Morton vs Ayr United

[RossMcC1874]

1-1 so far. Susprise Oakley scoring against us then giving to the fans, tadger. 

 

[vikingTON]

That defending was absolutely brutal and wouldn't be tolerated at an amateur level. 

[bob_the_builder]

4 minutes ago, vikingTON said:

That defending was absolutely brutal and wouldn't be tolerated at an amateur level. 

The best part of it was Broadfoot completely failing track Oakley’s run then turning to scream at everyone else. Wild

Edited November 8 by bob_the_builder

[RossMcC1874]

Nathan Shaw finally makes an appearance never thought I'd see the day. 

[Scott]

Moffat and Lyall are becoming extremely ineffective week after week. I’d be keen for changing shape if possible and dropping one of them. There’s no final ball from either of them. 

[RossMcC1874]

Scrappy game with not much in it really. Thought Wilson was excellent and deserved man of the match. 

Subs didn't really do much but good to see Shaw finally get some minutes. 

At least it's a point to stop the rot but our forwards really are honking. 

[Tink]

You’d take a point before the game. I thought King did well when he came on - good delivery from corners and a great pass to Blues on the right wing. I have to wonder about the Davies experiment. The guy is crying out to play alongside a target man, and yet we always play him as a lone striker. If that’s the style we intended to play, who thought it would be a good idea to sign him? 

[irnbru]

54 minutes ago, Scott said:

Moffat and Lyall are becoming extremely ineffective week after week. I’d be keen for changing shape if possible and dropping one of them. There’s no final ball from either of them. 

Moffat works had but doesn't really have much end product, Lyall is obviously quite a tidy player but doesn't work hard enough - even at throw ins, etc he doesn't offer himself as a option. Would be thinking of dropping him if I was Imrie. 

9 minutes ago, Tink said:

You’d take a point before the game. I thought King did well when he came on - good delivery from corners and a great pass to Blues on the right wing. I have to wonder about the Davies experiment. The guy is crying out to play alongside a target man, and yet we always play him as a lone striker. If that’s the style we intended to play, who thought it would be a good idea to sign him? 

Thought King had a couple of nice touches but we were worse when the subs came on and the midfield a bit overran so not entirely convinced by him. I would probably give him the nod over Lyall based on the above though. 

[DumfriesTon]

Boring. Head tennis for the majority of the match. Attackers are just not very good at attacking.

[irnbru]

11 minutes ago, DumfriesTon said:

Boring. Head tennis for the majority of the match. Attackers are just not very good at attacking.

Stuparevic is never going to be able to play up top on his own and challenge defenders but is decent at dropping into the midfield. Either needs someone up top with him or replaced in January. 

It'd too easy to defend against us because of that - I don't think the wingers are that bad but without someone through the middle that defenders need to worry about, it allows them to keep their full backs a bit wider and make it more difficult for Garrity and Moffat to get the ball out wide (could see that quite a bit in the first half when the passes from midfield were trying to get in behind the full back but there wasn't much space).

Also makes us rely on trying to play through teams which is never going to get a lot of success with the quality of player at our level. Defenders don't need to worry about us so can take a touch and we don't even get a second ball to close down half the time. 

Going to a 442 would at least occupy the two centre backs more and create a bit more space for others. 

 

Edited November 8 by irnbru

[mcintyre_gmfc]

19 minutes ago, irnbru said:

Stuparevic is never going to be able to play up top on his own and challenge defenders but is decent at dropping into the midfield. Either needs someone up top with him or replaced in January. 

It'd too easy to defend against us because of that - I don't think the wingers are that bad but without someone through the middle that defenders need to worry about, it allows them to keep their full backs a bit wider and make it more difficult for Garrity and Moffat to get the ball out wide (could see that quite a bit in the first half when the passes from midfield were trying to get in behind the full back but there wasn't much space).

Also makes us rely on trying to play through teams which is never going to get a lot of success with the quality of player at our level. Defenders don't need to worry about us so can take a touch and we don't even get a second ball to close down half the time. 

Going to a 442 would at least occupy the two centre backs more and create a bit more space for others. 

 

I don’t think we’ve got the midfield balance to play 2 in the middle.

[irnbru]

19 minutes ago, mcintyre_gmfc said:

I don’t think we’ve got the midfield balance to play 2 in the middle.

It's not working with the way we set the team out up front although you do have a point. Got wingers but apart from Wilson there's no one who would work hard enough in there - didn't think Gillespie was too bad tonight but legs seem to be gone. 

[Rossco]

1 hour ago, Tink said:

. I have to wonder about the Davies experiment. The guy is crying out to play alongside a target man, and yet we always play him as a lone striker. If that’s the style we intended to play, who thought it would be a good idea to sign him? 

Davies was signed on a pre contract when we had Muirhead and oakley. It was expected one of them would leave and Davies would replace them. As it turned out both left which left us with Davies in limbo. Given we then spent the suer failing to secure a striker and settling for jet it was never going to work for him or us. I still think there is a player there but we don't play to his abilities and he seems limited as to what system he can play in. He hasn't started a game since preseason so it does seem harsh to judge him on 20 minutes here and there but If he was good enough he would start ahead of mcginn or Reynolds bur he hasn't.

[Chicken_Soup]

Thought Gillespie played well tonight and helped Wilson out a lot, not sure if he got it but Wilson was MOTM again. Much happier with the balance of the team and good to see Shaw get some minutes. If Stuparevic scores that sitter we’re all very happy with the three points. You can see what he’s good at but he needs to toughen up and fight harder for the ball to draw more fouls.

[DaftTon74]

It’s hard to sugarcoat it, but tonight’s game was an extremely grim viewing. It’s so clear that we’re struggling to create chances, never mind score from open play. Out of 13 league games so far, we’ve only managed to score from open play in 2 of them. If this trend continues, we’re looking at potentially only 5/6 games all season where we find the back of the net from open play. Right now, we’re heavily reliant on set pieces, and it’s hard to imagine we can sustain this for the long haul. Even the most optimistic Morton fan has to acknowledge how grim that is.
 

Tbh I just find us very boring to watch at the moment. Give me big bad physical Morton over this any day of the week. Speaking of which, Of course even after a quiet evening for himself, Oakley comes back to haunt us.  

[GiGi]

Shite game. Wilson deserved his goal and King did really well off the bench. But a garbage game of football with very little credit earned on either side.

[AyrshireTon]

Very poor game.

We wasted every set piece we had in the first half then ironically scored from a free-kick. No shock that Oakley scored for them but after that I felt we were the better side in a game that either aide could have nicked.

This is the first game in ages where our subs didn't weaken us. 

[SpoonTon]

8 hours ago, irnbru said:

It's not working with the way we set the team out up front although you do have a point. Got wingers but apart from Wilson there's no one who would work hard enough in there - didn't think Gillespie was too bad tonight but legs seem to be gone. 

I thought Gillespie had a really good game last night. I don't know why he isn't able (or selected) to do it consistently.

I thought a problem last night was not having anything going forward from full back position. There was no attacking outlet there. I think your right about Stuparevic and needing to give the opposition defenders more to worry about up there, but I'm not sure what the solution is there. A front 2 could work, but we also started the season with a front 2 and it wasn't really any better. I'm not sure who the front 2 would be. 

[irnbru]

7 minutes ago, SpoonTon said:

I thought Gillespie had a really good game last night. I don't know why he isn't able (or selected) to do it consistently.

I thought a problem last night was not having anything going forward from full back position. There was no attacking outlet there. I think your right about Stuparevic and needing to give the opposition defenders more to worry about up there, but I'm not sure what the solution is there. A front 2 could work, but we also started the season with a front 2 and it wasn't really any better. I'm not sure who the front 2 would be. 

Aye, who the front two would be is the question. I actually thought we created a lot more chances with Jet and Garrity up top but that might be early season optimism clouding my judgement of them games and now feeling like going to games is a chore

Garrity or McGinn could be an option though. It's not perfect but two players higher up the park and at the very least trying to drag defenders about and create a bit of space and get balls into the channels has to be a bit better than basically nothing up there now. Defenders must love playing against us. 

[vikingTON]

11 hours ago, mcintyre_gmfc said:

I don’t think we’ve got the midfield balance to play 2 in the middle.

I would add King alongside Gillespie and Wilson to at least restore some dig to the team in the short term (looking at a lot of away games this month). And if Ballantyne were fit I'd be putting Blues in midfield alongside them too. It's past time to finally drop all of our rotating cast of garbage 'no. 10' sand dancers to the bench/the sea.

The main positive from last night is that the team wasn't damaged by the previous game and restored its usual (mediocre) standard. A draw stops the rot. 

The Livingston cup game this midweek comes at a very unfortunate time though, as a league campaign this turgid really needs a cup run to lift the club. 

Edited November 9 by vikingTON