Motherwell vs St.Johnstone 13/08/16

[Gianfranco]

That was an awful performance St Johnstone won nearly every 50/50 and were well worth the three points.

I've absolutely no idea what Samson thought he was doing at the winning goal but he'll not be happy when he sees it back. Cadden, Lasley and Ainsworth just couldn't get in to the game and Johnson wasn't involved enough either. Clay at least won a few tackles. I'm not even going to mention Chalmers performance.

Mcdonald did great at our goal and at holding it up on occasions but that was about it.

Bad day at the office.

[mizfit]

I honestly love Macca more than I love my girlfriend.

[Radford]

Thought Saints deserved that over the piece, even if the winner was a touch fortunate and Motherwell forcing the better saves in the second half. As Tommy Wright said, you'd expect Mannus to deal with the two shots that tested him but they were well hit efforts. 

The opening 30 minutes had been as good as you could probably hope for at a place like Fir Park but wayward finishing (nine shots on goal, one on target) and a too often poor final ball was letting us down. Motherwell came back into the game and McGhee switching Johnson to the right paid dividends early in the second half when he got behind Easton and set up Cadden for an easy opener. Tommy Wright reacted by switching Alston and Swanson, as the former Falkirk man had done a good job on Johnson in the opening half. I was worried about how it would effect us in looking for an equaliser but Swanson rose to the occasion and scored a great leveller, nutmegging Samson from about 8 yards out.

The game became fairly open and I'd have settled for a draw, although it would have been slightly disappointing after the first half. Following our earlier inability to hit the target, you saw the importance of doing so when Samson spilled a fairly tame Kane effort and MacLean nodded home the winner. Much like after taking the lead late on midweek, I didn't think we looked at much risk of surrendering the advantage and as said, thought we did deserve the points.

A good the performance with everyone playing their part. Shaughnessy was much better at full back and contributed to the winner by teeing up Kane whilst McKay has set a standard for himself that will ease the manager's concern about adding a defender. He was a bit 'ave it at times but from him, that was a positive. Millar was a world away from what Paton produced on Wednesday and along with Davidson dominated that area of the park in spells. Alston was heavily involved first half, although drifted out of things when shifted left. Kane worked tirelessly again but is going to need to try and do better with some of his chances. Swanson was excellent again. When the pitches deteriorate, he might not be as effective but until then he can hopefully keep producing at this level.

Big test next week but can't say we aren't going into it in good form.

[Judge Jules]

Are we the only team in the league that Samson ever played well against ?! There were times when he was playing for St Mirren against us he was a ginga ninja in goals ! I recall one game in Paisley where he stopped us racking up a cricket score and we went on to lose that day. Now he plays for us and looks like the guy who got picked last in PE so ye just stuck him in goals out the way. 

[Indyboy]

Chalmers was poor again. How did he become a footballer? Also how's he also hitting the corners? Pish.

[scottmcleanscontacts]

Saints probably just about deserved that.

Motherwell paint pretty pictures and I think with a half decent striker/poacher they'll be fine.

[MikeyWellFan]

Same old story against saints.

Not sure what planet samson is on.

Charmers needs punted into the sea.

[Jim McLean's Ghost]

3 minutes ago, scottmcleanscontacts said:

Saints probably just about deserved that.

Motherwell paint pretty pictures and I think with a half decent striker/poacher they'll be fine.
 

We have one of those unfortunately he is out for another few weeks.

[Casagolda]

I'm no fan of Chalmers and he hardly set the world alight today but he was far from the worst in a Motherwell strip, however he is of course the easiest target for fans wanting to vent their frustration. McManus for example looked shaky, Ainsworth anonymous, Samson a disaster waiting to happen(that did happen) and Lasley was so far off the pace is was frightening. Even Johnson and Cadden who've been the real bright spots so far this season were below par. Clay started poorly but actually felt he grew into the game and put in a decent display in the end. McDonald had some good hold up play and did well at the goal but you could see him become more frustrated as the game went on with the poor service/support he was getting. Culminating in that ridiculous booking he picked up for punching the ball into the net. 

For all that we were poor we had that game in our hands as we dominated the first 10 mins of the 2nd half, scored a well worked opening goal and should have went two up as McDonald had a glorious chance that he sclaffed wide of the post. Saints went up the park 90 seconds later, equalized and took the wind right out of us and we got progressively worse from there. Can understand McGhee wanting to get someone closer to McDonald as he was getting isolated and Saints were in the ascendancy at that point. Maybe felt he needed to shake things up but taking Cadden off for Blyth at 1-1 actually had an adverse affect on things as we were already struggling in the midfield battle at that point and we lost it completely once he went off and we went to a flat 442. 

Samson's howler then gifted St Johnstone the lead and it was one they never looked like surrendering. I'd say first half was pretty even with neither team creating a lot of clear cut chances, we started the 2nd half brightly but lost our way when St.Johnstone equalized and then just lost it completely once we went behind. Never really threatened to get back into the game after that which was disappointing. Saints probably deserved it over the piece but looking back at McDonald's miss and Samson's howler it's hard not to be frustrated that we ended up today with nothing, although we can have absolutely nobody to blame but ourselves. 

 

[scottmcleanscontacts]

We have one of those unfortunately he is out for another few weeks.

Moult?

He strikes me as a 6 yard box forward. Probably exactly what you missed today.

Scott McDonald looks finished. Or completely disinterested. Whichever.

[The Real Saints]

We started off brightly but lost our momentum towards the end of the first-half (a bit like Fair City Unity. Where did they disappear to?). Motherwell's early second-half goal could have acted as a nail in our coffin. At that stage, I was tempted to place a £1 bet on a 2-1 St. Johnstone victory. My finger hovered nervously over the SkyBet button. I backed out. In hindsight, I shouldn't have backed out. I would have made a sweet, sweet profit (£7).

Anyway, I should have known better. This team shouldn't be doubted. Another spirited performance and comeback. Mannus made a couple of excellent saves, Joe Shaughnessy looked more comfortable at right-back, Brad McKay finally accepted that he is a defender, Blair Alston was much-improved, displaying impressive movement and vision, Chris Millar's return made a huge difference to the team as a whole, and Danny Swanson was a revelation once again.

Another very positive performance which bodes well for the season.

[YassinMoutaouakil]

Scott McDonald must feel like he's hit a career low when Brad Mckay feels the need to have a word with him.

[capt_oats]

A goalkeeping display for the ages lads. Fucking hell.

 

[Indyboy]

That makes my heart sad watching that

[welldaft]

I am afraid the Samson blunder / spill has been waiting to happen. He has not been terrible as such, but each display this season has seen him fumbling the ball several times. Even yesterday before the 2nd goal he fumbles a tame shot. I suspect McGhee will show some loyalty but Brill is waiting in the wings and I think it will not be long before he gets his opportunity. 

Yesterday was also predictable. St Johnstone are a solid side as their recent results suggest. For us to win we needed all players to be playing well and that simply did not happen. St Johnstonewere the better side for most of 1st half, but then we came into game and were the better side for start of 2nd half when we scored. We could have scored a second but defending for both goals was very poor. For Samsons blunder there were at least 2 to 3 poor challenges leading up to the goal.

We could have come away with a draw which would have been scarcely deserved. Early in the season but I think there is enough there to see us mid table. We need Moult back fully fit and hopefully we can keep Marvin till at least Xmas. 

[RandomGuy.]

I'd assumed the BBC had fucked up when they said Samson had "spilled Kanes shot and allowed MacLean to head in the winner", as I couldn't work out how that could happen. I didn't expect it to be true.

[MJC]

The goals look worse seeing them in the highlights than they did at the game. Samson just will not do.

[capt_oats]

The thing with Samson is, these are known flaws in his game it's not as if people should be surprised by this. He's been doing it for years. As much as the fumbles and his unique knack of parrying the ball straight to the opposition catches the eye there's been a consistent hesitancy and indecision to his performances that's just as concerning. It has been evident against Hibs, against Rangers where he should have clearly been off the park, Killie where he was caught in no mans land a few times, Celtic and ultimately Saints yesterday.

As I said over in the general thread I still don't really understand why Samson's even here given he was signed when we already had 2 goalkeepers and the fact we elected to extend Ripley's loan rather than play him didn't suggest he was viewed as a viable first choice. If it's the case that he was offered a deal out of some misplaced sense of obligation or loyalty seeing as he signed last season and sat on the bench then that's a bit weird.

If it's the case of the first choice spot being his to lose by virtue of him having been patient in waiting for his shot, and the fact we've brought in Brill rather than a younger more inexperienced GK might suggest that is what's happening, then I wonder what the tipping point will be and how long it'll take McGhee to make that call. He's not been shy in dropping outfield players that he's viewed as having cost us points in the past and the fact he's got an experienced option as back up to Samson means there's a goalkeeper there who has said himself came to the club expecting to play when he got the opportunity whether that's as a result of poor form or injury. Personally I'd hope Brill is chapping McGhee's office door first thing Monday morning.

[MJC]

It was a strange, strange signing right enough, one of Baraclough's last for the club I'm sure. Nice of the bold Bara to leave us something to remember him by, a guy who is to goalkeeping what he was to managing.

We simply can't afford to keep him in the first team due to his patience in waiting for his chance (if that is indeed the case) if we are continually shipping goals like yesterday which cost us points. He's been given his chance, we've seen enough, Dean Brill needs to start next week at Ibrox.

[capt_oats]

It was a strange, strange signing right enough, one of Baraclough's last for the club I'm sure.

Yep, he signed 15th September, Bara was emptied on the 23rd. So he was signed outside the window, meaning we were stuck with 3 first team 'keepers, having negotiated his release from Killie (on 6th August) because he didn't want to sit on the bench as back-up to MacDonald.

I think it's telling that we bought Brill in as back-up rather than a younger goalkeeper. Samson's pretty much confirmed what most suspected and I wonder how much his indecision is having a knock on effect with the likes of McManus.