Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[Mr. Brightside]

We weren't shite in the second half at all. That was the Motherwell we've come to expect this season, shame the first half was pish.

[Mr Hahn]

We were decent in the second half I think, game was lost in the first. Celtic had the run of the midfield, our boys looked like they were chasing shadows. Mchugh had a poor game in particular I thought and bigirimana made a significant difference when he came on. 

On more positive notes, I thought Bowman was excellent, particularly in the second half. Battled for every ball won his fair share. A nice little link up from him in the first half to set up the Main chance too. Can’t fault any of the players for effort as usual with this team, just came up against an opposition who punished our first half hesitance and if I’m being honest, I felt they had an extra gear or two they could have gone up to in the second half. 

Two cup finals and 7th is an excellent return for Robinson’s first full season though. I’m a happy enough ‘Well fan as much as I’d have loved a Scottish cup to round everything off.

[one m in Motherwell]

To be honest it would have taken something pretty special to have got past Celtic yesterday - they did what they needed to do in the first half hour and that was it. Had we had a wee bit more luck - Bigi’s free kick, Frear not *quite* being in the right place, it may have put a different perspective on things.

All things considered there’s not much to be too downhearted about especially considering how we finished last season. Robinson has got us playing some effective football (although it’s pretty ugly to watch at times), and I’m looking forward to a summer of trying to build upon what we’ve started.

Transfer-wise I wouldn’t be too surprised if the likes of Frear and Bigi moved on, I’m quietly confident that we will manage to keep the bulk of the squad from this year (albeit with a bit of trimming). An interesting summer ahead - hopefully without the massive rebuilding job of previous years!

[Casagolda]

18 hours ago, YassinMoutaouakil said:

We've utterly bottled that. First half was totally fucking  gutless and even when we went for it there was next to zero quality on display.

You sound surprised...

Actually thought we played quite well 2nd half, we seemed to step it up a level while Celtic seemed to take their foot of the gas with the game already won. I mean fair play we did come out and have a go and although you never know if you can get one back etc, it did always feel like the game was petering out towards it’s inevitable conclusion. 

Game was lost in the first half unfortunately, felt we started alright but as soon as the first goal went in we just collapsed. Looked like it spooked a fair few of them and we done well to get in at half time only 2 goals down. 

Too many off days unfortunately with a number of important players below par. Don’t like to single anyone out after a day like yesterday but McHugh in particular was absolutely atrocious and very fortunate Robinson let him come back out for the 2nd half at all. Felt only really Carson, Dunne, Campbell and Bowman properly done themselves justice. Bigi had another very positive impact when he came on as well. 

Still, you look at our bench and see we’re having to turn to the likes of Frear(Robinson didn’t even bother with Petravicius) to try and change the game for us. Meanwhile, Roberts and Griffiths were both unused subs for Celtic. That’s the level we were up against yesterday and there’s certainly no shame in coming up short. 

For all my complaints it has been an excellent first season from Robinson and his team, they all deserve great credit for what they’ve achieved and I was delighted to see almost everyone stay behind to show their appreciation for them after the final whistle yesterday. 

Edited May 20, 2018 by Casagolda

[mjw]

Bigi was the only player who didn't treat the ball as if it had a detonator fitted to it.
If we are to move on we need to find a way to get 90 minutes out of him.

[Ron Aldo]

Bigi was the only player who didn't treat the ball as if it had a detonator fitted to it.
If we are to move on we need to find a way to get 90 minutes out of him.

Would agree with this. Rose and Grimshaw are useful players for the amount of running they do but Bigi is by far out best midfielder on the ball. I'd be really disappointed if we were to move him on in the summer.

[one m in Motherwell]

There are noises that he’s off...found some chat on Twitter that seemed to suggest Dundee as a destination. Quite possibly pish however.

[thisGRAEME]

All in all, a horribly disappointing performance. Thought all week we'd lose, but at least we'd turn up, turns out I was half-right.

Took us to 2-0 down to get to grips with McGregor and Rogic in the middle of the park, which, to be fair, we did, but the game was lost by then.

Nonetheless,  a smashing day, saw a pile of people I hadn't seen in an age and drank a bunch of venoms at midday. All in all, I'll live.

[Mr. Brightside]

I didn’t think Campbell was scared of the ball yesterday.
Grimshaw lacks the quality of Campbell but is a good combative midfielder, no idea what happened to McHugh yesterday, he was utter mince. Bigi was probably our best player, which says a lot.

[mjw]

I didn’t think Campbell was scared of the ball yesterday.
no idea what happened to McHugh yesterday, he was utter mince.

Not just yesterday unfortunately.

[Richie]

It's all ifs and buts really.

Like in Football Manager, you could go back to the save point, play different tactics/formation multiple times and still lose.

Was always going to be a tough ask.

Play Bigi from the start and you have added creativity, but lose things elsewhere.

You can understand why Robinson went with tried and tested in terms of the cup runs.

 

[well fan for life]

5 minutes ago, Richie said:

It's all ifs and buts really.

Like in Football Manager, you could go back to the save point, play different tactics/formation multiple times and still lose.

Was always going to be a tough ask.

Play Bigi from the start and you have added creativity, but lose things elsewhere.

You can understand why Robinson went with tried and tested in terms of the cup runs.

 

Aye it was probably a mix of Bigi being calm on the ball, and Celtic taking their foot off the gas. McHugh is a great player for us, but lacks the pace to play against Celtic. When we play against teams that do play the ball long he wins an outrageous number of headers and he is good at breaking play up.

I'm not overly upset. I had a cracking day out. Had a pre-match barbecue, was on the council lager at 11am and met a load of my pals I hadn't seen in ages. 

[mjw]

The Cooper stand pre buses was a highlight for me.
Bumping into folk I'd not seen for a while and a good bounce and sing song.

[YassinMoutaouakil]

Watching the highlights I may have been slightly harsh on our second half performance. First 45 was still fucking inept and a massive bottle job but after that we were a tad unlucky to not at least pull one back. Any of Main,Bigi or Cadden' s efforts going in would have at least made it interesting.

Finding it hard to look on this season as anything other than two missed opportunities though.

[RandomGuy.]

Michael O'Halloran is claiming he was watching Motherwell in the Final in today's news. He was spotted in the Celtic end, but his agent has come out saying he didn't realise that's where he'd be and he'd went to watch Motherwells style. 

It could be a completely bollocks story to deflect from where he was sitting, but he is genuinely thick as f**k, so it could be true. 

[capt_oats]

1 hour ago, RandomGuy. said:

Michael O'Halloran is claiming he was watching Motherwell in the Final in today's news. He was spotted in the Celtic end, but his agent has come out saying he didn't realise that's where he'd be and he'd went to watch Motherwells style. 

It could be a completely bollocks story to deflect from where he was sitting, but he is genuinely thick as f**k, so it could be true. 

He's got to say something like that I suppose. Especially off the back of the other pish he's had to deal with in the last week. Some way to work your ticket though.

Then again, we've been regularly linked with him over the past few windows (usually as a make weight in some tabloid fantasy that was imagining Moult going to Ibrox). Though there was vague chat at the time that we'd been speaking to him in the January window after Moult was long gone but couldn't come to any sort of agreement (clearly), so that side of the story actually checks out.

We're almost certainly going to be looking to add forwards this summer and Robinson's frequently said he'd like to add pace to the side. If, as expected, we get shot of Petravicius then O'Halloran is essentially that player. Except with the added bonus that he can actually play as a striker unlike the bold Dimi. It's a low bar certainly but, for me, he'd be a massive upgrade on Petravicius.

Curtis Main, Michael O'Halloran, Nadir Ciftci dream team...make it happen Burrows. Make it happen.

Edited May 21, 2018 by capt_oats

[gannonball]

MOH to sign for Motherwell, get a hatrick on his debut against Sevco then bless himself. A seething MJC to do a John Wilson and go for him only to be sparkled by Curtis Main, gannonball to spunk his pants. 

[Al B]

I'm actually impressed with the amount of people MJC has reeled in, and to such an extent. You should all be disappointed in yourselves.

A fine example of playing the long game.

[Busta Nut]

Robbo did say he had a medical to do on Sunday...
 

[thisGRAEME]

26 minutes ago, Al B said:

I'm actually impressed with the amount of people MJC has reeled in, and to such an extent. You should all be disappointed in yourselves.

A fine example of playing the long game.

It's quite something.

 

The boy has been catching trawler loads for years now (myself included in my simpler times) and still gets the reaction, even if he doesn't post for weeks. Always a double joy when he posts his 'That isn't me' stuff from his MJW alt. V good.