Handsome_Devil Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 9 hours ago, dezz said: 7 points off the top 6 with a game in hand. Nae bother. I think fans of all teams, watching their own team be shite, frequently lose the context that everyone outside the top three is at best only a bawhair better or, quite frankly, just a touch luckier. For whatever reason(s) it's been getting more and more pronounced in recent years. The fact this St Mirren and Livingston are chasing Europe is mind-blowing, as is the fact we've won once in the last 400 games yet are ninth, only a couple of good results from 'comfortable' mid-table. St Johnstone had pushed towards the top half, hit a tough run of fixtures and have suddenly lost five in a row. Their next fixtures btw are Rangers (cup), Rangers, Motherwell, Celtic. If they end up with one win in that period, over guess who, everything is fine. If they lose all nine it's full blown panic. The margins not just between winning and losing a game but a season are beyond paper thin as we demonstrated perfectly lat year. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dezz Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, Handsome_Devil said: I think fans of all teams, watching their own team be shite, frequently lose the context that everyone outside the top three is at best only a bawhair better or, quite frankly, just a touch luckier. 100%. There's no getting away from the fact we've been largely rotten this season, but the margins are paper thin as you say - maybe it feels even more like that for us because we've generally in with a chance of picking up points in all but a handful of games this season. I've been pretty negative the last few weeks, and Hammell's repetitive post match interviews are starting to grate a little, but it's the thin margins that are giving me a tiny sliver of hope. It's all if's and but's but if two or three key moments this season had gone our way (Kev hitting the bar at Livi/taking 1 chance in that game against Utd) then we'd be looking fairly comfortable given the nature of the league. Here's hoping we can improve enough to make those moments swing our way between now and the end of the season. Edited January 19, 2023 by dezz 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ceiling Granny Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 I think this is it, we don’t really seem to be hugely worse than at least a handful of other teams. Problem, for me, in terms of putting that into perspective is the general apathy around the place just now, and I’m not really sure how you get rid of that. It’s probably why I was so behind the risk of the Moult signing as at least it was something to let yourself get a wee bit excited about and there was definitely a buzz about in general chatter. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
well fan for life Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 (edited) Aye. This league is 3 competent teams and then varying shades of shite. If us, or anyone else at the bottom, could some how put two wins in a row together that's probably enough to save them. Cannae see it being us right now tbh. Edited January 19, 2023 by well fan for life 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 18 minutes ago, dezz said: 100%. There's no getting away from the fact we've been largely rotten this season, but the margins are paper thin as you say - maybe it feels even more like that for us because we've generally in with a chance of picking up points in all but a handful of games this season. I've been pretty negative the last few weeks, and Hammell's repetitive post match interviews are starting to grate a little, but it's the thin margins that are giving me a tiny sliver of hope. It's all if's and but's but if two or three key moments this season had gone our way (Kev hitting the bar at Livi/taking 1 chance in that game against Utd) then we'd be looking fairly comfortable given the nature of the league. Here's we can improve enough to make those moments swing our way between now and the end of the season. I had noticed that given we've a double header coming up against the best St Mirren team in 35 years or whatever, if we were to win those games (a big IF I grant you) it'd leave us 1 point behind them. As it stands we've also only lost 2 of our last 6 (**** (a) and Hibs (h)) Talking about margins this is where we were last season after 21 games (just as we were about to slide into that run as Alexander lost his mind): We're currently 11 points down on where we were having scored the same number of goals and conceded two more. The thing is, you don't have to look that far to see where we could have picked up a couple more points. Coulda, shoulda, woulda but if Kev scores that pen when we battered United 0-0, if we'd seen the game game out at 2-0 against Killie, if we'd seen the game out at 1-0 on Saturday...that's another 6 points right there before you get into being 2-2 with minutes to go at Tynecastle or being 1-1 in injury time against St Johnstone.. "If we'd won more games and picked up more points then we'd be higher up the table" isn't exactly stunning insight but as everyone's said...fine margins. It doesn't feel like a BIG statement but if Hammell could sort out the defence through some sort of witchcraft or just y'know signing some competent defenders and organising them properly then there's a fair chance we'd actually be fine. At the moment there's been nothing from Hammell and Kerr to suggest they're remotely capable of doing that though. Which is annoying tbqh. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thisGRAEME Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 10 minutes ago, capt_oats said: Coulda, shoulda, woulda but if Kev scores that pen when we battered United 0-0, if we'd seen the game game out at 2-0 against Killie, if we'd seen the game out at 1-0 on Saturday...that's another 6 points right there before you get into being 2-2 with minutes to go at Tynecastle or being 1-1 in injury time against St Johnstone.. Back to death by a thousand cuts here, because we didny. If we get back-to-back wins at any point between now and May, we'll stay up, but I don't think we will. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welldaft Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 (edited) 32 minutes ago, Ceiling Granny said: I think this is it, we don’t really seem to be hugely worse than at least a handful of other teams. Problem, for me, in terms of putting that into perspective is the general apathy around the place just now, and I’m not really sure how you get rid of that. It’s probably why I was so behind the risk of the Moult signing as at least it was something to let yourself get a wee bit excited about and there was definitely a buzz about in general chatter. All posts above are bang on the money. I still don’t think we are rotten. We are not particularly good, but despite being reportedly certs for bottom 2 spots by media and fans of other clubs we are still in 9th and have a game in hand on a couple of our direct rivals etc. The relegation battle is between 4 or 5 teams and we are as likely to climb the table as stay still or even fall back. If our new players are any decent and we can add a dominant CB (wishful thinking) then we will be OK. Not be a decent season but safe enough. As for general apathy. Near enough 4500 Motherwell fans turned up against Ross County on a miserable wet and windy day. That is very decent home crowd especially as it was not long after Xmas. We have also sold well over 1500 tickets for Arbroath away Edited January 19, 2023 by welldaft 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ceiling Granny Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 7 minutes ago, welldaft said: As for general apathy. Near enough 4500 Motherwell fans turned up against Ross County on a miserable wet and windy day. That is very decent home crowd especially as it was not long after Xmas. We have also sold well over 1500 tickets for Arbroath away This is true. Maybe I’m just hanging about with grumpy b******s. Maybe it’s just because usually when you’re chatting pre/post match someone has thoughts/ideas on how if they were the manager they’d change x, y or z and it would make a big difference. Just now it seems a bit more we have the squad we have and they’re playing the way they’re playing and how do you fix that? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swello Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 There is a slightly weird atmosphere at the moment generally - and I'm still trying to work out if the deathly silence at the end of the county game was better or worse than the wall of boos that would have happened under alexander (or was just because everyone was in the early stages of hypothermia). I think in a season like this (and there have been plenty of others), the endless succession of disappointing stuff that happens grinds everyone down (including players and staff obviously). I'd almost (but not really) prefer that we were getting humped every week as the current situation where we are always close to a better result but not quite getting there definitely saps all the normal optimism. Thing is - a couple of decent results in a row and it can all come back pretty quickly. More generally, the club has been through a period of significant improvement over the past few years to the point that we've become seen as the model Town club in a lot of ways. Things have definitely plateaued (understandably, as the law of diminishing returns kicks in) but with all the changes (and vacancies) behind the scenes, it definitely feels like a press of the reboot button is needed to get us going again. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YassinMoutaouakil Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 There's absolutely no way this can come back to bite me over the next month but that's St Mirren on a run of one win in ten now, which all sounds very Stephen Robinson. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Handsome_Devil Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 10 minutes ago, YassinMoutaouakil said: There's absolutely no way this can come back to bite me over the next month but that's St Mirren on a run of one win in ten now, which all sounds very Stephen Robinson. Two in 11, had their visit to us not been postponed, would be much better! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellboy1991 Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 3 hours ago, YassinMoutaouakil said: There's absolutely no way this can come back to bite me over the next month but that's St Mirren on a run of one win in ten now, which all sounds very Stephen Robinson. And guess who they have next in the league…… Just in time to break their streak they are up against a team who exist to improve peoples lives (other than their own supporters). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cloontang Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 5 hours ago, well fan for life said: Aye. This league is 3 competent teams and then varying shades of shite. If us, or anyone else at the bottom, could some how put two wins in a row together that's probably enough to save them. Cannae see it being us right now tbh. I remember the season when McGhee came back and took over from Baraclough, I think it must have been early February but we lost a last minute goal to Partick Thistle at Firhill via Stevie Lawless. We followed this up by getting pumped out the SC by Inverness courtesy of Jordan Roberts wonder goal in injury time and then the moment that convinced me we were going down was getting beat by struggling Killie side who I think was getting managed by Lee McCulloch. Needless to say in true Motherwell fashion we pumped Dundee United before losing to St Johnstone then managed to string five wins on the bounce which catapulted us into the top half of the table. I remember under McLeish we were destined for the drop but Willie Falconer managed to save our season and we managed a similar run. We need more of that please. It's amazing how tightly compacted things are getting these days as the quality between the teams out with the top three seems to be much of a muchness. Anyway going back to the 2014/15 season playoff win I've calculated our points total at this stage (I've used the date opposed to games played, we might have played one more or less) and where we eventually ended up. 2014/15 - 17 points - 11th 2015/16 - 25 points - 5th (Three wins on the bounce before Christmas including beating Celtic at Parched) 2016/17 - 21 points - 9th 2017/18 - 22 points - 7th (Incredible start to the season but went right off the rails in November/December) 2018/19 - 21 points - 8th (Played really well up until January where the form went off a cliff, Covid probably bailed us out. Prob would have beaten Aberdeen that evening the league was halted) 2019/20 - 37 points - 3rd 2020/21 - 19 points - 8th 2021/22 - 31 points - 5th 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YassinMoutaouakil Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 This feels in poor taste but YAAAAAAAAAAAS 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowsdower Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevie Kirk Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 11 minutes ago, YassinMoutaouakil said: This feels in poor taste but YAAAAAAAAAAAS I’m going to Arbroath Saturday but I’m available on Sunday if he needs a lift down the M74. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eliphas Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 18 minutes ago, YassinMoutaouakil said: This feels in poor taste but YAAAAAAAAAAAS Should give a bit of confidence to us that Hammell knows the issues and essentially has been pissing with the cock he's got for the last few months. To put it politely. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 (edited) 25 minutes ago, YassinMoutaouakil said: This feels in poor taste but YAAAAAAAAAAAS Suggestion on Football Insider that Queens Park, Doncaster and Dundee are interested as well (cc: @Ludo*1) Edited January 19, 2023 by capt_oats 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busta Nut Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 There is suggestion of another team looking at him on loan too. So he must surely be on road oot 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eliphas Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 One in, one out. Let the speculation commence 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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