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Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons


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3 hours ago, Desp said:

Is Long an out and out striker?  If so, I'd imagine he'll settle for the three players mentioned.  Long to start, Scott as back-up and Johnson to be there if needed. 

A couple of wingers are definitely needed though.  #AnnounceGboly

Being a bit pedantic, I don’t think us leaving the #9 and #11 jerseys unclaimed is a coincidence in the slightest. Still hoping for the bold Gboly (blessed he be) to take the #11 but I’m almost certain they’re keeping the #9 for Robinson’s main striker going into the new season.

If Hartley is properly fit again and ready to go then I’m really quite happy with our defensive options going into the new season. We could maybe do with a proper Gorrin replacement, assumed it’d be Fané but pretty sure Flow said there was no real chance of that happening. But with Polworth and Sloth, as well as potentially Turnbull and Tanner all suited to play more advanced in midfield, it’d definiately be on the defensive side of midfield we’d need an extra. 

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It's v.dry but going back to Robinson's pre-Livi chat he essentially said that he wanted to give Donnelly a run of games in the holding role and work out whether we actually needed to bring someone in. I'm not sure how many games he needs before whether Donnelly if for him/not for him in that role. I'd guess that with Campbell capable of playing as a holding mid as well it wouldn't necessarily be a priority, certainly not compared to the wingers and a striker.

Fwiw: the same interview Robinson spoke about us bringing in a player who would be "an important signing" (it turned out to be Sloth) but it was framed in terms of McHugh and Ally Gorrin leaving. In that respect our Scandinavian dreamboat being a replacement for one of those two wasn't just lazy assumption on our part on here. (6 min 20s in the video below)

 

Edited by capt_oats
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I'm all for giving boys a chance but Donnelly has honestly offered nothing for the vast majority of games I have seen him in. There was one game towards the end of the season where he was 'awright' but then got moved to full back? albeit out of position he was a total bomb scare for the rest of the game.

He has decent pedigree at U21 level but I can't but help but feel like Robinson has a bit of a soft spot for the boy. Obviously this will be up to a point but I just don't really see what the guy has done to be considered a potential first team player in some sort of holding role. Obviously Robinson sees something in him that I don't, I just genuinely don't know what it is he is good at. Maybe my perception is skewed by his injuries.

Just my opinion but I would  much rather Maguire or one of the other young guys coming through were giving his spot.

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23 hours ago, Dons_1988 said:

 


In all seriousness, I don’t like interviews like that. I didn’t watch him enough to comment on the validity of what he’s saying but I have a pet peeve about people not taking responsibility for their own performances.

 

On the other hand, they say that strikers thrive on confidence and some of the most confident people I know are completely delusional about their own attributes. 

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1 hour ago, Luke92 said:

I'm all for giving boys a chance but Donnelly has honestly offered nothing for the vast majority of games I have seen him in. There was one game towards the end of the season where he was 'awright' but then got moved to full back? albeit out of position he was a total bomb scare for the rest of the game.

He has decent pedigree at U21 level but I can't but help but feel like Robinson has a bit of a soft spot for the boy. Obviously this will be up to a point but I just don't really see what the guy has done to be considered a potential first team player in some sort of holding role. Obviously Robinson sees something in him that I don't, I just genuinely don't know what it is he is good at. Maybe my perception is skewed by his injuries.

Just my opinion but I would  much rather Maguire or one of the other young guys coming through were giving his spot.

Yes and no, Luke. 

He played in midfield against Livingston on the last day and, for me, did quite well.  There was one ball he sprayed wide in the first half to set up an attack which was fucking sexual.  He then got shifted to full back for the last half hour and looked like a League 2 player.  I'll forgive him for that, though, as he's not a full back.

The thing with Donnelly though, is does any fan know what he's done or what he's got?  How many appearances did he make last season?  Did he ever start three or four in a row at any point? (one for @capt_oats). 

Like you say, he's got decent pedigree so if the gaffer feels he's worth a shot in the holding role, why not give him a run of games at it? 

I've done absolutely zero research into any of our signings this year, and up until a couple of hours ago I forgot we signed him, so what's this Sloth's game?  I had it in my mind he was a Gorrin replacement, but is this not the case?  Is he more of an attacking midfielder?

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From the few clips I have seen (basically I am basing this on nothing) I thought Sloth was more a traditional CM. Will go forward and back but won't specifically be either attacking or defensive.

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2 hours ago, CSmith said:

Being a bit pedantic, I don’t think us leaving the #9 and #11 jerseys unclaimed is a coincidence in the slightest. Still hoping for the bold Gboly (blessed he be) to take the #11 but I’m almost certain they’re keeping the #9 for Robinson’s main striker going into the new season.

Well this is now all looking quite redundant. According to the website, Long has now been given the #9

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8 minutes ago, Desp said:

Yes and no, Luke. 

He played in midfield against Livingston on the last day and, for me, did quite well.  There was one ball he sprayed wide in the first half to set up an attack which was fucking sexual.  He then got shifted to full back for the last half hour and looked like a League 2 player.  I'll forgive him for that, though, as he's not a full back.

The thing with Donnelly though, is does any fan know what he's done or what he's got?  How many appearances did he make last season?  Did he ever start three or four in a row at any point? (one for @capt_oats). 

Like you say, he's got decent pedigree so if the gaffer feels he's worth a shot in the holding role, why not give him a run of games at it? 

I've done absolutely zero research into any of our signings this year, and up until a couple of hours ago I forgot we signed him, so what's this Sloth's game?  I had it in my mind he was a Gorrin replacement, but is this not the case?  Is he more of an attacking midfielder?

Going by his Transfermarkt he started 5 games in the regular season and 1 post-split.

I'm no Donnelly stan but looking at the appearances below it's difficult to say one way or another tbh.

759687341_ScreenShot2019-07-01at16_40_19.png.a4b9d0e5d90dc655e0ab01a999ab880f.png
217486418_ScreenShot2019-07-01at16_48_50.png.8dca32b1de4ddadd7aeaab3a2807405b.png
597584688_ScreenShot2019-07-01at16_49_11.png.85e2b72f7f2c3aac899d8fa9bc092660.png
95035523_ScreenShot2019-07-01at16_50_25.png.ba8d7ccee06e8940475dd445628d247f.png

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From pre-season games it looks like Robinson is set on playing 4-5-1 despite not having the 2 players that really made it work available. Turnbull and Main.

Seeing Danny Johnson play up front himself with Scott out on the wing was kind of disheartening. I don't think that is going to work for either player. Scott needs time to work on his skills up front as a lone striker. Work on anticipating where the ball is going, holding it up and leading the line. Last season the real difference in having Main up top was he occupied both centre backs where as Scott has a tendancy to move out to the wings. Scott needs to improve this season. Johnson wasn't good enough so we might be hoping we have landed a couple of winners in Long and Hylton.

With a 5 in midfield trying to find a role for Donnelly as a sitting mid isn't the worst idea but he shouldn't be near a starting lineup. The ideal midfield 3 is Sloth, Campbel and a more attacking option. I don't know if that is Polworth, it could be Turnbull on his recovery, it is a role that Tanner played before his injury. That is 3 big question marks right now. 

We really need to be looking for another striker that opens up a lot of options with how to set out our attackers. I still think the base of our side looks fine.

Gillespie

Tait Gallagher Dunne Carroll

Campbell Sloth

Grimmy at RB is still an option if Carroll is shit.

We have Hartley if we want to go to a back 3 for some reason.

 

 

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I agree, from keeper to middle of the park we look alright.  

To be honest the biggest problem I have looking at our squad is, where are the goals going to come from?  

By my reckoning we scored 27 in 2019, Turnbull/Hastie scored 19 of them(70%). That’s a lot of goals to try and replace.

Personally, I’ve been holding out hope that #9 was earmarked for someone in particular. With it now being shifted to Long and Robinson seemingly targeting a couple of wingers as priority, that’s sadly looking increasingly unlikely.

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1 hour ago, Casagolda said:

I agree, from keeper to middle of the park we look alright.  

To be honest the biggest problem I have looking at our squad is, where are the goals going to come from?  

By my reckoning we scored 27 in 2019, Turnbull/Hastie scored 19 of them(70%). That’s a lot of goals to try and replace.

Personally, I’ve been holding out hope that #9 was earmarked for someone in particular. With it now being shifted to Long and Robinson seemingly targeting a couple of wingers as priority, that’s sadly looking increasingly unlikely.

I'm already preparing my campaign to get Cole Starrs in the starting line up...

Can we really do worse than last season with Johnson, Main, Scott, Bowman and Sammon scoring 11 league goals combined?

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21 minutes ago, Jim McLean's Ghost said:

I'm already preparing my campaign to get Cole Starrs in the starting line up...

Can we really do worse than last season with Johnson, Main, Scott, Bowman and Sammon scoring 11 league goals combined?

You’d certainly hope not.

I’m not sure we have another couple of boys in the 20’s that are gonna pop up next season and net over 20 goals between them to bail us out again if we do.

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I actually like the look of Long and even Hylton who scored a lot last season, Long not been too prolific in his career but that’ll change. However I’d feel a lot more confident with a goalscorer someone who does a bit of everything like a Moult.

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