Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[wellboy1991]

I can understand why McGinn is (c) however I have slight concerns on this and SODs. Does that mean that one or both are guaranteed first team starters.

Who is dropping out? I liked the back 3 at the weekend and Gordon the weekend before all looked decent. McGinn I get is a consistent player but Balmer clearly looked the part and he isn’t going to drop Casey I think.

Blaney, I would be disappointed with that as he looks fit and gives a right good balance to the back 3. 

Good headache to have but it’s a tough one as personally I would have McGinn 4th or 5th choice CB at the moment. Which isn’t great for a captain.

[crazylegsjoe_mfc]

4 minutes ago, wellboy1991 said:

I can understand why McGinn is (c) however I have slight concerns on this and SODs. Does that mean that one or both are guaranteed first team starters.

Who is dropping out? I liked the back 3 at the weekend and Gordon the weekend before all looked decent. McGinn I get is a consistent player but Balmer clearly looked the part and he isn’t going to drop Casey I think.

Blaney, I would be disappointed with that as he looks fit and gives a right good balance to the back 3. 

Good headache to have but it’s a tough one as personally I would have McGinn 4th or 5th choice CB at the moment. Which isn’t great for a captain.

One of them will definitely be starting for the next few months with Koutroumbis out.

I can't see us having signed Balmer and Gordon this summer to end up with Blaney as a starter. 

Anyway, every player that's been named captain since Lasley retired has seen an implosion of some description, so perhaps it's good we've got options to not play our captain, based on that 

[wellboy1991]

7 minutes ago, crazylegsjoe_mfc said:

One of them will definitely be starting for the next few months with Koutroumbis out.

I can't see us having signed Balmer and Gordon this summer to end up with Blaney as a starter. 

Anyway, every player that's been named captain since Lasley retired has seen an implosion of some description, so perhaps it's good we've got options to not play our captain, based on that 

True re the RWB position which is a concern, but for another time. 

Blaney I like, I get the injury concerns but he provides a goal threat, is athletic, decent on the ball and decent in the air. I get the impression you don’t rate him but I do and think him being the only leftie out the lot of the provides balance. 

Casey is a tough one. Initial Casey defo but last years at times was a liability. 

Very true re the (c) curse. We will just have to wait and see but that is very likely a possibility.

[thisGRAEME]

29 minutes ago, wellboy1991 said:

I can understand why McGinn is (c) however I have slight concerns on this and SODs. Does that mean that one or both are guaranteed first team starters.

Who is dropping out? I liked the back 3 at the weekend and Gordon the weekend before all looked decent. McGinn I get is a consistent player but Balmer clearly looked the part and he isn’t going to drop Casey I think.

Blaney, I would be disappointed with that as he looks fit and gives a right good balance to the back 3. 

Good headache to have but it’s a tough one as personally I would have McGinn 4th or 5th choice CB at the moment. Which isn’t great for a captain.

Honestly after last season if we have too many good defenders I'll deal with the pain of some of them sitting out.

ETA: I'd assume Blaney will be the one to drop out. I remain to be convinced by him as it stands. I do hope he develops some consistency to his game as the good stuff he does is terrific, but the bad stuff still needs some ironing out.

Edited July 15 by thisGRAEME

[capt_oats]

Tbh, I think there's maybe a bit too much being read into the captain, vice captain thing.

There's every chance I'll be proven wrong but it kind of feels to me like these are probably more ambassadorial roles than it being a given they'll be fixtures in the side. 

If you look at the squad as a whole there aren't really many alternate options.

Going through it:

Hegyi - loan
Oxborough - back up goalkeeper
Seddon - new signing, 1 year contract plus option
Gordon - new signing
Balmer - new signing
Casey - 1 year remaining
Blaney - 1 year remaining
Koutroumbis - new signing
Wilson - Development player
Zdravkovski - 1 year remaining
Sparrow - new signing
Slattery - injured
Halliday - 1 year remaining
Paton - 1 year remaining
Callachan - new signing
Miller - 17, saleable asset
Robinson - new signing
Bair - Auxerre bound
Stuparević - new signing
Nicholson - Maybe?
Ebiye - New-ish signing, 1 year remaining
Ferrie - Development player

To me, McGinn and SOD are the two players who have the most experience, have been at the club the longest (SODs will surely be our longest serving first team player now) and respectfully both are likely to be most settled at the club so there's an argument towards naming players who are likely to be sticking around the club.

Realistically the only other options would be Halliday or Nicholson unless we were handing the captaincy to a new signing and both of them are only in the door relatively recently.

[RandomGuy.]

4 hours ago, welldaft said:

I have just read that Celtic Korean striker Oh has joined Gent for £4.5m. Yes they did pay £2.5m for him apparently, so it is not a direct comparison. All that said he only bit part played in around 20 matches and scored a fairly measly 5 goals in the process. 

 

FWIW Celtics fees received are notoriously wrongly reported on purpose.

The £4.5m fee is seemingly the up front fee, add ons, and wages he's getting paid.

Abada was the same. Reported to have left them for £10m, but in truth it was reported around £6.5m and the wages were added on to make it sound better.

[Handsome_Devil]

4 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

Tbh, I think there's maybe a bit too much being read into the captain, vice captain thing.

As do I... being captain is more than 90 minutes on the pitch, if these guys do the other stuff well, I'm happy for Casey, Gordon and Balmer to do the yelling.

Edited July 15 by Handsome_Devil

[Swami]

5 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

FWIW Celtics fees received are notoriously wrongly reported on purpose.

The £4.5m fee is seemingly the up front fee, add ons, and wages he's getting paid.

Abada was the same. Reported to have left them for £10m, but in truth it was reported around £6.5m and the wages were added on to make it sound better.

Not like them to be announcing completely made up numbers. 

[StAndrew7]

I enjoyed both Blaney and Casey on Saturday stepping into midfield to try and open some space; it worked quite well with Blaney and Wilson on the left in the second half.

I think it'll be a flip of a coin between them as to who starts regularly; I think Balmer and Gordon will be starters every week, with Gordon in the middle just heading everything out the way with Balmer/an other on either side. I was impressed with Balmer's composure on Saturday but as others have said, he did have a silly amount of time on the ball for the majority of the game with Edinburgh being so passive/defensive.

I think McGinn will (probably) cover at RWB along with SODs until Johnny K is back fit; I wouldn't expect him to start on Tuesday given it's a plastic pitch. He might, but not sure why he'd be rushed back when (as @thisGRAEME just pointed out) we've got a really good defensive group.

I'd quite like a creative midfielder type to complement Nicholson; it was clear on Saturday (to me, anyway ) that we lacked the penetration/incisiveness in the final third against a compact defense, particularly in the first half. I think Wells has the potential to fill that role, but he'll need time to get used to playing in the first team etc.

Also wouldn't mind another RWB if McDermott is going to go out on loan, although I thought he did well in the time he had on Saturday.

From the little I've seen of Moses/Robinson/Stuparević the three of them all offer something different and can all compliment one another; Moses did enough on Saturday to show me that he can't play the lone striker role, but his movement definitely was that of an on-the-shoulder/poacher type. Robinson looks like he can take it to feet, turn and drive at the defense and Stuparević is more of a back to goal/hold up and lay off type. Kettlewell's signed some good options for there (with another to come in, by the sounds of it) who all have different styles of play that all appear to compliment each other. We're never going to sign one player to be able to do the complete forward type role, so having it across a few options who can play together makes sense.

9 minutes ago, Handsome_Devil said:

As do I... being captain is more than 90 minutes on the pitch, if these guys do the other stuff we'll, I'm happy for Casey, Gordon and Balmer to do the yelling.

I agree; I think there's a lot to be said about the whole Team captain vs Club captain debate, here. McGinn and SODs are the senior pros (along with Halliday) and from what I've heard, the three of them (although less so McGinn as he was in Germany for a bit) have basically not taken much time off between the seasons and have been in at the gym before training and running as well. That appears to have had a good impact on the younger players as they're now doing the same. I know some people have issues with us signing older players who are "past it" but if they're going to act like that and make a positive impact in ways other than on the pitch, I'm all for having them in and around the Club to improve the performance levels.

Edited July 15 by StAndrew7

[Handsome_Devil]

13 minutes ago, StAndrew7 said:

I know some people have issues with us signing older players who are "past it" but if they're going to act like that and make a positive impact in ways other than on the pitch, I'm all for having them in and around the Club to improve the performance levels.

I've never understood why people will nod along with the theory of having a balanced squad then complain our senior-ish to senior players aren't at the top of their game. Of course they aren't, if they offered both experience and ability, they wouldn't be at FP.

It's one of these things that's incredibly hard to quantify and you just need to trust the manager to get it right, they'll be out on their arse soon enough if they don't.

[capt_oats]

The big man is apparently in France according to Sky Sports.

Value of the deal is 'in excess of £1.4m'

[Savage Henry]

1 hour ago, wellboy1991 said:

I can understand why McGinn is (c) however I have slight concerns on this and SODs. Does that mean that one or both are guaranteed first team starters.

Who is dropping out? I liked the back 3 at the weekend and Gordon the weekend before all looked decent. McGinn I get is a consistent player but Balmer clearly looked the part and he isn’t going to drop Casey I think.

Blaney, I would be disappointed with that as he looks fit and gives a right good balance to the back 3. 

Good headache to have but it’s a tough one as personally I would have McGinn 4th or 5th choice CB at the moment. Which isn’t great for a captain.

Let’s be honest, absent the Euros rules, the only important thing a captain has to do is be able  to chat to kids well on open days while all the younger players shuffle awkwardly against the wall with their AirPods on.  It really, really doesn’t matter.

Edited July 15 by Savage Henry

[capt_oats]

Society Event...

With @thisGRAEME hosting?!

Edited July 15 by capt_oats

[well again]

59 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

FWIW Celtics fees received are notoriously wrongly reported on purpose.

The £4.5m fee is seemingly the up front fee, add ons, and wages he's getting paid.

Abada was the same. Reported to have left them for £10m, but in truth it was reported around £6.5m and the wages were added on to make it sound better.

Celtic FC , serial liars.

[thisGRAEME]

29 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

Society Event...

With @thisGRAEME hosting?!

Quite funny, eh?

[dezz]

The guts of £1.5m for big Theo is a phenomenal bit of business! Fair play to the big man, he deserves the mental wage bump he's going to get as well.

That's the majority of the next 2 seasons 'shortfall' accounted for then, with any cup runs or league finishes of 9th or above on top of that, and a potentially Turnbull-esq fee to come from Miller in the near future all going well. No doubt there'll be some money needing spent on Fir Park, but hopefully not to the extent of the recent pitch and East stand renovations. Should put us in a pretty healthy financial position without needing to trade ownership of the club for about 20% of Theo Bair per year. 

[StAndrew7]

2 minutes ago, dezz said:

The guts of £1.5m for big Theo is a phenomenal bit of business! Fair play to the big man, he deserves the mental wage bump he's going to get as well.

That's the majority of the next 2 seasons 'shortfall' accounted for then, with any cup runs or league finishes of 9th or above on top of that, and a potentially Turnbull-esq fee to come from Miller in the near future all going well. No doubt there'll be some money needing spent on Fir Park, but hopefully not to the extent of the recent pitch and East stand renovations. Should put us in a pretty healthy financial position without needing to trade ownership of the club for about 20% of Theo Bair per year. 

I'd argue it's more; it's out there publicly that we have enough to do us until next year and a little bit into the year after.

Agreed on your other points, too!

[Neil86]

Add Tom Sparrow and Steve Seddon to the treatment table, any mention of how long?

[crazylegsjoe_mfc]

1 hour ago, wellboy1991 said:

True re the RWB position which is a concern, but for another time. 

Blaney I like, I get the injury concerns but he provides a goal threat, is athletic, decent on the ball and decent in the air. I get the impression you don’t rate him but I do and think him being the only leftie out the lot of the provides balance. 

Casey is a tough one. Initial Casey defo but last years at times was a liability. 

Very true re the (c) curse. We will just have to wait and see but that is very likely a possibility.

You'd probably say of McGinn, Casey and him, he was the least guaranteed his place in the team last season. Regardless of my opinion on him, Kettlewell probably doesn't go out and sign two centre-backs with the profile of Balmer and Gordon to then have Blaney as first choice. 

I agree re Casey, he definitely had some poor games last season but I'm hopeful those were the exception rather than the rule. Missing pre-season and then having a couple of months out injured didn't allow momentum to flow to his season.

When we signed Gordon, I thought we must have been going with him, Balmer and McGinn as the first choice three, but I guess injuries definitely mean Blaney and Casey now have the opportunity to build their cases.

[StAndrew7]

25 minutes ago, Neil86 said:

Add Tom Sparrow and Steve Seddon to the treatment table, any mention of how long?

First I've heard of it, aside from an earlier post. I thought Sparrow got through without a knock but might be wrong.

Edited July 15 by StAndrew7