Stenhousemuir v Motherwell 19/07/2025 🏆

[Ya Bezzer!]

18 hours ago, weeyin said:

Dundee 0 - 0 at half time

St Johnstone 0 - 0 at half time

Livi 1 - 0 up at home to Brora Rangers

It's almost like this is still mid preseason for the Premiership teams.

I think that just shows the decline in our top level.

There used to be cup shocks.  Now there aren't really because lower league clubs beat top level clubs all the time in both cup competitions.

Non league clubs have beaten Top 5 clubs on multiple occasions in recent years.

Our game at the top level has gone into massive decline, and no offense, but you are old enough to know that.  😆

[Ya Bezzer!]

14 minutes ago, MJC said:

I want to like Slattery as he does have 'something' as we saw the other night but disappears too often. Watt and Fadinger it's too early to say but they look lightweight and could be overrun easily especially when it comes to League fixtures.

I've probably said this a thousand times so excuse me but Slattery cannot play as a general midfielder.

He could potentially be effective as an attacking midfielder, maybe in a 3-4-1-2 or something like that. 

But if you are putting him a four across the middle just no.  

[wellon]

11 hours ago, Kmcalpin said:

The game panned out pretty much as I expected. We won the 3 points and kept a clean sheet end of. 

It gave JBA the chance to rest a few of his favoured players and test out others. Changing line ups and numerous substitutions don't help continuity. Still, not an impressive performance though. We had perhaps 4 good chances and converted one. A stuffy Stenhousemuir rode their luck at times. No real blunders at the back but still a few hairy moments. 

I'm not against this modern possession based football but its not a great watch it has to be said.

I agree with many previous posters. We had loads of possession, made pass after pass but lacked inciseveness and speed of passing. Totally toothless up front and we need reinforcements there as well as at the back.  We also lacked physicality and were bullied at times by a makeshift Warriors side. Orinoco rightly points out that Stenny's big lad up front beat Balmer time and again in the air. There will be much more of that in league games to come. 

I didn't think that Sule and Ap Stam looked much of a threat, although their service was poor it has to be said. Ewan Wilson has regressed for whatever reason and I don't recall him beating his opponent at all - back pass after back pass.  Matty Connelly didn't have much to do but his distribution was excellent. Victim of a shocking foul late on. 

Onto Morton now and I hope our perfomance improves. They will have been watching us with interest. 

I get what you're saying about modern possession based football, man city , I don't find easy yo watch.

That being said, when its your own team doing it, it's ok to watch, if we can keep it like that v top teams, bring it on.

Liverpool have the right balance but we can't compete with that.

[wellon]

1 hour ago, wellfan said:

I completely agree. You can throw in the usual excuses too: plastic pitches, it being too hot or too wet. As if the opposition aren’t dealing with the exact same conditions.

But the opposition didn't score or look like scoring. 

I mind the days when lower league teams would come out and have a go...more savvy now , but doesn't make for a great spectacle.

Much the same as we do v Celtic. 

[wellon]

53 minutes ago, MJC said:

It definitely is because the team simply isn't good enough to expect anything better. There is very little football in that squad and we are badly lacking in defence and up front.

Looking at the opening round of fixtures it's hard to see us getting much, if anything. We will lose to Rangers, lose to St.Mirren and Hearts and then we have Kettlewell's Killie Pies at home in which, on paper at least, is already "must win" for us.

Are you a betting man? You would be bankrupt by now tbf.

[wellon]

13 hours ago, Kmcalpin said:

Didn't think SODs had a bad game today. Not great but no worse than the others. He also scored the all important winner. 

It was noticeable at FT though  that as the other players walked over to acknowledge the fans, SODs just walked off. You can understand that though. 

There is only one way to shut the critics up and that's to turn in good performances...I don't get on anyone's back but he has been poor at times, since the get go if I'm honest....but here's hoping this is a new dawn.

[Spit_It_Out]

From what I have witnessed from yesterday is AP was actually making decent runs into the box and in the box for the ball but the crossing and passing to him was utterly terrible.

Really need to get working on this final ball it's pretty non existent right now.

 

[santheman]

1 hour ago, Ya Bezzer! said:

I think that just shows the decline in our top level.

There used to be cup shocks.  Now there aren't really because lower league clubs beat top level clubs all the time in both cup competitions.

Non league clubs have beaten Top 5 clubs on multiple occasions in recent years.

Our game at the top level has gone into massive decline, and no offense, but you are old enough to know that.  😆

I would say partly that and partly smaller teams are getting better coached and lower league managers are getting more tactically aware about how to set out their teams to frustrate the big boys.

[wellon]

19 minutes ago, santheman said:

I would say partly that and partly smaller teams are getting better coached and lower league managers are getting more tactically aware about how to set out their teams to frustrate the big boys.

Was talking to a bloke at work( st mirren fan) he mentioned that part time players seem a lot fitter than back in the day and don't tire as quickly...bloody frustrating  🙄 

[santheman]

41 minutes ago, wellon said:

Was talking to a bloke at work( st mirren fan) he mentioned that part time players seem a lot fitter than back in the day and don't tire as quickly...bloody frustrating  🙄 

I notice that too in the WOSL games I take in. With the explosion in gymnasiums and personal trainers and some of the bigger teams being into sports science in a big way the level is definitely improving in the lower leagues.

[SteelmaninOZ]

The man the legend 

 

[weeyin]

19 minutes ago, santheman said:

I notice that too in the WOSL games I take in. With the explosion in gymnasiums and personal trainers and some of the bigger teams being into sports science in a big way the level is definitely improving in the lower leagues.

The coaching has also improved in all levels of the game.  The lower league teams are playing tactics you would never have seen 20 or 30 years ago. 

[El Grew]

3 hours ago, MJC said:

I want to like Slattery as he does have 'something' as we saw the other night but disappears too often. Watt and Fadinger it's too early to say but they look lightweight and could be overrun easily especially when it comes to League fixtures.

Agreed. I think Slattery would be better playing just behind a front two. Our midfield is too lightweight and will be easily bullied out of games in the league. I think we badly need a ball-winner to stiffen the midfield up and give it some bite.

[dennyc]

4 hours ago, Spit_It_Out said:

From what I have witnessed from yesterday is AP was actually making decent runs into the box and in the box for the ball but the crossing and passing to him was utterly terrible.

Really need to get working on this final ball it's pretty non existent right now.

 

I agree. And the more frustrated Stam got the deeper he got. No surprise given the lack of quality coming from out wide or through the middle. Often in space and looking for the ball, but ignored.  Wilson is just terrified to make a mistake so plays backwards more often than not. I lost count of the number of times he had acres of space in front of him but chickened out. Confidence seems totally shot.  Although willing, Sparrow just cannot be relied upon. Defensively both are weak so not sure why they start.

The only cutback that created a worthwhile chance first half was sclaffed wide by Maswanhise. Pity it did not fall to Stam as that might have got him up and running. I'm guessing Maswanhise will delight and frustrate us in equal portions throughout the season.

My first game this season and I was looking forward to the bright new world I've been reading about.  But, even allowing for the weather and the pitch, I was underwhelmed. Facing a team two divisions below us, who were goalless and thumped in their previous game, and who had only brought  in 40% of their matchday squad the day before,  I expected more. Not miracles but more.

Sure we had lots of the ball but what's the point if you go nowhere with it? Eventually resorting to long distance shots that are easily blocked or saved.  And I get that it's early days and Askou is still experimenting with players coming to terms with what he expects of them. I thought many looked hesitant and more often than not took the easy option. With the result that we spent most of the game overplaying in midfield. And we got off the hook when their player made a complete hash of their chance to equalise late on from a throw in that seemed to bamboozle our defence. 

Positives? It's a better watch than SK delivered.  We won and kept a clean sheet with what looked like a second choice back four. Balmer and SOD did ok although under little pressure. Stenny's big striker did make it uncomfortable at times but with little threat. SOD scoring...just. Connolly also coped well with everything he was asked to deal with. Of the new recruits, I thought Fadinger looked busy and keen to get involved, trying to move us forward. We missed him when he went off. The fans backed the team to the end and SOD appeared to have an abuse free match.

On to Morton who will provide a much sterner test. Improvement needed if we are to progress from the group. Looking forward to see how we perform against a team that might actually set out to win a match. Imrie will certainly have them fired up for a game they have to win. Cannot see them playing for penalties as far to much of a lottery. Hopefully we get a decent turnout who get right behind the team.

 

[wellgirl]

4 hours ago, santheman said:

I notice that too in the WOSL games I take in. With the explosion in gymnasiums and personal trainers and some of the bigger teams being into sports science in a big way the level is definitely improving in the lower leagues.

There are actually quite a few part time footballers who train to be personal trainers. I've worked with a few in gyms and there's been a couple in the gym I've been a member of. I worked beside Adam Cummins at pure gym and at that point he was playing part time with Bangor. It makes sense as it's additional income and it's a career that obviously can carry on when they stop playing football. 

Pretty sure some clubs put players through sports science degrees as well