Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[well fan for life]

5 minutes ago, Al B said:

Turnbull's strike at the weekend was obviously a thing of beauty, but if you look beyond that what impressed me was, with the ball coming from behind him and on the wrong side, he had instinctive awareness of space, and without having to look down at the ball he's moved it through him and with a couple of touches, into a shooting position without even having to think about it or getting it tangled up in his feet.

Now, all that sounds like something you should be able to take for granted from a professional in the top-league, but we all know that's not the case, and we've become accustomed to strikers needing 6 and 7 touches to set before even thinking about shooting (or hitting it into the stand), or midfielders dallying on the ball trying to decide what to do.

tl;dr version - it's his instinctive technique and confidence in himself that impresses me most.

Aye. Turnbull looks like the game drops in to slow motion every time the ball gets near him. Where other folk panic and try and get rid of it he still has the composure with 2-3 folk around him to pick a neat pass to a team mate.

You say we should take it for granted but Ryan Bowman takes a first touch like a dug chasing a tennis ball round the park. 

[thisGRAEME]

It's a difficult one to tell, like. He's looked magic, don't get me wrong, and I've really enjoyed watching him play in the last couple of games, but in the Dundee and St Mirren games, I could count the number of times he was closed down on one hand. 

He never looks rushed or flustered on the ball, but again, maybe because he wasn't actually pressured?

Dunno. The calls for a four year deal give me the fear after Dom Thomas and Bob McHugh, but a top corner bullet at Ibrox on Sunday would probably seal it.

[well fan for life]

1 minute ago, thisGRAEME said:

It's a difficult one to tell, like. He's looked magic, don't get me wrong, and I've really enjoyed watching him play in the last couple of games, but in the Dundee and St Mirren games, I could count the number of times he was closed down on one hand. 

He never looks rushed or flustered on the ball, but again, maybe because he wasn't actually pressured?

Dunno. The calls for a four year deal give me the fear after Dom Thomas and Bob McHugh, but a top corner bullet at Ibrox on Sunday would probably seal it.

He probably had more pressure on him in  the first half on Saturday but for his goal the marking was nothing short of disgraceful. He probably had about 15 yards around him in which he could take a first touch, turn and get a dig away. To take nothing away from it, I should add. He couldn't have hit it any sweeter and it was a total screamer. 

I thought he looked very good in the couple of games at the tail end of last season. I mean ffs he put in a cross so good even Bowman couldn't miss. 

[thisGRAEME]

30 minutes ago, well fan for life said:

He probably had more pressure on him in  the first half on Saturday but for his goal the marking was nothing short of disgraceful. He probably had about 15 yards around him in which he could take a first touch, turn and get a dig away. To take nothing away from it, I should add. He couldn't have hit it any sweeter and it was a total screamer. 

I thought he looked very good in the couple of games at the tail end of last season. I mean ffs he put in a cross so good even Bowman couldn't miss. 

Aye, I know this sounds super negative and I don't mean it to, he's been great fun to watch and I really hope he turns out like we all hope. His free-kick in that Thistle game was an absolute beauty and I thought he stood up well enough in the St Johnstone game as well, just... it's been a handful of games, and that goes for kind of our entire 'bit' at the moment.

[capt_oats]

1 minute ago, thisGRAEME said:

Aye, I know this sounds super negative and I don't mean it to, he's been great fun to watch and I really hope he turns out like we all hope. His free-kick in that Thistle game was an absolute beauty and I thought he stood up well enough in the St Johnstone game as well, just... it's been a handful of games, and that goes for kind of our entire 'bit' at the moment.

It's a legitimate point though.

In dev league games there's zero pressure. He was just allowed to stroll around the park, picking passes and pinging shots in from 30 yards whenever he felt like it. These recent games where it seems like he's arrived you can absolutely make the same argument. It's fair comment to ask how he'll get on if he's getting battered.

The games he's played so far he's not done much wrong but at the same time the games he's shone are coincidentally the ones he's been given a bit of time and space. His first team career so far is a minute at Dens for his debut, the games against Thistle and Accies last season, 33 mins against Aberdeen at Pittodrie, 27 mins at Rugby park then he's started against St Johnstone, St Mirren and Dundee.

Then again, he's shown up well in every game he's played for the Colts. In fact, he managed to injure a Queens Park player to the point the boy needed subbed off so who knows, hopefully he'll be fine.

[Casagolda]

It’s certainly a fair point, mind Luke Watt also got a 3 year deal at the same time as Dom Thomas? Seems wild now.

On the other hand young guys like Kipre and Ojamaa got long term deals on the back of relatively short periods of form and we made a decent wedge out of it. Swings and roundabouts.

However what I would say is when you look at some of the utter dross the club has wasted money on in recent seasons(and this one) I can’t possibly see how Turnbull could possibly be any worse of an investment.

I could name about 7 or 8 players straight away off the top of my head we’ve signed since Les took over that Turnbull’s already contributed more than in his last 2 starts.

[thisGRAEME]

9 minutes ago, Casagolda said:

It’s certainly a fair point, mind Luke Watt also got a 3 year deal at the same time as Dom Thomas? Seems wild now.

On the other hand young guys like Kipre and Ojamaa got long term deals on the back of relatively short periods of form and we made a decent wedge out of it. Swings and roundabouts.

However what I would say is when you look at some of the utter dross the club has wasted money on in recent seasons(and this one) I can’t possibly see how Turnbull could possibly be any worse of an investment.

I could name about 7 or 8 players straight away off the top of my head we’ve signed since Les took over that Turnbull’s already contributed more than in his last 2 starts.

Petravicius

Blyth

Gorrin

ATS

Sammon

Hendrie

Griffiths (Second time)

Plummer

Newell

Good game, that.

 

 

hahaahhaaha f**k mind Dean Brill? Fat c**t.

Edited November 7, 2018 by thisGRAEME

[Desp]

12 minutes ago, Casagolda said:

It’s certainly a fair point, mind Luke Watt also got a 3 year deal

 Fucking remember this?  The guy that became better every time he didn't play according to some.

Where is he now?  If he's still in professional football, he's doing better than I thought.

[well fan for life]

Mind big Xenodochof? That was some caper.

[capt_oats]

19 minutes ago, Desp said:

 Fucking remember this?  The guy that became better every time he didn't play according to some.

Where is he now?  If he's still in professional football, he's doing better than I thought.

I checked up on this when I was updating my post on the squad thread a couple of weeks ago.

He seems to be without a club at the moment. I think he was on trial with Falkirk through the summer.

Edit. NEWSFLASH: since I last checked he seems to have signed with NK Novigrad in Croatia.

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/luke-watt/profil/spieler/347618

This new information means that of those released in the summer Plummer is the only one currently without a club.

Additional edit: it appears Robbie Leitch is also on NK Novigrad's books.

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/nk-novigrad/startseite/verein/29424

Edited November 7, 2018 by capt_oats

[thisGRAEME]

28 minutes ago, well fan for life said:

Mind big Xenodochof? That was some caper.

Goal-scoring keeper. He'll sign for Falkirk or someone in January.

[Casagolda]

15 hours ago, thisGRAEME said:

Petravicius

Blyth

Gorrin

ATS

Sammon

Hendrie

Griffiths (Second time)

Plummer

Newell

Good game, that.

 

hahaahhaaha f**k mind Dean Brill? Fat c**t.

Not a bad effort.

You also could have had Nathan Thomas, Jake Taylor, Luka Belic, Lee Lucas, Theo Robinson... the list goes on really.

I think I was actually being kind saying 7 or 8, we could probably fill a match day squad with useless c***s that contributed next to f**k all in the last 3 years or so. 

Anyway point being we have wasted a lot of money on some utter guff in recent years, so I’m all in for cutting back on that and investing a bit more in our own youth. Especially when we seem to have a fairly decent batch at the moment.

Old ground I know but it does seem like Robinson could have saved himself signing 3 or 4 players this summer and who knows, with that money he might have been able to afford a striker that actually scores some goals.

[Al B]

Need to change Jake Taylor to a white font so you can't see him.

[Desp]

Craig Clay for the win!

[well fan for life]

19 minutes ago, Desp said:

Craig Clay for the win!

The absolute epitome of a pointless midfielder.

[BigTamMuller]

Straight out the Stewart Carswell school of consistent side/back ward passed from midfield. 

To continue the point on the list above, just about every single one of them had a young player in the same position in our 20's/reserve squad that would've offered something. Hypothetical's of course since you do at least some players in backup roles etc.

All fun and games looking back on some of them and laughing though, or cringing.

 

[Swello]

I totally agree with the "small-but-high quality 1st team squad" with young players as backup approach - but I wonder how much more we would need to spend to get the level of quality that we would want to see. McCall's tenure was the last time I think we brought in already fairly accomplished players and I genuinely wonder if getting rid of 4 or 5 "deadwood" players would really enable us to sign even 1 "special" player. 

[Archie McSquackle]

It's nothing new though, managers have always taken punts on players- some work, some don't. At certain points of Tommy McLean's tenure it seemed like Fir Park had a revolving door fitted to the players' entrance.

[Al B]

I think what works against us now is that we're less of a "draw" to a more special player.

What I mean by that is if you were a player that fancied themselves, could back it up, and wanted to showcase themselves up here, Hearts were in crisis/weren't around, Hibs were out of the league, United had imploded and were out of the league, Aberdeen weren't an attractive prospect, Kilmarnock were the shambles they always were before Sir Steve Clarke came in and made them a genuine attractive prospect.

4/5/6 seasons ago we'd have been the first choice above them all for a player like that (who wasn't quite at Celtic level), whereas now every single one of them would be ahead of us for a players signature, even if we did have the cash to spend.

[Swello]

8 minutes ago, Al B said:

I think what works against us now is that we're less of a "draw" to a more special player.

What I mean by that is if you were a player that fancied themselves, could back it up, and wanted to showcase themselves up here, Hearts were in crisis/weren't around, Hibs were out of the league, United had imploded and were out of the league, Aberdeen weren't an attractive prospect, Kilmarnock were the shambles they always were before Sir Steve Clarke came in and made them a genuine attractive prospect.

4/5/6 seasons ago we'd have been the first choice above them all for a player like that (who wasn't quite at Celtic level), whereas now every single one of them would be ahead of us for a players signature, even if we did have the cash to spend.

Totally agree with this - but money also talks. We didn't get (say) Chris Porter because we were attractive as such - a hefty wedge of cash (and some cross border transfer shenanigans) was the main factor and money is still the main motivating factor for practically everyone in Football.

All things being equal, everything above is correct - they would choose a team that were more attractive - but if (for some bizarre reason) we offered 2 grand more a week than Killie to a player, I doubt many would choose them just because they are in a far better place than us at present.