Casagolda
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Posts posted by Casagolda
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See, part of me is beginning to wonder if we actually were that good against Hibs.
Or, if Van Veen’s performance that day coupled with the novelty of properly being ‘back at the fitba’ actually just helped paper over the cracks.
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Van Veen was never gonna live up to the hype of last week.
If he was hitting those levels every week, he’d be nowhere near Fir Park. In his defence, his work rate or attitude both looked spot on and that’s all you can really ask from him.
Good to Slattery last the full 90, him wrapping a pass into Watt through the lines for the goal is exactly the kind of thing we’ve been missing. Still think we’re a body short in there, judging by the Gotts news it sounds like Alexander agrees.
I thought Lamie had a very good game, especially 2nd half and will be interesting to see who out of him or Mugabi makes way for Ojala. Also fair play to the much maligned Lawless as well, showed that while he might not be a regular starter he could still have a role to play this season.
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I'm happy enough with a point and thought it was about right in the end.
We're very much a work in progress and still look a bit rough round the edges where as Saints look a far more settled, cohesive unit. Having said that, I thought we gave as good as we got for large spells and missed at least 3 excellent chances.
Saints obviously tired 2nd half but it was nice to see our bench used to good effect- it was something that cost us last week. A lovely goal, great pick out by Lawless and an empathic finish by Watt.
Get Ojala up to speed, get another first choice midfielder in the building and possibly(being greedy) another forward option and I'll be fairly happy with how we're shaping up come the end of the window. Long way to go but we've already come on leaps and bounds since that Airdrie debacle only a few weeks ago.
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On 02/08/2021 at 10:46, Casagolda said:
Some chat at the game yesterday one of the players we were/are sniffing about was Robbie Gotts of Leeds.
No idea if true but he fits a similar profile to Slattery so would at least make sense in that regard, plus it would be strange name to randomly pluck from nowhere.
On 05/08/2021 at 14:37, gullane said:Who started this rumour? Is there anything in it?
Noticed it's now being reported by Alan Nixon this morning...
Story I got telt is that Leeds want a permanent deal but there's a few other teams chasing him, so it's not an easy or straight forward deal to do. Similar could be said for Slattery right enough though and we got that one done I suppose.
But aye, seems like there might have been something in it.
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He actually played mostly out wide for us.
Robinson tried him through the middle but at 18 he didn’t really do well with the physical/ugly side of the game. So he put him out wide instead where he could spend more time doing the things he was good at- getting on the ball and running at people etc.
He looked a cracking prospect if a little short on end product back then but as I say, he was very young. Still only 20 now, could be an excellent pick up for St Mirren.
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30 minutes ago, capt_oats said:
Stating the obvious, but off the back of Van Veen and Slattery's showing yesterday along with the arrival of Ojala I'm interested to see who we've got earmarked still to come in now.
Some chat at the game yesterday one of the players we were/are sniffing about was Robbie Gotts of Leeds.
No idea if true but he fits a similar profile to Slattery so would at least make sense in that regard, plus it would be strange name to randomly pluck from nowhere.
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I have no strong feelings either way about Murphy tbh.
On the game, was fairly pleased with our performance. Considering the lack of football for several of our players, the players missing and those still come in there’s enough to be positive about.
Slattery just looks a lovely footballer, at least 3 times yesterday he took a Hibs player right out the game with a drop of the shoulder/deft first touch. Always a positive touch too, head up and looking forward as well- reminded me a bit of Nicky Law in that respect. Given he’s about 3 or 4 weeks behind the rest of the squad I thought it was a very encouraging performance before he tired.
Van Veen was unplayable at times, not expecting that every week but he look like he’ll be great value. The bit in the 2nd half where he flicked the ball past the Hibs player and then left Porteous on his arse as well had be me positively purring. His through ball for Woolery was sublime as well- massive turning point as I think we take at least a point if that goes in.
With Donnelly/Slattery getting fitter, Ojala getting up to speed and if we can potentially add a few more shrewd additions, I think we can be reasonably confident about the season ahead.
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2 hours ago, superward said:
Bit quieter on here after a win....
Maybe because I don’t really give a f**k about Airdrie myself but the reaction to Wednesday night seemed just a wee bit ott- even though it was an absolute shocker.
There seems to be a fair amount of folk with the knives out for Alexander already which to me is absolutely mental at this stage. We were joint bottom when he took over in January. He done a terrific job in difficult circumstances and surely deserves not only credit but a chance to build his own team as a result?
Wednesday night wasn’t it. At least by no means the finished product anyway. In fact 9 of the 11 that started were here last season. Van Veen(and Donnelly) obviously weren’t risked. Shiels hasn’t been seen yet through injury. We look to have added another couple of players since then as well and have at least another 3 senior players coming back from injury.
Yet some folk have us relegated already, the window doesn’t even shut for another 5 weeks! I know watching us just about stumble our way through the League Cup games hasn’t been great but it’s far too early to judge Alexander when we’re essentially still in pre-season.
Have to say outside of maybe Amaluzor and Parker, I’ve actually been quite pleased with his signings on paper so far. Very much like the look of Slattery as well and Ojala seems like he’d be a bit of coup compared to your usual English lower league clogger we pick up.
Essentially, I’m willing to wait a wee while longer and see where we are in 5 or 6 weeks time before I start accepting certain relegation.8 -
Some chat that Callum Slattery from Southampton is the midfielder we’re about to sign.
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I thoroughly enjoyed that.
Shipping two soft goals right before half time and getting booed off actually ended up making for a quite an exciting game. It added a little bit of edge and jeopardy which is sometimes missing when you cruise these early season affairs.
Must say I didn't think we were actually too bad 1st half though, lots of possession and moved the ball well without much punch. A lack of pace up front or creativity in the middle will do that I suppose. As someone else said, the introduction of Woolery and Lawless coming centrally made a massive difference and we could have won by several more if Van Veen had his shooting boots on.
Was impressed with both KVV and Woolery though, Lawless looked a lot fitter/better than last season as well. Was slightly bemused at the McGinley sub right enough, we were well in control at that stage and was looking a case of how many. Then for some reason we let QOTS back into the game by bringing on an extra centre back- relying on Kelly to bail us out with his customary big save at the end.
Overall though, it was just great to be back at the football and actually celebrate a Motherwell win in person.
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I was a massive fan of Scott as well to be fair.
He basically had all the attributes you could want in a modern day forward. Six foot plus, quick and strong. Great touch, comfortable with either foot, could dribble etc.
His end product was a bit hit or miss but he was still only 18 to be fair. If he stayed another year or two, smoothed out some rough edges and became a more consistent goal threat then we’d have been looking at Turnbull level money.
On the other hand, he might not of and we could be left regretting turning down 7 figures for a guy who’d only scored 4 league goals for the club. So you can absolutely see why he and the club both jumped at the Hull offer when it came in.
I think Covid, injures and a lack of game time has obviously hampered his development down there but he’s still only 20. Plenty of time for him to develop, a loan move and a run of games seems a fairly sensible move for him this season.
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Kelly is about a rounded a keeper as you could possibly hope to have at our level.
His footwork, positioning and handling is all excellent. He’s loud, confident, decisive and comes off his line well to deal with things when needed. His distribution is spot on- he’s a better passer than any of our midfielders. He also seems to produce at least one massive save per game to bail us out the shit.
I’m also a big Trevor Carson fan but Kelly is arguably already on a par with peak Carson despite currently being 5 years younger than Carson was in that 17/18 season. Getting him tied down on a 3 year deal is an outstanding bit of business by the club.
Best of luck to Trev as well btw. Genuinely hope wherever he ends up he gets a run of games and a bit of luck, if anyone deserves a break it’s him.
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On recruitment, I recommend this weeks MFC podcast btw.
Alan Burrows was on and discuss the state of things at the club currently. Such as why we’ve not been as busy as usual(yet) as well as the new recruitment process etc. Also heavy hints that Campbell is close to signing for an English Championship side.
They also spend the first 20 mins or so talking about Andy P. Even as someone that didn’t know him outside of Steelmen Online, it was touching and lovely tribute.
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Devante Cole away to Barnsley.
That’s some move for him like, signing for a team who were in the Championship play-offs last season.
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I imagine the truth is probably lies somewhere in between.
His agents probably started high and hoped to stall Killie for a few days while he floats his name about for better offers. Killie have called his bluff and walked away.
Which, given the speed Killie are going about there rebuild is not exactly surprising. I imagine Lafferty is a bit stung because he probably expected them to make more of an effort to keep him than they actually have.
I’m on the fence regarding Lafferty but I do admire Killie’s approach to the whole thing. Hopefully we are taking a similar approach with Cole.
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11 hours ago, capt_oats said:
Edit: Actually, we signed Richard Tait on a 3 year deal back in 2016. Turns out Moult was a 3 year deal in 2015 also. So there you go.
Carson was originally a 3 year deal as well I’m sure.
It is fairly rare though but the type of gamble I can get on board with. From the bits I’ve seen the boy certainly has a lot of good physical attributes mixed with some decent ability.
At worst, he looks like he’ll at least be a handy squad player. However the length of the deal suggests that Alexander is confident he can smooth out some rough edges and develop him as a player.
Where as when Robinson was chucking 1 year deals at guys like Manzinga, Illic and Petravicius it always suggested that he was hoping for the best but wasn’t actually expecting all that much.
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I assume the good Capt meant in terms of positional discipline with Gorrin.
After Donnelly’s injury, Robinson tried to turn O’Hara into a holding midfielder when he had neither the technical or tactical qualities required for the role. His best attributes are his physical ones and they were wasted in that role.
You’d never see Gorrin get caught ahead of the ball or dragged out of position. With O’Hara, it was almost a weekly occurrence.
I loved big Ally Gorrin tbh, the perfect blend of hatchet man and baller to play that holding midfield role.
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To my mind, the only two strikers this century I’d put ahead of Moult are Higdon and McDonald. With Porter and probably Sutton(for consistency if nothing else) rounding off my top 5.
As things stand, Cole is still sitting along side Curtis Main in the tremendous purple patch section.
Moult was just a bit of a poacher when he first joined but he was much more rounded player by the time he left. In that 17/18 he was incredible and was capable of turning barely half chances into goals.
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Alexander confirming Campbell is away.
Not exactly a surprise and he probably needs to move on for his own development to be fair to him.
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Whilst he’s not exactly Beckenbauer, he’s actually a much better footballer than he gets credit for(as above video shows).
He really was outstanding last season, rarely put a foot wrong. This season has seen a big drop off in terms of form and consistency but he’s far from the only Motherwell player that could be levelled at.
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The guys career has basically been on an uninterrupted, upward trajectory since he left the jail. From playing in League 1 to helping Scotland to the Euro’s in 3 years has been some going.
However in some respects, his careers probably peaked. He’s now the wrong side of 30, has missed the boat for his ‘big’ move down South(or Celtic) and lost his place in the Scotland team now as well.
If he’s getting a wage hike and 3 year deal at his age it’s a no brainier and I don’t blame him. If he can stay fit and find anything like last seasons form, it’s a decent pick up for Aberdeen as well.
He was outstanding for us last season but I think the fact most folk aren’t even arsed anymore about him leaving speaks volumes for the season he’s had on and off the pitch.
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1 hour ago, well fan for life said:
Foley has been very decent. A huge upgrade on Crawford.
Aye, showing exactly why we signed him in January.
It’s a shame that we’ve not seen more of him like and at 34, I’d be surprised if he got a new deal. Was excellent today though, snuffed out numerous attacks and was composed on the ball throughout- great play for the opening goal as well.
Lacked a bit of quality in the final third 1st half but the finish by Cole and his bit of skill to set up the 2nd were delightful. Lovey finish from the best right back Scotland as well.
Overall it was an enjoyable display, done the ugly side effectively but actually mixed it with some decent football as well. Hopefully a sign of things to come next season under Alexander.
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Rogers starts for Killie as does Lafferty.
Lawless, Foley and Hastie in for us.
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51 minutes ago, capt_oats said:
Whether that's down to the way people are engaging with games these days or not IDK but it feels to me like the reaction to a 1-0 win against Accies that confirmed safety would probably have been very different had that stand been full as it usually is compared to folk just getting raging watching a stream in their own social media centric echo chamber.
Agree with this.
The 1-0 Moult game there not long after Robinson took over was equally turgid but the entire away end was going mental and cheered the team off at full time.
Compare that to Wednesday night, where a lot of folk just seemed to be absolutely raging. Some of the criticism aimed at Alexander was wild, apparently he hasn’t turned our season around with enough style or panache for the liking of the footballing purists in our support.
In normal times, fans would be singing his praises and chanting his name for the job he’s done since arriving. As it is, he seems to be the target of a lot of misplaced anger amongst our support.
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Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons
in Scottish Premiership General Chatter
Posted · Edited by Casagolda
Reminds me of when we signed Peter Hartley and he had multiple YouTube compilations of his goal scoring exploits.
I mean, I’d settle for one that was actually a competent defender but I do love a centre back that comes up and causes havoc at set pieces.