Casagolda
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Posts posted by Casagolda
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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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To be fair to Hastie, he probably did more when he was on than most managed in two hours.
He put Long clean through on goal, was denied a stonewall penalty, almost scored himself and did just about take the net off with his pen in the shootout. I’d give him a start on Wednesday, can’t possibly be worse than Lawless has been these last two games.
Outside of Kelly though, who bailed us out again, there wasn’t really any other pass marks last night. It was the sort of lackadaisical, half arsed performance that’s plagued our season.
Scoring the ‘winner’ in the 119th minute and not having the professionalism to see it through sums this shower up.
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12 minutes ago, ropy said:
I was thinking that Lawless would step forward, or wider as part of the front 3 with more solidity in the middle.
But next game is Morton, another perfect game for Hastie to run at folk. I quite like the idea of getting a couple of years from him while Rangers pay for his new car.
Aye, suppose it depends what Alexander wants to do.
In terms of the pace/power that Roberts provides, Hastie is probably the most like for like replacement. However Cole and Long through the middle seemed to work alright last week so he might be tempted to give that another shot.
In that set up, you could have Lawless at the top of the diamond. I think he could be a decent enough signing for us but was not impressed with him as part of the midfield 3 on Saturday, he’s not the quickest and the game just seemed to pass him by.
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With Roberts presumably knackered and no sign of Watt coming back, I imagine Hastie must be in with a good chance of a start on Friday and potentially a wee run in the team thereafter.
I think what Alexander’s basically saying is, if he wants a future at this level he better fucking take it.
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Best right back in Scotland signs a 2 year deal.
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3 hours ago, Gianfranco said:
The only other undeserved win we’ve had this season from memory was at Rugby park so we were overdue one.
Brutal to watch at times today but I wouldn't go as far as to say undeserved.
While we didn't have lots of the ball, I still felt like we created plenty of good chances. Cole alone could have had a hat-trick, Long missed when clean through on goal and Campbell probably should have buried his chance as well. St Mirren certainly started much brighter but things kind of fizzled out for them after the penalty miss.
That midfield needs a complete rebuild. Thought McGinley was in for a doing early doors against Connelly but he stuck at it and had a very decent game in the end- especially compared to the best right back in Scotland on the other side who had an absolute shocker. Signing Kelly on loan and Alexander sticking Cole through the middle has saved our season. Another big save from the former today while 9 goals in 15 games under Alexander is a ridiculous return from the latter.
Anyway, job done by Alexander and with games to spare- not bad considering large swathes of our support had us relegated in January.
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The fact that when he’s had to fight for his place this season he’s chucked his toys oot the pram speaks volumes about Polworth.
We’ve seen plenty of senior players like Hartley, Tait, Hammell, Sutton etc in recent years find themselves out the team. I don’t remember any of them greeting about it or falling out with the manager.
However Polworth’s piss poor attitude is symptomatic of one that’s sadly seemed all too prevalent amongst our current squad this season. Too many fragile egos with delusions of grandeur.
In Polworth’s case, he’s scored 1 league goal in over 50 games for the club and I don’t think he’s registered an assist from open play this season. He’s hardly the creative force his missus is making him out to be.
Never mind the Scottish Cup final, for me May is all about that glorious 20/21 released list and I for one can’t fucking wait.
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To be fair, we’ve won 1 of the last 14 games Gallagher has started.
This goes much deeper than just him. Have a look at the Accies/St Johnstone double header a few weeks back for example, that was on the back of 3 wins in 4. The lack of professionalism and drop off in standards we saw today is nothing new this season.
Which is why, and I can’t stress this enough, we need to fire 90% of this squad into the fucking sea.
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Was there not a game against Hibs where Zemmama was running rings round our midfield and McCall sent Page on to basically
bootman mark him?0 -
1 hour ago, capt_oats said:
I'm maybe being naive about Cole but when you look at his career to date this is probably the most prolific he's been - he's clearly shown enough all round ability to suggest that this isn't necessarily a Hastie/Main style 'purple patch' but rather a manager finally being able to get the best out of him. He's been consistently pretty good for us but without many goals.
Whether that counts for anything or whether scouts might look at the rest of his career as being illustrative compared to 3 or 4 months at Motherwell recently IDK.
I think Alexander alluded to this at the weekend-
"He’s a good striker. I think we’ve got other good strikers and other good players in the squad but – I think I said yesterday – we always have a way of treating people and I think he’s responded well to it. I don’t know how he’s been treated in the past, I can’t really put my finger on it... but we try to keep round pegs in round holes and I think Coley’s an out and out striker."
He only managed 5 goals in 31 games under Robinson and his anywhere across the front 3 schtick. Since Alexander started playing him as an actual striker, his numbers have been sensational- 7 goals in 12 games so far as well as chipping in with 3 assists.
Fair play to Alexander anyway, purple patch or otherwise. Folk were screaming in January for us to bring in a 'goal scorer', yet it's hard to imagine anyone we could have brought in having the level of impact Cole has had in recent months.
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16 hours ago, capt_oats said:
There's yer Liam Kelly saying he'd be up for sticking around. I mean, it's standard loanee chat...but whatevs.
Also here.Would we be willing to push the boat out to keep Kelly?
Bit like a lot of our January business, it seemed like a short term measure at that time- albeit one that's worked extremely well for both parties. Kelly's obviously been an excellent since signing but if both are fit, is there much difference between him and Carson?
Suppose a lot will depend on how much we feel we can actually rely on Carson. Due to illness, injuries and the form of Gillespie- he's only actually managed more than 25 games once during the last 5 seasons for us and Hartlepool. I can't imagine he'd be happy to spend another season warming the bench, nor would it be financially viable for us to have him do so.
Think I'm right in saying that- Carson, Morrison, Grimshaw, Lamie, McGinley, Carroll, Donnelly, Maguire, O'Hara, Lawless and Watt are the ones signed up for next season.
As things stand, I'd like to keep Campbell, Gallagher, O'Donnell and Cole. I think the first 3 will almost certainly all be away though and the latter's form since Alexander's arrival is making it increasingly unlikely he'll stay with each goal he scores. I've been impressed with Crawford and Roberts of late but I'm not sure I'd be willing to commit to either long term just yet.
The rest, Long and Polworth included, can pretty much get fired straight into the sea.
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By my calculations, that’s Alexander now taken more points from his 12 games in charge than we had after 20 when he took over.
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Agreed, just look at some of the responses last night to Johnston being dropped for O'Donnell.
People genuinely outraged that a 17 year old kid was being replaced by a guy who's probably going to be Scotland's right back at the Euro's. Don't get me wrong, Johnston wasn't the worst against St Johnstone by any means and he's obviously a talent but you'd think he'd played like fucking prime Cafu the way folk were going on.
While O'Donnell had an absolute disaster against Accies, he's clearly a far better option at this moment in time and justified his selection last night.
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On a lighter note, I noticed it was somehow 9 years ago today(mental) since Higdon went flying through the air to score that overhead kick against Hibs-best quality I could find on YouTube.
McCall's Motherwell at their entertaining best, managing to ship 3 soft goals but still somehow winning the match.
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13 minutes ago, capt_oats said:
Fair play to Kelly for going to town here.
Is that not Kelly you can here after the 2nd goal goes in?
Fair to say, he doesn't sound overly impressed with the defending(or lack of) in front of him.
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16 minutes ago, well fan for life said:
There's just a weird apathetic vibe off the team this season. I mean ffs the play off season we managed to occasionally get our shit together enough to pump a couple of teams despite us being largely shite. I wouldn't back us to comfortably beat anyone right now. There's been a training game look about us. I get that having no fans takes some of the adrenaline out of a game but we are so passive.
Right now it looks like about 80% of our team are happy to pick up a wage but they're all counting down the days until they can find a new club.
I think in the play off season, Baraclough just massively lucked out by being able to sign Pearson and McDonald mid-season.
Two vastly experienced players, both of high quality and who had a genuine affinity for the club. They seemed to lift the whole team and raise the levels of those around them-just look at the difference McDonald made to Erwin.
Without those two, there’s no doubt for me we were heading down that season. Unfortunately for Alexander, I don’t think Sam Foley and Eddie Nolan are going to have quite the same impact.
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So we were 3rd after 30 games and it hadn't been working?
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8 minutes ago, Widge said:
I see there is still a belief on the Motherwell forum that Saints are a big physical team, who'll kick folk and are very streetwise.
I haven't posted on steelmen in a good few years but if it's the poster I'm thinking of, I wouldn't take it personally.
He says that about literally every team we play.
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11 hours ago, welldaft said:
Just watched Sportscene and today’s Zoom interview between Steven Thompson + The bossman GA.
He came out and said again there was nothing in the game until they scored. That would be acceptable if they scored in the 80 minute but after 7 minutes
Clearly he has had an impact. 3 defeats in 8 is better than where we were but I am concerned he seems quite relaxed about yesterday. I am sure deep down he will be annoyed but everything about yesterday was a clusterfuck. I know what Managers say to the media is sometimes to protect the players but he can surely say what happened yesterday was simply unacceptable.
I thought he was quite measured tbh.
Let's face it, this lot have already shown themselves to be weak and fragile this season. We're not long coming off a run of nearly 3 full calendar months without a win, last thing Alexander wants is to destroy the confidence that was slowly building up after one bad result/performance. He was right as well, we did simply stop doing the things we'd be doing well.
Just watch the 1st goal back- O'Donnell starts in the position you'd expect him to be under Alexander, tucked in narrow just inside the box. Then for some reason, he wonders out towards the thrower despite Campbell/Long already being 2 on 2 out there. The balls played into the big gap vacated by O'Donnell, cut back, goal. If you wanted a snapshot of why we defend the way we do under Alexander, just look how much easier it was to cut through us there than it has been when we've sat narrow and defended the box.
I have sympathy for Alexander, when your captain and most experienced player is culpable for 2 goals and sent off inside 20 mins what chance have you got? Sadly he's far from the only example this season, far too many players have failed to pull their weight and that's ultimately why we are where we are.
I'm sure Alexander knows he needs a clear out in the summer, however he's also experienced enough to know he's going be largely relying on these guys to get us out of trouble and can't afford to go full on Butcher at Hibs by telling them that.
Get us to safety, then fire about 90% of this squad into the fucking sun.
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3 hours ago, YassinMoutaouakil said:
Allan Campbell is fucking shite
The 4 on 3 where he never even picked his head up and ran straight into an Accies player had me screaming at the tele. He won't get the same level of treatment as Gallagher or Polworth but he's another that's seen a massive drop off this season and was posted missing again today.
Speaking of empty jerseys, I've tried to stick up for O'Donnell but he's sleeping for those first two goals. The penalty in particular is just fucking brainless, captain and most experienced player setting the tone for a half arsed display. How many penalties and red cards have we had now this season?
The only two I'd even contemplate giving pass marks to are Watt and Cole. Who, despite a severe lack of support or service, continued to knock their pans in and were responsible for what few chances we did create including the goal. The rest, can quite frankly get in the sea.
Fair fucks to Accies, an absolute paddling and richly deserved. No blaming Chapman today, simply the better team from start to finish.
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I don't think it's a coincidence that Lamie has looked semi competent since Alexander has came in(although I'm yet to be converted).
Our default defensive setting under him seems to be to have the back 4 sitting across the width of the penalty box and the 3 in midfield narrow in front. Shuttling teams down the sides and asking them to put balls into the box. Whether this is something he's always done or whether he's just noticed few teams outside the OF have much in the way of subtlety or guile, it seems reasonably effective as most teams just keep putting crosses in which we seem pretty comfortable dealing with.
Only 3 of the 8 goals we've conceded under Alexander so far have been from open play- bizarrely though, we do seem to struggle to deal with set pieces. In the main though, asking guys Mugabi and Lamie to head and kick it is as crosses are fired in is meat and drink for them. Asking someone like Lamie to play left back, wing back or even left of a back 3 like Robinson did, his lack of pace and footballing ability becomes evident.
Keep it tight at one end and you are then relying on our front 3 to produce the goods which they have been of late. Even last night, when I don't think any of them had their finest game- the touch, turn, vison and weight of pass from Watt for the goal was pure quality.
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That was certainly ugly but I’m not sure I’d go as far to say undeserved.
Killie had lots of possession but other than repeatedly firing balls into Mugabi and Lamie to head clear, they didn’t seem to do a great deal with it. Kelly had little to do other than a couple of straightforward catches near the end.
The best chances of the match seemed to fall to us, Cole certainly missed two great chances either side of half time. The goal itself was a lovely bit of play from Watt and an excellent finish by Campbell.
That’s Alexander won 3 of his first 7 games in charge, we’d only won 4 from 20 before he arrived. Not pretty tonight but organised and resolute, certainly heading in the right direction.
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Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons
in Scottish Premiership General Chatter
Posted
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.