Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[Londonwell]

I’m not sure how many times we’ve “got back to basics” under Robinson. If we get any more basic I’m expecting Kim Kardashian in goals against Celtic.

[Pettigrew]

12 minutes ago, thisGRAEME said:

Additionally:

Wednesday is going to be some laugh.

It sure is....down with footballers...

"We've had to tweak things, we haven't been quite as physical, we haven't had people that were rattling about, we have had to put more footballers in the team due to injuries and circumstances."

[Londonwell]

I would never wish a Motherwell team to lose but I must admit my enthusiasm to go along to game atm is at an all time low and I find myself wishing on a weekly basis that Robinson is removed.

It’s not really the results that bother me. The entertainment value is at an all time low at a time when the majority of the league is on a bit of an upward curve. I find I can’t watch the managers interviews anymore as I cringe at his management  speak and worn out platitudes.

I actually don’t think we’ll get humped against Celtic but I fear the odd good result/performance is simply kicking the can down the road. I don’t think Robinson has the ability to change our style of play that would at least allow us to enjoy a decent game of football as were getting pumped off half the league.

Edited December 4, 2018 by Londonwell

[well fan for life]

He's going to need a skip to get rid of the amount of absolute haddies in this team. We've got a load of strikers who can't score with any regularity, a defence that's leaking shitey goals every week and no wingers. 

I do still have vivid nightmares about sacking Robinson as I'm terrified of waking up to the news that we've appointed John fucking Hughes.

[Luke92]

To be honest I was more annoyed about the money I spent attending the game on Saturday than anything else.  Aye, it was a terrible performance and I hoped we had turned a corner but unfortunately not. Let's be honest it wasn't out of the ordinary, I think a few of us have become accustomed to this now. I think that the expectations going into the game from our support was that we could get a positive result but in reality this doesn't have much basis. Livingston's home form is class and they have defeated far better teams than us. The park is a huge factor aye but I need to give them credit for the way they make the most of their limited resources. Their style of play isn't football but it is very effective. I think probably us beating them in the cup blurred our vision a bit but clearly Livi were a different side under Kenny Miller.

Interesting points regarding the similarity in Robinson's comments to this time last year. A lot of the time it seems like empty threats with Robinson, sometimes he seems to single folk out using a veiled comment and then the next week they are in the side. Managers seem to have a handful of ways they react to a bad performance and this is one of Robinson's default reactions. I'm not entirely convinced he is going to conduct a full scale clear out in January. To be honest other than Bigi I struggle to think of who he is referring to?  Everyone else doesn't really fall into the category he mentioned. I would like us to get rid of a few in January but even if we do I'm not convinced we are going to see the 'type' of player a lot of the fans would like to see.

Bit concerned by the Turnbull comments:

https://www.motherwelltimes.co.uk/sport/football/motherwell-fc/motherwell-boss-stephen-robinson-says-david-turnbull-wants-to-sign-new-contract-1-4838895

“He wants to sign for the football club but whether his representatives believe that’s the right thing to do, I’m not so sure."

Would be madness for Turnbull to go elsewhere at this point in career, he needs atleast another season at first team level. Hopefully he makes the right call and cements himself as a top player for us. He's already shown more technical ability than the majority of the first team.

As for tomorrow I honestly don't know what to expect, it could go either way. To me though, the level of inconsistency in performance is beyond the realms of acceptability.

Edited December 4, 2018 by Luke92

[thisGRAEME]

9 minutes ago, Luke92 said:

Would be madness for Turnbull to go elsewhere at this point in career, he needs atleast another season at first team level. 

Would it though?

Like, would he rather spend another few years kicking about with us, or is he looking at Ferguson at Aberdeen, or that Hearts/Hibs midfield where he'd probably get a game, more money, and a better platform to improve?

[Swello]

3 hours ago, thisGRAEME said:

Additionally:

Wednesday is going to be some laugh.

The only point I would make is that we are likely to give Celtic a better game by getting stuck into them rather than trying to play an open game of football. To be fair, our problem over the past couple of years has been trying to play that way in games against the smaller teams...

53 minutes ago, thisGRAEME said:

Would it though?

Like, would he rather spend another few years kicking about with us, or is he looking at Ferguson at Aberdeen, or that Hearts/Hibs midfield where he'd probably get a game, more money, and a better platform to improve?

This must be the most difficult calculation for a young player. I selfishly (and honestly because I think he'll struggle for first team game time at a bigger club right now) want him to stay but if he was offered a chance at a team where a bit more football was played, then it must be very tempting. I would guess that if he were to go to another club in our league, there would be a reasonable fee due and that would mean that they would need to be serious about using him...

[thisGRAEME]

1 minute ago, Swello said:

This must be the most difficult calculation for a young player. I selfishly (and honestly because I think he'll struggle for first team game time at a bigger club right now) want him to stay but if he was offered a chance at a team where a bit more football was played, then it must be very tempting. I would guess that if he were to go to another club in our league, there would be a reasonable fee due and that would mean that they would need to be serious about using him...

Like, it's not like he even has to look far. Cadden and Campbell are suffering at the moment, and aren't better players than they were a year ago. One of them has been played out of position for forever, and the other currently seems a shadow of what we saw last season.

[MJC]

Robinson really isn't doing himself any favours with his recent comments. In a season where entertainment and football playing has been virtually zero from the get go, it really doesn't bode well hearing the manager basically vowing to shitfest through games in the hope of getting something.

Tomorrow night is a major mismatch but a heavy, demoralising defeat could well turn more of his remaining backers against him.

[Jim McLean's Ghost]

2 hours ago, MJC said:

Robinson really isn't doing himself any favours with his recent comments. In a season where entertainment and football playing has been virtually zero from the get go, it really doesn't bode well hearing the manager basically vowing to shitfest through games in the hope of getting something.

Tomorrow night is a major mismatch but a heavy, demoralising defeat could well turn more of his remaining backers against him.

Aye he spouts a lot of pish.

We didn't play football against Livingston at all.  We had no footballers at the back with Grimshaw hitting the ball out the park at every chance and Richard Tait on his wrong foot. We conceded throw after throw where we promptly shat ourselves and put every man behind the ball so when we did get it back we couldn't get out.

The thing is staying solid and working hard might work against Aberdeen and Celtic but it does nothing against sides like Livi and Accies who don't push as many players forward.  Like Grimmy is fine at right back if all he has to do is tackle Niall McGinn but he offered nothing going forward on Saturday. If we had Tait on the right and Livingstone on the left we might have done something on Saturday.

[capt_oats]

Quote

MLS interest in Motherwell ace Cadden

Motherwell ace Chris Cadden is attracting interest from two mystery MLS sides.

The 22-year-old is out of contract in the summer and free to talk to clubs in January.

Currently crocked with a torn patella tendon, Cadden is one of the Steelmen’s top assets and won his first two full Scotland caps in the summer tour of South America against Peru and Mexico.

Now the midfielder is bracing himself for a flurry of interest in his services with serious interest from two - so far unnamed - MLS sides.

Link

I'll not lie, of those possible outgoings from the squad the player recently confirmed as being out injured for 4 months wasn't one I saw coming...to a mystery MLS side at that.

Edited December 4, 2018 by capt_oats

[well fan for life]

12 hours ago, Jim McLean's Ghost said:

Aye he spouts a lot of pish.

We didn't play football against Livingston at all.  We had no footballers at the back with Grimshaw hitting the ball out the park at every chance and Richard Tait on his wrong foot. We conceded throw after throw where we promptly shat ourselves and put every man behind the ball so when we did get it back we couldn't get out.

The thing is staying solid and working hard might work against Aberdeen and Celtic but it does nothing against sides like Livi and Accies who don't push as many players forward.  Like Grimmy is fine at right back if all he has to do is tackle Niall McGinn but he offered nothing going forward on Saturday. If we had Tait on the right and Livingstone on the left we might have done something on Saturday.

This was infuriating. Tait's a solid stand-in at left back but it's painful to watch sometimes. The Livi defender just kept showing him on to his left foot to run down that line and Tait couldn't really do much about it. He needs shifted over to the right again ASAP.

[Swello]

The lack of an actual functioning left (wing)back is one of the most bizarre things about this season as it was a known issue going back to last season - we've not actually replaced a player who had played his last game by this time last year FFS.

ATS was always going to be a gamble given his injuries, so it looks like a simple failure in recruitment.  Obviously, it causes a double hit as Tait (who was one of our best players last year), is played out of position, lessening his effectiveness and meaning that we play either Cadden or Grimshaw, neither of whom are really right backs in his proper place. Obviously injuries, suspensions and the sale of Kipre have all had a negative effect on our defence but the full back situation is entirely of our own making..

[well fan for life]

25 minutes ago, Swello said:

The lack of an actual functioning left (wing)back is one of the most bizarre things about this season as it was a known issue going back to last season - we've not actually replaced a player who had played his last game by this time last year FFS.

ATS was always going to be a gamble given his injuries, so it looks like a simple failure in recruitment.  Obviously, it causes a double hit as Tait (who was one of our best players last year), is played out of position, lessening his effectiveness and meaning that we play either Cadden or Grimshaw, neither of whom are really right backs in his proper place. Obviously injuries, suspensions and the sale of Kipre have all had a negative effect on our defence but the full back situation is entirely of our own making..

I'd said earlier in the thread that ATS is a weird one. The signing made a lot of sense in that he's an actual left back, he's played at this level before etc. but he's made of glass. We do shop in the market of guys trying to get their careers back on track but this one is looking like a step too far. Maybe not against Celtic but I'd be pretty keen to see Adam Livingstone get a run out against some of the teams around us in the league just so I could remember what a left back actually looks like. 

[Del_Superwell]

I see Robinson is saying on the STV sport page that we will be offloading some squad players and promoting some of the younger ones to the first team, was this not what we should've done in the summer to start with.  He claims with the budget he had he didn't think he could improve the starting 11.

[Casagolda]

I think we all know Robinson made a c**t of it this summer, it sounds like he’s realising that himself now even if he won’t overtly say it. 

In terms of who Robinson wants to get rid of, it's actually hard to tell. By my reckoning he’s either signed or given a new contract to everyone in the squad baring I think Elliot Frear.

I mean Sammon is the other obvious one. He’s made 2 appearances totalling about 5 mins since September despite our struggle for goals and is surely surplus to requirements.

After that, who knows.

[capt_oats]

35 minutes ago, Casagolda said:

I think we all know Robinson made a c**t of it this summer, it sounds like he’s realising that himself now even if he won’t overtly say it. 

In terms of who Robinson wants to get rid of, it's actually hard to tell. By my reckoning he’s either signed or given a new contract to everyone in the squad baring I think Elliot Frear.

I mean Sammon is the other obvious one. He’s made 2 appearances totalling about 5 mins since September despite our struggle for goals and is surely surplus to requirements.

After that, who knows.

Stating the obvious somewhat but a fair part of it will be who we can actually move on.

Besides Sammon and Frear neither of whom have had any notable gametime ATS' deal is up at the end of the season and he's barely played. Even when he has played he's cost us goals. Unless he somehow turns into Maldini in the next 3 weeks I could see us cutting him loose and him ending up at Thistle or somesuch.

Going back to last season (possibly prior to the SC final) I'm pretty sure Robinson was saying he was ready to chuck Bowman after the dip in performances post-Moult. 

Newell's probably another one who's listed as a 'first team' player that we might be tempted to come to a 'mutual agreement' with despite the fact Robinson's tight with his old man.

[Swello]

Regardless of your thoughts on this season - the very fact that the manager is even discussing a mini clearout in January tells its own story and there is no real way to spin that positively.

[thisGRAEME]

29 minutes ago, Swello said:

Regardless of your thoughts on this season - the very fact that the manager is even discussing a mini clearout in January tells its own story and there is no real way to spin that positively.

Getting back to work. 

[capt_oats]

I'd missed @Del_Superwell's post earlier. FWIW: here's what Robinson's saying to it via STV.

Quote

"I'm well aware everybody needs to freshen things up.

"In the summer I strengthened our squad because our budget allowed me to.

"I didn't feel our starting 11 could be strengthened with the budget we have.

"That's something I needed to look at and perhaps some of young boys who weren't quite ready will be ready by Christmas.

"David Turnbull, Allan Campbell is improving all the time.

"Barry Maguire came in and did OK on Saturday.

"Jake Hastie, who is out on loan, wasn't ready to start in the summer, he is one we may bring back because we do lack wide men.

"There are young boys who have moved on which perhaps allows me to move some of the squad players out if we are able to do that and strengthen our starting XI."

Which....is fair enough really.

Edit: As @Casagolda says he's pretty much conceding he fucked it in the Summer.

Edited December 5, 2018 by capt_oats