League Cup Semi Motherwell v St Mirren 1/11/2025

[robsterwood]

49 minutes ago, grizzlyg said:

Saw good clip on Facebook from ex well player Simon Ramsden.  The Love the guy still has for club is immense.  He was up for game with his mates.

Clip of him in stadium talking about love for club then he attempts to start a sing song,  jeez tough crowd he had as not a lot of enthusiasm joining in .

I now know what it would be like for me if I ever tried a stand up gig at the Centenary Suite 🤣🤣

I spoke to him outside at the 2018 s cup final , the 2 nil defeat. final and yes he's passionate about the club. Pity his mates have seen us loose a few big cup matches. Think he's trying to encourage them to be fans. 

[stv]

11 hours ago, Richie said:

The problem is its an uphill task and the whole event is weighted against St Mirren.

From Celtic having their own end and dressing room at an apparently neutral statium.

You will probably also see comments in the press from Celtic spokespersons about St Mirren's approach in the lead up, trying to put the refs under pressure. Maybe less so now Rodgers is away, but its all in the play-book.

We've seen this all first hand against us.

And the rumour that Celik are after Saints best player(who has always been a bhoys fan) for buttons . Still to come.

[mio]

I don’t want to discuss St Midden any longer or any more than I have to but did you see the prices for the final? £46 for an adult!! £28 for a concession!! Fk me….. get it right up them!!!

joking aside….. that is utterly scandalous 

[joewarkfanclub]

33 minutes ago, mio said:

I don’t want to discuss St Midden any longer or any more than I have to but did you see the prices for the final? £46 for an adult!! £28 for a concession!! Fk me….. get it right up them!!!

joking aside….. that is utterly scandalous 

Even the cheaper tickets are £40 & £25 which is a significant jump from the semi finals (£30 & £15).

Mum, Dad & 2 kids £40 more expensive.

Pretty brutal.....

[mio]

They’ve only been given 2 sections of the main stand and 2 behind the goals and 9500. They say it may be increased but I don’t see how as Celtic will snap all them up. 
Anyway not our problem as we shat the bed on Saturday but as a sign of things to come, families are being totally shafted and priced out the game. 

[thewelllfan]

On 11/3/2025 at 3:30 PM, Wee Alpha said:

Hate to say it but a certain Bevis Mugabe would have won a lot of headers from the goalies kicks and handled the physical threat too. Granted the footwork would be hit and miss but his airiel abilities would have come in handy.

Bevis Mugabi in our current system would be absolutley chronic. He was decent for us don't get me wrong but he's got to be one of the worst Cbs i've ever seen when in possesion of the ball, like way worse than Gordon who we've all slaughtered for his performance on saturday.

[grizzlyg]

13 minutes ago, thewelllfan said:

Bevis Mugabi in our current system would be absolutley chronic. He was decent for us don't get me wrong but he's got to be one of the worst Cbs i've ever seen when in possesion of the ball, like way worse than Gordon who we've all slaughtered for his performance yesterday.

Yep I agree,  big Bevis great at clearing headers but the prospect of both him and Ward together trying to pass the ball would be too much for me to cope with

[stv]

15 minutes ago, grizzlyg said:

Yep I agree,  big Bevis great at clearing headers but the prospect of both him and Ward together trying to pass the ball would be too much for me to cope with

Right . To me , to you ,to me , to you. You to me, me to you.

Chuckle, Chuckle 😃 

[grizzlyg]

23 minutes ago, stv said:

Right . To me , to you ,to me , to you. You to me, me to you.

Chuckle, Chuckle 😃 

Feck it, let's chuck in Zak Jules as well 

[Yabba's Turd]

Jens admitted he should have started Welsh, that his decision to go with experience and height was wrong, Steph reminded him he'd played at Hampden 5 times

[Kmcalpin]

Welsh is 6-3, if  I'm correct. Taken at face value, he would have provided height, experience and ability on the ball. 

[wellfan]

Dwelling on the result won’t do us any good unless we actually learn from it and start showing it in how we set up and how we play from here on.

Most of us can agree that JBA got this badly wrong, a few players just didn’t turn up, and we were outfought and outthought all over the park.

Looking ahead, there’ll likely be a fair bit of movement in January. And while we’re used to getting decent cup runs, actually turning them into something meaningful hasn’t been happening. So the focus now has to be on making real progress in the league and putting together a proper push for top six.

[texanwellfan]

January window keeps getting mentioned but I’m not so sure it’s going to help that much. Would be great if I’m wrong but I suppose we’ll find out fairly soon. 
 

[stv]

6 hours ago, texanwellfan said:

January window keeps getting mentioned but I’m not so sure it’s going to help that much. Would be great if I’m wrong but I suppose we’ll find out fairly soon. 
 

It will help a hell of a lot if we sign a competent striker 

[well_said]

I might be wrong but do the scandanavian countries seasons not finish at the end of the year  meaning there could be some out of contract players available . This will be a market  that the manager will know quite well.

[texanwellfan]

12 minutes ago, stv said:

It will help a hell of a lot if we sign a competent striker 

No argument there but will one be available that we can get? Although, if Wellsaid is correct, then perhaps. 

[Yabba's Turd]

8 hours ago, stv said:

It will help a hell of a lot if we sign a competent striker 

Hendry's goal is how I thought we would score the majority of our goals this season, finished with a tap in almost, something is just off with us, if we can get in behind the way we did against midden there's hope.

[joewarkfanclub]

16 hours ago, Yabba's Turd said:

Hendry's goal is how I thought we would score the majority of our goals this season, finished with a tap in almost, something is just off with us, if we can get in behind the way we did against midden there's hope.

It was the kinda ball that Stama must have been dreaming of all season.

We just dont deliver enough of them.

Hendry and Stama seem like similar types of striker to me, albeit Hendry seems a bit handier with the physical side of the game. 

We could do with something different in January. Something Theo Bair shaped......

 

[Yabba's Turd]

4 minutes ago, joewarkfanclub said:

It was the kinda ball that Stama must have been dreaming of all season.

We just dont deliver enough of them.

Hendry and Stama seem like similar types of striker to me, albeit Hendry seems a bit handier with the physical side of the game. 

We could do with something different in January. Something Theo Bair shaped......

 

All these total football moves from under 8s up are mostly finished with someone on the end of an easy chance, probably been our downfall that we are unable to execute that phase regularly or teams know to let us play then shut down those channels, I just don't think we're dynamic enough yet.

[wellfan]

9 hours ago, joewarkfanclub said:

It was the kinda ball that Stama must have been dreaming of all season.

We just dont deliver enough of them.

Hendry and Stama seem like similar types of striker to me, albeit Hendry seems a bit handier with the physical side of the game. 

We could do with something different in January. Something Theo Bair shaped......

The issue with our current style is that it too often slips into slow, sideways pish, like driving from Glasgow to Edinburgh via Inverness and then sticking it in reverse. We need to be more direct and move the ball quicker through the back line and midfield. Otherwise, we’re just keeping the ball for the sake of it in safe areas.

And that’s the point. It doesn’t matter if it’s a front two, Stama and Hendry, or a Bair regen up top on his own. None of them will get the service if the build-up is that slow.

I’m not saying JBA needs to rip up the game plan. The style itself is fine when it’s played with tempo and intent, which we didn’t see against St Mirren. The question is whether we have the players to sustain it across a season, especially against teams who are happy to sit in a low block and wait for us to make the inevitable mistake or just outmuscle us, or whether the current lot just completely shat the bed on the day. Or both.

[texanwellfan]

4 hours ago, wellfan said:

The issue with our current style is that it too often slips into slow, sideways pish, like driving from Glasgow to Edinburgh via Inverness and then sticking it in reverse. We need to be more direct and move the ball quicker through the back line and midfield. Otherwise, we’re just keeping the ball for the sake of it in safe areas.

And that’s the point. It doesn’t matter if it’s a front two, Stama and Hendry, or a Bair regen up top on his own. None of them will get the service if the build-up is that slow.

I’m not saying JBA needs to rip up the game plan. The style itself is fine when it’s played with tempo and intent, which we didn’t see against St Mirren. The question is whether we have the players to sustain it across a season, especially against teams who are happy to sit in a low block and wait for us to make the inevitable mistake or just outmuscle us, or whether the current lot just completely shat the bed on the day. Or both.

You do have a valid point and it may be that the learning curve for that is a bit longer, to find that balance between being patient and retaining possession versus taking the risk in the final third. Having said that we have scored several goals where we have transitioned quickly from defense onto attack and scored. Dundee Utd game  being a prime example with the two goals we scored. Also, I do think we have seen us start to use longer passes more often but not with big success rate. To your general point though, we do have to find the killer/penetrating pass more often. Is that due to lack of movement up front or midfield slow to see opportunities or deciding not to risk loosing possession?  Hopefully we will continue to improve in areas as required to help us win more games. 

[wellon]

15 hours ago, joewarkfanclub said:

It was the kinda ball that Stama must have been dreaming of all season.

We just dont deliver enough of them.

Hendry and Stama seem like similar types of striker to me, albeit Hendry seems a bit handier with the physical side of the game. 

We could do with something different in January. Something Theo Bair shaped......

 

Disagree, there's been plenty cutbacks and stam hasn't been there.

[wellfan]

2 hours ago, texanwellfan said:

To your general point though, we do have to find the killer/penetrating pass more often. Is that due to lack of movement up front or midfield slow to see opportunities or deciding not to risk loosing possession?

True. Our final ball is often lacking but that’s also because the man up top isn’t making the right moves or creating space. 

[Kmcalpin]

7 hours ago, wellfan said:

The issue with our current style is that it too often slips into slow, sideways pish, like driving from Glasgow to Edinburgh via Inverness and then sticking it in reverse. We need to be more direct and move the ball quicker through the back line and midfield. Otherwise, we’re just keeping the ball for the sake of it in safe areas.

And that’s the point. It doesn’t matter if it’s a front two, Stama and Hendry, or a Bair regen up top on his own. None of them will get the service if the build-up is that slow.

I’m not saying JBA needs to rip up the game plan. The style itself is fine when it’s played with tempo and intent, which we didn’t see against St Mirren. The question is whether we have the players to sustain it across a season, especially against teams who are happy to sit in a low block and wait for us to make the inevitable mistake or just outmuscle us, or whether the current lot just completely shat the bed on the day. Or both.

Good post that echoes my own thoughts. A slow build up has been a feature of several games now; none moreso than against Falkirk and St Mirren. Typically, when opposition mount an attack, which breaks down, we start a counter attack as they race back but dither on the ball and in doing so miss that quick killer pass to the likes of Just, Manwhanise or Said who are racing into space. By the time they receive it, they are covered by 2 men. The ball is then recycled back and walking football is resumed.   

As you say, its not a bad game plan but isn't being executed properly.  Will it ever be? Who knows.