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Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons


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Already thought we should be looking for another creative player due to Nicholson being fairly injury prone, with Paton out would like to see a couple of creative midfielders being brought in even on loan for 6 months. 

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Leaves us looking light in midfield. Miller, Halliday and Davor the only real options now?

Still, if we've only got 3 then maybe we have to play two up top?

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8 minutes ago, MurrayWell said:

We don't half like an early season injury eh?

Repeating myself here, but we must be looking at an attacking mid?

Paton wasn't the answer there imo, but this must force our hand to look for an actual Spittal replacement. 

This is kind of where I am.

Like, it's obviously shite for Paton and I'm in the "he's an absolutely fine squad player" camp but you'd think this kind of forces Kettlewell's hand a bit if his plan had been to use Paton in that role and keep trying to make it work.

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20 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

The photographer has done him dirty there. Guessing his recovery time of 14 weeks will be 12 x post op convalescence, and 2 x Turkish hair transplant.

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Nicholson is back in training but even then this pretty much forces Ketts into going back to the transfer market for an attacking midfielder, even if it's just a loan until January.

Edited by camer0n_mcd
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I like Kettlewell as a manager on the whole.

However I think he is seemingly determined / stubborn to stick with his preferred system even when we haven't the players available to necessarily make it work - with all the injuries going into the league cup phase of the season it would have been a good time to tweak things to compensate for the injured players and try a couple of different formations

I have thought since Spittal's confirmed departure, that it would be a good idea to find a number '10' or attacking midfield as competition and cover for Nicholson  

 

 

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The injury had to happen in the game he was being effective in, his link up with Wilson was good.  Might see more of Wells than we otherwise would have? 

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I kinda like Paton, He's useful. I worried that SK thought he was the first name on the team sheet though.  (slight exaggeration I know)

I also like Nicholson, he is a winger though. Sure he can play as an attacking midfielder if needed but I worry about us shoehorning him in there.

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A creative midfielder for say the no 10 position with a bit of pace is now badly needed. Having to rely on Halliday to be that is going to cause some issues that’s for sure. 

Might force SK into going back to a pairing of two up front which would be good.

Paton just not getting the luck at all injury wise. 

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Posted (edited)
Quote

“Playing a little bit further forward against Clyde, I should probably have scored more than the one, but that will come during the season, hopefully.

“I was playing as a six most of last year and I wasn’t hitting the box when I probably could have, I was probably playing more reserved.

“This year it’s just about going into the box and trying to get goals and assists, and helping the team that way.”

Reading his interview after the Clyde game, it did sound like Miller is potentially going to be given a more advanced role this season. 

Certainly on Saturday he seemed to have more license to roam about than last season, where he was generally just sitting- the change of shape probably helped. At times he was still the deepest midfielder spraying the ball about(see 1st goal) but then suddenly he’d be the most advanced supporting the strikers or bursting into the box. 

There was some debate the other week about Kettlewell building the team round him and I think we’re seeing that’s going to be the case. Everything’s going through him already and he’s now even taking the free kicks, pens etc.

To be fair to Paton, I think his best attributes as we saw on Saturday are his energy and ability to pick the ball up from deeper and drive forward with it- even if his decision making in the final third is questionable at times. Which makes Kettlewell’s decision to play him as a 10 the previous couple of games quite baffling as it pretty much negated everything he’s actually good at.   

 

Edited by Casagolda
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I don't really have a clue - but I've always assumed players for that Spittal/No 10 position are amongst the riskiest and hardest to find. I'm pretty sure that Kettlewell will have known he's needed a Spittal replacement since at least January but it might be easier said than done. 

We've had countless loans over the years - have we ever had an attacking midfield type?

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10 minutes ago, Swello said:

I don't really have a clue - but I've always assumed players for that Spittal/No 10 position are amongst the riskiest and hardest to find. I'm pretty sure that Kettlewell will have known he's needed a Spittal replacement since at least January but it might be easier said than done. 

We've had countless loans over the years - have we ever had an attacking midfield type?

image.thumb.png.2d4cad9516c5c6412234d935fec8fc1e.png

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41 minutes ago, Swello said:

We've had countless loans over the years - have we ever had an attacking midfield type?

12 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

Ah, I get your point now. Have we had a loan that was an attacking mid/#10.

You could maybe make the argument for Callum Lang?

I was gonna say Lang and maybe Jake Taylor? He felt like a winger/10 type, despite being utterly, utterly shite for us.

McCormack came back on loan as well, always thought he was best as a 10; just not in his second spell when he had more timber than a Canadian lumber yard.

Edited by StAndrew7
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13 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

Ah, I get your point now. Have we had a loan that was an attacking mid/#10.

You could maybe make the argument for Callum Lang?

 

Just now, StAndrew7 said:

I was gonna say Lang and maybe Jake Taylor? He felt like a winger/10 type, despite being utterly, utterly shite for us. McCormack came back on loan as well, always thought he was best as a 10.

Maybe as I never actually saw him in the flesh - but I'd forgotten about Lang. I remembered him as a number 9/centre forward..

Also - maybe Stuparevic might be earmarked for that role once he's settled in - Sunday might tell us..

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26 minutes ago, Swello said:

Also - maybe Stuparevic might be earmarked for that role once he's settled in - Sunday might tell us..

Eventually it becomes arguing over yards but I could imagine him being a 10 as a second striker, I can't imagine him being a 10 as part of a three-man midfield behind another two strikers.

I think regardless, even without Paton's injury but even more so now, we 100% need another attacking midfielder who we would trust to be responsible enough to play in a three at times...not easy.

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