joewarkfanclub

Its easy to point the finger at McGinley and O'Donnell, but they are being coached to keep a narrow back four and defend their box. When the ball is crossed for the first goal, McGinley is in the position he has been told to be in. However, the cross and finish are top drawer so he has no time to react and get out there. Our midfield and forward line should be dropping back to fill those gaps and preventing such an easy ball, but the entire way we are set up is rotten and exposing our players all over the park. We have been getting away with it against most of the teams in the league, but the minute you play against a higher standard of opponent your definiencies get found out.

The Hibs game seems such a long time ago. It was a great game of football and great entertainment and advert for our game. Even though we lost, I still left the stadium full of hope for the season ahead. Where is that hope now?

To be fair, he had been injured and it was his first game back, so judging him on that game alone was a bit premature. Thats not to say you were wrong in your assessment or that Goss will turn out to be any good for us. His performances since then havent really shown any marked improvement. However, he is being asked to play in a 3 man midfield that is outnumbered every week and its worthy of note that Slatterys performances are going backwards after the early promise he showed. Its clear we need to be trying something different to try and get the best out of our players. If that happens ans Goss is still not showing any improvement after he has had 10 or so games under his belt then I would have to conceed that he maybe doesnt have the quality required to cut it at our level.

Aberdeen have beaten Hibs and Hearts in a week that saw them very unlucky not to leave The Temple of Doom with 3 points as well. Very difficult to see anything other than a loss here unless there is a dramatic change in the way we set up and get our square and round pegs in the right holes.

I understand your point and agree with it up to a point. But Alexander did sign the majority of these players now, so the sows ear is his. Added to that, if we need to shitfest games, there are better ways of doing it than our current set up. How our front 3 keep going the way they do shows a lot of mental fortitude on their part.

Ive said before that the best way to defend is to keep possession of the ball. We simply dont do that, so we never have a platform to play from which limits the opportunity to create chances for our forward players. Until we sort that aspect of our play out we will continue to see similar performances and results. I dont really care what the formation is, but we need to set up in a way where we dont get overun in midfield and actually have numbers in there that allow us to keep the ball. Once we do that we can see about getting bodies forward to create chances, as I do believe we have players in the squad that can hurt teams and score goals. It would be foolish to be shouting for the managers head at this stage, but he must be able to demonstrate that he can see that there is a problem and be astute enough to make the changes that will fix that problem. Unfortunately, Im starting to fear he is too stubborn to accept that......

Just from watching them both. Carroll regularly gets caught sleeping or out of position and has to use his pace to try and recover the situation. Its one of the reasons he gets booked or sent off as he has a tendency to lunge into a tackle to try and remedy the problem. McGinley isnt miles better, but it happens to him less often. Carroll is miles better on the ball though, so it is potentially worth putting up with his defensive frailties just to be better when we actually have it. You are probably right about the 3-5-2. He probably hasnt played it much. But it stands to reason he would be much less of a risk defensively if he had an extra defender in behind him and he could focus on what he does best.

Does that depend on whether they died or not?

Anyone else think Tony is saying, "Im staying right here" ?

I agree Carroll is much better going forward but I think McGinley is a better defender. Carroll is much better in a 3-5-2, as is SOD.......

I agree with that. Alexanders subs continue to baffle even more than Robinsons did. The obvious sub was KVV for Shields who had ran himself into the ground. I did think O'Hara looked much better when he came on than Goss or Slattery and has surely played himself into a start on Sunday? Similarly, what was the point of the Carroll substitution after St Mirren equalised? Surely not holding out for a point? If that is the case its terribly defeatist.

A lot will depend on who is fit fot this. If Ojala is fit, Id definitely go 3-5-2. If we match their 4-3-3, they have better players, so you would expect them to come out on top more often than not. We need to find another way to exert an advantage. Best way to do that is to try and keep their fullbacks pinned back and have ours pushed further up the park to try and do that. In that scenario we definitely need the extra man at the back. Id go with..... Kelly Mugabi Sondre Ojala SOD O' Hara Grimshaw Slattery Carrol KVV Watt

Its the age old connundrum isnt it? Would you rather be a Ross County fan right now, who certainly on the evidence of their game against us, knock it about nicely and are reasonably entertaining to watch, yet took 11 games to get their first win. Or be in our position. Sitting comfortably mid table, but for the most part can best be described as playing dull but effective football. Id pick the latter every time. My problem is that it shouldnt have to be either / or. It should be possible to strike a balance. Id accept it if it was just Alexanders way of getting the most out of someone elses players in order to ensure we stay in the league. But he has now had the opportunity to get shot of those he doesnt want and get in those that he feels fits with his style of play. So he is effectively choosing to play this way. Now, it might be that one window isnt enough to complete the picture and we might still be a work in progress, but it would be nice to hear some acknowledgement of that and hope for a brighter future so we know this isnt as good as its gonna get under him. I still like lots about GA and I think there are decent players in our squad, but the entertainment on show has to improve. There were glimpses of it 2nd half last night. But we need more control of the ball to see that develop.

I didnt say he shouldnt come out. I said he shouldnt have come out so far. There is a fine line between narrowing the angle and selling yourself. He did it earlier on in the half when there were more defenders around and it was entirely unecessary. Its obviously just something he has in his game/head (see the penalty v Hearts) . It was a great finish from Brophy though.

Agree with this. Grimshaw looked much better in the middle and was able to just keep it simple. He can be infuriating though. His little pirouette and pass to the left in the lead up to the first goal when Woollery had bust a gut to give him an easy pass to the right, had me off my seat. However, he is clearly a football visionary who could just see the play opening up in front of him 5 moves ahead and made the correct decision!

Kelly made a few excellent saves, but I felt he was rash for the first goal and didnt need to rush so far off his line. I thought Grimshaw had a much better game in the centre where he could keep it simple. But ultimately, and not for the first time this season, there was only one player on the field for us showing the required touch, quality and endeavour required to be considered MOTM and that was Tony Watt.

Tight game as anticipated and fine margins making the difference yet again. The concern for me is our style of play. Its absolutely brutal to watch. You can get away with it when you are winning, but thats 3 defeats on the bounce, so tactics and formation get way harder to defend when there is precious little entertainment on offer. Usually a big supporter of McGinley who, although limited going forward is generally a better defender than Carroll. However, his 2nd half today was very poor and his decision making has cost us a point today. Overall I didnt think we deserved to win. But the goals apart, I didnt think United troubled us that much (even though they played way more football) so I dont think we deserved to lose. I really hope GA has a rethink on how we are set up, but I wont hold my breath......

Only saw the 2nd half, but Mugabi, Ojala and Watt were the only ones with pass marks until OHara came on. He provided more quality from the set piece in 20 mins that Slattery, Goss et al showed previously.....

I love Viking! Hope Sondre is fit. Shieldwall!

He is the only midfielder we have that looks like he has a bit of genuine quality about him. If we get some players of similar quality around him or increase the numbers around him to give him some support we might get to see how good he can be. Hard to look good when you are carrying a whole midfield.

Sorry David. I agree with your general point about O'Donnell, and he did make amends later in the first half with a goal saving tackle, but if he tucks in a little at the goal, Jota has to go around the outside and doesnt get a clear run through on Kelly. His body shape and positioning are just a little out and allow the pass to be played inside him. Overall though he does more right than he does wrong and I dont see Grimshaw or Mugabi doing any better in that position.

Re O'Donnell, no one can argue he hasnt made mistakes this season, or that his performances havent been better for Scotland than for us. However, if we start dropping every player that makes a mistake we wont have many players to choose from. O'Donnell is the best right back at the club. It may well be that playing 3-5-2 suits him better than playing 4-3-3, but there is no chance he will be dropped unless we sign someone who is better, which seems unlikely. Mugabi could play there I suppose, but he is a centre half and you wont get anything from him going forward. It is really frustrating just now, because there is some promise in the team but there is clearly still something missing and the management are showing no signs of changing it in terms of set up or personnel. United appear to he in good form just now and Tannadice is a traditionally difficult venue for us. Id take a scrappy hard fought draw right now, but wouldnt surprised with a single goal victory either way.

Bevis. No real competion this week. Ojala, Woolery and Watt were ok, but no more than that.

Bit surprised at the team selection today. If ever there was a team we were set up to play against this season it is Celtic. They like to keep possession, push forward but are week at the back, so as a counter attaxking team, today was made for us. So dropping KVV for Roberts was a surprise and also OHara for Goss, guven the work rate we needed from the midfield. That aside, I thought we started strongly and looked good until Collum decided to intervene. The decision against McGinley for a very good tackle was laughable, but to then compound it moments later by not giving a foul on Slattery in the run up to their goal was incredible. Yes, we should defend it better after that, but big decisions change games and we go from not getting a foul 30 yards from their goal to being 1-0 down. We lost our way after that, and it wasnt until well into the 2nd half before we really looked dangerous again. Then enter the officials. Or not as the casr may be! Its a stonewall penalty. Yes we have to score it and yes, that would only make it 2-1, but at least then its a game. Overall, I think we can do much better. We all know our midfield is dysfunctional, and we should defend the first goal better, and despite Turnbulls great strike, I still expect Kelly to get his feet off the ground for the 2nd. I also couldnt believe Kelly never once played the ball over Raltons head for Woollery to run on to, the amount of space there was in behind was ridiculous. This wont define our season, but its frustrating as hell not to really lay a glove on a team who have so many weaknesses.

Seriously dude. Do you ever read your posts back? Your having a go at a guy for questioning how you support football, by having a go at how others support football? Ive watched Motherwell for the best part of 50 years and Ive seen plenty of turgid shite. Same with Scotland. But I dont do it to be spoiled with silky flowing football. I do it because its in my blood and its who I am. If Scotlands not for you thats fair enough, bit dont try and pretend that its because watching Motherwell is more entertaining. Its just not true.