Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[YassinMoutaouakil]

I quite like O'Donnell but it's funny to think of how good he and ATS looked on both sides when they first came up with Partick Thistle. I thought they were both destined for far bigger things than Motherwell.

[0Neils40yarder]

1 hour ago, Casagolda said:

On January movement, noticed there seemed to be some suggestion that Lang will be away back to Wigan when the window opens. 

Thought we’d announced it as a season long loan? 

He wont be missed

[crazylegsjoe_mfc]

I wouldn’t be distraught to see Lang go. Would prefer us to get Long, White, Seedorf or Hastie off the books first, but he’s not got enough about him for me to want to keep him desperately. 

[welldaft]

Distraught is a strong word to use. However I do think Lang has actually contributed and been a decent addition. I am not sure there many other summer signings that I could say that about.  He is no Louis Moult but at least he can score and create chances. 

 

[capt_oats]

I'm a Lang fanboy. I reckon if we were to use him as a central striker alongside either of Watt or Cole rather than a nominal winger then we'd get a bit more out him and possibly more goals.

Having said that, I don't think he's necessarily had the impact a few of us were expecting and given the size of the squad if we're wanting to make adjustments then as Robinson has said we'll probably have to wheel and deal.

If Wigan are after him to come back to replace Garner then we're in a position where if we're wanting to move a couple on to free up space we'll need other teams to actually want/need the player. As @crazylegsjoe_mfc says, in an ideal world there are plenty who'd be in the queue out the door ahead of him but it is what it is.

Either way if we want a striker in then we're going to have get at least a couple out whether it's on loan or permanently.

Edited December 21, 2020 by capt_oats

[crazylegsjoe_mfc]

18 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

Either way if we want a striker in then we're going to have get at least a couple out whether it's on loan or permanently.

That’s my thoughts behind it. Lang has done enough to stay in our XI for now in my opinion, but that in itself for a team averaging 1 goal a game, isn’t a great accolade on its own.

Something needs to freshen up and it might be that it’s out of Robinson’s hands how that can freshen up.

If there isn’t that much between a bunch of misfiring forwards then it’s probably logical that the pick of them is the one who another team might want.

[capt_oats]

4 hours ago, crazylegsjoe_mfc said:

That’s my thoughts behind it. Lang has done enough to stay in our XI for now in my opinion, but that in itself for a team averaging 1 goal a game, isn’t a great accolade on its own.

Something needs to freshen up and it might be that it’s out of Robinson’s hands how that can freshen up.

If there isn’t that much between a bunch of misfiring forwards then it’s probably logical that the pick of them is the one who another team might want.

Aye.

I mean, in fairness we have a decent enough track record of fixing mistakes and getting players another club. Fisher's the obvious example of cutting our losses but going back pre-Robinson, Theo Robinson ended up at Port Vale after 6 months (and has continued bouncing around the lower leagues), Dean Brill to Colchester, Clarkson to St Mirren and though they weren't January deals Craig Clay to Leyton Orient and Louis Laing's loan to Notts County had the same sort of energy.

Danny Johnson to Dundee is another more recent one.

Sloth's really the only one I can think of that we've completely binned without him getting fixed up elsewhere.

I guess it just depends how flexible we/the players are willing to be.

Edited December 22, 2020 by capt_oats

[YassinMoutaouakil]

Where's Garner going? He walked the line between "effective" and "fucking awful" at Rangers I thought but he'd be a good laugh upfront imo.

[crazylegsjoe_mfc]

8 hours ago, YassinMoutaouakil said:

Where's Garner going? He walked the line between "effective" and "fucking awful" at Rangers I thought but he'd be a good laugh upfront imo.

He's going to play in India, with Robbie Fowler's East Bengal, I think the article said.

[Casagolda]

Quote

At some stage you have to hold your hands up and say some signings haven’t worked and try to rectify that, which we do every year,” he said.

“With the level of player we are bringing in, some work, some don’t work. Everyone will tell you the same, no matter how much money you spend.

“It’s Christmas now, some people might not have done what we expected and we need to either get more from them or change that.”

Robinson admitted coronavirus restrictions were making it more difficult to entice players up from England but he added: “I have got one quite far down the line. We are braced if anyone comes in for one of our players as well.

Whether that’s with a little injection like we have always done in January, bring a player or two in that lifts everybody, because it does, new players spark everybody, acknowledging that some things haven’t quite worked the way you want them to work, for everybody, for the player, for us, and you change it.

“You can’t keep making the same mistake over and over again, you have to change it, and we will do.” 

Who’s for the boot then?

Bit in bold definitely seems like it’s aimed at Long and/or Hastie. 

[Desp]

It could be aimed at about half a dozen, tbf. 

Robinson's right. Some signings will work and some won't and with his budget and where he's shopping, it's a helluva lot harder to get it right than to get it wrong. So he has my sympathy on that. He certainly deserves criticism because, ultimately, he brought them in but some of the stuff aimed the manager recently is way OTT. 

Calling for him to be sacked? Behalf yourself. 

[thisGRAEME]

Quote

We are braced if anyone comes in for one of our players as well.

This is interesting for me as well, from that. For a couple of seasons it felt like we had contingencies for replacing our assets, Johnson/Frear, Bowman/Moult, Beneghan/Hartley, which then kind of...stopped. Be nice to have that again.

I'd assume that we'll be taking Crawford permanently if Campbell goes, for example. 

[capt_oats]

1 hour ago, Desp said:

It could be aimed at about half a dozen, tbf. 

Robinson's right. Some signings will work and some won't and with his budget and where he's shopping, it's a helluva lot harder to get it right than to get it wrong. So he has my sympathy on that. He certainly deserves criticism because, ultimately, he brought them in but some of the stuff aimed the manager recently is way OTT. 

Calling for him to be sacked? Behalf yourself. 

This, unsurprisingly, is where I am as well.

On top of the risk of signings not working out you've also got injuries. It was always going to be a risk going from Gillespie/Carson to Carson +1 but you've had that along with Carroll's extended absence plus Donnelly managing 90 mins of the season.

As you say, Robinson could be aiming that comment at any number of players.

The main thing is he's acknowledging the issues and we're at least taking steps to rectify it. As I said in an earlier post my concern was that he might double down and back them to improve. Realistically there's only so much of things not working before you have to admit "it's not working". Best laid plans and all that.

There's always been a section of the support who have, for reasons, been absolutely fucking seething that Robinson's in the job but aye the knee jerk "sack the manager" crew when we hit a bit of shite form can do one.

1 hour ago, thisGRAEME said:

This is interesting for me as well, from that. For a couple of seasons it felt like we had contingencies for replacing our assets, Johnson/Frear, Bowman/Moult, Beneghan/Hartley, which then kind of...stopped. Be nice to have that again.

I'd assume that we'll be taking Crawford permanently if Campbell goes, for example. 

I suppose Turnbull/Polworth was the last one really.

I've got the impression that Cornelius is supposed to be Campbell's understudy but again with no reserve fitba' this season he's not kicked a ball since about February so f**k knows how that's impacted his development.

[ATLIS]

2 hours ago, thisGRAEME said:

This is interesting for me as well, from that. For a couple of seasons it felt like we had contingencies for replacing our assets, Johnson/Frear, Bowman/Moult, Beneghan/Hartley, which then kind of...stopped. Be nice to have that again.

I'd assume that we'll be taking Crawford permanently if Campbell goes, for example. 

I’d be surprised if you do, not sure he’s the kind of player you’d pay a fee for and I doubt we’d just give him away to a rival side 

[capt_oats]

6 minutes ago, ATLIS said:

I’d be surprised if you do, not sure he’s the kind of player you’d pay a fee for and I doubt we’d just give him away to a rival side 

He's 26 and he's out of contract at the end of the season. We wouldn't be paying a fee in the summer, if that's the route we go down.

[ATLIS]

5 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

He's 26 and he's out of contract at the end of the season. We wouldn't be paying a fee in the summer, if that's the route we go down.

Think we still have the option to extend his deal by a year, so will depend on what Martindale thinks of him

[0Neils40yarder]

4 hours ago, Casagolda said:

Who’s for the boot then?

Bit in bold definitely seems like it’s aimed at Long and/or Hastie. 

What made you pick their names out...there are literally a dozen that I'd happily run out of town

[well fan for life]

The fact we've seen Robinson blow his whole plan up and start again before gives me a bit of confidence and I am very much against sacking him. We've transitioned from Thunderdome to Sexy Motherwell v1.0 before. Now hopefully we can jump from Meh-therwell to Functioning Football Team. 

[YassinMoutaouakil]

14 minutes ago, well fan for life said:

The fact we've seen Robinson blow his whole plan up and start again before gives me a bit of confidence and I am very much against sacking him. We've transitioned from Thunderdome to Sexy Motherwell v1.0 before. Now hopefully we can jump from Meh-therwell to Functioning Football Team. 

This is maybe a bit Stockholm Syndromey but I actually... quite enjoy having a manager that's seemingly hell bent on trying out every formation and tactical set up known to man for at least half a season each?

It's probably bound to go disastrously badly eventually but it's a good laugh knowing we're never more than a few months away from seeing half the team emptied at any given moment.

[capt_oats]

25 minutes ago, well fan for life said:

The fact we've seen Robinson blow his whole plan up and start again before gives me a bit of confidence and I am very much against sacking him. We've transitioned from Thunderdome to Sexy Motherwell v1.0 before. Now hopefully we can jump from Meh-therwell to Functioning Football Team. 

 

9 minutes ago, YassinMoutaouakil said:

This is maybe a bit Stockholm Syndromey but I actually... quite enjoy having a manager that's seemingly hell bent on trying out every formation and tactical set up known to man for at least half a season each?

It's probably bound to go disastrously badly eventually but it's a good laugh knowing we're never more than a few months away from seeing half the team emptied at any given moment.

Strongly agree.

As I said earlier, my worry was that he was going to dig his heels in and try to make it work with the players he has. Long, Hastie, even boys like Lamie and White I get why we signed them and in good faith too but it's quite reassuring to hear Robinson basically say "Sorry lads, we've fucked it in the summer."

Absolutely no problem with him looking at the team and admitting it's not working.

Compare that with McGhee going through to January with Samson in goals, moving Brill on then bringing Griffiths in to sit on the bench and keep Samson as his #1. I mean...fucking hell.