Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[supermarv]

18 minutes ago, Londonwell said:

West Brom and Blackburn in for Kipre apparently, was ready to come on heavy handed with the cash money gifs but reported as only a £900k deal! They’ll barely even make a profit from that.

If those figures are correct maybe that’s why the waving of the sell on fee in exchange for Lang was being talked about. 

Seen them myself but surely Wigan value him more than that, they’ve sold plenty already so surely they’d like to recoup double the fee they have paid.

[RandomGuy.]

16 minutes ago, supermarv said:

Seen them myself but surely Wigan value him more than that, they’ve sold plenty already so surely they’d like to recoup double the fee they have paid.

I don't know exactly how it works, but with them being in administration still, will it just be guys looking at the bank balance making these decisions? Rather than any football guys who believe hes worth more?

[YassinMoutaouakil]

7 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

I don't know exactly how it works, but with them being in administration still, will it just be guys looking at the bank balance making these decisions? Rather than any football guys who believe hes worth more?

Ask the Dundee thread

[Well Well]

Few fans outside the South Stand just now with flares and smoke bombs

[Desp]

1 hour ago, Londonwell said:

West Brom and Blackburn in for Kipre apparently, was ready to come on heavy handed with the cash money gifs but reported as only a £900k deal! They’ll barely even make a profit from that.

If those figures are correct maybe that’s why the waving of the sell on fee in exchange for Lang was being talked about. 

Is Kipre not entering the last year of his deal? With Wigan a League 1 side now and in administration, I can't imagine the fee being particularly massive, even if a Prem club is in for him. 

I'd be surprised at £900k, but couldn't see it being anymore than £2m. Also, assuming the sell-on % is on the profit, as is the case normally, we not see much coming our way so the Lang thing may be right.

[TommyDickFingers]

33 minutes ago, Well Well said:

Few fans outside the South Stand just now with flares and smoke bombs

 

[Mr Waldo]

1 hour ago, RandomGuy. said:

I don't know exactly how it works, but with them being in administration still, will it just be guys looking at the bank balance making these decisions? Rather than any football guys who believe hes worth more?

The Administrator maximises the income.  Depends on what they know about football.

We had a decent one, kept at least one high earning player (Elliott?) due to knowing we would get a fee.

Rangers had a bunch of crooks.

[Archie McSquackle]

We sold Elliot to Hull and also sold Eric Delomeaux to Aberdeen but yes, the administrators didn't just let players go if we thought we could get a fee for them.

[Casagolda]

On 26/08/2020 at 17:01, Gianfranco said:

We miss Polworth’s pressing higher up the pitch. I honestly couldn’t believe some people thought he was lazy last season.

Very much this. 

Thought he was good last night, even his goal- I know he was about a yard out but he’s actually outside the box when Long strikes it, he put some shift in to get up and support. 

On that note, Long looked much sharper than he has done so far this season as well. He actually looked like he wanted to be there and also put in a fair shift.  

Watt gave a good cameo off the bench and for me, showed why he offers more than White. Lang didn’t have the best of games but it was nice to get all 3 strikers on the scoresheet, tidy finish as well. 

Also let’s never play O’Donnell out of position to accommodate Grimshaw ever again. Oh and can we keep him please? Some ping for his goal. 

Overall it was a fairly shaky hour or so and I think if they’d got the first goal, we’d have probably been out as our confidence looked shot. Things seemed to go our way though and you could argue we got the break we’d been looking for, then once the goal went it we could genuinely have had 7 or 8.

Shame it’s Celtic on Sunday before an international break mind so we won’t have much chance to build on it. 

[crazylegsjoe_mfc]

13 minutes ago, Archie McSquackle said:

We sold Elliot to Hull and also sold Eric Delomeaux to Aberdeen but yes, the administrators didn't just let players go if we thought we could get a fee for them.

I think we sold Elliott for just under quarter of a million and Deloumeaux for about fifty grand. Which made sense as it got money in the door early on for two more developed players, whilst not rushing to sell McFadden or Pearson on the cheap.

2 minutes ago, Casagolda said:

Very much this. 

Thought he was good last night, even his goal- I know he was about a yard out but he’s actually outside the box when Long strikes it, he put some shift in to get up and support. 

On that note, Long looked much sharper than he has done so far this season as well. He actually looked like he wanted to be there and also put in a fair shift.  

Watt gave a good cameo off the bench and for me, showed why he offers more than White. Lang didn’t have the best of games but it was nice to get all 3 strikers on the scoresheet, tidy finish as well. 

Also let’s never play O’Donnell out of position to accommodate Grimshaw ever again. Oh and can we keep him please? Some ping for his goal. 

Overall it was a fairly shaky hour or so and I think if they’d got the first goal, we’d have probably been out as our confidence looked shot. Things seemed to go our way though and you could argue we got the break we’d been looking for, then once the goal went it we could genuinely have had 7 or 8.

Shame it’s Celtic on Sunday before an international break mind so we won’t have much chance to build on it. 

I would've said Polworth was about the only outfield player to come out of the first half with real credit for me. What I quite liked about him last night was his quick passing, there was a couple of times where he managed a one touch through ball. 

As for Grimshaw, I have always been reluctant to criticise players who put 100% in every week, but this season I'm finding it tough to have many positive words about him. It seemed last night that the two options were him playing an easy, no risk pass or giving the ball away. I lamented him at one point when he and Campbell were back for a corner and as he was being closed down, he could have passed it to Campbell and restart the attack, but took the easy option and went back to Carson. Then obviously the next time he tried a risky pass it started an attack for Glentoran. Pains me to say it as he's such a likeable guy, but we instantly got better when he went off.

 

[santheman]

I thought at one point Glentoran had managed to sneak a ringer for Grimmy into the dressing room as he set up chance after chance for them with his passing straight to a Glentoran player.

Again the guy hasn’t played as a wing back for years yet he’s thrown in there and expected to perform as if its his usual position.

 

[Pettigrew]

44 minutes ago, crazylegsjoe_mfc said:

As for Grimshaw, I have always been reluctant to criticise players who put 100% in every week, but this season I'm finding it tough to have many positive words about him. It seemed last night that the two options were him playing an easy, no risk pass or giving the ball away. I lamented him at one point when he and Campbell were back for a corner and as he was being closed down, he could have passed it to Campbell and restart the attack, but took the easy option and went back to Carson. Then obviously the next time he tried a risky pass it started an attack for Glentoran. Pains me to say it as he's such a likeable guy, but we instantly got better when he went off.

 

That said, Seedorf's first couple of contributions as a Left Wing Back were comedy gold.  

[Casagolda]

1 hour ago, crazylegsjoe_mfc said:

I would've said Polworth was about the only outfield player to come out of the first half with real credit for me. What I quite liked about him last night was his quick passing, there was a couple of times where he managed a one touch through ball. 

Yup, he seemed to set the tempo with and without the ball. 

I thought him and Long both showed a good attitude last night. They’ve had a few questions asked of them this season but they both delivered a positive reaction to being dropped.  

Edit- A very angry man but it was nice to see what it meant to him. Much better than the ghost we’ve had skulking about the last few weeks. 

Edited August 28, 2020 by Casagolda

[Archie McSquackle]

That said, Seedorf's first couple of contributions as a Left Wing Back were comedy gold.  

His attempt to cross with his left foot from the bye line after beating his man had me laughing / tearing my hear out in equal measure.

[well fan for life]

8 minutes ago, Archie McSquackle said:

1 hour ago, Pettigrew said:

That said, Seedorf's first couple of contributions as a Left Wing Back were comedy gold.  

His attempt to cross with his left foot from the bye line after beating his man had me laughing / tearing my hear out in equal measure.

It was exactly the kind of thing I expect to do myself when I get a game of fives after this lockdown pish. 

[Luke92]

Thought we were pretty fortunate last night, Glentoran could easily have been a couple up in that first hour or so. Gallagher and Grimmy looked particularly shakey.

With that being said fair play to the lads for persevering. I was happy to see Robinson change system and put 2 up. As a lot of us alluded to in the last few weeks, the 433 hasn't been working and it was time for a change. Whether we stick with it at the weekend I'm not too sure.

I'm not really as sold on the Polworth - O'Hara - Campbell combination as some. All have good qualities but I honestly think they can improve. I'd still really like us to move the ball quicker, we still dither on the ball a bit too long for me. I also don't think we are breaking quick enough in the counter. Hopefully this will improve with time.

Watt looked good when he came on albeit against a tiring opposition. I think he demonstrated that he is a different option than the other strikers we have. He is willing to take defenders on with a bit of trickery. Hope to see him get more minutes in the coming games.

I've seen a list of potential opponents from Kassiesa's site and if we get lucky with the draw we could have a chance of progress.

[Casagolda]

39 minutes ago, Luke92 said:

I'm not really as sold on the Polworth - O'Hara - Campbell combination as some. All have good qualities but I honestly think they can improve. I'd still really like us to move the ball quicker, we still dither on the ball a bit too long for me. I also don't think we are breaking quick enough in the counter. Hopefully this will improve with time.

I think O’Hara is the particular square peg here.

He’s like the Scottish Andy Rose. He covers a lot ground, wins a few headers etc but ultimately, he’s a fairly limited footballer and one not particularly suited to the rather niche role of sitting in front of the defence. 

Defensively he doesn’t have the awareness or positional discipline. Nor does he have the passing range of a Gorrin or even Donnelly to build attacks.

His best attributes are his physical ones and they’re kind of wasted in the role he’s currently playing. 

Edited August 28, 2020 by Casagolda

[YassinMoutaouakil]

22 hours ago, thisGRAEME said:

I see we're doing magnanimous "Thank you David" patter.

I'm looking forward to Inside Motherwell | David Turnbull reflects on his first week at Celtic Park, his debut goal against the Well, and his favourite thing about Scott Brown.

Edited August 28, 2020 by YassinMoutaouakil

[Desp]

1 hour ago, Casagolda said:

I think O’Hara is the particular square peg here.

He’s like the Scottish Andy Rose. 

Definitely should be Campbell-Donnelly-Polworth when they're fit and available. 

The Scottish Andy Rose is a superb shout, btw.

[crazylegsjoe_mfc]

1 hour ago, Casagolda said:

I think O’Hara is the particular square peg here.

He’s like the Scottish Andy Rose. He covers a lot ground, wins a few headers etc but ultimately, he’s a fairly limited footballer and one not particularly suited to the rather niche role of sitting in front of the defence. 

Defensively he doesn’t have the awareness or positional discipline. Nor does he have the passing range of a Gorrin or even Donnelly to build attacks.

His best attributes are his physical ones and they’re kind of wasted in the role he’s currently playing. 

Yeah, I'd agree with this. I think Donnelly's range of passing, coupled with the fact he doesn't seem to want to wander much from that position, makes him the best candidate for that role.

I watched most of O'Hara's Dundee goals on YouTube not long ago and it seems any time he was influential for them it was getting himself into the box, I actually think he himself would prefer to play in one of the two further forward roles himself. He actually had a decent goalscoring rate at Dundee (I'm sure it was 5 one season and 6 the other).

I think he's one of those guys who's decent at all aspects of playing as a central midfielder without being amazing at any of them. He's probably versatile enough in that he could fill in ably for Donnelly, Campbell and Polworth, but I'd still start all three ahead of him.

It is also worth mentioning he committed the cardinal sin of hitting the wall with a free-kick last night. I am also dumbfounded when professional footballers can't get a ball over a wall.