FK Trakai (H) - Europa League Round 1 - 29/06/17


Abernethy Saint
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I agree. I think Chris Millar is perfect for European football as he keeps the ball, comes and gets it off the back 4 and builds play. There's always the injury worry but if he's declared fit then use him in these matches.

Paton just too slow, he had a good season for us last year and will have his moments this coming season I'm sure, but it was so obvious at HT that their coaching staff had spotted how long it takes him between first touch and playing a pass.. they picked his pocket constantly in that second half while he was on, and I was surprised he lasted as long as he did.

Now we know what we're up against, have a competitive game under our belts and I think the players will be hurting as very few got pass marks tonight.  I'm not saying we'll go through but I think we're capable of beating them over there if we can go back to being organised and solid at the back, with that wee bit of creativity from Scougall from the start playing off Kane...

Your summing up of Paton was spot on.

He gets the ball in the clear, yet takes a step back to angle his body in the direction he intends to kick the ball and by that time he is relieved of the ball.

Don't remember him committing a foul tackle all night, as he was too slow to get anywhere near the opposition. 

Thought Tommy would have seen that a lot EARLIER and subbed him.

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The look of shock on the Trakai players when they got the ball in our half early on and had acres of space to run into and unmarked players to pass to was incredible. 
 

 

 

Considering Tommy sent Clelland out to watch this lot, his shape and midfield selection was a bit baffling.

I still have (slim) hopes for the second leg. Play Scougall (as a no.10) Alston and Thomson wide, with Midge feeding them 

 

Totally agree with this. I think the Trakai players will be sitting in their hotel room tonight thinking how easy an evening that was... They cruised it..

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Terrible performance, especially in Midfield.

Alston - Useless

Spoony - Little to no impact

Zippy - Little to no impact

Paton, Muzz, Craig - lacked creativity and often made silly mistakes.

 

The only way we'll beat them as if we match them technically.

So for next week I'd suggest starting Scougall (who was brilliant tonight), Millar, Thomson and Kano.

 

If I could sum up tonight, it would be this sentence I heard mid-game: "Only Saints would play long ball against Tiki Taka"

 

It was almost as if Muzz wasn't even there.

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I hope someone hid the shoe laces of a few posters last night - no wonder they were handing out Samaritans leaflets at the end.

There is a difference between shit players and players lacking match fitness - a lot of those guys really looked like they had taken four months off not 19 days. Foster had a stinker but you know fine well he will get back to the level of last season. 

Tommy does have to take responsibility - Millar should have been on from the start and it is telling that a guy on for 30 minutes was by far the best player on the pitch. At least he made the correct subs on the first two - just took him longer than it should have.

Their number 11 was good but nothing to wet pants over and I can't believe Saints fans applauded him off the park! 

We never made them work for that victory and that is ultimately disappointing. If we can score in the first half next week it is game on but I can see them just sitting comfortably passing it around.

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That was a piss poor showing from the players and the manager.

They were more comfortable on the ball in general but we should still have had more than enough quality to win comfortably.

We can throw in excuses and moan about the fact that Cummins and Alston missed their obligatory sitters but we've all seen that level of performance from Saints too many times too be truly surprised. 

What frustrated me the most was that we fell into the same trap again. Whenever a team is on top of us Macca starts dropping deeper and deeper or drifting wide or taking quick throw in an effort to "fix" things. However he's not got the legs to then get back in the box where we need him to be considering that he's our best finisher by a country mile.

We'll win one nil over there.

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Paton should never have started, he was an utter cart horse every minute he played. The fact that we improved greatly when Miller replaced him showed he should have been playing from the start, even if he could only manage 60 minutes it would have been an entirely different game.

Another thing that a lot of haters will jump on is the fact that had we managed to get MOH on loan or whatever, with his pace and their full backs he would have destroyed them! Even pre purple patch MOH.

Oh and another thing Tommy, WE NEED A ****ING STRIKER!!!!!!!!!

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Tonight's team prediction:

                               Clark

Foster         Joe              Gilchrist          Easton

Spoony       Alston          Paton              Craig

                Macca           Cummins

Wow, absolutely delighted I got that right.....!!  

Spectacular fail from TW with that line-up last night.   the complete lack of pace across the pitch worried me before kick-off, turns out the complete lack of ability to control the ball and make a pass was of far greater concern.

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Lets all calm down. We are not out yet although its going to be a huge task to score twice over there especially with Mclean not playing and Cummings, clear to everyone apart from TW, definitely not a footballer. He is a waste of a strip. His miss near the end was nothing short of shocking. I agree that Kane has to step up and be counted this year and he must be given the chance next week. If we get the first goal the tie will swing back in our favour especially if we really get in their faces. Keep the faith!!!!

 

 

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I thought too many players failed to provide any kind of performance. They looked far more rusty then their limited time off would suggest.

It's never nice to single out players, but I simply don't understand what Cummins brings to the team.You can talk all day about his running and hold up play, but far too often he is half a yard short on the end of a pass or fluffs it in front of goal. He's a million miles away from the kind of performance we saw from him in his first season. He also falls over with the slightest breeze.

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Positives from last night.

1 - They're not that good. Especially defensively. We should really be able to create plenty changes over there.

2 - Millar again showing how much he can bring to the team. Really hope he manages to have a semi injury free season. Huge player for us.

3 - Scougall looks like a baller. Drive, creativity, directness. 

4 - We can't play any worse. 

On the basis of their performance last night, I see no reason why we can't overturn the deficit. On the basis of ours I can, but surely we will improve markedly over there. The worry is their formidable home record. 

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Kudos to the Lithuanians btw. Very little cynical tackling, and the goalie apart, very little time wasting. They appeared to want to play football. Pity we didn't.  The wee black guy - Dory? - was a pleasure to watch and will get a big move. I thought him being applauded off showed the class of the Saints fans.

Cant believe how much space their lanky winger got. He destroyed us early on, despite, amazingly, never having being taught how to take a throw in. Never seen three foul throws in one game before. Never seen two balls on the pitch so often, either.

We can't play that bad again, surely, and a couple of players aside, they are pretty piss poor. But I agree with Rik, it is the Saints way to win 1-0 and go out on away goals. 

Raging really. A whole season praying for a 1-1 draw with feckin Kilmarnock or whoever to get nearer to European football, and then that. First time I ever bood Saints off the park, feel a bit ashamed, but hey, that was shit.

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Still in shock about this to be honest. I was worried about them before the game and always thought there was a danger of under-estimating them, but they were significantly better than I thought they'd be. Their technique, their pace, their sharpness, and Dorley in particular (can't believe that guy's only 18 and can play like that) - all added up to a team significantly better than the average standard Saints come up against in a domestic season. To me they looked better than either Aberdeen or Sevco did when I watched us play against them last season. For Saints to face a team like that, at a point where they're halfway through their season and flying high, and we've had to scrabble around for closed-door friendlies as most other teams are still on their holidays, is an incredibly difficult challenge. Saints might be the seeded team, but Trakai's standard was a real eye-opener. I'm seeing a lot of stuff online this morning about it being an embarrassment to Scottish football and all the rest of that nonsense, but we played against a bloody good team and I think that's a hard thing for Scottish fans to accept.

I do think, though, that Tommy made mistakes and I don't understand not starting Scougall. He looked sharp and inventive when he came on, and gave me a lot of hope for the season ahead. Even better, though, was Millar, who controlled the midfield and played with a purpose and understanding of the task that had sadly been lacking from Alston and Paton. Given Millar's experience of playing in European matches, I think it's a shame he didn't start.

I agree with others that we desperately need a new option up front - someone with pace and creativity. If we could bring in Dorley that would be an absolute dream but I doubt he's reachable for us. Macca gave it bloody everything as usual, and I thought he looked really fit, but he's going to be 35 this year, can't play on some pitches (including Trakai's, where we really, really need him), and he's not going to go on forever. Cummins was disappointing again last night, doesn't seem to have ever been able to re-capture his pre-injury form, and I wouldn't have started him last night. That puts a lot of pressure on Kane's shoulders (why wasn't he brought on earlier??) but I have real doubts over whether he's up to it.

As for the defence - playing such a hugely inexperienced centre-half was always going to be a big risk and to me we're already paying the price for not hanging onto Scobbie, who was versatile, experienced and reliable and would certainly have started last night.

Haven't entirely given up hope of us getting through but it's going to require either a big collapse from them or a huge improvement from ourselves - probably a combination of both. Still, keep the faith and all that.

 

 

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The wee black guy - Dory? - was a pleasure to watch and will get a big move. I thought him being applauded off showed the class of the Saints fans.

I may be the only person to say this but I really didn't see what the fuss was about... Easton had an absolute nuke!! He was awful and miles off the pace and was also carrying a knock for the last 30mins. We made 2 or 3 of their players look good by giving acres of space.. Football becomes a whole lot easier when you are give so much space and time to relax, take a touch, take another touch, and the pick a pass to another colleague who is also in acres of space..

Balls out of the bath, Dorley won't ever play at Scottish Premier League level or equivalent for any sustained period of time. We made him look considerable better than he is.

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Totally gutted with that result. There's no doubt in my mind that having momentum and sharpness that comes from being well into your league campaign played a massive part in their win.  

It's easy to focus on Paton and Cummins as the worst culprits but what's happened to Wotherspoon?  He rarely takes his man on  and his crosses have been awful for ages now.  Easton also looked absolutely knackered and got caught out of position on a few occasions.  

As others have said at least the games not dead and buried like it very easily could have been.

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Best bit of creative thinking last night was the "Jesus Saves" postcard which with the map of Saints' European travels on one side ensured it was not thrown away within seconds.

I'm afraid, however, that to "Jesus Saves" I would add "and Cummins misses the open goal from the rebound".

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I may be the only person to say this but I really didn't see what the fuss was about... Easton had an absolute nuke!! He was awful and miles off the pace and was also carrying a knock for the last 30mins. We made 2 or 3 of their players look good by giving acres of space.. Football becomes a whole lot easier when you are give so much space and time to relax, take a touch, take another touch, and the pick a pass to another colleague who is also in acres of space..

Balls out of the bath, Dorley won't ever play at Scottish Premier League level or equivalent for any sustained period of time. We made him look considerable better than he is.

I think he's one of those players you learn much more about by watching him when he hasn't got the ball. His movement, anticipation and pace were superb. It was no accident he kept popping up right where he needed to. A lot of it is youthful enthusiasm of course, but Saints could do worse than make enquiries - chances are he's under the radar at the moment.

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I think he's one of those players you learn much more about by watching him when he hasn't got the ball. His movement, anticipation and pace were superb. It was no accident he kept popping up right where he needed to. A lot of it is youthful enthusiasm of course, but Saints could do worse than make enquiries - chances are he's under the radar at the moment.

His name is MURPHY Dorley so Tommy may have a connection but he is 18 & there is no way Tommy will play him until he is in his 20s.

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I may be the only person to say this but I really didn't see what the fuss was about... Easton had an absolute nuke!! He was awful and miles off the pace and was also carrying a knock for the last 30mins. We made 2 or 3 of their players look good by giving acres of space.. Football becomes a whole lot easier when you are give so much space and time to relax, take a touch, take another touch, and the pick a pass to another colleague who is also in acres of space..

Balls out of the bath, Dorley won't ever play at Scottish Premier League level or equivalent for any sustained period of time. We made him look considerable better than he is.

He's 18. How often do you see a Scottish player produce a performance like that at 18? To put that into perspective he's four years younger than Craig Thomson and Chris Kane. If we had an 18 year old in our first team playing to that standard we'd all be raving about him and Steve Brown would be rubbing his hands in anticipation of the transfer fee.

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Trakai were better than us and deserved to win the game. It's as simple as that. Their players are able to control the ball with their first touch which is something Saints and Scottish players in general struggle with. Dorley was a  class above anything we had to offer despite what some on here are claiming. 

Most on here felt they would sit back but they did the opposite,  even leaving 3 up when we had a corner.

Positives were the performances of Scougall and Midge when they came on.

We have to improve massively next week. 

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Headless chickens spring to mind only Joe got any marks from the starting eleven, hoping for a miracle over there. Just been speaking to two of there players in the South Street think they were surprised saints made it so easy for them.

It's true they were in south street getting murrays pies ,just in time before the shop shuts for the perth fortnight.

nice tae meet ye chief .

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I think he's one of those players you learn much more about by watching him when he hasn't got the ball. His movement, anticipation and pace were superb. It was no accident he kept popping up right where he needed to. A lot of it is youthful enthusiasm of course, but Saints could do worse than make enquiries - chances are he's under the radar at the moment.

Looking at the leagues transfers, Polish and Portuguese teams seem to sign a couple of players from there every season. He'll be "on the radar" at a few clubs richer than us. 

Biggest question is why an 18 Liberian with no coaching is so far ahead of our entire team technically? Perhaps, the answer is in the question. 

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