Infamous Wee Grafter Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 - That is all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steelboy Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 I don't doubt your stats Mr vorderman but points mean prizes and they are the 'primary metric' I too think we need to up the goals tally at home - but right now the league position trumps goals scored. What to points make? the two things are connected. we're not going to qualify for europe unless we start scoring more goals. mccall's comments after the game on saturday didn't appear overly concerned about our lack of punch up front, he actually seemed deluded when he spoke of the chances we had made. we need some acknowlegement that he realises that something is badly wrong at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Diggle Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 the two things are connected. we're not going to qualify for europe unless we start scoring more goals. mccall's comments after the game on saturday didn't appear overly concerned about our lack of punch up front, he actually seemed deluded when he spoke of the chances we had made. we need some acknowlegement that he realises that something is badly wrong at the moment. Aye hopefully things will improve up front - particularly at the arc. I noticed that in the Flow / Randolph interview as well - talk of chances / saves etc. Was scratching my napper a bit at that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catweazles ring piece Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 Time's not running out for S.M. However, tactics and formations need addressed. Some mentioned months ago about the home 4-5-1formation and liked it to Levein's tactics. Is this influenced by Kenny Blacks involvement with The Scottish Set Up? Plaudits were given to S.M. and co and were well deserved, but, how he reacts to the current slump will shape his standing. Personally, I hope he will look at mixing things up (undoubtedly hard with a small squad) but it looks like he's taken the early successful formation as far as it will go (totally sussed and nullified now) Let us hope things are being reworked on the training ground and hopefully we can have an equally successful second half of the season. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busta Nut Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 This thread is great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlmostFrazzled Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 I think it's time for McCall to go. I mean, how dare he have us in the battle for a place in europe and sat 3rd at our lowest position for the first half of the season. The cheek of the man for building a successful squad on a tiny budget. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEWELL Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 I have to agree with his interview following saturday's debacle he seems to have a blind spot the fact we're SSSSSHHHHITTTE!!. Up front. Caley could've played with a traffic cone in goals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well 4 Europe Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 I have to agree with his interview following saturday's debacle he seems to have a blind spot the fact we're SSSSSHHHHITTTE!!. Up front. Caley could've played with a traffic cone in goals. And your idea to solve this is to get rid of Humphrey, Murphy & Higdon and sign.. someone of the calibre of Ryan Stevenson Good one. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
star sail Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 I think that the problem for both McCall and Higdon is that McCall has built his whole team around Higdon and Higdon simply is not good enough to have a team built round about him. That is not to say that he is a poor player. Law, Daley, Murphy and McHugh have all had to change position or make way for the 4-5-1 formation that see's Higdon start every week in the lone striker role. If Higdon is knocking balls into empty space each week, it shows a lack of awareness, if McCall is telling him to knock balls into empty space it's poor management but I don't think either of these two scenario's is the case, I think McCall is relying upon a who;e team system that simply is not working. In the context of this thread, is time up for McCall, ofcourse not but he does need to get his thinking cap on and come up with a plan B. Murphy and Higdon as a front two, McHugh and Higdon as a front two, it has to be worth a go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaka Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 I think that the problem for both McCall and Higdon is that McCall has built his whole team around Higdon and Higdon simply is not good enough to have a team built round about him. That is not to say that he is a poor player. Law, Daley, Murphy and McHugh have all had to change position or make way for the 4-5-1 formation that see's Higdon start every week in the lone striker role. If Higdon is knocking balls into empty space each week, it shows a lack of awareness, if McCall is telling him to knock balls into empty space it's poor management but I don't think either of these two scenario's is the case, I think McCall is relying upon a who;e team system that simply is not working. In the context of this thread, is time up for McCall, ofcourse not but he does need to get his thinking cap on and come up with a plan B. Murphy and Higdon as a front two, McHugh and Higdon as a front two, it has to be worth a go. The problem is Higdon has had the team built round him in the totally wrong way! He isnt + never will be a lone striker, for our 4-5-1 to be successful, the 2 wide players MUST get up past him to support him + react to his knock ons,and the attacking midfielder must get up to support any knock downs back toward us,the simple fact is this doesnt happen + so we launch high balls to Higdon,he wins a flick then turns to see not 1 teammate within 30 yards of him!! Ive held back on this subject as I didnt want it to look like a knee jerk reaction, but I really dont think McCall is the man for the job, I wasnt sure at the start and nothing in the last 12 months has changed my mind. He started well but cracks soon appeared,(during Feb + March we lost 6 of the 9 league games we played,failing to score in 5 of them) he managed to get us to a cup final,but the route there wasnt exactly taxing and he made a rip roaring c**t of the final with a weird formation and team selection (Hammell in centre mid??), we managed to make top 6 then his tinkering meant we got fucked like a cheap tart in 3 of our last 4 games, 5-0,4-0,4-0 meaning in the last 6 games of our season we won 0,drew 2 and lost 4, scoring 4 + conceding 20! shocking!! This season we have flattered to deceive failing to score in almost half our games,playing generally shite football and showing horrendous home form. We have quality, we wouldnt be 4th if we didnt, but McCall just doesnt seem to know how to change things when we hit a slump. He also has no faith in our young players which is detrimental to the squad, Page,Forbes + McHugh get little look in, Lawless etc get nothing as well meaning when were struggling,we have no-one with any confidence to come in. I hope he proves me wrong and he gets us on a good run and a good finish to the season I really do, but at the moment he is looking like the cheap,3rd choice option he was when he came to us last year! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busta Nut Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 The problem is the team wasn't built around higdon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaka Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 not technically built around him but as he is the pivot + focal point of our attack,the majority of our attacking play goes through him and he isnt suited to that role! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 Ive held back on this subject as I didnt want it to look like a knee jerk reaction, but I really dont think McCall is the man for the job, I wasnt sure at the start and nothing in the last 12 months has changed my mind. Away! It was only a few weeks ago there was talk of splitting the old firm, now tha weve dropped to FOURTH in the league people come out saying he's never been the man for the job. On the point of higdon being too much of a focal point, I have to agree. If he was our absolute star player it'd be understnadable, but our system seems to be built to accomodate him, which has made our attacking line too immobile IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inthebasement Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 Ive held back on this subject as I didnt want it to look like a knee jerk reaction, but I really dont think McCall is the man for the job, I wasnt sure at the start and nothing in the last 12 months has changed my mind. Nothing at all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLip69 Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 We cannott take this down the personal route. Regardless of anyone's feelings over McCall, and I think everyone is well aware of my own personal take on his appointment, he is the man in charge. He has, whether by luck or judgement, had a good run and taken us to a Cup Final and a fairly healthy position in the league. He's surely earned enough brownie points to be given a fair shot at getting us out of this current slump. Talk of ditching him halfway through what has been, by Motherwell standards, a fairly successful season, so far, is a bit drastic. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orange county dosser Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 I dont often find myself agreeing with much that TheLip69 posts, but that last post pretty much sums it up for me. I wasn't exactly jumping for joy at his appointment, but I've backed him 100% so far, and despite some baffling tactics / formations, he's had a fair degree of success so far. I'm ever hopeful that he'll find a way out of the slump in form that we are in right now, but a wee bit of a reality check finds us still in 4th place in the league with 2 games in hand over 2 teams at the wrong end of the table.......not exactly time to hit the panic button yet !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 So who's next up then? Alan Stubbs? Chris Sutton? Kenny Black? And how long will we be giving them before we realise we're not challenging for the title and thus need threads like this? So many questions... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TAM Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 big week coming up take something from Utd and then aim for 2 home wins against Dunfermline and St J...great! however take nothing tomorrow and pressure really on to turn around home form - could se us taking 1 point from the 3 games and if so top 6 could be at risk. Back McCall 100% show me a team or a manager who doesn't go through a sticky spell - what would be the point in changing? how much would it cost and would we get anyone better - mmm I think not! Let's get behind the team - when things are going well and fans are happy players must love to play for our club - when things aren't going so well and fans are dsi-gruntled must be a hellish club to play for!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
star sail Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 So who's next up then? Get Jim Gannon back. He'd play Forbes and McHugh and we'd all be happy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordy Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 I can see why we are not happy about our recent form, especially our performances at Fir Park. However, when you look at the bigger picture, we have to be realistic. We have a first team squad of about 20. Of the 20, how many have been used, how many would you use? Randolph, a good keeper but not happy at a wee bit of abuse last week. Hateley, good right back but not brilliant and not a midfielder. Hammell, good left back and having a great season. Craigan, solid experienced and his reading of the game is brilliant. Hutchison, get this guy signed up long term, a great centre half and is learning all the time from Craggs. Humphrey, (is that spelling OK)? has neen found out big time this season and is not first pick. Daley, looks a wee bit better than Humphrey but, again, final ball? Jennings, a solid centre mid, 100% every game. Lasley, same as Jennings, except as well as being the housewives favourite, he would play for us in barefoot on burning coals. Law, a great player but I am not convinced he is playing in his correct position or being held back. Murphy, on his game, brilliant but is found wanting in the games when we really need him. Is he being played out of position? Higdon, the much maligned centre forward, a big man who could and should score more goals but are we playing the right formation to get the best out of him? Clancy, a good right back, not convincing in the centre. Mc Hugh, scored the winner v Aberdeen then dropped, then an injury. Great confidence boost to be dropped after scoring the winner. Page, is he going to get a run of games or is he not good enough? Forbes, see Page. Carswell, can't get a run in the team, when a centre mid is out due to having Hateley centre mid with Clancy at right back. Smith, is he good enough?, he's had no game time.(now away on loan). Hollis, out injured but apart from the game at the piggery before the alleged cup final, when is he going to get a game? Saunders, long term injury but will be good when he comes back and re-gains his old form. Lawless, Halsman, Pollock and Howarth, are they going to get a chance? You can see that, in my opinion, we have a limited but good squad. I do not think we are playing the correct formation, I prefer 4 - 4 - 2, with Higdon and Murphy up front. I realise that we are 4th in the league with 2 games in hand but some of our performance, especially at home, have been woeful. Mr McCall is doing fine but does need to get some tactical know how, 4 - 5 - 1 is OK against Barcelona but, come on, against the Old firm? Results show it does not work. Stop respecting that pair of scummy shite and get ripped right into them. We also need to start to give the youngsters a chance we are never going to find out how good they are without game time. We also have only won anything in our history with a long term manager in charge, Hunter, Stevenston and McLean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finlay Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 Not sure the point you are making about Hollis. We can only play one keeper at a time and no way is Randolph being dropped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordy Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 Not sure the point you are making about Hollis. We can only play one keeper at a time and no way is Randolph being dropped. I am talking about our squad. What happens if Randolph gets injured? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finlay Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 An emergency loan deal I'd guess. Pretty sure I read that Hollis is nearly back to full fitness though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onthefringes Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 What happens? Erm, he'll be sore will he not? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Posted January 21, 2012 Report Share Posted January 21, 2012 Get Jim Gannon back. He'd play Forbes and McHugh and we'd all be happy. I can't agree more. Many a time this season, while we've been struggling to find form at home, I've felt the side has just been crying out for Randolph to constantly throw a jaw-droppingly suicidal ball at Hateley's feet, while he's at the edge of the box with his back to play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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