Mitch Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 Dreadful performance and agree it's one of the worst under McCall. Couple of points: - The young lad Ferguson was so far out of his depth at left back, which I appreciate is not his position. Should we not have been better playing a more seasoned pro out of position rather than a young lad with no first team experience? - John Sutton contributed absolutely nothing to the match. He received little to no service, however he doesn't even challenge when the ball is in the air. I would be delighted to see McCall drop him for Killie away and go with Erwin & Ojamma up top. As Melvin Bragg said at the match today, Erwin & Ojamma linked up more in 60secs than Erwin/Sutton did all match. - Disappointed to see Leitch drop out of the starting XI. From the reports he was the best 'Well player at Tannadice. Are Carswell/Lasley really that good to be automatic starters? - Fraser Kerr was the best it got in C&A yesterday. One swallow doesn't make a summer and all that but looks like he is capable at performing at this level in his natural position. - We applauded mediocre football on numerous occasions yesterday. One point in the 2nd half, Craig Reid was bombing forward chasing a ball he has absolutely zero chance of winning. Surely we are wise enough to realise that is stupid to be doing so and not applauding this lad for effort? Reid hasn't had the best start to the season and on a few occasions yesterday looked very much the type of player that wouldn't make it at Morton. Still plenty around him that are just as bad, namely Mr Law, who isn't even 10% the player his brother is! We do have a few players to return from injury but I fear that the only changes he is going to make at taking Fraser Kerr and Lee Erwin out the team, which would be a joke! Tough season ahead. Don't think for a second we will be going down, however a mid table finish at best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crilly Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 The difference today was that when we did concede pressure, we pressed the Motherwell players so quickly that they weren't able to get into any sort of rhythm, and when we won possession back, the movement off the ball from our players, especially in the first half, meant that our ball retention always seemed to have a purpose and a threat. Really impressive work rate from our players to sustain this for the first hour or so, and although Motherwell did match us better in that last half hour, they were never really able to push us back properly. Whilst this may be true, the relative performance in and outcome of games is usually the result a combination of factors. With the exception of the pacy Lionel Ainsworth, who may be carrying an injury, the rest of our midfield is painfully slow. This means that by the time we can mount an attack, the opposing defence and midfield are in position to defend and we are closed down very easily. Our midfield knows this and consequently is reluctant to advance up the pitch to support our strikers. This is exactly what happened yesterday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alsy Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 Whilst this may be true, the relative performance in and outcome of games is usually the result a combination of factors. With the exception of the pacy Lionel Ainsworth, who may be carrying an injury, the rest of our midfield is painfully slow. This means that by the time we can mount an attack, the opposing defence and midfield are in position to defend and we are closed down very easily. Our midfield knows this and consequently is reluctant to advance up the pitch to support our strikers. This is exactly what happened yesterday. That would make sense actually. Our closing down seemed so much better than previously, and so effective, that I think most of the ICT supporters there were left wondering why Hughes hadn't emphasised the importance of it sooner. If the Motherwell midfield is as slow and hesitant as you say, then it probably made the apparent difference in approach seem a lot more dramatic than it actually was. Still a very encouraging performance in every area though. Always found the support in Motherwell to be pretty friendly and welcoming, btw, and I was struck by the amount of supporters passing after the game who made a point of wishing us luck and saying how much we'd deserved the win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d31 Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 Sounds like a good win for Caley - well done to Hughes proving doubters wrong but proof in pudding for his Caley reign will be either persuading Butcher players to stay or signing replacements. Thats where he will fall down imo - Caley have a lot of good players not an easy task Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Del_Superwell Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 I must admit, i'm delighted to see McCall rip into the players in the press which is actually a very rare thing for him to do, the key thing he says is that it has been easy for him to pick a team every week over the last few seasons due to our consistency but at the moment he claims that he would struggle to pick a team for next Saturday. This makes me think that we could see a few youngsters play next weekend and see guys who haven't kicked a ball yet benched, the likes of Sutton, Lasley, Ainsworth and possibly Reid who I didn't think looked particularly good yesterday! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crilly Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 I must admit, i'm delighted to see McCall rip into the players in the press which is actually a very rare thing for him to do Don't know about that. Ok the players didn't perform at all yesterday although there were exceptions such as Kerr, but for me the real fault lay with the team line up and tactics. Responsibility for that lies firmly at the door of management. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rambunctious Posted August 17, 2014 Author Share Posted August 17, 2014 Don't know about that. Ok the players didn't perform at all yesterday although there were exceptions such as Kerr, but for me the real fault lay with the team line up and tactics. Responsibility for that lies firmly at the door of management. McCall's hands were completely tied with the injury situation. What else could he have done? Played Leitch? McHugh maybe? McCall picked the best team he could, but unfortunately it wasn't good enough for an excellent Caley performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gianfranco Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 I wasn't at the game yesterday but with such inexperience in the back 4 a result like that was always bound to happen at somepoint. Hopefully next week we can get some injured players back and the likes of lasley, carswell, ainsworth and Sutton can find some much needed form I'm pleased Kerr sounds like he had a good game again and like others have posted id be tempted to start Erwin and ojaama next week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Pikey Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 God that was awful yesterday, never looked like coming back, second to everything. Best team won by a mile.There's always next week! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lichtie78 Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 Motherwell fans, I know Erwin scored last week but aside from that how has he actually played?and what shirt number is he?might get a 'well top with him on it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YassinMoutaouakil Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 Motherwell fans, I know Erwin scored last week but aside from that how has he actually played?and what shirt number is he?might get a 'well top with him on it One of our only players with pass marks so far, will probably be one of 3/4 competing for the front two players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busta Nut Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 Fair play to Fraser Kerr who I thought had another good game and has really grown into that centre back role alongside McManus. Watch McCall drop him next week now for that Derby lad. NAP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Gaines Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 Well... Could tell very early Motherwell weren't winning that game. They just didn't look like they wanted to be there. Someone noted pretty early that they had no width on the left and they were spot on. Inverness kinda clocked around the 15 minute mark that Motherwell were there for the taking and started to really dictate the issue and it was a nice goal to take the lead. Motherwell improved in the second half but never truly believed they had it in them to get back in the game. I did like Keith Lasley though. Was winning a LOT and never looked like giving up and felt a bit sorry for him when he got hooked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ICTChris Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 I haven't watched the extended highlights yet but from all accounts we played very well. One thing I thought in the Hamilton game was that Greg Tansey had a great game. When Tudur-Jones played for us, he did a great job in dropped deep, taking the ball off the defence and spreading it around the pitch. Last season we had more of a combative central midfield two in Draper and Foran but this term Tansey seems to have taken on that deep-lying playmaker role. If Tansey can help us work the ball forward to the likes of Christie, Watkins etc that will be a big boost for us. The only thing is that I'm not sure where Foran will play when he comes back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crilly Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 McCall's hands were completely tied with the injury situation. What else could he have done? Played Leitch? McHugh maybe? For a start play either Reid or Law at left back with the other playing right back (Leitch coming in for Ferguson). If we were going to play 4-4-2 then keep Erwin up front with Sutton. If he was going to play with a single striker then Leitch should have come in for Sutton. Vigurs ought to have come on far sooner than he did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rambunctious Posted August 18, 2014 Author Share Posted August 18, 2014 For a start play either Reid or Law at left back with the other playing right back (Leitch coming in for Ferguson). If we were going to play 4-4-2 then keep Erwin up front with Sutton. If he was going to play with a single striker then Leitch should have come in for Sutton. Vigurs ought to have come on far sooner than he did.See to be honest, they changes might well have been what McCall should've done, but the end result would still have been the same.The main reason we were so shit, is because Inverness made us look shit. They kept the ball well and never gave us an inch when we did have it. They were bloody excellent! The only changes that would've helped, would've been Hammell, Vigurs and Ojamaa all playing (from the start) and the three of them were either injured or unfit. Even then it would've been awfully difficult for us to break them down. This defeat needs to be chalked down to an excellent Inverness performance and a heaving physio room. Nothing more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Gaines Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 I haven't watched the extended highlights yet but from all accounts we played very well. One thing I thought in the Hamilton game was that Greg Tansey had a great game. When Tudur-Jones played for us, he did a great job in dropped deep, taking the ball off the defence and spreading it around the pitch. Last season we had more of a combative central midfield two in Draper and Foran but this term Tansey seems to have taken on that deep-lying playmaker role. If Tansey can help us work the ball forward to the likes of Christie, Watkins etc that will be a big boost for us. The only thing is that I'm not sure where Foran will play when he comes back. I thought Inverness weren't exactly great, but were willing to properly go at it. They were the only team in the game that ever looked like winning it. I will say that Christie's final ball yesterday was horrible much of the time. Took too much time to make his decisions much of the time and that wound up allowing a rather lethargic Motherwell defence to get the ball away. That's the only real negative I have for them though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarraJag Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 I thought Inverness weren't exactly great, but were willing to properly go at it. They were the only team in the game that ever looked like winning it. I will say that Christie's final ball yesterday was horrible much of the time. Took too much time to make his decisions much of the time and that wound up allowing a rather lethargic Motherwell defence to get the ball away. That's the only real negative I have for them though. Christie = Overrated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sophia Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 I will say that Christie's final ball yesterday was horrible much of the time. Took too much time to make his decisions much of the time and that wound up allowing a rather lethargic Motherwell defence to get the ball away. That was Hughes' fault for playing him out of position. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ICTJohnboy Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 That was Hughes' fault for playing him out of position. I thought Hughes could do no wrong in your eyes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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