Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[Mr Hahn]

As far as I'm concerned, O'Halloran is a pretty good player at this level so in terms of an addition to the squad, I'm happy enough.

I take the points being made about loaning him from them when we've little chance of getting him long term and selling him on. From this angle it only makes sense to me if Ainsworth is being sold this window, otherwise it's a silly deal particularly if we're paying a large chunk of the wages.

[Costanza]

MOH could play on the left or up front, he featured for us there from time to time. Indeed he played up front at Ibrox in the game that effectively got him his move. His most obvious position is on the right though.

Opinion pretty split amongst Saints fans but I'd take him back. He did have a purple patch Sept - Dec 2015 but he played well before then. Was important part of cup final winning side, had Croft been fit for semi final history might have been very different.

[Londonwell]

Reported on BBC radio there that we've submitted an offer for him. Going by McGhee's comments in the presser, no real surprise I guess.

[capt_oats]

There's yer Jake Hastie extending his deal. Genuinely happy about this one as he's been consistently one of the best players for the 20s this year.

http://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/2017/01/20/hastie-pens-well-extension/

 

[Ya Bezzer!]

There has to be an over reaching future strategy (ie developing youth players and keeping to a sensible budget) but that has to be balanced against finishing as high up the league as possible in any given season because if we are relegated then that future plan is suddenly in serious danger.

So there is absolutely nothing wrong with bringing in loan players as long as they improve the squad and don't hamper the development of youth players. 

In case people have forgotten we are a club who is going to have to battle very very hard to stay in the top division, this season and probably even more so in the foreseeable future, and if we can bring in a bit of extra quality for 6 months going into the business end of the season then I don't see where the problem is.

 

[YassinMoutaouakil]

I'm not convinced O'Halloran is a better option than Ainsworth tbh.

[Ludo*1]

I'd be happy if you signed O'Halloran and then we could take Ainsworth of your hands. That'd be nice.

[thepundit]

6 hours ago, mjw said:

There's some in the support who question the logic of loaning a player from a rival club for half a season knowing the chances of making the deal are slim to f**k all.

Why would it matter what club you loaned him from if he can help you win football games?.....

The real question should be would you loan a player at the expense of one of your own players getting a game?..

I'm not a huge fan of loan signings but I don't think any fan is. Unfortunately it's necessary though, and that includes Rangers.

[mjw]

The real question should be would you loan a player at the expense of one of your own players getting a game?..

Which is pretty much the discussion that was going on until the troll decided to hijack it for some attention.

[thepundit]

23 minutes ago, mjw said:

Which is pretty much the discussion that was going on until the troll decided to hijack it for some attention.

Fair enough. 

Personally I do think O'Hallaron would certainly have something to offer at 'Well. He's shown glimpses of being an excellent player but IMO his specialty is running onto through balls and getting it into the box. He can't do that at Rangers because teams sit so deep it's almost impossible. 

[capt_oats]

I'm not convinced O'Halloran is a better option than Ainsworth tbh.

I had posted this over on Steelmen, it's not meant as a defence of Ainsworth per se.

13/14 - LA: 11 MOH: 2

14/15 - LA: 9 MOH: 10

15/16 - LA: 3 MOH: 7

16/17 - LA: 3 MOH: 0

Ainsworth - 126 games - 26 goals

O'Halloran - 121 games - 19 goals

Make of that what you will.

I think on balance that O'Halloran is probably a more adaptable player than Ainsworth in that he *could* play up top or on the left but still unless Ainsworth is likely to be moving on (and I can't see us wanting to punt him to another team in Scotland) then ending up with a squad that includes Cadden, Ainsworth, O'Halloran and Ross MacLean seems pretty lop-sided.

Either way, point is that Ainsworth's scored more goals than O'Halloran in roughly the same amount of games.

Unless we'd get O'Halloran for less than we're paying Ainsworth it just seems a bit daft given Cadden's got the right midfield position locked down.

If the plan is to go baws oot 433 with Cadden playing centrally then it's not a bad looking side.

Samson

Tait Heneghan McManus ?

Cadden McHugh Clay/Lucas

O'Halloran Moult McDonald

Edit: Right, these quotes from McGhee seem weird. He's saying we'd be interested if he's available, but we don't know if he's available. Other clubs are likely to be in for him as well so we don't know if we'd get him, even if he was available. Which we don't know.

"He said: “We would jump at the chance of taking Michael but I think most clubs in the Premiership would.

“We don’t know where that’s going yet but we’re interested.""

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport/15038801.Rangers_forward_Michael_O__39_Halloran_would_flourish_at_Motherwell_says_Mark_McGhee/

[Casagolda]

Anyone see McGhee's post match interview today?

I mean f**k me, I thought I was annoyed about today. What a concerning interview, surprised the club have put that up to be honest. McGhee looks like a broken man on the verge of chucking it. 

 

Edited January 21, 2017 by Casagolda

[YassinMoutaouakil]

Anyone see McGhee's post match interview today?

I mean f**k me, I thought I was annoyed about today. What a concerning interview, surprised the club have put that up to be honest. McGhee looks like a broken man on the verge of chucking it. 
 

Aye I'm all for fan engagement but I don't think anybody would complain if we let him away with not doing an interview after that. Feel for McGhee though, he got his tactics spot on for the most part only for our best defender to lose the plot in the 89th minute.

[capt_oats]

Fucking hell...that's a pretty brutal interview.

[Casagolda]

Forgot to say yesterday that apparently we have Kieron Cadogan on trial as well this/last week.

 Another winger, take from that what you will. However I suppose given the unlikelihood of the O'Halloran deal and the fact the deal for Frear seems to be stalling it looks like we're keeping our options open. Certainly need something, surely to f**k we canny go into next weeks game with Joe Chalmers on the left wing again.

Also speaking of left wingers, good to see Dom Thomas take his tally for Queens to 3 in 3. Seems to be full of confidence and is getting rave reviews from there fans, looks like this loan spell is exactly what he needed. Which is what most of us have been saying for the last year. 

[weemac]

Just had a quick Google of cadogan and noticed that he was at Crystal Palace as a youth and then moved to Aldershot.
I'm sure that was the career path of another well "legend"

[Ludo*1]

We had Cadogan on trial last season. He's not the best.

[Casagolda]

To be fair I'm not sure he's the main target, I believe he's very much the Nathan Thomas to Elliot Frear's Marvin Johnson in this particular scenario. Frear is the main target but we're not sure we're actually going get him so we're looking at alternative options. Was just told he'd been training with the club and seen a picture of him on the bench at Ibrox pre-match yesterday. 

Seems to have been a promising youngster at Palace and even scored on his first team debut but his career has quickly nosedived since. Being released by Conference side Barnet, being rejected by Dundee and ending up playing in the Swedish 2nd tier doesn't exactly scream quality but there's no harm in having a look I suppose.

As I said, still think the boy Frear is the main target but something seems to be holding the deal up. McGhee did say he was looking to get a couple more in, looks like at least one is winger but maybe he's looking for a couple. Not sure where else he's going to be strengthening unless someone leaves. I mean we could do with a new first choice keeper and some decent cover for an injury prone Hammell but given McGhee's fondness for Samson and Chalmers return from injury I can't see either of those being on the cards.  

Although there's murmurs that McDonald's omission yesterday wasn't entirely injury related and with yet another goal/impressive display from Moult perhaps we're expecting a striking departure? Certainly should be an interesting final week of the window, hopefully see a couple come in but I wouldn't be surprised to see one or two depart as well.

Edited January 22, 2017 by Casagolda

[capt_oats]

McDonald's "back injury" aside I'm interested to see who actually moves, Brill has already been out on trial, it seems clear that Ainsworth is unlikely to be involved as anything other than an impact sub at best while Alan Burrows indicated on the podcast last week that we were looking to address the the left side and mentioned about McMillan being naturally right sided so I'd have thought that could mean we'd be looking at left backs as well as guys like Frear.

The O'Halloran thing seemed to be blown up into more than it was. The reality being more along the lines of "he's a player we'd be interested in if he was available" rather than us actually having a bid in for him.

Something else of note was Burrows' point that they'd be looking to loan out a few of the best 20s who hadn't broken through to the first team yet. I'd be curious to know which we'd be looking to get a loan club for. I'd imagine we'd have been waiting til after the quarter final was done today to sort that out.

Realistically though we could be looking at needing a goalkeeper (for Brill), a left back (because we need one), left mid/winger (because we need one) and a right mid (for Ainsworth). That's actually a fair bit of shopping.

[thisGRAEME]

Everyone else still seething, aye?