Saints v Motherwell 13/5/23

[Aitchy]

40 minutes ago, HOODLUM65 said:

What was wrong with Drey Wright today?

Wasn't fully fit/couldn't give a shit/or some other reason.

Was the poorest he's been for a long while.

Agreed. He looked miles off it. Not helped by seemingly being told to play as an almost centre forward in the first half.

Once again Philips and MacPherson were ineffective. Over the years a major part of our success has been having a strong midfield. Think Sheerin, Dasovic, Kane, Morris, Craig, McCann and Davidson. Both have decent attributes, but neither are able to dominate a game in the manner that the previous mentioned could manage. Really need both to step up in the next three games.

I felt Maccas managerial inexperience showed today. There is no doubt that he has made a difference and it looks like the players have bought into his methods, but just throwing on strikers with what appeared to be a real lack of tactical direction was a worry. 

I’m really worried about us now. Struggling to see us doing anything at Killie next week and then a midweek trip to Dingwall will not be easy. Last game against Livi will be massive. 

[Cagey]

46 minutes ago, HOODLUM65 said:

What was wrong with Drey Wright today?

Wasn't fully fit/couldn't give a shit/or some other reason.

Was the poorest he's been for a long while.

For some reason he was in the centre of the park in the first half but was out wide in second half but was even less effective.

Most of our problems are two midfielders that want to put opponents on their arse or or play killer 40 yard diagonals rather than play simple forward passes.

Plus a striker thats never in the penalty area.

In the warm ups they were trying routine's with 3 players arriving in the box to crosses but even against no defenders they were still not scoring.

[Cagey]

My concern is I can't see where the goals are going to come from.

United have goals in them plus a seasoned striker , as do Killie and County , If we are lucky enough to make the play offs , so do Partick and Ayr.

[saintee in exile]

I'm afraid the legacy of CD is going to haunt us for a good while yet.He left such a shite selection of players any manager would struggle to get results never mind a rooky manager like SM,who incidentally is reminding me more of Stan Laurel with each coming day.....that's another fine mess you got me into

[Cleveland-Saint]

5 hours ago, SlickDT said:

Every single one of our subs made us poorer. The quality just isn't there. McLennan is a dire footballer. He wouldn't be on the pitch again in a Saints shirt if I was in charge. 

Ive been done with McLennan since his first game, he adds nothing and easy to defend against. Even though Kane had a few minutes, I saw a wee bit of his old in it, maybe him/may up front could keep us up....but beginning to feel this could be it for us.

[saintee in exile]

Calum Hendry kept us up last year.Without his goals we would have been down for sure.Like you say where are the match winners in the squad,there isn't any!

[Saint Stevo]

4 hours ago, The Kinross Saint said:

We’ll be lucky to avoid the play off spot. What an absolutely embarrassing collection of mediocre footballers this team is.

Macca is not the answer, his response to today’s situation was so poor, throwing attackers on with no direction like Davidson. 

Considine makes yet another mistake, he’s done and Gordon is just another nothing player that adds nothing to the team.

The clamour to claim MacPherson is anything other than garbage is embarrassing, him and Carey destroy so many set plays with their shite delivery. The standards at this club have slipped drastically.

Phillips once again barely looked interested, loose passes and he’s lost his dig in tackles since the St Mirren red.

And then there’s Theo Bair, utter garbage, this faux support is embarrassing, he’s not a footballer, directly at fault for the second motherwell goal.

What a sad state of affairs this club has found itself in. Can anyone hand on heart say they would be sad to lose one of the current squad?

Agree with this. I wouldn't miss any of the starting 11 from today. 

MacPherson was miles off it and his set pieces are getting worse by the game. Carey playing centre mid just does not work. Although nothing does with him, he's hopeless. 

Considine is done. 

Mad to think we had Stevie playing as a number 10 behind a front 3 of Bair, Rudden and MacLennan at one point. Holy sh*t. 

The squad is a mess. Complete overhaul required and a new, fresh manager needed. 

[Gekko]

I'm still amazed that Tommy Wright sits at home doing nothing while we have to endure this garbage.

MacLean might be a good manager one day, but putting him in this kind of quagmire straight away is unfair on him, us and the club.

He needs a year or two further down the leagues to earn his stripes.

His "throw all the strikers on" attitude against Motherwell was alarming.

Stevie May needs a striking partner. MacLean of all people should know that since he was once that very person.

When May is not in a two he spends too much time tracking back and chasing the ball. He was effective ten years ago out wide on the left and cutting back in on his right where he could shoot or cross/pass into the box.

Why the manager can't opt for the simple, effective and suited to our squad 4-4-2 formation is beyond me.

MacLean's mindset is far better and positive than Davidson's but I feel he doesn't have the experience to back it up.

That's why teams like Crystal Palace get Hodgson, Huddersfield get Warnock and Leeds get Allardyce. They're old hands and they've done it before.

We should have gotten Tommy in the two week break and his experience and connection with the club would have served us well.

As for this squad, well, imagine a match between this lot and the cup winning side of 2014. Who'd you think would win?...

[dave mc]

4 hours ago, Aitchy said:

Agreed. He looked miles off it. Not helped by seemingly being told to play as an almost centre forward in the first half.

Once again Philips and MacPherson were ineffective. Over the years a major part of our success has been having a strong midfield. Think Sheerin, Dasovic, Kane, Morris, Craig, McCann and Davidson. Both have decent attributes, but neither are able to dominate a game in the manner that the previous mentioned could manage. Really need both to step up in the next three games.

I felt Maccas managerial inexperience showed today. There is no doubt that he has made a difference and it looks like the players have bought into his methods, but just throwing on strikers with what appeared to be a real lack of tactical direction was a worry. 

I’m really worried about us now. Struggling to see us doing anything at Killie next week and then a midweek trip to Dingwall will not be easy. Last game against Livi will be massive. 

Said to you today Aitchy,before the game,felt slightly more confident, after that,it’s CD light, hoping we stay up,but need new thoughts in charge,Macca not the answer imo 

[Gas Monkey]

I have the real fear now that our fate is actually the play offs. Back to back county wins have really changed the picture dramatically. People say we only need one more win, might be the case but where is that coming from? Almost certainly not the next two….

[sixties saintee]

Cant see us scoring in the next 3 games,never mind winning.

Need a complete clearout, still say we should get Robbie Neilson in.

[Mizfit]

12 minutes ago, sixties saintee said:

Cant see us scoring in the next 3 games,never mind winning.

Need a complete clearout, still say we should get Robbie Neilson in.

Robbie Neilson is just the exact same that Callum was. Square pegs round holes. It would be just the exact same all over again. 

[blueheaven]

So go back to the Hibs game and we were piling the pressure on against 10 men and pumping loads of crosses into a box that had no one in it, and yet Macca chose not to bring a striker on. Yesterday we were struggling to get any supply of the ball into the box at all, and yet his solution was to go with Rudden, Bair and May all on the pitch at the same time. Three strikers on the pitch but seemingly no plan at all for actually getting the ball into the box for them. I just don't get it. I think we've been starting games fairly well under Macca but for me that's three games out of three where he's got his in-game decisions completely wrong and arguably made us worse instead of better.

Also think yesterday demonstrated just how fragile the squad's confidence still is. After we went a goal down there were lots of little mistakes and no real strategy for how we were going to get it back. With no Hallberg or Spoony our central midfield looks threadbare and naive. Phillips and MacPherson are both promising younger players but they've been off the boil for a while and it's becoming a major issue. I think we could do with McGowan back in midfield for now, to add an experienced head and bring a bit of composure. And why is Cammy Ballantyne even on the bench if he can't get onto the pitch when we're in the situation we were in yesterday? 

After the United game I felt relatively confident that Macca would do just enough to steer us through and keep us up so that we can regroup in the summer. I've been really encouraged by the things he's said and the fact that he's tried to get back to basics with a back four and people playing in their best positions. But I'm worried now that he's getting too many things wrong and is just way too inexperienced for this job that's been (possibly unfairly) flung at him. As @Gekko says above, this is all happening while Tommy Wright is sitting doing nothing. If the club wasn't for sale, would those in charge have made the same decisions that they've made over the last few weeks?

[Cagey]

At half time yesterday things were looking good with us controlling the game and the others drawing. How things changed at full time.

[Bruno Strasser]

Take out the Penalty and this game would have played out to a Nil Nil draw. I think this is going to go right to the wire and really do not aniticipate anything from the games aginst County or Killie.

[blueheaven]

I would be fascinated to see how much it has cost Motherwell to have Van Veen on their books for a couple of seasons, in comparison to the cumulative costs of us having Mahon, Crawford, Vertainen and Bair on ours.

There's a perception of Saints as being unwilling to spend money, but actually what we've done is pissed a huge amount of it down the drain while other clubs around us have spent their money far more wisely.

Some of the decisions that have left us in the position we're now in are absolutely criminal.

[RandomGuy]

1 hour ago, blueheaven said:

MacPherson are both promising younger players

MacPherson turns 25 this year and has well over 100 top flight games behind him.

Ive defended him elsewhere but any excuse of youth/inexperience just isnt correct with him.

Matt Butcher was younger with less experience when he joined in 19/20.

[Cagey]

3 minutes ago, blueheaven said:

I would be fascinated to see how much it has cost Motherwell to have Van Veen on their books for a couple of seasons, in comparison to the cumulative costs of us having Mahon, Crawford, Vertainen and Bair on ours.

There's a perception of Saints as being unwilling to spend money, but actually what we've done is pissed a huge amount of it down the drain while other clubs around us have spent their money far more wisely.

Some of the decisions that have left us in the position we're now in are absolutely criminal.

We apparently had £5 million in the bank. I wonder how much is left after Davidson and S Brown/Flacherties mismanagement of paying fees for players hardly seen and wages for well over 30 players many of whom have seen little game time.

I would say it may have been Geoff that said Davidson had to go.

[blueheaven]

2 minutes ago, RandomGuy said:

MacPherson turns 25 this year and has well over 100 top flight games behind him.

Ive defended him elsewhere but any excuse of youth/inexperience just isnt correct with him.

Matt Butcher was younger with less experience when he joined in 19/20.

This is why I carefully chose the word "younger" rather than "young". 

Absolutely agree with you that he's no youngster, but I guess what I mean is that he should still have his best years ahead of him and still has developing to do. I think with the right coaching he could be an important player for someone at this level.

[PoshBrat]

I like Maclean's attacking brand of football, but we need someone better at purchasing players, both Tommy Wright or Steve Lomas could do that job.

[tucker]

Thought Kane did more in his 10 mins cameo than Bair and Rudden did in months

I'm hoping Clark will be fit  against Killie and Kane can play 30 mins should give us a chance 

[sixties saintee]

27 minutes ago, tucker said:

Thought Kane did more in his 10 mins cameo than Bair and Rudden did in months

I'm hoping Clark will be fit  against Killie and Kane can play 30 mins should give us a chance 

As much as everybody likes Bair, look at the shite Kano has had thrown at him oer the years, lucky boy is Theo.

[Setting Son]

14 hours ago, dave mc said:

Said to you today Aitchy,before the game,felt slightly more confident, after that,it’s CD light, hoping we stay up,but need new thoughts in charge,Macca not the answer imo 

We got Jody as a player in the league below , maybe as manager too . 

[George Grieve]

On 5/13/2023 at 8:20 PM, HOODLUM65 said:

Maybe, however funny how you only reappear when you have something negative to add.

Not much to be positive about is there?

[Linky]

We started brightly, and were in control for most of the first half. The penalty killed it really, particularly the way it happened. It showed how fragile we are that we lost any flow afterwards that and looked like Davidson’s team once again.

Kane was the only positive after that. If Clark comes back and can partner with Kane up front, I could see some goal’s coming. Otherwise, maybe 2 points from the next 3 games - no goals scored.