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Scottish Premiership Motherwell V Hearts Fri 30 Sep 19:45


Yabba's Turd
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Very frustrating if that is the case. We spend the best part of a year talking up the departure of Marvin but don't have an adequate replacement lined up.

 

Heneghan and hopefully McHugh aside, recruitment has been sketchy over the summer, leaving us with an unbalanced squad that lacks pace and creativity.

We don't know much about Brill and Blyth yet and I think Bowman has something to offer, if played correctly. Belic - who knows? However with regard to midfield your spot on. We've known for some time now that it needed replaced / upgraded but the players we've signed seem to be ad hoc and not what we require. I suspect Pearo's departure caught us on the hop but we've all known that Keith Lasley is at the end of his career and that Marvin Johnson would likely move on. That said, Pearo was a box to box player than a creative one. As for the younger lads I would expect the management team, by the end of last season, to have known pretty well who would make the step up to first team football in August ie nobody.

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I watched the full game back last night and as disappointing as the result was I'm very much in the "we weren't that bad" camp. In the first half other than pick up a ball that sclaffed off Heneghan Samson didn't have a meaningful save to make, by and large we were containing Hearts reasonably well and it's fair to say we had the best chances with Hamilton saving from Clay and a decent effort from McDonald that was beat away near post. However, same as v Thistle, we gifted them a goal.

 

Samson had nothing to do in 45 mins of football except claim a floated free kick which he gets caught under, ineffectively waves a fist at the ball then Lasley elects not to just put his laces through the ball to get us up the park and instead of going in 0-0 we go in 1-0 down. Again, it's an obvious truism but goals change games, unfortunately whether it's Samson vs St Johnstone, Hammell vs Thistle or the first on Friday we have a habit of giving sides cheap goals. The fact that the 3 goals on Friday stemmed from our failure to clear our lines effectively is as disappointing as the result.

 

I agree that Ainsworth would have been the obvious replacement for Cadden but equally I didn't feel Lucas did much wrong when he came on. He showed for the ball in the centre of the park, took a touch and moved the ball on, switched play and more often than not found his man. Indeed it was his ball that gave McDonald his chance for the offside goal. If anything though he'd have been the more obvious replacement for Lasley.

 

Ultimately I thought there were periods in the game where we played quite well and fashioned some decent chances that we didn't take. We didn't lose the game because we were outplayed in any meaningful way, we lost the game because we gifted Hearts, who are a good side, goals.

 

Having said all that Paterson's goal was an absolute thunderbastard and McFadden's free kick was quite, quite superb.

 

A voice of sanity.

 

Brill: if not now, when? Samson is such a flapper he could dance the Charleston.

 

As for McGhee, no wonder he reacts badly on occasion to inane comments from "supporters", and on Friday he was obviously raging about the first goal. In the second half one guy in the POD was screaming at him to "get a sub on" after he'd brought on three. Help ma Boab!

 

Having said that, I'm fed up with his tinkering with formation to nullify opponents instead of playing to our strengths (we have some, e.g. Moult). His comments before the ICT cup tie last year, when we played with one up for most of the game, made them sound like Barcelona: embarrassing.

 

I'm not looking forward to our usual rabbit in the headlights submission at Celtic Park either and a visit to Pittodrie afterwards probably means a difficult October but who knows with a team like The 'Well?

 

'Twas ever thus.

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Not just his pathetic flap at Hearts first goal, but Samson also unnecessarily palmed a low cross into a dangerous area in the second half and when Watt hit the post he followed it up by slapping it out of play to concede a corner!

 

Just catch the bloody thing!

 

It's not a silver bullet solution to all our problems but its time to give Brill a shot surely?

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Re summer signings. Surprised no ones mentioned clay. I like him and one of the few from Friday with pass marks for me. I think he'll prove to be a good signing for us - unsung hero type. Hard working, tough tackler with a good range of passing (though admittedly his passing can be lazy at times). He's still relatively young too so time to develop.

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Not just his pathetic flap at Hearts first goal, but Samson also unnecessarily palmed a low cross into a dangerous area in the second half and when Watt hit the post he followed it up by slapping it out of play to concede a corner!

 

Just catch the bloody thing!

 

It's not a silver bullet solution to all our problems but its time to give Brill a shot surely?

It may be the same one you're talking about but in the build up to their 2nd he palmed a low cross into the middle of the area.

 

The thing is he's a 32 year old goalkeeper and he's still carrying these traits and they're criticisms that have been levelled at him throughout his career. He's not going to see them coached out him regardless of how good our goalkeeping coach may be. There's a reason Killie fans were delighted to see the back of him.

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I usually back much of what McGhee does but on Friday night he made an absolute arse of the starting line-up, his tactics and the substitutions he made.

 

If it was our game plan to sit off Hearts, soak up their pressure, allow them possession and hit them on the break, then why oh why, did we start with three strikers and play one on either wing? It's almost as if he is frightened to start Moult or Skippy as substitutes...pick two of them to start and play an extra midfielder

 

...losing Cadden, was a hefty kick in the chuckies, as he was our 'out ball', he frustrates me but their is no doubting his ability to gather the ball in our half and take it 40yards towards the opposition goal, replacing him with Lucas ( who reminded of Jake Taylor by the way), was an incredibly strange decision...Ainsworth for me was the obvious replacement capable of taking the game to Hearts.

 

Everyone is looking for a scapegoat (other than McGhee, who many are desperate for reasons to have a dig at), Samsons confidence is clearly fucked and that lack of confidence in himself is now transmitting itself through the rest of the defence, I'm not sure if Brill is the answer but we'd be as will giving him a shot...those slaughtering Hammell, should take a wee step back and remember that he came up against Nicholson and Paterson with absolutely nobody playing left midfield, he was on a hiding to nothing. Our midfield is pedestrian at best, I've said it for over 2 Seasons, now Lasley is done and needs replaced, he was never much of a player to start with but is clearly past it now, hopefully McHugh coming back can sort us out in there.

 

McGhee needs to get back to basics and stop trying to shoehorn his 'best players' into positions that make them look like fucking haddies

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Mcghee needs too settle on a formation and tactics and stick too it,theres no need too be changing things about all the time for what looks like trying too nulify the oppositon.we have one of the best strike forces in the league in mcdonald and moult and they should always be played as a pairing,splitting them up and playing one out wide and one through the middle on there own is madness.i would like too see us go 4-4-2 with ainsworth on the right and cadden moving inside,we nadly need some energy and forward thinking in central midfield.left midfield would be a problem but maybe playing chalmers there would help hammell who is playing poorly right now,then theres samson who imo has always been a shite keeper,he needs too be dropped as the defence looks dodgy enough without him fucking up everytime the balls goes near him.

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Around 1000 games between them but that's two games in a row where first Hammell and now Lasley have sold goals with absolutely ludicrous, basic errors. Embarrassing stuff. Faddy provided a real gem at the end but WTF was that tune that played right after it? Honking.

 

Bits and pieces, classic

 

Three words. Barry John Corr

 

 

How can folk have forgot Lee Hollis?

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Re summer signings. Surprised no ones mentioned clay. I like him and one of the few from Friday with pass marks for me. I think he'll prove to be a good signing for us - unsung hero type. Hard working, tough tackler with a good range of passing (though admittedly his passing can be lazy at times). He's still relatively young too so time to develop.

 

 

Personally I thought he was awful and offered nothing. Sideways or backwards pedestrian passing (I appreciate we need to keep the ball at times) and seemed to show a lack of athleticism, exemplified by the 37 year old Lasley sprinting back to the edge of our box to cover Clay's man then giving him a mouthful once Clay had sauntered back to where he should be.

 

I said it at the game to my Dad and the guy in front sat nodding his head, but a lot of our problem in my book seems to be that all our midfielders are the same. Lasley, Clay, Lucas and McHugh can be classed in the 'neat and tidy' or 'combative' category, but there is no-one apart from Cadden (who is pretty young and inexperienced) that can take the game by the scruff of the neck, drive forward, looks like chipping in with 5 goals a season or play regular incisive through balls. Recent examples of the type of player we are missing in midfield would be Pearson, Nicky Law, or dare I say it an in form Vigurs.

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