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Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons


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12 minutes ago, TheMotherwell1 said:

Callachan - Squad player

Actually the one I disagree with here. I think he's going to be a) good for us and b) a fairly big part of the season for us.

Callachan's most productive season in terms of goals and assists by a distance was his season with Accies, where he played in quite a lot in the spaces that Spittal occupied last year (albeit on the right rather than the left).

There's absolutely something there with him, IMO, and while I don't think he'll be as good as Spittal, I think he'll contribute more than people seem to think. Either alongside Nicholson behind the striker, or in a horses for courses approach if we need a more combative approach in those areas than Nicholson can necessarily deliver. 

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Shelving my own opinion on the signing (timing of it given his injury) I'm not so sure Callachan is the "squad player" many think he is. 

Was highly thought of at Raith, got a move to Hearts and then has always had a bit of an impact wherever he has gone. Kettlewell has publicly talked up the impact he's made in this division, so I actually expect us to see a lot more of him than folk think. 

@thisGRAEME beat me to it. 

Edited by MurrayWell
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1 hour ago, camer0n_mcd said:

If it works out Kettlewell looks a genius, if it doesn't then it looks like he still hasn't learnt his lesson from the Jon Obika saga.

The problem is, the odds of this signing actually working are 99/1

If it doesn’t work out he joins the backroom staff surely.

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1 hour ago, TheMotherwell1 said:

5 of those midfielders are completely different players to Magennis and I think *IF he’s fit then he’d really compliment Lennon Miller better than the other players we have. 

Halliday - Finished 

Paton - out for 14 weeks

Davor - not a box-to-box midfielder 

Slattery - won’t be seen until at least November 

Callachan - Squad player

Clear to see from the group stage that our midfield is a big problem currently. No balance and a lack of energy has been our Achilles heel in my opinion. 

May only need 1 attacking midfielder if we can get Nicholson on the pitch…

Well, sure but it doesn't really matter if Halliday is "finished" he's still a contracted player whose wages we're paying.

As it stands we have a squad of 25 players (including Wilson and Ferrie).

That's already a number of bodies that puts us at a maximum. Even if we loan out Wilson and Ferrie (as has been hinted) we'd still be in the position where we'd have to at least replace Wilson with another LWB.

The entire summer window last year was defined by us being in a position where we had too many players.

Even accounting for the injury to Paton which is unfortunate and the injury to Slattery (which we knew about) it seems unlikely to think that we're going to be carrying 10 (TEN) midfielders in the squad which would be the case in a scenario where we sign Magennis as a punt as long as it's not at the expense of signing *at least* 2 attacking midfielders.

If we sign Magennis then it won't be on the basis that it'll be a speculative punt it'll be using budget and resources to take up a place in the squad with a queue of *pretends to be shocked* memes when he too picks up another injury.

All of that is a long winded way of saying that replacing a long term injury (Paton) with a known sicknote who only managed 8 league appearances (560 minutes) last season and 644 minutes the season prior is a pretty daft idea.

Even more so given we've already added Callachan who missed the whole of last season with a cruciate injury.

Edited by capt_oats
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14 minutes ago, Jastons6 said:

Are our home games v Rangers / Celtic already sold out ? I tried to get a ticket for my Mrs there but both games say no tickets available 

I doubt they'll be on sale yet?

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23 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

Well, sure but it doesn't really matter if Halliday is "finished" he's still a contracted player whose wages we're paying.

 

It absolutely does matter that he is “finished”.  Him, Davor and Paton have shown that they simply cannot play together. Would be nonsensical to persist as is. 

I like Magennis and think he’s a good player.  Worth the risk? I don’t know. 

Regardless of signing him or not SK has to act now to get the right balance in the midfield. Otherwise we’re going to be watching repeats of Sunday all season. An injection of energy and creativity is urgently required. 

Comment about at least 2 attacking midfielders is completely dependant on our set up.  If we intent on persisting with 5-4-1  then Paton and Halliday in advanced roles simply won’t cut it. 

I suspect we will sign a Spittal replacement and a box-to box midfielder. 

Wells, Wilson, Ferrie and Ross will all probably go on loan.  That should hopefully open up a space for a loan signing LWB in the mould of Furlong/Gent.

 

Edited by TheMotherwell1
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20 minutes ago, Jastons6 said:

Are our home games v Rangers / Celtic already sold out ? I tried to get a ticket for my Mrs there but both games say no tickets available 

Think it's the case that you need to purchase tickets vs those two in person at the ticket office, and possibly prove previous purchase history. No online sales to reduce chances of away supporters in home stands.

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11 minutes ago, TheMotherwell1 said:

It absolutely does matter that he is “finished”.  Him, Davor and Paton have shown that they simply cannot play together. Would be nonsensical to persist as is. 

I like Magennis and think he’s a good player.  Worth the risk? I don’t know. 

Regardless of signing him or not SK has to act now to get the right balance in the midfield. Otherwise we’re going to be watching repeats of Sunday all season. An injection of energy and creativity is urgently required. 

Comment about at least 2 attacking midfielders is completely dependant on our set up.  If we intent on persisting with 5-4-1  then Paton and Halliday in advanced roles simply won’t cut it. 

I suspect we will sign a Spittal replacement and a box-to box midfielder. 

Wells, Wilson, Ferrie and Ross will all probably go on loan.  That should hopefully open up a space for a loan signing LWB in the mould of Furlong/Gent.

I think you're missing the point.

It doesn't matter that Halliday is "finished" because he's still taking up a space in the squad. So unless someone wants to take him off our hands he impacts our budget and the numbers in the building. We don't get to take the approach Robinson had which was effectively a case of "Ooops, my bad. Can we sign someone else please?"

Absolutely no one is saying we don't need to add energy or whatever. Magennis (if he signs) will be intended to fill one of the gaps in the team - we won't be signing him as a punt plus other midfielders to bloat the squad further.

Kettlewell's literally just off Sky Sports News talking about how the players we sign need to contribute. Which again, brings us back to questioning the wisdom of signing a player like Magennis and his known injury history.

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7 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

I think you're missing the point.

It doesn't matter that Halliday is "finished" because he's still taking up a space in the squad. So unless someone wants to take him off our hands he impacts our budget and the numbers in the building. We don't get to take the approach Robinson had which was effectively a case of "Ooops, my bad. Can we sign someone else please?"

Absolutely no one is saying we don't need to add energy or whatever. Magennis (if he signs) will be intended to fill one of the gaps in the team - we won't be signing him as a punt plus other midfielders to bloat the squad further.

Kettlewell's literally just off Sky Sports News talking about how the players we sign need to contribute. Which again, brings us back to questioning the wisdom of signing a player like Magennis and his known injury history.

Your point is fairly easy to understand. We’re stuck with him. 

Regardless of Halliday taking up a wage, we’re going to sign another couple of midfielders. 

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I think many have already said, both publicly and privately, but Jim McMahon did a number of good things for Motherwell.  Giving 20+ years of service to the club cannot be downplayed.  However, he's absolutely torched his legacy over the last few months for being the brains behind trying to sell the club down the river for a bag of ginger bottles and a Chomp.

Unforgiveable really.  It's good news for the club he's gone.  

Edited by Desp
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