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Semi Final


joe90
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Good evening ‘Well fans,

 

Believe it or not, some six hours after the full-time, I am only now able to sit down and speak directly to you about today’s match.

 

First and foremost, I would like to thank you all for your excellent support at Hampden today.

 

I was immensely proud of how the players performed and I hope you, as Motherwell fans, appreciated the effort and commitment of each and every individual out there in claret and amber.

 

Could I have asked any more of them? Well, with the possible exception of taking one or two of the chances we created in the match then I don’t think I could. Let’s not forget we have a very young side. Steven Saunders, Shaun Hutchinson, Tom Hateley, Chris Humphrey and Jamie Murphy are still young players but none of them froze. In fact, they thrived and that bodes well for the club in future seasons.

 

But today’s game is finished and we need to quickly put it behind us. Sure, we’ll take the positives, but our next game with Kilmarnock could be one of the biggest of the season. With Dundee Utd beating Hibs today, we’ve slipped out the top six, but a win on Wednesday could certainly put is back in amongst things in the race for fourth.

 

Before that, we have the end of the January transfer window. It’s no secret that we enquired about bringing David Healy to Fir Park. We weren’t able to compete with Rangers, and that’s fair enough. However, we are still very much keen to add to the team; particularly a striker and I will spend most of tomorrow trying to do just that.

 

We had about 5,000 people at the National Stadium today and there can be no doubt the vocal and positive backing gave the players a lift. If each of you who went to Hampden today could make it along to Fir Park on Wednesday night then I am certain it will give us that little bit of an extra edge. So, be it your family, friends, colleagues; whoever it may be - keep at them to come along to Fir Park, and together we can continue to make progress and hopefully return to Hampden again soon.

 

Forever claret and amber

 

Stuart McCall

Manager

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Some arsehole was sitting behind me shouting

 

"Haw hately has your da paid you to be pish and throw the game today?"

Now i dont care if you dont think he's a good player but basically saying the guy is no commited to Motherwell i find disguisting.

 

You could say he was shite and pish but dont say he's throwing the game cause him and his dad want Rangers to win

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Just recieved my Stuart McCall Direct email...

 

 

 

Good evening ‘Well fans,

 

Believe it or not, some six hours after the full-time, I am only now able to sit down and speak directly to you about today’s match.

 

First and foremost, I would like to thank you all for your excellent support at Hampden today.

 

I was immensely proud of how the players performed and I hope you, as Motherwell fans, appreciated the effort and commitment of each and every individual out there in claret and amber.

 

Could I have asked any more of them? Well, with the possible exception of taking one or two of the chances we created in the match then I don’t think I could. Let’s not forget we have a very young side. Steven Saunders, Shaun Hutchinson, Tom Hateley, Chris Humphrey and Jamie Murphy are still young players but none of them froze. In fact, they thrived and that bodes well for the club in future seasons.

 

But today’s game is finished and we need to quickly put it behind us. Sure, we’ll take the positives, but our next game with Kilmarnock could be one of the biggest of the season. With Dundee Utd beating Hibs today, we’ve slipped out the top six, but a win on Wednesday could certainly put is back in amongst things in the race for fourth.

 

Before that, we have the end of the January transfer window. It’s no secret that we enquired about bringing David Healy to Fir Park. We weren’t able to compete with Rangers, and that’s fair enough. However, we are still very much keen to add to the team; particularly a striker and I will spend most of tomorrow trying to do just that.

 

We had about 5,000 people at the National Stadium today and there can be no doubt the vocal and positive backing gave the players a lift. If each of you who went to Hampden today could make it along to Fir Park on Wednesday night then I am certain it will give us that little bit of an extra edge. So, be it your family, friends, colleagues; whoever it may be - keep at them to come along to Fir Park, and together we can continue to make progress and hopefully return to Hampden again soon.

 

Forever claret and amber

 

Stuart McCall

Manager

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Some arsehole was sitting behind me shouting

 

"Haw hately has your da paid you to be pish and throw the game today?"

Now i dont care if you dont think he's a good player but basically saying the guy is no commited to Motherwell i find disguisting.

 

You could say he was shite and pish but dont say he's throwing the game cause him and his dad want Rangers to win

 

Especially when Hately snr has gone on record saying he will support Motherwell as long as Tom plays there

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Especially when Hately snr has gone on record saying he will support Motherwell as long as Tom plays there

 

Aye i remember that,

 

Some fans can be a bit fucked up. I abuse players when they deserve it. i remember some boy tried to fight me at a home game because Michael Frasers last game for us against Dundee Utd basically gave away 3 goals but he derserved a bit of grief.

 

Saying Hately played pish if u think he did just because of who his dad is means nothing, and honestly if some fans think that they can tell me because i dont want to sit next to any fans who bring in the players integrity for playing for Motherwell

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Great day out for the 'Well. Sadly we didn't make it through but as I've said before, as long as we don't go out with a whimper or a scudding, I'll be happy.

 

Well I'm not happy, I'm fucking gutted tbh but I'm so proud to be a Motherwell fan tonight!

 

What a game and we could've got a result if we had that wee bittie extra!

 

Maybe the Scottish Cup has our name on it...

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Thought we played reasonably well yesterday and couldn't be faulted for effort. We played at something like 80% - 90% of our potential whereas Rangers played to something like 60% of theirs. Understandably Stuart McCall was anxious not to lose an early goal and we didn't although we gave Rangers far too much respect in the first half. Their first goal as a bit of a let down as our midfield retreated, exposed Randolph and allowed their lad to fire in a shot at goal. Their second goal was a bit of a disaster for Stephen Craigan, although we were stretched at the time.

 

Steve Jennings was rightly MOTM for his effort and industry in the middle of the park (wonder what the SFA will have made of that :ph34r: ). Thought Shaun Hutchinson too put in a good shift. Overall though our midfield lacked creativity an we needed a good box to box player. Again service to Murphy and Humphrey could have bene better but in fairness Murphy is not a left winger (or left back).

 

A typical Hampden semi final defeat for us - so near yet so far. Still we avoided a hammering and collected some cash in the process which is what most of us would have settled for at 5 to 3.

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Again service to Murphy and Humphrey could have bene better

 

Yeah but the fact that Humphrey was wander all over the shop ands out of position meant the midfield could't find him half the time.

 

At one point he was over by the north stand in amongst the Gers instead of over by us in the south in the acres of space there and the midfield had nothing to pass to.

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Rangers had all the game until they scored though they didn't create that many chances in that period. Edu on his bad foot from 30 yards - I'd have been inclined to let him hit it as well because most often it would have ended up in the stand. Sadly he burst the net with it. After that we came more and more into it though Rangers let us to a degree. We just lacked a bit of incisiveness in getting the position for the final ball and our overall speed was too slow as even if we were ahead of them their defence got back.

 

But when we scored you could feel the momentum switch happening. And what a good goal it was. A great run and some great grit and determination from Murphy and Sutton to prod the ball to the next man and keep possession and Lasley seemed to have a gap you could drive a bus through to hit and he did it beautifully. It was a much better goal on the telly than at the time as you could really appreciate the build up.

 

Rangers suddenly had to do something again and they did up it a bit and their wee bit extra quality told. Three times in a couple of minutes they picked out Jelavic on the left side of attack, first twice Hutchinson recovered for the team, third time he picked Naismith out beautifully and it was 2-1. The warnings were there for all to see and I think Saunders was just a wee bit aggressive in that period that gave him the space but that may have been a McCall decision so I'm not blaming him as such.

 

After that we went back to trying to create again as once more Rangers sat back. Saunders' header was never going in as the angle was such he would never have beaten a keeper from there and the real chance was Murphy's. Had he put his foot through that then you never know what might have happened - I guess Alexander was still favourite but he probably wouldn't have held it and then it was a lottery.

 

Overall our lot worked hard, tried their best and just came up a little short to a better team so I have no complaints and we certainly exceeded my low expectations.

 

I find it hard to blame the ref for the penalty he never gave us as it would have been soft and he should have given us a free kick at the end but there was a couple I thought he should have given them too.

 

But that was the best I've seen Motherwell play in weeks so if we can take that on to Kilmarnock and Stranraer only good things can happen.

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In my posts leading up to the game I let it be known that I was quite apathetic about the semi final and Motherwell in general. On Sunday morning though cup fever was beginning to take it's hold and by the time kick off arrived I was really up for it. I thought the players played really well and can be really proud of their efforts. A couple of mistakes here and there, but we all feared a gubbing before the game and look how the players rose to the occassion. Lasleys equaliser and the subsequent celebrations will live long in the memory.

 

I made the mistake of going with my dad into the slightly more expensive seats. Never again. Absolutely no atmosphere or singing in there, plus a couple of Rangers fans were sitting behind us who cheered when Rangers scored and that got my back up. They were told exactly how it is at the equliaser though!

 

The best we've played in weeks and it's now absolutely essential we take this effort into the league games.

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After that we went back to trying to create again as once more Rangers sat back. Saunders' header was never going in as the angle was such he would never have beaten a keeper from there

Disagree. It was almost the perfect header from that position (although back across the keeper would arguably have been better) -- hard, downwards and on target, and the ball had already made it most of the way through Alexander's legs before it came off his back foot and away. If Saunders did exactly the same another 10 times from that position I'd bet at least five of them would go in.

 

Murphy should certainly have done better, although as the replay shows he ended up having to dig it out from between his feet slightly -- came right at him rather than sitting up nicely in front of him.

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Happy with yesterday, played well and getting to go mental at Motherwell equaliser in a semi-final at Hampden can't be sniffed at! Thought we deserved to at least take it to extra time, but ach well. Can't fault the effort of the lads and thought we surpassed all expectations (which wasn't difficult)!

 

Also, a quick mention to the group of lads who are always behind the atmosphere at 'Well games. We purposely upped sticks and moved in with them, mainly because Marcos (one half of the Motherwell Armada) decided we were! But aye, they get a hard press on here at times, but if it wasn't for them then the Motherwell end would have been a fucking morgue for about 89 minutes yesterday.

 

Anyway, after yesterday I feel a good bit more confident about the rest of the season than I did on Friday.

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Disagree. It was almost the perfect header from that position (although back across the keeper would arguably have been better) -- hard, downwards and on target,

 

And it didn't go in. Which kind of makes my point. I don't think Saunders could have done much more with it and we were relying on luck taht it fell to one of the good guys to prod home and sadly it didn't. I was really just refuting the statement that that was 'the chance' that someone made earlier on in this thread or in one of the other ones.

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Thought we played excellent yesterday, and becuase of that I'm a wee bit more gutted than I am if we got properly humped! Aye, I would have been angrier, but to come so close and desrve something from the game and get nothing is a real downer. On another day Murphy would have buried one of his two chances (first minute and last minute), Alexander's backside wouldn't get in the way of Saunders header and Edu's left foot strike would have hit row Z. So basically, for me, we were unlucky, and that is always harder to swallow.

 

Thought McCall got everything spot on with the exception of maybe throwing another body upfront after Rangers took the lead again. The three man midfield was immense, especially Las and Jenno. Thought Hammell was top drawer yet again (player of the season so far for me!) and young Hutch put in another convincing display. Sutton won all of his headers and Murphy had flashed of brilliance in the link up play.

 

Few negativies (although minor ones) was mainly down the right-side. Thought Saunders looked a wee bit shakey at times and the Humph played liked a scared wean for 60-70mins afraid to run at Papac. He finally done it in the 2nd half and destroyed him for pace. Rangers even started doubling up on him the last 20mins and he still got by them with ease. Yes, his distrubution could/should be better, but if he played with a bit more balls for the 90mins he would have caused untold damage as it was clear from the last third of the game Papac had no anser to his pace.

 

Finally, Craigan. As much as I've been a huge fan of him and what he offers the team with experience, etc, yesterday was the begining of the end for me and I'd rather see Page/Saunders/Gunner play before him now. His distrubution was awful yesterday, even short passes to the midfield, he left Naismith for the goal and once to often he was getting pulled out of position. I think the work put in by Jenno, Las, Hutch and Hammell covered up for his frailties yesterday, but for the first time in ages watching a 'Well game, everytime he touched the ball I held my breath fearing the worst. He no longer installs confidence in me to get the job done, and I think its time this great servant to the club took a back step.

 

That all said, I don't want to finish on a negative. It is a team game after all, and as a whole I thought we were excellent yesterday and I hope we can carry this into our league form and Scottish cup form, and fingers crossed, we may get another we Hampden trip this year!

 

Moan the 'Well!!

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Oh, aye, and I think it's a compliment to how well we played that "The Mighty Glasgow Rangers" had 11 men behind the ball when we had possension, and 11 men in the box at corners....even before Edu scored! Even against us "diddy teams" Walter is ultra-negative beyond belief!!

Unfortunately this seems to be the standard 'approved' tactic for a lot of teams now :lol:

 

Can only assume this is passed on to the management teams when they have their coaching sessions at Largs

 

 

MON RA DOSSERS

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Great performance yesterday overall. However, I thought It was bad marking from Craigan for the second Rangers goal, should have been closer to Naismith. I'm willing to give McCall a chance, especially now that he has appointed an assistant.

 

Compared to previous managers (McGhee, Gannon, Brown etc) I actually much prefer how McCall comes across in interviews, and how enthusiastic he appears to be. Seemed genuinely gutted in his post match interview. His tactics were spot on yesterday, all we needed was some form of attacking flair and the match was ours. Hope he starts pulling some results out the bag.

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