v. motherwell | Vital Football

v. motherwell

W

welch47

Vital Football Hero
It's a standard lineup of:

Matthews-----Ambrose---VvD-----Izzy
--------Brown------------Biton---------
Forrest----------Johansen----------Stokes
-----------------Guidetti------------------

It would be nice to build a big lead quick to get some subs in. I don't think Deila will use other players until we get a more comfortable lead in the league, though
 
Pass back to the keeper is intercepted by Johansen, who passes to Stokes and he slots it in! 1-0. :emoticon:01 :emoticon:01 :emoticon:01 Great stuff.
 
Forrest just missed wide. He and Guidetti missed great chances. This could be 3-0 on 13 minutes.
 
We were all over them for the first 30 minutes and missed two great chances. They gave a better fight in the last 15 minutes. We need to come back out and put the heat back on.

Brown and Johansen have been terrific. So has Biton. Stokes, too. Everyone else needs to step up
 
Guidetti scored one on a scissor kick that was ruled offside, which I thought was correct. BUt the announcers are saying he was onsides. Hmmmm.
 
Well......1-0 at FT. Obviously happy to get the win but as usual against us, Motherwell didn't make it easy!

It SHOULD have been easy though! We had enough chances in that game that it should have been over after the first half!
Guidetti wrongly given offside but finished anyway with a spectacular overhead kick.
Guidetti through in on goal but just wide of the post.
Forrest in a similar position, puts it wide of the post.
A penalty not given for an obvious handball by Angol.
Some great saves by the keeper.

We could have easily conceded in the 2nd half even after they went down to 10 men. Irwin looks like a decent young player. Reminds me of Cillian Sheridan that used to play for us. He should have finished a free header.

We got sloppy in the 2nd half and took our foot off the gas similar to how we played for the last 20mins of the Hearts game. Just passing it around at walking pace with no real effort to go get a goal and kill the game off.
If Deila blamed tiredness for the Partick performance, I'm sure he'll be doing the same today because I thought there were some very tired players out there by the end of the game. Matthews looked tired most of the 2nd half, Johansen as usual put in a huge shift but again was looking tired at the end of the game. Guidetti started to look tired before he went off.

It really begs the question, what team do we put out on Thursday against Dinamo? We're unlikely to get top spot in the group as Salzburg will be too good for Astra, so do we use the fact we are guaranteed to go through as an opportunity to rest a few players and give some of the fringe players a game?

Players like Commons, McGregor, Wakaso, Tonev, Scepovic, Kayal all need game time as they've not played an awful lot recently while it could also be an opportunity to play and give valuable experience to the likes of O'Connell, Fisher, Twardzik and Henderson.

I'd be inclined to accept a defeat by playing a weakened side and go with something like:

Zaluska
Fisher - O'Connell - VVD - Twardzik
McGregor - Henderson - Kayal - Wakaso
Commons
Scepovic

Subs: Fasan, Stokes, Tonev, Ambrose, Bitton, Brown, Forrest
 
I've just read that Deila may play the younger players against Dinamo Zagreb this week. He watched the U20s demolition of Rangers this week and was very impressed. He spoke of how some of them are just on the very edge of the team and if it weren't for a couple of little injuries to some, they would have at least been in the team more. He also said he has to give them a chance at some point.

He sees Twardzik as a CM player, which is good news because he's not the best LB, he's definitely better in midfield. Fisher and O'Connell he feels are ready for the first team if/when required, Fisher just needed more time after missing pre-season.
 
It's probably a good call. He's been pulling a Lenny and playing the same guys every match twice a week for a couple of months. It has worked pretty well, but some players need rest and others need a look.

The Motherwell match was just one of those games. It should have been maybe 3-0 and that's with missing some chances. But even Guidetti was misfiring. It's nothing to get in a twist over.
 
We play Motherwell on Wednesday in a midweek game, I believe this is part of us catching up with everyone else. If we win this game, we go top by 1 point with a game in hand!

I'm just wondering how much Deila will change the team. I don't think Stokes, Mulgrew or Forrest will be back but Lustig may be. However Lustig's chances of starting aren't as high after Matthews' MOTM performance against Accies on Saturday.

I think those likely to change are Henderson, Commons and Griffiths.....if we are going to see changes, I think those are the 3 most likely to change.

I could see Scepovic starting up front, McGregor taking either Henderson or Commons' place and I'm not sure what we'd do about the 3rd position. Perhaps Deila will change it up and play Guidetti and Scepovic together up front? He did it against PSV in Gran Canaria.....
 
Guidetti on the bench again! It's a 4-2-3-1, I think. Looks like:

Matthews---VvD----Denayer---Izzy
-----Brown----Biton----------
Stokes-------Commons-----Johanson
-------------griffiths----------

 
Ot maybe....

Matthews---VvD----Denayer---Izzy
-----Brown----Biton------Commons
------------johanson-------------------
Stokes-----Griffiths------------


 
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