wellsince75

Happy birthday SOD . in fairness his strengths and weaknesses are there for all to see . He’s been asked to play in a position that doesn’t suit him. for a squad of +30 and a youth team it’s not great that an aging wingback is the medium term answer for an an aging right centre half who’s injured .

Slattery is the pick of the crop. Being brutal that's the only one I'd have signed, possibly 2 from the rest for squad members. Also worth noting the lack of pace from that group. Other than Slattery I just don't see them adding to the high press.

Agree - SOD is never a centre half, at best a wing back but now has no pace and can't get up the flanks. He's there to fill in for McGinn who's injured, who both get contracts and we'll rinse and repeat the same again next year. I worry that a few of the signings got a contract for being 'nice guys' rather than footballers who will make the team better.

Nice to see a Well manager smiling and laughing. A little more relaxed Motherwell could equate to even better football to watch. Suspect we'll play well against the jambo's.

@wellgirl point well made re the zero contract hours/pay as you play. McGinn has been very decent for us - I just don't believe he'll play many games. At his age and recent history it's unlikely he'll remain injury free. Time will tell , but fair challenge on my comments.

if we've signed him on a pay as you play then fair enough. No question a younger fitter Mcginn was an excellent signing. He'll be 35 this year, he missed several 3-4 months last season and missed c6 months this season. It's highly likely he'll miss a large chunk of next season. If this was a single signing of retaining experience then OK but that's Halliday/SOD/McGinn all been extended. We needed to have a massive clean up this season and move forward. I don't see us learning any lessons here at all.

The base is around 18 players but equally expect some coming/going within the 18. Still to sign. Wouldn't be surprised if Casey/Watt/Seddon/Paton all signed on. Perhaps McGinn as well. Contracted but could go Miller is obvious but suspect likes of Balmer/Robinson/Stuparevic all move on. (if fit) Before signings it could look something like : Ox Mcginn Gordon Casey Koutroumbis Sparrow Halliday Seddon Slattery Stam Maswanhise Subs Ward, Wilson, Watt, Paton , Ross OK base that can definitely be improved with 4-5 quality signings. Certainly need younger legs to come in.

Quite liked Wimmer outlining that he'll only bring in better players than the ones we've got. Very sensible. Only issue is he's happy with a lot of the player we have. Not as sensible. Overall signing c4 quality players in the transfer window also sounds sensible.

Good point - I’d forgotten about that one . 👍

Makes sense , hadn’t realised MC was now in 20s . Overall so far it’s a bit underwhelming as we have a lack of pace, guile and resigned a few mediocre players some of which unlikely to have much game time . Slattery aside , there’s not many resigning that make me think ‘oh good - I look forward to seeing them play’ appreciate some need of continuity , seasoned pros etc but we need to leave plenty of room for new blood.

Hard to argue with Halliday given his game time - experienced pro etc . Ward - really don't get it tbh. If he's not an upgrade on Balcome or Ox I don't see the point. If he is better than why's he had zero game time. A background in National league and Finland doesn't convince me. Overall Im not sure if Ox is the obvious No1 . If he is would prefer Connelly to be the back up.

Touting yourself for a role @mio. get stripped - you can have a run out on Saturday 😊

I was thinking about this and got me thinking about accountability or lack there of. Who's going to make the 'heads roll' for poor mgt. Previously we had an owner and if we pi55ed their money away with poor signings and bloated squads it was their cash they lost. Versus being in a community model does it hurt as much ? It could be a coincidence that since we've moved to the community model we've in tandem moved to signing +15 players every season. As I say appreciate it could easily be a coincidence but it has got me thinking about it.

re Watt - much would depend on our style of play. As part of a front 3 or sitting just behind the strikers he's an asset. The issue for me is 1) He's had all season to prove himself and show what he has. There's only been glimpses. 2) The formations we've often played haven't suited him. This could continue to be an issue. To retain him for me we'd have to get rid of of several other contracted forward players and play more than 1 up front. That being said he's the other loanee forward I'd consider retaining.

Falkirk have a much bigger support than Livingstone, as such resources should be stronger. I like the fact that they try and play football v's the eye bleeding Livi approach. Add to that Livi's plastic pitch, not sure when they're replacing but I'd much prefer all SPL clubs to have grass pitches. On a basic level it should be a standard requirement for any SPL club.

Agree @mio it's looking promising for us. As poor as we are there's 5 other clubs who are equally poor or worse. It's conceivable that we'll all pick up points against each other. Very glad not to be dragged into the mire.

great to get the points and move us play-offs . Bring back Ox, that's 21 goals in 11 games since Balcombe came in.

I don't understand how he can be perceived as the best option. He conceded a ridiculous amount of goals for St Mirren , we've had the same issue. I get why he was drafted in when Ox got injured and the loanee got injured but why Ox isn't been given the gloves back is beyond me.

this is a common thread throughout much of the team - could do with more people who'd put their heart, body and soul for the team. Bring back wee Dougie up front

Casey & Sparrow are our most likely goalscorers . Wouldn't rule out Watt finding a bit of form, attitude aside he's got a bit of talent.

Who's feeling confident today ? My gut feeling is we'll get something from the game.

First time I've watched a VAR review, found it quite interesting and equally disheartening. Incident 1. Balmer being sent off. They explain the technical reason, the follow through being above the knee and red card is correct. Park any MFC bias here, these rules are bonkers. He plays the ball, isn't looking a the player and catches the boy. These kind of rules make it impossible for officials. Incident 2. Thompsons red, being reduced to yellow. It was the assistant ref who wanted the red, what was he watching and how from a couple of yards away could he have thought Thomson assaulted the player. Sensible way forward would be to use it for 1) when offside by more than your arescheek 2) review red cards to ensure accurate.

I'd happily move him on - ideally for some cash He averages 12-17 games per season, this season isn't unsusal for him. We can't afford this type of player on our books.

What concerns me isn't about any individual who's recruiting , more the general direction we've gotten into. Over the last decade we've transitioned from bringing in 7-8 new players and regularly brining in 16-20. There's a lot less of the younger crew coming through on a regular basis and we're going from full overhaul one season to a next. We've always had budget constraints , for me we're being really wasteful and the approach needs to change.

Appreciate this season has been plagued with injuries so I decided to have a look at who we've signed since 21/22 when Dawes first arrived. Also did a bit of a comparison to 19/20 (excluded 20/21 due to Covid) Sine 2021 we've signed 73 players. 18 new signings per season. Roughly 50% have had reasonable game time and that's without debating who's good enough etc. Looking back to 2019 we signed fewer 15, of which 10 got game time. Thought worth sharing as helps illustrate how we're operating, for a club with financial constrictions we've signed far too many players, many of which haven't seen the light of day.