely, if ever, have we lined up with the same starting XI. Continuity is key but so is professional football players being able to adapt and overcome.

 

The midfield has not worked cohesively since last pre-season, it was pointed out then and we managed to get away with it mainly because we played 18 games against the bottom six teams and got almost a 100% record against them, however they were absolutely woeful.

 

Some have strengthened, others are working better as a team without major personnel changes, however we have pretty much looked amateurish, unfit and lacking any moral fiber since 30 minutes into the Starjnan game.

 

Tactically we've been inept too often wither it being down to the players not having the intelligence, ability or fitness to carry out their instructions or our management being outfoxed by theirs.

 

I'm not going to call for McCall's head, that is ludicrous, yes he's slow to change things and worries more about limiting damage than inflicting it. However, Hamilton are flying and despite winning promotion from the playoff, they're both the form team and high on confidence.

It took a drubbing by Celtic last season off the back of the Albion Rovers result for us to put a run together and I can only hope today was the line in the sand this season.

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We're also in the unfortunate position where no one in the media gives a fuck about us and therefore there are no pressing questions delivered regarding to the omnishambles we have witnessed for the entire season. The post match interviews, which are conducted by the general manager are so easy for McCall to negotiate through!

 

Who was injured, who wasn't?

 

Who was "running on empty"?

 

Why does astro turf injures our players yet nobody else's?

 

What's the excuse for the showings on grass if Astro turf is apparently the devil?

 

Why have 2 players who can be game winners in Ainsworth and Vigurs continually never deliver?

 

Why when josh law has played his entire lower league career at right back played anywhere but there?

 

Why didn't we re-sign McFadden?

 

Do you not think Clarkson could've done a job for us?

 

Why wait and wait and wait to Ojamaa back them when we do he looks worse than McHugh?

 

Why does every team look fitter than us?

 

What have we and what are we doing to address this?

 

Why have we only scored 1 goal at home?

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My own suspicion is there are serious financial problems but I might be adding 2 + 2 to get 5.

I have been thinking this for a while now, however, happily I have no evidence to back this up. Crowds are down and defeats like we suffered today certainly won’t help our finances.

 

The biggest shock for me has been the fall in our performance levels from last season which appears to have happened quite quickly.

 

 

 

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We changed it at half time but it was too late by then.

 

I disagree a bit with this. The way we started the second half, it looked like it was only a matter of time until we scored, as we had Accies under the cosh. At around the 55-60 minute mark I actually felt confident that we would be able to rescue a point. Bringing on Sutton and Reid, and changing the system, gave us the shot in the arm that was needed after an inept first half. Sod's law that just as Sutton's about to take his most clear-cut chance, he's fouled in the box (no penalty), Accies clear, and burst down the other end where they get a dodgy penalty decision. As soon as that happened, our fragile confidence was shattered and the writing was on the wall.

 

I have no idea what the hell McManus was thinking early on. It was a stupid booking, and he was deservedly hooked at half time. The two first half goals though were just shocking individual mistakes. First, McManus misjudging his header and ZFA's poor attempted clearance, and then Lawson failing to track the man and nobody covering in behind for the second. We simply can't gift goals like that. The third was a combination of pish refereeing, and Ramsden dropping Kerr in the shit by failing to track the man. He turned, saw the runner, and decided to leave him to Kerr, who was always struggling to make up the ground. I'm normally a big fan of Ramsden, but not making the effort to try and help out there was unacceptable. The fourth, just an inevitable consequence of pushing up late on.

 

While it didn't necessarily decide the outcome of the match, Willie Collum's performance today was horrendous. The bookings for Lawson and Francis-Angol were pathetic, and he let Accies away with more without punishment. The less said about the "penalty", the better. Just out of interested, I did notice a number of times in the box where there were pushes on Sutton, Erwin or McHugh. Given what Scott Brown got a penalty for last week, maybe we need to start forcing the issue a bit more, and being more savvy when fouled. Accies were certainly more streetwise than us today.

 

On a positive note though, not that there were many today, but Twardzik made some great saves and couldn't do too much about the first three goals (I couldn't really make out the fourth). Once he got on the ball in the second half after McCall switched the system around, Ojamaa looked like he's getting closer to his old self, and made some decent runs/opportunities. Erwin also came into the game in the second half and looked lively. If we can get a settled defence and midfield then just maybe these guys can start carving out the chances we desperately need to create.

 

Thankfully our next match is against Partick, who are on the same points as us and may have lost Higginbotham, who was on crutches after the match today. It took a heavy defeat (Celtic) to really turn us around last season after a stuttering start. Maybe this is the shot in the arm we needed? I certainly hope so, as it'll be a long season if we don't improve.

 

EDIT: Just seen McCall's post-match interview. Good to see he's at least angry this time...

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I'm someone generally supportive of McCall, but I'm starting to have doubts.

 

Unfortunately today we seen the product of a club with one clear direction and that is Hamilton's policy of youth first. I remember going to ndp a few years back with a mate and saw a lot of those boys aged 16 getting a run in the first team. Now a few seasons on they are wise to first team football. We have had boys dive about in the kids league and now they've been thrown in and we don't know whether they are up to the job or not.

 

What is it we are after? If it's youth, I've yet to see anything in that group which makes me think they will do anything. On current form they wouldn't get near a 3rd division team.

 

Performances today were horrendous. ZFA has something but can only stay switched on for 15 mins. We have nothing in midfield at all. NOTHING. I got excited by ojamma coming back and that was wasted. He is a million miles from that legia team that ripped Celtic apart.

 

As I say I've supported McCall before however if as someone says he's in two days a week, he should resign immediately. That's unacceptable in my book.

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Well as the man said we had 3 out through injury.

 

Maybeyes hes looked on here and seen us asking for the kids to get a chance who knows. If so it failed.

 

Last year we more or less were able to pick the same team week in week out (which I thought was a minor miracle). Occasionally we had Moore etc on with generally good or Lucky? results. Faddy came and went with varying degrees of success.

 

Not sure what the answer is but suspect its to play on the break (given what we have), knuckle down and get on with it.

 

You don't go to Celtic and hold them (given the massive differential in squad values), unless you have good players and a fair management.

 

Keep the heid. Its 8 games in.

 

 

 

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Unfortunately today we seen the product of a club with one clear direction and that is Hamilton's policy of youth first. I remember going to ndp a few years back with a mate and saw a lot of those boys aged 16 getting a run in the first team.

 

Unfortunately many clubs are miles ahead of us in terms of youth player development. Give that we are struggling so badly now I don't think it's the time to see lots of youth players brought in as it is not fair on the young boys to expect them to turn things around but I will say this - where is Dom Thomas?

 

Surely someone like him could be introduced from the bench with 20 minutes to go? He'll be 19 in February and we are still waiting on even a substitution appearance by someone who by all accounts is the shining talent in our youth set up.

 

Accies brought on an 18 and a 19 year old off the bench today, we brought on Josh Law.

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In response to some of the points Fat Tony raised, yes I totally agree with some of the bookings and pushing pulling (that Brown got a penalty for) that went on and we seemed to just meekly accept them. I'm not saying that we should be surrounding the red screaming at him, but Collum was so bad at times and we didn't seem bothered!

 

A sign of the lack of fight within us?

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In response to some of the points Fat Tony raised, yes I totally agree with some of the bookings and pushing pulling (that Brown got a penalty for) that went on and we seemed to just meekly accept them. I'm not saying that we should be surrounding the red screaming at him, but Collum was so bad at times and we didn't seem bothered!

 

A sign of the lack of fight within us?

 

Maybe, although to be honest, I don't remember us really complaining much about decisions at any point over the last few years. Could be it's a question of leadership on the park, or maybe McCall just doesn't like his players getting stupid bookings for dissent. But, some carefully timed comments about poor refereeing decisions served us well against Aberdeen last season, and with some less honest play from some people, perhaps we might get more going our way?

 

Just to be clear, I'm not for a minute suggesting this would have gained us a win we didn't deserve today, but decisions can change games, and the last couple of seasons we have been on the end of some shockers. That's 3-4 penalties in our last three games, for example, that we perhaps should have received.

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In response to some of the points Fat Tony raised, yes I totally agree with some of the bookings and pushing pulling (that Brown got a penalty for) that went on and we seemed to just meekly accept them. I'm not saying that we should be surrounding the red screaming at him, but Collum was so bad at times and we didn't seem bothered!

 

A sign of the lack of fight within us?

 

I thought Collum:

 

1) got the yellow for McManus right

 

2) got the yellow for Lawson right

 

3) got the yellow for Angol right

 

4) got the yellow for Leitch right

 

 

 

 

Additionally he:

 

1) could have sent Angol off after four minutes for DOGSO but he signalled the ball had been kicked too far

 

2) should have sent Lawson off for a crazy second tackle after being booked

 

3) having given the foul for the penalty Kerr should have been off for DOGSO, it was maybe outside the box but either way we got a break.

 

 

 

 

Therefore I thought we got more from Collum today than he cost us and to argue about lack of fight is just nonsense. Remember in 2008-09 we got into Europe as a result of us never ever picking up stupid bookings under McGhee. I don't think we ever got a booking for dissent or celebrating a goal under him which is why we were able to remain as free of suspension. Good discipline is something that cannot be under-estimated when you have a small squad.

 

I actually don't believe we have a lack of fight, I just don't think we channel it the right way. Today, when things started to go wrong we seemed to play even more quickly which meant we gave the ball away more often and in trying to rectify it our defensive positioning was dire. We put in a fantastic disciplined defensive performance at Tannadice and Parkhead but seems when we try and attack we forget to defend at all.

 

 

 

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