Motherwell 13/12/17

[angry gaz]

haudin on for grim death in that second half. The defense really struggled to cope with the cross ball and everything for motherwell was coming down the wing.Mcginn got a roasting but give him credit for effort and attitude , took a good booking for the team too .We really need to sort out the central defense too. .Two poorly defended goals against us again tonight.

Three great goals and TC going mental to get them a goal chopped off, rightly I think.player was offside and obstructed him would be my guess .

 

We looked really poor at times but great effort and commitment is always a good starting point.Long way to go yet

[king of spain]

I know they made changes at half time but why the hell did we fart about with at least two formation changes in the second half?

 

Glad to get the win but it's terrible at 3-1 you still don't think they can/will see it out.

[Barney Rubble]

I know they made changes at half time but why the hell did we fart about with at least two formation changes in the second half?

 

Glad to get the win but it's terrible at 3-1 you still don't think they can/will see it out.

 

I didn't think we looked confident even at 3-0 up at 30 minutes to be honest, hence my comment at half time re Raymond's premature triumphalism. Motherwell were in the ascendancy for 60 of the remaining 65 minutes and will probably feel they should have had at least a draw, and not without justification.

 

But thankfully we took the points, so they can feel what they want.....................

[Jaggernaut]

Watched the three goals, and thought: "Great!"

 

Read this thread and getting through the 2nd half my heart was sinking fast... I really thought they were going to equalize or even somehow win 4-3.

 

Our defence does appear to be... let's say, crap.

[flashman]

The best 30 mins of the season followed by an abject 64 mins. Great goals, all 3 of them. Front 2 of Sammon and Storey looked good early on, but faded and Dools should have been on earlier if he is fit.

 

Let them back in the game during the last 15 mins of the first half and they should have scored at least twice. Barely strung a pass together for about 40 mins and let Kipre stroll deep into our half unchallenged. Started sitting far too deep and absolutely failed to heed the warning when they had the goal disallowed.

 

Woods looked like he would be steady and tidy early, but I felt he was fairly anonymous for most of the game. Fraser brought something, but naturally lacking some match sharpness. Surprised if he is isn't getting game time with the development team?

 

Woods being in the team seemed to allow Barton to play a bit further forward, which may work better as Woods gets back up to speed.

 

Delighted with the 3 points, but we needed a bit of luck to get them.

 

Onwards and upwards.

[Barney Rubble]

The best 30 mins of the season followed by an abject 64 mins. Great goals, all 3 of them. Front 2 of Sammon and Storey looked good early on, but faded and Dools should have been on earlier if he is fit.

 

Let them back in the game during the last 15 mins of the first half and they should have scored at least twice. Barely strung a pass together for about 40 mins and let Kipre stroll deep into our half unchallenged. Started sitting far too deep and absolutely failed to heed the warning when they had the goal disallowed.

 

Woods looked like he would be steady and tidy early, but I felt he was fairly anonymous for most of the game. Fraser brought something, but naturally lacking some match sharpness. Surprised if he is isn't getting game time with the development team?

 

Woods being in the team seemed to allow Barton to play a bit further forward, which may work better as Woods gets back up to speed.

 

Delighted with the 3 points, but we needed a bit of luck to get them.

 

Onwards and upwards.

 

Good summary - that's pretty much the way I saw it.

[allyo]

That was exhausting. But well done Jags

[Jaggernaut]

The BBC (can they ever be trusted?) gives Motherwell as having 59% possession to our 41%, They had 12 shots, us 6. They had 6 shots on target, us 3. They had 10 corners, us 5.

 

After streaking to a 3-0 lead, did we end up winning "dirty"?

 

Seriously though, it sounds that even when 3-0 up the team is lacking confidence, big style.

[Jagsman]

was like 2 different games 1st half we looked like we could hit 5 or 6 past them passing was great and winning tackles made to lokk easy

 

2nd half totally different story defence shit everyone falling to bits out there no idea what happend but thank **** we were 3-0 up

[allyo]

No question the team is lacking confidence. Obviously winning games is the best way to increase confidence. If I'm honest I worry that tonight's game didn't turn out the confidence booster it might have. But for now, I'll happily take the three points.

 

Hoping the Woods injury isn't too serious as I think he could be important. Definitely think he freed up Ryan Edwards to be more effective.

[Muscat Jag]

By far Storey's best performance in a Thistle jersey.

[Duke Gekantawa]

I think the team’s apparent collective blind panic after we conceded the first, worrying as it was (though somewhat understandable in the circumstances), has masked the character shown after going 3-2 down with still the best part of 20 mins left inc. stoppage time. Much as I was bricking it at the time, I actually thought we saw this last 20 out quite comfortably really, much more so than the previous 20. And be honest, we were all expecting the worst by then!

Edited December 13, 2017 by Duke Gekantawa

[eljaggo]

Just watched on BBC Alba. What a difference in attitude and effort. Chances well taken in first half, but no one put their foot on the ball in a frenetic second half to steady the ship. Big improvement that should give the players some confidence. Agree that Woods allowing Barton and Edwards to play further forward made a big difference and gave added pace in their half whch was responsible for two of the goals. This might be the turning point. There again.........

[lady-isobel-barnett]

The BBC (can they ever be trusted?) gives Motherwell as having 59% possession to our 41%,

 

It was obvious at the game, maybe not so much so on Jagszone, that our tactics tonight effectively sacrificed possession. Quite surprised it was as high as 41%.

Just watched the 2nd half again on Alba and I was still nervous. Fraser whipped in a tremendous cross, which could easily have resulted in a goal but that was about the only 2nd half positive. Re the knocked off goal, referees often ignore their linesmen and/or linesmen often as not do hee haw. So, tho' right decision as it was, we're fortunate in a roundabout way.

[CotterJag]

Great first half in which we done enough for the win.

 

Second half was always gonna be all them but we kept our discipline and got a much needed 3 points.

 

The difference for me from the 1st half is that we stood off a bit in order to protect our lead.

It can be a long half if you do this and they score early.

 

In the first half we were first to every ball and won every header.

That along with the 3 great goals and it was a perfect half.

We even had good support in wider positions.

 

Very pleased and something to build on now.

[Auld Jag]

First 30mins we destroyed them.Then in the second half we didn't turn up.We stood back and just let them run at us.But a good 3 points and lets hope it gives us confidence.Best game for Storey and Sammon so far.

[Davie Thistle]

❤️

[allyo]

11 points from 8 games now, without getting our injured players back. That's actually top six form.

 

Maybe time for the players and fans to start displaying bit of belief?

[Fearchar]

The physicality of Motherwell could have caused one of their goals to be stroked off, and if Bowman had been unlucky he could have seen red instead of yellow. I watched the game on BBC Alba after seeing it in the flesh, and I felt that the team looked more assured towards the end than I felt at the time. Perhaps we tend to feed off each others' moods in the crowd.

 

Well done to Archie for sorting out the midfield and striking problems, but Woods should have been replaced by Fräser at the break, before he started to feel the effects of a long break from playing.

Edited December 14, 2017 by Fearchar

[Weebaw1]

Credit due to Archie for changing the system. I don't think anyone could've come up that team/system.

 

It confused the opposition for 35 minutes. Our collapse was coincidental with Woods tiring. After this we were no longer getting men in the box a la Edwards goal. Woods looks a perfect fit.

 

Storey was mom by a long way. But I thought Edwards,Spittal and Turnbull were excellent.

 

Their no 11 gave McGinn a going over. Surely Keown should've helped him out more.

 

I thought Archie should've changed it much earlier as Sammon contributed nothing 2nd half. But, hey, its 3 points, we dug in and winning games can become habitual. We won a game we needed to win. We are not far away from the rest who aren't great shakes either.

[MonehJags]

I said on another thread last week that we haven't been playing to best strengths of the players e.g. Storey and Sammon. Last night you saw the difference in the first half when we did. Played balls in behind and down the channels for Storey to use his pace and turn the defence. Sammon took his goal as if he was in double figures for the season. First half is more what we want to see. Edwards and Barton getting forward into the box in support also. Second half we nearly threw it away. I've never seen defenders back off and back off until the player has an opportunity to score as much as we do. Its incredibly poor and not natural. For having two former defenders in the dugout you would like to think they would identify this but we do it constantly, big Liam was a serial offender. In the end a relieved and welcome 3 points which makes the league table not look so bad. Still a lot of hard work to do in some massive games coming up

[angry gaz]

The physicality of Motherwell could have caused one of their goals to be stroked off, and if Bowman had been unlucky he could have seen red instead of yellow. After watching the game on BBC Alba after seeing it in the flesh, I felt that the team looked more assured towards the end than I felt at the time. Perhaps we tend to feed off each others' moods in the crowd.

 

Well done to Archie for sorting out the midfield and striking problems, but Woods should have been replaced by Fräser at the break, before he started to feel the effects of a long break from playing.

Agree with all of that. At the game it looked like the defending was shocking but on the TV some of it looked heroic. We fell back too much.Barton gets worse the deeper he gets on the pitch but even he put in a ton of effort . I thought Sammon had a great game and gave us a physical presence we really needed against them.If only we had an outfielder like the keeper Cerny is.Not one other player complained at the offside goal.We need more of that attitude.The least we should expect is that sort of effort and commitment now.

[javeajag]

The worry is our defence we have shipped 7 in our last two games and have the worst record in the league ......unlesss that’s fixed relegation will be on the agenda ....the number of goals we lose at cross balls is terrible.....either get Barton back there or recruit in January

[Jimmy McD]

I can only think that my request for the league table to be pined up on the dressing room wall was the reason for a fantastic first half performance. I think Cerny has got to be more commanding in the 6 yard box that would help us stop loosing goals from cross balls................

[The Jukebox Rebel]

Agree with angrygaz, all credit to Tam for crucially and effectively highlighting that offside with a big fluorescent marker and a massive loud hailer.