Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[Casagolda]

I don't think it's a coincidence that Lamie has looked semi competent since Alexander has came in(although I'm yet to be converted).

Our default defensive setting under him seems to be to have the back 4 sitting across the width of the penalty box and the 3 in midfield narrow in front. Shuttling teams down the sides and asking them to put balls into the box. Whether this is something he's always done or whether he's just noticed few teams outside the OF have much in the way of subtlety or guile, it seems reasonably effective as most teams just keep putting crosses in which we seem pretty comfortable dealing with.

Only 3 of the 8 goals we've conceded under Alexander so far have been from open play- bizarrely though, we do seem to struggle to deal with set pieces. In the main though, asking guys Mugabi and Lamie to head and kick it is as crosses are fired in is meat and drink for them. Asking someone like Lamie to play left back, wing back or even left of a back 3 like Robinson did, his lack of pace and footballing ability becomes evident. 

Keep it tight at one end and you are then relying on our front 3 to produce the goods which they have been of late. Even last night, when I don't think any of them had their finest game- the touch, turn, vison and weight of pass from Watt for the goal was pure quality. 

Edited February 11, 2021 by Casagolda

[Swello]

8 minutes ago, Casagolda said:

Our default defensive setting under him seems to be to have the back 4 sitting across the width of the penalty box and the 3 in midfield narrow in front. Shuttling teams down the sides and asking them to put balls into the box. Whether this is something he's always done or whether he's just noticed few teams outside the OF have much in the way of subtlety or guile, it seems reasonably effective as most teams just keep putting crosses in which we seem pretty comfortable dealing with.

When it's put like that I can see the logic in it - how many teams in our league have good enough wingers and fullbacks to consistently put in the sort of crosses that take Mugabi and Gallagher out of the game? When fit, you'd back our Centre Halfs to eat up crosses all day long.

Rangers managed it and other than that, it's been set pieces where we've been really poor.

I was joking last week about a Chris Long redemption arc - a Ricky Lamie one would be something else. Alexander is definitely getting a tune out of the players we already had which adds more evidence to the idea that we needed a change in manager as much as we needed a tractor's worth of players in the January window.

[thisGRAEME]

19 minutes ago, Casagolda said:

I don't think it's a coincidence that Lamie has looked semi competent since Alexander has came in(although I'm yet to be converted). we've played him in his position.

 

[Gianfranco]

GA just wins on Wednesday.

[Busta Nut]

I am looking up the table these days instead of down and that is refreshing in itself. ( I know i've just fucked it for us, haven't I?)

[Pettigrew]

11 hours ago, ropy said:

Has the link for the AGM come out yet?

Email out from Grant Russell this morning confirming details.

[Swello]

Can I just say - that pass from Tony Watt

[Gianfranco]

Watt’s header for the Cole chance in the first half was sublime too.

[crazylegsjoe_mfc]

Another good win last night. 

Don't think we particularly deserved it, but it felt like I had watched that game several times already this season, but with us being the team who lost 1-0, so felt good to get one against the run of play.

I think over the past few weeks, the need for a new manager has been properly evident. As touched upon above Mugabi and Lamie are now playing roles which suit their attributes, Maguire has had a run in the team to decent effect, Cole is flourishing being the focal point of the team, Watt is flourishing in not being the focal point of the team and although I think he's not quite hit peak level again, Campbell is backing making positive contributions.

Watt reminds me of second-spell Scott McDonald. He's not going to score prolifically, but his intelligence and bringing other players into play is evident. He's a very clever player and a very big asset to the team.

On another note, it's positive that we have been able to make Polworth take his medicine for his stupidity against Aberdeen. The team have stepped it up without him.

[capt_oats]

Scenes when Ricki Lamie replaces Gallagher in the Euros squad btw.

In all seriousness his wee run of being alright kind of highlights that for the role he was signed for (ie: covering for injuries or suspension) he's...fine?

The problem, as has been said a fair bit, is he's been asked to play far more than we'd have expected and certainly under Robinson he just didn't fit.

I'm not sure how long Alexander needs in order to get any sort of appraisal but fair play to him. I still have no idea what a Graham Alexander team looks like or will look like but he's taken a starting XI that Robinson couldn't get any sort of a tune out of and is now P 7 W 3 D 2 L 2 F 8 A 8 Pts 12/21 = 1.7 PPG.

That in itself is something and there's also a semblance of an identity about what he's doing, It feels like we're focussing more on ourselves performing as a team than second guessing the opposition. I mean he's went into all 7 games (including Rangers, Aberdeen and Celtic) with a 433. It's a world away in terms of approach compared to Robinson's 550 at Ibrox and the 0-0 against Aberdeen before Christmas.

Given the situation he inherited on a run of however many games without a win the obvious move would have been to try and "make us hard to beat" and shitfest our way through it. He's kind of gone the other way in that respect - he's getting more out our forwards and it's hard to argue against the points above about the defence.

Still heavy cautious like but I'd say Alexander's start has been pretty positive.

[Guest superward]

By my reckoning that's Tony Watt on 6 yellows now so due to miss a game some point soon? Same with Declan?

Any stats folk out there wish to confirm

[well fan for life]

49 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

Scenes when Ricki Lamie replaces Gallagher in the Euros squad btw.

In all seriousness his wee run of being alright kind of highlights that for the role he was signed for (ie: covering for injuries or suspension) he's...fine?

The problem, as has been said a fair bit, is he's been asked to play far more than we'd have expected and certainly under Robinson he just didn't fit.

I'm not sure how long Alexander needs in order to get any sort of appraisal but fair play to him. I still have no idea what a Graham Alexander team looks like or will look like but he's taken a starting XI that Robinson couldn't get any sort of a tune out of and is now P 7 W 3 D 2 L 2 F 8 A 8 Pts 12/21 = 1.7 PPG.

That in itself is something and there's also a semblance of an identity about what he's doing, It feels like we're focussing more on ourselves performing as a team than second guessing the opposition. I mean he's went into all 7 games (including Rangers, Aberdeen and Celtic) with a 433. It's a world away in terms of approach compared to Robinson's 550 at Ibrox and the 0-0 against Aberdeen before Christmas.

Given the situation he inherited on a run of however many games without a win the obvious move would have been to try and "make us hard to beat" and shitfest our way through it. He's kind of gone the other way in that respect - he's getting more out our forwards and it's hard to argue against the points above about the defence.

Still heavy cautious like but I'd say Alexander's start has been pretty positive.

This is not my Ricki Lamie walk back. 

But. 

He's actually been a pretty serviceable centre back recently. It's probably unfair on him that he's been lumped in here & there. Like sticking him at left back against Jordan Jones earlier in the season was a stupid idea. Similarly with Bevis. It does seem as though we've decided to strip things back to absolutely no frills stuff. I don't think either of them are the greatest of football players, but they're both just big huge c***s. So by conceding the space to allow crosses into the box Alexander is backing them to win the ball in there air which has been successful, largely. Where I think we're a bit better is having Gallagher/Foley/Magloire/Nolan able to come into the team if there's any drop in form. 

It is a bit shite for Robinson because clearly most of the team had just given up by the end. 

Edited February 11, 2021 by well fan for life

[thisGRAEME]

1 hour ago, capt_oats said:

Given the situation he inherited on a run of however many games without a win the obvious move would have been to try and "make us hard to beat" and shitfest our way through it. He's kind of gone the other way in that respect - he's getting more out our forwards and it's hard to argue against the points above about the defence.

Quite aside from taking 3 points, that was by miles one of the biggest surprises I got last night, that we'd been struggling a little bit with Killie on top of us, but then Kelly plays it out to Bevis (I think?) they start snapping around passes, moved it from Kelly, out wide, back in and culminated by Watt getting a decent shot off. All in all, that might be one of the best passages of play we've had all season, and that level of confidence to do so in the context of the game was... great?  

Definitely more than I'd anticipated out of Alexander as quickly as this, as I fully expected us to kick f**k out of everyone until we were safe.

[capt_oats]

23 minutes ago, well fan for life said:

It is a bit shite for Robinson because clearly most of the team had just given up by the end. 

See, I think this is where the whole shelf life idea comes into play.

When you compare Robinson at the start of his time vs Robinson at the end it's a noticeable difference in mood and tone. I think @thisGRAEME alluded to it on the Terrace the other day, when Robinson came in he was up for just going out and facing up Rangers and Celtic, it was about how we played our game but by the end we're reduced to sticking 10 men behind the ball (albeit for 70 odd minutes it was working).

For the moment Alexander feels very much in the same place as Robinson was when he got the job.

It's a new voice with a fresh pair of eyes looking at the squad. Like, Robinson had been in the seat long enough where he had firm ideas about players even down to his collection of "forwards who can play anywhere across the front 3" thing. We actually had a centre forward on the books in Cole, Robinson was just opting not to play him there in favour of Watt.

Alexander's come in, tweaked a few things and we seem better for it. I've noticed that he seems to be talking a lot about mentality and we seem to focussed on going out to win games - which in the context of this season, feels new.

Edited February 11, 2021 by capt_oats

[Dons_1988]

Is Watt finally finding some consistency?

Generally impressed with him against us and that was a class assist last night.

[capt_oats]

1 minute ago, Dons_1988 said:

Is Watt finally finding some consistency?

Generally impressed with him against us and that was a class assist last night.

It's a shallow pool but he's been hands down our POTY.

He looks in great shape and he seems to be enjoying his football. I think Alexander's found a role that gets the best out of him (playing in the channel just off Cole, as a facilitator whereas Robinson was starting him more as a #9)

[Swello]

1 minute ago, Dons_1988 said:

Is Watt finally finding some consistency?

Generally impressed with him against us and that was a class assist last night.

Said in other threads that he's our player of the season (IMHO) and is giving every impression of being someone that "fits" at the club and he's the pivotal attacker at the club these days in that he makes a lot of the good stuff happen.

@crazylegsjoe_mfc makes a good comparison with Scott McDonald and while he's not at that level yet - he's got the ability to influence games regardless of who we're playing.

[Dons_1988]

Good to hear, did seem like he might end up a wasted talent a couple of years ago.

[ropy]

9 minutes ago, Dons_1988 said:

Is Watt finally finding some consistency?

Generally impressed with him against us and that was a class assist last night.

I think I would agree with the facilitator description or the supplier role, as well as the goal he set up Cole’s header.  But when it came to his own chance he tried to use the outside of his right when lashing it with his left was the thing to do, not an instinctive scorer.

[YassinMoutaouakil]

I'm not making predictions or saying it's necessarily going to continue but I think it's been understated just how fucking good a run of form we've been on since GA came in. He's hardly reinvented the wheel or anything but he's taken points off a decent St Mirren side -after only a few days with the squad- and a completely rampant Rangers, and arguably have more than enough justification to be aggrieved about refereeing decisions preventing us taking all 6.

Polworth sold the jerseys at Pittodrie but since then we've beaten 3 teams around us and had a last minute equaliser headed off the line at Celtic Park. That's an impressive spell of results for any Motherwell manager, let alone one walking into the absolute clusterfuck Alexander was.

Edited February 11, 2021 by YassinMoutaouakil