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Robinson... How Do We Think He's Doing ?


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It was an allegory, if I have got my grammatical terms correct, perhaps I was being too clever for the audience, this has been a bit like having to explain a joke which takes all the fun out of it.

23 minutes ago, uberbernie said:

ropy you clearly said the above........... which replay are they looking foward to?

yodo is right

 

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We got too 2 cup finals and sold a player for about a million but yet we haven't remotely kicked on,we have gone back the way,our approach too the summer transfer window was embarrassing,robinson has been tactically sussed and our dreadful options from the bench means we can change very little.were awful too watch and were now stuck in a bit of a rut.something has to change sooner rather than later and for me that has too be the manager.

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The end is near. We’ve  ran out of steam with the hard graft approach and the squad doesn’t possess the required quality to turn it around.

When you consider the cost of a Robinson payoff and the inevitable clearout that will follow, I hate to think how much of the cup money has been thrown down the drain.  

 

 

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Stephen Robinson achieved a lot last season and made some decent signings but his transfer approach over the summer is now looking to be in tatters.  We are on a bad run and don't look as if we know how to get out of it.  He's under a lot of pressure now and he's got maybe 4 games to get him and us out of the mire.  If we can't take say 10 points from our next 5 games then I'd say the Directors will have to make a decision and if they don't then the fans will do it for them.  Next Saturday is a must win end of.  its not just the the number of defeats but also the manner of them which is concerning.

Robbo has something in the bank for getting us to 2 cup finals and staving off relegation but thats rapidly evaporating. 

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1 hour ago, Yodo said:

Somebody come on and tell us all why he should keep his job .In the meantime ATS and Donnelly just show you when you sign shite you become shite so let's not beat about the bush get him sacked on the coach on the way home 

You seem to be the forum arse with all the answers, none of them relevant but you are entitled to your opinion, so I will bite, SR is sacked who would you bring in to improve things 7 games into a season, ?

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When we lose 1-0 next week at home to Livinston and go bottom he should be shown the door. I can't remember when we last won a league game at home. I like Robinson and last season was memorable but he's lost his way and so have the team. He's not getting the best out of them. Time to replace during the international break.

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6 hours ago, steelboy said:

You are making things up. 3rd, 2nd, 2nd was a great achievement.

I'm actually in the minority because I think the financial side of things was out of the club's control due to Rangers.

It does sound like something you'd say though. Can we just attribute it to you anyway?

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1 hour ago, Spiderpig said:

You seem to be the forum arse with all the answers, none of them relevant but you are entitled to your opinion, so I will bite, SR is sacked who would you bring in to improve things 7 games into a season, ?

So we won 8 home league games last season and none so far ,anybody but Robinson but hey you have your opinion 

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Thanks SR for last season, however, your time is up for the following reasons:

players now fighting amongst themselves. Never a great sign and won't help any improvement. 

The shape is shocking. We play with two wingers that are ment to have the skill to defend and attack. They can't do either. We continue to get overloaded and give to much space. 

Today he took off Tate our only natural wide defender then put Donnelly into right back? Why??? Square pegs round holes  

long ball ugly football  it's shocking honestly too hard to watch. We go to 3-1, what's the game plan put on Conner and hit the ball longer  would love to see the number of passes complete today  

It's a hard watch. I genuinely haven't missed a single game this year and driving home today I am seriously thinking about giving it up. There's just no enjoyment anymore.

 

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Although I'd  agree our close season transfer dealings have been poor and the players brought in aren't good enough I still believe all our current woes stem back to the beginning of last season.

We won 6 out of our first 10 matches but people forget about many of the performances.  Against Kilmarnock and Ross County the team was literally booed off the field at half time, we put in dismal first half displays, were generally given the runaround and were lucky, due to poor finishing from the visitors, to still be in the match.  In the 2nd half we improved and we managed to get 1-0 leads with two late penalties, one each match to wrap up the points.

The introduction of Allan Campbell from the sub bench turned the match against Ross County.  It showed one thing, that Robinson's choices that he'd brought in - Bigirimana, Rose, alongside McHugh were not good enough as a midfield.  And as has been proven time and time again ever since, when Allan Campbell is not present our midfield rarely if ever functions.  Yet while this was evident to anyone actually analysing the matches rather than just looking at the results nothing was done about it.  To this day, more than a year on and two transfer windows past, we still lack quality in midfield.  A football team with no midfield will always be destined for disaster.  And so it's proved.  

So how did we win 6 out of 10 then?  Our initial success was based on a number of factors - new players, an unusual formation and 'throwback' tactics in an age when 'good' football meant playing on the ground, as well as having the best striker in the league, a good bit of luck and a favourable opening run of winnable home fixtures.  However, we were easily figured out after one match, luck doesn't last forever and our striker was injured and then sold.  Once teams had played us and adapted, we were easy to counter.  The classic example was Aberdeen.  Soundly beaten in what will probably be remembered as the best performance of the Robinson era in the league cup, Aberdeen returned the following weekend, changed their tactical approach and completely shut us down and won 1-0.  More or less every team did the same after the first round of matches - a fact that saw our form go off a cliff and never really recover beyond a few wins against relegation bound Partick and an end of season kick about against Hamilton in the Bottom Six matches.

Here was our second mistake - not replacing Louis Moult.  While Main started brightly at the club it soon became apparent that he was no penalty box striker and while he often did good work outside the box the goal return was nowhere near the player he replaced.  Yet, again, like the problem in midfield, nothing was done.  Another  transfer window and Connor Sammon was brought in, a player far too similar to existing players in the squad and a striker with a poor goal return.  True, Danny Johnson was also brought in but here was a player with fitness issues and who clearly needed time and matches to adjust and step up a level.  He wasn't ready to step right in.

So last season while the midfield was not good enough at any point but we could get away with it because we were defensively sound and had a great striker.

Then when Moult was sold we couldn't really get away with it a lot of the time because we were depending on not conceding to get anything out of games.  If teams scored first they generally beat us.  Form suffered badly, goals dried up and our form went into free fall.

Finally we get to this close season.  Both midfield and forward positions were not significantly strengthen, something that should have been apparent for some time and then disaster happened - the last functioning part of the team - the defence - fell apart.  Dunne was injured, Hartley came back from a serious injury and didn't look the same player, Kipre was sold and our best player last season, Trevor Carson, took a major dip in form.

So as it stands no area of the pitch is good enough.  Carson's poor-ish form may improve but defensively we have been very bad - 14 conceded in 7 league matches and not a single clean sheet.  We have exactly the same midfield as last season - a Chris Cadden going backwards at a rate of knots, Rose, Bigirimana, an out of position Tait, and of course ,Campbell, a player that, as good as he is, desperately needs help.  The only 'improvement' in midfield was moving McHugh out of it into defence.  

So while it's tempting to blame Sammon, Donnelly and ATS for the poor start to the season I still maintain that, really, our problems stem back to last season for the above reasons.

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5 hours ago, Ya Bezzer! said:

 

Finally we get to this close season.  Both midfield and forward positions were not significantly strengthen, something that should have been apparent for some time and then disaster happened - the last functioning part of the team - the defence - fell apart.  Dunne was injured, Hartley came back from a serious injury and didn't look the same player, Kipre was sold and our best player last season, Trevor Carson, took a major dip in form.

 

Much of what you say is true in your post but I think this part is particularly telling. Motherwell always have and always will be a team that live on the margins of success and failure. They are always one or two players that can make a poor season a good one. In every aspect of the clubs business they have to work harder to compete with the bigger teams. Fitness, recruitment, tactics etc all have to be worked for that little bit more. For this reason losing the players you mention above is massive for a team like ours. Robinson himself said that the loss of Dunne was a huge blow and possibly the one player in the squad that he could least afford to lose. 

The important thing for me is that the loss of these players is not Robinsons fault.  In fact he brought each one of these players to the club. Having these players playing and on form may have brought about a very different start to the season.  Should Robinson lose his job on the back of this misfortune?

You mentioned Campbell. Robinson brought him into the team. A player from the youth set up who was brought in at the right time with great success. This is again a positive for the manager and contradicts slightly the theory that he never plays the young players.

Moult was indeed for a time the best striker in the league. It was always going to be a tough ask to replace him and yes so that as proved. Should Robinson lose his job on the back of this.

You neglect to mention in your post once more the Cup run.  You mention the Aberdeen game in the League Cup and I agree, that was Robinsons finest moment at the club to date. However to dismiss the other Cup games against all Premiership opposition as of no consequence or flukes as others have argued is harsh in the extreme. The performances against Hearts at home and Rangers at Hampden in particular were very good.  I have been watching Motherwell since 1980 and have never had the good fortune of seeing to Cup Finals in one season untill last season. Should Robinson lose his job at this time when we have not yet finished the first round of matches? 

If Robinson does not make it through the next four/ five games the one thing I can guarantee is this, that the new man whoever that might be will be living on the margins just the same, because that is the nature of the club we support

 

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10 hours ago, Welldaft Mk1 said:

Funny thing is Yodo I genuinely believe even if we were doing well you would be on here spouting all sorts of negative pish. Just seems to be the kind of guy you are judging by your posts. 

Sorry but you have got me all wrong I don't post on here as a "troll" what I post on here are about things I'm seeing happen to the team I support .Facts are the only way you can get things across so if 8 home wins last season and none so far upsets anybody then I am sorry for that .But our club is struggling badly yes I will give Robinson thanks for the 2 cup finals but instead of taking the club forward we have gone back the way along with the quality of player we have at the club ,time for Mr Robinson to go 

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