Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[redstarcvedza]

2 hours ago, thisGRAEME said:

It's absolutely class;

 

 

This is a great idea and could be extended. For example player with most tackles won or most fouls committed could be Il miglior assassino

[well fan for life]

2 hours ago, Doctor Manhattan said:

If KVV isn't already wearing this around the Euroborg, I'm going to be very disappointed.

Unironically a 10/10 film. 

[thisGRAEME]

26 minutes ago, redstarcvedza said:

This is a great idea and could be extended. For example player with most tackles won or most fouls committed could be Il miglior assassino

Now we're COOKIN.

[Doctor Manhattan]

36 minutes ago, redstarcvedza said:

This is a great idea and could be extended. For example player with most tackles won or most fouls committed could be Il miglior assassino

Would there be enough room on Slattery's shirt for that many badges?

[welldaft]

57 minutes ago, Doctor Manhattan said:

Would there be enough room on Slattery's shirt for that many badges?

He could have a wee small yellow rectangle on the Motherwell strip for every yellow card he has had. Probably look something like this..

 

Edited August 15, 2023 by welldaft

[YassinMoutaouakil]

We are massive 

 

 

[Stevie Kirk]

2 hours ago, redstarcvedza said:

This is a great idea and could be extended. For example player with most tackles won or most fouls committed could be Il miglior assassino

 

[CoF]

6 hours ago, thisGRAEME said:

(or wonderfully titled CAPOCANNONIERE,

Gonna start trying to order that as a starter at Italian restaurants. 

[redstarcvedza]

2 hours ago, Stevie Kirk said:

 

più grande psicopatico

[MP_MFC]

I see that Obika is on the graphic as Out for Saturday - is he just a permacrock?

[Doctor Manhattan]

9 minutes ago, MP_MFC said:

I see that Obika is on the graphic as Out for Saturday - is he just a permacrock?

He was only on the park 10 minutes! He probably pulled something while high-fiving Mika.

[Cloontang]

It was mentioned that the option of a second year was in place for Obika. I'm hoping that's our choice to take up rather than his. 

[Gianfranco]

Max Johnson getting the last twenty minutes tonight. I hope he gets more game time going forward.

[Busta Nut]

Signing Obika was a massive mistake

[welldaft]

1 hour ago, Busta Nut said:

Signing Obika was a massive mistake

Starting to look like us signing Louis Moult would be a safer bet !

To be fair based on what I have seen so far I expect he would be 4th choice of the 4 forwards (not inc Efford). Would expect the front two to be a combination of Wilkinson, Biereth and Bair.  Biereth and 1 other if he continues to perform like he did on Sunday or anywhere near that level. 

Edited August 15, 2023 by welldaft

[Busta Nut]

Obika isn't very good and he's a permacrock.

[capt_oats]

Tbh, I actually disagree that Obika isn't very good.

IMO, for the very specific role Kettlewell wants him to play he's a very good option.

An example was the last game of the season when he replaced Mandron - we were 2-1 down. Big Mikael had been doing his Inflatable Man At A Car Dealership routine up front but as soon as we chucked Obika on the ball started sticking better up top and we go on to score another 2 goals (see also his ragdolling of the Hearts defence).

Despite him being in the building early enough to claim the #9 shirt I don't think there was ever any danger that he was being viewed as our starting striker (apart perhaps from certain games eg: Hearts who he seems to absolutely fucking hate). The intention (IMO) was that it'd be Wilkinson +1 TBC (who turned out to be Mika Biereth).

It's why, as I said at the time, I was largely unbothered about Bair signing as it seemed pretty clear to me that he was being brought in as a 4th/5th choice striker.

So with that in mind, to me, when fit Obika is actually a very good player to have around...and I guess that's the rub.

He missed a chunk of his season at Morecambe with a hamstring issue, he missed a chunk of his time here last season with a hamstring issue. He's now out again with...let me shock you...a hamstring issue.

At his age and with the frequency of the injury it feels like it won't be the last we'll see of Obika as a *doubt* for games.

I suppose that's the trade-off though, Kettlewell has kind of alluded to it in so much as he says we've been looking at players who have had <paraphrasing>imperfect seasons</paraphrasing>.

As @Swello mentioned back on Thelonius Bair Day - this still remains true:

On 28/07/2023 at 09:52, Swello said:

Yes - in other words, the type of player we can attract that will likely be 4th or 5th choice for most of his time. In recent years, we've always had that type of player (it feels like Robinson signed a ton of them) as not everyone we buy can be first choice (or on first choice wages). Even if we don't sign Bair, we'll sign someone else similar that less folk will have heard of.

When Kettlewell spoke about having had a chat with Mandron about sticking around his phrasing was that we couldn't really offer him what he wanted (or words to that effect). Most read  that as being a financial thing (and it probably played a part) but equally he may simply have wanted more game time than the squad role we had in mind for him would realistically have allowed.

I guess there's a chance that with Obika's injury record a spot on our bench and a view to him being used in a specific role was perhaps entirely appealing.

I mean, yes that clearly necessitates him being fit enough to actually be on our bench but I take it that's also why Big Theo is here.

Is it a sensible use of budget? There's an obvious argument "No" but equally there's the chance that an equivalent player is either going to want a promise of more game-time or more money (or both).

That's the gamble I guess.

Edited August 16, 2023 by capt_oats

[Al B]

Yeah I completely agree with that. I can't get my head around the view that Obika is a bad player, and can only think it's skewed in that direction by his lack of availability/reliability. When he's fit he's a good, and very effective forward player.

Of course, you can be the best player in the world and be absolutely useless if you're never available, but that's a different story.

For me, Obika is talented but useless.

[Handsome_Devil]

Obika brings something to the table when fit but if you play two strikers and one if them isn't really a proper scorer you need to be confident the goals are coming somewhere else. 

Our teams that did well with Ojaama, Main and Obika/Mandron not scoring would have had a different reaction without Higdon, Turnbull and KVV going mental.

The goals can obviously be spread around but they need to come otherwise the hard-working striker will be getting dropped pdq.

 

[MurrayWell]

I don't think Obika has ever let us down when he's played, as @capt_oats said it's clear he's being asked to do a very specific role and for the most part has done it well. 

He also seems to be really sound and appears to be a popular player in the dressing room. The team has shown real unity since Kettlewell came in and the types of characters in the dressing room will be an important aspect of that.

PS, is there some sort of Louis Moult mentions quota this thread needs to achieve each week?