Well off the Mark
Motherwell manager Mark McGhee comes under pressure as fans protest after 5-1 mauling at home to Dundee
IT’S not been a good week for Leicester City managers, past or present. Well… past and past now. On Thursday night Claudio Ranieri received his jotters only nine months after guiding a bang average team to the Premier League title and into the Champions League. Losing narrowly to Sevilla in a last16 first leg in Spain seemed enough to force the success-and-money obsessed Leicester board into action as the Tinkerman was promptly turfed out.
In comparison, the writing appeared on the wall for former Foxes manager Mark McGhee in Lanarkshire yesterday. By wall, I actually mean the back of a big sheet of wallpaper.
The 59-year-old was the subject of a protest at half-time and at fulltime outside the Phil O’Donnell Stand at Fir Park by a crowd of around 300 on the back of another horrendous Motherwell scoreline.
Only two games ago McGhee’s team went down 7-2 at Pittodrie, extending a run of just two wins in 12 games in the process and nudging those in attendances to the very limits of their tether. On a sombre day on their own patch here, a 5-1 thrashing took that tally to 14. Already that scoreline down by half-time, a batch of supporters evacuated the far corner of the John Hunter Stand to make their feelings clear at the break, chants of ‘McGhee out now’ echoing along Fir Park Street. By the time a nothing second half was brought to its conclusion, their number had only increased.
“I understand fans’ frustrations but they have to be realistic,” said McGhee, who was the Leicester manager in 1994/95. “The back four couldn’t cope with Dundee, but in the second-half we showed it wasn’t about spirit but there were psychological issues and we weren’t strong enough to cope.
“I understand what the supporters are saying and I’m not arrogant enough to think I’m immortal and 7-2 to Aberdeen then 5-1 to Dundee doesn’t put me under pressure of course it does. But it doesn’t change my desire to do the job.
“In the second half I think we showed we are not lacking in spirit. They are going to be tough and brave now to stand up to the criticism they are going to get this week and that I’m going to get. They have to stand up and be counted. They showed it’s more about the technical side than the psychological side.”
McGhee is right to point to the defensive frailties and inexperience when providing some sort of plea in mitigation. Without Stevie Hammell, Richard Tait and Stephen McManus, a backline of Joe Chalmers, Ben Heneghan, Zak Jules and Jack McMillan started the game. However, there was barely a pass mark for anyone in a claret-and-amber jersey yesterday.
With an average of just 21, the resistance of this fledgling defence was left in tatters after Marcus Haber, Henrik Ojamaa and Craig Wighton were finished with them. Having said that, the Dundee front three didn’t even have a say in matters in the first of a few occasions Motherwell shot themselves in the foot.
It took seven minutes for it all to start. A tame ball back into the box spurred Jules into action as he stretched backwards to nod the ball to Craig Samson. Instead, all the Scotland U21 defender did was somehow lob his own keeper and kick-start Dundee’s rout.
That mishap was the first real chance of the game and somehow with the second Motherwell found a leveller through Louis Moult. This time the hosts benefited from poor defending and at the second attempt Motherwell’s top scorer this season swept the ball under Scott Bain on 22 minutes to offer some sort of false hope for the 3500 home supporters in attendance.
Within five minutes, another soft goal had been conceded. Jules dealt poorly with jockeying Haber for the ball after a Mark O’Hara knock down, and the big striker swivelled five yards out to sweep the ball into the net, and Dundee were up and running again.
The third arrived six minutes later and was again poorly defended. Paul McGowan was allowed to pick out O’Hara on the right side of the box and even though his shot was hit low and hard, Samson still should have done better with an effort that was well within reach.
The Motherwell keeper didn’t cover himself in glory at Dundee’s fourth either, but then, who did? Another ball into the box was
not dealt with as Ojamaa nicked it away from the diving Samson only to then put it on a plate for Wighton to sweep home on 35 minutes. By the time Haber nodded in a free header at the back post on the stroke of half-time, the writing was already on the banner.
“We’re in a group of clubs fighting relegation,” added McGhee afterwards. “We know we have to start winning games but we feel we’re capable of it.”
He’s not wrong. That result leaves Motherwell in 10th, three points above bottom club Hamilton Accies, while the three points – Dundee’s second in a row – keeps the visitors ahead of Thistle in sixth.
“The first half was excellent,” said Paul Hartley, the Dundee manager. “We carried on the tempo from last week’s win against Rangers and I was pleased with the intensity and the goals we scored.”