Fermers at hame - official match thread

[alwaysanarab]

Looking at it again, if he had time to hook the blooter he had time to send it to the shed.

On BBC Alba tonight at 11.00pm

[Henrys Hall]

Makes one wonder who gets what when the cash gets divied up?

[darrenshedtastic]

Strange feelings towards today, like everyone else it must have been difficult to not be able to be in the ground for the opening day of the season.
1st half- really impressed, moved the ball well and looked sharp. pressed well, defensively pretty sound. shape worked well i thought, nice little combinations in middle to final 3rd which led to some good chances. deservedly 1-0 up at ht.
2nd half- seemed comfortable until the goal which came out of nowhere. then we had to stay in the game for the next 15mins. then it was anyones game but couldnt see a winner really.

Draw probably a fair result.

Benji- couldnt do much with goal i dont think, made 1 or 2 good saves.
Neilson- interesting start, looked alright will need to see more obviously.
Connolly- i thought he was good apart from his mistake at goal.
Reynolds- steady. same as old loves to punt it to nobody.
Robson- MOTM imo. solid defensively and caused problems going forward.
Smith- steady but not as attacking as Robson. i thought he looked better when he moved to RCB
Harkes- all over the park, great energy. some really impressive moments then some poorer moments. think he will improve once adapts.
Butcher- steady enough. solid maybe needs to be more positive on the ball.
Pawlett- i thought he was good. this is the PP i want to see. energetic, driving forward and working hard.
Clark- 1st half good 2nd half faded. good penalty.
Shankland- miles off it. had a good chance but his sharpness wasnt there

Smith- few nice touches but didnt impact game as much.
Bolton- added some much needed width, few good runs.
Chalmers- 1 nice run but not on for much.

overall not too fussed. missed opportunity with st J being down to 10 for a half but i think that suited them as they clearly worked hard and wasnt as open. overall if we can stop the silly mistakes then we will pick up points. thought appere should have came on for some freshness up top but can see why he went for Smith.

[LSArab]

Strange feelings towards today, like everyone else it must have been difficult to not be able to be in the ground for the opening day of the season.
1st half- really impressed, moved the ball well and looked sharp. pressed well, defensively pretty sound. shape worked well i thought, nice little combinations in middle to final 3rd which led to some good chances. deservedly 1-0 up at ht.
2nd half- seemed comfortable until the goal which came out of nowhere. then we had to stay in the game for the next 15mins. then it was anyones game but couldnt see a winner really.

Draw probably a fair result.

Benji- couldnt do much with goal i dont think, made 1 or 2 good saves.
Neilson- interesting start, looked alright will need to see more obviously.
Connolly- i thought he was good apart from his mistake at goal.
Reynolds- steady. same as old loves to punt it to nobody.
Robson- MOTM imo. solid defensively and caused problems going forward.
Smith- steady but not as attacking as Robson. i thought he looked better when he moved to RCB
Harkes- all over the park, great energy. some really impressive moments then some poorer moments. think he will improve once adapts.
Butcher- steady enough. solid maybe needs to be more positive on the ball.
Pawlett- i thought he was good. this is the PP i want to see. energetic, driving forward and working hard.
Clark- 1st half good 2nd half faded. good penalty.
Shankland- miles off it. had a good chance but his sharpness wasnt there

Smith- few nice touches but didnt impact game as much.
Bolton- added some much needed width, few good runs.
Chalmers- 1 nice run but not on for much.

overall not too fussed. missed opportunity with st J being down to 10 for a half but i think that suited them as they clearly worked hard and wasnt as open. overall if we can stop the silly mistakes then we will pick up points. thought appere should have came on for some freshness up top but can see why he went for Smith.

Agree with most of this but thought Shanks and Clark were actually pretty good.

Shanks created his two chances really well turning their defence inside and out.

Also very noticeable that he was very heavily marked even when they had 10 men.

Should have meant more chance for others but we seemed intent on still trying to play it in to his feet.

I agree Robson was MOTM

The back 5 and wing backs was a good solution from MM for our lack of width and worked well.

I’m definitely glass half full after today.

Tough couple of fixtures coming up but we have a chance to get some points

[tannadream]

decent enough start, possibly 2 points dropped, but saints definitely improved after break.
didn't blame Connelly for goal, at least he got some kind of block on cross, and who was picking up runners, Craig totally unmarked, 2nd half we got a little better near end.
hopefully a similar kind of performance against Motherwell, but maybe keep calm and pass a bit more, too many hoofs yesterday for my liking

[darrenshedtastic]

yeah just thought shankland looked abit rusty, lacking match sharpness. still created a good chance but i reckon a sharp shankland scores that.
I thought the 3 at back with WB's worked until St Johnstone got a grip of the game after they scored. It meant that it became too much of a back 5 as we were pinned back alot. this cause problems when we try to counter, as we didnt have much width for a 15/20 min spell in 2nd half. however that did improve when MM took off Neilson, moved smith back to CB and brought bolton on. now we had more of an attacking threat and an out ball. i liked the 3 at the back idea but it will only work against certain teams and i feel it worked well enough today against a team playing a similar formation.

positives to take.

[ARAbCHNID]

I'm happy because we looked a better unit than last season, much more positive & I think I'm going to like Mellon's teams, that's his first game let's not forget. I liked his reading of the game & you felt we were always pro-active, he had his hand on the tiller. We had good shape, good industry, we won nearly every 50/50, every player was getting stuck in, not just Robson who I always commend for that. St J reacted well with 10 men, credit to their new boss. Starting with Neilson was a bold move & sends a message to other youngsters, give 100% in training & there's a place for you. Bolton looked very good after initially two dodgy touches & I see him being a first pick down the right flank. Another 10 minutes of him & we might have seen one of his balls from the bye line be converted, he knows how to get round the fullback. Shankland's goals will come despite the tight marking he'll endure. All in all 8/10 & improvements week-on-week.

[Arabknight]

Width and creativity needs attention and we are crying out for a decent CB ( rumours we are looking for Blackpool C.

Decent performance yesterday and I’m sure MM positive mindset and mental strength will eventually rub off on team as we looked a bit nervous and vulnerable after they scored.


Think Bolton will be good addition and if Robson continues to build on his performance from yest, and we can engineer a creative spark in midfield. Im sure shanks will soon be getting plenty amo. Overall optimistic for season ahead, but survival should be our main focus.

[ahlltanyirhide]

Was fairly buzzing for yesterday, wee bit disappointed with the final score but the positives for me are

we’ve got a point on the board
We’ve got a goal in the For column
We can still finish the season undefeated
And we can still win the treble