Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[YassinMoutaouakil]

Chris Long and Chris Porter playing together for Crewe is frying my brain, I'm aware people are allowed to continue playing football once they leave Motherwell but it feels like there's been about 3 decades between their spells here.

[Swello]

1 hour ago, YassinMoutaouakil said:

Chris Long and Chris Porter playing together for Crewe is frying my brain, I'm aware people are allowed to continue playing football once they leave Motherwell but it feels like there's been about 3 decades between their spells here.

They'd be some laugh on team nights out too.

[For Your Pies Only]

So having watched through the highlights of Sunday's game, I'm not sure what I'm missing re: O'Donnell - was expecting a bomb scare performance based on some of the comments here and elsewhere. My thoughts:

-Goal saving clearance a few yards off the line in 1st half, under pressure from St Johnstone player

-tracked multiple runs from Stevie May to give Mugabi some support in the middle

-Long throw at the start of the 2nd half nearly sets up a goal

-Good cross to set up Watt in the last few minutes, who should have scored

For the OG, he was man-marking Muller at the back post and both Lamie and Woolery mistimed pretty regulation clearing headers - I don't think you can blame him for not expecting both to miss the ball completely when his focus is on staying goalside to his man. Having seen the Hibs game and some of the cup ties, my feeling is that Carroll has been much more of a liability on the left and that it seems SOD has been purposefully instructed to sit deeper (& slightly more central?) to help the centre backs by Alexander - looked like he checked runs quite a few times to stay level with the backline against both Hibs and St. Johnstone. So I'm a wee bit surprised by the criticism he's getting?

Happy to be corrected if he was utter shite in the sections of the St Johnstone game I didn't see though.

Edited August 9, 2021 by For Your Pies Only

[Gianfranco]

St Mirren and Ross County apparently are interested in taking Matty Kennedy on loan from Aberdeen. Would you take him?

I’d quite like a proper winger as Watt and Shields are better through the middle.

#announceMatt

[capt_oats]

23 minutes ago, Gianfranco said:

St Mirren and Ross County apparently are interested in taking Matty Kennedy on loan from Aberdeen. Would you take him?

I’d quite like a proper winger as Watt and Shields are better through the middle.

#announceMatt

Is the story not that Kennedy actually played better for St Johnstone as a #10 or was that Drey Wright? Or neither and I've just totally made that shit up?

Tbh, I'd say our priorities are another midfielder (or two if there's a chance of some movement out) and a centre forward.

Edited August 9, 2021 by capt_oats

[Jim McLean's Ghost]

31 minutes ago, Gianfranco said:

St Mirren and Ross County apparently are interested in taking Matty Kennedy on loan from Aberdeen. Would you take him?

I’d quite like a proper winger as Watt and Shields are better through the middle.

#announceMatt

Matty Kennedy is complete shite.

St Johnstone had the worst attack in the league when he was there and he was a regular disappointment in the Aberdeen side. Can't beat a man, can't really cross a ball.

Edit: Of course if we did sign him I am sure all his deficiencies were down the tactical mismanagement of currently unemployed Tommy Wrong and Deek McInnes.

Edited August 9, 2021 by Jim McLean's Ghost

[Jim McLean's Ghost]

13 hours ago, RostokMcSpoons said:

Asking for a friend...  did anyone watching the International subscription MFC TV have a real problem with the streaming?  I.... errrrr ... hear the first two video players weren't working at all and the third was unwatchably choppy.  It could have been Opera browser's built-in VPN connection causing an issue, as it's worked ok until yesterday.   

Ended up listening to the UK commentary instead, and missed the equaliser

My mate abroad had absolutely no issue with MFC TV.

I don't think Opera VPN is designed for video streaming. Your friend should buy a dedicated VPN like NordVPN

[mwellhighland]

1 hour ago, For Your Pies Only said:

So having watched through the highlights of Sunday's game, I'm not sure what I'm missing re: O'Donnell - was expecting a bomb scare performance based on some of the comments here and elsewhere. My thoughts:

-Goal saving clearance a few yards off the line in 1st half, under pressure from St Johnstone player

-tracked multiple runs from Stevie May to give Mugabi some support in the middle

-Long throw at the start of the 2nd half nearly sets up a goal

-Good cross to set up Watt in the last few minutes, who should have scored

For the OG, he was man-marking Muller at the back post and both Lamie and Woolery mistimed pretty regulation clearing headers - I don't think you can blame him for not expecting both to miss the ball completely when his focus is on staying goalside to his man. Having seen the Hibs game and some of the cup ties, my feeling is that Carroll has been much more of a liability on the left and that it seems SOD has been purposefully instructed to sit deeper (& slightly more central?) to help the centre backs by Alexander - looked like he checked runs quite a few times to stay level with the backline against both Hibs and St. Johnstone. So I'm a wee bit surprised by the criticism he's getting?

Happy to be corrected if he was utter shite in the sections of the St Johnstone game I didn't see though.

Agreed. Along my thinking but couldn't be arsed typing it out. As others have alluded to, the fact he's an established Scotland player has no doubt put extra emphasis on any mistake he makes. He is a good fullback for this level and anyone calling for Grimshaw is having a laugh imo

[rowsdower]

Stream has been fine for me for quite some time, and I live in deliverance country. The last issues I had with the stream were in the early games of last season. I could have done with it being shite a few times mind. 

[AmericanFan]

Last seven or so pages of the Hearts-St. Mirren thread are highly entertaining.

[Guest superward]

7 hours ago, Jim McLean's Ghost said:

My mate abroad had absolutely no issue with MFC TV.

I don't think Opera VPN is designed for video streaming. Your friend should buy a dedicated VPN like NordVPN

My friend  also agrees with this. 

[MP_MFC]

Last seven or so pages of the Hearts-St. Mirren thread are highly entertaining.

Anything is going to be more interesting than our thread for the st Johnstone game. What an odd bunch, bet they don’t even like pakora.

[RandomGuy.]

7 hours ago, capt_oats said:

Is the story not that Kennedy actually played better for St Johnstone as a #10 or was that Drey Wright? Or neither and I've just totally made that shit up?

Best he played for us was as a 10, in a 4-2-3-1, playing off Watt...

[AmericanFan]

10 minutes ago, MP_MFC said:

Anything is going to be more interesting than our thread for the st Johnstone game. What an odd bunch, bet they don’t even like pakora.

For real. I've heard @RandomGuy. doesn't even order naan with his curries.

[Antiochas III]

9 hours ago, For Your Pies Only said:

So having watched through the highlights of Sunday's game, I'm not sure what I'm missing re: O'Donnell - was expecting a bomb scare performance based on some of the comments here and elsewhere. My thoughts:

-Goal saving clearance a few yards off the line in 1st half, under pressure from St Johnstone player

-tracked multiple runs from Stevie May to give Mugabi some support in the middle

-Long throw at the start of the 2nd half nearly sets up a goal

-Good cross to set up Watt in the last few minutes, who should have scored

For the OG, he was man-marking Muller at the back post and both Lamie and Woolery mistimed pretty regulation clearing headers - I don't think you can blame him for not expecting both to miss the ball completely when his focus is on staying goalside to his man. Having seen the Hibs game and some of the cup ties, my feeling is that Carroll has been much more of a liability on the left and that it seems SOD has been purposefully instructed to sit deeper (& slightly more central?) to help the centre backs by Alexander - looked like he checked runs quite a few times to stay level with the backline against both Hibs and St. Johnstone. So I'm a wee bit surprised by the criticism he's getting?

Happy to be corrected if he was utter shite in the sections of the St Johnstone game I didn't see though.

The analytics show O'Donnell was one of our best players v St Johnstone.   

[RandomGuy.]

37 minutes ago, Antiochas III said:

The analytics show O'Donnell was one of our best players v St Johnstone.   

What ones?

[supermarv]

1 hour ago, Antiochas III said:

The analytics show O'Donnell was one of our best players v St Johnstone.   

Watching the full 90 minutes of the game on the TV says different, weatherspoon had him on toast all the time, granted he was doubled up on regularly, however was far too easily beaten at times. Never tight enough to his man, doesn’t have that nastiness or aggression that Carroll does which I like when used the correct way. SoD is a decent player for this level but sundays performance and a good few from last season have been too regular and very poor performances, the goal isn’t his fault really but his overall performance was miles off it.

[capt_oats]

3 hours ago, RandomGuy. said:

Best he played for us was as a 10, in a 4-2-3-1, playing off Watt...

Cheers. I thought that was the case.

[Desp]

I still find the criticism of O'Donnell extremely weird.  I thought it was pretty much a given that he's a standard, good on his day Scottish Premiership full-back.  By definition, he'll be good in some games and not so good in others.  From the two league games so far, you can look at the basic stats and say, 'one penalty given away, one own goal scored'.  However, I think both were unlucky. For the penalty, he's trying to block a shot from a distance and it hits his outstretched arm.  Harsh, but a penalty it today's game.  The own goal is down to two men in front of him both missing it and it hits off him.  Just unlucky.  It appears we are down the opposite route of when Darren Fletcher played for Scotland. "Well he needs to absolutely run riot for Scotland because he plays for Man Utd".  Now a section of Motherwell fans seem to think, "well, he plays for Scotland so needs to be outstanding in every game fior Motherwell".  If there's genuine criticism to be dished out, by all means do it, but I just don't see it.  I just find it all very weird that *he* is the guy appearing to be singled out, of all the players currently in the XI.  

TL:DR version below;

11 hours ago, mwellhighland said:

 anyone calling for Grimshaw is having a laugh imo

 

[capt_oats]

On the SOD chat, anyone who's blaming him for the OG is at it. The ball clears 2 Motherwell heads and deflects off him with a St Johnstone forward behind that he has to deal with.

Defensively I think he was fine, the clearance he made at the back post was an excellent bit of defending. However I don't know if in a broader sense he's just uncomfortable with what he's being asked to do or being hung out to dry by the tactics or if it was just a natural result of the team still being a work in progress but it felt like we were seeing turnovers of possession when he was on the ball but again, he's far from the only one in our XI where that was the case and in this essay I will show...he was on the ball a lot more than others in the team.

To that point @Desp's post above is very much a concise version of where I am. Could he have been better? Absolutely. It doesn't stop it being weird that he's become so a sort of lightning rod for people getting bent out of shape.

Ultimately, I don't think our performance on Sunday was much different to any other time we've went away to Perth recently, it was bitty, scrappy...attritional. A lot of that is down to the way St Johnstone play and they're very good at it. We're not the only team who find it "a difficult place to go" and equally there were plenty instances where Saints forward passes were running straight through to Kelly or in the case of Liam Craig put a diagonal straight out the park.

Anyway, according to WhoScored? SOD had more touches of the ball (74), made more interceptions (5) and attempted more passes (58) than anyone else on the park:

Edited August 10, 2021 by capt_oats