Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[capt_oats]

Ash Taylor to replace Declan lads.

If that was to come about we'd have banked the Euros cash for Gallagher and basically swapped him for Taylor. I mean, on last season's form that...actually doesn't seem too bad a deal? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@RandomGuy. can you knock up one of those comparison charts if you get the chance? (Please)

Edited June 27, 2021 by capt_oats

[RandomGuy.]

47 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

Ash Taylor to replace Declan lads.

@RandomGuy. can you knock up one of those comparison charts if you get the chance? (Please)

Yeah no bother, might be a while as I'm out with the dog.

From memory Taylor wasn't as bad as portrayed, but I've not looked at him in the latest "version".

[Gianfranco]

Fair enough if Carson goes back to Hartlepool. I don’t know much about Tom King but I do remember him being in Man Utd’s youth squads from champy manager when I was a student.

I don’t know how I feel about Ash Taylor. I mean we definitely could do worse.

[Ron Aldo]

Ash Taylor to replace Declan lads.
If that was to come about we'd have banked the Euros cash for Gallagher and basically swapped him for Taylor. I mean, on last season's form that...actually doesn't seem too bad a deal? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
[mention=45470]RandomGuy.[/mention] can you knock up one of those comparison charts if you get the chance? (Please)

Always thought Ash Taylor was decent during his first spell at Aberdeen. No idea what he's been like since he went back.

I'm guessing the Beneghan rumours must have come to nothing - the silence has been DEAFENING.

[one m in Motherwell]

Just how weird is he though?

In terms of what you’d expect from him he’s probably at a similar level to Gallagher, certainly above Lamie and The Prince but both of them have shown they’ve got something about them when the stats align.

f**k it, get him in, at least he’s someone who’s name we’ve actually heard before.

[thisGRAEME]

Taylor would be fine? Capable of the very good, capable of the very comic, broadly fine?

[capt_oats]

1 hour ago, Gianfranco said:

Fair enough if Carson goes back to Hartlepool. I don’t know much about Tom King but I do remember him being in Man Utd’s youth squads from champy manager when I was a student.

I don’t know how I feel about Ash Taylor. I mean we definitely could do worse.

Tom King's a weird one as a search for him throws up a specific "incident" that clearly went viral.

From what I can tell his profile's a bit Carson-y (albeit far younger) in so much as he's had time at "larger" clubs (he made 11 appearances for Millwall in League 1 and spent 5 seasons on their books having been at Portsmouth and Palace as a Youth). He's been on the fringe of the Welsh national side and got a call up in November 2019 but has been playing in League 2 (he was Newport's 'keeper in their play-off final last season).

At 26 he's still young for a goalkeeper and 6ft 4" he's taller than Carson, Kelly and Fox.

For anyone who's interested the game with the "incident" is in the spoiler.

Spoiler

 

1 hour ago, Ron Aldo said:

Always thought Ash Taylor was decent during his first spell at Aberdeen. No idea what he's been like since he went back.

I'm guessing the Beneghan rumours must have come to nothing - the silence has been DEAFENING.

This is kind of it. I mean, I'm not a massive Ash Taylor fan (he's called Ashton, he has a side hustle in property, he looks like and let's face it probably is a massive Tory) but looking at the "market" we're likely to be shopping in then as an experienced centre back goes it definitely feels like a "could do worse" scenario - assuming we're looking for someone who's essentially a stopper.

Edited June 27, 2021 by capt_oats

[HarleyQuinn]

Ash Taylor was one of a handful of players that did well for us last season. Some would argue he was possibly our POTY.

Apparently we offered him a new deal but couldn't afford his wage demands. I think he'd be a good signing for Motherwell and an upgrade on Lamie and Mugabi. Somewhat surprised Hearts aren't interested.

[DeadStar]

I signed Tom King for Bury (gbnf) on FM once and he was fucking egg. No deal for me I'm afraid. 

[DrewDon]

I have little to base this on other than conjecture, but I doubt we did offer Taylor a new deal - that story had all the hallmarks of being briefed by an agent. Saying that, I'm pretty sure he would still be an Aberdeen player if McInnes was manager going into next season. He was definitely one of our better performers last season, and arguably our best centre-back. If Taylor is one of your best players over the course of a full season, I think that probably says something not so positive about the rest of the team, but it doesn't detract from his qualities as a stopper.

If you want a centre-back who will win the vast majority of his aerial duels, is physically robust and will do most of the things you expect from a 'traditional' centre-back pretty well, he should be absolutely fine for circa 95% of opponents he comes up against at this level (occasionally he will come up against an Edouard or Morelos and be left looking a bit daft, but you could say that for the vast majority of non-OF centre-backs in this league). If you want him to play out from the back and expect him to start your attacks, although I'm afraid I haven't seen enough of Motherwell recently or know enough about Alexander to say whether this will be an expectation, his shortcomings will be very obviously exposed.

[RandomGuy.]

@capt_oats Ash & Dec, sponsored by RG Bar Graphs ltd.

Honestly, "Engine" is a bit of a weird one for CBs that I'm not convinced is right yet.

I mean, @DrewDon has literally just summed it up by using words rather than a bunch of coding/numbers, but aye, Taylor is a good "defender", but doesn't seem to do much on the ball apart from simple passes. Wouldn't expect him to match Gallagher taking the ball up the park.

[capt_oats]

1 minute ago, RandomGuy. said:

@capt_oats Ash & Dec, sponsored by RG Bar Graphs ltd.

Honestly, "Engine" is a bit of a weird one for CBs that I'm not convinced is right yet.

I mean, @DrewDon has literally just summed it up by using words rather than a bunch of coding/numbers, but aye, Taylor is a good "defender", but doesn't seem to do much on the ball apart from simple passes. Wouldn't expect him to match Gallagher taking the ball up the park.

Cheers for that.

So essentially Taylor is over the piece a better defender than Gallagher but just not as good on the ball? I don't know about the other good brothers on here but in the grand scheme of things that's almost certainly something that I could live with tbh.

[DukDukGoose]

5 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

Cheers for that.

So essentially Taylor is over the piece a better defender than Gallagher but just not as good on the ball? I don't know about the other good brothers on here but in the grand scheme of things that's almost certainly something that I could live with tbh.

Taylor is a good defender at this level. The big problem is he challenges for everything. I couldn't put up with it at his age and level of experience. It leaves him woefully out of position several times per game.

As a meat and potatoes defender attacking crosses he's brilliant.

[Archie McSquackle]

It just doesn't sound likely to me as I don't think we could come close to what he's been on at Aberdeen or could get if he returns south.

[DukDukGoose]

Just now, Archie McSquackle said:

It just doesn't sound likely to me as I don't think we could come close to what he's been on at Aberdeen or could get if he returns south.

He's started a property management company down the road. I'd have thought he'd have wanted to be close to that but covid has shown remote working is no issue.

[RandomGuy.]

14 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

So essentially Taylor is over the piece a better defender than Gallagher but just not as good on the ball?

On paper, which misses a lot of context. Always worth taking that into account when reading these graphs, before Busta comes along. 

[Yorky]

From what I remember he’s a very solid defender which would do for me. I would say that’s exactly what we need alongside the likes of Mugabi and Lamie.

[TommyDickFingers]

44 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

So essentially Taylor is over the piece a better defender than Gallagher but just not as good on the ball?

I'm sure McInnes and Alexander have had many conversations on what big Ash can bring to the party.

Spoiler

 

[Lobby Dossar]

If uncle Roy opens his wallet we’ve no chance of competing with County re wages

[Gianfranco]

Is Ash Taylor a bit of a leader? That’s what we need.