RandomGuy. Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 I'm happy to keep winning but we're still not playing well. Looked like a clear dive for me. Pretty sure its roughly the same eleven who started in Inverness. So in comparison we were supwrb today Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radford Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 I was wrong about the penalty last week as thought Westlake had got a touch but I'm certain TV pictures will prove what everyone above has already highlighted and that it was a dive by Brian Graham. He'll get a call from the CO in the coming days. He's obviously the main villain here but Brian Colvin shouldn't be getting that decision wrong. Suicidal pass back from ICT that led to it as well. Reckon the red for Draper was harsh too but Colvin was a lot closer to that one and the highlights should show if there was intent in it. Was nothing in the game before the penalty and although both sides were passing the ball about well enough there wasn't much action in either box, a regular occurrence in this fixture over the past few seasons. O'Halloran's pace had nicked us a couple of openings and forced one smart save from Brill before half-time and Mackay had one cleared off the line whilst Inverness had a few tame efforts, maybe most notably Christie's header that crept just wide. Even after the penalty and going down to ten men I felt Inverness weren't too disrupted whereas we seemed to struggle to know how to approach things and ended up sitting too deep and inviting them onto us. Other than Raven's effort that flashed just past (hit post?) not sure they opened us up though and the defence is really back in it's grove now. Going forward we again weren't anything special but both Croft and Wotherspoon are growing in confidence as the team does. Not much came off for Croft early on but he kept at it. Likewise Brian Graham who worked hard to make a valuable contribution despite not offering much of a threat. Real disappointment was how much Davidson struggled when he came on, he still looks a long way off the player he can be. We've had a bit of fortune in recent weeks undoubtedly but have made the most of it and it's a pretty decent position we find ourselves in heading into a tough run of games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Real Saints Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 The league table tells the story of today's match. We have been struggling to score goals this season and currently have the 3rd lowest total in the Scottish Premiership. However, we also have the joint 2nd best defensive record in the league. Our victory today was founded on another solid defensive display. Frazer Wright, in particular, was outstanding at the back and my MotM today for that reason. At the other end of the pitch, we were struggling to put the ball in the back of the net and got a bit fortunate with our goal. It looked like a very clear dive to me. We must bear in mind that Brian Graham is on loan from Dundee United, a club which actively teaches their players how to dive and cheat the system in various other ways. I have it on good authority that Brian is currently seeing a specialist in order to rectify this problem and help him to forget everything he has been taught during his time at United. Of course it was a disappointment, but his development into an honest player is still very much a work in progress. Can't complain with the result though and I think that our general play just about merited it. It wasn't a vintage performance, but I'll never complain as long as we keep putting 3 points on the board as often as possible. Still, there is room for improvement. Our passing can be quite negative, our players can be quite hesitant, our positioning and communication can be quite suspect. I reckon we were the better team today, however, and it bodes well that we are winning matches even when we probably aren't playing as well as we are capable of (and when players like McFadden, MacLean and Scobbie are unavailable). With the formation we use, it is absolutely vital that the wingers push forward at every attacking opportunity and do their best to support Brian Graham up front. When the wingers aren't performing, we have a real problem. A lack of attacking support and creativity results in a lack of chances for Graham and others to take. Unfortunately this was one of our key problems for the first 30 minutes or so. Lee Croft didn't start very well at all, and O'Halloran insisted on constantly drifting into a more central position. This meant that Brian Easton had absolutely no support on the left wing and kept losing the ball. Tommy did the right thing by moving Spoony to the left instead and allowing O'Halloran a more central position. We instantly looked like more of a threat and put in a half-decent performance from that point onwards (although we began to allow Inverness a bit too much time and space on the ball after they went down to ten men). A lot of positives to take today. There is no doubting that a victory against Inverness is an excellent result. We have a bit more character in this team now and we should be aiming to push even higher up the table. There's plenty of time. Well done Saints! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radford Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 I know we aren't blowing teams away but think it says a lot about the squad we have that we're five points clear in sixth place after losing Stevie May a day before our first match and then our other main striker to long-term injury in early September. Seven games undefeated, five of them wins and only three goals conceded. Think the club could start selling whatever was in that injection Frazer Wright got. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glenrothes 1884 saint Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Been a real turn around since second half at Dens,much more difficult to beat,not playing as well as we'd like,but still working really hard,and as Radford says,Frazer has been transformed since the injection.With the squad getting stronger soon,still think we've a chance of top 4,time will tell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The ghost of Jim Morton Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Strange afternoon. Really hope I am wrong, but first impressions are almost always right and for me Brian Graham took a dive ( and not even a very good one). Desperately hope I am wrong because as I have always said, there is no place for that sort of thing in football and those that do cheat by diving deserve to be banned. It would be very hypocritical of me, given the abuse I have given to players from other teams who have done likewise. Lets hope the keeper did indeed get a touch on the player. First time I have never cheered a saints goal in all my life. I am not simple trying to be righteous. This something I have always felt very strongly about. Apart from that i thought saints played very well at the back and created a good few chances up front. Sending off was spot on as the ICT boy delivered a forearm smash right into Lappins face. Other than that i thought the ref had a terrible game. No drama, just my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiG Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Not much to add to the posts from TRS and "Cheers, Kev" above. Both spot on for me. Didn't see the dive for the penalty or the sending off so can't really comment on them (still hungover from the work night out so I struggled to maintain any kind of concentration) but pretty disappointed if Graham has cheated to win a penalty. Referee was absolutely abysmal today. Easily one of the worst performances I have seen from an official so far this season. Regardless of the above I was disappointed by how poor we were. We had some decent chances (Christie in the first half springs to mind and Raven hitting the post) but overall I didn't think we looked overly threatening going forward. Our final ball just wasn't there today and we often seemed to misjudge where to play that final killer pass. It seemed very odd to drop Watkins. I can only assume he wasn't fully fit. Vincent was hung out to dry again as a wide midfielder but I suspect he was deployed to combat O'Halloran. Shinnie again was below par and I don't think there were too many plus points from today's match from an ICT perspective. Brill had some good saves. The one from McKay's (?) free kick was great. Aberdeen next and that will be a very demanding game to get anything from if we keep playing as we are just now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radford Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 That was Colvin's first game in charge of Saints since he did our 3-3 draw with Hearts eleven months ago. He sent Steven Anderson off (overturned on appeal) for denying a goalscoring opportunity about 40 yards from goal, gave us one penalty for a foul outside the box and another soft one for handball then just seemed to pick two players almost at random, one being our goalkeeper, to send off after a melee in the goalmouth. Remember getting him a few years ago for the first time and thinking he was alright but he seems to get a lot of stick these days. How is Doran doing for ICT generally at the moment? Fair to say he's maybe been in better shape? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Widge Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Well it's not going to get any better, we've got Alan Muir for the match against Dundee United. I sense a whole heap of shite coming in that game. Fwiw folk are praising Croft an awful lot on WAP, I thought he was poor, sure he does get the occasional good cross in and he's getting better defensively, but the decision to square it in the box was so stupid when a shot was on. Then again I though Lappin was out best player and I've come to find out most of the stuff on WAP is fantasy stuff or just wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radford Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Folk are praising Croft an awful lot on WAP, I thought he was poor, sure he does get the occasional good cross in and he's getting better defensively, but the decision to square it in the box was so stupid when a shot was on. Then again I though Lappin was out best player and I've come to find out most of the stuff on WAP is fantasy stuff or just wrong. Croft made a lot of poor decisions early in the game but he didn't let his head go down and kept going down that right flank and like you say, got some decent balls in the box. I wonder if his decision to square the ball was a result of his poor effort from a similar area in the first half? Not sure I'd have had him as MoM but don't think it was that outrageous a decision from the sponsors. Lappin drifts out of games for me but when he's involved does well. Thought today was maybe the most involved he's managed to remain as he only really disappeared for a spell late in the first half. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiG Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Doran has always looked quite, erm, stocky to say the least but he still has a good turn of pace, decent bit of skill on him and is generally a really good player for us. Really looks like he is a bit of a chubster but I don't think he actually is he just seems to have that appearance. He's been in and out of the team this year with Hughes preferring the likes of Watkins or Williams on the wings along with Vincent if we appear to be trying to cancel out an opposing attacker from a wide position as with O'Halloran today. I'd like to see him start most games along with Watkins and Christie which would be a wonderfully potent supporting three to create chances for Mckay but defensively they might be a bit more suspect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ICTJohnboy Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Regardless of the above I was disappointed by how poor we were. We had some decent chances (Christie in the first half springs to mind and Raven hitting the post) but overall I didn't think we looked overly threatening going forward. Our final ball just wasn't there today and we often seemed to misjudge where to play that final killer pass. It seemed very odd to drop Watkins. I can only assume he wasn't fully fit. Vincent was hung out to dry again as a wide midfielder but I suspect he was deployed to combat O'Halloran. Shinnie again was below par and I don't think there were too many plus points from today's match from an ICT perspective. Brill had some good saves. The one from McKay's (?) free kick was great. Aberdeen next and that will be a very demanding game to get anything from if we keep playing as we are just now. Shinnie had a nightmare last week against PT. I'm thinking his mind is somewhere else now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomGuy. Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Doran, and Mckay, both looked utter shadows of the players we've faced in the past. Doran is easily larger than he used to be, while I think McKay just doesn't suit the style of play. Doran could easily have been sent off for a second yellow for diving but the ref shat out of it. Think I'm in the majority who would've given Wright the MOM award, he still strolls through games and the way he can read attacks is ridiculous. You almost never realise he has literally no pace because he never puts himself in the position of needing to use it. Croft was alright, and probably had his best game going forward for a while that I can remember, he puts a hell of a shift in going backwards aswell, which was vital today. I'm also in the Lappin Love group, but his passing still lets him down at points and he's prone to getting beaten too easily, he also puts in a great shift and has great intelligence on where to be on the pitch aswell. Anyone know why Millar was taken off incidentally? I presume it was an injury? Muzz was a fucking shambles when he came on too, wouldn't be adverse to having him loaned out for a spell to get fit but I doubt he would accept that. Not even a shadow of his former self Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Widge Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Aye Millar went straight down the tunnel, so must have tweaked something. That said I'd have brought Brown on, he doesn't possess Murray's height, but he's just as combative and has shown he can play in a midfield 2. Which Murray can't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomGuy. Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 He seems to have lost some faith in Brown, as he's not featured at all in the last two months I think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Costanza Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Frazer Wright my MOM as well, superb at the back. Croft got better as the game went on but thought MOM award was a bit much as is the love in on WAP. We all see different things I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiG Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 https://twitter.com/RichwilBBC/status/546319185178288129 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomGuy. Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Not surprising from the BBC. Actually thought Caley brought a decent support tbh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broon_100 Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Just seen the penalty incident on TV. There was contact and the keeper was nowhere near the ball. I'd say Graham made the most of it but it's not a dive. As for Draper, what an idiot. Definitely a red. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The ghost of Jim Morton Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Just seen the penalty incident on TV. There was contact and the keeper was nowhere near the ball. I'd say Graham made the most of it but it's not a dive. As for Draper, what an idiot. Definitely a red. We must have differnt makes of TV because I just watched and he jumps over the keeper before swan diving and claiming he's been hit by a fucking cruise missile. NEVER in 100 years is that anything other than a dive I am afraid. 2 match ban coming his way. Unacceptable shite from Graham. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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