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Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons


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29 minutes ago, AndyRoss said:

I don’t think I’ll ever look forward to a reserve fixture as much as I am the Sligo game. The last four games have broken me.

I'm definitely looking forward to this. I've enjoyed the other Irn Bru Cup games I've been to that the 20s have been involved in.

The daft kick off times of the new reserve league have meant I've not been able to get along to any of the games and the MFC TV highlights have been pretty minimal compared with previous seasons.

Quite looking forward to seeing guys like McLaughlin, Watson and Rehman if they get a run out. Who knows maybe big Chris Mbulu will make his Fir Park bow.

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19 hours ago, well fan for life said:

What I wouldn't give to get Lionel Ainsworth back in for the season to give us something different.

I was never Ainsworth's biggest fan but you're right, someone like him would give this team an option out wide that we desperately need just now, even as an impact player in the latter stages of a match. Likewise a Chris Humphrey type who would provide something in the way of width and creativity, because at the moment we are a side devoid of any creativity and are rigid and slow with no idea how to play without thumping it long in any direction.

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1 hour ago, MJC said:

I was never Ainsworth's biggest fan but you're right, someone like him would give this team an option out wide that we desperately need just now, even as an impact player in the latter stages of a match. Likewise a Chris Humphrey type who would provide something in the way of width and creativity, because at the moment we are a side devoid of any creativity and are rigid and slow with no idea how to play without thumping it long in any direction.

I know Ainsworth was...mercurial, but at least he'd have something different to offer. We've got a lot of folk who are great athletes but we badly need someone who can take men on. 

Like I said before, it's almost as if we're waiting on Tanner to come back to play that attacking midfield role but he'll be rusty as hell.

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26 minutes ago, well fan for life said:

I know Ainsworth was...mercurial, but at least he'd have something different to offer. We've got a lot of folk who are great athletes but we badly need someone who can take men on. 

Like I said before, it's almost as if we're waiting on Tanner to come back to play that attacking midfield role but he'll be rusty as hell.

The Tanner thing is something that was predictable given the nature of the injury but is definitely coming to bite Robinson on the arse.

Looking at his appearance stats Tanner made 25 league appearances last season but 10 of those were off the bench. There were 7 appearances in the League Cup with 3 of them off the bench. I'm fairly sure he was hooked at half time in a couple of his starts as well (Ross County at home, Celtic at Parkhead...there may have been others).

At the risk of delving deep into speculation it feels to me as if Robinson's felt that we could get by without Tanner given he spent a fair amount of time on the bench. Upshot is he's decided not to get someone else in as had he been back on schedule we'd be ending up with two similar players possibly starting on the bench. Granted it didn't stop him with signing a million centre mids but I'd hazard a guess that Robinson's wary of perceived luxury players.

In hindsight that probably looks like a mistake.

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A lot of the 'Coffee and Chat' videos have really just been the same interview with different voices.

I thought the one that's just went up with Craigan was quite interesting though. He generally speaks well mind you. 

The mention about Valakari raised an eyebrow (largely because he's regularly been quoted for the manager's job and was interviewed last time round) and I thought is was notable that he's saying that Turnbull's the "next" player for the first team. Seems clear that the plan is to try and integrate one or maybe two per season and they probably know who those players are likely to be in advance.

 

Edited by capt_oats
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11 hours ago, Gianfranco said:

I just cringe every time it goes to Lewis Irons smiley wee face to the point I can’t watch them anymore.

I don't watch them to be honest, but I get the impression he's more of a hot chocolate with some marshmallows on top kinda guy, rather than a black coffee man.

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Some nice wee bits of #content on the SPFL Twitter with their theme today being players scoring 4 or more in a game. Big ups to the guys running their socials, Moult's 4 vs Accies is in there:

I just revisited the extended highlights of that game and to bring it back to the conversation from the other day, it's striking how high up the park Cadden is compared to how we've been using him over the past while. Fond memories of McGhee citing this game as evidence that Bowman was the player he needed to make his 433 work...

 

Edited by capt_oats
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9 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

Some nice wee bits of #content on the SPFL Twitter with their theme today being players scoring 4 or more in a game. Big ups to the guys running their socials, Moult's 4 vs Accies is in there:

I just revisited the highlights of that game and to bring it back to the conversation from the other day, it's striking how high up the park Cadden is compared to how we've been using him over the past while. Fond memories of McGhee citing this game as evidence that Bowman was the player he needed to make his 433 work...

 

You could say Cadden & Frear are very similar(Tommy Robinson following aside). The two of them look massively better when their starting position is about 20 yards further up the pitch. Cadden can run for days but he doesn't have the pace to burn past an attacker from inside his own half (a la Marvin Johnson). Frear can be effective but it's beating a mean and hitting a cross straight away. 

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34 minutes ago, well fan for life said:

You could say Cadden & Frear are very similar(Tommy Robinson following aside). The two of them look massively better when their starting position is about 20 yards further up the pitch. Cadden can run for days but he doesn't have the pace to burn past an attacker from inside his own half (a la Marvin Johnson). Frear can be effective but it's beating a mean and hitting a cross straight away. 

I mean I get why Cadden's been used at RWB. We hit upon a settled shape last season and for the most part did OK with it. 2 cup finals and a relatively comfortable mid-table finish is more than acceptable given our circumstances. If the team's doing OK then I guess you just stick with it.

Robinson actually conceded that Cadden had been playing "out of position" at RWB in the 12 games when he took over after McGhee was emptied and straight out said he's a better player further up the pitch. So it's clearly something he recognises. Cadden being used at RWB just seems to have been dictated by other factors despite the fact it doesn't really get anywhere near the best out him. 

Ultimately that seems a waste right now given that starting him 20 odd yards further forward gives you a far more dynamic player that might actually benefit the team.

The interview that came from is interesting in so much as Robinson's talking about bringing in a new physio and how he feels that you need to change things up a bit every year to spark things. We seem to have taken completely the opposite approach this season.

By and large we've stuck with the same starting XI as last season playing the same 352.

Bearing in mind we started last season with back 4 and the back 3 only came into play when we switched in the County game it kind of feels like a fresh perspective could do us some good.

 

Edited by capt_oats
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12 minutes ago, YassinMoutaouakil said:

When was the last time Cadden actually started in midfield? The only time that comes to mind is the 2-0 at Pittodrie last year and a few of the Betfred Group games but there's surely a more recent one.

Hibs at Easter Road? Tait and ATS both started that one. Shaw runs off Taylor-Sinclair's shoulder at left back for the 2nd.

Actually, f**k am I talking about...Killie at Rugby Park the other week. Tait and ATS both started that as well. It was Cadden with the header through to Main for the goal.

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