Temple Of Saints - We're Crap.

Scottish Premier League - 27/11/99

Arabs 1 Saints 0 League Table Here

Team : Main,McQ,Bollan,Weir,Danny,Dasovic,Chief,Del,Nathan,Jones,McMahon
Subs : Robertson,Miguel,Pope,Messiah,Keyring

Well it's good to see that after the blip of a win during the week it doesn't take much for Saints to get back to the normal "plucky" defeatist mob of recent weeks. Another game of two halves with easily our worst performance in the first 45 followed by a decent rally in the second half. Of course this being a true to form Saints side by the time they got their act together, it was too little too late.

St. Sandy put Nathan up front instead of Miguel - the only change from the side in midweek. Well outwardly that is - to tell the truth the first 15 minutes led me to believe that the entire team had been replaced by an even more pathetic bunch of useless amateurs that had never even seen a ball never mind kicked it. Yup we were that bad.

From the start it was plain that Judas knew what to do to pressure a creaky Saints defence. Attack in numbers and keep the ball low and the passes short. You know, the exact opposite of what Saints do. As early as the first minute they could have taken the lead when a suspiciously offside-looking Dodds broke into the box with only Jesus to make. Luckily Scotland's no. 1 pulled off a great save. Even then it was only thanks to shite finishing from the Arabs that the game remained goalless with the full backs missing as usual (well to Bollan's credit he wasn't missing as much as late), and Jim Weir having a nightmare in the centre of defence.

Still with 10 minutes on the clock a long ball up the park found the Karaoke King breaking through the middle. Against all odds he brought the ball down beautifully and was through on the keeper. Now I know Combe made a good save but it has to be said that for most of the Saints fans we never expected him to score anyway - thats how much faith has been lost in the side.

Five minutes later and we were behind. A cross over, the ball was knocked down to the edge of the box and Getshiskitov blasted the ball home after Dasovic made an uncharacteristic slip and failed to mark him. After that the rest of the first half was a nightmare with every Arab attack looking like a goal. First yellow card came for Partridge for a scythe on Gerry although Goalden Graeme followed suit before half-time for catching an Arabs ankles. Saints were very poor though and even when we got the ball moving we failed to either get forward or come up with any sort of creative play. Dasovic and Chief were OK in the centre of midfield but lacked any penetration. Nathan couldn't do much thanks to the attentions of 3 Arabs and Jones wasn't provided with any crosses or decent balls to turn into an attack. On the wings Del looked OK but Gerry badly needs to learn to beat his man.

Second-half was a different matter with Saints dominating the game - although still without any killer touch in the box. Eight (!!!) corners in the second-half and nothing from it. Goalden turned in the box on the hour mark and got a good shot in, and Gerry had a header but we still lacked the goal.

St. Sandy put the Messiah on in 64 minutes for the tiring Goalden and he was as crap as ever. Sorry but Thomas failed to win the ball, keep the ball, head the ball or contribute anything towards a Saints attack. That meant the pressure was on the Ginger Bomber and he at least managed two or three shots on goal.

Gerry was replaced by Miguel and the last 15 minutes saw us camped round the Arabs box. Danny saw a free kick well saved by Combe and Nathan and Miguel both came close with shots, whilst Del was unlucky with a square ball across the goal which saw no blue shirts in the 6 yard box. And as for Mr. Bollan - can someone please tell him that if he gets within 20 yards of the opposition goal that there are occasionally other options available than blasting the ball towards goal.

That was it really - for all the possession and pressure we never looked like scoring. Defensively McQ and Bollan should be dropped now and Weir told to get fit. Del must be played on the right and whilst Chief and Dasovic are OK in midfield we need to play Miguel and Lowndes together up front along with Jones.

MoM for me was Chief - I've been as harsh as any on him recently but he at least is willing to get stuck into the opposition and chase the ball. Not the most talented player by any means but right now we need some blood and guts performances from the side - otherwise I fear the worst.

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