Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[ropy]

On 03/08/2024 at 16:02, ropy said:

Might be early with this but still not convinced Moses isn’t a donkey and Robinson, the better player, will never score 

Moses took his goal well today, so no donkey comment, but Robinson needs to get a goal.

[TheMotherwell1]

34 minutes ago, ropy said:

Kettlewell will get it tight for playing him so soon.

He’s been training with us for 3 weeks and has been involved in bounce games. Nice try though

[Handsome_Devil]

16 minutes ago, TheMotherwell1 said:

He’s been training with us for 3 weeks and has been involved in bounce games. Nice try though

Obviously things are much easier shape wise against 10 but how refreshing was it to have some genuine attacking width for what feels like the first time in years. Probably because it's the first time in years...

You do wonder just what the plan is for, shall we broadly say the attack...we have a million options, is the theory just that with five subs you can have so many players and we'll rely on finding a combination that works at some point in every game?

Even more curious than usual to see the XI next Sunday.

[Archie McSquackle]

That's pretty much the approach we were taking last season. Go behind then put all our forwards on and see what happens. 

[Vietnam91]

Welcome but drawn out at times, I doubt we're gonna be third top scorers this season. Main thing is we're through and a winnable tie for a semi final at Hampden, will the OF will be kept apart.

Thought the defence did OK but Kilmarnock seriously lacked any threat from the red card. Casey playing as a right winger and SOD often standing as the second striker takes some getting used to. There doesn't appear to be any instructions to regain your position quickly.

Maswanhise was a welcome addition, similar build to Tierney which was a surprise (just because it's very anti-Ketts), tricky and willing to take people on, a few crosses went begging either because no look up or nobody taking any initiative in or around the box but they have a very big and bulky back line.

Andy Halliday is living a charmed life. Robinson will probably score two by Christmas which is what Theo did, (all for 15 in the new year). Twatt was blowing. Their keeper needing five minutes of physio to facilitate a McInnes coaching session was fun. Wilson could have got heavily punished for his brain fart.

We seem to gain so much more from a quickly taken free kick or other set piece than all the set up of our standard, laborious messing about.

That win means we now play 5x between now and October which I suspect will help/we need to get something resembling what Ketts planned on in early July.

Balmer remains a mystery, I get the defence has been OK of late and it's tricky to replace personnel as it may send a wrong message, but you don't shell out six figures for a centre half to have him playing against Edinburgh City which is one in seven of our competitive matches so far.

Wee things I noticed sitting in the POD that may not cross to the Hunter. The Gordon free kick deep in our half around 18 mins, SK lost his shit and I thought was going need sedated at how furious he was at players not seemingly doing basic stuff/what they'd discussed/giving options.

At the end, SOD, McGinn and Halliday went to the DSA enclosure which was a nice touch.

[ropy]

52 minutes ago, TheMotherwell1 said:

He’s been training with us for 3 weeks and has been involved in bounce games. Nice try though

Yes we had a bounce game during the week but it wasn’t against Everton so it wasn’t madness.

[Jastons6]

1 hour ago, ropy said:

The cheer-ers trying to outdo the boo-ers when Watt came on was fun, a crowd divided.  Winning a throw-in in the 120th minute and Tony, Tony Watt resounding round the ground, a crowd United.

The same people around me were booing and clapping  

[TheMotherwell1]

16 minutes ago, ropy said:

Yes we had a bounce game during the week but it wasn’t against Everton so it wasn’t madness.

[ropy]

I saw some criticism earlier of Wilson, I thought he had a good game, one pass in extra time aside. I think he is contributing well. 

[Handsome_Devil]

1 minute ago, ropy said:

I saw some criticism earlier of Wilson, I thought he had a good game, one pass in extra time aside. I think he is contributing well. 

That pass today was something else but I agree he's generally been ok...it's a tough gig getting thrown into a rabble like we have with our injuries rather than a more settled side.

[Jastons6]

7 minutes ago, ropy said:

I saw some criticism earlier of Wilson, I thought he had a good game, one pass in extra time aside. I think he is contributing well. 

It's probably more to do with tactics than a Wilson thing.  Personally I want my wide players to get wide and forward, run down the line in anticipation of the ball. But so many times the ball isn't played quick enough or in front to run on to ( or played at all) so Wilson and others end up stopping or coming backwards 

[Allroy for Prez]

Would’ve been a travesty if we hadn’t won that, and would’ve been out of sight if some of the crossing had been better and/or someone had got on the end of one of them. 

Liked the look of Seddon and Kaleta and obviously the new winger. Watt is going to be a big player and got a great ovation.

Maybe we caught Killie at a good time but as we know we’re actually heavily depleted ourselves. 

[Gianfranco]

The Ox seems pretty solid so far? 
 

I know we have a lot of injuries but the squad feels really heavy numbers wise. I wonder if we’ll get some of the famous Ketts mutuals before the end of the window with one or two? 

[santheman]

2 hours ago, Vietnam91 said:

Welcome but drawn out at times, I doubt we're gonna be third top scorers this season. Main thing is we're through and a winnable tie for a semi final at Hampden, will the OF will be kept apart.

Thought the defence did OK but Kilmarnock seriously lacked any threat from the red card. Casey playing as a right winger and SOD often standing as the second striker takes some getting used to. There doesn't appear to be any instructions to regain your position quickly.

Maswanhise was a welcome addition, similar build to Tierney which was a surprise (just because it's very anti-Ketts), tricky and willing to take people on, a few crosses went begging either because no look up or nobody taking any initiative in or around the box but they have a very big and bulky back line.

Andy Halliday is living a charmed life. Robinson will probably score two by Christmas which is what Theo did, (all for 15 in the new year). Twatt was blowing. Their keeper needing five minutes of physio to facilitate a McInnes coaching session was fun. Wilson could have got heavily punished for his brain fart.

We seem to gain so much more from a quickly taken free kick or other set piece than all the set up of our standard, laborious messing about.

That win means we now play 5x between now and October which I suspect will help/we need to get something resembling what Ketts planned on in early July.

Balmer remains a mystery, I get the defence has been OK of late and it's tricky to replace personnel as it may send a wrong message, but you don't shell out six figures for a centre half to have him playing against Edinburgh City which is one in seven of our competitive matches so far.

Wee things I noticed sitting in the POD that may not cross to the Hunter. The Gordon free kick deep in our half around 18 mins, SK lost his shit and I thought was going need sedated at how furious he was at players not seemingly doing basic stuff/what they'd discussed/giving options.

At the end, SOD, McGinn and Halliday went to the DSA enclosure which was a nice touch.

SOD does it every game.

[ropy]

15 minutes ago, Allroy for Prez said:

Would’ve been a travesty if we hadn’t won that, and would’ve been out of sight if some of the crossing had been better and/or someone had got on the end of one of them. 

Liked the look of Seddon and Kaleta and obviously the new winger. Watt is going to be a big player and got a great ovation.

Maybe we caught Killie at a good time but as we know we’re actually heavily depleted ourselves. 

Hoping to catch Hearts in a similar fashion.

[capt_oats]

1 minute ago, Gianfranco said:

The Ox seems pretty solid so far? 

I know we have a lot of injuries but the squad feels really heavy numbers wise. I wonder if we’ll get some of the famous Ketts mutuals before the end of the window with one or two? 

I doubt it.

There's a first team squad of 27 currently.

The only players who aren't either new signings or have extended their contracts this window are:

• Casey
• Blaney (injured)
• Zdravkovski
• Paton (injured)
• Ebiye

I'd be surprised if we're looking at mutualling any of those.

That said I'd imagine you'll see Ferrie going out on loan.

[Swello]

I thought today was just a standard issue tight game between two evenly matched teams (both teams weakened for different reasons) and for once, it was us who didn't get the stupid red and actually took advantage. I've seen a fair bit of over the top doom about it - but it didn't feel different to similar games with "better" and more settled 'Well teams involved.

I think if we're going to build up over the next couple of months into a serviceable team, then there was a lot to like today. The defence and keeper already look way more solid than anything we had last season and with the gift of Killie going down to 10 men, we started looking like we had some actual attacking patterns of play that we can do when we're playing against 11 men.

I came away from today feeling a lot more positive than I have been. I also cheered a long throw in our own half like a goal for the first time.

PS - the wee guy that I didn't know we'd signed looks like my kind of player... 

[Vietnam91]

26 minutes ago, santheman said:

SOD does it every game.

Ha, yeah. Because it was so prominent at the Thistle cup game my question the following day at "meet the manager" was going to be what exactly are SOD's instructions. But seeing how the other questions were answered it wasn't going to result in anything insightful.

[santheman]

28 minutes ago, Vietnam91 said:

Ha, yeah. Because it was so prominent at the Thistle cup game my question the following day at "meet the manager" was going to be what exactly are SOD's instructions. But seeing how the other questions were answered it wasn't going to result in anything insightful.

Don't think he has any instructions as such, it's just something he's always done and it's always much appreciated, as being stuck at the end of the POD can sometimes make you feel a bit disconnected from the action.

[crazylegsjoe_mfc]

I'm torn on Jack. He's not played regular football for a long time and he's not had a pre season whilst our squad has now played 7 competitive games. We would either need to be patient whilst he builds up fitness, or chuck him in quickly and risk him breaking down. He would be a considerable upgrade on all midfielders we have, Miller aside but the risk of an injury prone player hasn't been one that's worked for us of late.