Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[camer0n_mcd]

19 minutes ago, MurrayWell said:

Is it just me or have sections of the fanbase become really negative in recent years? (Not directed towards this forum on the whole by the way.) 

Level of booing, folk shouting insults at their own players seems to have increased and just general atmosphere seems a bit negative at the moment. 

Said after the Thistle game that folk were entitled to feel annoyed by it, that there has to be a balance between "happy clappy" and "boo boy" at times, just doesn't feel like there is much balance. 

Booing a weakened team off after an okay performance, having kept a clean sheet, after one game of 38 seems a bit OTT and not at all helpful to me. 

While we're absolutely far from perfect, I think we're only a couple of players away from being decent. Folk need to chill out a bit. 

Same here, I've always considered myself a bit more negative than most but some folk need to chill out and look at the bigger picture. It's not like we didn't create any chances Robinson and Ebiye both missed a sitter in the 1st half that they should absolutely be scoring. 

Kettlewell's problem this season is that he no longer has the credit in the bank that he had last season and it's now almost entirely his own team, folk already don't trust him so any poor performance or defeat will be immediately blamed on him.

[Vietnam91]

I think the issue is four competitive games in the only upgrade we can universally get behind as a support is Gordon.

The rest we haven't seen due to injury or a multitude of other reasons.

[welldaft]

1 hour ago, Dosser1886 said:

Absolute imposter of a footballer waste of a jersey, hid at every opportunity, lazy and disinterested.

Hoped a decent preseason would mean we would see what he was all about. If that is as good as it gets he can GTF 

I would not have him as a starter. But I did not think he had the worst game. In fact I thought his corner kicks were actually very good.

As for the booing at FT. Embarrassing and unnecessary. Some of our support need to have a good look at themselves

 

[Scouse_Wellfan]

First time seeing Oxborough, in goals and must admit he impressed me, granted he never had any real saves but still looked decent. Amazed he never came in last season when kelly was horrendous. 

Not too worried just yet if robinson takes that early chance we stroll it, Halliday needs to be replaced dont see what he brings to the team 

[Busta Nut]

We're dugshite. We've been dugshite for almost a year. 

Another good draw though. 

[RandomGuy.]

10 hours ago, welldaft said:

Miller has not started that well and as 17 year old not that surprising but if he is to yield us a record transfer fee he will need to get sorted sooner rather than later.

What a depressing sentence to read.

[StAndrew7]

27 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

What a depressing sentence to read.

This is my biggest problem with him being pegged as our next big thing. Performances are now expected to be world class/stand out every single week when he's only 17.

He's also being played out of position; he's not a number 10 for me but we have no-one else to play there right now.

I'm a bit concerned that the Club/Manager have put that kind of responsibility on him. Personally I do think he'll thrive on it, but he needs help around him to develop and he's just not getting that right now. Some of it's down to injuries and a "needs must" kind of situation, too.

[fat_tony]

Halliday created a couple of our best chances today. In the first half he broke forward with Wilson and put an excellent cross in which deserved better. In the second he forced an error in the County defence and took the ball to the bye line but we were slow to react and nobody could find space in the middle to get on the the of it. I'm not sold on him by any means, and he was wasteful in possession at times (along with the rest) but he had plenty of positive contributions yesterday as well. 

The whole midfield were slow and wasteful in general. I think the more advanced role will be interesting for Miller but he was trying far too hard yesterday and it wasn't working. Still some nice stuff from him but we need some mobility in midfield to help him and someone making the right runs up top.

Wilson I thought was a bit shaky but had some great moments. Very much your typical youngster needing a bit of game time and confidence. His shot looked destined to hit the top corner until Laidlaw pulled off a great save, and his wee mazy from right back to left wing (albeit risky and a little lucky) was enjoyable. Him and Miller successively nutmegging the County right side was fun too.

I'm very happy with Gordon so far. Looked no nonsense, proper centre half, and didn't hold back at communicating with those around them.

The front two were interesting. Looked absolutely clueless at times. Robinson had some nice hold up play and should've burst the net when one on one with the keeper. Moses looks like he couldn't trap a bag of cement but seemed like a pure chaos factor and actually forced a number of errors. If we could combine the two into one player we'd be onto something.

I liked what I saw of Stama. Immediately got involved and put himself about. He and Moses got in each other's way, obviously not had much time to train together, but his positioning and touch looked decent.

Bit of a disappointing result overall, especially given how toothless County looked but it's early days yet and there were signs of life. 

[Handsome_Devil]

10 hours ago, welldaft said:

Our problems seemed to have shifted to midfield and up front. Miller has not started that well and as 17 year old not that surprising but if he is to yield us a record transfer fee he will need to get sorted sooner rather than later. Davor and Halliday were OK but something is missing.

Miller is basically being asked to play a new position and suddenly carry our attacking threat, if he took to that overnight we'd be beyond giddy. I wouldn't worry about him at all.

I suspect we might be looking at a body or two, on loan or otherwise, from Everton, otherwise a midweek friendly there when the season has started seems an awful big favour.

As for the attitude of our fans, I think there's an element of canny take it that we've had a couple of years down cycle (arguably self-inflicted) when St Mirren and Killie have had a good spell. Such is life, they should get used to it.

Booing an injury-hit team on the opening day of the season is idiotic...the ideal solution for some is presumably to employ managers on six-month contracts, just so we can expedite this process even more!

[Cedrics Mighty Well Army]

9 hours ago, ropy said:

I was seduced by the away strip today.  Due to my broad shoulders (?) I wear an L when going about my business,, I have tended to favour the XL in the sporting top, mainly for fives.  With trepidation I approached the counter clutching the XXL I had selected and even then the woman asked if I had tried it on as she doubted the fit.

Do we have 3-5XLs amongst us and is there a club I can join?

My human is definitely in the 6XL club because they don't go any bigger.

[Dosser1886]

8 hours ago, welldaft said:

As for the booing at FT. Embarrassing and unnecessary. Some of our support need to have a good look at themselves

 

Was really surprised at the level of booing at the end. Wasn't the best of games or performance but seen far worse. Defensively I thought we were so much better than last season Ox in goals is a massive improvement over Kelly. 

Hopefully do something about the midfield and the strikers get up to speed and I'm pretty optimistic for the season.

[ropy]

3 minutes ago, Dosser1886 said:

Was really surprised at the level of booing at the end. Wasn't the best of games or performance but seen far worse. Defensively I thought we were so much better than last season Ox in goals is a massive improvement over Kelly. 

Hopefully do something about the midfield and the strikers get up to speed and I'm pretty optimistic for the season.

One third of the way to matching last season’s shut out total.

[fatcalf]

Anyone hear the caller on radio Scotland about 6pm last night? One of the few who have cancelled their WS subs although according to him there's plenty. Works in Director level of business yet couldn't see the benefits in what he called the WS 'wishlist' whilst bemoaning losing the safety net the investment would have brought in securing jobs on the staff. (Bair's transfer money obviously passed over his well educated head)

Kept referring to the Well Bois as the Well Society when making his points. This attitude permeates throughout that 'class' of supporter who get their information directly from the club IMO.

[Dosser1886]

1 minute ago, fatcalf said:

Anyone hear the caller on radio Scotland about 6pm last night? One of the few who have cancelled their WS subs although according to him there's plenty. Works in Director level of business yet couldn't see the benefits in what he called the WS 'wishlist' whilst bemoaning losing the safety net the investment would have brought in securing jobs on the staff. (Bair's transfer money obviously passed over his well educated head)

Kept referring to the Well Bois as the Well Society when making his points. This attitude permeates throughout that 'class' of supporter who get their information directly from the club IMO.

These types always big themselves up with made up jobs but give themselves away with the utter shite they spout.

Always left thinking if that actually is your job the company you work for must be totally shit.

[well again]

12 minutes ago, fatcalf said:

Anyone hear the caller on radio Scotland about 6pm last night? One of the few who have cancelled their WS subs although according to him there's plenty. Works in Director level of business yet couldn't see the benefits in what he called the WS 'wishlist' whilst bemoaning losing the safety net the investment would have brought in securing jobs on the staff. (Bair's transfer money obviously passed over his well educated head)

Kept referring to the Well Bois as the Well Society when making his points. This attitude permeates throughout that 'class' of supporter who get their information directly from the club IMO.

Heard some of the shite that this weapon was spouting, got me thinking that it was McMahon or Dickie using a false name.

[EK2DK]

Apologies if mentioned elsewhere, but do we have a timeline for the injured player returning?

I saw Paton listed as 14 weeks, meaning approx. Christmas

 

Nicholson 

Koutroumbis 

Slattery 

Stuparevic

 

It strikes me that it’s 5 long term Injuries but perhaps only 1 (slattery) would be considered a nailed on starter.

As yesterday showed, we’re light middle to top so one or two extras with a bit of quality are a must.

Yesterday was far from the worst I’ve seen. I thought Wilson had a very decent game, Blaney gives me the fear right enough but we looked okay, just lacking that drive from midfield into attack.

 

[Gianfranco]

Wilson was fine defensively on the most part, but I want him to be running round the outside and crossing the ball like the first goal vs Clyde but he’s never there or instead is making runs inside. Sods must have had ten times more crosses etc than him yesterday. We need to be more of a threat on both sides for this formation to work. 
 

We also lacked a midfielder who could carry the ball. For all his faults Paton would have made a difference yesterday. The amount of times Davor or Halliday got the ball and has no one forward to pass it to yesterday was a problem too. Lots of things for Ketts to work on. 

[Busta Nut]

Miller can't play as an attacking midfielder. 
He is a rolls royce of a player who gets on the baw deep and plays fitba. Moving him forward is a complete waste of his talents.

Edited August 4 by Busta Nut

[welldaft]

1 hour ago, Handsome_Devil said:

Miller is basically being asked to play a new position and suddenly carry our attacking threat, if he took to that overnight we'd be beyond giddy. I wouldn't worry about him at all.

I am not saying I am necessarily worried. What I am saying is he has not really started the season that well. He was fairly poor v Partick as were all the team to be fair.

What I find amusing is that if I criticised Halliday or even Another youngster Ewan Wilson for example then most on here would not bat an eyelid. We even have a fan from another club chipping in.

He is not a protected species. He is a teenage footballer with a bright future. I happen to think he has yet to get going. If that is because he is being played in an unfamiliar position or being asked to be more attacking then I can understand that to an extent. 

I also think it is fairly acceptable to state that if any scouts were watching him so far this season I doubt we would be getting any record transfer fee anytime soon. 

To be clear I think he is a great player for his age. He was very good last season and I am hoping he kicks on this season. That way we play better as a team and we do hopefully end up with a handsome transfer fee down the line. Perhaps the speculation is also playing a part in his below par performances so far…..

To answer one Q above - I asked Slattery yesterday when he would be back and fit to play. He said probably November time. 

[ropy]

22 minutes ago, fatcalf said:

Anyone hear the caller on radio Scotland about 6pm last night? One of the few who have cancelled their WS subs although according to him there's plenty. Works in Director level of business yet couldn't see the benefits in what he called the WS 'wishlist' whilst bemoaning losing the safety net the investment would have brought in securing jobs on the staff. (Bair's transfer money obviously passed over his well educated head)

Kept referring to the Well Bois as the Well Society when making his points. This attitude permeates throughout that 'class' of supporter who get their information directly from the club IMO.

Aye, Kevin.  I thought he was coming across ok then he started going on about division based on the wishful thinking of youth versus the sage musings of the mature fan.  His answer was to withdraw his funds along with his pals.