The Ghost of B A R P

Ha ha.

What has any of that incomprehensible passive-aggressive bullshit got to do with anything? You can stop whenever you like, you know.

What bit of that post says 'raging' to you? And why, Tuesday morning after a game you won, are you still going?

Aye, it’s exactly the same thing. You’re right. Well done. And what a fuckin weirdo you are.

Take a wild guess...

At last, a wee bit of honesty... (Although I'm struggling with idea that the advertising would have been invisible in its original position, or an entire two or three yards further from the pitch.)

I hope you're right, but I think you're being kind to the performance on Saturday. Lacking in both any real purpose with the ball and, crucially, energy: rare - and worrying - to see us out-pressed for most of the game. Oakley is obviously key, but there's more to it than that. Without Quitongo (and Oakley, to an extent), teams can defend as deep as they like against us. Muirhead isn't just poor in the air and holding it up, he's also never going to run in behind anybody. And the lack of any real width doesn't just limit us when we've got the ball, it means the opposition can just launch their full-backs as high as they want and squeeze us both wide and in the middle. Imrie must have seen that on Saturday, so the experiments need binned. If he doesn't want to play both Gillespie and Power sitting, stick Blues in beside one of them (Power), get Crawford back central where he can lead the press... and play two wide-players up against the opposition full-backs. We should have French and Strapp doubling-up down the sides, pinning the opposition back, and making it easier to press in the middle. That also means the service into Muirhead would come mostly from wide positions, rather than the long out-ball, which he's shown he just can't do. My guess is we'll need four wins (and maybe a draw or two) to make it. Minimum seven points from the next three games... but we'll need to have Oakley back - and be 50% better than we were on Saturday - to make that realistic.

Deflect away, chuckle bros… Did you or didn’t you move the hoardings to prevent an opponent taking long throws? You did. Case closed.

I acknowledged we’d lost to the better team on the day - no problem, we were murder. But if you think ‘moaning’, as you put it, about moving the hoardings is more embarrassing than… an actual professional football club moving the hoardings with the deliberate purpose of impeding players’ movement… well, maybe nothing will embarrass you (as you’ve confirmed by trying to compare this to the dimensions of our pitch, which, as far as I recall, are the same for every game in the season). To repeat, forcing a professional footballer to move a hoarding that had been intentionally put there to get in his way in order to take a fuckin throw-in - and the ball-boys putting them back every time! - is the height of tin-pottery. Not confident we’ll make fourth the way things are going - and there’s no way we’re going up even if we do - but it would surely be worth it just to Ross County you gimps all over again.

I didn’t, until yesterday. Now I do. I don’t think that involved an actual game of football, but glad it amuses you. In answer to your question: yes, yes it is. Kind of thing I’ve heard about from random amateur teams, but never thought I’d see in a professional game. You must be very proud. Enjoy the win; hope we - and Lewis Strapp - see you in the play-offs.

That’s as bad as I’ve seen us… no clue in possession beyond ‘give it to Power’ or ‘skelp it long’. We somehow managed to be worse out of possession, though… barely won a second ball all day and got bullied by a team who pressed miles better than us. And maybe the clearest example we’ve seen of Imrie making a total arse of the team selection. No amount of injuries justifies two of the shouts: French as a ‘midfielder’ (Jesus wept) and Gillespie as a ‘number 10’ (more tears). No problem acknowledging the better team won, but I’ve got to mention the bollocks with the hoardings: possibly the most tin-pot thing I’ve ever seen at any level of football. Hope it was worth it.

The goal isn’t entirely on Power… it’s at least partly on every Morton player giving him the ball whether it’s on or not, because they don’t know what else to do.

This hasn’t worked on any level. Get French to f**k out of there.

Fixed.

Just watched the goal on the highlights: 1. Muirhead does give it up cheaply, trying to buy a foul (and had just done something similar before the chance where Vargas hits the bar); 2. Muirhead, Blues, and Power all had a clear opportunity to haul Baningime back as he got into his running; 3. Broadfoot has a moment and pushes up towards the ball, which leaves us even more exposed; 4. French then has a clear opportunity to win the ball when Shankland dithers, but doesn't take it. That's pretty much the definition of (not) 'defending as a team', but for me the most important element is always the last, because that's the point of maximal danger. French has his moments going forward, but his decision-making is terrible... and he just isn't very good at defending.

Only complaint tonight was the nature of the goal that won it: an absolute shiter that could have been prevented at no less than four separate points. Apart from that, we were set up right, competed well, but had no real forward options when Muirhead ran out of gas. Time to get a contract for another year in front of Power btw: Actual Football Player.

Promise?

Too passive here…

That’s more or less how I expect we’ll line up… but how often French and Strapp can occupy advanced positions remains to be seen…

5-4-1 it is… shitfest to pens the only way (cue humping).

Assume you'll be providing a full break-down of what those bookings were for,* including, specifically, the number of incidents remotely comparable to kneeing an opponent in the back while making no attempt to play the ball?

Glad we're all now clear it's not only Morton who 'play a certain way'. Less glad that people paid real actual money to watch that last night...

I've absolutely no problem with an away team, a goal up, hitting the deck at every opportunity and slowing down the restart; it worked. Complaint is with the gimp of a referee, who let them do it for over an hour. At certain points he was waiting around until the Utd players were gracious enough to agree to continue the game. Eye-bleeding stuff. He could have played about twenty minutes additional time (aye, I know: we still wouldn't have scored).

We’ve been terrible, but this balloon of a ref has made the ‘game’ more or less unwatchable.

Amazing to think that when this was originally scheduled we couldn't buy a win, mainly due to injuries in a thin squad; then went on an unbelievable run; and have now come (almost) full circle back to a point where you'd be worried about where the next win is coming from, again due to injuries... I'd take a point this evening, no more injuries, wee bit of light relief in the cup on Monday - it's basically a free hit - then hopefully back to something like full strength for the run-in.