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Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons


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Incidentally, if we're loaning out Dean Cornelius as Robinson suggests in that bit of copy I take it we'll be in the market for another midfielder beyond Crawford since that would leave us with 5 fit covering 3 spots.

Campbell,  O'Hara, Polworth, Crawford and Maguire.

Edited by capt_oats
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7 minutes ago, Mod1967 said:

Crawford can't tackle, header or score, he also continually loses his man, provides very few assists, runs around a lot tbf ,massively overrated by some Ayr fans for some reason and totally found out at Livingstone....mental signing!!!!

Oh No Facepalm GIF by moodman

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22 minutes ago, Mod1967 said:

Crawford can't tackle, header or score, he also continually loses his man, provides very few assists, runs around a lot tbf ,massively overrated by some Ayr fans for some reason and totally found out at Livingstone....mental signing!!!!

I mean this is complete bollocks. He can tackle. He provided multiple assists last year, including against Celtic. 

I don't really get this. Yeah, he hadn't had much game time this year, but he's a decent player at this level. Not a fan of loaning out players to your rivals. Not a fan of selling them either after the start Odoffin's had at Accies.

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1 hour ago, Mod1967 said:

Crawford can't tackle, header or score, he also continually loses his man, provides very few assists, runs around a lot tbf ,massively overrated by some Ayr fans for some reason and totally found out at Livingstone....mental signing!!!!

Class. He'll fit right in then.

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Taking Semple, Robinson, Cornelius, MacIver, Hussain and Devine out - as they're likely to be loaned or have already been loaned out then here's how the squad looks as it stands.

1608873487_ScreenShot2020-09-18at20_42_45.png.a2921e0d50bce64a59770d807b93be31.png

Put in a 433 as that's clearly how we intended to set up this season rather than with a back 3.

Total - 24 (4 Injured: Fox, Carroll, Dunne, Donnelly)

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3 hours ago, Mod1967 said:

Crawford can't tackle, header or score, he also continually loses his man, provides very few assists, runs around a lot tbf ,massively overrated by some Ayr fans for some reason and totally found out at Livingstone....mental signing!!!!

I think we've got a full Chris Porter write up here - I'm suddenly looking forward to seeing this boy play....

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No disrespect to Livingston but is any surprise we are struggling this season when our transfer strategy seems to be signing players that cannot get a game for them. 

I like to think for the most part I focus on the positives and I have spent the last few season defending Robinson and acknowledging his achievements. at a time when many others in our support never have and probably never will. To be fair some are the type that would literally not acknowledge us winning the title..

But these last few weeks are starting to test my loyalty to the Manager and some of the players. I was out walking the dog when my mate informed me we had signed a midfielder from Livingston who clearly they were happy to let go. It did not improve my mood much. 

We need 2 or 3 quality additions to the squad in all 3 key areas of the pitch. But it appears as if the money earned from Turnbull and Europa Cup run are being earmarked for other projects. I get that. I don’t want to see the club back in trouble and this season more than most we need to be prudent. But even using the money from getting arguably a round further in Europe than we would have been expecting would allow us to bring in 2 quality players and players that actually would slot into 1st team or be thereabouts. 

These next 2 weeks will tell us a lot about the team and squad. No one will be surprised to see us lose to Aberdeen and Hapoel Beer Sheva but it will be the manner of these defeats. Or better yet if we manage to get a result in one or both games then perhaps we can see a light at the end of the tunnel. 

A concerned Well fan.......

Edited by welldaft
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1 hour ago, welldaft said:

No disrespect to Livingston but is any surprise we are struggling this season when our transfer strategy seems to be signing players that cannot get a game for them. 

I like to think for the most part I focus on the positives and I have spent the last few season defending Robinson and acknowledging his achievements. at a time when many others in our support never have and probably never will. To be fair some are the type that would literally not acknowledge us winning the title..

But these last few weeks are starting to test my loyalty to the Manager and some of the players. I was out walking the dog when my mate informed me we had signed a midfielder from Livingston who clearly they were happy to let go. It did not improve my mood much. 

We need 2 or 3 quality additions to the squad in all 3 key areas of the pitch. But it appears as if the money earned from Turnbull and Europa Cup run are being earmarked for other projects. I get that. I don’t want to see the club back in trouble and this season more than most we need to be prudent. But even using the money from getting arguably a round further in Europe than we would have been expecting would allow us to bring in 2 quality players and players that actually would slot into 1st team or be thereabouts. 

These next 2 weeks will tell us a lot about the team and squad. No one will be surprised to see us lose to Aberdeen and Hapoel Beer Sheva but it will be the manner of these defeats. Or better yet if we manage to get a result in one or both games then perhaps we can see a light at the end of the tunnel. 

A concerned Well fan.......

Find a way of putting Lamie on the bench.

Give Polworth a shake, apologise for dropping him, explain we had to put Turnbull in the shop window but it’s him we really love.

Sorted.

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*sigh* 

I mean it's almost as if there's been a global pandemic and we're working with a reduced budget, no income from fans in the stadium and a big question mark over what sort of ST income we'll see next season seeing as we've promised our fans they'll be credited with the games played behind closed doors this season but nevertheless trying to put out a competitive side (3 points off 5th at the moment and into the 3rd QF round in Europe lads).

Don't get me wrong, that doesn't mean there's no accountability but it's up to Robinson to fix the issues. This was always going to be a weird season so people should probably get used to it.

As @PauloPerth just said about his team in the St Johnstone thread "I think 10th place is probably job done for the board." I'd imagine we're in exactly the same position and that will be true of at least half the league. 

Put your feet up and have a Solero.

As it stands, assuming all the #YoungMotherwell players are loaned out we're still carrying a squad of 24 bodies (albeit with 4 who have either have or are recovering from long term injuries). So unless we move additional players on I'm not sure why we'd be expecting *quality* players to come in.

Sure, people can point to Robinson talking in May/June about how we'd be running with a bare minimum squad of 15/16 and supplementing with 6 or 7 youth players and getting annoyed about us punting the 6 or 7 youth players out on loan but the landscape can change. The only club who seem to be running with a bare minimum squad is St Johnstone.

I think it's generally accepted that Lamie's been brought in because he's erm...versatile. In an ideal world he'd have swapped Livi's bench for ours. If Carroll, McGinley or even Donnelly had been fit there's a fair chance we wouldn't have seen anywhere as much of him as we have but they've not been fit so it is what it is.

Equally Crawford's been brought in to give a bit of cover and allow Semple and Cornelius to go out and get games. You can argue the pros and cons of that but I'm not sure it's worth ruining your day over.

Anyway, breaking it down, again assuming all the #YoungMotherwell are loaned out:

GK: Carson, Morrison (Injured: Fox out for the season)
DF - O'Donnell, Gallagher, Mugabi, Lamie, McGinley, Grimshaw (Injured: Carroll - Oct/Nov 20, Dunne - TBC)
MF - Campbell, O'Hara, Polworth, Crawford, Maguire (Injured: Donnelly - Jan 2021)
FW: Lang, Watt, Long, White, Hastie, Seedorf, Hylton

Goalkeeper - Carson's #1 so if we loan out Morrison it'll be a Fox-a-like back up we bring in to replace him.
Defence - With the back 3/5 we're using all our fit CBs and as it stands Grimshaw's the only fit cover if we're going to keep running with a back 5.
Midfield - If Campbell's fit he plays, if Polworth's fit he plays. In either formation (352 or 433 we use 3 CM so 5 bodies in there still seems light IMO).
Forwards - We have 7 on the books. We either play with 2 CF or 3 FW so unless we've got other clubs chapping our door wanting to sign any or all of Hylton, Seedorf or White or Rangers decide to do us a favour and recall Hastie to sell him we're stacked in that department.

IMO, the two areas there's probably room to bring in short term fixes are Defence and Midfield. I can't see another forward coming in unless a couple move on.

Aside from the Fear of Lamie and the fact Grimshaw's been absolute murder if Dunne's simply here to rehab from his injury (he hasn't kicked a ball since last summer and has missed significant chunks of each season he's been here) then we're definitely light IMO. Robinson may be many things but he's not daft, I'd be surprised if he was watching Lamie's performance against St Johnstone and thinking "this is fine" especially after he chucked Livi a penalty a couple of weeks prior.

An Aldred or Hartley type signing would do us the world of good, either that or an actual left back to allow McGinley to move in one.

As far as the midfield goes I'd say that there's a vacancy for a specialist holding mid as we've not had one of those since Ally Gorrin left. Polworth and Campbell have their positions on lock but O'Hara's not a natural fit as a DM and tbh Donnelly has his limitations in that role as well.

I hate to be that guy but I'd genuinely be curious as to who folk had in mind as realistic *quality* options for us to bring in.

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