VigursIsAFraud Motherwell vs Inverness Caledonian Thistle ||| 26/10/16

[Casagolda]

One of the worst Motherwell performances I've seen in a long, long time. Considering what we sat through under Baraclough and the latter days of the McCall era that's saying something.Don't think we even managed a shot on goal.

Awful stuff.

[sophia]

BBC ...

Motherwell, shots on target: 0

That's not so good for any home team and its why I couldn't watch Caley Thistle with Hughes at the helm (apart from the cup win)

[MikeyWellFan]

Embarrassing.

Looking at a relegation scrap again if we don't get a result on Saturday.

[Ya Bezzer!]

We were dreadful.  Absolutely dreadful. 

Perhaps when we look back at the game we will pick up on this new innovation called 'passing' that Inverness rather sneakily pull out the bag tonight.

[MJC]

McGhee GTF. That's all I can say.

[Gianfranco]

The amount of times the ball ended up getting played back to McManus and in particular Henegan, who would then just hoof it nowhere was incredible.

There was never three goals in that game but Caley did deserve the win in the end. The first two goals we lost were extremely poor.

I think we have to throw Ainsworth in from the start on Saturday. Also I'd drop Bowman - The concern with him is I don't think I've even seen him have a chance which is worrying. We could really do with three points.

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Not sure about that goal celebration by our two first scorers

[well fan for life]

That was the most aimless, toothless, generally pish performance I can remember since Baraclough.

Pass it back to Heneghan/McManus who fire it like a fucking howitzer up to somewhere near Bowman who won f**k all.

[YassinMoutaouakil]

Am I mental in thinking that we weren't that bad?

The first half was scrappy from two poor sides, with Moult unlucky a few times in the box. In contrast, Inverness got two breaks of the ball for their first two goals and controlled the game from there on. Yes, we were pretty dire, but on another day we grind out an unremarkable 0-0 or 1-0 from that game.

[Ya Bezzer!]

23 minutes ago, YassinMoutaouakil said:

Am I mental in thinking that we weren't that bad?

The first half was scrappy from two poor sides, with Moult unlucky a few times in the box. In contrast, Inverness got two breaks of the ball for their first two goals and controlled the game from there on. Yes, we were pretty dire, but on another day we grind out an unremarkable 0-0 or 1-0 from that game.

Moult wasn't unlucky, he missed two of the three clear chances we had in the match, including a free header from about 6 yards.  Actually he's been pish since his four goal haul against Accies. 

Inverness passed the ball round well and defended pretty efficiently, we constantly gave the ball away and gave away goals that Inverness barely had to work for.  They deserved their victory, they were clearly better than us, even if they weren't a great side themselves. 

[YassinMoutaouakil]

Moult wasn't unlucky, he missed two of the three clear chances we had in the match, including a free header from about 6 yards.  Actually he's been pish since his four goal haul against Accies. 

Tbf I think he was better tonight than he was,for example, at Firhill where he literally done f**k all.
A few things just didn't come off for him,like the shot that hit the side netting too, and another chance he probably should have done better with before being closed down by the Caley defence.

Agree that he's been a shadow for the last month though, hopefully it's just a dry spell that ends ASAP.

[ShireWell]

McGhee needs to put this Lasley and Clay partnership to bed. Whilst creativity isn't what Lasley is known for, I don't remember Clay passing the ball forwards much during that game. Time to see what Lee Lucas can do in the middle of the park?

[Ya Bezzer!]

4 minutes ago, ShireWell said:

McGhee needs to put this Lasley and Clay partnership to bed. Whilst creativity isn't what Lasley is known for, I don't remember Clay passing the ball forwards much during that game. Time to see what Lee Lucas can do in the middle of the park?

Clay is fucking abysmal.

Absolute nothing footballer. 

In 45 League level matches in England and Scotland he's contributed 1 goal and 0 assists.

 

[well fan for life]

We managed no shots on target. That's not unlucky. That's just shite.

[thisGRAEME]

8 hours ago, YassinMoutaouakil said:

Am I mental in thinking that we weren't that bad?

The first half was scrappy from two poor sides, with Moult unlucky a few times in the box. In contrast, Inverness got two breaks of the ball for their first two goals and controlled the game from there on. Yes, we were pretty dire, but on another day we grind out an unremarkable 0-0 or 1-0 from that game.

You're mental.

We were dreadful and deserved nothing. 

[ropy]

That had 0-0 written all over it until the ball went through the defenders legs.  We need to man mark McManus in future games.  He is the danger.

[ICTChris]

[ICTChris]

First half we looked solid but didn't really create anything, we kept our shape well and restricted 'Well to the couple of opportunities you see in the highlights above. We didn't really use the ball well in midfield, Polworth gave the ball away a number of times and Vigurs, one lovely turn aside, didn't have much influence. At half time it wasn't clear how the game was going to go, it could've petered out to a 0-0 or either side could grab the match and push on.

As it turned out, it was us who grabbed the match and pushed on. Brad McKay, who has been superb at right back at since signing for us, was a threat overlapping on the right all night and following a good run forward and cross we got lucky with the defender failing to clear and Tremarco bundling the ball into the net, via the crossbar. We took impetuous from that and pushed forward a bit more in the few minutes straight after but then we reverted back to the solidity and conservative style that we saw before, which you have to say is sensible.

Second goal came after a couple of corners. Vigurs, who laid the ball up clearly outside the quadrant, hit a good cross which wasn't cleared and Doumbaya stabbed it home, a similar goal to his late equaliser against Killie. Doumbaya is a funny player, he looks hugely awards and gets his positioning terribly wrong sometimes (completely misjudging where to go when competing for a header for example) but he's scored three goals in six starts and he's a worker. He almost bagged another one when we got some space in their box, allowing Polworth to stand up a perfect cross for him, his header was as good as you could want it but a combination of Samson and a defender shovelled it over the bar.

Well had a goal disallowed for offside (the highlights don't really make that clear) but aside from that I didn't feel that we were troubled by them at all. We brought on King for Doran, Aaron probably a wee bit tired after his first start in a while, and that helped us e plot space a bit better. King squared it for Polworth to pick up and finish low in the corner for the third goal, similar goal to his late equaliser at Accies and a fine finish.

Overall I was really pleased with the performance, a perfect away from home showing. We were organised at the back and our first clean sheet of the season was deserved. Brad McKay has been a great addition as a full back and we've now got a solid back four, who also offer threat going forward. In midfield, we gave the ball away too much in the first half, especially Polworth, but improved in the second. I still think that having Vigurs in the middle means he's being carried a bit but I can see the thinking behind what Forsn is doing. Having Polworth wide means he can tuck in and solidify the middle while allowing McKay to go forward. Vigurs may be lazy and frustrating but he's a threat at set pieces and from distance. Doumbaya might not be easy on the eye but he's on a goal every other game now and deserves his chance.

[RiG]

Did not see that coming especially at half time. In the first half I thought we were pretty poor and struggled to really attack Motherwell. Whilst we largely looked okay at the back the better of the chances in the first half fell the way of the home side but they were mostly half chances which were wasted. Well's best chance came from a nice ball floated into the box which was laid off to Moult (I think) who hit the side netting. For Inverness we struggled to get a grip of the game and really create anything. Polworth was culpable of giving the ball away far too frequently in the first half and, along with Doran, the other wide man for us last night, often drifted infield leaving us with very little width going forward. A lot of our promising attacks were simply broken down by Well crowding out the midfield.

Second half we were much better. Polworth seemed to move infield, Draper dropped slightly in front of Tansey and Vigurs seemed to have a free role roaming across the middle of the pitch. The opening goal came from a Brad "Hungry Wolf" Mckay cross from the right which Motherwell failed to clear and Tremarco popped up to poke the ball home via the crossbar from a couple of yards out. Doran came off for King who I felt gave us a bit more of what we needed on the left wing. Doran was frequently cutting infield but King, for once, tended to hug the touchline and drive for the goal line before getting a cross in.

A Vigurs corner saw Doumbouya stab the ball in from close range following a corner which Motherwell again struggled to clear and he almost nabbed a second when King dug out a cross which Doumbouya sent goalwards but Samson scooped the ball wide.

Polworth rounded things off with a fine shot from about 25 yards which beat Samson and crept inside the post to put a bit of gloss on the scoreline. Well could have had a goal back but it was disallowed for offside. I doubt we'll see a replay which offers any kind of evidence whether that was the correct decision or not.

Overall a fine result with a much improved ICT performance in the second half. Tremarco and Mckay were probably our standouts. Polworth improved a lot after the break and Vigurs was pretty good without being overly spectacular. He did perform an outrageous turn to breeze past a Well player which I hope was caught by the cameras. King also did well after he came on. Shame he doesn't seem to perform over 90 minutes yet. Good confidence boost going into Saturdays match.

EDIT: TL;DR? Just read what ICTChris posted.

[ONeils40yarder]

I struggled to get enthused about this game all day yesterday, really could see it far enough. There just isnt much to get excited about going to Fir Park on a Wednesday night, when we are playing so poorly and playing against an ICT team who aren't particularly good to watch either, nor do they bring any sort of fanbase to at least help create a bit of atmosphere. Really, its as close as I've came to not bothering attending even with my season ticket in my hand.

 

Anyway, onto the game, it was fucking shite from start to finish. In my opinion ICT were no better than us, which is a startling thing to say, considering how bad we played and they won 3-0.

 

I've been a defender of McGhee, and to an extent I'm going to defend him slightly here too...before the game, when I heard the line-up, I've got to say I was pretty pleased, it was pretty close to the personnel I'd have gone with (other than Skippy for Bowman), so from that point of view, how can I berate McGhee for last nights result? I have to temper that though with the strange set-up that he went with...I'd have gone with McLean, purely because I believed he was capable of playing wide left...so to see him start wide right, with Cadden tucked in and Clay pushed out left puzzled me. Clay was described by Chick Young on the radio pre-match as 'quickly becoming a well liked player around these parts', or words to that effect, insinuating that he was a vital cog in the Motherwell team, now for all that he doesnt do much wrong, in a kind of Marc Fitzpatrick type of manner, what does he do well, whats his influence on the team or in any game so far this season? His midfield pairing with Lasley is eye-wateringly poor and offers absolutely nothing going forward, to the point where I was feeling sorry for Cadden, who had the brunt of the work in a positive manner foisted on his shoulders...again.

 

To then isolate Bowman, who swiftly seems to becoming an anti-hero was another strange move, particularly when it also marginalised Moults involvement in the match...surely if you play these two, then they play as an old-fashioned pair? Neither played well at all, and I believe that the system we are employing is making both look worse than they actually are. We have now gone two months without having any sort of creative width in the team, particularly on the left-hand side. We knew Johnson had his faults, we also knew that he was going to leave us, so why didnt we get a competent replacement in? I know we signed Belic, but the fact that we haven't witnessed him in C&A worries me not so much on our signing policy, but more so on our scouting system...did we just sign him because he could play in the left and was on West Hams books, if thats the case someone should be toe'd severely in the balls, and I'd suggest it shouldn't be the manager but the person who sanctions our signings.

 

As someone said further up, we have huge issues all over the pitch;

 

Samson - just isnt good enough two goals last night that were preventable in my opinion and while not entirely his doing, he was culpable in losing both. The problem is that I'm not sure Brill will be much better

Our defence - particularly in the middle was diabolical last night, how many headers did we win? Why did we concede two awful goals? How often did they (particularly McManus) hesitate? Why are we consistently hoofing the ball up the park (though I suspect that may have something to do with the inability of the guys in the middle of the park)?

Our central midfield - I've never been a Lasley fan, he runs about a lot and gets himself noticed by his endeavour, but he is a poor passer, has no creativity, he can't shoot (and knows it, as he rarely does) and can't tackle. His legs have been gone for 3 seasons and we are still having to watch him...though I suspect that had McHugh been fit, we'd be watching him less. I've already covered Clay, and Lucas was Jake Taylor-esque in the only match I've seen him play

Our width - we only have one out and out-winger in our 1st team squad and refuse to play him, he has huge faults but we must be able to find away to get a player with his threat and pace into our starting 11, whether that be shuffling Cadden into CM beside Clay and giving Mclean a run on the left or playing Lionel on the left himself...

Our strikers - I believe that we have decent SPL level strikers at the Club, but lets play them in their position, at what they are good at rather than have them deep or wide, its not rocket science

 

Someone stated squad management as being an issue, and I think its abundantly clear that we have made some very poor decisions, not just in the transfer market, but probably more so in the retention of some of our older guys...I'm not saying that I would have bombed Skippy, Hammell, Lasley, McManus and Faddy out of the club all at the one time, but retaining all of them was the wrong thing to do...individually they are all well past their best, and while its good to have a few old heads about, they must be in a position to compete at our level and some of them just arent at that anymore.

 

As someone, who defended McGhee, I'm finding it much harder to do so currently, particlularly if the rumours are true that he spends virtually no time with the squad during the week and is actively looking for a way out of the Club...the current malaise around the whole Club isnt just his doing though and I noticed the new fan liaison officer (or whatever the f**k his made up title is) coming into the East Stand last night, and couldnt do anything other than shake my head, as the poor fella will be pissing into the wind given the current circumstances.