Motherwell v St Johnstone 26/04/2025

[stv]

1 hour ago, texanwellfan said:

I thought he was fine  

Gives we the fear when he looks down and can't decide which is his left and which is his right foot. He's an accident waiting to happen every game.

[Stuwell2]

9 hours ago, weeyin said:

I'd be amazed if 42 points isn't enough to stay above 11th.  

2023/24 11th team (and 10th) had 35

2022/23 11th had 34 and 10th had 40

2021/22 11th had 35 and 10th had 42

2020/21 11th had 36 and 10th had 39

2019/20 Covid year so skipped it

2018/19 11th had 32 and 10th had 33

I won't go back any further, but it would be an unusual table this year if 42 is anything less than 10th.

Hope to feck it doesn’t happen but if Killie, RC & Dundee all beat us, Hearts & StJ then their points would be

Killie 47, RC 44 & Dundee 43

Killie or Dundee can afford to lose 1 game as long as they beat the other in their head to head meaning a loss to Hearts would put us 11th on 42. 
Personally I think 11th will be a team on 39 or 40 points this season. 

Edit: other permutations are available ie Dundee could draw with is, beat Killie and be on 44 leaving us 11th on 43 points. 

[SteelmaninOZ]

 

[texanwellfan]

46 minutes ago, Stuwell2 said:

Hope to feck it doesn’t happen but if Killie, RC & Dundee all beat us, Hearts & StJ then their points would be

Killie 47, RC 44 & Dundee 43

Killie or Dundee can afford to lose 1 game as long as they beat the other in their head to head meaning a loss to Hearts would put us 11th on 42. 
Personally I think 11th will be a team on 39 or 40 points this season. 

Edit: other permutations are available ie Dundee could draw with is, beat Killie and be on 44 leaving us 11th on 43 points. 

We just need to go beat Dundee next week!!

im also hoping that St Johnstone go on and win the rest of their games. 

[weeyin]

I have no fear about finishing 11th.

Much more interested in securing 7th place.

[Gadgey]

4 hours ago, texanwellfan said:

We just need to go beat Dundee next week!!

im also hoping that St Johnstone go on and win the rest of their games. 

Aye, as much as I have no love for St Johnstone, I would love to see Simo do the impossible, get a straight run at a prem season and do his old club a favour in the process.

[FirParkCornerExile]

36 minutes ago, Gadgey said:

Aye, as much as I have no love for St Johnstone, I would love to see Simo do the impossible, get a straight run at a prem season and do his old club a favour in the process.

Frankly I want teams with similar resources to us to go down and be replaced with teams with less resource . Thats why I hope Falkirk fuck up and Livingston come up. A league with Livingston and Ross County in it gives us less chance of going down that a league with St Johnstone and Falkirk  in it.

[Spiderpig]

13 minutes ago, FirParkCornerExile said:

Frankly I want teams with similar resources to us to go down and be replaced with teams with less resource . Thats why I hope Falkirk fuck up and Livingston come up. A league with Livingston and Ross County in it gives us less chance of going down that a league with St Johnstone and Falkirk  in it.

You think then that Falkirk have the players and resources to stay in the premiership?

For me if they get promoted they will be big favourites to go straight back down it's a big step up in quality from the championship.

[Kmcalpin]

A crucial win yesterday and the result, not the perfomance, was the only thing that mattered. I thought that Johnny K, Watt and Slattery were the pick of the bunch. We lost 2 soft goals , but that's par for the course this season.  The starting line up looked insipid on paper but it did the business. It was a blow to lose Maswhanise before kick off as this game was tailor made for him. 

St Johnstone were fired up as we knew they would be and committed 3 fouls before 3 minutes showed on the clock. That theme continued and Steven MacLean's inconsistent awarding of cards was a bit annoying. He also found an additional minute to add onto the additional 5 minutes at the end. Not often we see that.  The final 25 minutes or so were torture to watch as we retreated under an onslaught, largely toothless it has to be said. 

One mildly amusing facet of the game (I can say that in hindsight as we won) was the introduction of Uche Ikpeazu. There was a murmur of anticipation, even amongst Well fans, when he rumbled onto the pitch. I was expecting him to appear a bit earlier, but as he's only played 15 minutes this season, it wasn't surprising. He caused chaos in our defence frequently requiring the attention of 3 defenders. Although not especially talented, or effective, his imposing physique caused us problems. He dwarfed Dan Casey and swatted him aside like an annnoying fly.  Hopefully he'll cause more chaos for opponents in St Johnstone's remaining 4 fixtures.  

Onwards and upwards. 

Time to renew my season ticket.  

[wellsince75]

Falkirk have a much bigger support than Livingstone, as such resources should be stronger. 

I like the fact that they try and play football v's the eye bleeding Livi approach. 

Add to that Livi's plastic pitch, not sure when they're replacing but I'd much prefer all SPL clubs to have grass pitches. On a basic level it should be a standard requirement for any SPL club.

[wellfan]

11 hours ago, stv said:

Give them Kettlewells phone number .

He’s probably still on the phone to them the now, blabbing about Theo Bair.

[Kmcalpin]

15 minutes ago, wellsince75 said:

Add to that Livi's plastic pitch, not sure when they're replacing but I'd much prefer all SPL clubs to have grass pitches. On a basic level it should be a standard requirement for any SPL club.

https://www.falkirkherald.co.uk/sport/football/falkirk-reveal-dispute-resolution-process-likely-as-they-gear-up-to-challenge-senseless-spfl-premiership-artificial-pitch-ban-5026678 (Falkirk Herald)

Falkirk are challenging the SPFL's decision, which was based on a democratic vote, to ban plastic pitches in the Premiership from the 2026-27 season.   They know what the rules are, and have done for some time, so why can't they just adhere to them? Here we go again. 

Some other clubs, with a vested interest, including Livingston, Airdrie, Raith and Hamilton have held discusions about this.

[SteelmaninOZ]

 

[grizzlyg]

Watched highlights and 2 poor goals to concede,  casey dreaming for first and no one picked up player for 2nd.

However......great from Watt for 1st goal and fine finish from slatts.  For 2nd goal Halliday and Watt done great and for 3rd Thompson done well ( only good thing he done imo)

Was gutted though they didn't Show the 2 best bits.....Paton's cross which fired into bottom tier of away stand and Ikpeauzu losing it for his yellow card

[Kmcalpin]

21 minutes ago, grizzlyg said:

Watched highlights and 2 poor goals to concede,  casey dreaming for first and no one picked up player for 2nd.

Yes poor defending. Tom Sparrow was caught out with a ball over the top. Kirk was completely unmarked and allowed to pick his spot. A great keeper to striker goal and possibly winner of Saints' goal of the season. Balcombe looked a little culpable for their second  

[FirParkCornerExile]

2 hours ago, Spiderpig said:

You think then that Falkirk have the players and resources to stay in the premiership?

For me if they get promoted they will be big favourites to go straight back down it's a big step up in quality from the championship.

Doesnt matter what Falkirk have right now , that is not what they will have to start a campaign in the Premier League and they would be a better attraction for players than Livingston and with average crowds that will eclipse ours I'd rather a potentially weaker team came. up. 

[Spit_It_Out]

25 minutes ago, Kmcalpin said:

Yes poor defending. Tom Sparrow was caught out with a ball over the top. Kirk was completely unmarked and allowed to pick his spot. A great keeper to striker goal and possibly winner of Saints' goal of the season. Balcombe looked a little culpable for their second  

Balcombe is a pretty poor goalkeeper i am honestly at the stage now my erse is in my mouth anytime the ball comes near to him and he must have a phobia about catching the ball.

[SteelmaninOZ]

 

[Ya Bezzer!]

I was at the game yesterday but I was feeling ill and for most of the match just wanted to come home and I went straight to bed.

Dunno if that was the quality of football, how I was feeling or a combination of both!

I know we've had horrendous injury problems all season but to have two weeks prep and then put out the starting line up, formation and tactics just showed to me that Wimmer is miles off knowing what he's doing.

Fair play to him he changed the shape during the match but you kinda felt any supporter could have told him that starting XI wasn't going to work.

The first half was dismal until St Johnstone had their mad minute.  After that you could see us playing with a bit more confidence but it's obvious this team's confidence has been shattered and is still very fragile.

It's clear we need the season to end and re-set, get the injured guys back and get rid of the dead wood.

Unfortunately there are four games left and with that win almost certainly securing our place in the league you wonder what kind of levels we are going to display, they've not been good enough during competitive matches.

Therefore I see the immediate future as a bit of a distraction until the bigger questions are tackled close season.  Still I'd be nice if we could get another victory or two before the end of the season.

 

 

[ropy]

2 hours ago, Kmcalpin said:

St Johnstone were fired up as we knew they would be and committed 3 fouls before 3 minutes showed on the clock. That theme continued and Steven MacLean's inconsistent awarding of cards was a bit annoying. He also found an additional minute to add onto the additional 5 minutes at the end. Not often we see that.  The final 25 minutes or so were torture to watch as we retreated under an onslaught, largely toothless it has to be said. 

Time to renew my season ticket.  

There was nothing sinister about the additional time.  The board for Slattery’s substitution went up on 90 minutes and it was a full 60 seconds before play restarted, 5 additional minutes were played from that point.

[Mad Dog]

1 hour ago, Kmcalpin said:

Yes poor defending. Tom Sparrow was caught out with a ball over the top. Kirk was completely unmarked and allowed to pick his spot. A great keeper to striker goal and possibly winner of Saints' goal of the season. Balcombe looked a little culpable for their second  

I thought Balcombe saw the ball fairly late as it went past a number of players in front of him.

[Kmcalpin]

13 minutes ago, ropy said:

There was nothing sinister about the additional time.  The board for Slattery’s substitution went up on 90 minutes and it was a full 60 seconds before play restarted, 5 additional minutes were played from that point.

Oh I get that.  Its usually announced as "A minimum of X minutes".  However, its quite unusual for a referee to add any further extra time. Once the minutes have been announced, we've seen injuries, subs, goals, VAR, time wasting but very rarely amendments to additional time.

[Kmcalpin]

47 minutes ago, Ya Bezzer! said:

I was at the game yesterday but I was feeling ill and for most of the match just wanted to come home and I went straight to bed.

I know we've had horrendous injury problems all season but to have two weeks prep and then put out the starting line up, formation and tactics just showed to me that Wimmer is miles off knowing what he's doing.

Fair play to him he changed the shape during the match but you kinda felt any supporter could have told him that starting XI wasn't going to work.

Hope you're feeling better now.

I thought exactly the same, thinking that the line up was very cautious but maybe he was limited by injuries? Mashwanise being out was a body blow certainly.  Looking at the bench, Seddon is not match fit. Kaleta is nowhere to be seen. Andrews, Dickson and Tavares don't inspire confidence. I suppose we could have played Armstrong along with Watt or Moses but he didn't really have much leeway for shaking things up. 

[Onthefringes]

34 minutes ago, Kmcalpin said:

Hope you're feeling better now.

I thought exactly the same, thinking that the line up was very cautious but maybe he was limited by injuries? Mashwanise being out was a body blow certainly.  Looking at the bench, Seddon is not match fit. Kaleta is nowhere to be seen. Andrews, Dickson and Tavares don't inspire confidence. I suppose we could have played Armstrong along with Watt or Moses but he didn't really have much leeway for shaking things up. 

Nor will he be. He’s returned to his parent club. 

[dennyc]

2 hours ago, grizzlyg said:

Watched highlights and 2 poor goals to concede,  casey dreaming for first and no one picked up player for 2nd.

 

A bit harsh on Casey who was trying to get across to cover from the left side. The players at fault for the first were Sparrow who was caught out of position and whoever stood still as Kirk ran into the box. Miller? Not sure who lost the second goal scorer but the goalie should have saved it anyway.

Wimmer changed the set up after the first goal with Sparrow being pushed further forward lessening his defensive duties. Became a back four with JK at right back. Looked far more solid to me. 

I also thought, surprisingly, that Casey looked a lot better playing alongside SOD than he has playing alongside Balmer, Blaney and even Gordon. Not saying SOD is the answer at CB, but the partnership was less of a bombscare.