Motherwell v Celtic 09/11/2022

[mfc]

The league is as tight as ever where a couple of wins could get you right up the table and at the same time go the other way with defeats.im concerned that we have just lost another game by the odd goal,it's now becoming a real problem rather than just a coincidence,we need to be finding a way of coming away from these tight games with atleast a point,at 2-2 on Sunday the minimum we should have been coming away with was a point,throw in the likes st johnstone at home and kilmarnock away and it's a habit we need to stamp out and quick.any team will always struggle if there home from is poor and ours definitely is,I expect nothing from this game but the games coming up against kilmarnock and st mirren are almost at the point of must wins to not only put points on the board but to stop any psychological problems kicking in from playing at fir park.

[GazzyB]

2 hours ago, MJC_mkII said:

As has been said we are only four clear of the playoff spot and in poor form. In a league which is as tight as this you need to pick up points and we haven’t been doing enough of that over the past month.

Yeah but you said we were in danger of getting cut off in the relegation zone, of which we are seven points clear.

 

Our form is poor because we have had to play Rangers, Celtic, Hearts and high flying Aberdeen, 3 of which we lost by one point to. We have a really good run of fixtures after the World Cup.

 

Do you know what, I guess it’s just if you’re a half glass full or a half glass empty kinda guy, and we are just on different ends of that.

[Spiderpig]

53 minutes ago, mfc said:

The league is as tight as ever where a couple of wins could get you right up the table and at the same time go the other way with defeats.im concerned that we have just lost another game by the odd goal,it's now becoming a real problem rather than just a coincidence,we need to be finding a way of coming away from these tight games with atleast a point,at 2-2 on Sunday the minimum we should have been coming away with was a point,throw in the likes st johnstone at home and kilmarnock away and it's a habit we need to stamp out and quick.any team will always struggle if there home from is poor and ours definitely is,I expect nothing from this game but the games coming up against kilmarnock and st mirren are almost at the point of must wins to not only put points on the board but to stop any psychological problems kicking in from playing at fir park.

Spot on, there are at least another 5 points we should have won, StJ (1) Dundee untd,(2) Aberdeen (1) all at Fir park and last Sunday at Tynecastle (1) so  we really should be sitting on 21 points and 4th in the League. 

So we need to improve the home form drastically and learn to get more street wise, ie know when somebody needs  to implement the odd professional foul and take a booking for the team as our current game management is brutal.

 

[joewarkfanclub]

1 minute ago, GazzyB said:

Yeah but you said we were in danger of getting cut off in the relegation zone, of which we are seven points clear.

 

Our form is poor because we have had to play Rangers, Celtic, Hearts and high flying Aberdeen, 3 of which we lost by one point to. We have a really good run of fixtures after the World Cup.

 

Do you know what, I guess it’s just if you’re a half glass full or a half glass empty kinda guy, and we are just on different ends of that.

He also thought we would lose by 4 at Tannadice and pretty much forecasts a defeat every week.

Now there might be a little bit of self protection or reverse psychology going on there, but Id be depressed as flock if I thought there was absolutely no hope for us every game we played.

Happy to admit that I have absolutely zero expectation that we will get anything tonight, but neither did St Mirren when they beat Celtic. These things dont happen very often in a season, but they do happen, and sooner or later it will be our turn.

I do think the St Johnstone game is huge for us though after the run of fixtures we have had. I think we need at least a point to stop the rot and go into the break feeling ok about ourselves.

[MJC]

49 minutes ago, GazzyB said:

Yeah but you said we were in danger of getting cut off in the relegation zone, of which we are seven points clear.

 

Our form is poor because we have had to play Rangers, Celtic, Hearts and high flying Aberdeen, 3 of which we lost by one point to. We have a really good run of fixtures after the World Cup.

 

Do you know what, I guess it’s just if you’re a half glass full or a half glass empty kinda guy, and we are just on different ends of that.

Well no arguments about your last sentence, that’s entirely fair.

I think we also differ on definition of what the relegation zone is though. You obviously see it as just 12th spot whereas I consider the playoff spot, which we are only four clear of as the relegation zone too.

But after tonight is out the way we do have a much more favourable run of fixtures either side of the WC break. St.Johnstone then two home games against St.Mirren and Kilmarnock are the type of games you would hope, expect perhaps, to pick up points in.

[pretzel]

21 minutes ago, GazzyB said:

Yeah but you said we were in danger of getting cut off in the relegation zone, of which we are seven points clear.

 

Our form is poor because we have had to play Rangers, Celtic, Hearts and high flying Aberdeen, 3 of which we lost by one point to. We have a really good run of fixtures after the World Cup.

 

Do you know what, I guess it’s just if you’re a half glass full or a half glass empty kinda guy, and we are just on different ends of that.

It's amazing how tight the league is, I think it's too early to mess the Y front's just yet as some are doing, I would love it if we could get something from tonights game but can't say I'm too confident of that, however once we get this game over with we don't need to face Celtic again until late April. I know we aren't guaranteed points but it's nice to see a run of winnable fixtures coming up. I think my biggest worry has been was that we were playing really well and poor finishing was costing us precious points, obviously as you struggle to win the confidence erodes and losing becomes a bad habit, October was a tough month despite it getting off to a great start.

As for tonight, Celtic, Willie Collum, 5000 bigots in the away stand, them being robbed by VAR so far it's going to be a tough night under the lights. 

It's probably been mentioned but collections for the foodbank will be taking place outside the stadium tonight.

 

 

[middleeastdave]

2 hours ago, mfc said:

The league is as tight as ever where a couple of wins could get you right up the table and at the same time go the other way with defeats.im concerned that we have just lost another game by the odd goal,it's now becoming a real problem rather than just a coincidence,we need to be finding a way of coming away from these tight games with atleast a point,at 2-2 on Sunday the minimum we should have been coming away with was a point,throw in the likes st johnstone at home and kilmarnock away and it's a habit we need to stamp out and quick.any team will always struggle if there home from is poor and ours definitely is,I expect nothing from this game but the games coming up against kilmarnock and st mirren are almost at the point of must wins to not only put points on the board but to stop any psychological problems kicking in from playing at fir park.

Agree entirely realistically the game tonight not expecting much, the only hope is that Celtic have an off night, basically our season starts on Saturday against St Johnstone.

[GazzyB]

28 minutes ago, MJC_mkII said:

.But after tonight is out the way we do have a much more favourable run of fixtures either side of the WC break. St.Johnstone then two home games against St.Mirren and Kilmarnock are the type of games you would hope, expect perhaps, to pick up points in.

Good man!

 

Edited to add that despite all my sunshine and roses I also fully expect a pumping tonight. 

[Great Balls of Shire]

2 hours ago, Spiderpig said:

Spot on, there are at least another 5 points we should have won, StJ (1) Dundee untd,(2) Aberdeen (1) all at Fir park and last Sunday at Tynecastle (1) so  we really should be sitting on 21 points and 4th in the League. 

So we need to improve the home form drastically and learn to get more street wise, ie know when somebody needs  to implement the odd professional foul and take a booking for the team as our current game management is brutal.

 

But why didn't we pick up those extra points? It wasn't all bad luck 

We have defended really poorly at times and given away goals at points in games when we shouldn't , e g last minutes of games 

As shown last night livi and Ross Co are going to pick up points, not world beaters but looks like they know how to hold onto a lead 

A couple of shrewd additions in Jan and I will be more confident.

 

 

[Spiderpig]

10 minutes ago, Great Balls of Shire said:

But why didn't we pick up those extra points? It wasn't all bad luck 

We have defended really poorly at times and given away goals at points in games when we shouldn't , e g last minutes of games 

As shown last night livi and Ross Co are going to pick up points, not world beaters but looks like they know how to hold onto a lead 

A couple of shrewd additions in Jan and I will be more confident.

 

 

I never said it was all bad luck, maybe the untd and Aberdeen games we never got a break but the other 2 StJ and Hearts were just bad game management,  where we got ourselves into points positions and fecked it up. In truth the same could be said for the Rangers game as well, bad game management at their 1st goal, that's our biggest weakness we are shit at it.

[mfc]

9 minutes ago, Spiderpig said:

I never said it was all bad luck, maybe the untd and Aberdeen games we never got a break but the other 2 StJ and Hearts were just bad game management,  where we got ourselves into points positions and fecked it up. In truth the same could be said for the Rangers game as well, bad game management at their 1st goal, that's our biggest weakness we are shit at it.

Spot on our game management is woeful,were far to nice on the pitch,it's about time we started pulling out some dirty tricks when it's required.going back to the rangers goal,there was about 6 chances to pull the guy down,take the booking and then prevent the goal,you can be sure st johnstone will play every trick in the book this weekend if they need too.

[FirParkCornerExile]

2 hours ago, Spiderpig said:

Spot on, there are at least another 5 points we should have won, StJ (1) Dundee untd,(2) Aberdeen (1) all at Fir park and last Sunday at Tynecastle (1) so  we really should be sitting on 21 points and 4th in the League. 

So we need to improve the home form drastically and learn to get more street wise, ie know when somebody needs  to implement the odd professional foul and take a booking for the team as our current game management is brutal.

 

No we shouldn't , you don't get points for what should have happened you end up in the league where you deserve to be.

[texanwellfan]

6 minutes ago, FirParkCornerExile said:

No we shouldn't , you don't get points for what should have happened you end up in the league where you deserve to be.

Correct. I’d say missed opportunities. 

[MJC]

28 minutes ago, FirParkCornerExile said:

No we shouldn't , you don't get points for what should have happened you end up in the league where you deserve to be.

Exactly there is absolutely no point in saying “should have, could have” because all that matters is we didn’t get those points and we only have ourselves to blame for it. We need to cut out basic errors, defensive lapses and start taking chances when they come. We also need to start showing more character once we fall behind in games.

[Great Balls of Shire]

55 minutes ago, mfc said:

Spot on our game management is woeful,were far to nice on the pitch,it's about time we started pulling out some dirty tricks when it's required.going back to the rangers goal,there was about 6 chances to pull the guy down,take the booking and then prevent the goal,you can be sure st johnstone will play every trick in the book this weekend if they need too.

Slattery picks up bookings regularly for tripping or pulling back opponents, so we aren't that nice ...partly down to him not being athletic enough.  I think he's a decent footballer , as is Goss, but they definitely lack athleticism 

Don't need to foul them , just put in some meaningful challenges for starters 

 

[Yodo]

49 minutes ago, Great Balls of Shire said:

Slattery picks up bookings regularly for tripping or pulling back opponents, so we aren't that nice ...partly down to him not being athletic enough.  I think he's a decent footballer , as is Goss, but they definitely lack athleticism 

Don't need to foul them , just put in some meaningful challenges for starters 

 

Both slower than a week in the jail and cant tackle a fish supper . They along with Spittal are the problems in the team , Celtic will play round them and we will take another scudding 

[texanwellfan]

Fearing the worst but hoping for a surprise point or three. I think their running off the ball will kill us. We still have to go in with the attitude that we can win. Up the work rate, keep focused and mentally turned on. Do not let them run freely thru the midfield with the ball. I think our best chance is to hit them on the counter. From corners or free kicks if Kelly gets the ball we need bodies sprinting up the field to give us numbers up opportunities and play long ball out. A few Of those and then Celtic will have to adjust appropriately hopefully then giving us more time at the back to play the ball out.  Slattery needs to get stuck in and stop falling over. Eventually the refs get wise and stop awarding free kicks. KVV needs to put in a shift. Our wide players need to be aggressive and go at the full backs and get some good balls into the box. We need to stay organized and compact, defend and attack as a team. Having said all that their speed (or our lack of) may still kill us. COYW!!!  Need a good old fashioned blood and guts cup tie “get intae them” performance with some goals. 

[Yodo]

25 minutes ago, texanwellfan said:

Fearing the worst but hoping for a surprise point or three. I think their running off the ball will kill us. We still have to go in with the attitude that we can win. Up the work rate, keep focused and mentally turned on. Do not let them run freely thru the midfield with the ball. I think our best chance is to hit them on the counter. From corners or free kicks if Kelly gets the ball we need bodies sprinting up the field to give us numbers up opportunities and play long ball out. A few Of those and then Celtic will have to adjust appropriately hopefully then giving us more time at the back to play the ball out.  Slattery needs to get stuck in and stop falling over. Eventually the refs get wise and stop awarding free kicks. KVV needs to put in a shift. Our wide players need to be aggressive and go at the full backs and get some good balls into the box. We need to stay organized and compact, defend and attack as a team. Having said all that their speed (or our lack of) may still kill us. COYW!!!  Need a good old fashioned blood and guts cup tie “get intae them” performance with some goals. 

Have we signed a new team 

[Great Balls of Shire]

1 hour ago, Yodo said:

Both slower than a week in the jail and cant tackle a fish supper . They along with Spittal are the problems in the team , Celtic will play round them and we will take another scudding 

I don't disagree but both decent footballers if we can get balance right... remember cooper and Russell, they weren't fast or good tacklers 

[Yodo]

Just now, Great Balls of Shire said:

I don't disagree but both decent footballers if we can get balance right... remember cooper and Russell, they weren't fast or good tacklers 

Yer correct there but they had decent players to play beside . Unfortunately we are well short if these players are playing they offer nothing when not on the ball 

[Yorkyred]

Very difficult to see anything other than a defeat but my goodness even a point would be a huge bonus.

[Great Balls of Shire]

2 minutes ago, Yodo said:

Yer correct there but they had decent players to play beside . Unfortunately we are well short if these players are playing they offer nothing when not on the ball 

Yep , that's my point , need to get balance right, an Alan Campbell type in there , we don't seem to have that at moment

[texanwellfan]

9 minutes ago, Great Balls of Shire said:

Yep , that's my point , need to get balance right, an Alan Campbell type in there , we don't seem to have that at moment

I think that’s why you play Deano instead of Spittal. Yes, Spittal has 2 goals and 3 assists but maybe we will get more goals and assists and points with Deano winking possession and stopping the opposition

[Kmcalpin]

47 minutes ago, Great Balls of Shire said:

Yep , that's my point , need to get balance right, an Alan Campbell type in there , we don't seem to have that at moment

Dean Cornelius?

[MJC]

1 hour ago, Yodo said:

Have we signed a new team 

That’s the only way we would see a “get intae them” type performance from us nowadays in this fixture. Saying that we could do with a new attitude and ethos too.

As it is our performances in this fixture can usually be summed up in six words. “Welcome to our great wee club”.