Kmcalpin
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Posts posted by Kmcalpin
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9 hours ago, weeyin said:
I also hate the playoffs for a similar reason. There is no way a team that finishes fourth should get a sudden death chance for promotion over the team that finished second after a full season. After Dundee Utd and Raith Rovers have opened a huge gap and been slugging it out every week, can you imagine if it was Dunfermline - 17 points behind - who got the shot at the playoff? Would be a travesty.
100% agree. There is little or no sporting integrity in the current system. Did Partick Thistle not beat Peterhead in the 2006 playoffs on penalties? Both clubs finished 13 points behind the runners up, Morton. A complete farce.
I'm all for discretionary play offs though. You could set a points difference margin, for example, teams finishing on the same points, or within say 2 points of each other. Final league placings in such tight situations could easily be down to refereeing errors. If teams finished more than 2 points apart then there are no playoffs.
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1 minute ago, wellsince75 said:
Was thinking likes of Callan Elliot, Nicholson, Moses should all get some game time. Hopefully Adam Montgomery recovers and gets a few games.
Young Ross , Ferrie + Wells are the younger ones who've been in and around the squad.I'd completley forgotten about Callan Elliott. Agree that Nicholson should be given some more game time.
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Of late, things have been a little argumentative and acrimonious at times on on here. So lets have some harmless fun.
Given BobbyBingo's thought provoking post on the Dundee match day thread, I thought I'd try to predict the outcome of the 7 remaining games. It comes with a significant health warning though. Some big assumptions: the bottom 6 remains as is; our post split fixture list pans out as we would predict; and my predictions are inherently biased by being a slight pessimist. Here goes:
Dundee (A) 0 pts
Hibs (H) 1 pt
Ross County (A) 0 pts
Livingston (H) 3 pts
Aberdeen (A) 0 pts
St Johnstone (H) 1 pt
Hibs (A) 0 pts
So, thats one win and 2 draws and we finish of 38 points in 9th position, behind Hibs and Aberdeen. The one factor suppressing any optimism I might have is that we are virtually certain to concede at least one goal in every game. Post split results are notoriously difficult to predict and we could realistically finish with anywhere between 37 and 40 points. I think Ross County will finish on about 35 points and St Johnstone will also end on about 35 points. Goal difference will be crucial and the scrap for 11th spot could be very very tight.
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Luca Ross would seem to be top of the Academy list. After him - Ewan Wilson?
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11 minutes ago, bobbybingo said:
Same throughout a league that's as bereft of real quality as any I can remember, and odds are the standard of ability and entertainment will keep dropping.
It will until the English lower leagues collapse financially. They're running up huge unsustainable debts.
I have always modest expectations of entertainment and whilst I didn't like yesterday's level of performance, I don't get unduly concerned about it.
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11 minutes ago, wellsince75 said:
Defence has been an issue this season - I honestly feel the midfield is our weak link for a few years.
Yes, we need a bit of a midfield destroyer to protect the defence. Someone similar to Davor, but with a bit more physical presence.
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If, as Wee Dougie suggests on another thread, Bevis Mugabi will leave at the end of the season then the central defence will require major surgery. Rightly so in my view. Its been our achilles heel this season and cost us a shedload of points. So:
Mugabi - leaves
Lamie - off to Dundee
Casey - one more year
McGinn?
Blaney - one more year but maybe out of favour?
Butcher - time is up.
In my view we need a dominant centre half and a leader.
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I have one plea - keep it simple Ketts and don't overthink tactics!!
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I thought the referee Matthew McDermid had a reasonable game yesterday but I was curious about his treatment of Hemming. He had a long word with him fairly early on in the game about blatant timewasting. Fair enough. However he then spoke to him again, but despite that Hemming simply refused to desist. Why not speak to him once and then bring out the yellow card. That would stamp out this practice.
Any views on Vale's yellow card for diving? Not many refs issue them these days, despite it being a common malpractice.
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1 hour ago, steelboy said:
If he fails to win another game this season I don't think he'll be here.
I think he's 100% safe irrespective. He's a good man manager and coach, but we saw his tactical limitations and tendency to overthink yesterday. He's still learning and lets not forget he's a lot less experienced than his opponent yesterday, Stephen Robinson.
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I was reasonably pleased with the result, if not the performance and would have happily taken a draw at 3pm. My expectations were modest and the script for the game could have been written 2 weeks ago. Results elsewhere made it a pretty satisfying afternoon.
On paper, the team line up looked reasonable, with the exception of the defence. I’m not a fan of playing McGinn and O’Donnell in a 3 man defence and I really thought we’d ditched that failed experiment. If Blaney can’t displace a 32 year old wing back in central defence then the chances are that he’s heading out the door. That line up lacked physicality, height and leadership.
We started off brightly enough but after the initial 10 minutes, struggled to compete against a physical, energetic and well organised St Mirren. Fortunately, for all their aggression and endeavour, they proved pretty toothless. ( I hope the BBC doesn’t read this).
The defence, from start to finish, was disorganised and allowed Saints too much time and space in and around our box. As expected, they caused us problems in the air. Although we created a few chances early on, it was no surprise when they opened the scoring with the obligatory gift; again schoolboy defending. Saints then shaded the first half. At times, it looked as though they had 14 players on the pitch.
I felt sorry for Bair and Vale. The service to Theo was poor and he was often left isolated. Vale was played far too deep – just not his type of game. Bair and Vale just couldn’t link up. That tactic was a clear mistake and should have been changed early doors when it became clear it just wouldn’t work. Maybe one reason too why Spittal was anonymous? A clear case of managerial overthinking?
Captain Hindsight here - at the break I’d have introduced Mugabi for either O’Donnell or Devine, Miller for Halliday and Nicholson for the anonymous Spittal. To be fair Saints had done their homework on him and snuffed him out.
After the break we did improve and shaded the second half. I was glad to see us break our scoring duck against St Mirren. The Nicholson for Bair substitution had me baffled. Why take off a striker and introduce a midfielder when we had Moses on the bench and we were chasing goals? In the main, I thought our substitutions were too late in the coming and somewhat conservative. Its not as if those on the field were playing well.
Still, we just deserved the draw. Our performance was error strewn and we looked downright rusty. I absolve Bair and Vale from criticism for the above reasons. Spittal didn’t play badly he just didn’t play at all. Georgie Gent was my sole and clear contender for MOTM. He caused Saints problems on the left flank all day with his surging runs.
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22 minutes ago, smiddy said:
whats he been doing these last 2 weeks if he wasnt em getting fit ?
Sorry, I should have been more explicit. It looked as though he was carrying an injury. He should have been taken off at half time.
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3 hours ago, Ya Bezzer! said:
Our launched balls up to Bair were predictable and although Bair and Vale combined later to get a goal they were pretty poor for most of ..........The one positive was that St Mirren didn't cause us too many problems considering we had a back three with two full backs in it.
I felt sorry for Bair and Vale today. Theo has had better games but he did score the equaliser. Suffered greatly from poor service and lack of a strike partner. Also felt sorry for Vale. He was played far too deep and didn't really link up with Bair.
Agree 100% about the defence. I had the fears when the line up was announced. We can get by with one full back in it, preferably McGinn, but not two. I thought that formation had been binned and rightly so. From start to finish we looked vulnerable in the air. Can only assume that Blaney wasn't fit enough to start. Hopefully we'll never see SOD and McGinn both play in central defence together ever again unless it's a dire emergency.
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Not a game on which to judge Halliday. He looked nowhere near fit and it was unfair to leave him on the park for so long.
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We need to cut him some slack today. He made a few errors in terms of tactics and line up today but he's inexperienced and still learning.
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Only one contender for me - Georgie Gent.
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I'll see what I can dig out. No doubt quite a few posters will be familiar with Tom Johnstone's 1938 book entitled "Motherwell Memories". Some good photos in that interesting book. Also, as part of the Images of Scotland series, "Motherwell" compiled by Helen Moir published in 1999, might be of interest.
As an aside, anyone interested in the history of coal mining in the area could do worse than check this map out
https://mapapps2.bgs.ac.uk/coalauthority/home.html
This shows the abundance of mine entries and coal workings in the area, including Fir Park. I suspect that many posters will have ancestors who worked in the pits in the area. The nearest recorded mine shaft lies between Dalzell Drive and the East Stand.
Another interesting historical map can be found on the National Library for Scotland website
https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17.6&lat=55.78179&lon=-3.98716&layers=6&b=1&o=0
This shows the nearest mines to have been around what is now Primrose Crecent (Parkhead Colliery Pit No 7); and what is now John Murray Court (Dalzell and Broomhouse Collieries, which most of you will know as the Doctors Pit).
The line of the present day Knowetop Avenue follows what was the old mineral railway which ran between the Parkhead pit and the West Coast main line.
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If we can score a goal tomorrow that would be an achievement in itself, as we've failed to score in all 3 meetings so far this season. Go for it.
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11 hours ago, TheoBair14 said:
My Starting 11 V St Mirren prediction
Liam Kelly GK
Stephen O’Donnell at LB
Adam Devine at RB
Dan Casey CB
Bevis Mugabi CBShane Blaney CB
Davor in midfield
Spittal Attacking Mid
Bair and Vale up top
Think Miller will be on be bench due to slight injury
How fit will Bevis be after his international travels?
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Any update on Lennon Miller's injury?
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44 minutes ago, Spiderpig said:
I don't think he will be a bit player, Hearts are signing a proven goal scorer in the premiership a midfielder with a goal tally most strikers would love over a few seasons. For me he'll be an integral part of their team.
Agreed Allan. Like us, perhaps Hearts are finding the English market, in which they fish, too expensive money wise, and are having to scale back their ambitions. If they sign more Premiership players, that will confirm this theory.
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Good news. That should help our off the field activities
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11 hours ago, stv said:
Why would hears give a shit about that
Out of respect. There would have been no great disadvantage in Hearts keeping quiet. I don't buy the line that the announcement was to pacify their fans. To some extent its hung Spittal out to dry, although you could argue that he was hoisted by his own petard. That said, I would say to our club that they don't need to treat Hearts with great respect in future. They'll reap what they sow.
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St Johnstone has also written to the SFA to complain about VAR. More grist to the mill as they say.
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Dundee v Motherwell 6/4/2024
in Club Chat
Posted
Given the state of Dundee's pitch and this week's weather forecast, there must be doubts over the game going ahead.