The Players

[Busta Nut]

I would like to start this off by saying I am in no way standing up for Mark McGhee or saying that I don't think he should shoulder some of the blame.

 

The players however have been god fucking awful. We have had 2 seperate managers for most of the players (some of them have had 3) and we are still looking awful. We really need to look to get rid of some of the so called "senior players".

 

Scott McDonald has been absolutely honking, One or two games aside at most.

Stephen McManus has been terrible for 2 years, get in every game.

Pearo has been our most consistent player but beenawful recently, his absolute failure to bother his arse tracking back at Killie's second yesterday was criminal.

 

If Louis Moult is dropped for having a bad couple of games I don't see why these guys get away with it, Pearo could be the only exception as his shite displays only seem to have come about recently.

 

McGhee is taking it in the neck (and deserves some stick) but the players on the field are getting away with murder, for all McGhee's faults these players weren't assembled by him. We are always stating that the squad has more quality than the league position would indicate. I am starting to doubt that is the case.

[milo]

Agree with every word.

 

McGhee keeps picking them though. Add Law to that. Every week.

[Desp]

Spot on Busta. It's beyond tedious that, simply because he is unpopular with some, McGhee seems to get it in the neck for everything that's gone wrong.

 

Yes, he's made mistakes. However, as you mentioned these senior players are once again letting down another manager.

 

If we are able to scrape our way to safety in the next 3 months, we should be saying to McManus, Hammell, Lasley & McDonald their time is up at Fir Park. Time to start again.

[Spiderpig]

I think the squad we have has the potential to put us higher up the league than we are at present but there are a few of them who dont seem to be trying and week in week out look as though they cant be bothered.

Ainsworth and Pearson are the worst offenders IMO, McDonald and Johnson have had their moments but they are not consistent enough, Gomis hs only been here a couple of weeks but after yesterday it already looks like he wants to be somewhere else. There will need to be a radical clean out in the summer as we cant afford another season of half arsed performances.

[Yoshi-1991]

Too many players only pull it out for the big games. Example Johnson, played sublime during both legs, where is that kind of performance week in week out? Too many people defend Johnson but personally I have always thought he wasn't good enough, Ainsworth gets it in the neck for not helping out defensively but Johnson is even worse and gets away with it.

[underboyleheating]

In recent games the current group of players are playing like a middle/lower end of the table championship side. If they have any ambition to stay in the premiership, performances and results will have to improve pretty quickly. Or perhaps a spell in the Championship wouldn’t be such a bad thing, as it would allow us to start afresh with a group of eager, young players willing to learn. Sadly on recent form, this team are only going one way and that is down.

[Richie]

 

Scott McDonald has been absolutely honking, One or two games aside at most.

 

Glad its not just me and someone else is seeing this.

Persistently offside and running around with his hands in the air.

Said on other thread, some good hold-up play, but then he'll hold onto the ball too long or give ball away.

[BigWeegieDosser]

Glad its not just me and someone else is seeing this.

Persistently offside and running around with his hands in the air.

Said on other thread, some good hold-up play, but then he'll hold onto the ball too long or give ball away.

Some truth in that but it's a thankless shift playing on his own up front with a midfield just not pushing on to support him. If they did then he'd actually have space to run into and move

No wonder he moans

On paper the 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 should fit with Ainsworth and Johnson, but it isn't working.

4 4 f cking 2 that'll do me

Keep the midfield tight but have two up front to link and occupy the defence

[Wellfan84]

Completely agree. These guys are holding the club back. Cadden/Hall have improved on what we had, I reckon Watt/Thomas and maybe some others would do the same. We couldn't possibly do any worse than the way Hammell/Mcdonald/Mcmanus/Lasley are performing at the minute!

[Lobey_Dosser]

Scott McDonald has been awful? I don't get that at all. He was the best player on the park for 5/6 games on the trot at the turn of year. While his form has dipped, primarily due to being left upfront on his own, he continues to run himself into the ground.

 

McManus signed for Motherwell because it was convenient to where he stays. Those who employ him take the blame there.

 

Pearson has been poor last few weeks but iirc played through an injury at Dundee or Thistle and it looks to still be the case.

 

The main issue I have with players revolves around the selection policy at times whereby your likelihood of getting dropped depends on whether you are a McGhee favourite. The out of depth Josh Law being the prime example.

[Haggischomper]

We are a veteran side yet have no moxie, and there is a staleness around Fir Park. Much as they have been great players, Hammel and Lasley should have been thanked after their testimonials and moved along. I'm looking forward to McManus, Pearson and, yes, even McFadden's contracts running out. Fresh blood, fresh air and fresh ideas are what is required

[underboyleheating]

We are a veteran side yet have no moxie, and there is a staleness around Fir Park. Much as they have been great players, Hammel and Lasley should have been thanked after their testimonials and moved along. I'm looking forward to McManus, Pearson and, yes, even McFadden's contracts running out. Fresh blood, fresh air and fresh ideas are what is required

And their parting legacy could be relegation from the top flight, however, for the future of our club that might not be as bad as it sounds. It would allow us to build a young team for the future, without the pressures of the premiership. We did it in the early 80s, when our late 70s team were replaced by much younger players after relegation.

[Haggischomper]

I don't want to be relegated though

[underboyleheating]

I don't want to be relegated though

Unfortunately, on our current form we are heading in that direction. I hope we can stop the rot, however, if we can’t, we will need to find some positives from the situation and that is what we tried to do last time around.

[Busta Nut]

The main issue I have with players revolves around the selection policy at times whereby your likelihood of getting dropped depends on whether you are a McGhee favourite. The out of depth Josh Law being the prime example.

 

 

Whilst other points may be valid. This is complete fabrication. In what way is he a "McGhee Favourite"?? If he had come in out of nowhere then fair enough, he has been first choice right back for what? 3 managers? His ability can be questioned of course.

[ONeils40yarder]

Agree 100% with Busta....there is absolutely no point in naming names here, because I think it's fair to say that over the past month no player has played consistently well.

 

 

At yesterday's match I was cringing for some of the imbeciles around me screaming for the manager to fuck off after 5 minutes. There is a general malaise around the squad at fir park and that predates the appointment of McGhee by at least a couple of years. The manager can only utilise the tools at his disposal. We are 2nd bottom with virtually the same group of players that almost got us relegated last season. Some of McGhees tactics and selections have been suspect, however the players and the board are bigger culprits in our demise than he is, in my opinion.

[Lobey_Dosser]

 

 

Whilst other points may be valid. This is complete fabrication. In what way is he a "McGhee Favourite"?? If he had come in out of nowhere then fair enough, he has been first choice right back for what? 3 managers? His ability can be questioned of course.

Favourite is probably the wrong word but he seems to be one of the trusted ones. He plays week in week out despite being at fault for numerous goals. Agree that it's not just McGhee that's played him regularly, although that maybe says more about our recent managers and the inability to find a competent right back since the much maligned Tom Hateley moved on.

[Yassin]

I agree with the general argument but I'm not so sure re McDonald. Dragged us through a lot of games over the last year.

[Busta Nut]

Favourite is probably the wrong word but he seems to be one of the trusted ones. He plays week in week out despite being at fault for numerous goals. Agree that it's not just McGhee that's played him regularly, although that maybe says more about our recent managers and the inability to find a competent right back since the much maligned Tom Hateley moved on.

 

 

I thought Tom Hateley was a good player for us (unless Omar Daley was playing infront of him).

 

I think was really need to look at the squad and start using the youth squad. The two Leitch brothers, Thomas, Watt, MacLean & anyone out on loan. They can't be worse than some of the options we have.

 

It's no surprise the guys who have been most successful from our youth system are the guys who were put into the first team at an early age.

[Busta Nut]

I agree with the general argument but I'm not so sure re McDonald. Dragged us through a lot of games over the last year.

 

Maybe my expectations are too high, but I think other than a handful of games, he has been poor.

[underboyleheating]

MacDonald’s best days are well behind him and no matter how hard we wish, he will never reach the heights he achieved first time around with us or Celtic. Davie Cooper and Phil O’Donnell were the last players that I can remember who actually lived up to their former glories. I had hoped that Faddy would have fitted into that category, however, he has not had enough game time to really judge him.

[Ya Bezzer!]

McDonald has something like 8 goals in 23 matches this season. He is also joint top on assists, 7. He runs himself into the ground and on days like yesterday is one of the few players that looks up for it.

 

I find some of the views in this place truly baffling these days.

[Busta Nut]

As I said, I don't think he has played well in any more than 5/6 matches, there has defo been games where he was awful but scored a goal or laid one off.

Maybe I am expecting too much but I thought he'd be a lot better than he has been.

[underboyleheating]

McDonald has something like 8 goals in 23 matches this season. He is also joint top on assists, 7. He runs himself into the ground and on days like yesterday is one of the few players that looks up for it.

 

I find some of the views in this place truly baffling these days.

You can’t deny his work rate and without his goals and assists we would be much poorer off. However, he is a different player to what we had first time around and I sometimes think managers forget that.

[Lobey_Dosser]

Is he that much of a different player? Maybe lost a little pace but he was never the fastest.

 

I'd struggle to say whether he was better now or then. He got pelters from some of our support first time round too iirc but much of that is forgotten.