Jump to content

sinjy

Legends
  • Posts

    364
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    9

Posts posted by sinjy

  1. 13th February 2016, Motherwell 0 Kilmarnock 2 - a toothless demoralising performance.

    I came away from Fir Park that afternoon convinced we would be relegated.

    We won 8 and lost 5 of our last thirteen games and ended up in the top six.

    I'm pretty sure if you trawled back through this forum after that game you would see the same melt down.

    I did not expect us to recover from that display but we did. I am just as worried one year on.

    Football is so unpredictable and results can be swayed by very fine margins.

    We have not had the best of luck this year.

    With the fixtures we have three away games v Aberdeen Rangers and Celtic.

    Good goals not given or wrongly chalked off (Partick and Dundee away are two anyway). Two fluke deflected first goals in the home Hearts games. The dubious red cards that not only affect that game but also the next couple when the suspensions kick in. Away draws to the Old Firm in the cups.

    Yes McGhee makes some strange selections and seems to over think the tactics at times. He appears arrogant but those that think he doesn't care enough are surely shot down by his interviews after the Rangers games and even his antics at Pittodrie the other night.

    I question peoples reasons for hating him.

    He went looking for a better job in the wake of the success he had here the first time. So what, football management is his job. I applied for lots of jobs in my time that I thought would be better and pay more.

    And finally no one ever seems to mention the magnificent job he did in the aftermath of Phil O'Donnell's death. I thought he led the club through that terrible time with dignity.

    All those wanting him out be careful what you wish for there are a lot of numpties out there wanting to manage football clubs. And if his likely successor is McFadden or Craigan that really gives me the fear.

    • Like 3
  2. If the thrower fails to deliver the ball per the required procedure, or delivers it from a point other than where the ball left the field of play, the throw-in is awarded to the opposing team. This is commonly known as a "foul throw",[6] though such throws are not considered fouls.

     

    It is a minor point but shows further the incompetence of Dallas on Saturday. Above is an extract from the Laws of the game. Just in front of us on Saturday the Hearts left back took a throw from the wrong place. Dallas blew up sent him back to take the shy again. Pretty worrying when the referee does not know the basic rules.

  3. I thought we were a bit unlucky. The three at the back seemed to be working fine with them being limited to long shots at goal. However playing Ainsworth in the McDonald role did not work. He as incapable of controlling the ball and turning and bringing others into the game. If his shot had not been cleared from the line though the game might have been different. Moult was clearly onside when his header hit the bar and the same linesman allowed their second goal which was marginal. We had a good spell in the last ten minutes of the first half.

    The sending off and the fluke goal clearly affected the outcome. We are left chasing the game which with 11v11 is going to leave gaps at the back never mind a man down. The players seemed fired up by the decision and we had our best spell after they scored.

    The rules of football may have changed from when I started watching. Back then the rules were if you took the ball then the man it was good if you took the man then the ball it was a foul.

  4. To me the game turned on McDonalds sending off. Up until then we were the better team and made two or three half chances. Some said that Collum was evening things up. Unfortunately we lost our best player they lost an average player. We created next to nothing after he went off. Kiernan could easily have gone for his two footed tackle but can you imagine the furore in the media about two Rangers players going off in the first twenty minutes.

    If we lose McDonald back to Australia next week then I fear we will be relegated. He is our only creative player and makes Moult tick.

    And if we stay up, next season will be an even bigger challenge. Hamilton and say Inverness or Killie replaced by Hibs and Dundee United will see the league much stronger. Without McDonald and Moult and Lasley, Hamell and McManus all a year older and their replacements recruited from lower English leagues things look pretty bleak.

  5. New striker, get McDonald to fuck

    Were you at the game today. Without McDonald we were toothless and created absolutely nothing. If he decides after today that he is fed up and decides that he wants to go back to Australia before Tuesday then I fear it is pretty certain we will be relegated.

    • Like 1
  6. I don't understand those criticising McGhee's post match interview. If he had come out and spun a lot of positives then the critics on here would be slamming him for that.

    I thought it shows how much he cares about winning. Ok he may want to win for his own super ego but fans need to realise that players and coaches hurt as much and probably more than the average fan. I didn't have a particularly pleasant Saturday evening thinking about the game but I bet I felt better than McManus who would be well aware he had let himself and his mates down and would be going over the mistake he made in his head a thousand times.

    Lets hope there is a new determination on Saturday to put it right and get three points.

    • Like 1
  7. I've been waiting all my life tae see us beat Rangers in the Scottish cup,the last time we beat them in this competition was season 60/61 when we beat them 5-2 at Ibrox. Time tae get this done guys....

    I'm old enough and lucky enough to have been there that night. I hasten to add I was there with my dad as I was only 10. Typical Motherwell we lost 1-0 at home to Airdrie in the next round.

  8. A 6 foot 4 goalie from a Championship reserve team.

    I was surprised we did not go for a loan keeper at the start of the season after the success we have with Ruddy Randolph and Ripley. Samson seemed to hold the club to ransom saying he would only resign if he got a guaranteed start at the season beginning. Well he has had his chance and failed. However it will be Brill if there is a change as I'm sure we cannot afford to pay three first team level keepers.
  9. I thought we did alright in the first half. Our midfield of Lucas Lasley and Clay played quite narrow and competed well. I am not Lasley's biggest fan but he was sorely missed in the second half. Bizarre substitution by McGhee to bring on Dom Thomas. It would have been better to have kept the same shape and pushed Cadden inside and played Thomas on the right. He was isolated out on the wing and Clay and Lucas could not cope on their own.

    The game probably swung on the two penalties, both were soft and Lasley got hurt at ours. However I maintain that ours should have been retaken. The two players Jack and Considine are at least two yards inside the box when it is taken. I would have no issue with this if the goalie had held the kick or turned it for a corner or even if Moult had smashed the rebound over the bar but he sclaffed his shot and the two players got back to clear. They got a clear advantage from their encroachment.

    Our defending at set pieces is dire. Their big centre half had three free headers and could had them out of site by half time.

    Moult looked as if he was in the huff after his penalty miss and Ainsworth's confidence must be shot after being passed over for first sub.

    The goals we lost were poor. Lucas passed the ball back to Samson from the half way line and then it was a complete cock up. There is no excuse for Samson at the second it was not a powerful shot and we have seen him do this often.

    As for the third it was another poor pass from Lucas. Maybe Tait would have let the ball run out if it had been earlier in the game but we were desperate to get forward so he kept it in and Hayes who tore him a new one all night ran through.

    A big overhaul is needed in January. When a 37 year old is your main midfielder then you have problems. We need two new players in that area.

    • Like 1
  10. Well that shut up a few doubters. Read the first page of this thread and it was mostly about McGhee's time being up if we didn't win. If that was the case then seven SPL managers were in the same boat with three points separating 6th from 12th.

    Give some credit to the manager. He changed the shape of the team today to counteract the opposition and it worked. Imagine the meltdown on here if we had lost.

    We saw again how important the first goal is. No wonder McGhee went ape shit about the disallowed goal at Dundee last week. Thistle had to come out and attack us and we got a second on the break and in the second half could and should have got a third.

    A pretty good performance.

    Samson did nothing wrong but was never tested so the jury is still out.

    Tait had a potential man of the match performance. He gets better and better.

    Heneghan had a terrible mistake early then made two crucial blocks when I thought they were going to score . Then he was terrific. Fast becoming one of my favourites.

    McManus was solid and we do not know what influence he was having on the youngsters on his left. I suspect it was a lot.

    Ferguson will have learned a lot from that today. The big black guy pushed elbowed and kicked him but he stood up to it all. McMillan looks like a future first team regular even though he is playing on his wrong side.

    I have never been Lasley's biggest fan. Today was a typical good performance. He made good blocks and interceptions but when it came to constructive forward passes he was as usual lacking.

    Clay is similar. One of those midfielders who goes about his work breaking up play without creating very much.

    Cadden is our shining light. His powerful running threatens every time. To become a real sellable asset he needs to work on his final ball. Hopefully that will come.

    If we are to reach our full potential i.e. the top six our front two Moult and McDonald are key.

    I thought they were great today. On form they are probably the best pairing outside of the top four teams in the league and if they stay fit and perform as they did today there is every chance we will finish in the top six

    McDonald is a narky wee shite but he is one of the cleverest and best front players in the SPL and we should cherish him.

  11. Tait, Heneghan, Lucas, Ainsworth, Moult and McDonald were the pick of the bunch for me. But there were no failures today.

    However MOM should go to the best player and the one who had the most influence on the out come. Nearly all of our good play involved Scott McDonald in some way. He scored one goal sent Moult through for the second and gave a dream pass to Lionel for the fourth.

    Special mention to young McMillan who also played well.

  12. I think Ya Bezzer has got it spot on. The first goal was so important. I actually thought Ross Co were looking the better team at the start of the match. We got a cheap goal when the smallest man on the park headed in a free kick. We stepped up a notch after that and they went down a level and from then on we never looked like losing. Contrast to Wednesday while we were bad I didn't think Caley were any better than us until they took the lead but after they scored they just got better and we got even worse.

     

    Posters on here go ape shit when we lose and on cloud nine when we win. Results in football matches are determined by very fine margins and that's why I don't get too down when we lose and too high when we win.

     

    McDonald and Moult scored lots of goals together last season and renewing their partnership was long overdue. Lucas if he can stay fit could be a real find.

    Cadden is getting better and better and I just love Big Ben at the back.

    A satisfying day but what team will turn up at Dens next week and will the little things that make the difference be in our favour.

  13. I ve got a bit depressed reading some of the negative comments in this thread. I actually thought we were unlucky tonight. The first half was pretty even. I felt we competed well with a team that looked bigger stronger and faster than us. In a SPL game the first goal is vital. We looked the more likely to score. Their keeper had an outstanding save from Clay and then on the stroke of half time a nothing shot takes a wicked deflection and we go in 1-0 down. It could and perhaps should have been the other way round. We started the second half brightly and with a bit of luck in front of goal might have equalised. They were looking quite dangerous on the break. I have no idea what Samson was trying to do in the scramble just before their second goal. It was a worldy that could on another day have cleared the stand but it landed in the goal.

    Yes there has to be questions about the tactics. I hardly remember Moult who is a goalscorer being in their box. He wont score isolated on the wing. Bowman is a trier but looks limited and I would like to see us have Moult and McDonald as a pair up front. McGhee clearly does not trust Ainsworth or he would have brought him on for Cadden. If he had been in the mood his strong running would have been the ideal replacement for Cadden. I thought Clay and Heneghan were our best players. We badly need a midfielder who can run beyond the front players and someone who can pick a pass that opens a defence. Pity there is a break now. However some of the players need to up their fitness levels and hopefully this will be worked on over the next two weeks or will it with McGhee away.

  14. I always thought this would happen. We were punished because as organisers of the Play Off game the SFA deemed that our arrangements were poor and so allowed the fans onto the park thus we got into bother.

    Imagine the conversation at the SFA after the Cup Final.

    That was terrible. We must punish these clubs. Lets have an inquiry. The organisation of the game was poor. Too few stewards not enough police. Who was responsible for organising the match? Oh shit it was us. Ah well lets just forget it. We can hardly fine and warn ourselves like we did to Motherwell.

    • Like 1
  15. Think it was £100-150k for Roddie. The one that got me during that era was John Hendry, over £200k iirc.

    A year later Hendry was playing for Stirling Albion and a year after that Pollok Juniors.

    McLeish wasted so much money. He paid over the odds for Eddie May and Shaun McSkimming and bought duds like Roddie and Hendry yet he never got any criticism in the media. To this day I loath the man. He is up there with Roger Hynd, Bobby Watson and Harry Kampman as the worst manager we have ever had. He Spent a couple of million and took a team that had finished third and second to the relegation play off. A complete tosser.

  16. I have looked again to see if I can clear up some of the points made by others.

    After the cup win Nijholt is listed as LB from the start of the season (24 games)until January 1992 when McKinnon was signed. Nijholt then seemed to switch to RB with Griffin dropping out.

    Angus is listed as LB only in the last game of that season. He did however fill in at LB for 4 games in the run up to the cup final the season before when Boyd was injured.

    McSkimming started 1996/97 as LB. But as someone else mentioned Ian Ross took over in the second half of the season. Steve McMillan was also in the team at that time and with squad numbers actual line ups are harder to work out.

    By 1997/8 McMillan is listed as the regular LB.

  17. I remember a few years ago reading somewhere about our club having a tradition of terrific left backs.

    With Stevie Hammell nearing the end of his career and the no football weekend I spent some time looking into this.

    As you can see from the table below it looks like we have had only 7 regulars in the last 70 years. However there have been others who have filled gaps in the timeline.

     

     

    Baldy Shaw 1946 to 1958 256 League games

    Bobby McCallum 1958 to 1968 157

    Joe Wark 1968 to 1984 464

    Tom Boyd 1983 to 1991 252

    Rab McKinnon 1991 to 1996 152

    Steve McMillan 1993 to 2001 152

    Steve Hammell 1999 to 2006 215

    2007 to 2016 253

     

    Significant other left backs

    Pat Holton 1956 to 1959 played 69 games between Shaw and McCallum then sold to Chelsea

    Matt Thomson 1961 to 1969 played 172 games and filled in at left back between McCallum and Wark although Matt played in lots of different positions during his career.

     

    During Joe Wark's time with Joe either injured or playing at right back.

    Chic McLelland 1979 to 81 played 51 games

    Ian MacLeod 1978 to 1986 played 243 games although he played lots of different positions with only a few at left back.

    Derek Murray 1984 to 1988 played 95 games

    Jim Paterson 2004 to 2008 played 108 games and exactly half of them at left back in seasons 2006/7 and 2007/8 when Hammell was at Southend.

     

    The games and seasons played are thanks to a terrific web site

     

    http://www.neilbrown.newcastlefans.com

     

    which lists only league games played.

     

    ( I believe Neil died recently and the web site may no longer be being updated but it is still a fantastic site)

    • Like 1
  18. Exactly!! Gave 100% !! sometime brilliant other times not so much but still a favourite with the fans.

    I remember George coming back to Fir Park to play for Queen of the South and he got a great welcome when he took his place in front of the old enclosure. He was a real cult hero very fast but the crowd and probably himself did not know what he was going to do next.

  19. It always amazes me how a player out injured becomes the messiah and the answer to all our problems. Moult may well score some goals but just wait for the moans on here when he doesn't score in his first two games.

    We do miss him however. McDonald is not a lone striker but he links the play well but needs another player beside him.

    Johnston has been rotten since the speculation around him and hopefully when the window closes he will get his focus back.

    I like the three summer recruits Tait, Heneghan especially and Clay although I hope his second half fade outs are due to lack of fitness and that can be sorted with time.

    By all accounts Chalmers played well at Ibrox and I thought he did well yesterday. So all you who are quick to condemn a player give them time.

    What I am trying to say is that people on here are either all sugar or all shite. We will never have world beaters but give players time and support them always.

    • Like 3
  20. I cant understand the vitriol on here against Hateley. I thought he was a very reliable right back. Full back is probably the easiest position to play in the whole team but he was good there if a little lacking when he played in midfield.

    I have never spoken to one MFC player in the last twenty years so I know nothing about player personalities but if people are condemning him because he or his dad was an arsehole then that is up to them but I will always judge a player by what they do on the park and Hateley's level of consistency and fitness levels were top notch. He honoured his contract and moved on. Get over it.

    • Like 1
×
×
  • Create New...