Handsome_Devil Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 8 minutes ago, well fan for life said: I probably prefer these being sort of competitive games, but they are glorified pre season friendlies. I'm more likely to pay a tenner to watch us play someone in a match like this than I was to pay a tenner to watch us play Livi at home. That's totally understandable on one hand tbf but as @crazylegsjoejust alluded to there, the jeopardy of blowing one of the two competitions you have a theoretical chance of winning before August because you have to play a half-arsed squad seems disproportionate to me. I think there's a middle ground which could be found with some creative thinking. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MurrayWell Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 Just now, Handsome_Devil said: I think there's a middle ground which could be found with some creative thinking. I tend to agree, I like the concept of the league cup format, but I can see why people are beginning to lose interest, removing the regions was a decent first step. I'm not sure how you change it at this moment, short of removing any seeding and making it a wild group stage. Just have an absolute laugh, end up with a group of five Premiership teams or a group of five from league 2, just go absolutely mental. Probably doesn't lend itself well to the devaluing the tournament argument though... Reality of the turnover of players, across Scottish football, is that squads are never really likely to be settled and ready to go for the groups of this tournament, but I find it much more enjoyable than friendlies. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StAndrew7 Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 (edited) Can only really echo the sentiments of others; I'm far more likely to pay to go to a LC group game than I am a "glamour" pre-season friendly like we had in the olden days. Last one was what, Fulham 10 years ago maybe? The chance to check grounds off the list etc. in competitive fixtures for collectors is always a pull, too. Edited July 24 by StAndrew7 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Handsome_Devil Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 9 minutes ago, MurrayWell said: I'm not sure how you change it at this moment, short of removing any seeding and making it a wild group stage. Just have an absolute laugh, end up with a group of five Premiership teams or a group of five from league 2, just go absolutely mental. Probably doesn't lend itself well to the devaluing the tournament argument though... It's incredibly hard - probably impossible - to reformat the League Cup on its own in a way which would tick every box. I've already mentioned I'd simply have a different 'competitive' competition in summer but I can understand why there'd be sceptics to that as well. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazylegsjoe_mfc Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 To his credit, when Robinson was our manager, he tended to have his squad in position early doors and I think over his three seasons in it we won eleven games and drew one. Back then, with our shit together, it looked like you were actually watching the squad for the season ahead form and gel. Since then, we've had the summer of 2021, where we signed guys like O'Connor, Amaluzor and Mich'el Parker (remember him) not even to play, but to fill the squad for league cup games. Last summer, we were in the middle of our one in, one out phase. This year it looked like we may be able to kick on, but every man and their dug has been injured. The fact you can make five subs now (I know it's the same in the league, but I feel managers use them more freely for match fitness here) and you're seeing players who'll barely kick a baw all season, barely elevates it above a friendly, I'd say. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vietnam91 Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 (edited) 6 hours ago, Handsome_Devil said: It's amazing how every year we turn up expecting to stroll the LC group and ignore the evidence of pretty much every previous year that the top-flight teams, for various reasons, struggle against sides they'd crush in two months time. Like Greenock Morton? ….. It’s odd that people cite how squads aren’t gelled and minutes in the legs as if that’s a problem just for the professional teams over the postmen and plumbers. Granted we’ll have a higher turnover every summer but we also train together four days a week and just went on a week long bonding session in the Netherlands. As cup runs can seriously affect our bottom line, they are one of the three much vaunted elements that can make a dent in our balance sheet, it’s remarkable we have this mindset of all the stupidness stops on league opening day. Why can’t we have that mindset in every game? Also, from a sporting perspective the only glimmer we have every season. Being focused to getting seeded while not a guarantee of progression, a seeding gives you a better chance of a lower league team, then a favourable draw in the quarters and we’re off to Hampden. Remove the lack of ideas in Montrose, playing Edinburgh at home on a bowling green and having a sole striker to give extra exposure to a formation was chronic. Edited July 24 by Vietnam91 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thisGRAEME Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 6 minutes ago, crazylegsjoe_mfc said: To his credit, when Robinson was our manager, he tended to have his squad in position early doors and I think over his three seasons in it we won eleven games and drew one. Back then, with our shit together, it looked like you were actually watching the squad for the season ahead form and gel. Aye, this was my major gripe with Alexander's approach around it, and one that I got on board with for Robinson; https://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/2018/07/16/stephen-robinson-says-momentum-is-key/ We went out and leathered Edinburgh City 5-0 (and got cuffed 3-0 by Hibs on the opening day but whateverrrr). I appreciate it's maybe hard to get the team spinning up to full speed in the games, but it felt like Robinson in the main did. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomGuy. Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 2 hours ago, Swello said: as per @PSJ.84 on their thread - the Saintees record is quite something...Whereas we've dropped the occasional point (and got well beat by Airdrie when Alexander didn't bother signing a first team) - but by and large, we've gone through comfortably every time.. This is the price we pay for sending Theo Bair to play the fiddle against the devil so wipe out our debts after the double. Useless c**t. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Handsome_Devil Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 19 minutes ago, Vietnam91 said: Like Greenock Morton? ….. It’s odd that people cite how squads aren’t gelled and minutes in the legs as if that’s a problem just for the professional teams over the postmen and plumbers. Granted we’ll have a higher turnover every summer but we also train together four days a week and just went on a week long bonding session in the Netherlands. Morton are also full-time pros...the part-timers in L1 and 2 will be stronger in due course but there's no way the gap between them and the top-flight isn't significantly smaller in summer than it would be in October. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busta Nut Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 1 hour ago, well fan for life said: I probably prefer these being sort of competitive games, but they are glorified pre season friendlies. I'm more likely to pay a tenner to watch us play someone in a match like this than I was to pay a tenner to watch us play Livi at home. 100% this. I like the groups. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ropy Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 It’s not all about us, I suspect Clyde are having a great time. The diddy diddy teams get 4 games rather than getting knocked out in round one. I missed this part of the competition the year we played Sligo. I’d rather have both to be fair. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vietnam91 Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 50 minutes ago, Handsome_Devil said: Morton are also full-time pros...the part-timers in L1 and 2 will be stronger in due course but there's no way the gap between them and the top-flight isn't significantly smaller in summer than it would be in October. Nah, not buying that. There is absolutely no reason on this planet why us versus Raith Rovers, Ayr United, etc. should be any different today than later on in the season. None. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Handsome_Devil Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 2 minutes ago, Vietnam91 said: Nah, not buying that. There is absolutely no reason on this planet why us versus Raith Rovers, Ayr United, etc. should be any different today than later on in the season. None. Higher quality squads (in theory!) with a higher ceiling - not just when sharper but when the English loans arrive late August - have every chance of pulling away in the next months. The closer the teams are fundamentally will affect this...as a blunt example, we have more potential than Ayr who in turn have more potential than Edinburgh. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YassinMoutaouakil Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 (edited) 56 minutes ago, Vietnam91 said: Nah, not buying that. There is absolutely no reason on this planet why us versus Raith Rovers, Ayr United, etc. should be any different today than later on in the season. None. There's nothing scientific to back this up but I reckon anything that hampers both teams fairly equally- like a lack of match fitness or lopsided squad due to it basically still being pre-season- acts as a leveller for the weaker side. Same with plastic pitches or gale force winds or whatever. If we played Celtic tomorrow I think we'd have a better chance of winning than if we played them in October. Edited July 24 by YassinMoutaouakil 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jastons6 Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 Who is likely to feature in the 'Motherwell B' side on Tuesday? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 1 minute ago, Jastons6 said: Who is likely to feature in the 'Motherwell B' side on Tuesday? https://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/squad/development-team/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jastons6 Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 Thanks ! Perhaps not worth taking the night off work then 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil86 Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 12 minutes ago, Jastons6 said: Thanks ! Perhaps not worth taking the night off work then Not sure what the script is with senior players, I think you will be allowed a couple. Unsure how this current crop of youngsters are thought of. Zander Mccalister has started featuring for Scotland, so might be one to watch. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazylegsjoe_mfc Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 6 minutes ago, Neil86 said: Not sure what the script is with senior players, I think you will be allowed a couple. Unsure how this current crop of youngsters are thought of. Zander Mccalister has started featuring for Scotland, so might be one to watch. I think we played Nathan McGinley and Barry Maguire in it last season - not that it would have made much of a difference 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 18 minutes ago, crazylegsjoe_mfc said: I think we played Nathan McGinley and Barry Maguire in it last season - not that it would have made much of a difference The last one I was at, when the Colts lost to Ross County (with Kettlewell as their manager) Ally Gorrin, Mbulu, Maguire, Hastie, Scott were all in the XI albeit before Hastie and Scott had broken through in any way and Turnbull would have been playing but he was away with Scotland or somesuch. That was the season we *actually* beat Sligo. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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