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Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons


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9 minutes ago, Kapowzer said:

It was a time before the UEFA money really kicked in. While there was a still gulf its wasn't anything like it is now. At the time Rangers could go toe to toe with the best in England and hold their own, the advent of Sky's deal was the first nail that killed that. Thing is, in those days we could hold our own with Rangers and Celtic (the latter was going through a torrid time). The general quality in the league was universally higher even among Scottish players. Our team in those days was 8 Scots with a few peppered foreigners rather than the opposite today.

Selling a player to a Premiership team wouldn't bat an eyelid in the 90's, now relegated Norwich is the peak expectation for your once in a generation player to end up. So either the pool is less with many more things for kids to do than stoat a ball off a wall, more streamlined and specialised coaching earlier, big academies soak players up and they ply their trade in reserve matches and behind closed doors which gets minimal exposure or some other factor. Probably a bit of everything.

Aye, don't disagree with any of that.

On the other hand, 2002/3 was the last season I could go to every game but it was in a phase of life where I was in the pub with mates before/after every home game and every away day was epic...it's one of my favourite ever seasons despite us being utter shit.

No doubt there will be the subsequent generations who look at what we have now and as it's coming at the right time they'll have nice memories of it...and bizarrely the fact we haven't beaten the OF for so long means they'll probably not rue the fact it never happens more.

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It's so frustrating that while I didn't have nay expectations,  the fact we went 1-0 up and then later equalised 2-2, we still threw the game away.

 

Rangers could absolutely destroy us on their day but they weren't up to speed. The 1st and 3rd goals were all about not clearing the ball (and the 2nd being not being awake after kick off). The 4th I can right off as losing hope but it's disappointment overall. As I've said before, it's the hope that kills you.

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I don't feel too bad about yesterday. It feels a bit shite to say, but at least we had a go. Usually we just turn up and roll over. We made plenty of mistakes, but that happens most weeks. If you've any chance of beating Rangers (or Celtic) you're going to need 14-16 of your players to be absolutely perfect on the day. Sadly we aren't likely to do that, because we've got a 4ft 11 goalkeeper with wee arms and midfielders not worthy of the name. 

I can only echo the comment from @thisGRAEME about Casey's run in the second half. If that had ended in a goal, I would've been on the park celebrating with him (scudding Dougie Ross as I went). 

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I thought we had a decent shape about us first half and were looking comfortable enough defensively. However as expected we had little out ball with Van Veen up top on his own and as such an equaliser at some point seemed inevitable.

Still annoying as f**k mind that Slattery and Kelly combined to sell the jerseys in such a fashion. Second half I thought we were slightly fortuitous to still to be in it when we equalised. Then the Van Veen chance at 2-2 felt like a sliding doors moment and as soon as they went up the park to score you knew it was game over. 

So aye, not our worst effort against the OF but a pretty familiar tale of shooting ourselves in the foot at key moments. Slattery was a ticking time bomb and while the 2nd yellow was a nonsense, Kettlewell should have had him off long before he got sent packing. 

Johnston’s a brilliant talent, first goal was excellent play and it’s a shame that we’ll be losing him for buttons because of events during the summer. As has been said though, it’s a good thing KVV signed his extension or I’m certain he’d be a gonner as well based on his current form. Casey also continues to impress, hopefully that’s one we can get tied up for next season. 

Edited by Casagolda
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14 hours ago, Handsome_Devil said:

That's one of my all-time faves. Absolutely epic.

I'm also all aboard the 90s Motherwell is the best Motherwell though I strongly suspect it's more related to that being the decade of your formative years. As much as I'd argue for the 90s, previous generations of my family would give the Ancell Babes and the 30s the same accolade due to the exact combination of good teams at the right time.

It’s a good point. I wonder if the young fans who came into the game 2007 to 2014 (ish) will look back with the same affection in twenty years time. A different time with different successes, but we had our heroes over that period and a handful of players at the heart of the club for many years. 

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4 minutes ago, CoF said:

It’s a good point. I wonder if the young fans who came into the game 2007 to 2014 (ish) will look back with the same affection in twenty years time. A different time with different successes, but we had our heroes over that period and a handful of players at the heart of the club for many years. 

A lot of it is to do with the time in your life games happened - I'd guess that most of us will have a bias to when we were younger*.

Being as objective as it's possible to be as a football supporter (ie - not very) - there are certain teams/era's that were just better than others - and that early-mid 90's period was hard to top, despite other teams coming close. I'd have no problem with someone younger than me arguing that McGhee's first team was every bit as good, ditto McCall's best team as they were great times to be a Motherwell supporter.

*That said, I get quite nostalgic for the Thunderdome team and that was only a few years back. 

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3 hours ago, Casagolda said:

Slattery was a ticking time bomb and while the 2nd yellow was a nonsense, Kettlewell should have had him off long before he got sent packing. 

I posted as much in the match thread. As soon as he picked up his first yellow 22 minutes in I said to my pal he'd get sent off. I was quite critical of Kettlewell keeping him on when it was glaringly obvious he'd get sent off, I thought that was a real error of judgement.

However, here's a mad theory... Slattery is now banned for one game (I think??) and will now miss the Hibs game. When he was first booked that was his 11th league booking. If my shaky understanding of the rules is right, if he'd stayed on and got another booking vs Hibs he'd face a two match ban as it would have been his second accumulation of six yellows this season. Did Kettlewell know this and think the preferable bigger picture was a one match ban? I have my doubts, particularly when we equalised and looked like getting something from the game. But ye never know. 

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57 minutes ago, CoF said:

Did Kettlewell know this and think the preferable bigger picture was a one match ban? I have my doubts, particularly when we equalised and looked like getting something from the game. But ye never know. 

It was certainly a curious one but I’m of the opinion it should be either him or Goss in the team anyway so I don’t think we’ll miss him too much on current form. 

I just don’t think we can carry the two of them in the same midfield. Too similar, too many of the same weaknesses and bad habits that are always exposed when they’re in there together. Which makes it all the more bizarre Hammell seemed to try and build his team around the pair of them. Even against County things only improved once Cornelius came on for Goss and injected a bit of energy in there. 

Much like his goal against St Mirren, the first goal yesterday started with Goss finding Johnston with a cracking pass from deep. Our best other chance  was created by Goss winning the ball back and pinging it in behind for Van Veen.

So he was at least having some sort of a positive impact on the match. Where as Slattery was largely anonymous other than his part in their equaliser and was walking a tightrope with his booking. 

I rate Slattery but like Kelly, he just looks like someone who needs this season to be over. It’s not been a good one for us collectively or for many individuals(expect maybe Van Veen) and we really just need to get ourselves to safety and start again this summer. 

Edited by Casagolda
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1 hour ago, CoF said:

I posted as much in the match thread. As soon as he picked up his first yellow 22 minutes in I said to my pal he'd get sent off. I was quite critical of Kettlewell keeping him on when it was glaringly obvious he'd get sent off, I thought that was a real error of judgement.

However, here's a mad theory... Slattery is now banned for one game (I think??) and will now miss the Hibs game. When he was first booked that was his 11th league booking. If my shaky understanding of the rules is right, if he'd stayed on and got another booking vs Hibs he'd face a two match ban as it would have been his second accumulation of six yellows this season. Did Kettlewell know this and think the preferable bigger picture was a one match ban? I have my doubts, particularly when we equalised and looked like getting something from the game. But ye never know. 

Presumably he is on a 3 game ban now? 

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I suppose there's an argument that we're still at the stage with Kettlewell where he's getting to know the squad in terms of what he can/can't trust them to do. Slattery was clearly walking a tightrope but in the end what he was actually sent off for is a tough break even if him picking up a 2nd yellow was entirely predictable.

Not to be that guy but would Cantwell have been sent off if the roles were reversed?

I mean, don't get me wrong it was a weird choice to leave him on given the circumstances but I guess there's a chance that given we were 2-4 down when SK made subs he was looking at it from the POV of trying a different mix. Until yesterday has he had a CM 3 of Spittal, Slattery and Tierney before?

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2 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

Not to be that guy but would Cantwell have been sent off if the roles were reversed?

Not a chance. It was quite refreshing to hear Ricky Foster have a go at him on Sportscene.

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On 18/03/2023 at 13:11, YassinMoutaouakil said:

I was actually quite happy when United were winning despite it being entirely counterintuitive. I think I've let St Mirren fans into my head slightly too much.

That’s what they want you to think 

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So so cringey right there, begging a millionaire to take the shirt you spent 60 quid on and put it in his car somewhere. 

The Tom Green one was funny cos I think he just found that shirt, and it just happened to be my all time favorite away top. He also wore it and annoyed Americans. 

In 2052 everyone will be wearing one, if my lottery master plan works out. 

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Just now, rowsdower said:

So so cringey right there, begging a millionaire to take the shirt you spent 60 quid on and put it in his car somewhere. 

It's 50% off in the sale just now tbf.

But aye...I'm genuinely not sure what your man is thinking is realistically going to happen there - and also...why? It's such a fucking weird move. Either way, I'm tickled by the fact that Snoop just takes the thing and fucks off.

It's 100% left in his car btw.

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I seen this...

Now, I've no idea what this thread of tweets is about however, it's the last line in this first tweet.
"His job is to score goals and I still criticize him for that. "

Lotta shite

Edited by Busta Nut
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9 minutes ago, Busta Nut said:

I seen this...

Now, I've no idea what this thread of tweets is about however, it's the last line in this first tweet.
"His job is to score goals and I still criticize him for that. "

Lotta shite

I’ve mentioned before that I’ve probably muted more Motherwell Twitter accounts than any other demographic - that’s one of them.

Originally I thought it was just someone doing an (unfunny) bit but it seems they’re just a complete danger.

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