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St Johnstone V Motherwell Sat 20 Feb 15:00


Yabba's Turd
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McGhee doesn't have a clue. There's no progression of any note in our play since he took over.

The current squad isn't good enough - perhaps they have progressed as far as they can? Despite the clearance in deadwood over the winter, major surgery is still going to be required in the summer. Interesting to see how he rebuilds, given he didn't fancy it much in his first go-round

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I agree about MMcG overthinking tactics but Pearo was no worse than the rest of the midfield today. They were all very poor. That said it would be nice to see Cadden and Pearson playing in roles to which they are more suited.

Completely disagree about Pearson, he's be awful for weeks and it came as no surprise to me that in recent weeks the only game we've won he was missing. For some reason we have a support (on here at least) that would rather criticise Lasley. Las has had a poor season by his standards but part of the reason he makes mistakes is that he's in the game 90-95% of the time, unlike Pearson who plays when he feels like it, which in the middle of the park we really can't afford. To be honest his style of play hasn't changed much since he was with us first time round i.e disappears for 20/25 mins and then does something eye catching, then disappears again, we can't afford that in a relegation battle. For that reason he'd be taking a seat on the bench if it was up to me!

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Completely disagree about Pearson, he's be awful for weeks and it came as no surprise to me that in recent weeks the only game we've won he was missing. For some reason we have a support (on here at least) that would rather criticise Lasley. Las has had a poor season by his standards but part of the reason he makes mistakes is that he's in the game 90-95% of the time, unlike Pearson who plays when he feels like it, which in the middle of the park we really can't afford. To be honest his style of play hasn't changed much since he was with us first time round i.e disappears for 20/25 mins and then does something eye catching, then disappears again, we can't afford that in a relegation battle. For that reason he'd be taking a seat on the bench if it was up to me!

First things first I'm not singling out or blaming Keith Lasley for yesterday's defeat - be clear about that. In the first half his distribution was awful and gave his colleagues no chance, Gomis put himself about a bit more but his distribution was very poor also. In the second half Lasley was completely anonymous when we needed the engine room to dig in and protect the defence and feed an outball to the strikers. That said, Pearson was just as anonymous as was Johnson and to a slightly lesser extent Cadden. I said before the entire midfield was poor - Lasley and Pearson were no worse nor better than the rest.

 

Our central midfield has been poor for several years now and that did not change yesterday. In the middle of the park we lost just too many individual battles. This is leaving our centre backs exposed and our strikers and wingers starved of decent service.

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While McGhee has made some selection mistakes and strange tactical decisions I don't see the blame being laid at his door. Maybe he has swapped things around to try and get a formula that will work. We have virtually the same squad as finished 11th last season so it should be no surprise where we are. We have swapped one rookie keeper for another and have brought in a seventeen year old at centre half. Moult has replaced Erwin. Gomis has joined but is still to settle. Other than that it is the same group of players except that Hammell, Lasley Pearson McDonald and McManus are a year older.

The recruitment in the summer was a disgrace. Four players that we signed then have been moved on with only Grimshaw making any impact. Kennedy, Fletcher and Chalmers are still here but have contributed very little. McGhee seems to have been told to reduce the wage bill so he could not bring in the two or three players we needed. Bringing in McFadden seemed desperation as he was done two seasons ago when we got rid. While McGhee makes all the positive noises about the squad I wonder if deep down he realises just how bad we are.

 

On a side issue did anyone notice in his after match interview what looked like hearing aids in his ears?

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While McGhee has made some selection mistakes and strange tactical decisions I don't see the blame being laid at his door. Maybe he has swapped things around to try and get a formula that will work. We have virtually the same squad as finished 11th last season so it should be no surprise where we are. We have swapped one rookie keeper for another and have brought in a seventeen year old at centre half. Moult has replaced Erwin. Gomis has joined but is still to settle. Other than that it is the same group of players except that Hammell, Lasley Pearson McDonald and McManus are a year older.

The recruitment in the summer was a disgrace. Four players that we signed then have been moved on with only Grimshaw making any impact. Kennedy, Fletcher and Chalmers are still here but have contributed very little. McGhee seems to have been told to reduce the wage bill so he could not bring in the two or three players we needed. Bringing in McFadden seemed desperation as he was done two seasons ago when we got rid. While McGhee makes all the positive noises about the squad I wonder if deep down he realises just how bad we are.

 

On a side issue did anyone notice in his after match interview what looked like hearing aids in his ears?

It's hard to disagree with a lot of that. However I would query why, when we have an aging squad and we are regularly conceding last minute goals, did we sign two players who look incapable of being able to play 90minutes

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The pitch was awful yesterday, That was obvious and I feel contributed to the shite® standard of play from both teams.

Utter dross again, Last minute goal again. I don't remember either midfield being involved at all.

I want to point out a few things.

 

Ripley - Utter shite for that first goal. A bus could have got in that front post. (Missed the second cos when they got the free kick I said "I don't want to witness this" and went for a piss before the journey home.)

 

McManus - Maybe I expect to much of someone with his experience and International caps. Loves a long aimless ball humped 80 yards up the park.

 

Laing - seemed "solid" enough at times. seems to have learned his trade from McManus as he loves to hoof the ball up the park. Gave the ball away about 80% of the time he had it.

 

Johnson - Useless unless given the ball to his feet with 20 yards of space.

 

Others have been pointed out already but I felt the need to recognise these players.

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Hoofing the ball up the park is a tactic. We can argue about how well it is executed but the manager would be shouting them down if he was not happy with them doing it....and he has not been at any point.

 

 

I do agree but having been paying much attention to the manager. He would enjoy it too much.

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On McGhee's fault fae Saturday, Why the fuck was Ainsworth stuck up front?

 

With McDonald pulling out pre-match, McGhee would have been left to either go like-for-like (Fletcher) or change the shape to accomodate another midfielder.

 

With him going for Fletcher, there was no way he was getting 90 minutes out of him. Therefore, as there were no other strikers on the bench (how ironic is that after what we had earlier in the season!?) it was either put Lionel up top (to try and use his pace on the break perhaps?) or change the shape to go 4-5-1/4-3-3.

 

However, as we now all know, we're not allowed to to go 4-5-1/4-3-3...

 

Interesting to note Marvin Johnson has escaped criticism again. I've always felt when the chips are down, you look for your big players to get you out of trouble. Quite telling that he's done very little since the turn of the year.

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Kind of avoided discussing the game since Saturday as I was absolutely scunnered leaving Perth. I find the whole argument between those blaming McGhee and those blaming the players tedious. BOTH are to blame for the mess we are currently in and anyone saying otherwise is kidding themselves on. There also seems to be some online criticising fans for getting on the teams back at games, whilst i want fans to be as positive as possible sometimes it is necessary for fans to vent. I don't prescribe to the happy clapping routine having sat through folk doing the same last year claiming 'everything was okay'.

 

Main points from Saturday;

 

McGhee saying we played fine, very worrying.

Moult is the only guy showing real desire to chase every ball.

Ripley had a shocker in terms of distrubution and the first goal.

Pearson seems to have been out of sorts for the last few weeks.

Johnston done hee haw...

 

Also the lack of activity in January is looking like a huge error of judgement

 

We need to win on Saturday.

Edited by Lukemfc1
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Kind of avoided discussing the game since Saturday as I was absolutely scunnered leaving Perth. I find the whole argument between those blaming McGhee and those blaming the players tedious. BOTH are to blame for the mess we are currently in and anyone saying otherwise is kidding themselves on. There also seems to be some online criticising fans for getting on the teams back at games, whilst i want fans to be as positive as possible sometimes it is necessary for fans to vent. I don't prescribe to the happy clapping routine having sat through folk doing the same last year claiming 'everything was okay'.

 

Main points from Saturday;

 

McGhee saying we played fine, very worrying.

Moult is the only guy showing real desire to chase every ball.

Ripley had a shocker in terms of distrubution and the first goal.

Pearson seems to have been out of sorts for the last few weeks.

Johnston done hee haw...

 

Also the lack of activity in January is looking like a huge error of judgement

 

We need to win on Saturday.

 

That lack of activity may well have saved the club though...

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That lack of activity may well have saved the club though...

 

Can look at things from both ways to be honest.. if we get relegated we will lose large amounts of money. Perhaps investing more in the team would have been worthwhile to stay up but I suppose we won't know until May. Take your point though

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