capt_oats

That ball btw...

New contract for Jake Carroll. 2023.

Sliding doors innit.

Something that's always sat weirdly with me is why, for that particular photo, that he's done for the 'gram, he posed in front of a banner for an all day breakfast.

That's some bar to clear.

As a by the by Harry Smith seems to have been part of a weird 3 way type thing for Bristol Rovers where they've been looking at various lanky centre forwards. Link Oddly when I saw that video of him the other week when he was first mentioned I got heavy Stockley/Cosgrove vibes. Either way, if he does end up here it feels like a strong 'not Jordan White' move.

And on that note...

I'd imagine it'll be a nominal sum but Dunne is someone else who'll be on the wage bill. That's not a criticism just more a point that it's another body in the squad. I mean, I can see us signing 4 players but the only way that happens is if we move 3 or 4 out the door given the size of the squad and in these 'unprecedented times' that's a big ask unless clubs are chapping our door looking at our waifs and strays as Alexander has made it clear he's keen for us to keep hold of our better players for the moment. As it stands we've already brought in 2 in Kelly and Lawleff. If we're able to bring in a couple of a decent quality then it'd make a difference as we've already seen a bit of an improvement with a vaguely competent goalkeeper and an actual left back. To get an idea of the squad as is based on who's been in the match day squads: GK: Kelly, Morrison, Chapman. Carson (injured) Fox (injured) - (5) DF: Grimshaw, Carroll, Lamie, McGinley, Mugabi, Dunne (injured), Devine, Hussain, Gallagher, O'Donnell, Johnston - (11) MF: Campbell, O'Hara, Crawford, Maguire, Polworth, Donnelly (injured), Cornelius - (7) FW: White, Hastie, Lawless, Seedorf, McIver, Watt, Cole, Long (injured) - (8) That's 31 players (albeit with the reduced Reserves (6) and (3) Out on Loan this season it means we're probably in line with a normal season overall - last season when the league was curtailed it was 39 all in with 4 out on loan). I suppose that's just a really long-winded way of agreeing and saying we're pretty maxed out in terms of squad at the moment.

Yep. It's been covered a fair bit in our thread but the "gun to his head" line was wild. Even if the extension is triggered, he goes to the Euros and Motherwell won't stand in his way if he gets the opportunity to "progress his career" at a Celtic or a Championship club (which is what he seems to be angling for) and Motherwell get a non-prohibitive fee.

If you believe reports (and it seems to be an open secret now) Gallagher also triggers an additional year extension in 3 games so assuming that happens he won't be out of contract in the summer either.

Yeah, it's not something I go overboard with and I unfollowed a lot of the Scottish Fitba' Stats types ages ago but it's an interesting read particularly in comparison with the previous Robinson fixture (although there should probably be a caveat that we'd not long flown back from Israel and were visibly knackered in that game). Also, I'll put my hand up, in a previous post somewhere on here I was saying we played a 433 against them in the 5-1 at Fir Park, it was the 4-1 against Celtic we were 433, the 5-1 was 352. The thread caught my eye largely because Alexander has been surprisingly measured since he came in the door - clean slate, everyone getting a chance to show what they can do, we might have to turn everything upside down but then again we may not etc. In his pre-match he was talking about how his focus was on how we play the game, 60%-70% of our approach isn't going to change but we'll tweak things depending on who we're playing etc. I was pretty sceptical about that ahead of a game against Rangers tbh, but fair fucks to him; going 433 against Rangers and not only making it work but getting a result is pretty fucking bold. The point with that is, sadsack that I am, I had a browse about Fleetwood, Scunthorpe and Salford's forums and there's genuinely not much about what his approach to the game is and I'll not lie, I've never watched a Salford game in my life so I've no idea how his teams actually set up. That he's come in and is getting a better tune out of Robinson's players (albeit with a functioning goalkeeper, left back and Devante Cole) and hasn't come in with a Stendel-esque 'philosophy' bodes well IMO.

For all I've been saying I've been swerving Twitter (I have), along with that really good Stonewaller interview with Cole I noticed this tactical thread about Sunday's game c/o Joel Sked QTing it into my timeline.

What a guy...

I mean it is obviously but I'm pretty sure McGhee used it as the reason McDonald was benched against Rangers in the Scottish Cup when he chucked his toys out the pram about the club kb'ing his move to Australia.

I believe the common shorthand there is a "back injury".

Aye, I'd take anyone popping up in the Twitter mentions with a V(L) for Ven.detta avi with a massive crate of salt. What I thought was a bit weird about the Long thing is that Robinson didn't go into any sort of detail when asked about him. It was just "Chris Long will miss out. He's our only injury", "Chris Long won't be available yet, we're hoping maybe another week's time if it settles down a little bit more" and he's barely been mentioned through any channels since (save his hat trick against Dundee on the socials yesterday).

Donnelly actually describes what happened with his. He slipped in training and the two bones sliced his meniscus (it was a meniscus tear Carson had as well). Fox is an ACL is it not?

I see that's the team news page on the official been updated. Long's return TBC due to a "muscular" injury.

Slightly related I see Alexander's been talking about transfers and what not.

Alexander is the wildcard factor here. If nothing else, Robinson seemed to have a decent handle on how to play McInnes and Aberdeen. His record was P 13 W 6 D 1 L 6 F 16 A 11 Alexander's been in the door a week and a bit, is largely working with Robinson's squad, he's never managed up here and we're still not entirely clear what his plan is in terms of style of play. Against St Mirren and Rangers we've essentially been playing the 433 that Robinson struggled with at the start of the season...but a bit better. I suppose it depends on whether we've got any new players in the door this week as our problem now seems to be a massive drop off in the 2nd half when we're having to make subs. Our bench is filled with either teenagers or a clutch of players who aren't good enough eg: Ricki Lamie, Jordan White, Sherwin Seedorf.

Is the "not simply rolling over and letting others tickle their tummy. About time we started playing hardball" line the most played out Motherwell trope going? Not for me to say, but yes. In Robinson's time alone we brought in £6m+ in transfer revenue. Wild that this still seems to be a stock response any time there's mention of a player possibly moving.