Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[boozyBJ]

I might be in the minority here but I think Robinson is dug meat. Headless chicken springs to mind 

[well fan for life]

We more than deserved to go through yesterday, but it wasn't perfect. This Robinson/Wilson/Miller attacking trio is absolute garbage and doesn't work at all. I think Miller's an excellent player but we've stuck him in a position akin to the Bermuda Triangle. Wilson is a reasonable option at left back (a couple of brain farts aside) but he's not an attacking midfielder. Robinson is a good player but he is looking more like he's never going to score for us with each game. 

Once we brought on Tony Watt and Maswanhise we looked so much better. The latter was great fun to watch and had me entertained by a player for the first time in a long time. 

Ebiye continues to be an enigma because he scores goals by somehow being in the right place and hitting it first time but aside from this he is a terrible football player. 

[MurrayWell]

1 minute ago, well fan for life said:

Ebiye continues to be an enigma because he scores goals by somehow being in the right place and hitting it first time but aside from this he is a terrible football player. 

I think that's really unfair, the fact he's in those positions is because he is good at reading the game and actually a very decent penalty box striker. Plenty of strikers have made careers out of being in the right place at the right time and finishing first time. 

'All that striker does is score goals' is a problem I'm happy to have. Not directly aimed at you here, but we have folk in the stands very vocally moaning about players not shooting first time and the guy that does that is also getting a hard time? 

[well fan for life]

3 minutes ago, MurrayWell said:

I think that's really unfair, the fact he's in those positions is because he is good at reading the game and actually a very decent penalty box striker. Plenty of strikers have made careers out of being in the right place at the right time and finishing first time. 

'All that striker does is score goals' is a problem I'm happy to have. Not directly aimed at you here, but we have folk in the stands very vocally moaning about players not shooting first time and the guy that does that is also getting a hard time? 

I'm totally fine with him btw. If he continues to turn up in the penalty box like that it's very useful, but when you see him try and get involved in play anywhere else on the pitch he's all over the shop. I don't think we can rely on him in a game where we're needing to be defensive and sensible in possession but he'll be handy for us this season. 

[Swello]

I felt that last season, we were an incredibly soft touch at times - one of the more pleasing aspects for me yesterday was the way that we competed physically with Killie (who always struck me as a really strong unit last season).

It's clearly early days and I could change my mind but I think Gordon could be one of the signings of the season (St Johnstone seem to produce the highest quality rejects) - he might be limited to being a bit of an old school centre half but that is *exactly* what we've been needing...

[capt_oats]

18 minutes ago, well fan for life said:

We more than deserved to go through yesterday, but it wasn't perfect. This Robinson/Wilson/Miller attacking trio is absolute garbage and doesn't work at all. I think Miller's an excellent player but we've stuck him in a position akin to the Bermuda Triangle. Wilson is a reasonable option at left back (a couple of brain farts aside) but he's not an attacking midfielder. Robinson is a good player but he is looking more like he's never going to score for us with each game. 

Once we brought on Tony Watt and Maswanhise we looked so much better. The latter was great fun to watch and had me entertained by a player for the first time in a long time. 

In fairness, I think Kettlewell has spoken about how the Wilson/Miller thing has been a case of needs must.

I mean, you can ask the question of whether we'd have been better served changing the shape to something that suited the players available better but ultimately if we're trying to bed the team in to a shape (like it or not) then I get that trying it out is probably the first option rather than ripping things up.

I think the signings of Watt and Maswanhise are evidence of it not being a long term thing. Whether Stuparević is any good remains to be seen but he's also closer to coming back than the likes of Nicholson, Callachan and Paton so that's 3 options to drop in there. 

Also, I think folk have kind of lost the run of themselves with the whole "we're trying to make Miller a #10 to increase his transfer value" narrative.

6 minutes ago, well fan for life said:

I'm totally fine with him btw. If he continues to turn up in the penalty box like that it's very useful, but when you see him try and get involved in play anywhere else on the pitch he's all over the shop. I don't think we can rely on him in a game where we're needing to be defensive and sensible in possession but he'll be handy for us this season. 

I was thinking about this yesterday and from the body of work we've seen it feels like Ebiye is built to be chucked on with 20 mins to go and cause a bit of chaos with him popping up and sticking the ball in the net but he's not someone that we'll get the best out of by starting either on his own are as part of a pair.

[Ludo*1]

How's Robinson getting on?

Still a quality hold up man, that's got all the attributes to do well in the game but lacking the finishing touch and can't finish his dinner?

[Handsome_Devil]

The reaction to the County game was ott and it was said at the time there was a visible path, through a couple of creative signings and a couple of tweaks, to being competent enough this season.

The last week suggests SK might be open enough to have a wander down it... though similarly if he's so stubborn we end up persisting with Halliday, Miller out of position, our winger getting only 10 minutes, Paton playing every minute when fit etc etc, you wouldn't be hugely surprised either.

Agree totally @Swello that Gordon is an excellent signing. We needed a leader of men in the middle of the back three, and went out and signed an established one for this league. An excellent move so long as we don't contrive to injure him as well!

[Handsome_Devil]

1 minute ago, Ludo*1 said:

How's Robinson getting on?

Still a quality hold up man, that's got all the attributes to do well in the game but lacking the finishing touch and can't finish his dinner?

I fear you're over-egging his abilities, or at least his consistency in showing them...he certainly has excellent moments and in time I could see him suddenly clicking and being a good player for someone. But I think this might be a few years off.

[ropy]

Get your Well Society Board votes in - deadline midday.

[Ludo*1]

6 minutes ago, Handsome_Devil said:

I fear you're over-egging his abilities, or at least his consistency in showing them...he certainly has excellent moments and in time I could see him suddenly clicking and being a good player for someone. But I think this might be a few years off.

In his first 6 months with us, albeit at a lower level, he was absolutely fantastic for us. Movement, speed, energy, strength - he had it all. He came back on loan after initially being recalled and didn't look as good, but formed a fantastic partnership with Jakubiak and he was one of the main reasons we got promoted.

He then just seemed to not be the same player under Docherty. He wasn't really given a chance in his natural role, but looked pretty uninterested at RW and just slipped down the pecking order and when he did get a chance it was usually in a position he wasn't familiar with and he looked completely bereft of confidence.

Wanted us to keep him as there's definitely a quality player in there, but maybe starting to not live up to his promise which would be disappointing as I thought there was a fantastic prospect.

[witchfindergeneral]

17 hours ago, YassinMoutaouakil said:

Robinson plays upfront like Harry Paton would

I said this to ma pals against County haha. Got great feet in tight spaces and can run with the ball, but as soon as he gets near the box he has a brain fart

[witchfindergeneral]

In an ideal world where everyone miraculously recovers from their injuries and everyone is match fit, how does Kettlewell pick his line up? 

                     Oxborough

SOD, McGinn, Gordon, Casey, Seddon

          Miller,  Zdravkovski, Slattery

         Stamatelopoulos, Watt

 

Bench: Hegyi, Kaleta, Balmer, Wilson, Paton, Halliday, Stuparevic, Moses, Robinson?

This would leave out: Blaney, Koutroumbis, Callachan, Sparrow, Nicholson & Maswanhise.

You'd like to think the likes of Ferrie, Ross etc will get loans but at this rate we may need to loan out some senior guys as well

           

[MurrayWell]

I still think Wilson might get another loan. Fair bit of chat yesterday that we're looking to bring in another LB and midfield option. I'd absolutely not leave Maswanhise out of the matchday squad given his impact yesterday, looks like he'll certainly give us another option in attack, something completely different to what we have already. 

[Richie]

First Half was a bit if a non-event, but after we made the subs in the second half we looked pretty decent.

Watt and Maswanhise both provided a bit of spark and hope for a bit more attacking intent.

Killie offered nothing for the vast majority of the game and from the point Vassell came on until we scored literally every attack was them launching the ball to Vassell. Mopped up easily as all we had to do was sit a player in front and behind him and they were nullified.

Was a bit frustrated at us sitting in after the goal.

We had Killie on the ropes and started inviting an equaliser and putting ourselves under pressure towards the end. We seemed to forget we had an extra man.

Edited August 19 by Richie

[Cedrics Mighty Well Army]

So, did Killie sneak on an extra one?

"Only up to five nominated substitutes for any one Club/club may Play in a Match, except in the event that Extra Time is played in any Match, where in such case a Club shall be permitted to use an additional substitute, a sixth in total, during such period of Extra Time."

['WellDel]

1 hour ago, MurrayWell said:

I think that's really unfair, the fact he's in those positions is because he is good at reading the game and actually a very decent penalty box striker. Plenty of strikers have made careers out of being in the right place at the right time and finishing first time. 

'All that striker does is score goals' is a problem I'm happy to have. Not directly aimed at you here, but we have folk in the stands very vocally moaning about players not shooting first time and the guy that does that is also getting a hard time? 

 

1 hour ago, well fan for life said:

I'm totally fine with him btw. If he continues to turn up in the penalty box like that it's very useful, but when you see him try and get involved in play anywhere else on the pitch he's all over the shop. I don't think we can rely on him in a game where we're needing to be defensive and sensible in possession but he'll be handy for us this season. 

In agreement here. He's not someone who's going to be overly effective dropping deep and trying to link the play, he just doesn't have it in his armoury. One pass bounced off him yesterday that made it look like he's been attending the Cyriel Dessers school of ball control, but that's just not his game.

In and around the box waiting to get on the end of things is what he's good at, as his return so far already shows. There were a fair few balls fired in yesterday before he came on that no-one gambled on that I think he could well have taken advantage of. I can see him more often than not remaining as an impact sub, but I can easily see him recording double figures over the season. That'll do for me.

[well fan for life]

5 minutes ago, 'WellDel said:

I can see him more often than not remaining as an impact sub, but I can easily see him recording double figures over the season. That'll do for me.

Looking forward to punting him for £2 million in July. 

[Dosser1886]

Just now, 'WellDel said:

 There were a fair few balls fired in yesterday before he came on that no-one gambled on that I think he could well have taken advantage of.

Totally agree, if he doesn't much else if he is able to make those runs into the box, that we were crying out for yesterday, he'll do us a turn.

On Robinson still really early to make any decision on him, he puts in a shift in and gives defenders a hard time closing them down. A few times sgainst County and yesterday he managed to get the better of the defender, win the ball back and set up attacks. Neither him or Moses are guys for us to be humping high balls up to expecting them to win the ball in the air. Been mentioned previously, hopefully he scores a couple, gets his confidence up and cracks on.

[witchfindergeneral]

16 minutes ago, MurrayWell said:

I still think Wilson might get another loan. Fair bit of chat yesterday that we're looking to bring in another LB and midfield option. I'd absolutely not leave Maswanhise out of the matchday squad given his impact yesterday, looks like he'll certainly give us another option in attack, something completely different to what we have already. 

Maswanhise needs to be involved every game but we all know what Ketts is like.

I would hope Wilson doesn't go out, he's looked good for the most part and certainly looks like he'll still get plenty of minutes rotating with Seddon, who should be first choice LB eventually. Plus budget reasons, we don't need to be paying the extra wages of some EPL youth player.