Scottish Premiership Motherwell V Kilmarnock Sat 10 Dec 15:00

[Haggischomper]

Shit result

[Tweed]

Got to say it wasn't great, but I've seen a lot worse.

 

MacLean, Ainsworth, Moult and McDonald all had a chance that I would expect them to score - two of them even missed the target. Undoubtedly we had the best chances.

 

Kilmarnock were lively, quick and exciting until they had to cross the ball but Heneghan and McManus swept everything up, we defended very well in the penalty box for the most part.

 

Subbing Lasley made a difference to the midfield, we were getting deeper and losing every ball and he looked like he was a second yellow waiting to happen but when Hastie came on we won more than we lost in there.

 

Also, Dom Thomas - much improved from any other time I've seen him - maybe a baby step but a bit of improvement.

 

Overall two very similar teams more or less cancelled each other out and nine times out of ten we'd have won that because one of the four mentioned at the start would have scored. Definitely two points dropped but it at least stopped the losing run.

[Ya Bezzer!]

2 points dropped I'd suggest.

 

There were two main influences on the match today, excluding the inept Steven MacLean.

 

Firstly there was the missing Cadden. Not only has Cadden been our best player this season I also think he is our most important player. We do not have anyone else in the squad that even comes close to replicating what he brings to the team.

 

Secondly, I wouldn't exactly say Kilmarnock were a dirty team but they are definitely schooled in the black arts and was a tactic to break the game down. Jersey pulling, elbows, tugging, holding, obstructing, poking, pushing etc.

 

The game - I thought we started very, very sluggish, the exact opposite of last week. Kilmarnock were the better team in the opening half hour and we never really go any fluency going, our ball control over the whole match was very, very poor. The latter stages of the 1st half we improved by a small margin and had probably the two best chances to score. Ross MacLean brought a good save out of MacDonald and perhaps his inexperienced showed there but I thought he was our best player in the first half. Second chance Ainsworth really had to hit the back of the net.

 

Second half I thought we were the better of the two teams although in such a poor match that's really a back handed compliment. Again we had two good chances. Moult was through on goal but his lack of pace allowed the defenders to get a foot in, then McDonald was unlucky not to score in one of our better moves in the match.

 

Overall a poor match with little to commend it but if you are looking for positive we had a lot of young boys getting a run out today - MacLean, Hastie, Thomas, Ferguson, we kept a clean sheet and all the teams in 'The Pack' drew again so we are no worse off.

 

4 away games in the run up to the break makes it a tough period but we have to take points regardless of who we are playing or where. A target of 7 points would be what I would be looking for.

[Lobey_Dosser]

Motherwell and Kilmarnock losing 4 and 5 goals in their last outing done the game no favours today as it would appear both teams focused on defending in training this week.

 

Having said that, the overall standard of play was diabolical but that's where we are with Scottish football.

[numpty]

Motherwell and Kilmarnock losing 4 and 5 goals in their last outing done the game no favours today as it would appear both teams focused on defending in training this week.

According to the online commentary, we'd actually been practising our shooting...

[Tweed]

According to the online commentary, we'd actually been practising our shooting...

 

In which case I don't want us practising our defending...

[superward]

Agree - 2 pts lost. We had 3 good chances where we should have scored. Even take one of them and I think we would have seen it out as Killie didn't offer much in front of goal.

 

Defended fairly well for the 90 mins. Thomas did well enough and influenced a couple of things when he came on which was good to see.

 

Other than that? It was all a bit meh for me.

[fergi4]

Very disappointed with a point.

 

We were just starting to turn the heat up, then half time came. Probably good positioning from Jamie McDonald, but we needed 1 of the 2 chances before the break to go in.

 

Im my opinion, we made the wrong change when McLean got injured; why not get Dom on at that point to keep what was working going? The spell with trio of Lasley, Clay and Lucas was dreadful. The double substitution sorted this, but think by that point killie had got comfy with anything we could do.

 

The boys at back put in a great shift; closed any killie threats immediately, no mistakes, and deserve the clean sheet.

[wellowell]

Poor game but we missed 4 great chances McLean and Ainsworth end of 1st half and Moukt and McDonald in 2nd half Killie never looked like scoring so very disappointing result .

[Burn_Broomfield]

Certainly had the best chances today and we were very wasteful with them. It was turgid stuff mostly.

 

Samson should be fined every time he launches aimless punts up the park as it is absolutely soul destroying to watch.

[steelboy]

We did enough to win the game. Missing four one on ones is poor and Clay should have scored the volley in the first half.

 

Louis Moult didn't show up today and Clay was terrible. Switching to 4-5-1 with McDonald on the wing was crazy, we nullified our own best player. The change should have been McLean off and Dom on. We also need to work on set pieces, big Heneghan would be as well staying on the half way line as he's awful at attacking the ball.

 

We threw two points away today so we either have to go against form and pull out a shock in the few games or we'll be under serious pressure against ICT and Accies away.

[capt_oats]

Largely agree with the 2 points dropped shouts. Given the number of decent chances we created without even playing *that* well to not take any of them is fairly disappointing.

 

Having said that, given the shambolic defending we've seen this season a clean sheet is a positive. Samson was rarely troubled and I thought Tait, Heneghan and McManus all dealt with Killie reasonably well. Ferguson understandably looked quite awkward but I don't recall too many mistakes from him.

 

Very much agree with Ya Bezzer! re: Killie and the dark arts. When it looked as if we were getting a foothold they completely shut us down by shitfesting the life out the game. They dealt with Moult well by absolutely battering him, he's not really a physical presence up front and by and large snuffed him out.

 

All in all I don't think we ever really got going. Played well in spells though and some of the chances we created came about after some very decent football. Am inclined to agree that had we taken one it'd have settled us down.

 

That said, thinking back to the 2-0 game at FP last season we were absolutely brutal and shipped cheap goals against Killie so this time round a mis-firing performance, a clean sheet and not shipping a late goal after largely dominating the game (57% possession apparently) is something I suppose.

[ONeils40yarder]

Fao steelboy

 

I thought Clay was much better than his geriatric sidekick

[The African]

While a draw at home in a game against a rival from "our part of the league" is not great, it really is too early to see it as points dropped or thrown away. All very tight between sixth and twelfth so another point to our total is not a disaster. We kept a clean sheet and created enough chances. Onwards and upwards (hopefully).

[StipeIsGod]

Decent game. Cancelled each other out. McManus hoofing it diagonally wide will never impress me, but the defending side of things was good today, from all of our back four. Samson was also there.

 

Lasley is done. I've been avoiding the thought but watching him a yard too slow to even make a cynical foul, followed by the booking, for which he was extremely late, suggest that the legs are away.

 

Going forward, we definitely missed Cadden but still carved a few chances out. I feel we'll be pretty comfortable between 5th and 8th come the end of the year.

[faddythedaddy]

Fao steelboy

 

I thought Clay was much better than his geriatric sidekick

Both were very poor. We are being overrun in centre mid every game. Even although Lucas gave the ball away a couple of times I liked the look of him, much more urgency

[steelboy]

They were both poor but Lasley at least works hard when we don't have the ball and makes tackles and interceptions. Clay disappears.

 

Lucas was ok but he could have been sent off for the tackle he got booked for.

[Ya Bezzer!]

Certainly had the best chances today and we were very wasteful with them. It was turgid stuff mostly.

 

Samson should be fined every time he launches aimless punts up the park as it is absolutely soul destroying to watch.

 

What about fining the players that take the easy option and pass back to the goalkeeper, who is then pressed by a forward and doesn't have much option but to punt it.

 

We play far too many balls back to the goalkeeper. Sometimes its necessary but we had players today with 20 - 30 yard circles round them of space and that's the option they take.

[Ya Bezzer!]

Both were very poor. We are being overrun in centre mid every game. Even although Lucas gave the ball away a couple of times I liked the look of him, much more urgency

 

Lasley had a horror show start to the match but I felt he came more into the game later. Clay is a ghost player.

 

I'd drop Clay before Lasley but central midfield is obviously a weak area at the moment and I don't think either player especially compliments the other.

 

It will be interesting to see what McHugh does on his return but although it was early in the season I wasn't especially impressed with him either. I found his performances fairly underwhelming so I won't be casting him as some kind of messiah but hopefully he gets back soon and he can show us what he can do.

[Tweed]

For all we all agree we could and should have won, we've all seen Motherwell lose that game 1-0 umpteen times.

[wellowell]

Lucas tackle not that bad steel boy it was late as he's played about 3 hours football last 3 yrs was mile late but certainly not malicious enough to get sent off

[AndyRoss]

Without Cadden we lack imagination, urgency and strangely width too.

 

As for Dom, I'm sorry but I don't think there's much hope he'll make an impact now.

[Kmcalpin]

Anyone heard anything about a mini injury crisis with the team. Could be a changed line up I'm hearing.

Wow you're certainly the master of understatement. Hammell, Chalmers, MacMillan, Kennedy, McHugh, Blyth and Cadden all out.

 

I thought a share of the spoils was about right. Both sides mustered one effort on target each in a turgid draw. Certainly we had 3 good chances but spurned every one. Its a game we might have won but equally we've lost this type of game in the past. Not many passmarks for me with MacLean, Heneghan and McManus being the pick of the bunch. Again I thought MacDonald was wasted deeper in midfield (will we never learn) and Moult received poor support for long spells. On the plus side more youngsters got game time and we kept a clean sheet. MacLean is certainly settling into the first team. I thought our Caddenless midfield was woeful, MacLean apart, and not even Lucas, who appeared just after the break, did anything of note. He has a valid excuse of course. I thought Thomas had a funny game - mediocre going forward, poor at corners, but impressive when defending off the ball. He annoyed his opponents by harrying, chasing and closing them down. Ainsworth was a huge and frustrating letdown and for me his time has come and gone.

 

Again I hope we can crawl into January in touch with the pack so that we can completely revamp the central midfield.

[AndyRoss]

Not really understating anything given most of these guys you've added were already out well before yesterday's game.

 

I reckon Dom must be wondering how he's ended up so far behind the likes of Cadden, MacLean and now probably Hastie and Ferguson too. struggling to see a future for him.

[Andy_P]

I had a look at the stats on the way back from the game on the FlashScores app and taking them to be correct I was a little surprised to see that they had Killie with more goal attempts and more shots on target to us. Although those figures don't take into account how dangerous the opportunities were my perception on leaving the game was that they really hadn't threatened us much at all with us having spurned at least four good chances.

 

I thought Killie were easily the better side for much of the first half without really threatening. Arguably their best chance however was that attempted clearance from Lasley that almost rebounded into our own net. It was disappointing that we failed to take at least one of the two chances immediately before the break. MacLean at least made the Killie keeper work but it was pretty poor from Lionel with his chance, he's usually much more clinical from such situations.

 

I thought we dominated most of the second half although we did lose our way for a spell midway through the half and it got to a stage where with about 15/20 minutes to go you began to think maybe it wouldn't be the worst thing to get out of it without a defeat given the way it was delicately poised. But fair play we did actually make positive changes that gave us a freshness and we did get back on top and looked to win it.

 

Again with the chances you might have expected Louis to do better but credit to the Killie defender for getting in the block and McDonald's effort was perhaps deserving of better given it would have finished perhaps the best piece of play all afternoon.

 

It does however feel like a good opportunity missed, even more so that we would have picked up two points on practically everybody else about us with so many draws yesterday.

 

But still a few positives to take. A clean sheet for one thing. And as already stated by a few in earlier posts, the increasing number of youngsters becoming more and more involved in the first team is pleasing to see. And more so you can see a gradual increase in their confidence and belief that they do fully deserve to be there the more they are involved.

 

Much has been said about the contract offers to the more senior members of the squad and the dropping off of performances, particularly those of Lasley and Hammell. Whilst there is no question that sometimes this season it has left me with a heavy heart seeing how off the pace they have been on occasion (Las yesterday in the run up to his booking and before he got subbed for example) I'll repeat my view that a succession plan where they are gradually phased out as youngsters match and then surpass them was a much better idea than a complete cull. Take Ross MacLean for example who only this week cited McFadden as being a continuing positive influence on him. I don't doubt that McMillan, Chalmers, Ferguson and Campbell and so on won't feel the same about the benefits of having Hammell, McManus and Lasley around either as they seek to establish themselves.

 

So all in all could have better, could have been worse.