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Match Preview/Thread - Morton vs Hamilton (15th April)


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24 minutes ago, DumfriesTon said:

The Willie Column show in the first half with a genuinely baffling decision. 

Second half was just flat, aimless balls to Ugwu who was ineffective, midfield was posted missing all game. 

Looking over our shoulders again when we really should be safe by now. Think the first 6 or 7 games of Imrie's time masked the lack of quality we have. Too many players who are just not good enough and who we should be looking to move on.

 

Indeed. It's been pretty clear for a while that that opening spell was abnormal, and we also shouldn't under-estimate the influence Lyon had over that period. More of him in a minute.

I've suggested before that our game plan is based around having the defence playing deep and tight around Lithgow as it's the only thing that can be made good with what the squad we have, that it's maybe not the thing you want to do but it's the thing you need to do because the options further up the pitch aren't good enough and I think that was abundantly clear today. The absence of Strapp just compounded matters.

Dunning said Blues performance was uncharacteristically poor, I'd suggest that it was exactly what he always does except the structure which protects him wasn't there and exposed him. It appears that he learned the pointing and shouting at everybody else for not doing his job for him shtick from Jim McAlister too, maybe he should focus on his own contribution instead of pointing fingers elsewhere. Wilson didn't have a great game, but he's having to cover an entire midfield by himself, even more so with Strapp not being there (not that he's a midfielder, but he does give balance to the team and helps cut out spaces).

I've wondered if there's some sort of issue with Lyon but if he's not getting on the pitch in games like that but, in all honesty, I think you maybe have to wonder if Imrie is getting it wrong with him - I get that he demands 100%, I'm all for it and I don't  disagree with benching somebody who's not giving their all, but frankly we're not in a position to be able to have such unshakeable principles and he's not going to offer any less than the guys on the pitch. The fact that Imrie rather unfairly singled Lyon out after the game away at Dunfermline sort of points to the idea that he's maybe misjudging it a wee bit, but that said, I also trust him to make the right calls even if it does seem odd - it may well be that he feels he's having to be really tough on Reece to whip him in to shape. Whatever it is, I really hope it's sorted quickly for everybody's sake as we're a far better team with an on-form Reece Lyon playing.

 

Up front, Reilly didn't look fully fit and I'm just really struggling to not reach the conclusion that Ugwu just isn't very good. I've tried to give him the benefit of the doubt that he's been on a poor run, that he might improve etc but he's just not offering anything and for all he does get pushed and pulled a bit, he's a fuckin big guy and he mostly stands there and lets it happen. Robbie Muirhead can do at least most of what he does and with more intelligence, and also has a lot more about him too as well as actually being a goal threat. I think he's definitely earned his new contract now, and he deserves an absolutely huge amount of credit for reaching that point.

You see people making excuses/offering mitigations for Muirhead's performances prior to the last 6 months or so and whilst there may be something to that, I personally think it's doing him a wee bit of a disservice, even if it sounds a bit counter-intuitive: a player that realises that he's not pulling his weight the way he should and accepts that he needs to look to himself to improve and then does so is far more valuable than one who only does the business when everything goes his way, which is the implication made if you try to justify his past efforts and put it down to circumstance. The latter suggests somebody who could just down tools again at some point and who might not be reliable over a long period, whereas the former gives you somebody that's learned a lesson and can be trusted to give his all even when things are against him. It's a really remarkable turn-around from him and it's really pleasing to see, not least because it gives us a really good player capable of doing really special things on a regular basis. The manager deserves a lot of credit for his part too, but it's all about the player responding.

 

 

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We've not lost two games in a row under Dougie yet after every loss there's a lot of fans saying players have shown they're not good enough, or that they should be dropped and then we win the next game and the conversation is that those same players are underrated and should be offered new contracts. 

I get that football fans base their thoughts  on a team on a week to week basis and a lot of reactions are based on emotion following the 90 minutes (Rangers fans are awful for it just now under Van Bronkhorst as well) but I find with this Morton squad more than any other I can remember the bi-polar reaction of fans on a week to week basis can be quite bizarre. 

We are going to play well and win games and play badly and lose games, the same as any other team in this division or any mid table team in any division in the world. A bad performance doesn't confirm or prove that players don't deserve contracts or should be dropped and a good performance doesn't confirm that they're superstars who deserve new contracts. 

Judge them over a sustained period of time, the easiest being from the moment Dougie started managing them and there's not many in that squad who don't have positive credit in the bank in terms of their performances over that period. 

 

 

 

Good people will do good things, bad people will do bad things, but only with religion do good people do bad things!

 

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3 minutes ago, EanieMeany said:

 

Indeed. It's been pretty clear for a while that that opening spell was abnormal, and we also shouldn't under-estimate the influence Lyon had over that period. More of him in a minute.

I've suggested before that our game plan is based around having the defence playing deep and tight around Lithgow as it's the only thing that can be made good with what the squad we have, that it's maybe not the thing you want to do but it's the thing you need to do because the options further up the pitch aren't good enough and I think that was abundantly clear today. The absence of Strapp just compounded matters.

Dunning said Blues performance was uncharacteristically poor, I'd suggest that it was exactly what he always does except the structure which protects him wasn't there and exposed him. It appears that he learned the pointing and shouting at everybody else for not doing his job for him shtick from Jim McAlister too, maybe he should focus on his own contribution instead of pointing fingers elsewhere. Wilson didn't have a great game, but he's having to cover an entire midfield by himself, even more so with Strapp not being there (not that he's a midfielder, but he does give balance to the team and helps cut out spaces).

I've wondered if there's some sort of issue with Lyon but if he's not getting on the pitch in games like that but, in all honesty, I think you maybe have to wonder if Imrie is getting it wrong with him - I get that he demands 100%, I'm all for it and I don't  disagree with benching somebody who's not giving their all, but frankly we're not in a position to be able to have such unshakeable principles and he's not going to offer any less than the guys on the pitch. The fact that Imrie rather unfairly singled Lyon out after the game away at Dunfermline sort of points to the idea that he's maybe misjudging it a wee bit, but that said, I also trust him to make the right calls even if it does seem odd - it may well be that he feels he's having to be really tough on Reece to whip him in to shape. Whatever it is, I really hope it's sorted quickly for everybody's sake as we're a far better team with an on-form Reece Lyon playing.

 

Up front, Reilly didn't look fully fit and I'm just really struggling to not reach the conclusion that Ugwu just isn't very good. I've tried to give him the benefit of the doubt that he's been on a poor run, that he might improve etc but he's just not offering anything and for all he does get pushed and pulled a bit, he's a fuckin big guy and he mostly stands there and lets it happen. Robbie Muirhead can do at least most of what he does and with more intelligence, and also has a lot more about him too as well as actually being a goal threat. I think he's definitely earned his new contract now, and he deserves an absolutely huge amount of credit for reaching that point.

You see people making excuses/offering mitigations for Muirhead's performances prior to the last 6 months or so and whilst there may be something to that, I personally think it's doing him a wee bit of a disservice, even if it sounds a bit counter-intuitive: a player that realises that he's not pulling his weight the way he should and accepts that he needs to look to himself to improve and then does so is far more valuable than one who only does the business when everything goes his way, which is the implication made if you try to justify his past efforts and put it down to circumstance. The latter suggests somebody who could just down tools again at some point and who might not be reliable over a long period, whereas the former gives you somebody that's learned a lesson and can be trusted to give his all even when things are against him. It's a really remarkable turn-around from him and it's really pleasing to see, not least because it gives us a really good player capable of doing really special things on a regular basis. The manager deserves a lot of credit for his part too, but it's all about the player responding.

 

 

I agree with all of this bar the Ugwu part. He was pretty poor today despite being assaulted every time he went up for a ball but overall in the season I think he's earned a new contract. What we need is another option when it's not working with him. Oliver's not good enough and Easdale shouldn't be near a professional outfit. 

Blues is a tough one. He pops up in the box every so often and it's good to have a midfielder that can do that but he just doesn't contribute enough in the midfield play for me. 

Excluding loan players I'd

Keep:

Hamilton, Strapp, Russell, probably Wilson, Muirhead, Ugwu

Get rid: 

Ledger, McLean, Hynes (if we can agree to terminate the contract), Jacobs (the same), Blues, Oliver

Loan out the likes of King, McGregor, Easdale who aren't ready yet or in Easdale's case will never be ready. 

Anyway it will take a clusterfuck of results to see us finish 9th. Only really need a point because of goal difference but still a worrying situation .

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See tbh, I wouldn’t actually argue the Ugwu thing too strongly, and I won’t be particularly upset if he gets a new deal. There’s been spells where he has had something to offer and it’s entirely possible that a pre-season with an actual manager etc and a better team around him will reinvigorate him and get the best from him consistently, but all that said we shouldn’t be for a second just taking him without first seeing what else there is first.

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42 minutes ago, DumfriesTon said:

I want to see Lyon back in the CDM position that he was bossing before being unfairly dropped for Wilson. Not sure what's going on there but we are in much more control of the midfield and more effective in attack when he plays.

Wilson has been an upgrade in recent weeks. Lyon is a cracking player but clearly something wrong with fitness or attitude - - he's been dropped by multiple managers now. 

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Blues could be accomodated in a midfield three at the moment but in a 3-4-3 it doesn't work. Wilson wasn't great by any means, but has a thankless task while we shoehorn in and carry so many specialist options around him. 

 

The site is supposed to be a place for the extended 'family' of Morton supporters - having an affinity with people that you don't know, because you share a love of your local football club. It's not supposed to be about point scoring and showing how 'clever' or 'funny' you are, or just being downright rude and offensive to people you don't know, because you can get away with it. Unfortunately, it seems the classic case of people who have little standing/presence in real life, use this forum as a way of making themselves feel as if they are something. It's sad, and I've said that before..

 

So, having been on Morton forums for about 15 years I guess, I've had enough... well done t*ssers, another Morton supporter driven away. You can all feel happy at how 'clever' you are

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15 minutes ago, EanieMeany said:

See tbh, I wouldn’t actually argue the Ugwu thing too strongly, and I won’t be particularly upset if he gets a new deal. There’s been spells where he has had something to offer and it’s entirely possible that a pre-season with an actual manager etc and a better team around him will reinvigorate him and get the best from him consistently, but all that said we shouldn’t be for a second just taking him without first seeing what else there is first.

It depends on the wage terms and the rumours - only that - suggest that we should be prioritising tieing up other forwards first. I'm not saying 'Ugwu out' or any but a couple of players to go automatically, but we need to establish a hierarchy of what we need and then want to have in next season's squad. 

The site is supposed to be a place for the extended 'family' of Morton supporters - having an affinity with people that you don't know, because you share a love of your local football club. It's not supposed to be about point scoring and showing how 'clever' or 'funny' you are, or just being downright rude and offensive to people you don't know, because you can get away with it. Unfortunately, it seems the classic case of people who have little standing/presence in real life, use this forum as a way of making themselves feel as if they are something. It's sad, and I've said that before..

 

So, having been on Morton forums for about 15 years I guess, I've had enough... well done t*ssers, another Morton supporter driven away. You can all feel happy at how 'clever' you are

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43 minutes ago, vikingTON said:

It depends on the wage terms and the rumours - only that - suggest that we should be prioritising tieing up other forwards first. I'm not saying 'Ugwu out' or any but a couple of players to go automatically, but we need to establish a hierarchy of what we need and then want to have in next season's squad. 

I'd say Strapp and Hamilton are the two from this squad that we would find it incredibly difficult to replace with similar quality. As such, they are also the two I think we are least likely to keep but would push the boat out for. Would love to keep McEntee another season but don't see it happening. 

 

After that there is a hierarchy as you say. There is Wilson who I think would be high up my list then Muirhead who has earned it. Otherwise, we really need to think about which players would fit the 433 that Dougie wants. Happy to keep Ugwu if he's reasonably cheap - can see us getting a better striker than him but probably not two better strikers. Worth noting that every team in the division has at least 1 player with more goals than anyone in our team. 

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1 hour ago, port-ton said:

I get that football fans base their thoughts  on a team on a week to week basis and a lot of reactions are based on emotion following the 90 minutes (Rangers fans are awful for it just now under Van Bronkhorst as well) but I find with this Morton squad more than any other I can remember the bi-polar reaction of fans on a week to week basis can be quite bizarre. 

 

Right enough. A team that went unbeaten last season to win the league and who are in a Europa League semi-final this year as well as Scottish Cup one is definitely a reasonable comparison to this mob of ours. People say they're not good enough because they're not.

As has been said elsewhere, the early form upon Imrie's arrival was clearly something of an aberration and not a standard that was every going to be sustained or replicated. If we take that as ending with the home win against Queens, we've played 10 games in which we've scored 7 goals, conceded 9 and picked up 13 points from a possible 30. Anybody that thinks this resembles any a team on the verge of a good thing or represents players who've spent their careers so far being not very good suddenly becoming top-class Championship players is kidding themselves on. A lot of this team were bad in the last two seasons, they were bad in the first half of the season and quite frankly also pretty bad now outwith that brief interlude. 

We're getting by because Imrie has managed to identify a way to craft a really solid defence around Lithgow, that's been our salvation along with that initial bounce following Imrie's arrival. Just look at how it went today without that defensive unit being there.

It's also worth nothing that whilst you can only beat what's in front of you, circumstances have also helped us a lot. Take Raith, for example: they finished 2nd last year and were a really good team at the start of the season but have collapsed big time and are a shadow of what they were whilst this is a good period for us. We wouldn't have won that game last weekend against them at their best, and even as it was it was more luck than anything else that left us with a clean sheet (even though the credit for that still goes to the defence) - we done very well to get the win for sure, but nonetheless we shouldn't be thinking it's evidence of our superiority or ability to compete for promotion or whatever. Similarly, Partick have faded a lot since the start of the season and also went and lost 4-1 to Dunfermline after we beat them: that doesn't detract from our wins against them, but it also gives context. You could also add that Dunfermline have been way, way below what anybody would have thought at the start of the season (although tbf the Grant factor probably reduced expectations.

Maybe that's a tad harsh, but we can't avoid the cold, hard reality of the situation and go thinking the last few months have been a foundation for a serious challenge next year. It's much better we accept that now than go keeping the same players then wondering why we're in another relegation fight within a few months of the new season starting.

We might have had bad managers before but that doesn't give guys who were rubbish under them a free pass and nor does scraping by this season mean they've became world-beaters. You can dole out all the credit you like but unless we make serious upgrades we're not going to climb the league next year...hell, it's entirely possible we won't even be in the fuckin thing.

 

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Btw, round about half way through the second half, a free-kick was given for us against Moyo (I think) for an incident just outside our box after a defender (can't mind who) had cleared it up the line, the play was pulled back for it. Did anybody get a good view of what happened? I could see the way Moyo was going towards our player and was trying to keep it in corner of my eye, so to speak, but as you do you get distracted following the ball but it sort of looked like he just brought his foot down our guy's leg well after the ball was away? 

Again, I didn't catch it properly but it looked like it may well have been a sending off offence? If nothing else it was extremely late, but the way he was going in looked really dodgy - our player didn't make much of it, but the far-side linesman obviously saw it and it must have been him who notified the ref. It might well have been nothing much but I'd be interested in seeing it again.

 

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49 minutes ago, so72 said:

I'd say Strapp and Hamilton are the two from this squad that we would find it incredibly difficult to replace with similar quality. As such, they are also the two I think we are least likely to keep but would push the boat out for. Would love to keep McEntee another season but don't see it happening. 

 

After that there is a hierarchy as you say. There is Wilson who I think would be high up my list then Muirhead who has earned it. Otherwise, we really need to think about which players would fit the 433 that Dougie wants. Happy to keep Ugwu if he's reasonably cheap - can see us getting a better striker than him but probably not two better strikers. Worth noting that every team in the division has at least 1 player with more goals than anyone in our team. 

I wouldn't put Muirhead as far up the list. For me, Reilly is the most valuable but they're all ultimately replaceable for next season. We don't even have a McHugh in the side yet never mind a Peaso, and that's what we really need to compete at the top end of the division.

I'm quite happy for players to leave the club on a relative high for a change, but there will have to be exits to upgrade the current squad. 

The site is supposed to be a place for the extended 'family' of Morton supporters - having an affinity with people that you don't know, because you share a love of your local football club. It's not supposed to be about point scoring and showing how 'clever' or 'funny' you are, or just being downright rude and offensive to people you don't know, because you can get away with it. Unfortunately, it seems the classic case of people who have little standing/presence in real life, use this forum as a way of making themselves feel as if they are something. It's sad, and I've said that before..

 

So, having been on Morton forums for about 15 years I guess, I've had enough... well done t*ssers, another Morton supporter driven away. You can all feel happy at how 'clever' you are

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29 minutes ago, EanieMeany said:

 

As has been said elsewhere, the early form upon Imrie's arrival was clearly something of an aberration and not a standard that was every going to be sustained or replicated. If we take that as ending with the home win against Queens, we've played 10 games in which we've scored 7 goals, conceded 9 and picked up 13 points from a possible 30

I completely reject the idea that there has been an 'early form' and a 'recent form' under Imrie. We were unbeaten in five before today - this is cherry-picking that we weren't doing this time last Saturday when eyeing a 5th placed finish. 

Imrie has made significant improvements to the tactics and organisation that now make us competitive and a genuine attacking threat in every game (even including the Queens shoeing away - we should have been at least 2-0 up before they even scored). The margins are razor thin with the current squad though and so it only takes a couple of absences or a poor performance to lose in a disappointing manner. 

The lesson is to upgrade to turn our off days from defeats into draws. This means a ruthless approach to the summer window but there's no new manager bounce at all with this setup. 

The site is supposed to be a place for the extended 'family' of Morton supporters - having an affinity with people that you don't know, because you share a love of your local football club. It's not supposed to be about point scoring and showing how 'clever' or 'funny' you are, or just being downright rude and offensive to people you don't know, because you can get away with it. Unfortunately, it seems the classic case of people who have little standing/presence in real life, use this forum as a way of making themselves feel as if they are something. It's sad, and I've said that before..

 

So, having been on Morton forums for about 15 years I guess, I've had enough... well done t*ssers, another Morton supporter driven away. You can all feel happy at how 'clever' you are

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8 minutes ago, vikingTON said:

I wouldn't put Muirhead as far up the list. For me, Reilly is the most valuable but they're all ultimately replaceable for next season. We don't even have a McHugh in the side yet never mind a Peaso, and that's what we really need to compete at the top end of the division.

I'm quite happy for players to leave the club on a relative high for a change, but there will have to be exits to upgrade the current squad. 

Think my desire to keep Muirhead comes more from a hope that he's turned a corner and could really kick on now rather than from any concrete evidence of who performs the best at this level (clearly Reilly). I'm just unsure what the best type of striker is to make the most of a 433. Regardless, it needs to be a striker who gets double figures and not just 11 if we are hoping to push at the right end of the table.

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20 minutes ago, vikingTON said:

I completely reject the idea that there has been an 'early form' and a 'recent form' under Imrie. We were unbeaten in five before today - this is cherry-picking that we weren't doing this time last Saturday when eyeing a 5th placed finish. 

Imrie has made significant improvements to the tactics and organisation that now make us competitive and a genuine attacking threat in every game (even including the Queens shoeing away - we should have been at least 2-0 up before they even scored). The margins are razor thin with the current squad though and so it only takes a couple of absences or a poor performance to lose in a disappointing manner. 

The lesson is to upgrade to turn our off days from defeats into draws. This means a ruthless approach to the summer window but there's no new manager bounce at all with this setup. 

I've made that point many times over the last few weeks, not just now. I don't think it's cherry-picking at all though, I think we had some really good performances in that early spell and had a wee thing about us that hasn't lasted - even in terms of numbers, we played 6 games from Kilmarnock away to Queens at home, scoring 14 goals, conceding only 4 and taking 14 points from 18.  That's 2.33 points per game compared to 1.3 in the 10 subsequent games. The difference between the Queens game and then the Hamilton away one provides a convenient illustration. 

As for the bit in italics, I don't disagree. I think he's making the most of what he has and more, teams need to work hard to get anything from us and will have to withstand a lot of pressure throughout games. Instilling that in a team is no mean feat.

 I'm not trying to belittle the turnaround in our fortunes or the difference compared to Gus and where we where pre-Imrie, but if we want to push on then we need better players in the Imrie system to really benefit from it rather than to just scrap our way through. Getting over the line will be a fine achievement if/when we get there, but we need to be better next season and shouldn't be under any illusions that we're seeing a team that's capable of much more than it is now.

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I certainly agree that we need upgrades to launch a serious challenge at top 4 next season (we're not quite secure in the division yet) and that any form book shouldn't be an obstacle to this ruthless effort. I don't think there's actually been a legitimate period though in which we have performing better or worse since Imrie took over - the improvement has mostly been steady, consistent and therefore far more convincing than a John Hughes *passhun* routine. 

Our best 90 minute performance, for me, was the Kilmarnock game two weeks ago even though we didn't win; results can therefore be deceptive. 

The site is supposed to be a place for the extended 'family' of Morton supporters - having an affinity with people that you don't know, because you share a love of your local football club. It's not supposed to be about point scoring and showing how 'clever' or 'funny' you are, or just being downright rude and offensive to people you don't know, because you can get away with it. Unfortunately, it seems the classic case of people who have little standing/presence in real life, use this forum as a way of making themselves feel as if they are something. It's sad, and I've said that before..

 

So, having been on Morton forums for about 15 years I guess, I've had enough... well done t*ssers, another Morton supporter driven away. You can all feel happy at how 'clever' you are

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NB: Hamilton have incidentally taken advantage of two instances of our slightly spawny luck predictably running out to collect victories against us. At least today there was no issue with us creating enough to win the game on another day. 

The site is supposed to be a place for the extended 'family' of Morton supporters - having an affinity with people that you don't know, because you share a love of your local football club. It's not supposed to be about point scoring and showing how 'clever' or 'funny' you are, or just being downright rude and offensive to people you don't know, because you can get away with it. Unfortunately, it seems the classic case of people who have little standing/presence in real life, use this forum as a way of making themselves feel as if they are something. It's sad, and I've said that before..

 

So, having been on Morton forums for about 15 years I guess, I've had enough... well done t*ssers, another Morton supporter driven away. You can all feel happy at how 'clever' you are

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6 hours ago, port-ton said:

I find with this Morton squad more than any other I can remember the bi-polar reaction of fans on a week to week basis can be quite bizarre. 

Judge them over a sustained period of time, the easiest being from the moment Dougie started managing them and there's not many in that squad who don't have positive credit in the bank in terms of their performances over that period. 

I think these two points actually contradict each other; people are judging players over time under Imrie rather than flailing to overreact to players after individual bad results, and while there's been a steady and impressive turnaround under Imrie the fact remains that we've only won 3 of the last 10 games and if we're looking to put together a side to seriously challenge for the top four next season, we need to improve on that form.

It's therefore reasonable to ask whether players who've been featuring regularly over that run are capable of being part of a top four challenge when they are in a side failing to do better just now, which is not a remark in any way intended to disparage either the job Imrie has done or the improvement of several individuals in the squad. It’s simply the case that if we're going to make upgrades to the starting XI, then by definition some players at the club have to go to make room for those upgrades.

Brian Wake my Lord, Brian Wake

Brian Wake my Lord, Brian Wake

Brian Wake my Lord, Brian Wake

Oh Lord, Brian Wake

 

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3 hours ago, vikingTON said:

I certainly agree that we need upgrades to launch a serious challenge at top 4 next season (we're not quite secure in the division yet) and that any form book shouldn't be an obstacle to this ruthless effort. I don't think there's actually been a legitimate period though in which we have performing better or worse since Imrie took over - the improvement has mostly been steady, consistent and therefore far more convincing than a John Hughes *passhun* routine. 

Our best 90 minute performance, for me, was the Kilmarnock game two weeks ago even though we didn't win; results can therefore be deceptive. 

 

Oh, absolutely. I've said this loads of times but I think the mentality that Imrie possesses and has displayed throughout his career is a genuinely remarkable thing and really quite rare. For all everybody (or at least most people) in football wants to win as a general concept, the relentless drive and obsession, for want of a better word, to win is something that shouldn't be taken for granted. If the national team had had that mentality, for example, we'd never have gone so long without qualifying for a tournament and certainly wouldn't have fawned over wee creeps like Strachan. The way Imrie went about his season with us as a player was extraordinary and there's not many other players who'd be able to match it

It's easy enough for a manager to say "we go in to every game wanting to win, it's all about what we do" like Imrie does - easy enough and yet not a given in itself, just look at his last few predecessors - but there's saying it and then there's fully meaning it, and then there's being able to come into a team that was sitting bottom of the league and turn them into a unit that's as resilient as we are now . There's no shortage of guys like Hughes that give it big licks and shout and bawl, but anyone can do that. That's not being a winner, that's posturing and even if you do get your players fired up with it, it's still not the same as a team with the intent of winning. Getting stuck in might make you run about a lot but being set on winning is what really carries a team: the guy going in for a challenge who's out to "get right in about them lads!" will lose out to the guy who's absolutely driven by the need to win, or at least is managed by someone like that.

Now, that's not a virtue many - if any -  of our players possess themselves, it's not one that many players at teams that win things all the time will personally have, but nonetheless the mentality Imrie has instilled in them is still way more effective than the "show some pashun!" patter from the likes of Hughes.  We shouldn't overlook the resilience of the team under Imrie, not in the slightest, and of course the players deserve credit for that if nothing else. It's not the natural approach for a good number of them and frankly we see that at times, but it's a testament to the manager's character and authority that he's getting it from them. I don't think any other potential candidate for the job would have kept us up.

For all that though, the fact remains that we are only just scraping by in games, including not having won by more than one goal since January (and not actually having won too often overall). The Kilmarnock performance probably typifies things: really well-organised, solid at the back and getting right in their faces, not giving them a sniff...but also not really being hugely threatening for the most part. Yes there was a few chances missed, but our opportunities tend to come by chance, so to speak, from a ball breaking loose rather than by design or a particular bit of skill or vision. We'll get the ball forward, we'll win the first or second ball from there, it'll go into the box and we'll apply a lot of pressure, but pressure that'll largely be fairly unthreatening and not really trouble the opposition 'keeper too much. 

I'm not saying that's an invalid approach, but it shows the lack of any real attacking quality or nuance in our ranks: there really has to be a lot more goals from it and we really need to have players who can get on the ball and create things with passes in behind defenders etc when we're attacking.  Again, being fast, physical and direct isn't a bad thing in itself, but it's mostly impotent and therein is the problem: saying we should have been ahead in a 3-0 defeat is all well and good but when it's every week then it's not bad luck, it's just not being good enough and 7 goals in the last 10 games tells its own story. Let's be honest here, 7 goals from a forward the size of Ugwu who is meant to be an aerial and physical presence just isn't close to a good enough return when you look at the amount of balls we put into the box. There's got to be plenty of lower league forwards who'd be capable of sticking a lot more away, either from headers or being able to get across defenders to attack the front post, pounce on loose balls etc. 

Ultimately, I think the way the team is set up and the general approach is very good and its the best way to go about it with what we have, but when it comes down to it the quality isn't there to win games regularly. Maybe the initial period under Imrie wasn't better than the last few months, maybe it was, but it still saw more goals and more points on the board. Perhaps the explanation is simply teams clocking on to what we were doing and being able to nullify it but either way the goals scored count is down, the goals against is up and the points total is lower. 

3 hours ago, vikingTON said:

NB: Hamilton have incidentally taken advantage of two instances of our slightly spawny luck predictably running out to collect victories against us. At least today there was no issue with us creating enough to win the game on another day. 

Well yes and no. There was that frenetic 10 minutes or so at the end of the first half where we missed open goals, hit the bar loads of times and had the Muirhead goal disallowed and that obviously should have been more than enough to win the game...but it also wasn't, and it's again mostly chances from circumstance and balls bouncing about rather than being able to craft them from getting a period of possession or whatever. If you have an Alex Williams type striker then aye, you'll score goals from the ball breaking loose in the box, but otherwise you won't get many. At some point you need somebody to be able to take the ball and make something happen when there's not much else going on - Oliver in theory can do that, but for about 34 games out of 36 per season he won't. 

Although that said....that attempt by Muirhead that hit the bar from from just off the by-line at the stand side...oh my 😲 No idea what he done or how he managed to get the shot away but that was desperately unlucky. He really has to be getting played up front, Reilly would benefit hugely from it too. 

AWMSC

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50 minutes ago, EanieMeany said:

 

Oh, absolutely. I've said this loads of times but I think the mentality that Imrie possesses and has displayed throughout his career is a genuinely remarkable thing and really quite rare. For all everybody (or at least most people) in football wants to win as a general concept, the relentless drive and obsession, for want of a better word, to win is something that shouldn't be taken for granted. If the national team had had that mentality, for example, we'd never have gone so long without qualifying for a tournament and certainly wouldn't have fawned over wee creeps like Strachan. The way Imrie went about his season with us as a player was extraordinary and there's not many other players who'd be able to match it

It's easy enough for a manager to say "we go in to every game wanting to win, it's all about what we do" like Imrie does - easy enough and yet not a given in itself, just look at his last few predecessors - but there's saying it and then there's fully meaning it, and then there's being able to come into a team that was sitting bottom of the league and turn them into a unit that's as resilient as we are now . There's no shortage of guys like Hughes that give it big licks and shout and bawl, but anyone can do that. That's not being a winner, that's posturing and even if you do get your players fired up with it, it's still not the same as a team with the intent of winning. Getting stuck in might make you run about a lot but being set on winning is what really carries a team: the guy going in for a challenge who's out to "get right in about them lads!" will lose out to the guy who's absolutely driven by the need to win, or at least is managed by someone like that.

Now, that's not a virtue many - if any -  of our players possess themselves, it's not one that many players at teams that win things all the time will personally have, but nonetheless the mentality Imrie has instilled in them is still way more effective than the "show some pashun!" patter from the likes of Hughes.  We shouldn't overlook the resilience of the team under Imrie, not in the slightest, and of course the players deserve credit for that if nothing else. It's not the natural approach for a good number of them and frankly we see that at times, but it's a testament to the manager's character and authority that he's getting it from them. I don't think any other potential candidate for the job would have kept us up.

For all that though, the fact remains that we are only just scraping by in games, including not having won by more than one goal since January (and not actually having won too often overall). The Kilmarnock performance probably typifies things: really well-organised, solid at the back and getting right in their faces, not giving them a sniff...but also not really being hugely threatening for the most part. Yes there was a few chances missed, but our opportunities tend to come by chance, so to speak, from a ball breaking loose rather than by design or a particular bit of skill or vision. We'll get the ball forward, we'll win the first or second ball from there, it'll go into the box and we'll apply a lot of pressure, but pressure that'll largely be fairly unthreatening and not really trouble the opposition 'keeper too much. 

I'm not saying that's an invalid approach, but it shows the lack of any real attacking quality or nuance in our ranks: there really has to be a lot more goals from it and we really need to have players who can get on the ball and create things with passes in behind defenders etc when we're attacking.  Again, being fast, physical and direct isn't a bad thing in itself, but it's mostly impotent and therein is the problem: saying we should have been ahead in a 3-0 defeat is all well and good but when it's every week then it's not bad luck, it's just not being good enough and 7 goals in the last 10 games tells its own story. Let's be honest here, 7 goals from a forward the size of Ugwu who is meant to be an aerial and physical presence just isn't close to a good enough return when you look at the amount of balls we put into the box. There's got to be plenty of lower league forwards who'd be capable of sticking a lot more away, either from headers or being able to get across defenders to attack the front post, pounce on loose balls etc. 

Ultimately, I think the way the team is set up and the general approach is very good and its the best way to go about it with what we have, but when it comes down to it the quality isn't there to win games regularly. Maybe the initial period under Imrie wasn't better than the last few months, maybe it was, but it still saw more goals and more points on the board. Perhaps the explanation is simply teams clocking on to what we were doing and being able to nullify it but either way the goals scored count is down, the goals against is up and the points total is lower. 

Well yes and no. There was that frenetic 10 minutes or so at the end of the first half where we missed open goals, hit the bar loads of times and had the Muirhead goal disallowed and that obviously should have been more than enough to win the game...but it also wasn't, and it's again mostly chances from circumstance and balls bouncing about rather than being able to craft them from getting a period of possession or whatever. If you have an Alex Williams type striker then aye, you'll score goals from the ball breaking loose in the box, but otherwise you won't get many. At some point you need somebody to be able to take the ball and make something happen when there's not much else going on - Oliver in theory can do that, but for about 34 games out of 36 per season he won't. 

Although that said....that attempt by Muirhead that hit the bar from from just off the by-line at the stand side...oh my 😲 No idea what he done or how he managed to get the shot away but that was desperately unlucky. He really has to be getting played up front, Reilly would benefit hugely from it too. 

Far too long; couldn't possibly read.

The site is supposed to be a place for the extended 'family' of Morton supporters - having an affinity with people that you don't know, because you share a love of your local football club. It's not supposed to be about point scoring and showing how 'clever' or 'funny' you are, or just being downright rude and offensive to people you don't know, because you can get away with it. Unfortunately, it seems the classic case of people who have little standing/presence in real life, use this forum as a way of making themselves feel as if they are something. It's sad, and I've said that before..

 

So, having been on Morton forums for about 15 years I guess, I've had enough... well done t*ssers, another Morton supporter driven away. You can all feel happy at how 'clever' you are

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