crazylegsjoe_mfc

Yassin Moutaouakil signed on loan for us as a former France under 21 captain who was once coveted by several big clubs and had a class debut against Rangers and we thought we had a big player on our hands. Jerome Rothen was making his debut for Rangers that day on the left and I think it was him who made Yassin look half decent. He was completely Rothen himself every other game he played for us. On the contrary, Jim O'Brien looked ineffectual for the first six months at us, especially after we paid a nominal fee for him, which was rare then. After that he properly kicked on and had a great 18 months, even getting in the league team of the season in his second season. No bad on the guitar either.

The same way it was with Aarons, if true, it's probably a toss up between signing him - a known quantity who isn't march fit, or a journeyman jobber. Tough call between the two - but we've already been bitten (twice) with the former this season. I think any winger we are able to get in January will represent some form of risk.

Whilst I'm realistic enough to acknowledge that a winger who's scoring or assisting every week is unlikely to be arriving at Fir Park in the middle of the season, I still think it's quite the risk signing a 32 year old who's recovering from a fractured foot and hoping he makes an immediate impact. I don't think I'd question his ability to be a decent Motherwell player, but I'd certainly question the timing.

I heard a rumour (of little substance or source) last week that we were signing Gary Mackay-Steven this window. However, at the time I thought he was just out the picture at Hearts, I didn't realise he had a fractured foot, so I think that's a step too far in signing an already crocked player, even for us.

Alex Rodriguez-Gorrin was a double barrel, although he doesn't seem to get the Gorrin part at any other club he's played for.

I also can't believe I made a glaring omission - Watt had 10 this time last season, before finishing the season on the grand total of......... 11

Sutton got 9 in 2013/14 when I looked it up. A goal on New Year's Day took him to 10 so very close indeed. Coyne was top scorer in 94/95, I'm pretty sure it made him the only player to finish Scottish top flight top goalscorer with three clubs and as far as I know, that still stands.

Without wanting to throw shade on what's a good return from KVV, that includes a hat-trick against a championship team and a few pens. There's been a fair few in all competitions. Moult was on double figures in each of his three seasons at the club. Both Higdon and Murphy were in 2012/13. Nick Blackman in 2010/11. Richie Foran in 2006/07. Skippy in 2005/06.

I meant permanent captain. Arguably Tait's been the best at the role since Las retired.

As @eliphaspoints out, the squad is completely lacking in leaders. There are no visibly vocal types, no one who takes the game by the scruff of the next and no one who really carries themselves through their own performance well enough to set an example. The captaincy has been curse since Las retired. The only good captain I'd say we've had since then was Hartley, who unfortunately was a better captain than he was a centre half at times. We all seem to agree that we need around 4 players to make us better in January. I reckon realistically we could be looking at 1 or 2 players who'd add quality, then 1 or 2 more that add depth. I think to recruit in those numbers a 100% hit rate is unlikely. My hope if we bring in anyone who's not of the desired quality that at least a bit of competition kicks others on.

When we were bottom after the Aaron Chapman game, we had a squad that still had Watt, Cole, Long and Campbell among other decent players. When Baraclough came in, as much as none of them were firing, we knew Sutton could score goals and Ainsworth and Vigurs could create them. In 2002/03 we were chronically inexperienced and probably affected by off field issues. That team had some obvious talent and was only really Gordon Marshall and Stephen Craigan away from being a top six side. In the Malpas season, I'd happily take a good few of those players now - Skippy, Foran (before he went in January), Craigan, Reynolds, Paterson to name but a few. In the 2016/17 season, having a front two of McDonald and Moult alone was worth a lot to a team. I don't think it's time to overreact about going down and I think January will be key, but as a stand-alone question of "is this the worst squad of Motherwell players in the last 25 years?" Then I'd say the answer is probably yes. Some of those seasons, 2014/15 for example, I don't think we'd have survived without our January business and hopefully we get 3 or 4 good additions in this time and start to pick up points.

I think the worst thing that could have happened to us was those Lamie goals in the spring - the equaliser against Livi and the winner against Hearts. If that didn’t massively paper over the cracks and see us over the line for Europe, I reckon there’s a chance we could be sitting here with neither Alexander nor Hammell as boss and a slightly more fit for purpose set of players. I honestly don’t blame Hammell though, this to me is Alexander’s mess. I find it difficult to become animated about the situation due to the fact that I don’t really have any ideas on what we could do better with the squad we have currently. Shields is ineffective but I don’t think Morris would be an improvement. Spittal frustrated me but I’m not sure bringing in Tierney for him would be a marked upgrade. The midfield is definitely missing something but it’s not Maguire or Cornelius. I would have more animation about the situation if I felt the team could be improved if X player pulled their weight, or if we brought Y player in to the team, but I don’t really think that in our current squad. I think we’re just playing the cards we’ve been dealt. Whatever budget we have in January is key. I think Hammell gambled on Aarons and Moult, due to their injury past and affiliation with the club, they were probably on paper better players than he could have brought in otherwise with the notice he had. Fortunately, there was foresight to have clauses to cut the loan short. For me we need an experienced centre back (in addition to Blayney), a destroyer in midfield and at least a couple of creative options. For what it’s worth I’d take Shaughnessy in a heartbeat.

This exerpt from his wikipedia tells me he may be on the receiving end of the odd boo from certain parts of the east stand. "he's a good size and he uses his physique very well. He knows how to use his frame and his strength... he's got an unbelievable strike on him [and] he's a good finisher... but he’s not going to run channels for you and things like that".[42]

The worst memory of the Ayr game, for me, is that in those days of three subs in the Scottish Cup, they didn't have a sub goalie and their goalie required treatment, so for about 10 minutes, they played with ten men including a forward in goals and in that time, we failed to score. They knocked us out of the league cup in 1998/99 as well, something of a cup bogey team at the time.

I think O'Hara signed as a box-to-box midfielder, was mainly played as a holding midfielder and played his best football for us as a centre-back. When he finally got his shot in that role last season after Campbell departed, I don't think he was good enough at it. As usual, every game you thought he was a player was followed by two you wondered if he was playing. Alexander's tactics may have contributed to this, but still. It annoys me to see him scoring headers and long rangers for St. Mirren that he didn't score for us, but it doesn't make me want him back. I've been far from enthused by Spittal so far, but even he has been involved in more goals than O'Hara has in his good season.

Yeah, that's what I thought as well. 4-3-3 / 4-2-3-1 to begin with, then we played Inverness in the league cup in a 4-2-3-1 and Tierney had a good game in the number 10 role and we've appeared to stick with that shape since.

For me, Goss isn't good enough off the ball to play as part of a 2 in a 4-2-3-1 formation. I think when our midfield contains him and a number 10, which is normally either Spittal or Tierney, it makes us very weak, which leaves an admittedly off-form Slattery with lots to do. I think the deepest in a 4-3-3 would suit Goss. Spittal, despite two goals and an assist in the last four games, to me is another weak point. He doesn't seem to contribute much out of possession and seems very easily dispossesed. As for Kelly, there's no doubt his form has taken a dip and it's probably more noticeable due to the fact that the majority of the games have been tight and a mistake from him is probably quite costly. For me, there's no doubt that Kelly is the standard of a good Motherwell goalkeeper. Perhaps where any gripe may lie is that how hard we worked to pursue Kelly and the fact that he is reportedly on a very decent wage and that we done all of this whilst we had Trevor Carson on the books, who appears to be doing well at St. Mirren now. The obvious caveats to that, right enough, would be that Kelly is 7 years younger and has been fit to play every single game since he signed. Perhaps the captain's armband is weighing heavy on him, post-Lasley it seems to have been a curse. All of our club captains since then - McHugh, Hartley, Gallagher, O'Donnell and now Kelly, have struggled for form after becoming captain. I was discussing this with @Busta Nutat the game on Wednesday and couldn't disagree with his shout that in light of this, we should just make Connor Shields the captain.

I reckon Moult will be up top and Van Veen one of the three behind him.

Wonder why we bothered to photoshop Carroll and not Efford.

I love Louis Moult, but the 2022 version does not warrant anywhere near as much concern as the 2017 version. A 15 minute cameo if we really need a goal would be the most I would expect. He was an unused sub last Saturday.

Agree with you both that we've not seen anything like that again, but even within that particular goal, he beats Shaughnessy for pace before he touches the ball. I've yet to see him go past someone when face to face with them. I agree he is getting a raw deal playing out wide when he's not a winger and would be better served playing in a front two. However, these days you can't really play two up top without playing three at the back. The second striker is a dying breed.

My main gripe with Shields is that his physical attributes seem to disappear when a football is involved. I've seen him beat someone in a foot race to the ball countless times, only for his pace to be redundant once he's got it. I've a certain degree of sympathy for him not being a natural winger, but you'd think if you were fast and playing out wide that if you weren't the greatest dribbler, you might try the knock it past them and run technqiue now and again. Instead, he just doesn't take the man on at all and puts normally, a poor delivery in to the box. Given the injuries to Aarons and Efford, I think we will just have to resign ourselves to the fact that at least until January, he will feature in, if not start, most games.

As is often said on this thread, is it time for a back 3? Bring O'Donnell in to a role he's probably more suited to, shift McGinn in one. If playing Shields is as necessary as it's becoming, pair him with Van Veen, then have one of McKinstry / Tierney / Spittal behind the front two.

Yeah, I reckon we will be lucky to see Moult start a single game. I was against us signing him at the time - I thought it may end up like this. I was a bit swept up by the hype the day he signed like most of us were right enough. Would we have signed another striker from a League One team in England on the premise we might get 30 mins out of him now and again? I'm not sure we would have.

Aarons and Moult were probably a better calibre of player on paper than Hammell would've been able to bring in otherwise. Their injury record and past affinity with the club probably put them in our direction. It was obviously a big gamble, which has backfired. I know that report says a week to ten days for Moult, but I doubt either will now make an impact in their loan spells. I guess the other option may be to sign average jobbers instead of them and wondering which of the average jobbers deserved to be in the team most, like last season. Other than that, since Hammell took over we are probably roughly where we were numbers wise. McKinstry has come in with Efford now out long-term and Penney has came in for Carroll's injury, which both are probably an upgrade in quality fortunately.