Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[Desp]

2 minutes ago, Swello said:

Also - I'm going to call him "Alejandro" instead of Alex. Much more exotic-er.

I'm going with 'Ali G'

[Mr. Brightside]

So a midfield three of Ryan Gauld, Liam Henderson and Alejandro Rodriguez next season? We could win the league.

[ChrisMFCfan1886]

2 minutes ago, Mr. Brightside said:

So a midfield three of Ryan Gauld, Liam Henderson and Alejandro Rodriguez next season? We could win the league.

Baraclough would be proud that his dream/target/delusion came to fruition.

[Gianfranco]

Decent move for Maclean, I think he’ll shine there. His winner at County at the Cup was one of my favourite memories of last season.

 

Obviously never heard of the Spaniard but if he’s slow he will 100% be the boo boys target.

 

ETA- the wee video thing mentioned he trained with us in Tenerife in January.

[YassinMoutaouakil]

Casagaulda imo

[capt_oats]

 

[WellView]

How long has Gorrin signed for? The website won't load, as usual. 

Hallelujah - IT WORKS! - one year deal. 

Edited June 20, 2018 by WellView

[Desp]

The Bobby Martinez of this decade. 

And by that, I mean he'll end up shagging a burd from Dalziel High School before marrying her some years later. 

[Casagolda]

Didn’t see this one coming, club have certainly kept their cards close to their chest this summer.

To be honest I thought we’d be going for someone a bit more creative in the final third but having had a admittedly (very)brief look at his highlight reel, he looks more like someone who’s going to play a bit deeper and spray the ball about. Not necessarily a bad thing mind, cause our ball retention was generally pretty piss poor last season. 

Still think we could do with a bit more quality in the final third though. Only really Johnson been added and while I’m hopeful, it can be very much hit or miss making the step up from that level.

Plus surely one or two midfielders must be on their way out? We’ve got 7 or 8 players now playing playing for 3 positions in the middle of the park. 

[capt_oats]

I’ve not sat through the full 21 mins 30 seconds of that video but my initial reaction was that he looks pretty much exactly the player Robinson described in that interview. He’s 6ft 1, seems comfortable on the ball, has a range of passing and can tackle. Even in his wee interview he’s talking about “aggression”.

I said at the time I thought it’d be someone who combines McHugh & Bigi’s attributes and on the face of it that’s what the bold A-Rod seems to offer. I probably shouldn’t be but I’m surprised that posters on Steelmen are surprised we’ve signed a player who fits the description Robinson gave and not a profile they’ve based on a misinterpretation of the word “stature”.

Whether he’s here to go straight into the first team is interesting as there’s an obvious question re: McHugh/Bigi.

Robinson’s already said he’s after another striker so it’ll be interesting to see who that is and whether it’s someone who adds a bit of quality and goes straight in as a first XI pick.

ATS looks nailed on as a starter, which means Tait takes Cadden’s role at RWB. You’d think that would mean Cadden will move centrally which is possibly where we’re hoping we’re getting the attacking midfielder from.

Let’s say Gorrin does take McHugh’s place;

Carson
Kipré Hartley Dunne
Tait Campbell Gorrin Cadden ATS
Main Johnson

Subs from: Bowman, Gillespie, Tanner, McHugh, Rose, Grimshaw, Frear, Donnelly, Bigirimana, Newell, Turnbull, Scott, Maguire, Ferguson

(apologies if I’ve missed anyone out)

[WellView]

Is our transfer window closing on August 9th?  

 

[one m in Motherwell]

I’ve not sat through the full 21 mins 30 seconds of that video but my initial reaction was that he looks pretty much exactly the player Robinson described in that interview. He’s 6ft 1, seems comfortable on the ball, has a range of passing and can tackle. Even in his wee interview he’s talking about “aggression”.

I said at the time I thought it’d be someone who combines McHugh & Bigi’s attributes and on the face of it that’s what the bold A-Rod seems to offer. I probably shouldn’t be but I’m surprised that posters on Steelmen are surprised we’ve signed a player who fits the description Robinson gave and not a profile they’ve based on a misinterpretation of the word “stature”.

Whether he’s here to go straight into the first team is interesting as there’s an obvious question re: McHugh/Bigi.

Robinson’s already said he’s after another striker so it’ll be interesting to see who that is and whether it’s someone who adds a bit of quality and goes straight in as a first XI pick.

ATS looks nailed on as a starter, which means Tait takes Cadden’s role at RWB. You’d think that would mean Cadden will move centrally which is possibly where we’re hoping we’re getting the attacking midfielder from.

Let’s say Gorrin does take McHugh’s place;

Carson
Kipré Hartley Dunne
Tait Campbell Gorrin Cadden ATS
Main Johnson

Subs from: Bowman, Gillespie, Tanner, McHugh, Rose, Grimshaw, Frear, Donnelly, Bigirimana, Newell, Turnbull, Scott, Maguire, Ferguson

(apologies if I’ve missed anyone out)

On paper, that looks excellent (unknowns re Johnson & Gorrin notwithstanding)

[Gianfranco]

I’d like another forward but the rest looks fine. It’ll be interesting to see who we lose this summer.

[Desp]

36 minutes ago, Gianfranco said:

I’d like another forward but the rest looks fine. It’ll be interesting to see who we lose this summer.

The way it's looking, I'd imagine the club won't stand in Bigirimana's way if a club comes in for him.  Other than that, we'll just need to see if anyone bids for Kipré, Carson or Cadden.  If they do, at least we know we'll dig our heels in for a good price.

[capt_oats]

The way it's looking, I'd imagine the club won't stand in Bigirimana's way if a club comes in for him.  Other than that, we'll just need to see if anyone bids for Kipré, Carson or Cadden.  If they do, at least we know we'll dig our heels in for a good price.

Pretty much how I see it too. I’d probably add Frear on to the ‘won’t stand in his way’ list. He’s got a year to go, we rarely play with wingers and he spent most of last season injured or on the bench behind Tait. We’ve now brought in a natural left back/LWB which suggests Frear’s not going to be first choice.

Nothing against him as I think his situation is largely down to circumstance but if a team came along and said “we’ll give you games and play you in your actual position” I’d have thought he’d be interested.

You can see where there could be a natural bit of trimming and there are assets in Carson, Kipré and Cadden but overall we seem reasonably balanced. Even loaning a few of the u20s out feels like it’s as much about development.

[BigTamMuller]

Alejandro looks a good signing - always that little bit more intrigue when a foreign player comes in, but quietly optimistic on this one given we've had him on a training camp in January and had a good look at him.

Can't help but feel though that it leaves a very interesting array of midfielders. Perhaps a sign that Bigirimana could be on the way out, Turnbull potentially on a loan to the Championship as well? I'm in the camp of wouldn't be averse to seeing Mchugh move on,  and  to let us shift Cadden into the middle of the park as well with Campbell. Certainly can't say we don't have strength in depth on paper though - maybe one more forward needed and we'd be more or less there for summer, barring any offers for the prized assets.

[capt_oats]

Given Bigi spent most of last season on the bench then adding another (similar) midfielder pushes him a bit more to the periphery and suggests we’d be open to offers.

In truth the only real issue with McHugh is the awkwardness of the captaincy as a squad player he’s hugely versatile. If Aldred isn’t coming back the someone who’s an experienced centre half that could cover if necessary along with the midfield role would be pretty useful. Then again he presumably got a wage bump when he signed that new deal along with being named captain, depends whether we’re comfortable with bumping him down to a ‘squad’ role.

[Widge]

Could Bigirimana play the “Chris Millar” role at saints. Take the ball from the defence and recycle it and move it forward? Or is he more attacking and box to box?

[Swello]

I never really know about the captain's role. If it was just about shouting "C'mon" with a clenched fist after we lose a goal - Mad Pete would be a shoe-in - but I guess it's mainly about behind the scenes stuff that we don't see and being the player's rep to the manager, etc. - and It might be McHugh is good at that stuff as he seems to be a fairly articulate guy. If he were to be more of a squad player (which is something that the support seems to assume but the manager might have a totally different view), then it would be a weird look...

[nsr]

Any reason they are only getting one year deals?