DMAA

18 minutes ago, ian1964 said:

Dreamland. It would be 19 out of 19 if Aribo and Roofe hadn’t been out for those games. 

Saw most of the first half but missed the 2nd. I’m really delighted with that. Roofe at CF and Hagi behind is exactly what I’ve wanted to see for ages. Aribo playing on the right side of the 3 and in his early season form is just a huge boost too. Crucial game time for Helander too, we need to get him fully fit. I won’t comment on Alfie as I haven’t seen the second half, other than to say I hope that miss removes any temptation to drop Hagi for him or play him ahead of Itten. Alfie should be settling for a bit part role until his form improves, it’s not fair on the other players who are playing well and have had to sit on the bench for much of the season. 

Just now, der Berliner said:

Roofe, Hagi and Aribo really good, you wonder when  Walsh will find a card, no matter which colour. I was actually fearing for Hagi once, when he talked to the linesman.

 

Alas, St. Johnstone played more football in 25 mins than Motherwell within 90 ... even though the level is debatable.

 

 

Hagi must be black and blue. They can’t deal with his close control so they just kick him in the air. 

Roofe has been superb in the CF role too. Really enjoy watching him play there, he has everything. 

2 minutes ago, BlackSocksRedTops said:

Once Aribo up to speed he can really bring something different to the team 

He is another of our players who is very underrated. One of our best players without question for me, it’s a real shame injury has hindered his progress. 

Aribo looks back to his best and Hagi is again showing he should have had more game time, very good player and he’s been much more effective than Kent. 

Hagi doesn’t get an assist but playing a big part there. He has an ability to shoot from

distance that nobody else in our squad has. Roofe playing the CF role very well so far and it’s no surprise he gets the goal. 

2 minutes ago, PoohBear said:

 

I think Roofe is fantastic but not sure this is right for him

 

Bad timing mate

9 minutes ago, Bill said:

Positivity from Gerrard. I'm glad we've introduced Hagi's inventiveness but I hope we don't miss Arfield's defensive work too much. A lot resting on Davis and Kamara dropping deep when required.

These kind of games are games Ryan Jack would start in when fit. There will be questions asked of Aribo out of possession here. 

I’m very happy with this line up. Hagi finally gets a start and Roofe plays in arguably his best position at CF. Morelos didn’t deserve to walk back in to the first 11 so I’m glad he didn’t. 
 

A big game for Aribo too. He’s still regaining his sharpness but he is key to bringing creativity to our build-up play. 

3 hours ago, Bill said:

That would be like buying cheese from France when equally good British cheese is available for half the price

This might be a bit of a digression, but President’s Brie (French) is the best Brie in the supermarket. 

How would that game have ended last season, without Roofe? We needed at least one more natural goalscorer this season and now we've got one. Hopefully we'll eventually have one on both sides of the CF like Liverpool with Mane and Salah.

1 hour ago, Gonzo79 said:

Strangely, the matches in Perth and Paisley worry me more than the matches against the two Oirish sides.

Yeh I know what you mean. St Mirren and St Johnstone are well organised sides who have been difficult to play against on their own ground this season against us and them. Really big games.

8 goals in 11 league games for Roofe, and look at his goals per minute ratio. His signing has been a game changer for me in that for the first time since Naismith we have a proven goalscorer supporting our main striker. 

I saw the last 10 minutes of the first half and almost all of the second half. I thought we were pedestrian in the first half but actually very good in the second. It is so hard to break down a team playing like that and our intensity was excellent, and credit to management who made the right changes at the right time and won the game. I’m delighted for Itten to get that goal too, that has to be a huge boost for him. He deserves a lot of credit. 

Roofe is just such a crucial player. Our most important forward because time and time again he gets the goals. 

9 minutes ago, RANGERRAB said:

Good to see Defoe start. If he’d played from the start on Wednesday we wouldn’t have lost

I love Defoe. I’ve no worries at all about him. 

Strong team

6 minutes ago, Gonzo79 said:

Did you miss St Mirren's black socks?

Haha. I couldn’t remember what they were wearing but I did remember thinking at the time that white was a strange choice when there were better options. Even blue was a better option as we went through a period of wearing blue socks. 

The socks was the strangest bit, there was no clash and no obvious reason not to wear black, or even red for those who are nostalgic about the 60s, 70s and 80s. 

11 minutes ago, Gonzo79 said:

If we can't rotate against the likes of St Mirren

There is no shame in the fact that rotating away at grounds like that are a risk. They haven’t been beaten by more than a goal against Rangers or Celtic at home in at least a couple of years I think. We needed a Barisic free kick to win it last time and we were at full strength that time. Football isn’t that black and white, some clubs make themselves very hard to beat on their own ground with a good manager. 

One to make people feel a wee bit better

I’ve gone with Goldson because I think he was good and was let down by others. His goal was really good.
For that second goal we concede, Balogun again takes an unnecessary risk bringing the ball out and again he gets caught, Zungu completely fails to track his man and stay goal-side, the ball comes in the box and Goldson is frantically trying to defend against two men while Balogun just stands there in no mans land and Zungu is on the wrong side of his man. Arfield shows more urgency than Zungu and tries to cover for him but he misses the tackle. 

13 minutes ago, Gonzo79 said:

Agreed.  Kent flatters to deceive whereas Hagi, despite being off-form, always creates chances.

 

 

I’ve shared this a few times but it’s my favourite stat, because rather than a simplistic look at assists or even expected assists it only counts good chances. Even the xA stat can be a little bit deceptive because you can build it up with lots of mediocre chances. But what this shows is exactly what I see, Hagi has the vision and passing ability required to really put chances on a plate for people. Kent is below Kamara on this stat. Kent of course contributes in other ways and I’m not taking away from that, but this stat sums up pretty well my longstanding complaint. I like my creative players to put good chances on a plate regularly, even if they are anonymous for spells.