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Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons


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5 minutes ago, Gianfranco said:

There’s a couple of articles today in the Daily Record. The website crashed twice on me so I’ve not linked it but one was about us trying to sign Lennon Miller on a new deal with Kettlewell quotes and the other was about high profile players liking a Mika social media post about our comeback on Saturday. There was also Mika quotes about drawing at home to County not being good enough. I like the cut of Mika’s jib. 

The little summary video the club put out had a chat to Mika as he came off the pitch, he wasn’t pleased with the result.

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26 minutes ago, ropy said:

The little summary video the club put out had a chat to Mika as he came off the pitch, he wasn’t pleased with the result.

That’ll be where they got the quotes from I’d guess.

To be honest I don’t go out my way to look at our social media these days. I get most of my Motherwell news from the thread and see the odd thing on Instagram. 

It’s been covered loads of times already but I’m in my mid thirties and would rather watch a proper highlights package than wee clips hours apart with terrible angles. 

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2 hours ago, ropy said:

I feel sorry for Shane Blaney, his time at Motherwell can’t have gone as he expected, got injured after he got in the team and then Butcher and Casey came in ahead of him in the pecking order. I would have thought he could have displaced Bevis in this recent run of games but Kettlewell had other ideas.  Will he just move on in the summer after a wasted 18 months?

I think that Kettlewell sees the middle of the back three and each side to be different positions and Blaney has been unlucky as a result of that. I certainly think if Casey or McGinn were out and Blaney and Mugabi were on the bench, Blaney would get the nod.

I wonder if we were planning to sign another centre back until Casey extended his deal at the 11th hour. Maybe the plan was for him to play.

10 months down the line, I still don't think he's played enough for us to know how good he is.

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If Wilkinson plays tomorrow night, and I expect him to, he really needs to show a bit more presence. Saturday wasn't the first time that he failed to move towards a ball coming into the box just because a defender was standing slightly in front of him. He really needs to be putting in more of an effort to get by players rather than meekly standing by. Other than that, I think he shows more link-up play and passing ability than Bair or Shaw but that wouldn't be particularly difficult.

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27 minutes ago, Archie McSquackle said:

If Wilkinson plays tomorrow night, and I expect him to, he really needs to show a bit more presence. Saturday wasn't the first time that he failed to move towards a ball coming into the box just because a defender was standing slightly in front of him. He really needs to be putting in more of an effort to get by players rather than meekly standing by. Other than that, I think he shows more link-up play and passing ability than Bair or Shaw but that wouldn't be particularly difficult.

Does Wilkinson have 90 minutes in him?  If we see Biereth and Wilkinson as the first choice front two do we need to hold him back to ensure he is fresh for the period that Mika will be on the pitch?

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Just now, ropy said:

Does Wilkinson have 90 minutes in him?  If we see Biereth and Wilkinson as the first choice front two do we need to hold him back to ensure he is fresh for the period that Mika will be on the pitch?

In general I'd rather start strong and put the poorer players on to defend a lead than the reverse with the better guys chasing a deficit.

But I suspect with arsenal likely limiting Biereth's recovery minutes, we could have the dilemma you mention.

I actually wouldn't be surprised to see 3-6-1 with the idea of keeping it tight then upping it when the game is stretched late on.

Risky business...

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4 hours ago, Gianfranco said:

There’s a couple of articles today in the Daily Record. The website crashed twice on me so I’ve not linked it but one was about us trying to sign Lennon Miller on a new deal with Kettlewell quotes and the other was about high profile players liking a Mika social media post about our comeback on Saturday. There was also Mika quotes about drawing at home to County not being good enough. I like the cut of Mika’s jib. 

I think the bold Mika radiates heavy KVV energy. He sees the importance of the crowd, he fires up the players around him and most importantly he knows he’s good. 
 

Just keep him on the bench when we play St Mirrens collection of cloggers. hatchet men and hammer throwers please. 
 

 

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10 hours ago, crazylegsjoe_mfc said:

I think that Kettlewell sees the middle of the back three and each side to be different positions and Blaney has been unlucky as a result of that. I certainly think if Casey or McGinn were out and Blaney and Mugabi were on the bench, Blaney would get the nod.

I wonder if we were planning to sign another centre back until Casey extended his deal at the 11th hour. Maybe the plan was for him to play.

10 months down the line, I still don't think he's played enough for us to know how good he is.

When Casey went down injured on Saturday it was Blaney that was sent to warm up and not Butcher.

Whether that was down to fitness or not, I suspect it was as you say Blaney is seen as the cover for the left sided centre half

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11 hours ago, ropy said:

Does Wilkinson have 90 minutes in him?  If we see Biereth and Wilkinson as the first choice front two do we need to hold him back to ensure he is fresh for the period that Mika will be on the pitch?

Good Q. He has been reportedly fit enough to take part for a few weeks. He was on the bench at Livingston. We are 3+ weeks on from that. Sure game time is different from training but if he is not fit enough to start by now then that is a worry. 

Kettlewell made a huge thing in his presser about not rushing people back from injury and counting the cost for later in the season. 100% makes sense. 100% is frustrating when we know that Butcher, Wilkinson and Biereth enhance the team by some distance. 

If we don’t start with Butcher and Wilkinson tonite then we are worse off from the get go. Mugabi may have a decent match. He occasionally has them. But if we have to start either Bair and / or Shaw then it will be like Groundhog Day. Wilkinson is also frustrating because he does not run about and cause many issues but he has scored two very well taken league goals. Enough to suggest he can do that more often than either Bair or Shaw. Or even at all 😉.

I have a feeling Aberdeen will be many multiples better than the weekend tonight. So another insipid performance like Saturday (minus the goals) and we will be toiling big time. Every player needs a 7/10 performance. If we get that then I think we will get at least a draw. 

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1 hour ago, RandomGuy. said:

Is Blaney not left footed?

Likely a victim if the long held bias that right footers can play LCB but left footers cant play RCB.

He is, but at the moment we are starting with eleven right-footed players. When McGinn missed a game through suspension earlier in the season, Casey moved from LCB to RCB and Blaney came in. 

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1 hour ago, crazylegsjoe_mfc said:

He is, but at the moment we are starting with eleven right-footed players. When McGinn missed a game through suspension earlier in the season, Casey moved from LCB to RCB and Blaney came in. 

The middle of the back 3 isn’t biased towards one foot.  The role involves heading many balls away and rolling the ball to your nearest teammate. Blaney looks more coordinated than Bevis and I felt he could have done a job there in recent weeks.  He would still get bombed out when Butcher is fully fit.

For what it’s worth I would fill my team with left footers as they tend to be more adaptable - no double meanings. 

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1 hour ago, ropy said:

For what it’s worth I would fill my team with left footers as they tend to be more adaptable - no double meanings. 

Hugely disagree with this. If you're left footed: you only ever play left because no-one ever has enough. Right footed players get shifted left all the time!

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24 minutes ago, thisGRAEME said:

Hugely disagree with this. If you're left footed: you only ever play left because no-one ever has enough. Right footed players get shifted left all the time!

I’d tend to agree with this, but also I find it difficult to watch left footed players in the same way as right footed because, when they’re good, they always just look better than a similar standard right footed player.  I don’t know why this is, relative scarcity? 

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25 minutes ago, thisGRAEME said:

Hugely disagree with this. If you're left footed: you only ever play left because no-one ever has enough. Right footed players get shifted left all the time!

That may be where a manager chooses to position someone but I see a lot of ambidextrous ability in left sided sportsmen - I have a vested interest.

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