Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[MurrayWell]

Looks like Mika will end up being back before Obika. Can't see us taking up that second year option somehow...

[capt_oats]

10 hours ago, Busta Nut said:

I've seen that Ayunga challenge mentioned a few times by the B&W celtic shop mob, I've got to be honest I was expecting a stinking tackle. I got the opposite.

Aye, I saw that Tweet anaw.

It's just false equivalence and it's really fucking boring (and thick).

[capt_oats]

3 minutes ago, MurrayWell said:

Looks like Mika will end up being back before Obika. Can't see us taking up that second year option somehow...

Aye. You'd think (hope) that the logical takeaway from this is that we'll be in for another striker at the very least.

[Busta Nut]

2 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

Aye, I saw that Tweet anaw.

It's just false equivalence and it's really fucking boring (and thick).

Yeah I agree.


I am bored of St Mirren and the chat around this tackle.
I've seen people on all side have wildly different opinions on it and it getting a bit bland

[Busta Nut]

My knees are fucked, ye reckon I could blag a 2 year deal on Fir Park Street?

 

[MurrayWell]

Tell you one thing though, as frustrating as it is, this news could help determine which argument is more tedious:

1. Tacklegate

2. Who is more injured? Obika vs Moult 

Edited August 24, 2023 by MurrayWell

[Allroy for Prez]

Signing Obika has been a terrible decision. a genuine waste of money. Souaré not much better as he looks like he’s going to miss huge chunks of his short deal and we don’t have a decent/proven back up in that position. 

I get that our transfer business (surely) isn’t finished but it already feels that our season has (potentially) been massively derailed by injuries already and we’re in a massive pickle with a squad not fit for purpose and we’re only 3 fucking games into the season!!

[Allroy for Prez]

20 minutes ago, Busta Nut said:

My knees are fucked, ye reckon I could blag a 2 year deal on Fir Park Street?

 

You and every other crock around (except Louis Moult of course)

['WellDel]

Obika's previous injury record, and subsequent time on the sidelines with us when he came in last season should have been more than enough to ring the alarm bells and see him given a thanks for his efforts and a cheery goodbye. Simply a perma-crock we can ill afford to have on a 2 year deal.

Edited August 24, 2023 by 'WellDel
Typo

[capt_oats]

This is interesting.

There's a clip of Kettlewell's press conference here where he's saying he wants to run with 4 strikers minimum:

Fair enough but I can't help but pick up on his comment "that puts us down to 2 senior strikers in Theo [Bair] and Conor [Wilkinson]."

So...Joe Efford then?

[MurrayWell]

Seems like Joe Efford was always going to be on his way out, ironically this situation where we need more strikers might actually accelerate him moving on. 

Said it before, while not terrible, Efford really hasn't done much since being here. I actually thought he'd had a bigger impact in terms of goals and assists during his purple patch under Hammell, but soccerbase suggests otherwise. All the best to him, but I don't think Kettlewell has ever been a fan. 

[Swello]

A huge part of us doing well is getting value for money from the players that we sign and it has to be said - we've signed a number of players who are no stranger to a sick line recently. Surely that has to be part of the data these days. 

Are you better with a solid 6/10 type who gives you 35 (unspectacular) games a season or an 8/10 that you only see in pre-season, once in mid-November and a run out as a sub in an end of season dead rubber?

[Casagolda]

30 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

:Fair enough but I can't help but pick up on his comment "that puts us down to 2 senior strikers in Theo [Bair] and Conor [Wilkinson]."

So...Joe Efford then?

He’s elaborated a bit elsewhere…

Quote

But we will continue to work away and see if we can make the situation slightly better.”

Kettlewell declared 17-year-old Mark Ferrie was now “striker number three” while wide player Joe Efford can also play up front but has only had about 15 minutes of action since returning from a long-term thigh injury.

Barry Maguire’s loan move to Kidderminster last week opened a door for a potential new arrival.

“It might help us try and get one across the line,” Kettlewell said. “But the mindset wasn’t that it was in the striker situation at the time. We had been working away on something else trying to get a balance to our squad.

“The fact that (midfielder) Harry Paton has been out and (left-back) Pape Souare is out, it’s a little bit of spinning plates to make sure we have a balance to our squad. We feel Pape will miss several games.

“When I was looking at the start of the week, we had 14 fit senior players.”

So aye, sounds like Joe is behind Ferrie in the pecking order. So it’s hard not to see him being one of the ones he’s going to try and shift on. 

I imagine the one they’d been working on was the wing back from Huddersfield but maybe Mika/Obika’s injuries have changed his priorities. 

Edited August 24, 2023 by Casagolda

[Ron Aldo]

6 minutes ago, Swello said:

A huge part of us doing well is getting value for money from the players that we sign and it has to be said - we've signed a number of players who are no stranger to a sick line recently. Surely that has to be part of the data these days. 

Are you better with a solid 6/10 type who gives you 35 (unspectacular) games a season or an 8/10 that you only see in pre-season, once in mid-November and a run out as a sub in an end of season dead rubber?

I take a 6/10 who can actually play. 

Killie were linked with a loan move for Sam Cosgrove, I'm sure. No idea if he's even available (or in budget) but someone in that mould would be ideal imo. 

[Swello]

7 minutes ago, Casagolda said:

So aye, sounds like Joe is behind Ferrie in the pecking order. So it’s hard not to see him being one of the ones he’s going to try and shift on. 

 

38 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

Fair enough but I can't help but pick up on his comment "that puts us down to 2 senior strikers in Theo [Bair] and Conor [Wilkinson]."

When folk say "Kettlewell has been really good at moving players on", this is how he does it - via the medium of the passive aggressive press conference. Brutal.

[Allroy for Prez]

31 minutes ago, Ron Aldo said:

I take a 6/10 who can actually play. 

Killie were linked with a loan move for Sam Cosgrove, I'm sure. No idea if he's even available (or in budget) but someone in that mould would be ideal imo. 

I’d take neither to be honest.

How have we went from Devante Cole, Van Veen, Tony Watt, Chris Long, Callum Lang etc in recent years to diddy or sicknote as our options?

[capt_oats]

I see folk on Motherwell Twitter are still bumping their heads on the "one in, one out" line and having difficulty over the fact that we've seen a ton of players leave and only signed a handful.

I mean, it seems clear to me that it's a numbers thing rather than a finance thing. Although the 2 are probably linked - just not in the way they think.

As it stands we have a First Team squad of 23 + Ferrie = 24 bodies.

Edited August 24, 2023 by capt_oats

[MurrayWell]

I thought Callum Lang was poor for us. The hype around him was great, absolute let down though. 

Chris Long was bang average too, with a face that would make an onion cry. 

[Desp]

19 minutes ago, MurrayWell said:

I thought Callum Lang was poor for us. The hype around him was great, absolute let down though. 

Chris Long was bang average too, with a face that would make an onion cry. 

Haha aye, we're really rewriting history if folk are pining for Chris Long & Callum Lang.

[eliphas]

1 hour ago, Swello said:

 

When folk say "Kettlewell has been really good at moving players on", this is how he does it - via the medium of the passive aggressive press conference. Brutal.

It's definitely a slight dig but I also think he doesn't see him as a striker in his definition of striker. Which is fair enough, because he's not really a striker. 

But, aye, SK could be a wee bit nicer about it. Haha.