Match Preview/Thread - Morton vs Inverness (1st April)

[Chesh]

I think the signing and ultimately persisting with Ali Crawford will derail our entire season.

We've changed shape to accommodate and it simply hasn't given us the results required.

 

[TonImp]

Mid table obscurity then.

[SassenachTon]

Right now, we should be a point behind Partick with a game in hand. Crawford missed an absolute sitter, Miller's a waste of space, Blues isn't much better. I'm not disappointed - I'm fucking raging.

[SpoonTon]

Half time sub was odd. We suddenly surrendered so much space in the midfield and were quickly punished. 

[gmfc23]

Well that was a fkn sore yin. 

Ali Crawford can fk right off n take Calvin Miller at the same time. Absolute waste ot a wage n Jersey almost every single fkn week. 

A half fit jai coming on before mcgratten is a fkn joke. 

The two goals were fkn avoidable but sadly happening far to often. 

The cunt fkn stewards doing there best gestapo impersonations is really starting to grind my fkn gears aswell. 

Absolutely fkn furious after that shit. 

[Jamie_M]

Wild that we are finishing 7th again.

[shaddypeekey]

That was pish. 

[irnbru]

As others have said, Miller and Crawford aren't good enough. 

That said, we dominated the first half and we're probably the better team overall. 

[C B]

Last time we’ll see 1900 this season !

Dougie’s stubbornness in relation to Alison Crawford and Calvin “different class” Miller is the sole reason we won’t be in the playoffs !

Time to update the ‘McGrattan start’ stats again and pay to have it up on a billboard outside Cappielow ! 

[Scott]

Not even angry after that, just scunnered that yet again we’ve bottled a season despite everything looking so promising 3 weeks ago.
On paper Ali Crawford was a brilliant signing but it’s been obvious since his early appearances that it wasn’t going to work and Imrie has continued to play him anyway. 

Onto Ayr next week, revert back to our original shape with McGrattan in from the start and try find a way to get back into the playoff hunt. 

[RossMcC1874]

Really woeful result again decent enough performance but just can't hurt teams the amount of chances in the past 2 games we haven't taken is laughable. 

Miller is a waste of a jersey and Ali Crawford isn't much better we have completely blown a really good position in the league Imrie keeps picking favourites and it's really costing us. This was such a promising season and it really is now dying on its arse. 

[Alibi]

A hard watch. Unlucky with the free kick that came off the bar but we went to sleep after that. Jai clearly not match fit. Ali Crawford is hopeless. There is a decent team in there, but we are let down by a few players who are contributing very little. I’m told Schwake didn’t cover himself in glory at their winner but couldn’t really see what happened, if anything - thought he had done well up to that point anyway, taking high balls well all afternoon. Still in with a chance of the playoffs, but not playing like that.

[vikingTON]

51 minutes ago, C B said:

Last time we’ll see 1900 this season !

Dougie’s stubbornness in relation to Alison Crawford and Calvin “different class” Miller is the sole reason we won’t be in the playoffs !

That's just bollocks. Our lack of a central midfield (failing to upgrade that area - steadily removing what we did have in the second half) will also be a clear reason if we don't make the playoffs.

The obsession with the choice of one sand dancer over another is obscuring the reality that the team as a whole is unbalanced. Ali Crawford was dreadful today and is part of that problem. But another part of it is trying to play Muirhead up front alongside Oakley. Another part of it is putting on winger after winger (Miller was useless - but it was Quitongo's man who waltzes into the box for the winning goal) while not competing in the middle of the park. Gillespie and Robbie Crawford had a thankless task at times. 

We have more quality on the ball going forward than in November/December. But we do not have clinical players to take enough chances, while the shift has lost what made is horrible to play against in the first place. 

[Chesh]

What concerns me is that today we ended up with every single attacker we have (bar Ally Roy) on the pitch for the last 10 minutes leaving absolutely no one capable in CM, that's going out of a cup at 2-0 down levels of desperation tactics rather than it being 1-1 in a league match where even a point helps secure our position in the league.

Really poor management of the game from Dougie today. 

[DumfriesTon]

Sickener. Nothing else than a win next week and we're out the playoff hunt but what an utter waste of a season this is turning out to be. We're completely bottling it in what is the worst standard of the Championship as far as I can remember. 

Perhaps reactionary but two incredibly soft goals to lose, in which Schwake should be doing better at both. The first one reminded me of Turnbull's goal at Celtic Park. He takes ages to get down and across to it. Although allowing a player that much space is a disgrace. 

Then the 2nd one comes from Quitongo not tracking back - unusual of him - but Carson's shot went straight through Schwake. Again, poor goalkeeping. 

Enthusiasm for the rest of the season totally gone. Sigh.

[HamCam]

So much hope after we strengthened in January but it has not worked for us as the team looks far more imbalanced. Maybe we over-achieved earlier in the season but still difficult to justify shitting the bed, yet again, when it matters most. All the more frustrating when you see the quality of teams around us looking like having the excitement of the playoffs while our season petters out. 

[irnbru]

20 minutes ago, DumfriesTon said:

Sickener. Nothing else than a win next week and we're out the playoff hunt but what an utter waste of a season this is turning out to be. We're completely bottling it in what is the worst standard of the Championship as far as I can remember. 

Perhaps reactionary but two incredibly soft goals to lose, in which Schwake should be doing better at both. The first one reminded me of Turnbull's goal at Celtic Park. He takes ages to get down and across to it. Although allowing a player that much space is a disgrace. 

Then the 2nd one comes from Quitongo not tracking back - unusual of him - but Carson's shot went straight through Schwake. Again, poor goalkeeping. 

Enthusiasm for the rest of the season totally gone. Sigh.

Your constant criticism of Schwake is just getting a bit weird now. 

[Chesh]

Since the transfer window opened

We have won 3, drawn 4 and lost 5. 

Let's be honest the win against queens park was handed to us by their GK and v Cove Rangers we were rotten until the final 10 minutes.   The Dundee game was the only game were both played well and got the result this year.  

It's been an extremely poor 2nd half of the season this far, with only a handful of performances that can be described as good.  I do believe the play offs are gone given the results today, and it's a straight fight between ourselves, Inverness and raith for 5th 6th and 7th and right now we have the worst form with no wins in 5 games.

It down to Dougie now to recognise what's went wrong (system change and Ali Crawford) and do something about it, finishing 5th will reward us better financially and should give us slighy more budget for a play off push next season.

 

[dunning1874]

7 appalling misses from Ali Crawford in 5 starts, 5 points dropped as a direct consequence of his failure to take any of those chances. If we were 5 points better off right now we'd be in a terrific position to make the playoffs, as it is we're closer to 7th.

You could talk up a player's ability to get into great goalscoring positions if they ever took them, but if they never do then what's the point? Further to that, he gave the ball away with 50% of his passes in open play and his set-pieces are dreadful. It's not like he's making a good contribution outwith failing to score goals, he's been an all round liability in every start and that should be his final appearance for the club. This isn't a Grimshaw situation where a new signing has needed to build their fitness up, whatever the reason he just doesn't contribute anything to this team.

Miller for Blues was a bizarre sub to make on all levels: mostly tactically with the shape then having a gigantic hole in midfield (which was then exacerbated by Gillespie being the one to make way for McGrattan) in performances on the pitch when there was a far poorer performer than Blues staying on at the time who could have been a like for like swap with Miller, in the ability of the options on the bench when Miller has rarely offered anything.

Barring a collapse akin to ourselves over the last 5 games from Ayr or Partick, we'd realistically need 4 wins from the remaining 6 to make the playoffs now. With Dundee & Ayr away as well as Queen's Park at home along with the rut we're in, that's an outrageously long shot.

[DumfriesTon]

19 minutes ago, irnbru said:

Your constant criticism of Schwake is just getting a bit weird now. 

Thought he was actually doing very well. Handling and coming for crosses in the first half was excellent. But suspect at the goals again, although could have been prevented before it got to him. Nothing weird about it.