Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[ropy]

I am in danger of being the nutter who goes on about subs.

We have about 20 players who could ‘do a job’ at least in the squad and 9 are selected for the bench.  All of them could be seen in the team from time to time without the fans going apoplectic, albeit everyone has their favourites and their scapegoats.

I almost don’t mind what the starting 11 is because in this 5 sub world the manager gets the opportunity to watch the game and fine tune things as it proceeds.

The thing is there is a template for this, Alexander’s changes at Ibrox, 3 at half time and at least one more before the end, got us a point from a lost cause.

Why not let the guys on the bench help with the match day performance,  why do they train through the week?  Fresh impetus throughout the game must be a good thing.  If you are not 2 or 3 goals up by 60 minutes there must be a different way to approach the game.  Get your runners to run their hearts out for 45 minutes then replace them at half time to ‘go again’.

Use the squad.

Picking a team on a Friday doesn’t mean it’s a sign of weakness to change it before 4:30 on the Saturday.

Use the squad.

Back to the holiday.

Edited March 19, 2022 by ropy

[Desp]

40 minutes ago, crazylegsjoe_mfc said:

I’ve just dropped the good lady at an ABBA night at the centenary suite and I have to say even that visit to Fir Park sounds far more appealing than sitting through the St. Mirren game next week.

Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (some subs before full time!). 

[thisGRAEME]

19 minutes ago, Desp said:

Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (some subs before full time!). 

If you change your mind

I'm the first in line

Honey, I'm still free

Take a chance on Slattereee

[Kapowzer]

I was sick and tired of everything

When I called you last night from Glasgowwwwwwwwwww

....................

Wishing every show was the last show (x2)

[Mr. Brightside]

Voulez-vous f**k off?

[YassinMoutaouakil]

Can we leave him in a woodshed somewhere?

[Kapowzer]

New midfield announced. Wrong side of 60, actors, never kicked a ball in their lives ...... all three picked before Slattery 

[KirkySuperSub]

Can you hear the boos Alexander...?

 

[well fan for life]

I've watched us play some shite, shite football under some shite, shite managers but I have never enjoyed football at Motherwell less than under Alexander.
 

Get. Him. Binned.

[wellinwigan]

6 hours ago, well fan for life said:

I've watched us play some shite, shite football under some shite, shite managers but I have never enjoyed football at Motherwell less than under Alexander.
 

Get. Him. Binned.

Was about say same thing, been watching the well for over 40 years and the football this team plays is eyebleedingly bad. Get him emptied now 

[dirtydave]

Our problems lie far deeper than just having a terrible manager. We have a CEO that's priority is to look like a great guy on social media interacting with fans of other clubs.

Fan ownership clearly isn't working either. Because we got to 2 cup finals a few years ago , we thought everything was rosy.  The club model of selling young players is great when you have good players to sell but when that conveyor belt of talent stops, then we are fcuked.

Yesterday proved that we may be a couple of positions above St Johnstone, but on and off the park they are streets ahead of us as a club and have the trophy cabinet to prove it. 

 

[Allroy for Prez]

7 hours ago, well fan for life said:

I've watched us play some shite, shite football under some shite, shite managers but I have never enjoyed football at Motherwell less than under Alexander.
 

Get. Him. Binned.

Absolutely.

I started going to the games in 1984 and I’m struggling to remember a worse more disjointed team. Worse than McLeish when Willie Falconer had to bail us out? Yes. Worse than the Malpas season? 100%. Worse than the team that ended up in the playoffs? Definitely. Worse than the McGhee second season towards the end? No doubt about it. Worse than Robinson at the end? Most likely. 
 

What makes it even worse is the deals and money spent putting this together! Oh yeah, and to add insult to injury we even extended Nathan fucking McGinley’s deal, which folk on here, even after watching him play, actually defended!

[thisGRAEME]

20 minutes ago, dirtydave said:

Our problems lie far deeper than just having a terrible manager. We have a CEO that's priority is to look like a great guy on social media interacting with fans of other clubs.

Fan ownership clearly isn't working either. Because we got to 2 cup finals a few years ago , we thought everything was rosy.  The club model of selling young players is great when you have good players to sell but when that conveyor belt of talent stops, then we are fcuked.

Yesterday proved that we may be a couple of positions above St Johnstone, but on and off the park they are streets ahead of us as a club and have the trophy cabinet to prove it. 

 

Plenty of criticism in here that I agree with, but this is just garbage.

[Ron Aldo]

Absolutely.
I started going to the games in 1984 and I’m struggling to remember a worse more disjointed team. Worse than McLeish when Willie Falconer had to bail us out? Yes. Worse than the Malpas season? 100%. Worse than the team that ended up in the playoffs? Definitely. Worse than the McGhee second season towards the end? No doubt about it. Worse than Robinson at the end? Most likely. 
 
What makes it even worse is the deals and money spent putting this together! Oh yeah, and to add insult to injury we even extended Nathan fucking McGinley’s deal, which folk on here, even after watching him play, actually defended!

The frustrating thing is that of the teams you've mentioned there's no doubt our current squad is better than all of them. Alexander can't / won't use the players in a way that gets the best out of them which is why we are where we are.

[Allroy for Prez]

3 minutes ago, Ron Aldo said:

12 minutes ago, Allroy for Prez said:

Absolutely.
I started going to the games in 1984 and I’m struggling to remember a worse more disjointed team. Worse than McLeish when Willie Falconer had to bail us out? Yes. Worse than the Malpas season? 100%. Worse than the team that ended up in the playoffs? Definitely. Worse than the McGhee second season towards the end? No doubt about it. Worse than Robinson at the end? Most likely. 
 
What makes it even worse is the deals and money spent putting this together! Oh yeah, and to add insult to injury we even extended Nathan fucking McGinley’s deal, which folk on here, even after watching him play, actually defended!

The frustrating thing is that of the teams you've mentioned there's no doubt our current squad is better than all of them. Alexander can't / won't use the players in a way that gets the best out of them which is why we are where we are.

I’m not so sure.

O’Donnell, Ojala, Jonhansen, McGinley, Carroll, Van Veen, O’Hara, Woolery, Efford, Donnelly, Goss, Amaluzar, Roberts, Shields…. I’d be happy to bin at the first opportunity. 
 

[TheMighty]

So I’ve slept on it and my opinion remains the same. He has to go!

I get that is a risk but I see zero indication anything is going to change while Alexander remains in charge. Even when we we’re winning games it was a hard watch. There have been some highs like the hearts game when we won 2 - 0 and blew them away but that is a frustration in itself. We do not seem to want to replicate that.

The very clear tactic is to play long balls. Often huge cross field balls. We don’t have the players for that to work. It clearly has not been working but it continues to be the tactic. It is baffling to me. 

We have some decent players. Slattery whilst not perfect is the prime example. Why bring Shaw from Celtic if we are not going to play him also. He made a difference in the Rangers game and has not been seen since. Baffling again for me.

I hoped earlier in the season we may be on a journey to develop a different squad and way of playing. I think I was kidding myself. There is no indication that what we are doing isn’t good enough. I get there is a difficult balancing act for the manager in this regard but it seems he thinks and indeed is happy with the current approach and what it can deliver. 

I don’t think he will go. Not until there is mathematically no top 6 hope at least. Motherwell have no right to be top 6 however that does not mean we cannot be very aggrieved when it has only been our own actions that prevent it happening. 

This rant is not as therapeutic as hoped. So frustrated!

Saw someone else mention Burrows and the fan ownership piece. Have to say I disagree with what was said (what I took to be the the general point anyway).

And breathe…

[Radford]

37 minutes ago, dirtydave said:

Yesterday proved that we may be a couple of positions above St Johnstone, but on and off the park they are streets ahead of us as a club and have the trophy cabinet to prove it. 

Would disagree entirely with this. 

Both clubs have had good teams at points over the past decade but neither has nailed it in terms of maintaining an evolution. You don't look at the Motherwell squad now and see the next player that is going to net a big fee and likewise don't see the bedrocks of the team for the next few years. The squad has a short-term feel to it, whatever the contract situation. 

Saints didn't have the desire/quality to recruit/produce then sell like Motherwell but under Tommy Wright were good at bringing in players that would give you three, four, five years. Although, ironically, it HAS been the development and subsequent sale of a couple of good young players that has really fucked our squad. And what a hell of a money we have squandered since then. Around £2 million banked up front and far too much of it squandered on the wrong type of player. 

Fir Park is loved. You can see that when you visit. Money is invested in the stadium (and of great relevancy to St Johnstone, the pitch) whereas McDiarmid Park looks as neglected as it probably is. Dirty, scabby and host of other negative words. 

Motherwell get a bit of stick about the social media stuff but at least it's... something. Saints go through media staff at an alarming rate and the output is in no way engaging. 

The argument of course is everything becomes irrelevant if you win a couple of cups but actually, it just makes all the other stuff more annoying. 

[welldaft]

27 minutes ago, Radford said:

 

Fir Park is loved. You can see that when you visit. Money is invested in the stadium (and of great relevancy to St Johnstone, the pitch) whereas McDiarmid Park looks as neglected as it probably is. Dirty, scabby and host of other negative words. 

Motherwell get a bit of stick about the social media stuff but at least it's... something. Saints go through media staff at an alarming rate and the output is in no way engaging. 

The argument of course is everything becomes irrelevant if you win a couple of cups but actually, it just makes all the other stuff more annoying. 

Good to read an unbiased view. All of which I agree with, at least those relating to Motherwell. 

The pitch gets heavy investment year after year with this summer purported to be the most considerable yet. The Stadium is also maintained at a level we can afford. The recent work in the East stand a case in point. New seats and toilets and a lick of paint. 

I suspect the original poster was venting at anything and everything based on yet another dismal result. I think the fact it was injury time makes it much worse. 

I think we are all scratching our heads. As to how a side that was comfortably 4th (and with a win rate in 2021 that was better than anyone outside the Old Firm) could become so poor. I do believe we have had no luck or breaks and I do understand you make your own luck. But imho we have genuinely been no worse than Ross C, Dundee or St Johnstone in the last 3 league games and yet we have taken 1 point from 9. Even yesterday we hit the post and it comes out instead of going in before they score. 

Something is definitely amiss. When teams go on a run like this you hope and expect Managers to try something, anything different to turn things around. Different formations, selections, tactics etc. But week after week we are getting the same. Pretty much all of us would start Woolery and Slattery and even give Tierney some minutes. As someone else mentioned why is Shaw with us. Good enough to sign for Celtic but not get any game time with us. 

It will be a failure if we miss out on top 6. But at the start of the season those in charge would probably accept 7th or 8th as being no major disaster. Alexander will go at some point, but only if results don’t improve and we go into next season starting as we have and are finishing this one. Assuming we are still in the top flight that is !

Hopefully the International break can turn our fortunes around, but I have little expectation it actually will

 

 

[fat_tony]

I’m not so sure.
O’Donnell, Ojala, Jonhansen, McGinley, Carroll, Van Veen, O’Hara, Woolery, Efford, Donnelly, Goss, Amaluzar, Roberts, Shields…. I’d be happy to bin at the first opportunity. 
 

Disagree. I'm not convinced by a few of those mentioned, but the way we're set up to play helps no-one. We don't play to any of the strengths in our squad. The players are at a disadvantage as soon as we kick off. Add in the clearly lacking confidence and it's understandable many (all?) are underperforming.

[eliphas]

32 minutes ago, welldaft said:

It will be a failure if we miss out on top 6. But at the start of the season those in charge would probably accept 7th or 8th as being no major disaster. Alexander will go at some point, but only if results don’t improve and we go into next season starting as we have and are finishing this one. Assuming we are still in the top flight that is !

I think that's accurate.

I'd expect that the board, not just CEO, the whole board, to be well aware that targets and measure of success have to change as a season unfolds.  Just because we gave the management team a target of make it to a quarter final(s) and keep us safe this year, with a stretch target of top 6, that this season is deemed a 'boxes all ticked' exercise if we end up bottom 6. 

Where we sat at the end of 2021 should have meant that by now we are comfortably top 6 and pushing for European spots.  

The reason he won't be sacked is we can still technically finish 4th and get a European spot. For now.