Motherwell v Dundee 05/03/2022

[grizzlyg]

9 minutes ago, joewarkfanclub said:

If I was picking a team to get our best players on the park and make us hard to beat whilst making us easier on the eye, I would be going with

‐--------------------------Kelly---------------------

       Mugabi------Ojala------Lamie------Carroll

‐---------------Slattery-------O'Hara-------------

--------Woolery------Tierney-------Efford

-------------------------KVV------------------------

There are arguments for playing McGinley at right back or even playing Sol and pushing Lamie out to the right as we did yesterday, but the midfield would allow us to link front and back without the need of a rocket launcher. Roberts and Shields would be contenders for Effords position.  Donnelly I would keep on the bench as a defensive option if we need to close out a game rather than putting on 6 centre halves. Id love to get Cornelius more game time as well as I believe he has shown enough to deserve it, but that might require some more tinkering re shape. Others may have their own thoughts and Im happy to be shot down by those who are more tactically astute. But  for me,  our squad is capable of much better if utilised in a more productive manner.

I would keep Lamie at left back and just stick with sol and ojala at the back.  I would have Carroll nowhere the starting line up , right back problem also. Mugabi not been great there and odonnell's confidence is rock bottom.  Fair play that he didn't react to the fans unlke Donnelly.  We all need to be up for it next week and get right behind the team. It's Alexander that is causing all of this anger with his clueless tactics. COYW

[texanwellfan]

I like O’Donnell but at the moment I think Mugabi is the better option. Not keen on McGinley but Carroll is not offering as much going forward as I thought he would so I think GA got something right by putting Lamie at left back so I’d go 

Mugabi, Sol, Ojala, Lamie

no hate against Donnelly, just think he is way off form. Mid 3 I’d have

O’Hara Slattery and Goss

up front I think we have to persevere with KVV in middle. For recent form I think Woolery makes it and left side I think Roberts is the closest we have to Watt, so Woolery, KVV, Roberts

STARTING TEAM

kelly

mugabi sol Ojala lamie

O’hara Slattery goss

Woolery KVV roberts

subs: O’Donnell, mcginley, Tierney, justin, effords, shields, Shaw, Cornelius, Fox

[texanwellfan]

Playing suggestions:

Vary the types of corners

vary the types of throw in

just clear the F’n ball when under pressure

leave A man upfield when defending corners

cut down the number of long “passes” alright now and again but try and make the better percentage chance of us winning them

players have to show for the ball to give passing options

do the players even know what an overlapping run is? Some of them would be good

could go on but you can only address so much at a time but most of the above could quickly and easily be addressed. 

[Busta Nut]

19 hours ago, grizzlyg said:

Got pelters from fans at one point and turned to east stand and put fingers to lips in a be quiet motion. Now a lot of our fans ain't angels but doing that not wise especially when he has been piss poor and team been brutal recently 

I am all for that, fitba fans are such wee sensitive souls .

[Busta Nut]

There is a lot of suggestions for playing 4 in midfield. 

I don't we had a right or left midfielder in the team. 

[smiddy]

2 hours ago, texanwellfan said:

I like O’Donnell but at the moment I think Mugabi is the better option. Not keen on McGinley but Carroll is not offering as much going forward as I thought he would so I think GA got something right by putting Lamie at left back so I’d go 

Mugabi, Sol, Ojala, Lamie

no hate against Donnelly, just think he is way off form. Mid 3 I’d have

O’Hara Slattery and Goss

up front I think we have to persevere with KVV in middle. For recent form I think Woolery makes it and left side I think Roberts is the closest we have to Watt, so Woolery, KVV, Roberts

STARTING TEAM

kelly

mugabi sol Ojala lamie

O’hara Slattery goss

Woolery KVV roberts

subs: O’Donnell, mcginley, Tierney, justin, effords, shields, Shaw, Cornelius, Fox

goss is an empty strip               oh n heez a shitebag tae

[texanwellfan]

3 hours ago, Robbos boy said:

Persevere with KVV, your having a laugh, give the guy some support, he had a good game yesterday, setting up equaliser with persevering and the way he laid the ball off to Tierney, was sublime. Another couple of stone on Tierney and he might have been strong enough to finish it. Sol and Ojala have been yards of the pace, with Ojala playing in lead boots yesterday and Sol jus punting long balls or going back. Think we need to get behind the lads for next Saturday, Hampden is on the horizon, a good support will go a long way. Just park the attitude get behind the team and onwards we go. Listen its not been great but we could be a StJohnstone or Dundee, every manager and player needs time to settle and improve. COYW. 

I am supporting him, by suggesting he starts. He has ability and can be very good but also prone to some less than inspiring performances, however anytime we have tried to replace him it’s not any better than his worst displays so in that respect he has earned his position in the starting line up. So perhaps continue would have been a better choice of word than persevere. 

[Yodo]

Goss and Slattery are the problem no the solution said it before might get away with one of them in the team but not both 

[texanwellfan]

1 hour ago, smiddy said:

goss is an empty strip               oh n heez a shitebag tae

So Shaw instead of Goss or Tierney? Surely not Donnelly at the moment. 

[texanwellfan]

1 minute ago, Yodo said:

Goss and Slattery are the problem no the solution said it before might get away with one of them in the team but not both 

From what we have I’d pick O’Hara and Slattery and one other. 

[Spiderpig]

17 minutes ago, texanwellfan said:

From what we have I’d pick O’Hara and Slattery and one other. 

I would agree with those two, but I live in hope that GA will abandon his obsession with 4-3-3 and play 4-4-2 then I would have Tierney and Shaw in beside them. Then we might have a midfield that's not going to be overrun and can create something for the front 2,instead of the long ball hit and hope we are playing just now.

[texanwellfan]

9 minutes ago, Spiderpig said:

I would agree with those two, but I live in hope that GA will abandon his obsession with 4-3-3 and play 4-4-2 then I would have Tierney and Shaw in beside them. Then we might have a midfield that's not going to be overrun and can create something for the front 2,instead of the long ball hit and hope we are playing just now.

I’ve given up considering anything other than 4-3-3 with GA

[Onthefringes]

2 hours ago, Spiderpig said:

I would agree with those two, but I live in hope that GA will abandon his obsession with 4-3-3 and play 4-4-2 then I would have Tierney and Shaw in beside them. Then we might have a midfield that's not going to be overrun and can create something for the front 2,instead of the long ball hit and hope we are playing just now.

4-4-2 over 4-3-3 to save being overrun is a nonsense. 

[mfc]

433 would work just fine if alexander used it properly,having 3 sitting defensive side of the ball all the time is a joke.our midfield is so easy to play against,we should have atleast 1 midfield runner to get the opposition midfield thinking and get another goal threat in the box.its anybody's guess what our midfield are actually there to do.alexander makes 3 and 4 changes most games and yet still sets us out to play the exact same way so I don't see changing formation making much difference.get your best 11 on the park and actually try and go and win the game would be a start,having nothing but defence type midfielders at home to the like of county and dundee is nonsense.

[Kmcalpin]

9 hours ago, mfc said:

433 would work just fine if alexander used it properly,having 3 sitting defensive side of the ball all the time is a joke.our midfield is so easy to play against,we should have atleast 1 midfield runner to get the opposition midfield thinking and get another goal threat in the box.its anybody's guess what our midfield are actually there to do.alexander makes 3 and 4 changes most games and yet still sets us out to play the exact same way so I don't see changing formation making much difference.get your best 11 on the park and actually try and go and win the game would be a start,having nothing but defence type midfielders at home to the like of county and dundee is nonsense.

Not sure that Goss is a defensive player, but I agree with your general point. A start would be to play 2  decent defensive midfielders in the first place.  There is little or no link up play between defence and striker/wingers, but that could be down to instructions. With the currently favoured midfield 3, lack of pace and positional discipline are sadly lacking.  

[mfc]

10 minutes ago, Kmcalpin said:

Not sure that Goss is a defensive player, but I agree with your general point. A start would be to play 2  decent defensive midfielders in the first place.  There is little or no link up play between defence and striker/wingers, but that could be down to instructions. With the currently favoured midfield 3, lack of pace and positional discipline are sadly lacking.  

Giving his height goss would be good option to get into the box when the ball is out wide,having another target to hit and ariel threat wouldn't go amiss.having two midfielders getting forward or taking it in turns would be good but right now I would settle for one.

[El Grew]

23 hours ago, Kmac said:

You’re spot on.

It has been absolutely turgid for years and I do think a lot of the blame ultimately comes back to the board.

There is absolutely no vision at board level for the club on a footballing level - it’s crystal clear at the AGM’s.

 Yes, Burrows puts a shift in and our social media is neat and tidy but when it comes to the direction of travel, we simply don’t have it. 
No harm to the guys, but it’s a board of directors populated by old men with largely accountancy backgrounds that have neither the vision nor foresight to strategically plan for what we want to achieve in terms of product. If they don’t have it, we should be bringing in a director of football to ensure a top down vision or bottom up vision.
That lack of strategy at the top means that we come down to the whims of managers whom we entrust to provide the big vision and therefore you have phases like Robinson’s ‘throw enough lower league English shite at a wall’ or Alexander’s particular brand of eye bleed. Managers are there to facilitate the will of the club, not to determine the will; but that’s not the situation we have.

It means that we have season after season of turnaround - stop/start youth progression and a complete feeling of disillusion which manifests in what we see now. The atmosphere is dreadful and how could it not be? I, like others have said, found myself last season and this thinking for the first time ever in 30+ years - maybe I’ll give the game a swerve this week. 

The league being as it is, means that it wouldn’t have taken much investment in January to have cantered to 4th but we didn’t. We sat on the record profits and rather than gaining a step on the rest of the league, we’re quite possibly looking at loosing near 600k in league money and the euro money that would’ve come next season. That decision again stems from a lack of footballing vision/ direction. 

Great post. Clearly and accurately identifies the root of the problems at the club.

[El Grew]

Why is young Dean Cornelius not getting more game time.  I know he’s only 20 and the club might want to nurse him along slowly.  So far, he’s only had a handful of games but has always acquitted himself very well and he’s one of the few midfield players to have scored this season. He reminds me of a young Phil O’Donnell when he was just starting out with us - box to box, good at breaking-up and disrupting opposition play and always looking to get forward.

I think he would do very well slotted into 4-4-2 formation playing with O’Hara, Slattery and Woolery.  He must be worth a run in the team especially given some of the dross in the midfield just now.

[numpty]

1 hour ago, El Grew said:

I think he would do very well slotted into 4-4-2 formation 

There's your answer.

[Winning by Name]

On 3/6/2022 at 10:01 AM, Kmac said:

You’re spot on.

It has been absolutely turgid for years and I do think a lot of the blame ultimately comes back to the board.

There is absolutely no vision at board level for the club on a footballing level - it’s crystal clear at the AGM’s.

 Yes, Burrows puts a shift in and our social media is neat and tidy but when it comes to the direction of travel, we simply don’t have it. 
No harm to the guys, but it’s a board of directors populated by old men with largely accountancy backgrounds that have neither the vision nor foresight to strategically plan for what we want to achieve in terms of product. If they don’t have it, we should be bringing in a director of football to ensure a top down vision or bottom up vision.
That lack of strategy at the top means that we come down to the whims of managers whom we entrust to provide the big vision and therefore you have phases like Robinson’s ‘throw enough lower league English shite at a wall’ or Alexander’s particular brand of eye bleed. Managers are there to facilitate the will of the club, not to determine the will; but that’s not the situation we have.

It means that we have season after season of turnaround - stop/start youth progression and a complete feeling of disillusion which manifests in what we see now. The atmosphere is dreadful and how could it not be? I, like others have said, found myself last season and this thinking for the first time ever in 30+ years - maybe I’ll give the game a swerve this week. 

The league being as it is, means that it wouldn’t have taken much investment in January to have cantered to 4th but we didn’t. We sat on the record profits and rather than gaining a step on the rest of the league, we’re quite possibly looking at loosing near 600k in league money and the euro money that would’ve come next season. That decision again stems from a lack of footballing vision/ direction. 

I totally agree with you on this. We are dragging ourselves down.

[Benson]

4 hours ago, El Grew said:

Why is young Dean Cornelius not getting more game time.  I know he’s only 20 and the club might want to nurse him along slowly.  So far, he’s only had a handful of games but has always acquitted himself very well and he’s one of the few midfield players to have scored this season. He reminds me of a young Phil O’Donnell when he was just starting out with us - box to box, good at breaking-up and disrupting opposition play and always looking to get forward.

I think he would do very well slotted into 4-4-2 formation playing with O’Hara, Slattery and Woolery.  He must be worth a run in the team especially given some of the dross in the midfield just now.

If you can't play in that league at the age of 20 somethings wrong

[Busta Nut]

For the folk blaming the top of the club , what's the solution?

For the folk wanting to play 4-4-2. who plays left and right midfield? 

[Great Balls of Shire]

On 3/7/2022 at 10:00 AM, El Grew said:

Why is young Dean Cornelius not getting more game time.  I know he’s only 20 and the club might want to nurse him along slowly.  So far, he’s only had a handful of games but has always acquitted himself very well and he’s one of the few midfield players to have scored this season. He reminds me of a young Phil O’Donnell when he was just starting out with us - box to box, good at breaking-up and disrupting opposition play and always looking to get forward.

I think he would do very well slotted into 4-4-2 formation playing with O’Hara, Slattery and Woolery.  He must be worth a run in the team especially given some of the dross in the midfield just now.

not seen enough of young Dean to compare him to Phil...Good luck to him , but I reckon if he was on that level , he would surely be in this team. I agree he is worth a shout at the minute .

Goss, Donnelly and ohara all have qualities but breaking into box isn't really one of them

[mfc]

2 hours ago, Busta Nut said:

For the folk blaming the top of the club , what's the solution?

For the folk wanting to play 4-4-2. who plays left and right midfield? 

I don't think there is much wrong with the way the people at the top are running the club,I would even say it's as good as we could ask for at a club like ours.the only problem right now is the manager who seems to be pretty clueless right now and has no idea how to set us up,making 3 and 4 changes every game is bad enough but to then go out and play exactly the same way as the week before is laughable.like you I don't see playing 442 as much of an answer either,we don't have 2 good enough wingers to play in the same team and we struggle with 3 in midfield as it is without only playing 2 in there.

[Yassin]

I think for a 4-4-2 to work it might have to be a lopsided McGhee style (I know) one with 3 central midfielders and one winger.

Something like

O'Hara Slattery  Donnelly Woolery