Saints V Hamilton 4/1/15


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Good to see Hamilton haven't changed since the days of Billy Reid. Horrible, niggly but very effective side. We lost the plot yesterday, getting involved in running battles all over the pitch and not concentrating on our own game. They were very quick to close down so we had no time on the ball to play patient football. We didn't get in their face to force mistakes. It's hard to take any positives from yesterday though I do concede Ando and Frazer played quite well considering we were exposed down both flanks but especially the left.

 

I agree there are a few players that shouldn't have a future at Saints. McDonald is clearly one, useless is too kind for him but I also have major doubts over Caddis, Graham and Lappin (whose distribution is worse than Frazer Wright's).

 

I also wouldn't be devastated to see Croft move on if I thought we could get a replacement in.  Other than that the club are needing to look to the future of our defence as next year I don't see both Frazer and Mackay playing all the games.

 

All in all though, it's only a couple of bad performances on the back of a terrific run. It's quite clear we're not a top 5 side but I think we're better than the bottom 6. We'll see what the ambitions of the club are in the transfer window. Stick or twist!!!

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Although the ref hadn't a clue, I can't blame him for the result. McFadden's sending off came as a relief because he was knackered anyway. Graham looks like he could go the rest of the season without winning a header, never mind scoring. Lappin looked lost at LB. MacDonald wasn't worth his place. As for Croft, I might be mid 50s now but could beat him over 50m no problem at all. O'Halloran has pace a plenty but lacks the tactical nous to get into a good position despite the poor service he got - we need to put the ball into feet and through the channels when up against big strong CBs.

 

Hamilton were much the hungrier side. They play ugly, but they gel as a team, support each other, and grind out the wins. There is a lot we can learn from them. Major surgery needed to our team next year, we have to get rid of the old guard and blood some youth.

Edited by babychunder
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Although the ref hadn't a clue, I can't blame him for the result. McFadden's sending off came as a relief because he was knackered anyway. Graham looks like he could go the rest of the season without winning a header, never mind scoring. Lappin looked lost at LB. MacDonald wasn't worth his place. As for Croft, I might be mid 50s now but could beat him over 50m no problem at all. O'Halloran has pace a plenty but lacks the tactical nous to get into a good position despite the poor service he got - we need to put the ball into feet and through the channels when up against big strong CBs.

 

Hamilton were much the hungrier side. They play ugly, but they gel as a team, support each other, and grind out the wins. There is a lot we can learn from them. Major surgery needed to our team next year, we have to get rid of the old guard and blood some youth.

They are mainly young & fit as well.

 

I am afraid there is only one person responsible for the last 2 defeats Tommy Wright.Aberdeen game moving McKay to left back.

 

Hamilton game Lappin at left back & some crazy subs.

 

McFadden left on the field when at times I thought he was going to have a heart attack. The guy has been with us over 2 months & still doesn`t look any fitter than he was when he came here. Can`t fault the guy for effort but he doesn`t look like he is ever going to be fit.

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We  were poor today. Hamilton outplayed us & should've scored more. We hit the bar in the 1st half & their keeper blocked a shot from O'Halloran in the 2nd & that's about all we did. Too many high balls up the middle which Innes won easily. Graham & McFadden made little impact. McDonald was poor & I don't know why TW bothers putting Caddies on. Where's Scott Brown & is Muzz still injured. Someone said Muzz is out of contract in the 1st week of Jan & he hasn't been re-signed yet - is this correct? We're not allowed to put rumours on this site so I'm leaving it at that. The ref was awful.....a couple of guys were calling him Hugh Dallas's son but I'm assuming they were joking! The goal looked offside but there weren't any complaints from  our players so it was just awful defending. Perhaps the way Aberdeen outplayed us has knocked our confidence a bit. Certainly didn't look like the team that got a deserved win against United 8 days ago.

Although the ref was a joke the bit about him being Hughs son is not a joke....he is.

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I am afraid there is only one person responsible for the last 2 defeats Tommy Wright.Aberdeen game moving McKay to left back.

 

Hamilton game Lappin at left back & some crazy subs.

 

McFadden left on the field when at times I thought he was going to have a heart attack. The guy has been with us over 2 months & still doesn`t look any fitter than he was when he came here. Can`t fault the guy for effort but he doesn`t look like he is ever going to be fit.

 

 

Who would you have played at left-back, considering that Scobbie is clearly not fit enough to start yet? I totally disagree with your McFadden opinion as well.

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Who would you have played at left-back, considering that Scobbie is clearly not fit enough to start yet? I totally disagree with your McFadden opinion as well.

 

I wasn't at Aberdeen so don't know how it went but I would have played Gary Miller and moved Mackay across.

 

I think the problem with Lappin (or any midfielder) at left back is that, naturally, they don't know where they should be positioned. Not Lappin's fault btw.

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I wasn't at Aberdeen so don't know how it went but I would have played Gary Miller and moved Mackay across.

 

I think the problem with Lappin (or any midfielder) at left back is that, naturally, they don't know where they should be positioned. Not Lappin's fault btw.

Some of Lappin's (lack of) positioning was just common sense. I would accept that excuse for a young less experienced player. He should be able to adapt a little better.

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Some of Lappin's (lack of) positioning was just common sense. I would accept that excuse for a young less experienced player. He should be able to adapt a little better.

 

I agree, it was very poor but it's split second stuff. If your natural instinct is to do something (say, receive the ball and look for a forward pass) it doesn't come naturally to look for a runner, cover the centre half etc etc.

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Who would you have played at left-back, considering that Scobbie is clearly not fit enough to start yet? I totally disagree with your McFadden opinion as well.

The point i am making is we are paying big money to run a developement squad & by now we should be in a position to bring a young guy in in an emergency.

 

I remember about 4 or 5 years ago we brought in Caddis at right back when he was only 16/17 & did ok & you could see he had potential. Unfortunately that potential has been knocked out of him by lack of action or opportunity & I can`t see any future for him.

 

By the way,now that we do not have elite status is there any point in haveing all these teams as there does not seem to be much coming out of them.

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Cannot understand TW's decisions or tactics. At Abredeen it took us going a goal down before we played O'Halloran up with a striker. We played much better and pressed higher up the field in search of a goal. Had thought at home against Hamilton we would have been more adventurous and started with two attackers but no same stituation a goal down then we go for it with two up. It is very frustrating watching us play defencively. His decision to play Lappin at full back was strange and this cost us the goal and the game as he was caught out of position.

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Cannot understand TW's decisions or tactics. At Abredeen it took us going a goal down before we played O'Halloran up with a striker. We played much better and pressed higher up the field in search of a goal. Had thought at home against Hamilton we would have been more adventurous and started with two attackers but no same stituation a goal down then we go for it with two up. It is very frustrating watching us play defencively. His decision to play Lappin at full back was strange and this cost us the goal and the game as he was caught out of position.

 

 

Why? was no surprise to me!At Aberdeen we were weekended on the Right with Miller at RB and lost something on the left as well, i thought i was crying out to move Lappin to LB and move Dave back toRB So it was no shock that we tried it versus Hamilton, all be it failing. 

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Cannot understand TW's decisions or tactics. At Abredeen it took us going a goal down before we played O'Halloran up with a striker. We played much better and pressed higher up the field in search of a goal. Had thought at home against Hamilton we would have been more adventurous and started with two attackers but no same stituation a goal down then we go for it with two up. It is very frustrating watching us play defencively. His decision to play Lappin at full back was strange and this cost us the goal and the game as he was caught out of position.

Have given Lappin a bit of stick on here but I don`t think he was at fault for the goal as he was covering the wee weegie cheat. Big Fraz should have covered the 22.

Edited by Cagey
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Can't believe the amount of stick McFadden is getting. People keep going on about his lack of match fitness. What are people expecting? That all of a sudden he's going to develop pace? He hardly had any to begin with. He's never going to be fast. It's not even like he's looking tired in games. He does a reasonable amount of running, shows good feet and ability on the ball and even when we're playing mince looks as though he could do something. At least on Sunday he showed (misplaced) desire, unlike a fair few in the squad who did nothing.

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Why? was no surprise to me!At Aberdeen we were weekended on the Right with Miller at RB and lost something on the left as well, i thought i was crying out to move Lappin to LB and move Dave back toRB So it was no shock that we tried it versus Hamilton, all be it failing. 

 

Yup. I was delighted he moved Lappin to LB before the game as I'd heard that Lappin could play there. I also heard Lappin was a good footballer before he came here and that he was a regular in the English Championship. Not sure where he got such a reputation from!

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I recon the thinking of playing Lappin at full back was about going forward more so than going defensively. 

 

TW may well of been thinking surely we would have some possession against Hamilton and Lappin would offer more outwide attacking wise than Miller would.

 

Although evidently didn't work.  

 

 

This would of been a game Muzz would of thrived in. A Midfield battle!

Edited by PerthSeany
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After the great start we had to the festive run of fixtures with two great wins either side of Christmas against Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Dundee United, the start to 2015 hasn’t been what we would have wanted.

We can hold our hands up and say that we didn’t perform at all against Aberdeen and were perhaps fortunate to come away with only a 2-0 defeat, thanks mainly to a great goalkeeping performance from Alan Mannus.

We didn’t start yesterday’s game against Hamilton particularly well, despite hitting the bar through Michael O’Halloran. Ironically, when Hamilton scored it was at a period in the game when we had come back into it but we should have done much better in terms of stopping the cross and dealing with the ball in the box.

I thought in the second half we played with a much better tempo and applied more pressure, but from open play we carved out far too few scoring opportunities and our best chance of scoring always looked to be from set pieces.

I thought we were on the ascendancy when James McFadden was sent off and having watched it, by the letter of the law, you can see why the referee has given two yellows. However, I didn’t think James got much protection during the game, committed only two fouls with the second one being borne out of sheer frustration, having clearly been fouled himself.

So, it’s not been an ideal start to the New Year but we are still in a good, healthy position in the league although had we got a win against Accies the three points would have put us right in the mix with them and Caley Thistle.

We have no game this week so we will use the time to give players who need a rest some time off along with those who have been carrying knocks. Those players who haven’t been featuring will be worked hard to ensure that come the Partick Thistle game the whole squad is ready to go again.

Thank you for your support

Tommy Wright

Manager St Johnstone FC

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Half-time shooty in [new format ]...LAUGH OUT LOUD what a brilliant idea to have two players running and shooting at one goalie ...the poor goalie didn't know if it was new year or New York  at one stage he was trying to save the 2nd shot whilst still holding the ball from the first shot...priceless LAUGH OUT LOUD.  Saints should patent this and roll it out across Scotland ?

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