Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[supermarv]

Couple posts back mentioned Ariyibi signing for us. What a player he was, imagine him in this team right, immense player, I like Hylton a lot but he has more to give still and I think Ariyibi is a level above the players we have at the club regarding his position. 

[AndyRoss]

Tuesday 7th January for the trip to Tenerife.

[Casagolda]

Well he’s not Lafferty but he is an International striker..

Link 

Without Cole, you saw today how stretched our options were. Sticking Seedorf on up front was slightly bemusing from Robinson right enough. 

Edited December 29, 2019 by Casagolda

[capt_oats]

2 hours ago, Casagolda said:

Well he’s not Lafferty but he is an International striker..

Link 

Without Cole, you saw today how stretched our options were. Sticking Seedorf on up front was slightly bemusing from Robinson right enough. 

Noticed that one yesterday. Absolutely sounds like an agent flying a kite. 1 goal in 10 league games for Cheltenham, signed a short term deal with them after a trial. Fantastic name though.

Completely agree though. It's a weird situation, looking at the squad list and it looks pretty well stocked for forwards. Take Cole out and you've got Long to go through the middle...and that's pretty much it. Even if he was fit Manzinga's a project while Scott has pretty much said he's happier playing wide at the moment.

Aside from a boot up the arse, that result/performance today might have given Robinson a bit more to think about than he had expected.

Edited December 29, 2019 by capt_oats

[Casagolda]

3 hours ago, capt_oats said:

Noticed that one yesterday. Absolutely sounds like an agent flying a kite. 1 goal in 10 league games for Cheltenham, signed a short term deal with them after a trial. Fantastic name though.

Completely agree though. It's a weird situation, looking at the squad list and it looks pretty well stocked for forwards. Take Cole out and you've got Long to go through the middle...and that's pretty much it. Even if he was fit Manzinga's a project while Scott has pretty much said he's happier playing wide at the moment.

Aside from a boot up the arse, that result/performance today might have given Robinson a bit more to think about than he had expected.

I looked at soccerbase and it has him down as having only played about 20 games of club football in his life, despite being 25. I assume the records for the levels he’s been playing at don’t exist!?

l’ve always been a fan of Long, today was 6th goal in 16 starts for us which is none too shabby. However with Cole now gone, it does feel like we could do with someone else with a bit of experience up there to help him out. 

Interested to see who or what Robinson has lined up for January. We need a striker obviously but after that? With Dunne, Ilic and apparently Turnbull pencilled in for the Tenerife trip, the squad will already be looking a little on the large side. 

Edited December 29, 2019 by Casagolda

[ropy]

Sloth should have acclimatised by now, a bit of sun on his back then he will take the league by storm after the break (copyright Gorrin)

[capt_oats]

11 hours ago, Casagolda said:

I looked at soccerbase and it has him down as having only played about 20 games of club football in his life, despite being 25. I assume the records for the levels he’s been playing at don’t exist!?

l’ve always been a big fan of Long, today was 6th goal in 16 starts for us which is none too shabby. However with Cole now gone, it does feel like we could with someone else with a bit of experience up there to help him out. 

Interested to see who or what Robinson has lined up for January. We need a striker obviously but after that? With Dunne, Ilic and apparently Turnbull pencilled in for the Tenerife trip, the squad will already be looking a little on the large side. 

Aye, he's got the obligatory YouTube video from his time in *checks notes*...Finland and it's like Sunday league parks he's playing on. It doesn't really fit with Robinson's we need to bring in players who are better than we have line.

I'll not lie though, I can absolutely imagine Foyle taking a look at a player at Cheltenham. Strong Christy Manzinga Project vibes.

Spoiler

 

In terms of the squad I think it really depends what we want to do post-winter break ie: consolidate Top 4 or Top 6. Presumably our 37 points means we're "safe" but arguably there may be different horses required for those particular courses.

The other thing that's become apparent is that the fact we've largely avoided injuries until now has slightly distorted the squad depth in the forward area.

I did a quick round up of our contract situation yesterday and by my count once Cole leaves that gives us 28 contracted players who are in (or around) the first team squad including the likes of MacIver, Semple, Devine, Cornelius and both Ferguson and Livingstone who are out on loan...

Take those players out the equation and it leaves a squad of 22. To me a lot depends on how we're viewing folk like Semple and MacIver or whether we're trusting players like Manzinga, Ilic and Sloth to come good and how all that fits with our target for post-break run in.

The chat from the AGM seemed to be one out and one or two in, which seems very much to be a turn of phrase but there's a legitimate question of how much movement we might expect.

Edited December 30, 2019 by capt_oats

[Ron Aldo]

Sloth should have acclimatised by now, a bit of sun on his back then he will take the league by storm after the break (copyright Gorrin)

If my Football Manager save is anything to go by then Casper Sloth is a complete p***k. I'm never done arguing with the guy.

[capt_oats]

Dull post but taking Cole out and looking at those who have been in (and around) the squad since the proper stuff started this is what we've got. I've added appearances (w/ contract expiry) in the spoiler:

Spoiler

(Contract expiry) / Appearances:
1 - Carson (Summer 2020) - 0
2 - Tait (Summer 2020) - 13
3 - Carroll (Summer 2021) - 19
4 - Grimshaw (Summer 2020) - 23
5 - Hartley (Summer 2020) - 18
6 - Campbell (Summer 2021) - 25
7 - Turnbull (Summer 2021) - 0 (long term injury - ETA TBC)
8 - Sloth (Summer 2021) - 1
9 - Long (Summer 2020) - 22
11 - Seedorf (Summer 2021) - 25
12 - Manzinga (Summer 2020) - 2
14 - Hylton (Summer 2021) - 25
15 - Maguire (Summer 2020) - 8
16 - Ilic (Summer 2020) - 9
17 - Scott (Summer 2022) - 25
18 - Dunne (Summer 2020) - 7 (long term injury - ETA January 20)
19 - Polworth (Summer 2021) - 25
20 - Gillespie (Summer 2020) - 26
22 - Donnelly (Summer 2022) - 19
24 - Mugabi (Summer 2021) - 9
25 - Semple (Summer 2021) - 3
31 - Gallagher ((Summer 2021) - 25
37 - MacIver (Summer 2020) - 2
44 - Cole (January 2020) - 21
52 - O'Hara (Summer 2020) - 10

Players out on loan:
13 - Rohan Ferguson (Linfield) - 12 apps (contract expiry - Summer 2020)
21 - Adam Livingstone (Morton) - 2 apps (contract expiry - Summer 2020)

I don't think it's particularly controversial to say we look covered in defence and midfield. Tait covers right and left back while even allowing for Turnbull's injury we've still got 7 player for the 3 midfield positions - there's an obvious question about Sloth's lack of game time but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (I noticed from his IG he was on the first plane outta here this morning...but then that's hardly new. He's been back in Denmark loads from the look of things and was down in LDN a couple of weeks ago - fair play)

The obvious question is up front. Robinson's spoken about a lack of experience and between them Hylton, Seedorf and Scott have been varying degrees of inconsistent (which isn't a criticism) while Manzinga and MacIver are (in truth) in that grey area between reserves and first team. Ilic has been injured but there's still a doubt (in my mind) as to whether he's even a winger.

We're on record as needing a replacement for Cole but while we probably don't have too much space (or budget) to play with in terms of bodies we could probably do with a more experienced option in the wide area IMO.

Edited December 30, 2019 by capt_oats

[MP_MFC]

Is O'Hara away in January? Hope to god he is, absolutely woeful imposter of a footballer.

[capt_oats]

5 minutes ago, MP_MFC said:

Is O'Hara away in January? Hope to god he is, absolutely woeful imposter of a footballer.

It's a season loan. I doubt he'll be going anywhere tbh as he's apparently "transfer-listed" at Peterborough.

Quote

Motherwell have signed Mark O’Hara on a season-long loan from Peterborough United, subject to international clearance.

Link

 

[Mitch]

O’Hara is rank rotten, but he seems to be the type of player that Robinson likes. I would have him on the first train back south.

[capt_oats]

Big Robbo saying finding a replacement for Cole is "proving difficult" and shutting down the Jonte Smith chat.

Quote

Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson has revealed that finding a replacement for striker Devante Cole is “proving difficult”.

Cole has returned to parent club Wigan Athletic after a successful loan spell at ’Well and Robbo is keen to sign another forward during the January transfer window.

“I’m not any closer to getting anybody in,” Robinson said after Sunday’s shock 2-1 home derby defeat by Hamilton Accies.

“It is a loss for us. We don’t have massive amounts of money to play with.

“The list that we are looking at is very small.

“It’s proving difficult to get somebody in at the moment.”

Speculation has linked ’Well with a January move for Cheltenham Town striker Jonte Smith whose contract expires on January 2.

Robbo said: “I don’t know who he is, I don’t know who the report was about if I’m being totally honest with you.”

Link

Hmmmmm...interesting that the list we're looking at to replace him is "very small".

Edited December 30, 2019 by capt_oats

[supermarv]

27 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

Big Robbo saying finding a replacement for Cole is "proving difficult" and shutting down the Jonte Smith chat.

Hmmmmm...interesting that the list we're looking at to replace him is "very small".

It’s either we’ve not got much to choose from or maybe we are being pretty specific in what we need and aren’t just going to sign anyone who looks like they could do alright. 

[Casagolda]

I imagine there’s a finite amount of players out there who are in the- will improve us but are also affordable category.

Under Robinson, we’ve generally done quite well in January though. We’ve brought in Ariyibi, Aldred, Ciftci, Hartley, Main and McCormack(looked a cracking signing on paper). 

We seem to have these things pretty well planned out in advance these days, which I’m sure is half the battle for clubs like us. 

Edited December 30, 2019 by Casagolda

[welldaft]

1 hour ago, supermarv said:

It’s either we’ve not got much to choose from or maybe we are being pretty specific in what we need and aren’t just going to sign anyone who looks like they could do alright. 

I am maybe wrong but I am sure I read we were close to bringing in a striker which has now turned into we are not close to bringing in a striker....suggests that once more whoever we had lined up has fallen through. 

Edited December 30, 2019 by welldaft

[capt_oats]

1 hour ago, supermarv said:

It’s either we’ve not got much to choose from or maybe we are being pretty specific in what we need and aren’t just going to sign anyone who looks like they could do alright. 

Yep, both of those interpretations have different implications. Given where we are and from the sort of chat Robinson's given in the longer listen interviews I'd think it's more likely to be the latter. Which is fine - in fact Robinson's already said publicly that anyone we bring in needs to be better than what we have which as @Casagolda says is going to be a finite amount of players who'll be available on our budget.

The other thing is, a week ago we were apparently "quite close" to bringing someone in. So either that's fallen on its arse, has proved difficult to "get over the line" or the player in question may not be a replacement for Cole.

Having said all that (and despite quoting his comments to the press on a regular basis) I'm hesitant to lean too heavily on what Robinson's saying to the press. Though it's useful to get an idea of some sort of direction.

50 minutes ago, Casagolda said:

I imagine there’s a finite amount of players out there who are in the- will improve us but are also affordable category.

Under Robinson, we’ve generally done quite well in January though. We’ve brought in Ariyibi, Aldred, Ciftci, Hartley, Main and McCormack(looked a cracking signing on paper). 

We seem to have these things pretty well planned out in advance these days, which I’m sure is half the battle for clubs like us. 

Definitely. That's largely where I am on this.

The other thing is that Cole was always a 6 month loan so presumably we'd have some sort of contingency if either a) it didn't work out, b) he didn't fancy it or c) Wigan weren't prepared to extend the deal.

Though they've been varying degrees of "successful" I think the willingness of the club to take a punt on a "name" eg: Ciftci or McCormack is something to get on board with in our market.

As I say, the recruitment itself isn't too much of a concern as I've faith in Robinson, Foyle and Burrows.  It's just interesting to get an idea of what our strategy is at the moment and what sort of profile we're looking at.

Edited December 30, 2019 by capt_oats

[Busta Nut]

18 hours ago, ropy said:

Sloth should have acclimatised by now, a bit of sun on his back then he will take the league by storm after the break (copyright Gorrin)

Straight on the first flight back to Denmark. He's a weird yin for sure.

[Mitch]

Straight on the first flight back to Denmark. He's a weird yin for sure.

I assume he had all his belongings with him and he won’t darken our door again?
I’ll be gobsmacked if he isn’t released by the end of the week.

[Lobby Dossar]

40 minutes ago, Mitch said:

I assume he had all his belongings with him and he won’t darken our door again?
I’ll be gobsmacked if he isn’t released by the end of the week.

Only if his agent can find him a club

He’s contracted till 2021 so he could still be picking up a wage for the next 18 months wither we like it or not

The ball is in his court