fatcalf Posted April 23, 2012 Report Share Posted April 23, 2012 All I would say is you set up for a point and fail then it's obvious what the outcome will be. Go for a win and fall short you might get that point you crave. Age old problem on how to deal with the Old Firm but the majority of times we have been successful against the we have givne them no respect and got fucked right in about them. Personally I write these games off anyway but I sure as hell would feel a whole lot better if we went down fighting after a battling display and giving the c***s a game they would remember. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
underboyleheating Posted April 23, 2012 Report Share Posted April 23, 2012 Yet another lacklustre performance against one of the Old Firm. My prediction was 3-1 to Celtic, even now, I can’t believe I ever thought we might sneak a goal (what was I thinking!). The saving grace is that Dundee United and St Johnstone’s record against them is probably no better. The real test begins against our non Old Firm rivals, and that will ultimately decide our European fate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shotts Well Fan Posted April 23, 2012 Report Share Posted April 23, 2012 My frustration at yesterdays result was that all 3 goals were preventable. When we loose to a better side than you can take defeat but yesterday Celtic were not much better than us. Piss poor defending at all 3 goals and that is where we need to strenghten next year. Also the tactic of having two wide men to stop Celtic full backs getting forward failed with both Humphrey and Daley not traking back. A game that was there for the taking but we came up short and we need to tighten up at the back if we expect to get into Europe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatcalf Posted April 23, 2012 Report Share Posted April 23, 2012 Yet another lacklustre performance against one of the Old Firm. My prediction was 3-1 to Celtic, even now, I can't believe I ever thought we might sneak a goal (what was I thinking!). The saving grace is that Dundee United and St Johnstone's record against them is probably no better. The real test begins against our non Old Firm rivals, and that will ultimately decide our European fate. Was always going to be that way, has been all season so now our run-in begins in earnest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henry Posted April 23, 2012 Report Share Posted April 23, 2012 Another gutless performance. I remember Terry Butcher getting Tom Lucas in to overcome issues with the 'Well team. Looks like McCall and Black need to do the same to overcome this fear that places us alongside Dunfermline and Hibs as the teams that afford the OF far too much respect. Playing Celtic and going for a champs league place should be all the motivation needed you would think ,but as someone says in another post McCall THOUGHT we could get a point attitude might have had an effect on our approach to the match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henry Posted April 23, 2012 Report Share Posted April 23, 2012 Was always going to be that way, has been all season so now our run-in begins in earnest. Will it stop when we play Rangers, then start again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiderpig Posted April 23, 2012 Report Share Posted April 23, 2012 Some interesting comments on a few players. Stuart Carswell? Like one or two others I can't quite see what SM sees in him. Maybe its the type of player he is - a Marc Fitzpatrick sort who does the routine unglamorous cleaning up/tidying up, feeding others role. Looked out if his depth yesterday but we did play worse after he left the field it has to be said. Michael Higdon: he's one dimensional but he does what he does well. The problem is that Stuart McCall is playing a system that doesn't suit him, especially 4-5-1. He's not mobile but he won a lot of ball yesterday but didn't do much with it due to complete lack of support. John Sutton was exactly the same last season. Jamie Murphy: the lad has been played out of position this season and his confidence suffered. Hardly beat his man at all yesterday and its plain to see a requirement to help out in defence doesn't suit his talents. He put in a stuttering / hesistant / ill at ease performance when he came on yesterday. A few round about us questioned the wisdom of this particular substitution and I have to agree. Have to agree with this, Carswell was out of his depth in midfield never got to grips at all, looked lost for 90 mins. I thought Higdon was excellent he was winning more balls than he lost, lots of good headers and flicks on but nobody to take advantage, Ojaama should have started. Totally agree with previous posts that dropping Murphy has been a mistake, yesterday he should have started Midfield, instead of Carswell playing behind Higdon and Ojaama (who should have been on for Daley). This would have given us a bit more of a threat up top against a second string Celtic defence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatcalf Posted April 23, 2012 Report Share Posted April 23, 2012 Will it stop when we play Rangers, then start again. We could have the Champions League spot in the bag by the time we play Rangers, you're looking too far ahead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steelman1991 Posted April 23, 2012 Report Share Posted April 23, 2012 Have to agree with this, Carswell was out of his depth in midfield never got to grips at all, looked lost for 90 mins. I thought Higdon was excellent he was winning more balls than he lost, lots of good headers and flicks on but nobody to take advantage, Ojaama should have started. Totally agree with previous posts that dropping Murphy has been a mistake, yesterday he should have started Midfield, instead of Carswell playing behind Higdon and Ojaama (who should have been on for Daley). This would have given us a bit more of a threat up top against a second string Celtic defence. I'll ask the question old Jimmy Sanderson used to on the Radio Clyde phone-in " were you at the game caller' how in gods name anyone can say that Higdon had a good game couldn't possibly have been - these touchs, flick ons etc that I keep reading about must be a figment of your imagination - they're actually his attempt at control and they bounce so far away from him that they give the impression of a flick on. Difficult to defend the big fella recently, but he's been crap for a few weeks now and its little to do with formations and everything to do with ability - or lack of it. Oil tankers turn quicker than he does. He wasn't particularly any worse than others around him, but comments that he won lots of good headers and fick ons and 'he was my pick as MOM' are ludicrous and so wide of the mark. Still I guess that's what called opinions and what keep this forum interesting - sometimes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davkel Posted April 23, 2012 Report Share Posted April 23, 2012 McCalls tactics yesterday . as far as I could see from where I sit behind the dugouts , was to give Celtic the ball at the back , allow them to come into midfield , then for the Motherwell midfield to press them all over the park . It worked to an extent , but when the changes were made in the second half it went out the window . Daley had been giving Hammell some cover on that side of the pitch ...he went off and within 2 mins Celtic scored from a move down that side ..Ojamma nowhere to be seen . Jenno had a back problem ...he was touch and go to start I think and they kept asking him if was ok during the 90 ....probably one reason why he struggled a bit later on . Basically all our front guys have hit a slump at the same time . We dont look like scoring or creating that much either . Higdon has been isolated for most of the season ..even when he wins headers etc there is nobody around him to latch onto anything ...oh for the days when Pettigrew and Graham played as a partnership up front and were always close to one another ...just now we have one guy through the middle with 1 or 2 wide men ...baffling . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazzer Posted April 23, 2012 Report Share Posted April 23, 2012 I think we are over reacting about this result, we competed most of the game, and arguabally played better football in patches. We never honestly expected anything from the game did we. We play like that against the remainder, we will win more than we lose. The team performance we ok overall, just GUTTED about the size of the defeat. Did not reflect the game. Law chance/Humphrey chances/ Higdon chance on a different day we could of scored 3 or 4... yes i know equally we colud of conceded 5 or 6... but no to down about the result. Same team next week (Less) Daley, Lasley back in Carswell will most prob make way, and maybe Murphy given another go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joeboy Posted April 23, 2012 Report Share Posted April 23, 2012 I am not that annoyed at the scoreline- we've had worse than 3-0 against the Old Firm in recent times, I am however infuriated about how we handed victory to Celtic on a plate- we were that bad, they didn't need to be good. Thought Hateley was very poor yesterday and although Jennings done some good ball winning, his distribution was very poor at times, by his standards. The game really seemed to pass Carswell by, but he is an 18 year old lad, there shouldn't be too much pressure on him. But for me, the worst yesterday was Omar Daley by some distance. I can tolerate most things of a Motherwell player, laziness is not one of them. For him to be earning a wage for that pedestrian performance yesterday is horrible. I could probably offer what Daley offered us yesterday, far too lethargic. For a player who is supposedly lightning fast, he very very rarely puts enough effort in to reach top speed. He wouldn't be anywhere near the team for me, possibly for the rest of the season. This isn't the first game I have noticed him being pure lazy. Unfortunately it seems like the stuffing as went out our season at the moment, need to hope it revives against St. Johnstone on Saturday. Will be good to have Jennings and Lasley back beside each other and hopefully a return to two up top. Can see people's point about Murphy, but who do we play him at the expense of? Jennings and Lasley are musts in the team, I wouldn't drop Law and Humphrey seems to be the form player just now. Would we want him playing centre forward? Yesterday we yet again saw Humphrey get across the byline superbly and play a low cross with no one getting on the end of it. Chris Porter would have had a field day playing alongside Humphrey. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweed Posted April 25, 2012 Report Share Posted April 25, 2012 Never really got round to commenting on the game on Sunday. Whilst we ended up getting cuffed it was a rare game where we were level with the Old Firm where actually their goal didn't look imminent. Until they brought on Watt and we did Ojamaa that game looked like petering out to a 0-0. So what changed? Well to me we let Wanyama into the game. He was scared of Daley's pace and didn't really attack that much. For all Ojamaa may have been more likely to win us the game than Daley it let him attack and create the space. I think it was an overly brave change by McCall that didn't need made. For all Daley and Humphrey are not wonderful footballers their pace put the fear of God into opponents and they keep their full backs defensive. What that did was force the game narrow and on the most part Jennings, Law and Carswell choked the midfield and didn't let Celtic overrun us. To me this was the right tactic and didn't nullify us completely as an attacking force. I think we looked sturdy till we brought on Ojamaa and they widened the game. I don't really blame Ojamaa per se and this isn't a go at him - I just think McCall got the tactics right then changed them, opened the game up and we paid the price. A point would have been invaluable and we will never know if we would have got it but I certainly think we had a chance. Unfortunately having lost one we turned off and shipped a second which killed the game stone dead. Saturday is a different type of game with two teams who are right off the boil. Hopefully our experience of the big game will see us through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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