Kmcalpin

Two very good posts from the Lip69 and the Brazilian and I suspect both are pretty near the truth. Like it or not there are question marks over Stuart McCall's ability to motivate the squad. Why is that? It may be due in part to the mangement team's failings but it may also be due in part to players who have become stale and need to be moved on for their good and the good of the club - maybe as many as 5 or 6 of them. Personally I'd like to see a fair bit of movement in and out this summer. Only once that has happened and SM has been given an opportunity to wheel and deal in the transfer market can we judge him.

Good point Jim. Our strikers were given very little room and were well policed sometimes by as many as 3 men apiece yesterday. By comparison we afforded Inverness acres of space when they wanted it. Something else I noticed as far back as the New year derby - we seem incapable of playing one touch football. Very often when we are breaking the strikers or wingers are clear of their markers and the central midfielder/defender with the ball needs to get the ball out to them quickly to catch our opponents off guard. Instead they dally on the ball, as they did yesterday and only release it when the striker/winger is marked by 2/3 men. This one reason why we aren't creating chances.

Wow, thats very worrying. I hope someone from the club reads this. As if competing with the OF wasn't bad enough.

The game was partly lost off the pitch were Stuart McCall got it badly wrong and on the pitch where we played very poorly. We were set up to counteract a free flowing and expansive ICTside. The problem became apparent very on...they weren't going to play that way. Their physical robust style didn't suit us and they were quite prepared to sit back, close us down and hit fast on the break. We had loads of possession but it was mostly in our half and comprised back passes and passes across the pitch with absolutely no penetration. Changes should have been made after 30 minutes when it was quite plain that our game plan was totally inappropriate. Forbes and Hately should have made way for Humphrey and Saunders. I lost of count of the number of times that Jamie Murphy ran with the ball across the pitch not up and down it. Jamie looks burnt out and would benefit from a 3/4 week rest. Ross Forbes is not suited to playing this kind of game, where he isn't given time or space. The first goal was always going to be crucial, and despite what the BBC may have said, it was dreadful defending that gave them it. No cover whatsoever in the left of our penalty box. Second half was worse than the first with all 3 full backs and the midfield having a complete nightmare. In Keith Lasley's defence he was playing out of position. All too often our only attacking option comprised long aerial balls to Ross Tokely who dominatd John Sutton by a variety of means, not all of which were legal. Once again we proved that we haven't a clue to play against sides who defend in depth like St Mirren, Hamilton and ICT. A waste of time and money today but roll on Tanandice.

Far too early to call for his head - he needs at least a year in fairness and the chance to bring in his own players. That said he got both the team selection and tactics badly wrong in Inverness. Changes also should have been made after 30 minutes but weren't. Hopefully he's getting these errors out of his system early on at FP.

How many null votes have won MOTM awards this season?

I can accept that. There will be a proportion of our core support with no particular attachment to the club - they like watching football and MFC just happens to be the nearest club to their home. I recall when we hit 6 past Hearts a year or two back a middle aged guy was sitting in front of me with a C & A scarf on (probably just to keep warm). As goal after goal hit the back of the Jambos net all around were going atomic except this one guy who remained stoic and emotionless. He seemed oblivious to what was going on on the pitch. I suppose that illustrates your point. There will undoubtedly be more like him.

Ally Maxwell may be had a couple of good seasons but in the late 80s his form was less than impressive, and he struggled to oust Cammy Duncan from the first team.

I understand what you're saying but surely this survey is a bit different. Its not like a normal consumer survey. I've been asked to complete a survey before about shopping habits to cite but one example. I don't feel any particular loyalty to Asda, Tesco, Sainsburys or whoever. I don't take my custom there because I like going there its because I have to - none of us can live without food. In such circumstances, there is no strong motivation for completing a questionnaire. MFC is a bit different. Although we're all different, we all go to FP because we want to - through an attachment to the club. Given that you'd think most folk would be very keen to send in their views, to help the club. I suspect that most folk either don't know about the survey or don't understand its importance. Maybe quite a few aren't registered with the Official Site - who knows?

I'd say he is better than Peter McCloy. The Girvan Lighthouse was undeniably better in the air - not unknown for him to come out for a cross ball and catch it one handed. However he was less reliable and prone to making a good few blunders. Older posters will recall him fumbling a harmless header into the net at Easter Road just before he departed. Of the two DR is the better. Keith McRae? A tough one to call but DR shades it for me, although Keith Mcrae was more versatile. Darren Randolph won't score many goals for us. On balance I'd say that Darren Randolph is the best keeper I've seen play for us at Fir Park so far. He's more of an English style keeper than we're used to at FP, although I wouldn't call him dirty. If he comes out for a ball he'll make sure he gets it, without breaking someone's neck or back. Nobody will push him around.

Yes but plenty of other players resorted to shirt pulling and they committed several fouls as well. Scott Brown indulged in jersey pulling and clouted Keith Lasley in the face and got off scot free. No problem with booking Keith per se but he had to be consistent and book others for identical/worse offences but didn't.

It'll be a reasonable representation but as folk on here have said some still didn't know about it. A fair proportion of our support still can't/won't use the internet and unless they bought a programme on Sunday the chances are they won't know about the survey. Hard to say why folk haven't completed one. Many won't have known about it, some will be anti MFC or apathetic. The response is not bad for a survey of this kind but we must remember that, unlike most surveys, our support has a vested interest in it. However given that and also because folk go to Fir Park voluntarily and are not press ganged into it I would have thought it would be higher. Still hopefully the club will get a decent appreciation of our views good or bad.

So, as of today the club has only had 800 replies....out of a core support of 3,500? A 23% response. I would have though our support couldn't wait to fire their views into the club. Well if they don't take part they can't complain if their views are ignored.

I thought today's referee, Euan Norris, had a very poor game, and although he inflenced the character of the game he did not influence its outcome, fortunately. He got the penalty decision right but little else. From start to finish he was inconsistent. Keith Lasley's yellow card was unfathomable. It was his first foul, if it was one at all and very soft. Constrast that with his treatment of Celtic's Majstorovic. He had a shocking early challenge on Ross Forbes, I think, yet got off scot free. He then committed foul after foul. To add insult to injury, Scott Brown whacked Keith Lasley in the face under the referee's gaze, yet no action was taken. Gunning was also booked for his first foul. Jenning's also booked for a foul yet a Celtic player committed an identical one yet no action was taken? What was with Neil Lennon twice advancing several metres onto the pitch whilst the game was in progress - yet no action taken against him? Not good enough.

Great performance and result today and Stuart McCall got his team selection, tactics and pre match pep talk just right. We had no failures today but John Sutton, Ross Forbes, Keith Lasley, Shaun Hutchinson and Gavin Gunning deserve special mention. Really impressed with our defence and they gave Darren Randolph decent protection. Food for thought there. A real tonic after Wednesday night's disaster.

A good open and frank post by SM.

Pitch wasn't too bad today. Not great but nowhere near as bad as last year.

Hpe you enjoyed yourelves. Certainly brought us good luck. You're welcome back anytime.

I'd guess that climate has an awful lot to do with it. Southampton's location on the south coast gives it a considerable advantage temperature wise over most of Britain. At any point in time you'd expect it to be several degrees warmer than say Carlisle.

I've no problem with folk declaring "I'll no be back etc etc". For the past 125 years some of our fans have been saying that. Folk say it for a wide variety of reasons, some connected with football some not. All I ask is that everyone takes part in the club's survey. Its not constructive to say that on the Boards but not tell the club directly. The club has to learn from your comments and ideas. Its also important for the club to know who will be back and why they'll be back. Is this Board representative of our support as a whole? Of course its not but the club has to get as many responses as possible to form a representative view.

At a guess to monitor for trouble. Not a pleasant experience sitting right next to the away support on Wednesday, or mingling with them in queues. One or two complaints made to the stewards.

Good post Big Buff. We are what we are "MFC". That doesn't mean to say we should not aspire to improve, of course we should. Take the thick with the thin. Expectations these days are unrealstic and far too high.

I never at any point said she did. She promoted it though. Up until the early eighties most fans went along to support the team through good or bad. I can remember the Fir Park faithful cheering the team off the park after a bad home defeat. That doesn't happen now and hasn't for 25/30 years. You wanted the team to win but it wasn't the end of the world if it didn't. It was our team. There were always good teams in England or Germany but they weren't our team and we didn't follow them or become obsessed with them as we do now. Gradually the winner / self centred mentality began to take over, after Thatcher came to power (just to spell it out though - some always had it). In recent years due to media exposure many fans only want to be associated with winners. I met someone a few months ago, a joiner, who said to me that he was highly skilled and worked damned hard all week and therefore deserved only the best. Thats why he would only watch EPL football. I want the best for MFC but we will only ever be a provincial team, hopefully one of the best. Our expectations should reflect that. I'd like for us to win every game but that just isn't going to happen. To come back to the original point, I don't agree with all SM has done but he needs time and patience from us. We need to go back to our roots as a community club.

Maggie Thatcher promoted the self centred, "whats in it for me", "look after yourself", "only the best will do for me" culture. Folk may hate her in Scotland for what she stood for but that doesn't stop many of the same folk living by her teachings.

I wouldn't laugh at all, sadly its all too true (just check my signature to see what I and Jim Duffy think). For many youngsters now the benchmark is the Man Utd, Chelseas, Arsenals and Barcelonas of the world. That is the normal standard. Anything less is crap. Its totally unrealistic and symptomatic of the media brainwashing and changes in society since Thatcher came to power.