Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[Casagolda]

He's looked alright so far, not sure I'd have given him a 2 year deal based on what I've seen but you've got to say McGhee's signings have all looked pretty good so far.

Got to trust his judgment I suppose.

Edited August 10, 2016 by Casagolda

[Swello]

I also get the impression that we use 2 year deals to make up for a relatively shite wage. We are light in midfield, so this is a sensible (if not very exciting) signing...

[Gianfranco]

I wonder if thats Lucas had it then?

He seems steady enough and only being 24 has time to improve.

[capt_oats]

I wonder if thats Lucas had it then?

He seems steady enough and only being 24 has time to improve.

Lucas on the bench tonight.

[Gianfranco]

Lucas on the bench tonight.

Yeah I seen that. Chalmers starting as well which gives me the fear.

[Desp]

When's the next race night/charity night type thing at Fir Park? 

Need to make sure Joe Chalmers isn't there.  I don't want him winning another 2-year contract in the fucking prize raffle.  

I've never seen a player look so terrified when the ball is near him, and so utterly clueless with it.  He'll be playing junior level, at best, in three years time. 

[capt_oats]

You do wonder how many more chances Chalmers is going to get. To date McGhee's already played Johnson at left back ahead of him and, whether he was being flippant or not, has said publicly that he still didn't really know what his best position was (having worked with him for close to a year). Looking back to last season his last start was the clusterfuck at Tynecastle. In fact he made 11 league starts last season 2 were the ICT and United games when Ainsworth was suspended and 8 were the period just as Bara was on his road out and McGhee came in when Hammell was injured. So he was barely near the park from 16th January onwards.

I get that he's contracted and he's still got a year to run and McGhee seems to have been trying to fit him in recently using him as a utility player but really everything seems to point to McGhee not being particularly convinced by him. As it stands, for the most part it's looking like his role for the rest of the season is likely to be "unused substitute". It genuinely seems like it's simply a case of marking time 'til his contract expires.

[Judge Jules]

Joe Chalmers is just another symptom of the Baraclough disease that almost crippled our club. Throwing contracts at players just because they were available was always going to be a disaster. Similar to what Clark is doing at Killie now and look how it's working out for him. 

[thisGRAEME]

Re Chalmers:

It's not even that he's bad, it's more that I genuinely can't even understand how he's making a living out of being a footballer. I realise that it's something that's bandied about a fair bit about players being 'that bad', but legitimately, I have no idea how he gets paid. Can't pass, can't tackle, can't head, can't shoot, barely even looks like he can run, to be totally honest. 

None of that is even hyperbole. The only things he did last night were batter into a 50/50 and swing a cross that was too high in. He played 90 minutes. I'd happily pick anyone off this thread to start ahead of him, and I don't think they'd offer any less than he did. I really hope he has some sort of back-up career in the pipeline.

[Indyboy]

A bad error by Samson. Doesn't seem capable of putting the ball either side of him when saving a shot.

Time to give Brill a chance against Sevco 5508 next Saturday. Not sure if a one mistake and your out policy is a good way for a change but just don't trust him.

[capt_oats]

A bad error by Samson. Doesn't seem capable of putting the ball either side of him when saving a shot.

Time to give Brill a chance against Sevco 5508 next Saturday. Not sure if a one mistake and your out policy is a good way for a change but just don't trust him.

I'm not sure McGhee will chuck Brill in against Sevco but the general point re: Samson is totally valid. I've never really understood why we signed him in the first place last season and was even more confused as to why he elected to stick about this year given we actively chose to extend Ripley's loan deal rather than playing him.

Either way McGhee's been fair with Samson, he had been at the club, waited for his shot (7 months or something to make his debut) and seemingly signed on the basis that he'd be first choice. McGhee seemed to modify that by saying he'd "start" the season as first choice but you do wonder what his line is in terms of dropping him. The fact he brought in another experienced keeper in Brill suggests to me that he was expecting to use him at some point.

McGhee wasn't slow to drop guys like Laing or Kennedy and wasn't shy in highlighting Ainsworth's faults so it'll be interesting to see how he deals with Samson. Notable that he acknowledged the error in his post match interview but didn't hang him out to dry by any stretch.

[killiemilan]

On 8/11/2016 at 11:32, Judge Jules said:

Joe Chalmers is just another symptom of the Baraclough disease that almost crippled our club. Throwing contracts at players just because they were available was always going to be a disaster. Similar to what Clark is doing at Killie now and look how it's working out for him. 

You were saying re Killie?

[Judge Jules]

You narrowly beat the team who will be rooted to the bottom of the league this season. Calm down. You'll still be locked in a fight with us to avoid the playoffs come the end of the season. 

[YassinMoutaouakil]

You were saying re Killie?

A 2-1 win against Hamilton Looks like Lee Clark and his galactico policy has proved us all wrong.

[killiemilan]

2 minutes ago, YassinMoutaouakil said:

A 2-1 win against Hamilton Looks like Lee Clark and his galactico policy has proved us all wrong.

Given how shite we are that was a major result for Killie.

More interesting is what a wee bit of confidence can do for a team.Look at how low Well were we we defeated you last season and how high you were after a few wins a month later? 

[capt_oats]

I know the tweet about him actually having signed has been debunked as a wind up but the Nottingham Post is linking Laing with a move to Notts County (the story went up before the other guy's tweet). http://www.nottinghampost.com/is-former-nottingham-forest-defender-louis-laing-on-his-way-back-to-notts-county/story-29618526-detail/story.html

Erm...aye:

 

Edited August 15, 2016 by capt_oats

[Ron Aldo]

I know the tweet about him actually having signed has been debunked as a wind up but the Nottingham Post is linking Laing with a move to Notts County (the story went up before the other guy's tweet). http://www.nottinghampost.com/is-former-nottingham-forest-defender-louis-laing-on-his-way-back-to-notts-county/story-29618526-detail/story.html

Erm...aye:

 

Confirmed that he's joined them on loan until January.

[Desp]

Can't really grumble.  He wasn't really in the picture, was he?

A shame though, as I felt there was a player in there.  When he first came in, I thought he done a decent job alongside McManus at centre-half, but the game at East Fife seemed to finish him.

A second coming months later at right back looked promising, with a good performance at home to Partick and a winner at NDP, but sadly he got done by injury.

I wish him all the best, a wee bit of luck here or there could have seen him become a good player for this club.  I doubt we'll see him in a 'Well jersey again.

[capt_oats]

Just now, Desp said:

Can't really grumble.  He wasn't really in the picture, was he?

A shame though, as I felt there was a player in there.  When he first came in, I thought he done a decent job alongside McManus at centre-half, but the game at East Fife seemed to finish him.

A second coming months later at right back looked promising, with a good performance at home to Partick and a winner at NDP, but sadly he got done by injury.

I wish him all the best, a wee bit of luck here or there could have seen him become a good player for this club.  I doubt we'll see him in a 'Well jersey again.

^^^^ Pretty much this. Agree that there's definitely a player in there if he can get a run of games in a settled side. I'd imagine County will sign him permanently in January if he's not broken again by then.

McGhee seemed to suggest in his press conference last week that there was loan interest in a couple of our players (clearly Laing was one) I wonder who else is on the road out. That's a fair number of Baraclough's permanent signings moved on now.

[well fan for life]

^^^^ Pretty much this. Agree that there's definitely a player in there if he can get a run of games in a settled side. I'd imagine County will sign him permanently in January if he's not broken again by then.

McGhee seemed to suggest in his press conference last week that there was loan interest in a couple of our players (clearly Laing was one) I wonder who else is on the road out. That's a fair number of Baraclough's permanent signings moved on now.

Now if we could only get rid of Chalmers...