Jump to content

Andy_P

Moderator
  • Posts

    5,498
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    129

Posts posted by Andy_P

  1. 47 minutes ago, C&A not the shop said:

    You think the reason the motherwell team was less than fluent might be because we were playing with a striker that couldn't hold the ball up, beat a man or link play effectively? 

    What's Connor Sammon got to do with Danny Johnson? 

    • Like 1
    • Haha 5
    • Sad 1
  2. 34 minutes ago, Spiderpig said:

    He was never good enough for the premiership up here, even struggled when he was at Dundee , seems he's found his level in league 2.

    Whilst I don't know enough to argue against your assertion about his time in England I'm not convinced your point about the Premiership/Scotland is correct.

    He wasn't a kick off double figures  by the turn of the year having scored against both halves of the Old Firm and Aberdeen in a Motherwell team that was far from fluent. He simply wasn't given an opportunity thereafter when the formation changed post-Ross County Cup loss. 

    He also scored 7 goals in 20 appearances for Dundee which isn't the worst record either.

     

     

     

    • Like 2
  3. 13 minutes ago, C&A not the shop said:

    Or we have a core of Carson, O'Donnel and Watt who have been at the club at least a year and are all international players with plenty of experience in the SPL alongside solid SPL performers like O'Hara(192 spl games), Lamie (78 spl games), Crawford (43 spl games) who have all been here a year so will help with the transition. 

    It's not ideal but it's not the worst position we've been in.

    That's true, there are certainly two or three more senior pros still around, albeit not of the longevity and nor deep rooted attachment to the club such as the Hammell or Lasley ilk that I kind of had in mind when I posted earlier but you're right there remains several with a measure of experience of the league, even if perhaps I'm not personally set on their regular inclusion in the team.

     

    • Like 1
  4. 3 minutes ago, Goggles & Flippers said:

    Issue here is Andy all of them in theory we can't compete with and outwith our hands.

    Kelly is contracted to QPR, Cole to a team that just missed out on the Premier League, Campbell wishing to get a decent payday after seeing many of his colleagues from the youth setup move on for decent wedge despite the fact he was one of the most talented.

    The only one you cite is the centre half, who should have been on the books this summer and a move would have resulted in cash to spend elsewhere.

    I'm not suggesting there's been a failing.  I'm just concerned at the increasing scale of the rebuild that is required and the lack of a remaining core around with which to formulate a team; and the as yet unproven ability of those charged with undertaking it.

  5. I don't wish Devante Cole any ill will at his decision to move on, but I can't help but be concerned at the loss of another our better players. 

    That's a spine of a team in Kelly, Gallagher, Campbell and Cole all gone.  Under normal circumstances that would be a challenge in itself, but with a new manager going into his first close season alongside a new head of recruitment to me that challenge is only magnified.  It is of course early in June and the "seven to nine" signings line has mentioned more than once but the apprehension that began to form with the renewals towards the back end of last season hasn't exactly eased since.

  6. I quite like it.  I think the hoop enclosed within the white piping works pretty well when set alongside the white collar and cuffs. It also set me thinking of when we'd used white piping before in that fashion and it was Matchwinner's kit around 1987-1989 sported by the likes of Bobby Russell, Craig Paterson and Paul Kinnaird et al.

    I know many aren't fans  but I think with those aforementioned white facings white shorts might actually have complemented the shirt more than claret but very decent nonetheless.

    To pluck one of those lines from The Simpsons that gets stuck in your head for all eternity "I know what I hate, and i don't hate this".

     

    • Like 1
  7. Stephen Hetherington, Alloa to Falkirk.

    I don't know what kind of ratio there will be of youth graduates who remain in senior football compared to those who are now junior, amatuer or are lost to the game completely but it must count for something the grounding players receive at Fir Park that helps them carve out a career at some level in the senior game even if it might not be the level they had aspirations of playing at. 

    You could probably come up with a fair squad of lower league players that came through at Motherwell that could perform at a reasonable level.

  8. I don't really have much of an issue with either Patterson or McLaughlin to be honest and we should not confuse the priorities of the Scottish media with those of the Scotland coach.

    Don't get me wrong I'd much rather Liam Kelly was in there as 3rd choice keeper but unless something catastrophic happens then the 3rd choice goalkeeper isn't going to play whether that's McLaughlin, Kelly or whoever.  Both for reasons of continuity when it comes to training, relationships with the other two keepers and I'm sure there will be an element of gratitude towards McLaughlin for hauling his arse around Europe up to a dozen times a season with Scotland knowing he isn't going to play, I can see why Clarke would pick him over another goalie.

    I also welcome Clarke's use of the additional squad members available to him by bringing the talents of Gilmour, Turnbull and of course Patterson into the fold.  These will have been something of bonus picks for him so I applaud him in bringing in three players that will feature heavily in future to see them integrate with the squad over the course of a month or so, perhaps get them capped in of the two friendlies or against England when we're 3-0 up with five minutes left...

    My biggest issue with Patterson is the that the emergence of someone pretty prominent who spells Patterson with two tt's is only likely to encourage the trait and as everyone knows spelling Paterson with two tt's ensures the guilty party will sooner or later burn in hell for all eternity. Possibly.

    • Like 1
  9. 6 minutes ago, weeyin said:

    Looking forward to the comments about how dreadful we look in these games after 2 weeks of preseason training

    Looking forward to your comments when it clicks about three of the four opponents having those plastic pitches you were so delighted we wouldn't be playing on next season...

    • Like 1
    • Haha 3
  10. A dreadful finale to a generally dreadful season. Get a goal of a start, have forty-five minutes to see it out and still balls it up.

    I find myself more annoyed than I perhaps should be given the initial aim of Alexander's reign has been achieved with a few games to spare but it feels like a wasteful end to the campaign. There have been opportunities in these last few games to blood one or two youngsters and learn of their capabilities in a match day scenario against several sides still with things to play for, or you could take the view that we're paying for these players on staff and will make use of them to  go for seventh and the additional revenue that brings the club.  It was obvious Alexander was going for the latter.

    But here we are no seventh place finish, no additional prize money and little or nothing learned about the more youthful players in the squad.    A missed opportunity on several counts.

     

    • Like 1
  11. 1 hour ago, Goggles & Flippers said:

    What about anything we’ve seen in the past or present made someone offer Lawless an 18 month deal?

    Alexander was just in the door on the 15th of January but I’m racking my brain on this one.

    I didn't object at the time.  A reasonably solid top flight player of five or six years experience and who quite often chipped in with half a dozen goals or so a season.  It didn't look a retograde step when set against what Hastie, Seedorf or Long stuck out wide were offering in the first few months of the season.

    I will however concede however he's delivered the square root since he actually joined mind you.

  12. 9 minutes ago, well_said said:

    No comparison to their dross.

    I wasn't comparing.  I was illustrating what you might potentially miss out on if you are going to immediately dismiss players because they happened to finish in a side that finished bottom of a league.

    • Like 1
×
×
  • Create New...