Motherwell Crocked 11 v League Cup Finalist Perth Saints 20 Feb

['WellDel]

Having so many of our least pish players out/suspended is a massive worry, as the most pish ones who will have to fill in are, well, pish. 

St Johnstone will limit space and be very compact. I just don't see us creating much at all. There will also be several in the Saints' ranks going all out to stake their claim for a cup final place. Taking our threadbare and fragile defence into account as well, another very tough afternoon is on the cards.

Given the fairly precarious league positions of both sides, this could prove to be a pivotal game in the season. A win either way pushes that team to safety, while dropping the loser firmly back into the mire. 

From a 'Well perspective, I'm in the bricking it camp. 

[ropy]

I am happy to see the thunderdome brought to life, and see if these cup finalists like it up them. 

[Zamora Fan]

Think Middleton is cup-tied for the final.

Ah hah, as you were then: Wotherspoon, Melamed, Kane. Get Wotherspoon running at the young jobber being hung out to dry at RB for ‘Well

[PauloPerth]

Strongest team for me. Only players to be rested should be those carrying slight injuries to ensure full recovery.

Its an important league match, plus the final is 8 days away so need to keep the touch and sharpness up.

Might be 5-3-2 for this, which has worked well against teams around us in the league the past 6 weeks.

Not falling for the Motherwell 'got the fear of a hiding here' chat in the slightest!

[capt_oats]

6 minutes ago, PauloPerth said:

Not falling for the Motherwell 'got the fear of a hiding here' chat in the slightest!

We're missing our first choice and back up right back, our first choice and back up right sided centre back and are likely to be starting Ricki Lamie.

We've been chucking penalties out like sweeties to anyone who wants them.

This has 'complete shitshow' written all over it.

Edited February 18, 2021 by capt_oats

[well fan for life]

Can't wait to see Maguire thrown back to centre half since that worked out really well last time he done it against St Johnstone.

So we're likely either going to crowbar a midfielder in to centre back or right back. The alternative is to throw a 17 year old in which is a big roll of the dice.

Our only way of getting anything is to hope that Saints have a collective shocker and throw in a couple of goals.

[RandomGuy.]

12 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

This has 'complete shitshow' written all over it.

Fully fit squad preparing for Cup Final v injury ridden squad who were hammered by Hamilton last week.

You're absolutely winning this by a couple, I'm afraid.

[capt_oats]

8 minutes ago, well fan for life said:

Can't wait to see Maguire thrown back to centre half since that worked out really well last time he done it against St Johnstone.

So we're likely either going to crowbar a midfielder in to centre back or right back. The alternative is to throw a 17 year old in which is a big roll of the dice.

Our only way of getting anything is to hope that Saints have a collective shocker and throw in a couple of goals.

There's a chance we could go full Odd Future and chuck the bold Tyler in at right back and hope that his shakiness last week was just down to him not expecting to be getting on the park.

Edited February 18, 2021 by capt_oats

[MJC]

It’ll be an utter shiftfest which we’ll scrape by the odd goal. Probably.

[welldaft]

1 hour ago, MJC said:

It’ll be an utter shiftfest which we’ll scrape by the odd goal. Probably.

Bring back the old MJC..actually don’t. 

I would bite your hand off for a shitfest win.

The only way to ensure we don’t lose is for me to put a few bob on a St Johnstone win. I am seriously considering doing it as the last time I won a bet was when Willie Pettigrew was playing for us. Sorry Perth Saints I just have to do it. 

 

[PauloPerth]

2 hours ago, capt_oats said:

We've been chucking penalties out like sweeties to anyone who wants them.

Not fucking us!!!!

You obviously haven’t seen our penalty record over the past 4-5 seasons.

Steven Maclean, David Wotherspoon, Liam Craig, Stevie May, Danny Swanson, Tony Watt, Matt Kennedy, Scott Tanser have all missed penalties for us in the league over the past 4-5 seasons or so.

Some more than once.  Sometimes a couple of missed penalties in a match (different takers).

 

[capt_oats]

18 minutes ago, PauloPerth said:

Not fucking us!!!!

[tree house tam]

Good times. When Stevie May actually had an impact on a game.

Edited February 19, 2021 by tree house tam

[Radford]

It's times like these that having the smallest budget in the league and only being able to afford 35 players really hurts some clubs. 

[welldaft]

28 minutes ago, Radford said:

It's times like these that having the smallest budget in the league and only being able to afford 35 players really hurts some clubs. 

I can almost taste the bitterness. You will be glad to know that of the 27 players we brought in during January. One Liam Kelly has played a full game and for most well fans we literally don’t know where the others are. 

If we did not have a squad of 35 we would not be able to field a team of adults right now and even then we might be starting a 17 yr old at right back. 

And to think I would have been favouring the Farmers over Franchise FC next weekend

 

Edited February 19, 2021 by welldaft

[welldaft]

8 hours ago, capt_oats said:

What surprises me about that clip is that you rarely see Bevis making that kind of mistake
Edit to add - as nice a man as he is

Edited February 19, 2021 by welldaft

[RandomGuy.]

56 minutes ago, Radford said:

It's times like these that having the smallest budget in the league and only being able to afford 35 players really hurts some clubs. 

You've just got to #LiveLaughLove through it #AsOne.

[crazylegsjoe_mfc]

That injury list looks hideous as it is but it also neglects to mention the fact that Nolan has been nowhere to be seen since he signed, Big Weird Harry wasn't on the bench last week and Seedorf (as ineffectual as he is) hasn't been on the bench for a few games either and after one sub appearance for a few minutes we've not heard of Foley's whereabouts either.

Do we think it'll definitely be O'Hara and Lamie, or is there a chance Magloire will start? Admittedly, I have no opinion on him thus far due to the fact the telly was aff by the time he came on last week 

[capt_oats]

39 minutes ago, crazylegsjoe_mfc said:

That injury list looks hideous as it is but it also neglects to mention the fact that Nolan has been nowhere to be seen since he signed, Big Weird Harry wasn't on the bench last week and Seedorf (as ineffectual as he is) hasn't been on the bench for a few games either and after one sub appearance for a few minutes we've not heard of Foley's whereabouts either.

Do we think it'll definitely be O'Hara and Lamie, or is there a chance Magloire will start? Admittedly, I have no opinion on him thus far due to the fact the telly was aff by the time he came on last week 

I found myself re-watching the 2nd half of last week's game after I'd mentioned the bold Tyler as an option yesterday and aside from the general fucking hell about the result - O'Hara went to centre back when Mugabi went off. It was interesting that once the game was pretty much gone after the 3rd went in and Magloire came on we shifted to a back 3 and we were roughly 342 it seemed relevant as Alexander's pretty much stuck exclusively with the 433 (even when Polworth had his wee tantrum at Pittodrie we kept the front 3 on).

Also, it's worth saying that taking the score out the equation - Watt and Cole were v.good again.

Alexander still feels such an unknown quantity as a manager and we've heard as little about the January signings that it really is a case of "f**k knows" what we'll do. I mean, does Eddie Nolan even exist? You can at least say we've seen Smith, Magloire, Roberts and Foley on the park in one form or another since they signed.

For all Mugabi and Lamie are objectively a pretty rotten pairing they'd at least been playing together fairly regularly enough that dropping a new guy in at right back might have been manageable with 3 of a reasonably settled back 4 but depending on what the situation is with injuries + SOD's suspension there a decent chance it could be a bunch of players in our back line who have never started a game together.

Edited February 19, 2021 by capt_oats

[Kyle]

1 hour ago, welldaft said:

I can almost taste the bitterness. You will be glad to know that of the 27 players we brought in during January. One Liam Kelly has played a full game and for most well fans we literally don’t know where the others are. 

If we did not have a squad of 35 we would not be able to field a team of adults right now and even then we might be starting a 17 yr old at right back. 

And to think I would have been favouring the Farmers over Franchise FC next weekend

 

I don't think it's bitterness, it's just a strange fable that Motherwell have a small budget when they clearly don't. A squad of 38 (I know injuries have played a part in that) I think it was at last count with several Scotland caps and other Internationals , Polworth and Gallagher turned down good offers from us to sign for you, Watt was highly paid - possibly our highest paid player - with us and only got paid more when he moved onto that Bulgarian side. I can't imagine he'll have lowered his demands much when coming back to Scotland again either.

Its Motherwell's money and if they can afford it as I'm sure they can given the player sales over recent years then crack on, but I think it's pretty disingenious to claim a small budget when the evidence is clearly stacked the other way.

In terms of this match, I'd happily take whatever we can get from it. Next Sunday is far more important but we've already shown we're capable of going to Fir Park and getting a result this season. I'd say it's quite a difficult balance for Davidson to strike in terms of team selection here, I don't want to see players being unnecessarily risked but we're not out of the woods yet in terms of relegation. On balance, I'd probably go for whatever Davidson deems our strongest squad, minus Murray Davidson, who I'd give half an hour to later in the game.