Goggles & Flippers
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Posts posted by Goggles & Flippers
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It will be interesting to see who the referee is for this game now, cause after feeling the Brown incident last night was an injustice they will be all over the ref like flys on shite for every 50/50 decision, if its a weaker ref then i think we can expect either a very dodgy penalty against us or a ridiculous red card for a Well player.
You say that as if its not in their DNA to do so. They have convinced themselves they are the world's oppressed and victims to rival the Palestinian's. However by the letter of the law, Brown was right to walk, for me it was 3/4 of the way to a red. But as there is no such award I was happy the ned got a red mainly for his petulant stupidity.
If they get a penalty I'd say there's a fair chance it could be a fair decision seeing some of clumsy challenges McManus has made on occasion so far. Assured and composed one minute, Lorenzo Amoruso then next. Still a great signing for us but I fear he will beat Crags OG/penalty conceded record.
Most intimidating game so far and imperative we compete in midfield. For that reason I'd opt to start with Faddy, games like this are like water off a ducks back. I'd bench ZFA and look to bring him or our nippy little winger on for Lasley if the engine goes and move Carswell more central and finally go for Arnier to replace Faddy if/when he's gubbed (injuries withstanding):
Hollis
Ramsden McManus Hutchison Hammell
Carswell Lasley Lawson Vigurs
McFadden
Sutton
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Only teams I think could cause us problems at present are Aberdeen and ICT. If we're firing all cylinders (which hasn't been the case yet this season), I fear nobody especially as the semi's move to a neutral venue.
I just hope the players take a lot from that 3-1 game. Best chance of silverwear in quite a few years. If Killie and St Mirren and some mob 2 divisions below us can win it, its nigh time we managed it.
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Billy Dodds on telly:
"Now Celtic's out I see Inverness doing it this year"
Well Billy I doff my cap to your punditry, motivated purely by the current league table. Inspired!
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Jeez, I'm guessing everyone contributing to this forum grew up in West Central Scotland? Are we oblivious to some basic facts of the environment we live in?
Also, the argument of posting pictures of what goes on in other countries is pointless and adds nothing to the argument. We live in Scotland and the culture and environment here suggests that the authorities don't think that behaviour is conducive to public order and safety. Whither this view is correct is up to you as an individual. Yes we can't light flares at football matches, smoke in pubs or drink in public, however we have free healthcare, can walk the streets relatively safely at night and there is low to no level of corruption. Everywhere on the planet has its pro's and con's associated with living there.
Another thing that serves no purpose is comparing us with other teams within our own country. I'm referring to the likes of the treatment of Celtic and the Green Brigade opposed to us. The Police establish what they see as easy wins. With the size of our support they can make progress/achieve targets, due to the size of the Celtic support would require a significant number of bodies on the ground to enforce the same law and no doubt result in a bigger furore. Granted its neither fair or equal but its what it is.
For example, basic human nature is to go for the easiest option, despite high moral intentions, the caveman part of our brains suggests that in the case of a 50-50 a referee will err on the side of what will give the least hassle. He will encounter and interact a significant number of OF fans in the week(s) after he's officiated in one of their games and a couple of fans of other teams if at all. Consequently they will have that in the back of their head, buried deep down and will have a bearing despite his attempts to show impartial integrity.
Put yourself in this scenario, you see a group of five guys loitering around your car opposed to one, you'd probably tell the one "fannybaws, do one!", with the former, you have to stop and think opposed to acting on impulse. Same thing with a large group or a small one.
Like it or not, smokebombs carry a panic button status among the authorities. Personally I'm not a fan and don't think they add anything, I'd rather those buying them would chip in for another drum, I'm sure the club would too if we get hit with a fine.
It simple, if the smokebombs didn't go off then the escalation during the second half wouldn't have happened. Any over zealous stewards there may have tried to find something but it wouldn't have carried the same weight.
Police Scotland have to be asked about why someone there did the same as Chick and sensationalised the event. Well, as we live in a blame culture now where people constantly try to cover their arse, its evident that the police presence there decided that action had to be taken as to ignore it could have came back on them. It's evident that someone thought the stewards weren't capable of dealing with it.
As a taxpayer who has recently been the victim of crime I'd rather they were out harassing the bad guys than dealing with this niff-naff and trivia.
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Gannon's like Marmite, we get it. Close the thread FFS.
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On the money Ya Bezzer, a lot of dreamy nostalgic eyes looking back. For all the decent players he brought in, he also managed to upset quite a few existing decent players with his behaviour.
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While nobody should revel in the apparent demise of anyone's career, you can't help but feel that he was a relatively big architect of that through his behaviour.
Also, while I'm grateful to him for some of the players he brought to Motherwell, I'm afraid I don't buy the tag he's earned among a good swathe of our fan base. I'm sure Stevie Wonder or some of the more hot headed/blinkered on here if exposed to the 3rd and 4th tier of the English game over a decent period of time (opposed to 30 seconds exposure after midnight on a Saturday) would identify a few decent players would could do a turn for us.
Unfortunately what sticks for me is the divisions in the squad, moral plummeting, tactics/decisions in the last month of his reign plus him actively pursuing other jobs at every opportunity as he felt we were beneath him but served a purpose.
I'm just happy he can now shout abuse at old bangers regularly without upsetting them.
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First win against this mob in 3.5 years at the Ark, interesting stat that raised an eyebrow when heard it.
Pleased for Sutton, Arnier and Hollis, that last 10 minutes should hopefully do his confidence no harm.
Crags looking smug as he's certain McManus will take his OG record.
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To a degree, but I prefer Terry's ethos when it comes to adding players at ICT opposed to McCall's with us.
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Almost forgot, my bad!
All this chat of "pacey wingers" had my eyes burning. In the previous 4 years Humphrey has been injured for a fair bit, if he started he played 60 minutes by and large and 30 if he came off the bench (that's when he was in favour, because there were times where he didn't get a look in). Did teams give him extra cover, I think initially yes, but over time with his delivery that dissipated.
He replaced Jim O'Brien who could never be called rapid. Other players to have came in to fill the wing role in the past few years have included Michael McGlinchy, Steve Jones and Omar, again not players who have had much of an impact or you would class as rapid. The only one who you would argue would be Ojamaa but he had a tendency to cut inside and head for goal than the by-line with a whippy cross if he was played deeper than Higdon's partner.
To suggest that the wing position is our missing link, the key to our success doesn't tie in for me. The team as it stands is an assured and experienced mob who on paper should be able to pass the ball from box to box effectively. What's been missing is steel in midfield (high hopes after seeing Carswell on Saturday), eradicating silly mistakes plus upping the understanding, expectation and anticipation between the players.
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How long before a happy clapping family member joins SOL and bigs Lionel up or makes excuses for him at every opportunity regardless of performance.
Just out of interest, anyone seen that Dezzie guy on here since Humph moved to PNE?
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Now that's interesting, anyone on here have a soft sport for any other teams in the SPFL? Can't say I do
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Can't wait to go to Motherwell for a long time to make it perfect!
When you step of the train or bus in Motherwell I imagine it will be akin to what the native Indians thought when Columbus moored off their shore. The only gold we have is in the Nobel's Amusements (can be found in Brandon Parade).
During your time here I suspect you'll be wishing you opted to select Monaco over us in FIFA. However welcome to the party.
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Anyone suggesting Higginbottom's representative didn't give us a heads up before he went to Firhill? No .... good, because if he was worth anything he would have been on the phone to McCall telling him the lie of the land, its obvious McCall didn't see merit in his signing so let him go. Any money both the player and his agent would have seen us as better for his exposure (Europe, top 6 consistently, etc.) than Thistle.
Also, while Lawless was OK on Saturday, he hardly shone in the way that some on here have made out letting him go was the biggest error since letting an Italian be the captain of a cruise ship.
Have faith in the cagey ginger one, he will deliver
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Clarification please anyone:
BBC Website - Last paragraph
"However, both he (McHattie) and Wilson are free to play against Raith Rovers in Tuesday's League Cup tie at Stark's Park as their offences only apply to league games"
Not the same deal for Boyd?
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If someone has their hands on your shoulders - you cant freely jump, to me, that was Higdons downfall - he was happy to jostle with defenders but didnt like going down - Sutton on the other hand has decided to learn from his big bro and go down at every opportunity! We'll get a lot of decisions for us because of that, which means a chance of an attacking set play
On the money that point, it was the one thing I noticed when Higdon entered the team 2 years back, he wasn't as clever with the refs as Sutton. However our downfall then as now is we don't have anyone who threatens the goal from 20 yards plus. With the height we have this season in Hutch, McManus and Kerr I'd be surprised if floaty efforts to the six yard box weren't commonplace.
Sorry to say it but I'd rather have an aged Ronald Kooman than Stevie at LB at present. I think that Scotland call up upset his mojo.
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Good point well made.
Too many ball watchers on here with 5 second goldfish memories.
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What could have been a comfortable victory ended with a mop of the brow against a team below par with Motherwell improving but nowhere near what we are capable of ... however improving. Knife sharpeners, put away you whetstones. ICT's result at the sty today shows how capable they are and adds a degree of context to last weeks performance.
Carswell was excellent until ten minutes before he went off and deserves a start from now on, he's earned it over the past 12 months. Good to see Sutton getting a bit of service and his goal, beats getting none and some of the more fruity members of our support shouting for his P45. The players seemed genuinely pleased for ZFA with his assist however his subbing was correct. Arnier's work ethic is commendable and I understand why McCall would think Sutton would make a better sole target man when sacrificing a striker. Faddy offered more centrally than on a wing and showed glimmers, when he does find that purple patch it will be glorious to watch.
For all our missed opportunities, Thistle were in the same boat with a few near misses that if we didn't get the rub of the green we'd be on here calling for major changes. I'm scratching my head as to why our defence is dragged to one side and then another like a rape victim's knickers. The amount of times the central pairing were pointing to overlapping players without cover and shouting commands shows why form teams will damage us unless we address the organisation between the midfield and defence under breaks.
As for the "pacey winger" debate raging on In's and Out's, it makes my eyes bleed. In the 4 years we had Humphrey, he was out of favour for a fair bit, injured for a while, tended to last 60 minutes when started and 30 minutes when subbed on. The argument was that opposition teams covered him with two players because of his threat was maybe true at the beginning but not when he had more exposure over time and his final ball was a lottery. Before him we had Jim O'Brien and the other "pacey winger" options we had recently included McGlinchy, that geriatric Northern Irishman and Omar (feel free to add to the list).
What we have on paper at the moment is an experienced and, Hammell apart, large in stature, defence. Ball winners in Carswell and Lasley, bit of flare and passing from Vigurs and a capable mop up man in Lawson. A creative game changing spark in McFadden and a capable back to goal ball winner in Sutton with a grafting foil in Arnier. ZFA for me should be a fringe player, he's been bloodied too early through necessity and I think he has questioned his own confidence in his own ability on occasion, (however don't let me take anything away from his 1st half performance today).
Let's play to our strengths going forward, which from what we have is zippy, neat and precise back to front passing (dare I say it, like what Barcelona do) because everyone listed above is capable if basic errors are eradicated. It doesn't get the East stand on its feet quite the same way as a one on one break does but it may reap more rewards from the current pool of players.
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I was going to post in the Partick Thistle thread after reading it but I thought this more appropriate. I appreciate this is about him moving and I'm commenting on other aspects, but it was motivated by some of the doom and gloom so far exhibited ..... its all sugar or all shite with us Well fans.
In Gannon's first few games and McGhee's too, we came out the blocks on fire, I think mostly due to fitness level's, I remember I found Jim Paterson was unrecognisable, there was some imposter who was a thin and assured footballer wearing his shirt.
McCall seems to have this thing were initially we're a little off the boil but come through in the long-run both in games and over the course of a season. Think how many matches last season followed that old adage "a game of two halves" and how we didn't start performing till November.
I think he's a gentleman, I think he's encouraged a good few players to extend their stay or come to us, however to counter, I think he's overly cagey by which I feel he takes too long before making changes in personnel with formations more concerned with damage limitation than inflicting damage. Finally I think he's not the scary disciplinarian and continues an element of that Ibrox culture of the late 90's we've all read about where giving the boys scope to cut loose/relax every so often was fostered. That may be a factor to what keeps the moral among the squad up, I don't know.
What I do know despite some of the things I've outlined above I still fully support him and wouldn't want a change.
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Merit in what Tweed has said. Aberdeen are functioning well for the first time in a while, Terry's built on what he had and St. Johnstone are doing the same.
The in's and out's was very optimistic as to what we could expect as the club announced the new signings despite the decimation of last years starting line up. The retention of a manager who has won the majority over and highly regarded for his achievements with us, the adding of internationalists McManus and McFadden to join Hammell, Vigurs and Lawson who were instrumental in helping County reach top 6 status last year to replace Law plus Carswell and ZFA stepping up and showing encouraging improvement all boded well.
For me, there's been too many basic errors and undue pressure as a result of those errors and a midfield that just isn't functioning. It's been a common comment all through pre-season till ICT mostly from McCall himself in the MFCTV interviews. There's been a host of undue criticism of McFadden and Hollis in particular. He doesn't have the same physical presence and possibly doesn't inspire the guys ahead of him with as much confidence as Randolph or Ruddy did, maybe that has a bearing, however I can't think of any of the goals scored against us so far that he's really been culpable. OK, a few jittery moments with passbacks and decision making, but he's played 5 first team games in 4 years, give the guy a break.
As for the talisman not performing, in the game he played in last year he entered a team that had been moulded over time that was comfortable with players such as Law, who was on the same anticipation wavelength and Ojamaa who could would run and run to get to his flicks and through balls.
Sutton isn't getting any service, he's a back to goal striker who knows how to milk refs for fouls. I'd love it for once if we found someone who could make the keeper work for 2 out of 3 free kicks we have in these dangerous places.
For me, I see an extra special bollocking this week in training, resolve from a group of players who know they are under performing and a few ex players looking to make a point for letting them go resulting in a 2-1 win for us.
Bear in mind England still can't get Gerrard and Lampard to compliment each other.
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Countless games last season were of two halves, a few outstanding comebacks. We're a group we are known by the collective noun of a support not a pessimism. Lets all calm down
You may not be the biggest fan of a player or tactic however may as well get behind them as unless injury steps in they are here till January at the earliest.
From the radio commentary it sounds like a lot more of what I picked up on last week, basics not being done, putting us under undue pressure. Just not clicking. But we are playing the in form team on their own turf, last season's exploits don't guarantee us 3 points in situations such as these, however it would be nicer to hear we were competing more.
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Ha, and in addition to Omar last season, it was Steve Jones and Michael McGlinchy the season before and Casagolda in McCall's first half season (however that car crash was down to Jack and Victor). Dry yer eyes!
For me McHugh has been cursed by the same as Forbes and Lawless, could prove to be decent if he was given a decent run of games to get the confidence up, never been overly poor in games, but never really shone, but can you with 15 minutes exposure?
Doesn't get a nod as others are brought in ahead. However I don't hang around watching them train daily.
Only criticism I have of McCall is he takes too long before making changes in personnel in a formation more concerned with damage limitation than inflicting damage. (think of our OF record).
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Arnier for me, Hollis 2nd.
I find it hard to understand a vote for Hollis today, he made a couple of poor errors in the first half, not coming for a ball and a very lazy clearance but nothing that cost us and he did make several saves and one excellent save with his feet just before the second penalty. Got to say his shot stopping doesn't worry me at all, it is how he deals with managing the box at set plays, through balls and back passes that worry me as most of his mistakes seem to come from them. However we have had many worse goalies than him so this scapegoating has to stop, it doesn't help him, the defence or anyone else. I really hope he pulls through and wins the fans round a la Higdon, though much harder for a keeper.
To be fair, whole team was culpable of basic errors that meant the receiving player has to take time out to control the ball then take a touch. Took us from an offensive position to the back foot such as:
weak/overweight passes
passing to weaker foot
awful shy's putting receiving player under undue pressure
All minor but all added to the malaise.
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1-0 up and not even 1 minute on the bulb refitted scoreboard, I guess I wasn't the only one thinking this could be a rout.
Last week I thought, 1-0 away to Hibs .... decent. After seeing how awful they were against the Jambo's today then that win doesn't seem so significant.
Defence on paper is as strong and experienced as we've had in a while, however we were caught out repeatedly today with overlaps and players not covering the right guy instinctively.
Hollis - Guy few seats down from me gave him pelters as soon as he came near the ball, prime example was his lack of speed distributing the ball to the right wing on 70 mins, so what .... wasn't as if we were going to do anything with it.. Echo's of Higgy 2 years ago.
Felt he couldn't do anything with the three goals. Doesn't have anywhere near the same physical stature of our last two keepers and doesn't command the 6 yard box, couple of dodgy decision making errors, hopefully that's a confidence thing as it is his what? his 4th competitive game in 3 years. Really good reactionary save and ball smothering in 2nd half.
Hammell - Not the best couple of weeks for him.
McManus - I said to my mate that he'd cost 4 penalties and 2 OG's at least this season, I feel Crags record could go by Christmas. Awful game for him.
Midfield as a whole - Almost every game during preseason it was determined that this needed tweaking as it wasn't functioning, today I didn't see anything to convince me of the slightest improvement.
ZFA - I appreciate he's young, stepping up to the next level and primarily a left back being asked to play the role of winger/midfielder. I really hope its a confidence thing as in the second half vs Krasnodar he started to have impact rather than pass it back to Hammell. Final ball needs a lot of work in training as I found it very Humphreyesque.
Vigurs - Couple of postage stamp diagonal passes that will come to fruition over the season I'm sure. Needs to work on the relationship between the holding midfielders and forward line.
Arnier - Impressed with his work rate but there is only so much you can do if you aren't even getting a sniff of the ball.
McFadden - Not clicking at present, see frustration every time he tries something and a player at a higher level would have anticipated his touch or flick. As a support, we see him as a talisman and we need things to start working soon. Needs to come in from the wing.
Sutton - He does win a lot of free kicks as he knows what ref's are looking for better than Higgy. Passenger today but that was due to lack of anything decent from midfield to front.
McCall - It wasn't working at 60 minutes, a major shake up was needed, slow to react. Midfield shape/tactics needs addressed as a priority.
Gordon Young Leaving.
in Club Chat
Posted
Anyone think he would have stayed if the reorganisation a few months back wouldn't have happened?