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Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons


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15 hours ago, Gianfranco said:

Efford’s brain and legs don’t communicate very well. He doesn’t look like he has a clue what he’s going to do when he’s got the ball. Players almost have to play the ball into space to get him to make a run.

However, he was more positive today. And he actually managed to control the ball a few times. Turn it around Joe.

I think he's had it tough since coming in. GA clearly wasn't getting the best out of anyone for 6 months there so he's probably being judged unfairly by all of us. We'd bin most the squad if we had only seen them since January to Sligo**. 

He might not go on to become the first name on the team sheet, but with a bit of improvement in his decision making I think there's probably enough there to be a good option off the bench. 

 

 

**Since January to Sligo by Joey Efford- out now on Spotify, iTunes and all good country music outlets

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I noticed Hammell singling Joey Efford out for praise in the press after the game.

Quote

“Joe Efford was excellent, a real threat, and he’s starting to get his confidence again. He’s hopefully going to be a big player for us this season."

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I get that he's probably just being nice to give the bold Joe a wee boost but still...

Just speaking generally, I've never been that down on this squad.

The "worst squad in 40 years" shouts or whatever from the brains trust on Twitter always seemed a bit daft IMO. I mean, this is essentially the same group of players who finished 5th last season and regardless of the style of football they were playing they were still capable of beating the majority of the teams in the league (when they were motivated).

What is probably worth mentioning is that there's not a single player that Hammell's used in his 4 games thus far who wasn't available to Alexander for the Sligo games.

Which says a lot if you read between the lines.

Edited by capt_oats
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Was it good man management to put Bazooka Joe on before McKinstry.  A confidence boost for Joe.  Backing up his comments about the existing squad having shown up well.  Or was McKinstry just not up to speed yet?

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25 minutes ago, ropy said:

Was it good man management to put Bazooka Joe on before McKinstry.  A confidence boost for Joe.  Backing up his comments about the existing squad having shown up well.  Or was McKinstry just not up to speed yet?

Probably a bit of both. I mean McKinstry only arrived mid to late on in the week if I recall so most of the preparatory work for the Livi game would have been done. Which would not have give McKinstry much training time with his new colleagues in addition to not having any competitive games under his belt. 

Of course we don’t even know how good he is. All the signs are good but would need to see him play a few games in 1st team to give us a better idea. The cup game v ICT may be a good opportunity. 

Edited by welldaft
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12 hours ago, rowsdower said:

Wholesome content
 

Have to say,  I was pleased for Sol in particular yesterday - he was (back to) doing what I think he is good at and Lamie and him looked to compliment each other well.

As far as I remember he was signed as a header-winning machine and I think that's what he was great at when he first came in - and yesterday, Nouble didn't win a clean header once that I remember. He is also decent against physical opponents  rather than fast, nippy players and again showed that yesterday. 

I originally thought that with him winning everything in the air and Ojala cleaning up the scraps, we had a good combination going - but that clearly never got off the ground as I think they scarcely started together - interested to see if Lamie and him getting a run together could be a similar thing.

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48 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

I noticed Hammell singling Joey Efford out for praise in the press after the game.

I get that he's probably just being nice to give the bold Joe a wee boost but still...

Just speaking generally, I've never been that down on this squad.

The "worst squad in 40 years" shouts or whatever from the brains trust on Twitter always seemed a bit daft IMO. I mean, this is essentially the same group of players who finished 5th last season and regardless of the style of football they were playing they were still capable of beating the majority of the teams in the league (when they were motivated).

What is probably worth mentioning is that there's not a single player that Hammell's used in his 4 games thus far who wasn't available to Alexander for the Sligo games.

Which says a lot if you read between the lines.

There are a percentage of the fan base that have us relegated every season before a ball has even been kicked, it will be the same next summer.

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12 minutes ago, Yorky said:

There are a percentage of the fan base that have us relegated every season before a ball has even been kicked, it will be the same next summer.

While this is true - the fact is that our form in calendar year 2022 under GA would clearly point to us being involved at the wrong end of the table this season - and I saw nothing in the preparedness of the squad (fitness, signings or a willingness to change a failing approach) or the general atmosphere at the club (low confidence, discontent) at the start of this term that was pointing to things changing drastically. I don't think a prediction that we were going to struggle this season was a mile out TBH.

Our stay in the top flight has been long term and in each of the 4 decades, there have been times when things aren't working that we've been involved in relegation battles ( a couple of which we've lost and stayed up anyway) - that's just an inevitable part of supporting Motherwell. 

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1 hour ago, Yorky said:

There are a percentage of the fan base that have us relegated every season before a ball has even been kicked, it will be the same next summer.

I often look at many of the comments of our support and treat them like they do in the Olympic sports where judges are involved (gymnastics, diving, ice skating, etc.) where the two extreme ends are discounted and only the good points are left and count. Most of us exist in a place where reason creeps in and occasionally you'll have your views altered or consider a different way of thinking due to a well written and erudite post. I value that most on here. The only thing we are agreed universally on is 3 points or cup progression. How we get there is what is up for debate.

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6 hours ago, Yorky said:

There are a percentage of the fan base that have us relegated every season before a ball has even been kicked, it will be the same next summer.

It's the lot that looked at the number of signings and decided every team had improved but us.  It's obviously not true.  

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