Stu92

Irrelevant really. The original post was regarding how they had both improved in recent weeks/months, which I don’t think many would argue with.

And you could put that down the red card. I find it quite telling that Polworth hasn’t been in the team since.

Hesgoal not working for me, anyone with alternatives?

Re: midfield sitting too deep. I put this down to confidence. How many times in the last year have we gone into the final 20 of a game and ended up dropping points? You hear it spoken about often, how teams retreat those extra few yards when mentally not in a good position. It’s a vicious circle though, as dropping deeper in turn results in losing more goals and herein lies the problem. Hoping that this will fix itself through winning games. Was overall very pleased with the game. Don’t think anyone had a bad game, with most having a good game. The midfield three were very good, but for a couple of slack passes and some poor set piece delivery in the second half I thought Maguire was up there as a MOTM contender. The top three were unplayable at times, the second goal was great link up play between several players and I thought we looked really dangerous on the counter. It’ll be good to get Gallagher back in the team.

I thought that we could only sign free agents now? Will be some other left field player I imagine.

If we’re talking about improvement relative to other clubs, I’d say we’ve improved more than those closest to us. Accies have signed a striker with 9 games in the championship this season without scoring, while Ross County have sold two of their better players on deadline day and brought in Jordan White. We’ve kept our better players and added experience and depth to a squad that was already performing far below its potential.

The thing that disappoints me the most about our deadline day dealings is the complete lack of announcements made in front of Motherwell landmarks. Not a single bridge to be seen.

At least you’re honest about it!

When was the last time we made an ‘inspiring’ signing? Ross McCormack?

It is always difficult to sign players of high quality given our budget relative to most of our competitors. It is always difficult to get rid of our poorer/underperforming players. It is even more difficult to do either during January. The ongoing pandemic probably doesn’t make things any easier. But aye, let’s just say that our dealings this window have been due to a lack of ambition or willingness to push the boat out. I know close to nothing about the players we’ve signed, and so will reserve judgement. But I do think our squad looks better than it did on 1st January. There were plenty of games towards the end of the year where we had zero options off the bench, whereas we probably have options to mix is up a bit now. We also have a lot of games coming up in a short period of time, we need numbers to keep it fresh and avoid burn-out/injuries. A Polworth alternative would’ve been nice, but other than that I’ll trust that GA and those running the club have a better handle on things than anyone on this forum.

Nolan seems a good signing on paper. Experienced, versatile, etc. Hoping he helps to tighten things up, as we’ll be fine once we stop giving away the customary avoidable goal in every game we play. Read the wee bio on the official announcement and it makes reference to him being able to play anywhere across the back line. I’m doing 2 plus 2 and getting that Nolan is our new right back.

BBC reporting that there's another signing to come.

Any suggestions?

I remember seeing somewhere when he signed that it was an initial 6 month loan, with a pre-contract/made permanent after that. I don’t think Alexander would’ve had much say on Crawford tbh.

Absolutely. He gets beaten with the ‘Livi reject’ stick far too often and unnecessarily. Quite pleased he’s signed on permanently, have thought he’s been one of our more competent performers of late.