Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[YassinMoutaouakil]

I've also just found out that Zaine Francis-Angol and Aaron Taylor-Sinclair are international teammates for Antigua-Barbuda

They love a hyphen.

[capt_oats]

25 minutes ago, YassinMoutaouakil said:

 aye he was the good one sorry, no disrespect to Tony Straker or ATS.

Tbf, post-Hammell I think we've had a couple who have been good but not consistently so. Depending on whether you're opening it up to LWB then Tait was fine there for a while. Carroll was alright in his first season as well but if you're using Hammell as a benchmark both were below that level especially when you're talking about consistency.

But aye, when you start adding up your ZFA, ATS, Lord Straker, Stephen Hendrie, Super Joe Chalmers etc we've managed to consistently sign some amount of junk for that position.

[rowsdower]

Are any of the weans left backs?

[Swello]

2 hours ago, YassinMoutaouakil said:

I don't want to be too harsh on Carroll given he's apparently just spontaneously combusted but our history with left backs is mental, have we arguably had one good one in the last 20 years?

It used to be the best position - I'm too young to have seen Joe Wark but he was there for ever -  I think my run was Tom Boyd, Rab McKinnon, Stevie McMillan and then Hammy- I'm sure there were some placeholders in between them that are best forgotten but a lack of a decent left back is a relatively new problem for us.

[D-Fens Foster]

Easily the worst Motherwell squad i’ve seen since the Malpas era. It’s fuckin infuriating that some fans still stick up for Alexander. That performance yesterday just stank of relegation. 

[crazylegsjoe_mfc]

1 hour ago, D-Fens Foster said:

Easily the worst Motherwell squad i’ve seen since the Malpas era. It’s fuckin infuriating that some fans still stick up for Alexander. That performance yesterday just stank of relegation. 

I’d say this squad is worse, comfortably. 

For starters, I don’t see anyone scoring the goals that Skippy and Richie Foran (before he went to Southend in January) scored for us that season.

 

[thisGRAEME]

2 hours ago, rowsdower said:

Are any of the weans left backs?

Aye if we can just unearth the next "he's actually fine" for the next 20 years that'd be helpful.

[capt_oats]

2 hours ago, rowsdower said:

Are any of the weans left backs?

Speaking of the weans they're playing EK on Tuesday.

[Gianfranco]

Hopefully whoever replaces Grant and Laura can get back to giving us youth team updates. Hard to get excited about the next crop of youngsters when you know nothing about them.

[CoF]

Sportsound yesterday saying 4 candidates have been selected for interview next week, with the only known names being Hammell and Valakari. 

Made me wonder if they ever played together and yep, they did. 

22/4/2000 - 2-1 loss to Aberdeen. Hammell's debut age 18. 

21/5/2000 - 2-0 win over Rangers

Fascinating.....

[capt_oats]

It was mentioned a couple of pages ago but Hammell's comments post-match are interesting, not necessarily in the sense of whether he gets the job or not. Just generally:

Quote

"It's difficult," Hammell said. "I'll maybe speak to [the club hierarchy] just now and see where we're at.

"It doesn't change the fact that if the club have seen enough, we've had one week and two games to work with a team that needs time and a lot of work.

"It does need some surgery, regardless of whether I'm manager. It's clear what we're lacking."

Link

[rowsdower]

He has a nice way of saying Alexander completely fucked us without actually saying it.

And when he's says surgery, I'm thinking less rhinoplasty and more robocop.

[capt_oats]

31 minutes ago, rowsdower said:

He has a nice way of saying Alexander completely fucked us without actually saying it.

And when he's says surgery, I'm thinking less rhinoplasty and more robocop.

The reason I mention it is that going by what he's saying it sounds like the club appreciate that we need to make changes to the squad (clearly) but it also sounds like a few players could be toast as well.

[Ron Aldo]

To contrive to lose after equalising in injury time sums this team up. Despite having the biggest budget of any Motherwell manager in years, Alexander has left us with one of the worst squads I can remember.

Also, no one will convince me that Barry Maguire is anything other than the second coming of Stuart Carswell - a complete imposter of a player who would have been binned long ago if he hadn't come through our academy. Can't pass, can't shoot, doesn't score, doesn't assist, has no pace and no positional sense.

['WellDel]

36 minutes ago, rowsdower said:

He has a nice way of saying Alexander completely fucked us without actually saying it.

And when he's says surgery, I'm thinking less rhinoplasty and more robocop.
 

Yeah, he's coming out and quite clearly saying (again) that Alexander has utterly ruined us. Got to wonder what everyone else behind the scenes has been thinking during his tenure also. Hammy hasn't just come to this conclusion since he's been dropped in the hotseat, he's obviously seen it over time like the rest of us, but with an even more professional and scrutinising eye.

'Flow has come out in the days since and stated that we are not a hire and fire club (which is fine, if you haven't appointed a clear and obvious dud), and they had obviously bought into GA's vision for taking us forward. However, at boardroom level, there must be a few wishing that they'd had the balls to stand up earlier to voice their concerns and push for change, because we're now fairly well down the road to fucked with, probably, the worst squad in a generation, and a major salvage job to stay in the top flight for whomever the next incumbent may be.

[Gianfranco]

Have the other Salford staff people stayed? I can’t imagine they’ll like hearing how much of a f**k up their pal is.

[welldaft]

9 minutes ago, Ron Aldo said:

To contrive to lose after equalising in injury time sums this team up. Despite having the biggest budget of any Motherwell manager in years, Alexander has left us with one of the worst squads I can remember.

Also, no one will convince me that Barry Maguire is anything other than the second coming of Stuart Carswell - a complete imposter of a player who would have been binned long ago if he hadn't come through our academy. Can't pass, can't shoot, doesn't score, doesn't assist, has no pace and no positional sense.

I think qualifying for Europe and top 6 covered over a multitude of sins which are now coming home to roost. No left back not that Caroll was the solution. Lamie as our best CB. Total clusterfuck in defence ably demonstrated by the losing goal yesterday. A lump into our box that literally every other Premiership side would have dealt with.  We had an awful defence last season and apart from bringing in McGinn no other changes have been made.

Rumours that we have held back money / budget from Alexander until situation played out had better be true. We all know we need another out and out striker, at least one CB, one left back, a winger and quite possibly another midfielder. All of which need to be starters. Have we got those funds ? Let’s hope so….

Totally agree re Maguire. We all would like him to come good but time and again he shows little other than some athleticism. He got better towards the end of the 1st half but was still correctly subbed. The one that sticks out was an attempted and easy through ball that he literally passed out of the park / bye line. It was not a surprise sadly. 

[Desp]

Maguire was absolutely bollocks when Stevie McLean ripped him a new one when St Johnstone beat us 5-1 in 2018. 

He remains utterly bollocks when St Johnstone beat us in 2022. If that's genuinely our choice to hold our midfield together, we may as well start planning what pubs to go before we go to Cappielow & Gayfield next season.

Absolute dug meat and no amount of pretend-Alan Campbell patter from the media team will convince anyone otherwise. 

Edited August 7, 2022 by Desp

[YassinMoutaouakil]

Stuart Carswell 2.0 for me.

I'm struggling to think of players who  irritate me as much as Maguire does. Maybe he scores loads in training or something but his obligatory powderpuff long range effort every week drives me up the fucking wall. Goss is bad for one too but at least sometimes makes a decent connection. 

[rowsdower]

Maguire did everything Alexander wanted him to do, running about, winning bleep tests, and was rewarded for it. He runs all day, without much pace, and does a lot of nearly stuff, which suggests he might be decent at a lower level, but isn't a starting midfielder in the top division.