Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[Casagolda]

18 hours ago, capt_oats said:

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.

Which he did to be fair after our poor start, he brought in Bigi and Johnson. We had some pace and movement up front as well as midfielder with a decent range of passing and it led to our best form of the season. We beat Livi, got a draw with Rangers(by far our best performance) and beat Dundee. 

We had a couple of narrow defeats to Hearts and Aberdeen then suddenly we were back to Main and Bowman up front, a shitfesting midfield with Bigi being made chief scapegoat and aimless balls being launched forward to little effect.

Whilst Robinson’s new signings have been questioned, there seems to a real malaise among those who were already at the club last season with most dropping off a level or two from where they were. Guys like Carson, Aldred, Tait, Campbell, Main etc just don’t look to have the same verve they did last season.

The whole team really, you watch us back from this time last season- the tempo, intensity and hunger from the players is night and day from what we’ve seen this season. Things just seem to have gone stale at the minute and it remains to be seen if Robinson knows how or if he even wants to try and change things.

[capt_oats]

There's yer Chris Humphrey retired through injury.

 

 

[Gianfranco]

Its been said many times, but the team that Humphrey was in was brilliant to watch. Good times.

[well fan for life]

On his day he was absolutely terrifying to watch. Pace to burn and had fullbacks shitting themselves.

I also bumped into him in Ibiza airport and he was a lovely guy. All the best to him.

[capt_oats]

Looks like a 433.

Ferguson
MacDonald Maguire Mbulu Livingstone
Rehman Brown Turnbull
Watson Scott Hastie

Edited October 13, 2018 by capt_oats

[Casagolda]

Cracking result for the youngsters, sounded like a fairly impressive performance as well.

Anybody that was there, how’d we look? Anybody put themselves in the frame for next Saturday?

[capt_oats]

Smashing performance.

Played on the front foot, played a fair amount from the back, through the midfield and hit the channels if we went direct.

Started 433 then switched to 352 midway through the 2nd half.

Thought Liam Brown did really well in the centre of the park until his booking which seemed to throw him a bit. Kyle MacDonald had a good game at right back and big Mbulu pretty much strolled it.

David Turnbull is an absolute #baller.

All in all a really enjoyable game.

Edit: I don't know if Sligo were just treating it as a day out, and I mean why wouldn't you given the vistas of North Lanarkshire but other than a couple of 5-10 min spells in either half they didn't really offer much. Ferguson only really had one or two saves to make of note.

Edited October 13, 2018 by capt_oats

[Ya Bezzer!]

Very very good performance. 

In contrast to first team matches when it's difficult to pull out one player for the MotM award I thought the entire team played very well.

Also night and day in terms of style of football, enjoyable football with the ball on the ground, wide players getting forward and some examples of real skill from Turnbull and others.

Given our problems on the left hand side  Adam Livingstone should certainly being looked at.  Excellent performance from him, but the whole team did well.

Edited October 13, 2018 by Ya Bezzer!

[ropy]

Colts v first team Wednesday night at fir park, pick the 11 best players on the park for Saturday's game.

[The_Craig]

Winning manager in the dugout for Saturday too?

[capt_oats]

[YassinMoutaouakil]

So Mbulu is basically Cedric2.0 expect he's into Christianity instead of bread aye?

[well fan for life]

It is with great sadness, but absolutely no surprise, that I announce that Colin O’Neill is at it again.

[Casagolda]

12 hours ago, capt_oats said:

 

Good stuff.

I still maintain we’d have been better off pushing the likes of Maguire, Turnbull and Scott into the first team squad this summer instead of simply bringing in players just to improve 12-18.

Would we be any worse off now if we’d shown a little more faith in these boys and hadn’t signed the likes Donnelly, Rodriguez-Gorrin and Sammon? 

Instead, using the money to try and bring in a decent quality player(or two) that might have actually improved the starting 11. 

Will be interesting to see if many or any of them manage to force their way into the squad for Saturday.

[weemac]

44 minutes ago, Casagolda said:

Good stuff.

I still maintain we’d have been better off pushing the likes of Maguire, Turnbull and Scott into the first team squad this summer instead of simply bringing in players just to improve 12-18.

Would we be any worse off now if we’d shown a little more faith in these boys and hadn’t signed the likes Donnelly, Rodriguez-Gorrin and Sammon? 

Instead, using the money to try and bring in a decent quality player(or two) that might have actually improved the starting 11. 

Will be interesting to see if many or any of them manage to force their way into the squad for Saturday.

All with the benefit of hindsight of course but I can't help agreeing about trusting the younger guys as the 12-18 positions.

That way there would still be a fair chunk of the budget left for January if it didn't work and Robinson could have quite rightly said that these guys have had a chance and not taken it.

As it is, it looks at the moment like the guys brought in aren't much of an improvement, if any on the guys in the u20's and that we may have to throw in the younger guys when the team is struggling which isn't ideal.

[capt_oats]

1 hour ago, Casagolda said:

Good stuff.

I still maintain we’d have been better off pushing the likes of Maguire, Turnbull and Scott into the first team squad this summer instead of simply bringing in players just to improve 12-18.

Would we be any worse off now if we’d shown a little more faith in these boys and hadn’t signed the likes Donnelly, Rodriguez-Gorrin and Sammon? 

Instead, using the money to try and bring in a decent quality player(or two) that might have actually improved the starting 11. 

Will be interesting to see if many or any of them manage to force their way into the squad for Saturday.

Broadly agree in terms of sentiment but I think Turnbull's been on the bench for 7 of our 8 league matches and on the couple of times he has been used he's been given more than the token 10-15 mins. Against Aberdeen he had 30 mins and 27 mins against Killie. As it stands he's played more league minutes than Gorrin. I'm not sure whether he's had an injury but Maguire's been on the bench a couple of times as well.

Clearly being on the bench and 'around' the squad isn't the same as actually playing and getting minutes on the park but both definitely seem to be considered part of the first team squad. The way I see it is there are certain positions where there's a pretty low bar being set. There's an argument to be made as to whether Robinson should just be showing a bit more trust but it's really up to the u20s to force their way in and convince the manager they're better options for him.

They go way back so I'd imagine Robinson's taking his guidance from Craigan in that respect.

Edit to add: I absolutely agree with the general gist though. I don't think we'd be any worse off had we not bothered with Sammon and just had James Scott on the bench. Or Adam Livingstone rather than ATS.

Edited October 14, 2018 by capt_oats

[welldaft]

2 hours ago, well fan for life said:

It is with great sadness, but absolutely no surprise, that I announce that Colin O’Neill is at it again.

His comment about Lasley being a waste of space seems a tad harsh and I cannot know nor can many what lies behind such a comment. Is he hearing from players in squad ? Sounds like hot air to me. 

The rest is hard to argue with. We’ve all been saying it - we are not a pretty team to watch sometimes even when we are playing our system well. When we are not playing well it is bordering on brutal. Such as the last game v Livi. 

[Desp]

Colin O'Neill is an alcoholic bigot and it's an absolute farce that journalists still give him the time of day. 

The only reason he's doing this (do you honestly believe he's watched us in any other game other than the Rangers one?) is to keep in with the "lads" who will ensure he doesn't need to put his hand in his pocket for a pint the next time he's over. 

Edited October 14, 2018 by Desp

[YassinMoutaouakil]

Surely we'll see a lot of Hastie from January onwards? He's been around the squad for 2 years now and has about 50 games at L1/Championship level. 

That would just about explain Robinson's decision to muddle along with one attacking midfielder* in the squad for half a season.

 

*spends most of his rare appearances at wingback

Edited October 14, 2018 by YassinMoutaouakil

[capt_oats]

11 minutes ago, YassinMoutaouakil said:

Surely we'll see a lot of Hastie from January onwards? He's been around the squad for 2 years now and has about 50 games at L1/Championship level. 

That would just about explain Robinson's decision to muddle along with one attacking midfielder* in the squad for half a season.

*spends most of his rare appearances at wingback

Yesterday he started left of the front 3 and obviously 'created' the opening goal (we seem to be crediting him with it though officially it's going down as an O.G), then briefly switched to LWB then moved up front alongside Scott once Armstrong came on to move Livingstone back to wingback.

I remember last season Craigan mentioning in one of his interviews that we'd basically been trying to repurpose Hastie as a striker with a view to him fitting in up front rather than as a left mid/winger.

In honesty I'd say that his development thus far really shows the benefit of getting players like that out on loan tbh. Right now I'd say he'd be able to offer us more off the bench than the likes of Sammon and/or Frear. He's a more technical/direct player than Sammon and even though he's only 19 he's a far more physical player than Frear.

Edited October 14, 2018 by capt_oats