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Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons


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2 hours ago, capt_oats said:

He's not shite in a "how did he ever become a professional footballer?" type way, he's just extremely limited in what he's good at.

He's an excellent finisher...and that's about it. He'll not hold the ball up, he won't press, run the channels or link play but he's good for taking a chance in the penalty box.

He was fine when he had either Bowman or Main playing alongside him and doing all the graft. He'd just pop up and ping the ball in the net (the equaliser against Celtic being a good example) He also scored against Rangers along with a double against Aberdeen so he chipped in against Top 6 sides as well but Robinson's big on "earning the right to play football" and fell out the team largely because he didn't seem to be doing the general "free" stuff the manager wanted. That was compounded when we started going 433 and he's now absolutely miles out the picture.

We tried him as a lone striker in a 4411 with McCormack as the #10 for one game (when County pumped us out the cup) and that was pretty much the last we saw of him save a couple of cameos off the bench here and there.

He did an interview with Motherwell's YouTube last season when Robinson had brought him back into the fold and a quote he gave really rings true and kind of sums him up: "my goals will pull me through more than my overall game".

He had a ridiculous scoring record for Gateshead (53 in 127) and even for us he scored 8 in 28 which largely amounted to the period July - December when he was actually getting games.

Only thing that worries me there is that we've got Nelson as a finisher already. We are lacking goals but McPake seems to be building his team as everyone presses type team.

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56 minutes ago, Ludo*1 said:

Only thing that worries me there is that we've got Nelson as a finisher already. We are lacking goals but McPake seems to be building his team as everyone presses type team.

Was/Is Nelson not an absolute sicknote though?

As @Gianfranco says put Johnson up front as part of a pair with someone to do his graft (Curran maybe?) and I'm pretty sure he'd score goals for you no problem. I'm not sure it's necessarily an "attitude" thing with him but it kind of feels like Robinson largely decided he wasn't for him. The fact we started getting results with a shape that he clearly doesn't suit pretty much meant he should be packing his bags.

Looking at last season he was benched from around mid-September until the Aberdeen game in November (the interview below was filmed prior to that game). The benching was weird given we weren't in great form and he had been chipping in with goals but he's talking about how the manager wanted more from him and needed him to work on other aspects of his game. I'm maybe projecting but there's a strong "did ye? Aye?" tone about what he's saying.

He scored 4 goals in 5 games after getting back in the side for that Aberdeen game but after the winter break he completely disappeared from the starting XI (unused sub in 12 of 17 games, not in the squad for 2). Started the County game then managed 3 cameos off the bench. As I said in a post the other day, he's only started 1 of our 7 games since pre-season started so it's felt like his tea's been oot for a while.

 

Edited by capt_oats
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From what I’m hearing Johnson is the worst trainer at the club and has been since he signed.

It really irks Robbo I believe and feels he can’t trust him in the starting 11.

Johnson is a top finisher. But if he’s not scoring goals he not doing anything.

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From what I’m hearing Johnson is the worst trainer at the club and has been since he signed.

It really irks Robbo I believe and feels he can’t trust him in the starting 11.

Johnson is a top finisher. But if he’s not scoring goals he not doing anything.


With nothing concrete to go on this is kind of what I had thought was going on tbh. The fact we were persisting with Main for chunks of the season when he couldn’t score for toffee was pretty telling imo.
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8 hours ago, well fan for life said:

 


With nothing concrete to go on this is kind of what I had thought was going on tbh. The fact we were persisting with Main for chunks of the season when he couldn’t score for toffee was pretty telling imo.

 

They were doing some running exercises in front of us at Palmerston - could make excuses on a warm day and for guys that haven't made the bench, but Johnson definitely looked the least fit of those involved.

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11 hours ago, Jim McLean's Ghost said:

With the singing of Manzinga it looks like we have a deal to ship out Johnson. Otherwise Robbo's comments about not signing more squad players and only looking at potential starters are a load of bollocks.

I’ll admit- a 24 year old(currently crocked) boy from the Belgian 3rd tier wasn’t exactly who I had in mind when I seen those comments. 

Surely this boys just a cheap punt though? Someone that has something about him they think they might be able to develop. Bit like Mbulu last season. Given the reserves have literally no wingers, it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s where he plays of most of his football- certainly to begin with anyway.

As for Johnson, I quite liked him for what he was- a poacher. If it wasn’t for his goals, I genuinely think we’d have been right down there with the likes of St.Mirren and Dundee going into the winter break. His goals to game ratio was excellent, especially when you consider the appalling service he got during the 1st half of last season.

Unfortunately, circumstances have changed and he seems either unwilling or unable to adapt. Be a good signing for Dundee though, reckon he’d score for fun in the Championship.  

Still think we’ll see at least one more come in before the end of the window.

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