StAndrew7

Thomas without a doubt, mentions to Kennedy, Chalmers and Moult.

He clapped his hands a few times, that's all I could see, really.

A bit harsh to say it's laughable. A right back who consistently lets players skip past him and chases the ball rather than marking the men he's supposed to is always going to cause problems for the centre half on this side. The first thing you're told as a full back is never show your number to the opposition; Law does it every time someone's running at him. Laing was consistently left exposed because Law left him with too much to do; every single person around me at the game last night agreed with that. I lost count of how many times he was caught high up the park and jogged back to help out, or the play bypassed him entirely, or he wasn't strong enough in the tackle to stop someone or at least slow down a break. It's no coincidence that East Fife stopped getting in down the right side of our team when Law went off and Watt came on. It was instantly obvious where the problem was from about 15 minutes in; East Fife had 3 players around Law waiting on him making mistakes they could then exploit, something they did time and time again. Laing was turned inside out a few times - he still did more than Law did in the air and in possession (when he didn't make mistakes, which I will acknowledge he did with the ball at this feet and he does need to be stronger in the tackle at times). He's far from the finished article but he looked a lot more assured with Watt beside him for the last 20/25 minutes than he did with Law.

Fair play!

As an addition to your post, Al; I thought Leitch's distribution and performance picked up when Thomas came on. Perhaps the familiar face helped him?

How on earth could that be construed as Moult's fault?

This is a bit of a mishmash of thoughts on last night's performance and how we can apply them to Saturday, so apologies: I really, really hope Baraclough learns from last night in respect to how we go about Saturday. Chatting in the car on the way home, he seems to want to shoehorn in (what he thinks is, anyway) his best 11 into the formation he wants to play. Just because it worked twice against Rangers doesn't mean it's going to work against every team we play; I hope tonight gave him the scare he needed. He certainly went ripping through the players at full time just before ET started. My biggest problem with this selection process is that we don't really have enough players on the bench capable of coming on and changing a game in our favour (Dom Thomas' performance last night aside). Josh Law shouldn't be anywhere near our team on Saturday (or for the rest of season, if my wish comes true); East Fife recognised he was the weak link in our back 4 and had 3 players marking him waiting on a mistake. Every meaningful attack came from him conceding possession or being caught too far up the park and not tracking back. Luke Watt looks far more assured and reminds me of Paul Quinn in his early days. Certainly had more dig about him than Law; time and time again Law half heartedly tried to win the ball and his leg bounced off the opposing player's. Simply not good enough. I'd potentially start Kennedy again; question is instead of who? Kennedy looks to read the game well and has some pace and ability to bring the ball out from the back and find a good pass through the midfield. I thought Laing was great in the air last night but was caught out with the ball at his feet a few times (after having won it back) and with their number 9 driving at him he was turned inside out a few times to the point he nearly lost the plot. You can see the potential he has; he reminds me of Hutchy when he first came in, raw and talented, just needing to use his brain a bit more and clear his lines one or two touches earlier. Not every ball he plays from defence has to be a through ball for a winger. Sometimes row Z or a booming clearance down the pitch is what's required. Dom Thomas showed more in his first 10 minutes on the pitch than Johnson did in the entire first half, so I'd say Marvin needs a spell on the bench and the chance to come on and prove with 20/25 minutes to go he can make an impact and change a game or put it out of the opposition's reach. He's certainly a rough diamond that needs nurturing and developing. He also looks to have lost some pace; not sure if the injury he picked up in pre-season is still causing him some problems. With Taylor suspended we'll have to go for Lasley and Leitch in the middle, which is fine (contrary to quite a few other posters, I think Leitch had a decent game at points last night; just not consistently over the whole match and some of that was down to having to cover for other players' mistakes; Ainsworth and Johnson being particularly wasteful with 5 yard passes and stupid back heels causing us all sorts of problems). McDonald needs to be in support of Moult and playing little 1-2s with him. That substitution and formation changed Moult's performance completely and he started to look a lot more assured with help around him. Also, long balls from the keeper over the top to wingers and a striker with no support around him; no, just no. We scored 3 goals from playing good, passing football in attack. Back to that and forget the long ball routine, please. Too easy an option to just keep lumping it from the keeper.

Aye, very good. As for signing another striker; are we forgetting that Fletcher is injured and we're not aware of when he'll be back yet? Would you have signed Marvin based on his before coming here? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvin_Johnson_(footballer,_born_1990)

Fixed.

We need a mobile & ball winning defensive midfielder before we need another defender right now; that's should be the priority. If he's capable of playing right back and not being turned inside out every week then I'd think about it after we've signed the former. Edit: Also, he's 30 and has had numerous cruciate injuries in his career. No thanks.

If we lose on Tuesday by all means give him the boot. If we win (and win well) give him the Killie game and a few others. I'm certainly wavering now in comparison to earlier on.

I'm seeing the same issues as we had under Gannon in his early days; inconsistency due to adapting to a new system. Thankfully Baraclough doesn't appear to be the nutter Gannon is/was, so if we give it time I think it'll work. The focal point of the attacking system we play is the lone striker and getting in and around them quickly. Unfortunately we lost Erwin who adapted to the roll brilliantly last season and got others (Ainsworth, Pearson, McDonald and Johnson) involved quickly. We've since brought in two players in Moult and Fletcher who need to adapt to the SPFL, their new surroundings and their team mates. I do honestly think we would have gotten something from the Aberdeen game had Fletcher been fit; he's more suited to the lone role than Moult is. The most important thing is getting McDonald to play a more advanced role off the striker; that worked brilliantly last season against Kilmarnock, St Mirren and Hamilton. Defensive mistakes can be ironed out and I agree with other posters; I think Watt should be given a go at right back if Law doesn't improve. Everything meaningful from the opposition seems to come down the right flank (something I noticed at ICT). This is slightly off topic but I do hope that we'll have a go at teams at home more; two up top is a must with McDonald supporting Moult or Fletcher. We've got the pace and trickery to trouble most fullbacks and defences in this league consistently; it's time Baraclough recognised this and allows the team more opportunities to express that ability.

People need to put things in perspective here. We finished 2nd bottom last season; we've so far been beaten by a team who were comfortably top 6 last season and the team that romped the championship in a considerable amount of style. What were we expecting from the first 3 games? 9 points, 12 goals for and none against? Fuck me. Everyone acknowledged when the fixtures came out we had just about as difficult a start as we could have imagined and yet here we are, 3 games in, complaining about the manager, wanting the team gutted and how shite we are? This season was all about rebuilding; just about everyone on here agrees with that. If that means finishing 10th and bedding players in, so be it. People losing the rag after 3 matches need to get a grip. Multiple posters have said that we showed enough against ICT and Dundee United to suggest that we'll win more games than last season and not be in any significant danger. 3 games in to the season and it's panic stations. If we're in trouble after the first 9/10 games and sitting bottom and haven't managed to beat Killy, Partick, Hamilton etc. then yes, I'll agree.

I was just about to say the same; I think the signing of Kerr was a major coup at the time and things would have been totally different if he hadn't been injured so seriously (hindsight/alternate universe, I know).

I'll take 7th or 8th this season; get IB's team and style bedded in and start to push for top 6 and Europe again.

I don't think Ruddy played for England when with us? His call ups came during his time at Norwich.

Fletcher came off on Saturday; not sure how bad it was?

If he does well get him a pre-contract in January. Interesting that there's a break clause in the deal; presumably if he performs Reading might want another look at him..? If he can get on the ball and start some counter attacks he's exactly what we need. He may not be a player to pick apart a team with a raking or intricate pass, but someone who can bring Johnson/Ainsworth/McDonald into the attack quickly to get in and around Moult or Fletcher is an interesting prospect. I agree wither others that based on the initial research/reading up on him he's not what I would've expected; someone who can pick a pass in the final third for Fletcher/Moult is what I'd have loved (Nicky Law style). There's no reason we can't bring someone else in to fill that role if needs be; I still think McDonald has a lot to offer there if he's got a more experienced/solid pairing behind him and once he's match fit, of course.

Found a video of him scoring for Reading last season and certainly looks like he plays left midfield, as that's where his goal came from. Doesn't mean he can't play centrally, though!

http://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/2015/08/11/jake-taylor-signs-on-loan/ Looks like the kind of player we're needing; a decent bit of experience in the Championship and on loan in the lower leagues. He's recently has his first cap for Wales last October, too.

Aye, because a player who has the quality and skill required to make it at Gateshead after he's left us will have solved all our problems...

Agreed; you can really see that there's a rapport between Craigan, Robinson and Baraclough (going back the celebrations at the end of the Playoff game at Fir Park). That can only mean the U20s will go from strength to strength; if we're playing the same formation as the 1st team regularly/every week and making sure that the roles of each position are exactly the same is paramount to the club growing. If Leitchy does the same with the youth academy, we've got a development system in place that's going to grow players throughout our age groups to step up the first team more often. Onwards and upwards!

This is going to sound ridiculous, but my Director's son is best mates with Brobbel. Was having a chat with him there and he says he's still a bit lightweight but has his head screwed on the right way. Said he did really well with Hartlepool last year; set up some good goals/chances. He won't be a 40 goal a season man but sounds exactly like the young, hungry and eager to impress type of player we're wanting to sign.

Ah. My bad!

I'm nit picking I know but Moult didn't touch it; it was a clearance by the ICT defender (hence the corner straight after it). Unrelated to the above, I thought Clarkson looked lively when he came on for McDonald; certainly looks to have a good understanding with Moult who looks a tricky wee player and was unlucky not to score from Law's rebound (who looks more interested in overlapping based on yesterday's performance).