Hard Luck Lads
Stevie Lomas first encountered Craig Thomson at Ibrox; what an introduction to Scottish football. The overpaid, incompetent BMW X5 driver was a clown in that game and was even worse when he visited Perth with Rangers on Saturday.
Whilst I am all too often guilty of sitting on the fence over some issues, please be clear that I don’t think he changed the result of the game yesterday. I do not believe he is a corrupt, in the sense that I don’t believe he deliberately gives the wrong decisions. I firmly believe that he is incapable of making the right decisions. His fitness does not seem to be an issue; he was often up with play and often had a clear view of incidents. He is simply useless. If he’s any sort of man, he’ll admit that Dorien should have been sent off for his foul on Sandaza, if not for his jersey pull on Haber before that. Admitting a problem is the biggest step to resolution of the issue.
The game itself wasn’t particularly entertaining but, whenever a result is possible against the Old Firm the atmosphere is decent. McDiarmid Park has been slowly re-gaining some atmosphere under Steve Lomas and the warmer weather and lighter nights will only help the ambience. There were no obvious stewarding issues and despite a very poor turnout from Saints fans, the contra-singing was strong and raucous.
In fairness, injustice creates a unity amongst fans and we reacted to our players wrongly protesting the Rangers opener. We need to all step back and think about a bit of role reversal. When Fran Sandaza broke away from the idiotic and disgusting hand shaking routine which blights every SPL match he ran to the East Stand gestured us to be more vocal and supportive. How sad that a player had to do that. I fervently believe that we enter into an unwritten contract when we enter the McDiarmid turnstiles; beyond any doubt we have an obligation to raise the roof in support of our players. Personally, I love it when Enckleman gets involved. Alan Main was not without fault, but he worked wonders when interacting with the fans. Lomas should encourage more of this behaviour from his number one.
Perhaps we need to think of new ways of creating an atmosphere. Our half time is wasted with trivial announcements; instead I’d like to see former players on the pitch. Perhaps such as Bruce Fummey would perform a tannoy role at half time, maybe we could have a competition to produce the Official Saints run out music? The music needs to be upbeat and catchy, the crowd need a stimulus, the bairns on the pitch does not work. Maybe an adults competition, like we see at Scotland games, would be more popular. It would certainly create another sponsorship avenue and that should give increased newspaper coverage too. Please don’t think this is the sole responsibility of the board or Stuart and Paul.
We all have an obligation to the club we love; we all want the match day atmosphere to be better. If you have an idea, daft or sensible, please put your idea in writing and send it to the Commercial Department, McDiarmid Park, Crieff Road, Perth, PH1 2SJ. You will likely receive a standard reply, but as myself and plenty others can testify, if the idea is feasible, it will be given due consideration. The club are working their balls off, just because they can’t publicise every initiative doesn’t mean they are doing nothing. The time and effort spent with school kids is as incredible as it is surprising. It would be boring if they publicised every initiative. Anyway, back to the game...
Saints fans should be delighted that we played against Rangers, lost 2-1 and can rightly feel aggrieved by the score. That’s a measure of the improvement we’ve seen under Lomas. That aside, he repeated an error yesterday and that’s the first time I’ve had to write that.
The lack of Moon cost us dear yesterday. I must defend David Robertson, despite his chronic opening 20 minutes. I still don’t see what he brings to the team, but he is a good player. More than that, he tackled bravely, had a decent effort on goal and blocked/prevented a certain goal. He’s undoubtedly frustrating, but Lomas has seen something in him and he sees more of him than we do. His great judgement affords him the luxury of time.
Platitudes aside, he should have had Mooner in the team yesterday. We had a clear tactic not to rush their centre halves – common sense with one up top – but we lacked a gritty spark when the ball did come into midfield. Mooner would have fixed that. A confident Mooner would have buried Robbo’s miss from Fran’s selfless square ball. I understand why Lomas wants Muzz to find the net, but the bottom line is that he doesn’t possess a talent for that part of the game. Moon does and Lomas would do well to ensure he gets good coaching in the afternoons from a striking coach.
Now bear in mind that Robbo was arguably our worst player and you’ll understand why there was huge frustration in the home dressing room following the game. Not one player put in a poor shift, the tactics were virtually bang on (given the injury to Midgie) and the selection gets 10/11 from me.
Although not one of our players excelled in the game, neither did any of the Rangers players. Sone Aluko, a player inexplicably maligned by fans of other clubs, gave Callum Davidson a tough time, Stevie Davis worked well in midfield and Jelavic is decent up front. Other than that, we arguably won the other battles. As I say, great frustration on the day.
So to the issues of the day:
Craig Thomson is useless. The first goal was offside. The freekick preceding it was fine, it was taken from the correct area and, despite what I initially thought, the ball was stopped when it was struck. No problems with that. Players in blue should have firstly blocked the quick free kick and secondly put in a challenge on Aluko. We didn’t and they scored. Not Craig’s fault, but he remains useless. Whatever Lomas says publicly, he will be furious with his players for not defending that set play properly. The first goal against the Old Firm is always crucial.
Our players will review the footage and cringe. So too, should the West Stand linesman, Healy was offside. The goal should not have stood. I was certain at the time, but subsequently doubted myself. Having watched it several times since, I believe the Rangers number 15 was interfering with play, active, call it what you will; I believe Rangers got lucky that their goal stood, whereas Haber’s was chalked off. At least Haber’s was a decent finish.
Liam Craig, owner of the worst hair and boots at the club, sent in a hanging cross ball which Haber sent to Alexander’s right, before the Rangers back-up keeper could get to the ball, his defensive colleague neatly deflected the ball to the keeper’s left and into the back of the pokey. In the stands, I celebrated like mad, I don’t remember being so chuffed by a McDiarmid goal in ages. It just seemed right that we were gonna get a point.
That I felt a point had been secured is a reflection of Lomas’ hard work with the squad. Despite Millar forcing us into a boring 4-5-1, the midfield movement allowed to us attack well and with great fluid passing moves, a far cry from the stuffy and sideways stuff that we suffered under the previous regime. That’s not to say we were gung ho. A slip from Ando the Rock allowed Rangers one sight at goal, the rest of the time we were pretty much under control. Often when a team loses, the manager trots out trite rhetoric - “if my boys play like that, we’ll do okay” – but when Lomas did his finest list of clichés there was truth in his words. We have four hard games coming up, two against teams placed higher than us, but we can tackle them with confidence. Under Lomas we have a swagger and a gallousness that rattle sour opponents. I always argued that Del wasted too much time respecting the opposition; Lomas is proving me right. He, like me, believes in his players and trusts them to do a job. Apart from the Celtic game at home, they simply haven’t let him down.
Of course, as we know, Rangers got a winner, thanks to an awfy blunder from Rangers fan, Murray Davidson. The midfield hard man is coming under curious waves of attack from the WAP brigade and I’m confused by that. It’s well known that I am disappointed by his development but his performances this season have been his best to date. I’m really bewildered and wonder if the WAP brigade convinced themselves that he was genuinely on the verge of the national team. He isn’t good enough for Scotland, he isn’t as good as Jamie Adams and it’s no surprise that folk haven’t been bidding for him. Nevertheless he’s a decent SPL midfielder, our defenders rate him highly and so does our manager. I know who’s judgement I’ll follow.
Yes he made a mistake, it happens. I understand why Mackay, and to a lesser extent, Anderson, blamed Enckleman for the goal, but it was categorically Muzz’s fault. TV replays prove that beyond any doubt. The lion has a good attitude and he won’t let it affect him. We’ll pick ourselves up and look to correct things at the weekend.
The only other real talking point was the lack of red card for Goian’s persistent fouling. Booked early in the game, he should have walked for a blatant jersey pull. Not content with escaping punishment for that foul, he felled Fran Sandaza just after our equaliser. His dismissal may not have changed the game, but that’s not the point. Gerry McLaughlin was sent packing for a near identical foul in the same area the week before. No consistency, no parity, no consequences for the men in black.
I’m not rating the players this week, partly because I’m lazy and partly because they all performed well. Lomas is taking this league by storm and is making a mark in many ways at the club. A few players could well be heading for the exit in the next fortnight but he has good men ready to come in.
These are exciting times. If you’re not involved, you’re missing out.
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