Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[MurrayWell]

6 minutes ago, Casagolda said:

No but it’s exactly the sort of thing I’m talking about.

A simple long ball forward where Mugabi was in no man’s land and missed the initial header. Casey, who was 5 yards deeper than everyone else, then misses the ball and is put on his arse by the County forward. 

Who got the most flack? Gent! The teenager who tried his best to sweep up the complete mess his two senior centre backs made but was sadly outmuscled by Loturi. 

I get Gent needs to bulk up and be stronger but it’s absolutely wild to me that Gent received more criticism for that goal than the two senior centre backs who couldn’t deal with a simple ball pumped forward.   

"Defending was pretty atrocious for all of the goals we conceded yesterday, but the third was spectacularly bad, not sure i understand what anyone was trying to do, Mugabi caught under the ball, Casey falling over and Gent getting caught wrong side and being flung about." 

That's what I said about that goal after the game, so please don't take it that I'm just deciding to have a pop at Gent.

I just think flinging him in against arguably the most physical team in the league might not be the best shout. 

 

 

[Handsome_Devil]

1 hour ago, Casagolda said:

See to be fair to Gent..

Against Livi we were 2-0 down and down to 10 men when he came. Likewise against County, we were 2-0 and chasing the game when he came on.

In both games we’d lost all shape by the time he’d came on and were just chucking bodies forward. We’ve not actually given him a shot in that lwb role at the start of a game when there’s at least some semblance of balance and shape to the team.

I’m not sure he could possibly be any worse than Spencer and O’Donnell have been these last few games. Both have been poor defensively and offered little going forward. 

At the very least, he might offer us some pace and an out ball. He also couldn’t possibly do worse defensively than the senior pro’s that've chucked in 7 goals in the last couple of matches.  

I'm definitely not writing him off forever and I could even see him being used in Perth, for example. They've struggled offensively and although away from home we should try to take the game to them.

But given he has been defensively shaky when brought on, there's just no way I'd be giving him his starting chance on that pitch against a side renowned for strong wingers and with a home record which suggests we're in for a long afternoon.

That's before the potential risk of Vassell going out to bully him while their wide man cuts inside.

For me there are just too many red flags.

 

[well fan for life]

1 hour ago, Al B said:

I still think about that sometimes. That, and watching Chris Humphrey systematically giving Danny Grainger PTSD, are the sorriest I've ever felt for a footballer.

LIONEL ALERT

I mind almost feeling sorry for the St Johnstone left back during this game because the guy couldn't have found Lionel with a map & a compass. 

 

 

[Casagolda]

34 minutes ago, Handsome_Devil said:

But given he has been defensively shaky when brought on, there's just no way I'd be giving him his starting chance on that pitch against a side renowned for strong wingers and with a home record which suggests we're in for a long afternoon.

That's before the potential risk of Vassell going out to bully him while their wide man cuts inside.

For me there are just too many red flags.

But you’d keep in Spencer.

Who got roasted by MacKay for the opener against Livi the other week. He didn’t shut down Devlin for the first goal on Wednesday night and then switched off allowing Devlin to run off him to score the 2nd. 

Again, young laddie playing out of position so I’m not going to be harsh on him. However he’s been pretty suspect himself defensively these last few games. And SODS has hardly covered himself in glory either.

Sometimes the best defence is a good offence. We offered nothing going forward against Aberdeen and as a result, the defence was under near constant pressure. Gent and Spencer bombing down the flanks would at least offer us an out ball. It could get us up the park, push the Killie wingbacks back and give the defence some rest bite.

If it back fires, so what. At least we tried something different to shake things up. Personally I’d be more worried if Kettlewell sticks with the same two wings backs that haven’t been working and our game plan tomorrow is to simply sit in while we shell high balls to an isolated Theo Bair. 

Cause all we know how that usually ends. 

[Handsome_Devil]

15 minutes ago, Casagolda said:

But you’d keep in Spencer.

Who got roasted by MacKay for the opener against Livi the other week. He didn’t shut down Devlin for the first goal on Wednesday night and then switched off allowing Devlin to run off him to score the 2nd. 

Again, young laddie playing out of position so I’m not going to be harsh on him. However he’s been pretty suspect himself defensively these last few games. And SODS has hardly covered himself in glory either.

Sometimes the best defence is a good offence. We offered nothing going forward against Aberdeen and as a result, the defence was under near constant pressure. Gent and Spencer bombing down the flanks would at least offer us an out ball. It could get us up the park, push the Killie wingbacks back and give the defence some rest bite.

If it back fires, so what. At least we tried something different to shake things up. Personally I’d be more worried if Kettlewell sticks with the same two wings backs that haven’t been working and our game plan tomorrow is to simply sit in while we shell high balls to an isolated Theo Bair. 

Cause all we know how that usually ends. 

I'd be moving Spencer to his good side, at least, to give him a sporting chance and rely on SOD being more likely to hold it vaguely together on the left.

We're certainly not awash with good options but I'll save chucking in (another) inexperienced kid and hoping for the best till Tuesday!

[Casagolda]

20 minutes ago, Handsome_Devil said:

We're certainly not awash with good options but I'll save chucking in (another) inexperienced kid and hoping for the best till Tuesday!

To be fair it is wild that we’re sitting debating about who to play at lwb- a teenager who’s never started a game in his life(and probably more of winger anyway) or another teenager who’s a right back and not got a left foot. Or chucking SODS back over there. 

Of all our recruitment this summer, only signing a 33 year old crock who’s played about 20 games in the last 3 years for a key position in Kettlewell’s set up is definitely the weirdest for me. 

[Stevie Kirk]

1 hour ago, Casagolda said:

To be fair it is wild that we’re sitting debating about who to play at lwb- a teenager who’s never started a game in his life(and probably more of winger anyway) or another teenager who’s a right back and not got a left foot. Or chucking SODS back over there. 

Of all our recruitment this summer, only signing a 33 year old crock who’s played about 20 games in the last 3 years for a key position in Kettlewell’s set up is definitely the weirdest for me. 

Yes the Souare injury has f* cked us big time . I think we are already seeing what happens when you cut the budget too far and have zero depth. 
 

Onto the game tomorrow that Killie pitch is an abomination, plays much worse than Livingston. Killie have a simple, ugly but effective strategy which is long punts from the centre half into the corners and then fight for second balls. They then look to win free kicks and get Armstrong to whip fierce crosses into the box. It is horrendous to watch but if it wasn’t for their home form last year they wouldn’t be in the top league. I am the eternal optimist but I can’t see anything other than a two goal defeat tomorrow as our early season confidence is shot to bits at the moment .
 
I do understand the point about blooding Gent but he isn’t a physical player and IMO will get annihilated . I would however be all for playing him on Tuesday .

 

[superwellfan]

2 hours ago, well fan for life said:

LIONEL ALERT

I mind almost feeling sorry for the St Johnstone left back during this game because the guy couldn't have found Lionel with a map & a compass. 

 

 

Remember wingers?

They were exciting.

[RandomGuy.]

Youre becoming us.

Punt Kettlewell now before its too late.

[thisGRAEME]

1 hour ago, RandomGuy. said:

Youre becoming us.

Punt Kettlewell now before its too late.

We cannot keep punting managers here. It's bad fucking business, and ultimately a habit that will make us worse in the long run.

Yes, some managers should be emptied, no, Kettlewell is not one of them, IMO.

[Busta Nut]

aye, not yet anyway.

[ropy]

Kettlewell must be in the top half of length of post in the league, was it February he joined?  That’s shocking.

[well fan for life]

4 minutes ago, ropy said:

Kettlewell must be in the top half of length of post in the league, was it February he joined?  That’s shocking.

There's some power of dross in this league, eh.

[LuboMoravcik]

How is Lennon Miller doing?

[ropy]

2 minutes ago, LuboMoravcik said:

How is Lennon Miller doing?

Subbed off midweek 

[Handsome_Devil]

1 hour ago, thisGRAEME said:

We cannot keep punting managers here. It's bad fucking business, and ultimately a habit that will make us worse in the long run.

Yes, some managers should be emptied, no, Kettlewell is not one of them, IMO.

If we're 10th - without panicking - this season and on an even keel financially for 24/25 it's job done.

The start where we won a tonne of points on the absolute margins made people forget what was a pretty accepted target back in summer.

Will it be frustrating not to be up there if it turns out the city clubs have stinkers? Sure. But that's the price you pay for firing two managers and surviving on a January spree.

[RandomGuy.]

1 hour ago, thisGRAEME said:

We cannot keep punting managers here. It's bad fucking business, and ultimately a habit that will make us worse in the long run.

Yes, some managers should be emptied, no, Kettlewell is not one of them, IMO.

I was only joking tbh, as a lot of posts on this thread are literally exactly the same as on ours when the Davidson express started to lose steam.

[eliphas]

22 minutes ago, LuboMoravcik said:

How is Lennon Miller doing?

Good. Very tidy with the ball and confident nipping balls about to get out of trouble, or start moves.

Starting to get a wee bit of focus from the more industrial minded managers and players which to be fair...is partly working. Few times recently he's been muscled off the ball. Few times fouled and went into his shell a tiny wee bit 

[Neil86]

Fwiw, Walsall fans absolutely love Ross Tierney. 

Life time contract, sign him permanently ASAP, few tweets along those lines.

[eliphas]

100% l forgot he existed. 

Ironic we didn't keep him or McKinstry around and we've ended up playing a system with 2 attacking mids theyd probably do well in. Oh irony