Yorkyred
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Posts posted by Yorkyred
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12 hours ago, MJC_mkII said:
Absolutely this.
We were awful last season but a combination of Tony Watt bailing us out from August - December, the majority of the rest of the league being just as awful and an utterly astounding amount of luck saw us finish in a false position.
So far we have signed one player and while I’m sure more will follow, I have absolutely ZERO faith in the manager and the scouting team bringing in the players that we need.
Only time will tell of course but I reckon that next season is going to be an absolute fucking riot for us.
Some folk say that every season though, never happens.
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On 6/20/2022 at 8:39 AM, SteelmaninOZ said:
Jury’s still out
Is it though, sales would suggest it’s incredibly popular.
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2 hours ago, dennyc said:
All speculation of course, but that's close season boredom for you.
Of the teams that finished ahead of us, three are likely to improve and even if they don't they will still be stronger than us. Money talks. Dundee Utd could stay about the same level even with Siegrist gone. Jack Ross knows what he is doing and has a point to prove. So it would not surprise me if they do improve but not to the extent of top three.
Of those clubs who finished below us, I could see County and Livi struggling to stay at last season's level as top players leaving such limited squads must have an adverse affect. But how often have we thought that about those two Clubs? And been proven wrong.
Aberdeen and Hibs will be much better and recent/pending recruitment indicates they will be stronger. Again finance plays a huge part. And if anybody wants to wager Aberdeen will not end up better than 3rd bottom please get in touch. St Mirren I think will be much the same, although they will be harder to beat under Robinson. St Johnstone are the team I think could go either way. Can they possibly be as bad as last season? They strolled through the play off, a bit like us against Rangers, so will start this season on a high. If pushed, I expect them to improve. Finally, I think Kilmarnock will offer much more than Dundee. Especially given that atrocious home pitch and with McInnes in charge.
As for us, I think to improve we have to bring in at least four quality players....a striker, two midfielders (one holding one creative) and (given the question marks regards fitness) one Central defender. Beyond that a left back and a winger would be a bonus. With Woolery, Carroll and McGinley still around I don't expect those two areas to be a priority for Alexander no matter what us fans think.
Also for us to improve I think Alexander has to take a much more flexible approach to how we set up game to game. Become a bit more unpredictable. He moved on from 4-3-3 towards the end of the season and we were able to secure 5th place. I don't think we would have been looking forward to Europe had he not made those changes. I do fear he will go down the 4-3-3 route once again though and I am far from convinced the current squad can make that formation work for any length of time. Oh, and no Mugabi at right back please. That experiment failed.
So in summary, unless we recruit wisely and are flexible formation wise I can see several clubs pushing past us. Like others have said, let's go for quality above numbers.
If there is one think I’ve learnt while supporting Motherwell it’s that every season we’re predicted to do badly with a percentage always stating we’re doomed to certain relegation with the worst squad in the history of the club. It’s always ended up better than many think. There is absolutely no guarantee that other clubs will do better any more than there is that we will do worse.
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8 hours ago, FirParkCornerExile said:
Aberdeen and Hibs will never be as bad again and I think Kilmarnock will be better than Dundee were so yes I do.
We will see, personally I’m not expecting the overall standard to improve, individual clubs may improve with others going backwards.
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20 minutes ago, Kmcalpin said:
We need another out and out striker to complement / substitute for Van Veen. Apart from that, a central defender is a must, although that might depend on shipping someone out. Strengthening the defence should be our priority. GA is well aware of that.
I’d be amazed if defence is not strengthened, simply retaining Lamie did not solve that problem.
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34 minutes ago, FirParkCornerExile said:
We only managed to finish 5th because the rest of the league were utterly pitiful and even worse than us . Never if my life have I seen week after week results go our way even when we fucked up week after week. That won't happen again. Aberdeen and Hibs will not be as bad next year. Kilmarnock will not stand still. The standard of our play last season was eye bleedingly bad. We had the 3rd worst defensive record in the league. I think we need 5 or 6 . If Spittal turns our to be the deal that obviously becomes 4/5
Do you honestly feel the overall standard in the league will rise ? Was just about everyone awful because the management were poor or could it be down to the quality of footballer Scottish football can attract ?
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6 hours ago, joewarkfanclub said:
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion on a player. But it does help when there is actual meat put on the bones to allow debate. I dont necesarily agree with your opinion but at least youve stated why you feel the way you do. I wouldnt say Slattery was lazy. There may have been questions over his fitness last season, but Im sure that can be worked on. I also like the fact that he isnt afraid to commit a dirty foul if its what is required at the time. With better quality around him Im pretty sure we will get more out of him this season.
Slattery was our best midfielder at the start of the season by some way, certainly not lazy. Something happened between him and Alexander given he could not even make the squad at times. Maybe not the best trainer but with better around him he has more to offer.
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13 hours ago, C&A not the shop said:
Alexander saying there won't be wholesale changes to the squad and that hes happy with the business we've done last year.
Which makes sense as compared to previous years its a faily settled side. I imagine at least 8 or 9 of the players that start against Bala or Sligo will have been here last season.
Maybe a bit of consistency (in squad) will help. Add a few bits of quality and we'll see how it goes.
It won’t go down well with a percentage of the fanbase who think we need a good few additions.
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Best home kit in years, love it.
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24 minutes ago, Yodo said:
Better than we have at the moment
Having been on this forum for a while now I’m not sure even that’s enough, some people’s expectations of incoming players seem to be higher than the reality is ever going to be. Some asked for the better Championship level player, that was then not enough, established Premiership level players, not enough. I’m sure we could all give a long list of the best Premiership players but I can pretty much guarantee not a single one of them would join us unless we offered stupid wages that would bankrupt the club moving forward.
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1 hour ago, steelboy said:
We'll see how he goes in the final tonight before the jumping the gun....
Given that we have Cornelius, Maguire, Slattery and Goss in the middle of the park I was hoping we would sign someone with a bit more experience who could bring them on as players. I don't see how he solves our problems in a 4-3-3 or facilitates a change to another system.
Obviously you can only judge players on the park and transfer windows when they are complete but we were told quality over quantity this window so I think it's fair to ask how this signing fits into that plan.
It depends what your expectations are regarding the level of quality ?
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57 minutes ago, mfc said:
There was definitely no harm in inquiring about davis,hopefully its an indication that were looking at quality over quantity this time around.
We sort of say that every summer
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4 hours ago, Yodo said:
If that’s the quality of our targets then heaven help us he’s a championship player at best
To be fair on this one I’m not that far off you. He’s decent but that’s about it in my view.
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I think Lamie is getting slightly talked up. Being the best of a very poor bunch does not automatically make you a good player. He’s very average at best in my view.
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On 5/13/2022 at 11:08 AM, Big Stall said:
We are utter shite though. And yep thats the reason I picked that example. That team were so bad we ended up in the playoffs and then smashed Rangers. All I'm saying is that we have regressed to such an extent that they would also destroy us.
A team with Pearson, McManus and McDonald through the spine, and Ainsworth and Johnson on the wings would totally destroy our current team if they showed up primed for the event. Carrol v on-form Lionel? Come on.
Skippy v Ojala?
Pearson and Las v Goss and Slattery?
Now line our current team up with McGhee's first season or McCalls superstars. Its frightening to imagine the outcome.
Now of course we don't need to worry about it, we are finishing 4th or 5th but it just shows how poor not only Motherwell have got in a relatively short number of years, but the rest of the league as well.
I think “if they showed up” would be key. It’s easy to look back with a degree of rose tinted spectacles in my view. Skippy, Pearson, Ainsworth had technical ability but how often were you not aware they were even on the field ? They were incredibly inconsistent which is why we ended up in a play off against a truly dreadful Rangers team that this seasons team would also have beaten in my view.
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We’ve finished 5th and reached the quarter finals of the cup and that’s a good season, I’m happy enough. Let’s see what happens in the summer.
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The points difference between the old firm and everyone else tells its own story, embarrassing and boring these days and it’s never going to change.
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I would certainly take a chance on Scott. He’s young, strong, pretty decent pace, and does have a level of technical ability. Putting all that together that’s superior to a good few of our normal summer signings over the last five years.
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Grimmy goes with my best wishes. Lots of effort but technically very limited sadly.
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Debate over ?
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Job done, well done Alexander.
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Just now, AllyMax said:
FFS Ojala...
Carthorse comes to mind
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It’s taking a sensible long term view, Hybrid pitches are so much more stable and easier to maintain. It’s like constantly paying for repairs to an old car, eventually it has to go off to the scrapyard.
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11 minutes ago, Ya Bezzer! said:
First of all pretty much every club that replaced a manager this season went backwards or at least didn't improve any - Aberdeen, Hibs, Dundee, St. Mirren. You could even argue Rangers went backwards, at least in terms of their league challenge when Gerard left.
The idea that you replace the manager and things get better just doesn't stand up. The context of the Scottish league is such that the major problems for any manager don't actually change any by replacing one for another, especially when the main thread of criticism is 'better style of football'. The players just aren't there to play good football. Across the league we export anyone with a hint of talent almost immediately. Season after season after season of sold off talent is why we are where we are. At Motherwell and pretty much across Scotland. Only Rangers and Celtic have the millions to replace who they sell.
Secondly if you look at the clubs that actually got top 6, they were all managers that were supported by their clubs through quite severe criticism from fans that, quite frankly, often are more concerned about cathartic output than level headed analysis.
Hearts fans were desperate for Robbie Neilson to start badly this term so they could continue their Jettison The Manager campaign. Ross County waited till round 11 of the season before they got a win, Dundee Utd had the second worst run of defeats (6) and had a run of 2 wins in 16 mid season. Yet by sticking by the manager they all achieved top 6 finishes.
Meanwhile, outside the Top 6, Hibs and their clown owner fired two managers and are currently 8th in the league on a run of 2 wins in 16. The same record Aberdeen currently have although they are even more lowly in 10th. Dundee sacked a manager and haven't won a game since, while St Johnstone stuck with Davidson, despite 8 losses in a row (the worst run of any team this season) and they might well survive. Certainly they have a better chance.
I've been arguing for year and years about the steep decline of Scottish football. When we do relatively well people don't want to hear because they feel it is a sort of attack on the achievements of the team. When we do poorly folk make the usual reflex kick at the managers and pile 25 years of game wide mismanagement across Scottish football on a provincial coach a season and a half in.
It's time supporters start actually talking a wider view on the poor standards of Scottish football. Every single manager in this league, newly appointed or not, is swimming against a tide of decline decades old.
My views exactly from start to finish, many supporters are still not seeing the real picture, it’s not the managers.
2022/23 ins & outs discussion
in Club Chat
Posted
Exactly, for every club that improves another will struggle. We just need to make sure we’re not one of the worst two and go from there. That’s not a lack of ambition it’s the reality for a good half a dozen teams in this league every season.