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Joeboy

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Everything posted by Joeboy

  1. I think Fisher is back tomorrow, he felt fine to play through the week apparently, but after anyone has concussion, you have to wait a statutory one week before playing them again.
  2. The weird thing about it is that Morrison hasn't played a minute for Clyde. Not sure the value of him sitting on their bench when we have no one sitting on ours.
  3. Haven't made as many games this season due to my own Saturday football commitments, so some of these assessments may be a bit flippant given last night was just my 7th game of the season, but anyway... Griffiths badly at fault for a free kick, from that angle it should take an absolutely exceptional free kick to beat a goalkeeper, one that's above Blair Spittal's level of talent. The sooner Carson is back the better. It was also concerning how we had no keeper on the bench, surely both youth keepers being out on loan at once is unprofessional, particularly as Morrison hasn't played a minute at Clyde. The shape of the back three was horrid in the first half. McHugh, although I believe centre half to be his best position, didn't have a fantastic evening by any stretch, however I don't think Kipre's positioning helped him at all, as he seemed to be making mistakes covering an area I'd expect Kipre to be in. Dunne's distribution wasn't fantastic either and along with Petravicius, I see more athletic ability than footballing. I'd bring Hammell and go for a four at the weekend, unless the plastic pitch disrupts that line of thinking. Hammell brings a calmness in possession that we could really have used and unless we are expecting a rapid right winger from Killie to run riot, I wouldn't see the merits of playing Dunne. I can only judge Petravicius on 90 minutes (45 v Celtic, 45 v Partick) but so far he hasn't looked to offer anything other than being reasonably fast. Eliphas Shivute and Andy Roddie were reasonably fast, even Omar Daley had a wee burst in him. Perhaps he needs a run of constant games to get up to speed, but I don't feel like we could carry a passenger. I was surprised to see Grimshaw go off at half time, as I thought he was easily the best of the three in the first half, although being the best of the three amounted to winning a couple of tackles and going on a couple of runs. Campbell was poor for their third goal but given how good he's been I think we can cut him some slack for that. Rose was a ghost. I'd agree with Robinson that Frear was about all who got pass marks in the first half, but I think he needs to look closer to home for how we failed last night. Filling a team full of athletes and battlers may be okay against some teams, but against the bottom side we should be the ones looking to play football. Waiting till half time to bring on two players who can actually trap and pass a ball was ludicrous. Our football in the first half was painful to the eyes. In the second half, the 4-2-3-1 formation we played seemed to be best I've ever seen our shape without Moult at any point. Bowman had a cumbersome performance and timed several jumps wrong, but did try his heart out and obviously got a goal. I think he will only ever be foil for someone and can't see him being the main man himself. With a back four, we were rarely troubled at the back by Partick and going forward Tanner and Bigi's use of the ball made the difference. The two of them must start on Saturday. Didn't feel too aggrieved by the goal being disallowed (haven't watched it back yet) as I thought it was offside and had we not been buoyed by the decision, I don't think we'd have scored so soon afterwards. What was annoying was the fact that how big an influence Cerny had on it and how out of control the ref was afterwards. Cerny wasted time about 7 or 8 times without booking. Allowing that sets a precedent for the future. It seemed to be that there was a way to beat Partick last night and Robinson didn't do adequate homework to work it out. Battling against bigger teams is fair enough but we need to trust in ourselves to take the game to smaller teams.
  4. The best of all of it is Blyth didn't start the game that steelboy is alleging, he came on as a sub....usual level of nonsense fuelled with inaccuracy from steelboy here.
  5. I thought Dan was better than Gunnar Nielsen and Lee Hollis, but still ultimately not good enough.
  6. I agree, he went through a purple patch when he was on loan. 7/9 of his goals that season came before we signed him permanently in the January, so for us to get him on a free then sell him in the summer for a healthy fee when his form was a downward spiral, proved to be great business. He hasn't exactly set the heather on fire at any club since leaving us either.
  7. Didn't it come to light last year, that Kidderminster didn't have a sell-on fee? I'm sure I remember something like that.
  8. Unless we are in dire straits financially, I wouldn't take anything less than the projected amount at the end of his contract, we would be daft to. Providing there's no loopholes where he could move for compensation. Glad he's still 23 or under when his deal expires, found it frustrating when we gave Murphy a contract until he was 24 and ended up getting a pittance up front although I'm not sure how much that has been offset by what we've received for both his Sheffield United and Brighton moves. As for the keeper, I'd be lying if I said I knew much about him, but at any level for a keeper to come through a system and play fifty-five games by the time he is 19, he must be doing something right. Glad we plan to loan him straight back out though, so that match practice doesn't stagnate.
  9. That's the thing for me too with McManus. As critical as I have been of him over his time here, if you judge him on his supposed pedigree of Scotland caps, Champion's League appearances, titles and seven figure transfer fees then he's probably came up a bit short. However, if you judge him as a Motherwell centre back in his 30s, then he's probably the done the job expected of that bracket reasonably well.
  10. Unfortunately, I've not made any of the three games so far (caught the Queen's Park game on the telly) but I'm unsurprised to see the internet have obituaries for our season already. So much so I have already left a “Well Fans II” facebook group I joined on Saturday (it was a long five days). It’s been pointed out that we are the only top-flight side to win their first three league cup games. That tells you that we have a lot less to moan about than other teams. I’d much rather have been a ‘Well fan than an Accies or Hearts fan last night for sure. Had we made such hard work of a game like last night’s in November or something, I’d be more concerned, but as competitive as these games are, they are still to an extent going to have the match fitness slant on them that friendlies do. Add to that the fact that we beat Queen’s Park and Morton by four goals. No matter who we are playing, we can’t expect to continually go out and scud teams, I don’t know what earned us that divine right. So we played Edinburgh City, who recovered from us missing a sitter early on by all accounts to then score a breakaway when we had all the possession and pressure. That happens in football, even “The invincibles” managed to get beat by a team from Gibraltar at this stage last season. Our team last night had McManus (first game since February), MacLean (first game since December), McMillan (first game since March, first start under Robinson) and Rose (making his full debut). There’s going to be an obvious rustiness to that. The fact that we avoided having to use Moult or Hammell on a plastic pitch was also a pro. The only thing I’m perhaps aggrieved with so far is the reports on Frear. I thought last season that he didn’t suit the wing back role and was only being used there as a stop gap due to personnel almost dictating both our line up and our formation. Whilst I think he did a stellar job there and played a massive role in us staying up, it seems reports suggest we won’t get the best out of him in this role. Robinson seems intent on a three at the back formation and if it works as a whole then it’s not worth changing for one man, but it is disappointing to see such a creative outlet in the team so supressed.
  11. Jim O'Brien has left Shrewsbury today. When he was at Coventry, he became unhappy due to being too far away from his family in Yorkshire, so him arriving at Ross County on loan last season after that statement seemed a bit bizarre. I wonder where he will end up.
  12. Doesn't seem to have been mentioned yet that Joe Chalmers has signed with Inverness. No harm to him, but that's a better move than I thought he'd get.
  13. Joeboy

    Dom Thomas

    Happy to see him go to be honest. I can only ever think of him getting one direct assist, he didn't score and but for a few promising early cameos, has been ineffectual in every appearance since. We've also got Cadden, Frear, Tanner, MacLean, Hastie and Gordon able to play out wide and if we have been playing with a back three at times, there's no great indication we'll be using wingers all the time anyway. I can't see him setting the heather alight at Kilmarnock, but even if he does, I won't rue us letting him go as his career clearly isn't working for either party here.
  14. I don't think it's quite as direct as that. Insurance did pay for Saunders' injury, as he got it whilst on international duty and that allowed us to sign Clancy at the time, despite having maxed out our budget.
  15. Nicky Maynard has just signed for Aberdeen, don't think there was a fee involved, so I don't know how that affects their pursuit of Moult. They may be a bit centre-forward heavy with Maynard, Rooney, Stockley and another one right enough.
  16. I wouldn't be averse to that either, but given his injury problems and his chances of finding another club at a reasonable level, for him to accept it, I reckon we'd need to offer him the full whack, or indeed very close to it. At this point in the season, where we are trying to get bodies in, that would be too much of a capital payment for me.
  17. Obviously professional football scouts are much better placed to judge than me and although they might be seeing something I'm missing in Heneghan, I just don't see that marked an improvement on a Kennedy or a Laing when I see him. People speak of Firhill as being his worst outing of last season (in which he was atrocious, along with the rest of the team), but for me his worst game was up at Dens in November, that I seen anyway. He made Craig Wighton look like a superstar that day and I would have expected to see that he had a decent season, but I think his stats were something like 2 goals in 35 games. That was him playing alongside McManus as well. When you take a guy on for free like him on a two year deal it is fairly risk free, but with a year remaining after not the most inspiring season ever, if someone is offering £300k then I think it's sensible to bite their hand off for it. Any English side willing to take him on will know they are going for someone who is raw, needs guidance and has limited time left on his deal and as such, will only be prepared to pay a modest fee for him. Obviously, I'd encourage us negotiating to the best of our ability in a sensible manner, but I wouldn't want our negotiations to price anyone out of a deal of which for me, providing we have suitable replacements lined up, represents great business.
  18. If I remember the chat correctly, when Heneghan came to us he had offers in the Championship, I seem to remember Blackburn's name being mentioned, so it is possible teams have been tracking him and are coming back in for him now. My question to that though, is why? Obviously the scouts of Burnley and Norwich know a lot more than me, but I think he had a really poor season. He doesn't have a stand out attribute and over the course of the season, I've seen him been outfought by target men and done by nippy strikers. It's not like he has a stand out attribute either, like Reynolds was quick or Hutchy was strong. Granted, he was the only first choice defender who managed to stay fit and the assortment of personnel can't have helped but I think if £300k was the fee quoted, we should take the money and run. Most of his poor games did come in a back three and whilst he didn't look natural there, a top level centre back should be adaptable to different formations. We ended up getting £100k or thereabouts for Reynolds, who in my opinion was a far better player for us than Heneghan, when he had six months left and come January we could be in the same situation. For me, £300k for a guy with a year on his contract, who is far from indispensible, represents a great deal.
  19. He got a whopper of an injury. Fell awkardly and done his medial ligaments and as he fell also got a concussion in the process. Double dunter. I wouldn't call him a defensive midfielder, he's not the type of player to just "sit" in front of the back four as his athleticism is probably his main attribute. He certainly never played in defence for Coventry but was used for a spell as a right wing back, more down to his athleticism again. Whilst I considered Bigirimana a surprise and something of a coup, signing Rose isn't quite as spectacular as that and I'd probably view him in the mould that he'll be a good signing and the type of player I'm happy we're pursuing, having signed Craig Clay in the same position last season (no harm to the guy but I just don't think he's upto it).
  20. His instagram yesterday suggested he was enjoying a few days in Majorca with the wife, so unless he's flying straight back today and coming up to Motherwell, I doubt it will be today.
  21. If you fire Andy Rose's name in twitter, there seems to be a lot of chat from Seattle Sounders fans suggesting he may be going back there as he was at a game there last week. Nothing to say it couldn't just have been a holiday though, I think his wife is American.
  22. Having seen both of them play in the same team, I would say that generally him and Bigirimana complement each other quite well so there might be something in that.
  23. I've seen him a good few times with Cov. Played a combination of right wing back, right midfield and centre midfield. Was unlucky with injuries in that a bad knee injury kept him out of the start of the season and a bad concussion the end. He's good for a goal or two. His athleticism is probably the big string in his bow, rather than technical ability and has a great engine. Probably not too dissimilar to the Pearson of 15/16 in that regard.
  24. Carson was Hartlepool's Player of the Year in 2015/16 and as this season only played two games after Christmas due to injury. Having only been narrowly relegated on the final day, you could argue that having their first choice keeper available may have helped them pick up an extra two points over the four months he was out. Had a look at Fisher's stats. He only started nine games last season. Inverness won 7 games all season, 5 of them were when Fisher started. He also averaged a goal every 129 minutes, which really isn't bad for playing in such a bad team. Bigirimana won Coventry's player of the year and although relegated, won the Checkatrade Trophy. Even despite his relegation, I think getting him amidst interest is a great coup. The way we have conducted ourselves so far is making me inclined to be glass half full. Thought Robinson spoke very well in his interview and he did seem keen to point out it wasn't him who gave Lasley the clause in his contract.
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