Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[MJC]

4 minutes ago, Savage Henry said:

In complete fairness, Ross County are top of the league. It’s a shocker, given how bad County have been lately, but County have won more games than they’ve lost.

That's not an excuse for us, though no doubt it will be one that Stephen Robinson uses. We have seen this type of performance several times this season and nothing changes. Hamilton, St.Johnstone, Livingston, Hearts and Kilmarnock have all came to Fir Park this season and completely nullified us and all of them apart from Livingston who got a draw, have left Fir Park with maximum points so it was no surprise to see Ross County win today. We have learned absolutely nothing since the beginning of the season and we are in danger of whimpering into the playoffs or even worse.

[MJC]

10 minutes ago, Patrick Bateman said:

Behave FFS.

We are rank rotten and have managed to scrape our way out of the bottom two places due to other sides being less shite than we are. There is no certainty that we will get away with that all season, but there are very little signs that anything will improve for us unless we make drastic changes.

Relegation is a distinct possibility for this team.

[Ya Bezzer!]

We've taken 9 points from teams above us in the league this season and we are half way through the season.

Our last three results against the teams below us were a 0-1 loss to St. Mirren.  An unconvincing 1-0 win at home over Dundee and a 2-1 win against Accies were we had to come from 1 down.

If the teams below us can improve just a bit and take points off us in the second half of the season we could well be in trouble.

 

[Ya Bezzer!]

11 minutes ago, Patrick Bateman said:

That's not likely to happen though, is it?

One team? Maybe. Two or three? I wouldn't bet on it.

I'm not saying "we are going down".

But this team is definitely poor enough to find itself sweating at the end of the season.

[well fan for life]

There just seemed to be a total lack of cohesion across the whole team. Dunne's not a left back, McHugh & Turnbull didn't work well together and Johnson's completely dugmeat. We again suffered against a team happy to sit in and defend for 90 minutes as we are unable to break a team down. 

Also the ref was hilariously shite again. Not just against us either. Some of the decisions given both ways were fucking mind bending.

[thisGRAEME]

Will Motherwell ever have a competent left back ever again? 

I'll go with no.

[well fan for life]

2 minutes ago, thisGRAEME said:

Will Motherwell ever have a competent left back ever again? 

I'll go with no.

The next logical step is to perform an exorcism on the number 3 jersey.

[Busta Nut]

We can't play one striker.

 

Even with McCormack in the support role, f**k that. Get him up front along side someone.

Robinson is on the youtube shouting about needing a target man get that chat to f**k. Stop lumping it ya fucking weapon.

[well fan for life]

1 minute ago, Busta Nut said:

We can't play one striker.

 

Even with McCormack in the support role, f**k that. Get him up front along side someone.

Robinson is on the youtube shouting about needing a target man get that chat to f**k. Stop lumping it ya fucking weapon.

100%. Johnson's not the answer, Sammon is Sammon and Main is questionable. 

I almost wonder if we'd have made more sense today by dropping Johnson, pushing the two wingers forward to and starting Campbell. Line up in a 4-3-3.

[Ron Aldo]

I liked the look of Ariyibi. The only issue is he looks as if he might be a football player which doesn't really fit in with our style.

I reckon Mccormack touched the ball about 3 times today, one of which was him hitting a free kick.

Charles Dunne is never a left back. Terrible on the ball and generally just hits it whichever way he's facing. Same could be said about Peter Hartley.

I was really looking forward to that game today but despite a three week break we seem to have got worse. Despite that I'm sure myself, and a few other, will be daft enough to sit through it again on Wednesday night.

[Jim McLean's Ghost]

Absolutely no evidence we did any training while in Tenerife. Looked more like the squad had been away on a lads holiday drinking beer and eating take aways. Ariyibi won the head tennis comp so he got to start today.

 

[Busta Nut]

52 minutes ago, well fan for life said:

100%. Johnson's not the answer, Sammon is Sammon and Main is questionable. 

I almost wonder if we'd have made more sense today by dropping Johnson, pushing the two wingers forward to and starting Campbell. Line up in a 4-3-3.

Main is worse than Sammon.

[MJC]

1 hour ago, Jim McLean's Ghost said:

Absolutely no evidence we did any training while in Tenerife. Looked more like the squad had been away on a lads holiday drinking beer and eating take aways. Ariyibi won the head tennis comp so he got to start today.

 

As someone who found the fact that our players interacted with the support more via social media quite refreshing to start with, I have to say it's worrying me more now. Because it seems that there is more emphasis placed on 'chats over a coffee' and head tennis in Tenerife than actually putting a competent footballing side on the park. 

[Jim McLean's Ghost]

22 minutes ago, MJC said:

As someone who found the fact that our players interacted with the support more via social media quite refreshing to start with, I have to say it's worrying me more now. Because it seems that there is more emphasis placed on 'chats over a coffee' and head tennis in Tenerife than actually putting a competent footballing side on the park. 

I'm tired of watching us fail at basics every week. And I'm not talking about passing, I am talking about basic tactics.

What is our plan for attacking throw ins? A plan for freekicks? 5 minutes to make a sub because the coaching staff need to read the sub a binder explaining things.  Shouldn't the players know this stuff before the game?

We had one move in the first half where we worked it and McHugh had a pass to Frear which would set him up against his man. Instead he turns around and passes it back insisde. Robinson had been talking about playing wingers all winter break. Is McHugh not following instructions? Happened in the 2nd half with Tait open on the right but the ball never went there despite several players having the chance. There is no game plan and no consistency. I guess trying to make coherent passing moves is harder than just playing hoofball.

I can't even fathom what we do in training. How much time did we spend on that McHugh, Turnbull midfield?  Was it the plan for Turnbull to be picking up the ball in our own half - What is the out ball there? He can't pass it forward to himself. Danny Johnson isn't a threat over the top. Frear and Ariyibi couldn't win a header to save themselves. There is nothing on for us in that position and it happened again and again today.

The best that can be said for McCormack today is that he stood near Ross Draper in the first half. In the second half with 2 ineffective strikers and 2 anonymous wingers we just surrendered the middle of the park.

 

 

 

 

[Gianfranco]

Season fucking over.

[fat_tony]

As someone who found the fact that our players interacted with the support more via social media quite refreshing to start with, I have to say it's worrying me more now. Because it seems that there is more emphasis placed on 'chats over a coffee' and head tennis in Tenerife than actually putting a competent footballing side on the park. 

Here we go, it's #footgolfgate number 2. [emoji23]

[Casagolda]

My head's still spinning trying to comprehend yesterday.

I don't know if Robinson underestimated County or what but that formation was mental and it was obvious we were being overrun in midfield inside the opening 20 mins. Fair does they've been on a poor run of form but they're still a full-time team who're top of the Championship, we looked like we thought all we had to do was turn up and we'd run over the top of them with our 'superior quality'. As @well fan for life for life said though there was no cohesion, it was a disjointed shambles and County looked like a far more organised and superior unit throughout.  

Dunne got absolutely roasted at left back for both goals and is utterly hopeless with the ball at this feet, if Robinson wants to play more football then full backs who are actually comfortable on the ball are a must. Turnbull looked like a fish out of water wherever he was supposed to playing, with McHugh getting dragged all over the place trying to do the job of 3 men in there. McCormack was at least about a stone overweight and nothing stuck with him and Johnson up front, although the service they got was the usual aimless high balls lumped forward. Basically it was an absolute mess and if it wasn't for Gillsespie, we could have been at least 3 or 4 down before the hour mark. 

Looking at his demeanour throughout the game and watching back his bizarre post-match interview, for me it looks like a matter of when not if for Robinson. The relationship between him and the fans that was so strong last season has almost completely broken down. Him saying he feels he needs a target man up front was a genuine WTF moment- although given he never name checked him once, I'm absolutely certain Main's tea is very much oot. Says we can't play the same direct way because we don't have the players and then name checks Carson(a goalkeeper), Bowman(started 1 of our last 10 games before he got rid of him) and Tanner(a 5'7 midfielder who's been out since February). It actually almost sounded like he was saying because he doesn't have the players to hoof it anymore, he's being forced to try and play football against his will. Before playing the victim of his own success card and seemingly just plucking a 4m figure out the sky to try and emphasise the point.

The whole thing was an absolute car crash and positively McGhee-esque; delusional, cringe-worthy and quite frankly hard to watch from a manager who I use to have a lot of time for. I think he'll get time and won't be leaving in the near future unless he walks, however it's really difficult to see where he can go from here.

[YassinMoutaouakil]

I was working yesterday but that formation and lineup looked absolutley mental to begin with. Surely a 4-4-2 where one of the central midfielders can't pass and the other one can't defend, and neither of them can run , is totally doomed to fail from the very start?  Sounds like he's totally underestimated Ross County if he thought we could overpower them by totally bypassing midfield.

[weemac]

Having watched that yesterday, I can see why Turnbull's agent allegedly doesn't want him to sign a new contract.

It's too harsh on the boy to say he's went backwards but from his early performances where he in all honesty looked about 3 steps ahead of the rest of the team he now looks to have been dragged down to their level.

It could be a confidence thing but from the outside looking in it almosts look like they are focusing so much on improving his supposed defensive weaknesses that he has lost some of the off the cuff creative ability that we were all raving about.

This isn't a dig at Turnbull by the way, more at the ethos that every bugger in the team has to win the battle before we can play.

Edited January 20, 2019 by weemac
Edited as he's probably not been drugged unless ryan bowman left him a year's supply of herbal life as a parting gift

[capt_oats]

From where I was sitting yesterday it reminded me very much of the cup game against ICT under McGhee where we benched Moult and went 4231 with McDonald as the lone striker (or target man if you will). We lost that one 2-1 as well. Some laugh like.

Yesterday was a shambles from start to finish, eleven guys playing in a shape they aren't familiar with and being asked to do things they're not comfortable with. Charlie Dunne at left back was painful viewing while you had Hartley and Aldred picking the ball up off Gillespie and...looking completely lost. That's before we get to McCormack and Johnson.

When you saw Johnson's (failed) attempts to hold the ball up then the 'target man' comment makes complete sense but if you don't actually have a target man...don't start with a system that requires one.

I get what Robinson's saying (or trying to say) in honesty. We had a style of play that was effective but while he's rhyming off the players who aren't available the fact is that other sides have long since sussed us out and what was working for us previously just leaves us completely ineffective so we're having to change up our style of play. As has already been said, it was yet another game where we looked completely incapable of breaking a team down.

If playing with 2 wingers is going to be our thing going forward we need 3 central midfielders, it's exactly the issue we had when we tried getting Johnson and Ainsworth on the park at the same time. As @well fan for life says, a 433 would have made far more sense with the players we had available yesterday.

Anyway, big ups Jake Hastie on his goal. Hopefully the first of many and that.

Edited January 20, 2019 by capt_oats