St Johnstone V Motherwell 16/08/2025 🏆

[robsterwood]

Interesting boss said players burned a lot of calories that need to be burned hinting that they not all fully mstch fit yet as we know. Getting into good positions. Just lacking that composure in final third.

[wellgirl]

A couple of shaky moments but I thought Ward did really well today 

[MFCL84]

2 hours ago, FirParkCornerExile said:

Was it just me or did anyone else think St J were unlucky not to get a penalty with the last kick of the ball?

Absolutely, Calmer made a bad decision. There was no need to barge the guy in the back. Very lucky not to concede a pen.

[wellgirl]

Think we also had a few shouts for a penalty during the game - the ref was rotten 

[MFCL84]

1 minute ago, wellgirl said:

Think we also had a few shouts for a penalty during the game - the ref was rotten 

Agreed, the ref seemed to give St.Johnstone a free kick every time one of them fell over, but Motherwell players were being manhandled all over the pitch and got very little from him.

[wellgirl]

6 minutes ago, MFCL84 said:

Agreed, the ref seemed to give St.Johnstone a free kick every time one of them fell over, but Motherwell players were being manhandled all over the pitch and got very little from him.

SOD got booked for diving when one of their players stamped on his ankle. I don't know who it was but quite early on in the game Motherwell fans thought that one of the St Johnstone players was going to get a yellow - the ref just walked over to him gave him a pat on the arm and walked off. 

Don't think he completely ruined the game but some really questionable decisions there. 

[weeyin]

47 minutes ago, robsterwood said:

Interesting boss said players burned a lot of calories that need to be burned hinting that they not all fully mstch fit yet as we know. Getting into good positions. Just lacking that composure in final third.

He said a couple of weeks ago the League Cup games had interfered with the training he wanted to do and that we wouldn't be at the necessary levels until later in the season.

It's certainly an intense style of play, but must be a lot more fun to execute than last season (pre-Wimmer).

[wellgirl]

33 minutes ago, weeyin said:

He said a couple of weeks ago the League Cup games had interfered with the training he wanted to do and that we wouldn't be at the necessary levels until later in the season.

It's certainly an intense style of play, but must be a lot more fun to execute than last season (pre-Wimmer).

I personally think his style will work better than Wimmers although that's maybe unfair to Wimmer as we didn't have enough time to see what he could do 

Im really liking JBA 

[joewarkfanclub]

1 hour ago, MFCL84 said:

Agreed, the ref seemed to give St.Johnstone a free kick every time one of them fell over, but Motherwell players were being manhandled all over the pitch and got very little from him.

Agreed.

He totally shat giving their player a second yellow on the touchline when Longelo did him down the line and he sent him up in the air. It was a yellow all day long so he should have been off.

Need to see the SOD penalty again but looked like a stone waller in real time.

[weeyin]

1 hour ago, wellgirl said:

I personally think his style will work better than Wimmers although that's maybe unfair to Wimmer as we didn't have enough time to see what he could do 

Im really liking JBA 

Wimmer was constrained by the fact he arrived when the season was in full swing, and didn't have a preseason to instill his style into the players. As a result, compromises had to be made to balance his new philosophy with avoiding relegation and winning games.

What is true, I think, is that his ideas prepared the squad for JBA, so they already had an idea of what was required to play this way.

[fizoxy]

I think wimmer and JBAs philosophies are pretty much the same. High pressing, and controlling possession, altnough it looks like Wimmer is still playing a back 3 with his new team.

As mentioned above, JBA had the opportunity to bring players in to suit the system (or benefit from the players that were already identified for that purpose, i.e. fadinger), so its hard to compare directly. I'm sure JBA would have made the same concessions that Wimmer did if he had joined last season. 

I didn't think wimmer was particularly bad with the media, but JBA is miles better in that regard. Both are pretty candid about what they want to do. It will be interesting to see how JBA handles interviews when he's up against it. I'm pretty sure if he gets asked another miller question next week he will two-foot someone. 

[texanwellfan]

9 hours ago, wellgirl said:

SOD got booked for diving when one of their players stamped on his ankle. I don't know who it was but quite early on in the game Motherwell fans thought that one of the St Johnstone players was going to get a yellow - the ref just walked over to him gave him a pat on the arm and walked off. 

Don't think he completely ruined the game but some really questionable decisions there. 

Don’t think ref WS favoring Saints, just bad/inconsistent. Said and TJ coukd easily have been booked for persistent fouling. Then looked like pk right at the end but I also thought SOD incident should have been ok for us and certainly not a yellow for SOD. 

[SteelmaninOZ]

The goal 

 

[steelman1991]

12 hours ago, FirParkCornerExile said:

Sule needs to sharpen up on his decision making for the pass however more than compensated for with effort and dig to win second balls

That would have been a neat trick - he’s back at The Hawthorns 🤣

[FirParkCornerExile]

6 minutes ago, steelman1991 said:

That would have been a neat trick - he’s back at The Hawthorns 🤣

LOL , yeah I realised my schoolboy error and corrected it. 

[santheman]

1 hour ago, texanwellfan said:

Don’t think ref WS favoring Saints, just bad/inconsistent. Said and TJ coukd easily have been booked for persistent fouling. Then looked like pk right at the end but I also thought SOD incident should have been ok for us and certainly not a yellow for SOD. 

Saints fans slaughtering him over on their forums so at least we're all agreed that he was just plain rotten.

On the SOD penalty I thought at the time it was a stonewaller and still do but he did kinda do some theatrics by throwing his hands up in the air a bit when he went down which probably gave the ref the excuse he was looking for. Dont know if it is just me who thinks that?

Where's VAR when you need it.

[steelman1991]

11 minutes ago, santheman said:

On the SOD penalty I thought at the time it was a stonewaller

It was. Even their idiotic commentators thought so and were glad VAR wasn’t being used.

[Kmcalpin]

2 hours ago, santheman said:

Saints fans slaughtering him over on their forums so at least we're all agreed that he was just plain rotten.

On the SOD penalty I thought at the time it was a stonewaller and still do but he did kinda do some theatrics by throwing his hands up in the air a bit when he went down which probably gave the ref the excuse he was looking for. Dont know if it is just me who thinks that?

Where's VAR when you need it.

Disappoined not to see this incident on the highlights. Don't know why it would have been edited out. As Richard Tait will tell you, its quite possible to win a foul and still be yellow carded for simulation. 

Great pass by Elliot Watt for our gaol.  

[FirParkCornerExile]

1 hour ago, santheman said:

Saints fans slaughtering him over on their forums so at least we're all agreed that he was just plain rotten.

On the SOD penalty I thought at the time it was a stonewaller and still do but he did kinda do some theatrics by throwing his hands up in the air a bit when he went down which probably gave the ref the excuse he was looking for. Dont know if it is just me who thinks that?

Where's VAR when you need it.

I got to admit I'm in a minority of one I think. I didn't think at the game the SOD incident was a penalty and even if there was contact the way he over egged his fall to convince the ref  would have got a 0.1 at the Diving Olympics.

It looked too contrived and that put enough doubt in the Refs mind it wasn't, even if on another day another ref might have given it. It was balanced out for me when he didn't give St J a penalty with the very last touch of the ball, I've seen them given. So as some have said , he was shite for both teams. 

Didn't detract from another good game by SOD,  and the fact the Saints fans at the end were giving him pelters shows he was doing something right, even if my nerves struggle with the new style.  The way he was winding them up after the final whistle just topped off another good team effort. 

I moaned like fuck during the GA and SK years that it was mind numbing pish we were watching so I'll take the nerves with the decent football.

Its been many years since I looked forward as much to going to see us cos its entertaining. Hope it keeps going. 

[FirParkCornerExile]

1 hour ago, santheman said:

Saints fans slaughtering him over on their forums so at least we're all agreed that he was just plain rotten.

On the SOD penalty I thought at the time it was a stonewaller and still do but he did kinda do some theatrics by throwing his hands up in the air a bit when he went down which probably gave the ref the excuse he was looking for. Dont know if it is just me who thinks that?

Where's VAR when you need it.

Correct SOD was too dramatic , it was like dead man fall as we played as kids (one for the older ones on here) and have to say rather than screaming fort the penalty I laughed at it.

[mio]

10 hours ago, weeyin said:

Wimmer was constrained by the fact he arrived when the season was in full swing, and didn't have a preseason to instill his style into the players. As a result, compromises had to be made to balance his new philosophy with avoiding relegation and winning games.

What is true, I think, is that his ideas prepared the squad for JBA, so they already had an idea of what was required to play this way.

I think the powers at be have did well with the JBA appointment, I know it’s early but I get a better vibe from him that he’s here for the long haul than I did with Wimmer. I liked Wimmer, he seemed a genuinely good guy but I’m not sure whether it was his grasp of English or demeanour but I never felt he looked that comfortable here.

JBA looks comfortable, he’s clearly got ambition to do well here, his teams play nice football, his English is phenomenally good, he talks up the support and overall I don’t see any negatives from him so far.
Would we have taken over 1000 fans to Perth yesterday under Kettlewell……. That’s a NO!!

[FirParkCornerExile]

18 minutes ago, mio said:

I think the powers at be have did well with the JBA appointment, I know it’s early but I get a better vibe from him that he’s here for the long haul than I did with Wimmer. I liked Wimmer, he seemed a genuinely good guy but I’m not sure whether it was his grasp of English or demeanour but I never felt he looked that comfortable here.

JBA looks comfortable, he’s clearly got ambition to do well here, his teams play nice football, his English is phenomenally good, he talks up the support and overall I don’t see any negatives from him so far.
Would we have taken over 1000 fans to Perth yesterday under Kettlewell……. That’s a NO!!

We'd have lost that game under SK. There is no way we'd have dominated possession like we did. when we have the ball its hard for them to score. something SK could never fathom out. 

[SteelmaninOZ]

Again? Ok

 

[weeyin]

5 hours ago, texanwellfan said:

Don’t think ref WS favoring Saints, just bad/inconsistent. Said and TJ coukd easily have been booked for persistent fouling. Then looked like pk right at the end but I also thought SOD incident should have been ok for us and certainly not a yellow for SOD. 

He was pretty poor for both teams. The camera work wasn't great on SOD's claim, but he's never been one for diving, so at worst it should have been a simple "no pen". 

The St Johnstone player was looking for the one at the end and fell over as soon as there was contact. Never a pen in my view - but with so many other poor decisions, would not have been surprised if it had been given.

[weeyin]

4 hours ago, santheman said:

Where's VAR when you need it.

Despite all the poor decisions yesterday, I enjoyed not having VAR.