Falkirk vs Montrose

[MrDust]

The standard of Scottish football in whole is horrific. The best game I've seen so far was the Hearts v Dundee opener, I joked pre that game I'd gauge my eyes out but was pleasantly surprised. Hearts overall tho have been awful and are streets ahead and Friday night games have been woeful.

We should be doing a hell of a lot better and worryingly we seem to be reverting back to McKinnon tactics with todays rigid to keeping it to one up top with Keena covering Morrison on a few occasions.

Sadly I'd take 6 more 1-0 victories  as I just wanna get out of here but personally don't think the standard is any better further up the league's.

Other note(s), probably worst game between us today and any word on our injuries

[Reggie Perrin]

That was grim viewing today but obviously we are in a better position than before the game.

Results elsewhere just reinforce the fact that there is not a halfway decent team in this league, guff from top to bottom.

Even if we win this league, which we should, yet another squad rebuild is going to be required in the summer.

[Guest]

Only enjoyment between now and the end of the season will be if we win it. ..and even that might simply be relief rather than enjoyment.

In terms of entertainment......no chance. You can’t help but feel M&M are just trying to get through each game by shutting their eyes really really tight, and hoping for the best.

Good result, but I still feel that it’s got the potential for everything to unravel very quickly. Still, first hurdle successfully dealt with, so we move on.

[Bigbrbairn]

Did p&b take over the onef franchise? 3 points in this league is what matters. The team are having to play this sort of football because most opponents will try to shut us down. Montrose thankfully are an exception. Also we can only attract players who want to play at this level so recruitment is not easy sadly

[Guest]

Did p&b take over the onef franchise? 3 points in this league is what matters. The team are having to play this sort of football because most opponents will try to shut us down. Montrose thankfully are an exception. Also we can only attract players who want to play at this level so recruitment is not easy sadly

Livingston, Dunfermline and even QOS won this league at a canter. We could not be making heavier weather of it if we tried

[roman_bairn]

Did p&b take over the onef franchise? 3 points in this league is what matters. The team are having to play this sort of football because most opponents will try to shut us down. Montrose thankfully are an exception. Also we can only attract players who want to play at this level so recruitment is not easy sadly

I think we’ve discussed this at length and no ones ever going to be convinced.
Agree totally. No way are the vast majority of this team going to be with us next season if we get up and no way are you going to see quality football in this division. We were all warned of that when we went down, but somehow it’s not got across.
We are where we need to be. Win at all costs this season.
Get up and it’s a different matter but there is no point in worrying about next seaon just now.....

[Disco Duck]

1 hour ago, Back Post Misses said:

 

Livingston, Dunfermline and even QOS won this league at a canter. We could not be making heavier weather of it if we tried

 

I dunno, we could be, say, not top of the league?

[Disco Duck]

3 hours ago, Back Post Misses said:

Shocking watch. Defence played well TBF. Midfield a shocker, one up at home with two sitters against Montrose tell us all about M&M and where we are as a club. And some may not want entertained but by f**k I do

Who were the two sitters?

[NavyBlueArmy1876]

1 hour ago, Back Post Misses said:

 

Livingston, Dunfermline and even QOS won this league at a canter. We could not be making heavier weather of it if we tried

 

Dunfermline took 3 attempts to win this league and even finished 7th 

[Guest Peter LaFleur]

Although he was incredibly rusty yesterday, Gomis is still streets ahead of the rest of our midfield. I actually thought the longer the game went on the better he got as well. He was literally the only player trying to make space and go collect the ball from the back 4. Leitch and Alston had perfected the invisible man act. This made it easy for Montrose as they could sit off our back four then double up on Gomis knowing EVERYTHING had to go through him unless we went long.

If we had signed Mochrie or Turner in this window we would have won this league at a canter. Desperately miss someone next to Gomis who can go box to box, is brave on the ball and can create.

Edited March 21, 2021 by Peter LaFleur

[gav-ffc]

6 more performances like that and 6 wins will do me.

[brokeville]

First game for months and only a short time to prepare and some supporters expectations are incredible. We won, OK not a great game but 3 points nonetheless. Hopefully we’ll step it up once the levels of fitness and match sharpness improve.

[The Gable Endie]

It was an even game, Falkirk took their chances, we didn’t make any. Brutal to watch as always

[roman_bairn]

It was an even game, Falkirk took their chances, we didn’t make any. Brutal to watch as always

The only thing that was even on Saturday was possession....

[NavyBlueArmy1876]

I'm amazed at that possession stat tbh. Felt like Montrose always had the ball under control for ages (first 15 and last 15 apart) whereas we could barely string 5 passes together 

[lanky_ffc]

I'm a big fan of stats but they can be misleading at times. Aside from the two goals (a set play and a late breakaway) our only decent chance was the Keena effort that lead to the first goal. The rest were potshots. 

A big improvement needed in our attacking play imo.

[Brummo]

4 hours ago, NavyBlueArmy1876 said:

I'm amazed at that possession stat tbh. Felt like Montrose always had the ball under control for ages (first 15 and last 15 apart) whereas we could barely string 5 passes together 

Yes, that was my reading of the game. Mind you, I was working and to my horror discovered my phone had died at half-time, (thanks to a dodgy cable) when I tried to watch the second half. So I am really only judging by what I saw in the first 45.

Montrose pinged the ball about pretty well and certainly seemed first to the ball in many of the 50/50 challenges. Their fitness levels were never in doubt on that showing. People have said they were toothless up front and to an extent I would agree with that. Rusty was just that! He never looked like he was going to slip his defender and have a decent crack at goal. We looked lacklustre in the box, which I think it is probably fair to attribute to a lack of match fitness.

Of course, the other way of reading it is to give the Falkirk defence its due. They made us look toothless because they did a good job of closing down any threat we posed.

So takeaways from the game from a Montrose perspective...

Fitness levels appeared good all things considered, actually very good.

Midfield seemed strong. Possession stats may not tell the whole story but we were at least as strong as the opposition, which I think even they will admit is not saying much. If this league is as "guff" as some of their fans say, then their "hoofball" on display yesterday certainly was not doing much to raise the bar.

Defence looked reasonable. Always annoying to lose a goal from a set piece, which I think was the case for the first. No replay on FalkirkTV!? (Also no sound at all, which I wasn't bothered about because I was "working" at the 'puter.) 

The second goal I think was just because we were throwing everything bar the kitchen sink forward to get an equaliser and got caught out. Again, it is annoying but at least we never suffered a late collapse or any comedy of errors. I see one of the other keepers yesterday reprised Fleming's dodgeball style freak goal by blootering the ball against an attacking player in an attempted clearance and having it ricochet into his own goal. (Guff league, did you say?)

Overall, the defence seemed to know what they were doing and put in a decent shift from what I saw of things. Things should only get better.

Up front, hmm. Disappointing that what appeared to be a lot of possession and dare I say it "skill" in getting close to having a pop, never resulted in much. I felt sure all that huffing and puffing was eventually going to pay a dividend but the Montrose Twitter feed told me otherwise. From what others have said, the subs didn't really change things for the better. I was hoping for a revival in the second half as happened in our cup game with Ross County. That too was our first test after a long lay-off and we pulled it back from 0-3. Nae such luck yesterday. 

I think every team would love a Henrik Larrson, who can score goals for fun, whenever required.

We don't have a talisman striker like that, or anything remotely close to it. However, we showed earlier in the shit show of what is termed a "season" that we have players who can find the onion bag. I just hope they can rediscover their touch in what's left of it.

Overall, while disappointed with the result, thought things looked okay all things considered. Looking forward with hope and a degree of expectation of better things.

That is all.

 

 

 

[Disco Duck]

3 hours ago, Brummo said:

If this league is as "guff" as some of their fans say, then their "hoofball" on display yesterday certainly was not doing much to raise the bar...

... From what others have said, the subs didn't really change things for the better. 

On the first point, it is undoubtedly unquestionably guff, and we have been guff + maybe 2-5%, but no more.  The debate amongst Falkirk fans at the moment seems to be whether it is acceptable to just win, rather than winning plus playing better.

On the second point, I would have said your subs definitely weakened your team.  You seemed to lose shape abs organisation and let us back into things.  Not sure if the subs were to do with fitness, which is fair enough - but if they were tactical then they failed I’d say.

[ShaggerG]

On 20/03/2021 at 17:27, Shadwell Dog said:

Was a no brainer getting him in for a few games. Unfortunately still too much for our management.

Jesus Christ. 

'Other teams are able to use the loan market properly, signing hungry young players who are bursting to prove a point. What do our two  numpties do? Sign a player who we freed  because he was a failure. Had already failed with Falkirk and yet dumb and dumber think it's a good idea that we give him a chance to do it again.'

Your sermon would have been something along those lines, I've no doubt!

[MOFOREVER]

Anybody know if Falkirk issued a match programme for this game? Not seen one advertised for sale (as the Mo do) but I'd like one if there is one even if it is an online version like Cove Rangers and Peterhead did.

Fair result by the way - Falkirk took their chances and we didn't. That said, I agree with some of the comments on here that Falkirk still have work to do if they get promoted., but so too does everybody else in L1 if they do.