[JP87]

The substitutions were shocking. We left a winger on the bench as two "wide men" who had been pish all day stayed on in the hope they could miraculously deliver a decent ball for the first time. Dorman has been awful all season - why did Mehmet no drop back and Dargo come on for Murray? Why leave 3 central defenders on against 9 men? Brady is the one player in the team who can pick a forward pass but often needs too much time and space - something he suddenly had when Rangers surrendered the midfield - yet he gets taken off. The team's bottle crashed and so did Gus's. We can't sack the whole team so whether it's immediately or at the end of the season, bye bye Gus.

[ged62]

Livinginthepast, on 22 March 2010 - 10:12, said:

Lot of nonsense on here about being 'the better team etc etc..' Naw. The better teamscored a goal, the worse team didnae.

Why did Billy get taken off anyway?

The phrase 'barrowload of fannies' springs to mind.

Dont talk shit

[ged62]

Bobby_F, on 22 March 2010 - 09:43, said:

In front of goal .

As usuall

This post has been edited by ged62: 22 March 2010 - 11:09

[bluto]

That was painful.

THAT was gutless: THAT was clueless.
THAT was a stain that will stay forever.

THAT was worse than Hammarby.

[spirit of 77]

Bud the Baker, on 22 March 2010 - 10:28, said:

.......'cos that was always The Plan - Dargo for Mehmet at around 60-75 minutes and the circumstances (Rangers down to 10 men) didn't affect this.

Billy pulled up, clutching his hamstring, just a couple of minutes before he went off. all of a sudden he couldnt keep up with play. He went straight to the bench and put an ice pack to the leg.

[Smithers Jones]

JP87, on 22 March 2010 - 10:58, said:

The substitutions were shocking. We left a winger on the bench as two "wide men" who had been pish all day stayed on in the hope they could miraculously deliver a decent ball for the first time. Dorman has been awful all season - why did Mehmet no drop back and Dargo come on for Murray? Why leave 3 central defenders on against 9 men? Brady is the one player in the team who can pick a forward pass but often needs too much time and space - something he suddenly had when Rangers surrendered the midfield - yet he gets taken off. The team's bottle crashed and so did Gus's. We can't sack the whole team so whether it's immediately or at the end of the season, bye bye Gus.

And neither of them defended when it mattered. Potter went out to Naysmith and stood off. There is no way he should have neen allowed to get the ball in , but JP turned his back, again. Miller got in between Barron and Mair, again too much room. Simply not good enough.

[tony soprano]

Potter did what potter always does - nothing.
Dont make a decision, stand off and let naysmith look up not once or twice but 3 times before picking out miller. Potter should have closed him down a lot sooner, further up the park and a worst taken the card for fouling him. Even if he was sent off it would have still left us a man up. Barron was forced to maintain his position at the back post in case the ball was crossed to novo(?) who was running in on the other side of the box.

2 extra men and we were still caught out by a breakaway that left us with 3 on 3.

[RossTheBoss]

The Real Zippy, on 22 March 2010 - 07:39, said:

I'm not a fan of Gus either, but no way was that his fault. He got his tactics and substitutions spot on. You can only do so much in training etc and try and drum it into players heads that the OF are there for the taking, but you can't legislate for players who were like rabbits trapped in headlights when the **** go down to 9 men.

Couldn't have put it better myself.

[TsuMirren]

tony soprano, on 22 March 2010 - 11:42, said:

Potter did what potter always does - nothing.

Potter was f**king useless yesterday. He never went to meet a ball, didn't try to impose himself, couldn't read the game, didn't step up to cover, let men stand in space instead of marking up and the worst was when he watched the ball just run across the goal mouth in the first half. If he's been looking for a larger bonus he should forget it, he's lucky to be a professional footballer let alone captain of our club.

[E=Mc2]

bluto, on 22 March 2010 - 11:20, said:

That was painful.

THAT was gutless: THAT was clueless.
THAT was a stain that will stay forever.

THAT was worse than Hammarby.

Were you there caller?

Eh..........Eh...............Eh............

[RossTheBoss]

TsuMirren, on 22 March 2010 - 12:03, said:

Potter was f**king useless yesterday. He never went to meet a ball, didn't try to impose himself, couldn't read the game, didn't step up to cover, let men stand in space instead of marking up and the worst was when he watched the ball just run across the goal mouth in the first half. If he's been looking for a larger bonus he should forget it, he's lucky to be a professional footballer let alone captain of our club.

Yup, here we go, everything is John Potter's fault, because he isn't Kirk Broadfoot or Hugh Murray. I counted two mistakes by Potter yesterday, one of them was leading up to the goal which was a collective team f**k-up so Potter can only take a fraction of the blame. The reason we lost yesterday is our lack of skill and creativity and an inability to trouble an opposition goalkeeper, none of these things can be attributed to a central defender.

[Livinginthepast]

Tom, on 22 March 2010 - 10:49, said:

the number of times people came out with that pish yesterday...Hampden and St. Mirren Park's pitches are exactly the same size!!!!

Really? What size are they?

[Bud the Baker]

spirit of 77, on 22 March 2010 - 11:36, said:

Billy pulled up, clutching his hamstring, just a couple of minutes before he went off. all of a sudden he couldnt keep up with play. He went straight to the bench and put an ice pack to the leg.

Didn't notice this myself, but maybe so, doesn't change the fact there was no Plan B.

[peeblessaint]

Bud the Baker, on 22 March 2010 - 12:35, said:

Didn't notice this myself, but maybe so, doesn't change the fact there was no Plan B.

just watched the highlights on bbc scotland online.still numb thomsons chance in the first half if only it had been a foot either side.if only.

[Tom]

Livinginthepast, on 22 March 2010 - 12:17, said:

Really? What size are they?

Both conform to UEFA guidelines...one of the many things Gordon Scott ensured (along with the 5 flagpoles and 13 seats in each dugout etc) to make sure SMP is UEFA compliant.

[weetoonsaint]

Tom, on 22 March 2010 - 13:21, said:

Both conform to UEFA guidelines...one of the many things Gordon Scott ensured (along with the 5 flagpoles and 13 seats in each dugout etc) to make sure SMP is UEFA compliant.

and when are we gonna need a uefa stadium ??

[Smithers Jones]

RossTheBoss, on 22 March 2010 - 12:16, said:

Yup, here we go, everything is John Potter's fault, because he isn't Kirk Broadfoot or Hugh Murray. I counted two mistakes by Potter yesterday, one of them was leading up to the goal which was a collective team f**k-up so Potter can only take a fraction of the blame. The reason we lost yesterday is our lack of skill and creativity and an inability to trouble an opposition goalkeeper, none of these things can be attributed to a central defender.

Just watch the goal again and then try to defend John Potter. Does he look like a defender who will do anything possible to stop naysmith getting the ball past him ? You can count as many mistakes as you like, the man hasn't got a clue.

[godgynic]

Smithers Jones, on 22 March 2010 - 13:31, said:

Just watch the goal again and then try to defend John Potter. Does he look like a defender who will do anything possible to stop naysmith getting the ball past him ? You can count as many mistakes as you like, the man hasn't got a clue.

Mair and Carey could have done better aswell. Potter was maybe trying to hold Naysmith up to let the others get back. Barron had two to defend. Win as a team (although not very often) and lose as a team.

[St. Sid]

Funny wee day out. Had spent the weekend trying to get myself all pumped up into believing we could defy the odds and the recent utterly pish form. First bad omen - wife face forgot the tickets. Thankfully we realised before we'd left Paisley and headed back. Told wife to grab a bottle of champagne too for the post match celebrations.......got to Asda Mount Florida......wifeface - "I picked up the champagne but forgot the tickets"..... ......."naw really".....

All the way back home....got in the ground 2.59pm. First miracle!

What a first half. We were as good as we've played all season. Even better than we were in the semi or even in the 3-0 victory over muthawell that led us here.

Very nervy start to the second half. It looked like Watty had sorted out the bigots. We dug deep and took back control of the game. 2nd miracle - hunbag gets sent off. Eruptions in the Saints crowd.....great to be a buddie!!!!!

3rd miracle......wee dargs brought down and another humbag off. I positively shot my load........the "GIRUY" to the hunbag crowd was as good as it gets. The place was jumping, Paisley was going to explode tonight in the BIGGEST every party. Our man in black had thrown away his refereeing career but would be getting the freedom of Paisley in return.

Then the fannying around started.....we were all over the place, kept making too many passes and despite the appearance of being cautious we kept giving the ball away in very dangerous situations. The support had quietened - I think we could all see it coming.....but no one could believe it would actually happen. It did.....empty, numb, spent, caved in...nothing.

It was a script that even the cruellest mind couldn't have written, but that with hindsight is exactly how this was going to play out.

For all the talk of it being a diddy cup final and meaningless compared to surviving in the league, I doubt any genuine Saints fan will be shrugging their shoulders nonchalantly about this one. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger, we should be f'k'n bullet proof by now.

[Tom]

weetoonsaint, on 22 March 2010 - 13:29, said:

and when are we gonna need a uefa stadium ??

SMP has already hosted at least one game under UEFA auspices.