fizoxy

Posted twice for some reason, but since I'm here, I think we could see Goss drop out too.

This game has 0-0 written all over it, and might not be able to watch it at work, so it's probably going to end up an end to end goal fest. I can't imagine we will start with the same lineup as Sunday, but I don't know the last time we had the same 11 for consecutive games, so nothing new. O'Hara will prob take Grimshaw's place on the bench, and Shaw will most likely come in for Cornelius (which I don't think is fair, but will happen). Lamie is back in training too, so maybe he or Ojala can come in for Carroll. Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

1-0 us. Watt and Van Veen to both miss penalties, then Goss to score for us, with a penalty, caused by four guys piling on Bevis from a long throw. Someone will get sent off. Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

Skill is one thing, but having half the team out on their feet at 70 minutes was embarrassing. Solholm was totally done and should have been off earlier. Their 4th was lucky but they had plenty of chances, and we're fannying around trying to get rogic his hat trick. Tierney and Efford looked bright for a couple of minutes when they came on, but fell away. Woolery did absolutely nothing. Fair enough, not the best situation to judge him on, but he really just looked happy to jog around in a big circle. Cornelius had a good game and I'd be fine with him keeping his spot all season in place of the Celtic guy. McGinley wasn't bad at all, and made some excellent interceptions, but his card has been marked. All in all, we only conceded one in the second half, so not quite the apocalypse everyone predicted. I'm more pissed off at the Ross county and hibs results than this one. I'm going to get some breakfast and watch Cobra Kai. Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

The suggestion that the players aren't trying is bullshit, their pace and movement is miles above anything we've had to deal with. We switched off at key moments and it cost us. Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

We're seeing here why Jake Carroll hasn't been playing left back very much. Woeful. We've been undone by some good play at times, but that third was a joke. Cornelius has looked good, and has made some decent forward passes. Other than that there's not much to say. Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

Didn't think we were as bad as being made out. We were the better team for most of the game and their keeper made some good saves. We were undone by a late set piece, but we fought back and got the point and were pushing for the win at the end. As alluded to above, this league is shite and the quality has dropped significantly over the last few years. Our style isn't particularly pleasing on the eyes, but that could be said for every other team in the league. Tait should have been sent off for that tackle, and I wouldn't be surprised if he gets pulled up for it. I wouldn't have blamed Donnelly for sticking one on him after the injury stuff he's had to go through. A little bit of karma that Tait handed us the equalizer with a Zak Jules special. It's interesting that we're trying out a back three, especially since it will keep the McGinley bitchfest going. Glad to hear that the crowd stuck behind the team, would have been nice to have been there for the first of many Tierney goals. Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

Well, we were all getting bored with the 4-3-3, so..... Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

We were ok in the first half, but continued to make stupid decisions and it cost us. Tierney looked fine but disappeared after 30 mins, he has something about him though, and did more than Roberts, who was innefective. His ability to suck the life out of any attack is uncanny. Maguire made some mistakes, but him going off seemed to mess us up, and his replacement was directly responsible for the first goal. Solholm had a poor game, and he seems to find ways to complicate things. I didn't think the full backs were particularly bad. They were asked to press high, and they did that, and we found out why that's not always the best idea. I'm not sure what to make of Carrol, he seems to do a decent job, but we really need Ojala or Bevis back in there. Van Veen is not a regular starter in a decent team. Strikers miss chances, so I'm not so fussed about that, but his decision making is poor, and he frequently avoids bringing others into play. I wasn't expecting much from the game, so I'm hardly furious, but I think the reality is that the best we will do is creep into the top six.

Tierney pulled up after the winner on Saturday, and I'm going to guess it's not cramp. Hope he's ok. It looks like we're easing some back into the side, and we were protecting others, such as Ojala, on Saturday. We really need Ojala or Bevis back for Weds, as Carroll struggled. I'd be surprised if KVV doesn't start, unless he's another with fitness doubts.

If we had any sort of creativity or cohesion in the final third we would have comfortably won that game. Woolery was poor, and always too tentative on the ball, and Sheilds worked hard but was constantly a yard to late to get onto things. Roberts looked the most likely, but he also had a tendency to hold onto the ball too much. We had this problem with Watt in the team as well. We need to get Van Veen on the park for as many minutes as possible, bit he also needs to bring others into the game when it's the better option. For the most part the makeshift defence handled the long stuff fine, but solholm has the tendency to do weird things, he needs a solid player beside him. I had no issues with the midfield. Maguire tried to put his foot on the ball, and not resort to mindless punts, and for me was the better of the three. Tierney looked tidy for his spell, and was unlucky not to score. It was great to see Donnelly get that goal after all the time out, on his bad foot too.

Carroll has already played center half this season, whereas McGinley has never played center half for us (I don't think).

I wouldn't wish an injury on anyone, but I hope that lineup is injury related.

Going on what GA said on his interview today, he said Tierney was an attacker, albeit one that can fill multiple positions. Someone on P&B did one of those heat map things for Watt and Tierney, and they were surprisingly similar. Although, that would be from when Watt played out wide to accommodate VV.

Getting some money for him is pretty decent business. Not sure of it's good business on Utd's part though, bit time will tell on that. I'd have been fine with him playing out the season for us (we're going to have to get used to these things, players arent going to wait until they are out of contract to look for their next deal), as he's a good player, but he does come across as a bit of a dick, so I'm not going to cry about him being gone. It seems that Tierney is viewed as an attacking player, so I wouldn't be surprised if we held off on bringing in another forward. Roberts can operate in the same wide areas Watt was effective in, so maybe this is his chance.

Gogic is shite

People expect us to be shite all the time, so I'm not surprised by the stats. I think that our points and league position are a bit better than our performances have deserved, but that is exactly why sport in general is so popular, because of the level of unpredictability. The analytics can be useful for looking at past performance, and possibly catching red flags with potential injuries, etc, but there are so many factors that come into goals and assists, that predicting future results is not reliable. Stats are good in baseball because they have 162 games per team, there isn't a whole.lot of movement, and it is easier to isolate individual performances. The sheer number of games can help even out issues like shite umpires, good fielding plays, game situations, etc. But in football it is easier for a couple of weeks of bad form, luck, or bad refereeing to define a season.

It seems that GA has been preparing for life after Watt for a while, with the KVV signing, and possibly the Tierney one. This may see us keep Roberts too, since he's more suited to that wide left role. But looking at some of the subtext above, does GA have problems with him?

Does it not mean Utd paying us for the remainder of his contract? That's usually a big part of transfer fees.

I'd take mulgrew just cos he's Tony's pal. Other than that, I don't know any of their players.

Thought we were pretty comfortable the whole game and deserved the win. I thought we'd be shaky when livi scored, but we saw the game out pretty easily after that. It was nice to watch the game at the right time of day, and with family. Shite that I couldn't actually be at the game, but I would only have spent it calling Tony Watt names.

My first game since ciftci hammered Accies. Thought I might miss it cos my day 2 PCR test results were delayed, but all worked out and I got to subject the weans to a freezing Fir Park and steak pies (which they liked), and they now have the impression that Motherwell are good. Very nice of everyone to arrange the win to recognize my travel efforts. Great to see Sol back in and Donnelly get 90 mins. Cornelius had a good game on top of the goal, and McGinley is winning me over as well. St J looked like they packed it in after the 2nd. I think they'll find a way to stay up, bit they were dugmeat going forward. Who is their striker?

No one really had a bad game, but Bevis was immense. It's getting to where we'll be lucky to keep him, not something I thought I'd be saying at this point. The back four in general all had decent games, defending well and keeping it simple under pressure. We didn't give them a sniff of a dodgy penalty either.

I liked our approach, and it almost paid off with the chances we had in the first half. I thought we regrouped well when they countered, and limited them to few real chances. The free kick did look soft, and it was never a booking. Half of Van Veen's bookings have been totally needless. If we are being told to be "robust" we need to limit the bookings for stupid stuff. No one really had a bad game, and Carrol was fine as a makeshift CB. I was worried about him being his usual rash self, but he was pretty solid. Maguire worked hard and made some good interceptions, but he needs to learn not to be so wasteful on the ball. It was good to see Donnelly back, which is timely since Slattery must be due a suspension. I don't think Celtic were particularly bad, rather we did a good job of making them look that way and playing to our strengths. Hopefully we can keep those levels for the upcoming games.

We should have been 2 up before they scored, with cornelius' chance when clean through the closest. Mugabi should have attacked the cross for their goal, the build up was well worked, but the cross wasn't that good. Van Veen was his usual frustrating self, and was lucky to escape a 2nd yellow just before going off. Woolery didn't get as many chances to run at Hibs as he did against Utd, but Hibs did a decent job of nullifying him. Watt was pretty sloppy up until his goal, giving the ball away in dangerous positions a couple of times, which is uncharacteristic of him. However, despite that we created plenty of chances and it was am excellent finish for our goal. Playing a chunk of the game with four full backs was interesting, I thought Carroll did well in the circumstances, and McGinley had a solid game too. Didn't think at any point this season we'd be struggling to have two fit center backs. At least it's only Celtic next week. Overall it's a point I'd have been happy with before the game, and I think it was fair on the balance of the game. Porteous is way overrated too.