Well-Made

Sorry, for some reason despite reading the thread 3 times I missed that post......

Here is the link.

The BBC Gossip page reports that Clarkson maybe on his way back after training with the club.

Daily Record saying that the deal for Arnier was £250K down plus £50K in add-ons.

Welcome back Lionel and Good Luck to Hutchy, a good servant for the club and he has earned this move. Think it is the step up he needs. Hopefully we get to say farewell to him at Fir Park.

This is from the 2nd June so things could've changed. Derby Telegraph

a + b = c

Good to see Keef on board. See the BBC are carrying the story Motherwell expect McCall to stay. Why do they think he'd go elsewhere?

Going to be down Fleetwood way, the first week of July, would be good if the club can get something sorted. Then again, wonder how the missus will feel about being left in the caravan.

Welcome back on board Mr Reid. Hutchies replacement????

Think that idea is a no goer - it sounds too much like it'd involve water.

I did have a laugh at it, seeing as did tend to focus on McManus. But yeah, I think the way the middle 4 has been deployed has caused a lot of problems. The article identified that if Faddy and Vigurs were in the team we were defensively weaker. However if you add Ainsworth to that as well.then it really left us exposed. However leaving out Ainsworth left us with a lack of pace to get the ball out of defence. We all remember the way McGhee had us set up for the quick counter attack and the way we could get the ball up the park quickly and take the pressure of the defence. The way we set up now, we are a lot more pedestrian and that doesn't help us if we then lose the ball. However we're doing something right with the mount of goals we are scoring, the number of games we're winning. So it probably just needs a few tweaks to sort things out. And drop McManus ............................... Not!!

Has anyone seen this? http://terracepodcast.net/chrismillarlounge/2013/12/19/break-it-down-motherwells-defence It appears to tell us that neither of the keepers are at fault for our defensive frailties. We need to look at trying to get a central defender of the books, if only Stuart McCall had seen this before offering a new contract......

I am delighted Dan has signed up, he done well when he was here last and at least earned a chance to be our No.1. It isn't the first time he's been looked at by the club, so I'd like to think the homework has been done from our side as well and that is why he got a 2 year deal. I am just hoping that our next signing is Ronaldo, rather than someone that's been at the club, had a brother play for us or even had a loan spell with us, just purely so I can see what sort of criticism he'll get from our fans (throws fishing rod out) Seriously though we're getting our business done early this year and that has to be a good thing. With the distractions that McCall had last summer, we were a lot later getting things sorted and we all thought that we were getting rushed signings at the last minute. Although they mostly worked out well. This pre-season looks like it's shaping up well. Lets hope we add at least one new face to the back 4.

Put me down for a tenner mate, money sent via Paypal.

There was a sell on clause involved with the transfer to Everton, just can't remember exactly what the % was. I'd just like to wish Faddy good luck for the future. My heart is gutted but my head knows it makes sense. At the end of the day the Club as to live within it's means.

Brill signed a permanent deal with ICT in November after negotiating a cancellation of his Luton contract. Signed until the summer of 2017.

I know when my lad played at the Cumbernauld Colts, the coach for Pro Youth at Stenny spoke to the coach and then got the parents over to talk to him. I don't think the coach has the right to say No, not at least without letting you know there's been an approach.

That was my initial impression, however having listened to the clip of his interview from MFCTV, I think it was Vigurs. He mentions that he passed a late fitness test.

Reporting on twitter, they don't have a great wifi or 3G signal.

Wonder if Tom Hateley can play as a winger. I hope not!!!

I am sure yesterday's story said we wouldn't be offering a new contract.

The problem I see with a 4-2-3-1 is that we really don't have any players with the pace or naturally suit that formation. At present we have Faddy playing in from the right and Agnol on the left if we set up like that. Neither are natural wingers and so we're playing them out of position. Faddy would need to be in the centre of the 3, with the current players that doesn't really allow us to do that without putting square pegs in round holes. If you want Faddy to create something, he needs to be in the centre of the park where he can get space to do that. Out on a wing he's limited, all the oppo have to do is put 2 on him , get in close and get him frustrated. He then has to try to hard to do something with the ball and the threat is snuffed out. There may be games that he can play out there but for regular consistency it has to be the centre. Don't get me wrong that formation may work. My formation was based on the players we have at present and trying to fit them into roles that aren't a million miles way from their natural position.

I was thinking about this yesterday, to play 4-4-2 we need to bring someone in to balance the midfield for a 4. If we're looking for a speedy winger, then it needs to be two wingers as we don't have one at the club. If he gets injured then there's no backup if it's only the one. McCall experimented with a back 3 during the friendlies and I think this was the formation that he'd banked on being able to play this season. It would explain the abundance of centre-halves at the club. To play that you'd be looking at a formation of GK: Either Hollis or Neilsen, think the latter maybe needs a wee run, see if it helps shore the defence a bit better. Not saying Hollis should be dropped by the way. 3 x CD: You have Ramsden, Hutch, McManus, Cummings to chose from. Right WB: Kerr or Ramsden. McCall has used Kerr as a right winger so may suit. Left WB: Angol or Hammell. Hammy may not have the legs for it but he has a vast experience to use. Angol needs to be allowed to run at the defence and not anchored to within yards of another 'Well player. That would then mean a midfield 3 of Lasley, Vigurs, Lawson or Carswell Faddy then either plays as an AMC behind a single striker. Or you pick a pairing from Sutton, Faddy, Arnier, McHugh, Moore With the squad at present this is the best formation I can see us playing. So that's a 3-5-1-1 or 3-5-2

From twitter