Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[capt_oats]

17 minutes ago, well fan for life said:

See I'm the opposite. If I'm getting a solo curry I get a naan instead of rice. Rice just pads it out imo. 

This is me also. I'll happily patch rice and just have the curry with a naan.

16 minutes ago, East Coast Warrior said:

What's the extent of the work they're doing on the old stand at Fir Park? New seats and a lick of paint?

See more and more seats ripped out each week on Sportscene. Hope they bring back the old slogan back on the roof for nostalgia's sake! 

Been mention a few times before as it seems folk are noticing. They're doing up the East Stand. Burrows posted an update on his Twitter through the week.

 

Edited February 14, 2021 by capt_oats

[Swello]

2 minutes ago, ropy said:

Installing a curry station

If they had a wee Pakora shack in the East Stand, it would turn a profit that would make Apple jealous.

[ropy]

Just now, Swello said:

If they had a wee Pakora shack in the East Stand, it would turn a profit that would make Apple jealous.

If the chilli sauce is good they could sell squares of cardboard to dip in it and make money

[East Coast Warrior]

Have seen curry pies at Scottish stadiums before (Sure Partick Thistle used to have balti in seasons gone by!)

Away crowds up for sure if yous bring the pakora upgrades.

[well fan for life]

3 minutes ago, East Coast Warrior said:

Have seen curry pies at Scottish stadiums before (Sure Partick Thistle used to have balti in seasons gone by!)

Away crowds up for sure if yous bring the pakora upgrades.

Thistle's pies are excellent. The steak & the curry ones. 

And there's a load of really good pubs there too. A great away day. 

[welldaft]

Just watched Sportscene and today’s Zoom interview between Steven Thompson + The bossman GA.

He came out and said again there was nothing in the game until they scored. That would be acceptable if they scored in the 80 minute but after 7 minutes

Clearly he has had an impact. 3 defeats in 8 is better than where we were but I am concerned he seems quite relaxed about yesterday. I am sure deep down he will be annoyed but everything about yesterday was a clusterfuck. I know what Managers say to the media is sometimes to protect the players but he can surely say what happened yesterday was simply unacceptable. 

St Johnstone are similar in style to Hamilton. Not the best team or individual players but are prepared to battle for 90 minutes and don’t concede many. Not sure who is going to be available but we need everyone 100% at it or it could be a re run of yesterday. 

As for the curry chat. I am more a poppadom man than naan man. Problem is I scoff a few with liberal helpings of spiced onions and I am half full before I start my main. Every single time...

 

Edited February 14, 2021 by welldaft

[ATLIS]

1 hour ago, East Coast Warrior said:

Have seen curry pies at Scottish stadiums before (Sure Partick Thistle used to have balti in seasons gone by!)

Away crowds up for sure if yous bring the pakora upgrades.

Think St Johnstone have had a few crackers over recent years. Think they did a steak and chorizo one for us as a one off at some random midweek game. Weirdly enough they had that as the build up in the days to the game.

[YassinMoutaouakil]

I haven't been out out for a proper Indian in ages. I'm worried when I do eventually get one post-lockdown it'll trigger some sort of Pavlovian response to this thread and I'll start ranting about Rickie Lamie to the waiter

[crazylegsjoe_mfc]

The thing about Alexander's signings that gets me is that the only two I thought we're going to enhance our team were Lawless and Nolan and neither of them have been anywhere to be seen lately. I know Lawless has picked up an injury which is unfortunate, but with Nolan, there seems to have been no mention of that with him (as far as I've heard anyway). If it's match fitness that's the problem, there was no point in signing him as there's not really any way we can get him match fit this season without playing him in the first team. 

The rest of the signings were all signed to pad out the squad, which I'm not sure I agreed with at the time and I'm still not sure now. As poor as Hastie has been, I still don't think I can see what someone who couldn't get off Hearts' bench in the Championship can offer instead. Smith still needs game time at a point where we're not hitting balls anywhere to defend a one goal lead, but I'm still not sure his impact isn't going to mirror Jordan White's. Foley couldn't get a game with St. Mirren and even he seems to be missing in action now too. Magloire might be promising but a tough battle like ours probably isn't the ideal place for a guy who's best run in a team has been 9 games in the conference to develop.

So that said, I'm glad we've been able to get a bit more out of Long, realise Maguire is a decent option in the middle of the park, get more by switching Cole and Watt's positions, because it will be things like that which will help us get out of the relegation battle, rather than anything from anyone we've signed in January.

[capt_oats]

25 minutes ago, crazylegsjoe_mfc said:

The thing about Alexander's signings that gets me is that the only two I thought we're going to enhance our team were Lawless and Nolan and neither of them have been anywhere to be seen lately. I know Lawless has picked up an injury which is unfortunate, but with Nolan, there seems to have been no mention of that with him (as far as I've heard anyway). If it's match fitness that's the problem, there was no point in signing him as there's not really any way we can get him match fit this season without playing him in the first team. 

The rest of the signings were all signed to pad out the squad, which I'm not sure I agreed with at the time and I'm still not sure now. As poor as Hastie has been, I still don't think I can see what someone who couldn't get off Hearts' bench in the Championship can offer instead. Smith still needs game time at a point where we're not hitting balls anywhere to defend a one goal lead, but I'm still not sure his impact isn't going to mirror Jordan White's. Foley couldn't get a game with St. Mirren and even he seems to be missing in action now too. Magloire might be promising but a tough battle like ours probably isn't the ideal place for a guy who's best run in a team has been 9 games in the conference to develop.

So that said, I'm glad we've been able to get a bit more out of Long, realise Maguire is a decent option in the middle of the park, get more by switching Cole and Watt's positions, because it will be things like that which will help us get out of the relegation battle, rather than anything from anyone we've signed in January.

Extremely this.

It was said at the time but there was (rightly) a massive amount of expectation management going on in the January window. Even at the AGM it was made clear just how tough a window it was to bring in any sort of quality on account of the pandemic restrictions. So ultimately to me it was a case of getting more out of what we had/have because the chances of us upgrading on 75% of our starting XI was slim.

We've upgraded on Chapman by bringing in Kelly and on the face of it Lawleff should have been an upgrade on either Hastie or Seedorf but he's injured.

After that as far as I can see the hope is that the others coming in give those who were/are already in the building a boot up the arse. Would the Robinson/Lasley version of that XI have taken that point off Rangers or went up to Dingwall and won from 1 down...probably unanswerable question but the indications weren't good.

Edited February 15, 2021 by capt_oats

[Casagolda]

11 hours ago, welldaft said:

Just watched Sportscene and today’s Zoom interview between Steven Thompson + The bossman GA.

He came out and said again there was nothing in the game until they scored. That would be acceptable if they scored in the 80 minute but after 7 minutes

Clearly he has had an impact. 3 defeats in 8 is better than where we were but I am concerned he seems quite relaxed about yesterday. I am sure deep down he will be annoyed but everything about yesterday was a clusterfuck. I know what Managers say to the media is sometimes to protect the players but he can surely say what happened yesterday was simply unacceptable. 

I thought he was quite measured tbh.

Let's face it, this lot have already shown themselves to be weak and fragile this season. We're not long coming off a run of nearly 3 full calendar months without a win, last thing Alexander wants is to destroy the confidence that was slowly building up after one bad result/performance. He was right as well, we did simply stop doing the things we'd be doing well.

Just watch the 1st goal back- O'Donnell starts in the position you'd expect him to be under Alexander, tucked in narrow just inside the box. Then for some reason, he wonders out towards the thrower despite Campbell/Long already being 2 on 2 out there. The balls played into the big gap vacated by O'Donnell, cut back, goal. If you wanted a snapshot of why we defend the way we do under Alexander, just look how much easier it was to cut through us there than it has been when we've sat narrow and defended the box.

I have sympathy for Alexander, when your captain and most experienced player is culpable for 2 goals and sent off inside 20 mins what chance have you got? Sadly he's far from the only example this season, far too many players have failed to pull their weight and that's ultimately why we are where we are.

I'm sure Alexander knows he needs a clear out in the summer, however he's also experienced enough to know he's going be largely relying on these guys to get us out of trouble and can't afford to go full on Butcher at Hibs by telling them that.

Get us to safety, then fire about 90% of this squad into the fucking sun.

Edited February 15, 2021 by Casagolda

[well fan for life]

Aye I've got a fair amount of sympathy for Alexander for the current situation. I reckon Lawleff would be a stick on starter if he's fit. We've upgraded on Chapman by bringing in Kelly. As for the others I suppose we're just hoping for the best at this point. 

Ultimately this:

30 minutes ago, Casagolda said:

Get us to safety, then fire about 90% of this squad into the fucking sun.

 

[Phillips455]

The main issue with Alexander right now is that he cant really go a throw any of the players under the bus. The window is closed and a lot of the players are near the end of their contracts. Throwing one player under the bus might end up returning us to the form that we were prior to his arrival. He will be absolutely livid in the backroom, and hopefully we will be able to implement some pf the new signings into the squad.

While the Hamilton game was disappointing, the teams around us all lost (Apart from St Mirren and Dundee United who drew and won respectively.).We have St Johnstone, St Mirren, Hibernian, Livingstone and Kilmarnock left until the split. In My opinion, we should be able to get 12/15 points from these games, with Hibs being the most likely game to lose. The overs are winnable and excluding Livingstone, they are all around us in the table. Taking points from these games will be important to our survival.

This should be the main aim for the rest of this season. Avoiding relegation (either play off or automatic) and build on from their. We don't know what the hell is happening with the Scottish cup (I expect it to be cancelled in the near future) so I wont say anything until it is confirmed.

[Swello]

1 hour ago, Casagolda said:

I have sympathy for Alexander, when your captain and most experienced player is culpable for 2 goals and sent off inside 20 mins what chance have you got? Sadly he's far from the only example this season, far too many players have failed to pull their weight and that's ultimately why we are where we are.

This is why management must be a fucking nightmare. For a current internationalist to sell the jerseys in a manner that would embarrass a Juniors jobber is something that can't be legislated for. 

At the moment, it feels very like when Robinson took over from McGhee - the aim is to limp to the summer by whatever means necessary and then attempt to fumigate the place. It took until the Killie game very near the end of the season <insert Ainsworth_freekick.gif> for Robinson to do it and this time might not be much different.

[Ron Aldo]

This is why management must be a fucking nightmare. For a current internationalist to sell the jerseys in a manner that would embarrass a Juniors jobber is something that can't be legislated for. 
At the moment, it feels very like when Robinson took over from McGhee - the aim is to limp to the summer by whatever means necessary and then attempt to fumigate the place. It took until the Killie game very near the end of the season for Robinson to do it and this time might not be much different.

Slightly off topic but was that the game where Jordan Jones tore David Ferguson to shreds? I don't think I've ever felt as sorry for a professional footballer as I did that day.

[crazylegsjoe_mfc]

5 minutes ago, Ron Aldo said:

19 minutes ago, Swello said:

This is why management must be a fucking nightmare. For a current internationalist to sell the jerseys in a manner that would embarrass a Juniors jobber is something that can't be legislated for. 
At the moment, it feels very like when Robinson took over from McGhee - the aim is to limp to the summer by whatever means necessary and then attempt to fumigate the place. It took until the Killie game very near the end of the season for Robinson to do it and this time might not be much different.

Slightly off topic but was that the game where Jordan Jones tore David Ferguson to shreds? I don't think I've ever felt as sorry for a professional footballer as I did that day.

The very one. He got hooked for Lionel 30 minutes in and Cadden went to right back.

As much as Ferguson did get torn to shreds, had he not, we may not have seen that sublime Lionel free kick. Swings and roundabouts.

[Swello]

6 minutes ago, Ron Aldo said:

20 minutes ago, Swello said:

This is why management must be a fucking nightmare. For a current internationalist to sell the jerseys in a manner that would embarrass a Juniors jobber is something that can't be legislated for. 
At the moment, it feels very like when Robinson took over from McGhee - the aim is to limp to the summer by whatever means necessary and then attempt to fumigate the place. It took until the Killie game very near the end of the season for Robinson to do it and this time might not be much different.

Slightly off topic but was that the game where Jordan Jones tore David Ferguson to shreds? I don't think I've ever felt as sorry for a professional footballer as I did that day.

Aye it was - Cadden went to right back and calmed things down - Ferguson never seen again - brutal

[well fan for life]

So I completely understand that Alexander cannae start tearing folk to shreds in the media. But I lasted about 15 seconds of the post match interview at the weekend. 

"So Graham, what went wrong?" - A fucking stupid question.

"I didn't think there was much in it until the first goal." - They scored after 6 minutes. 

I mean ffs what a stupid interview. 

[ZX1886]

Don’t have anything constructive to add on Saturday’s disaster so would just like to remind folk that McGhee’s meltdown at Pittodrie was 4 years ago today.

[kingjoey]

13 hours ago, ATLIS said:

Think St Johnstone have had a few crackers over recent years. Think they did a steak and chorizo one for us as a one off at some random midweek game. Weirdly enough they had that as the build up in the days to the game.

They’ve had the steak and chorizo pie at a few of our visits. I’m always disappointed if that’s not the special when I go there.