Former Motherwell Fc Players Thread

[mio]

I see Lennon Miller was given a full 90 seconds to prove himself at international level last night. That Steve Clarke is an absolute dinosaur. I find it incredibly hard to watch Scotland play. Awful turgid stuff.

[joewarkfanclub]

17 minutes ago, mio said:

I see Lennon Miller was given a full 90 seconds to prove himself at international level last night. That Steve Clarke is an absolute dinosaur. I find it incredibly hard to watch Scotland play. Awful turgid stuff.

That dinosaur may yet still qualify us for our first World Cup in 28 years.....

PS if we have a Scotland Caps clause with Udinese, then that 90 secs could end up being very financially rewarding for us!

[wellfan]

I don’t want to be too harsh on Lewis Ferguson, given how well he’s doing in Serie A. Still, I struggled to see what he added to the midfield last night and couldn’t help but feel Miller would’ve been more effective alongside Gilmour in the double pivot. Hopefully, he’ll get more opportunities in that role. 

[mio]

5 minutes ago, joewarkfanclub said:

That dinosaur may yet still qualify us for our first World Cup in 28 years.....

PS if we have a Scotland Caps clause with Udinese, then that 90 secs could end up being very financially rewarding for us!

See if he’s going to set us up the way he has in the euros I think I prefer we didn’t qualify. Those two tournaments were utterly humiliating. 
we have decent players who can play yet he sets us up in a way that makes us absolutely eye bleeding to watch. 

the “he’s made us qualify for 2 tournaments argument” to me isn’t relevant, there’s never been 2 easier tournaments to qualify for with the teams we were up against and as I said, we have good players. We also should have been at a World Cup but he made an ar53 of it against Ukraine at Hampden.

as you can tell, I don’t like him, I don’t like the Scotland set up eg gemmill involvement etc the whole thing needs an upgrade. I think the whole set up is damaging to young Scottish talent.

 

[weeyin]

Miller only came on because McTominay had an issue with his footwear.

I'm OK with Miller not playing for the national team at the moment, because he hasn't played a competitive match all season. Players who aren't getting game time with their club shouldn't be getting game time in an international.

As for Clarke, I appreciate he has been able to get us to a couple of Euros, but our performances in the finals have been embarrassingly bad and I have little hope a World Cup finals would be any different.

I'd rather not qualify than endure that level of performance again.

[grizzlyg]

Mr overloyalty at his best again when ge brought on Christie and then the classic of bringing on dykes and mclean , Bowie never got any game time which was bonkers. 

I thought Max struggled a bit last night but done ok

[weeyin]

Max is a classic modern full back. Good with the ball at his feet and good going forward.

Marking, tackling and closing space? Not so much.

[robsterwood]

2 hours ago, grizzlyg said:

Mr overloyalty at his best again when ge brought on Christie and then the classic of bringing on dykes and mclean , Bowie never got any game time which was bonkers. 

I thought Max struggled a bit last night but done ok

That could come back to haunt Clarke bringing on those 3 stooges again and no doubt he will . If he does it against Greece next month in second half and we're needing a win or even salvaging a draw, he and Scotland are done. McClean is average  journeyman at best and now 33. Dykes can't even get on bench for Birmingham. 

[joewarkfanclub]

4 hours ago, wellfan said:

I don’t want to be too harsh on Lewis Ferguson, given how well he’s doing in Serie A. Still, I struggled to see what he added to the midfield last night and couldn’t help but feel Miller would’ve been more effective alongside Gilmour in the double pivot. Hopefully, he’ll get more opportunities in that role. 

I actually thought Ferguson had probably one if his better games for Scotland last night, albeit it has been a low bar so far.

Previously, I was much the same and had been waiting to see what the Italians are clearly seeing 

Thought he had a a good game on Friday night without the ball, and contributed greatly to the clean sheet. Last night was a bit better in possession.

Not sure the holding role is necessarily his best position, I see him more as a McGinn, McTominay replacement further up the pitch.

Im as desperate as anyone to see Lennon play, but its not Clarkes way to throw players in right away. He will be protected and eased in at the appropriate moment.

I suspect he will get more gametime in the eupcoming home games.

[robsterwood]

He's been dropped past few games. Maybe just had a good season. I agree he's been poor every time I've seen Scotland. Wasn't impressed at Aberdeen either.

[joewarkfanclub]

3 hours ago, mio said:

See if he’s going to set us up the way he has in the euros I think I prefer we didn’t qualify. Those two tournaments were utterly humiliating. 
we have decent players who can play yet he sets us up in a way that makes us absolutely eye bleeding to watch. 

the “he’s made us qualify for 2 tournaments argument” to me isn’t relevant, there’s never been 2 easier tournaments to qualify for with the teams we were up against and as I said, we have good players. We also should have been at a World Cup but he made an ar53 of it against Ukraine at Hampden.

as you can tell, I don’t like him, I don’t like the Scotland set up eg gemmill involvement etc the whole thing needs an upgrade. I think the whole set up is damaging to young Scottish talent.

 

No issues with anyone not liking Clarke or the way he sets his teams up. I would have happily seen him gone after the Euros.

But he isnt as set in his ways as some make out. He does learn from some of his mistakes.

Take the Ukraine WC play off and subsequent Nations League games.

After the Euros he changed from a 5 at the back to a 4 at the back.

We are in a a strong position now. If we can get two positive results in the next camp we will be in touching distance to qualify, which in itself is important regardless of how we do if only for the sponsorship and revenue it brings into our game.

I agree re Gemmill though. Id ditch him tomorrow. 

[mio]

As far as I have been made aware (and as much as I think gemmill was hopeless prior to Clarke) Gemmill is playing his sides in a way Clarke wants him to play so they have continuity if the players progress to a full international.

my argument is this horrible football is being installed in youngsters, hampering their development in a modern game. 
anyway… cest la vie 

[grizzlyg]

57 minutes ago, robsterwood said:

That could come back to haunt Clarke bringing on those 3 stooges again and no doubt he will . If he does it against Greece next month in second half and we're needing a win or even salvaging a draw, he and Scotland are done. McClean is average  journeyman at best and now 33. Dykes can't even get on bench for Birmingham. 

Also Christie plays centre mid for Bournemouth yet Clarke sees him as a headless chicken wide midfielder 

[joewarkfanclub]

33 minutes ago, mio said:

As far as I have been made aware (and as much as I think gemmill was hopeless prior to Clarke) Gemmill is playing his sides in a way Clarke wants him to play so they have continuity if the players progress to a full international.

my argument is this horrible football is being installed in youngsters, hampering their development in a modern game. 
anyway… cest la vie 

Interesting.

Any time Ive watched the u21s they didnt look like they were playing the same way.

Also spoken to guys who watch the u21s a lot and they arent complimentary re Gemmill.

Not sure eits the be all & end all though. Most are being coached at their clubs in a varaition of styles/tactics and some (Hickey) just miss the u21s all together.

Anyway, this is turning into a Tartan Army chat.

I look forward to Lennons first Udinese appeparance and his upward trajectory to world domination and the Ballon d'Or!

 

[mio]

17 minutes ago, joewarkfanclub said:

Interesting.

Any time Ive watched the u21s they didnt look like they were playing the same way.

Also spoken to guys who watch the u21s a lot and they arent complimentary re Gemmill.

Not sure eits the be all & end all though. Most are being coached at their clubs in a varaition of styles/tactics and some (Hickey) just miss the u21s all together.

Anyway, this is turning into a Tartan Army chat.

I look forward to Lennons first Udinese appeparance and his upward trajectory to world domination and the Ballon d'Or!

 

Don’t even get me started on the tartan army 🤣 

yes I very much look forward to young Lennon playing but I would think he’ll have a bit of a wait.

[weeyin]

1 hour ago, joewarkfanclub said:

No issues with anyone not liking Clarke or the way he sets his teams up. I would have happily seen him gone after the Euros.

But he isnt as set in his ways as some make out. He does learn from some of his mistakes.

Take the Ukraine WC play off and subsequent Nations League games.

After the Euros he changed from a 5 at the back to a 4 at the back.

We are in a a strong position now. If we can get two positive results in the next camp we will be in touching distance to qualify, which in itself is important regardless of how we do if only for the sponsorship and revenue it brings into our game.

I agree re Gemmill though. Id ditch him tomorrow. 

I'm not convinced he learns from his mistakes - otherwise he wouldn't have played the way he did in our second Euros under him. Same tactics. Same embarrassing exit with a whimper as the first time.

Also, the last Greece game at Hampden was a catalogue of errors.

[joewarkfanclub]

30 minutes ago, weeyin said:

I'm not convinced he learns from his mistakes - otherwise he wouldn't have played the way he did in our second Euros under him. Same tactics. Same embarrassing exit with a whimper as the first time.

Also, the last Greece game at Hampden was a catalogue of errors.

Thats why I said "some of his mistakes".

To be fair to him, prior to Germany he lost Hickey, Paterson, Doak and Dykes which restricted the way he was able to play. 

During the tournament he also lost Hanley thru stupidity and Tierney thru injury.

My biggest bugbear about it (other than not plalying Gilmour alongside Calamac in the first game) was that in the final game we knew we had to win and we didnt go with a back 4 despite Tierney not being available. He also made his subs way too late.

He did introduce Doak and go back 4 in the Nations League though and our performances were much better as a result. 

First half in Athens was very good, but I agree he didnt learn from the second half in advance of the home game.

I dont expect that to happen again this time.

[weeyin]

As I've said a few times, I give Clarke credit for taking an absolute shambles of a national team setup and turning it around into a competitive outfit.

I think the last Euros should have been the end of the line for him, though, as it felt that he had reached his coaching limit.

[Spit_It_Out]

Knowing the SFA they will sack Clarke and hire Gemmell then it will fall to bits again but yeah i think he should have went after the Euros.

[wellgirl]

I don't care if we play the most honking football there is. I want us to qualify - we can worry about Clarke later 

[grizzlyg]

3 hours ago, joewarkfanclub said:

Thats why I said "some of his mistakes".

To be fair to him, prior to Germany he lost Hickey, Paterson, Doak and Dykes which restricted the way he was able to play. 

During the tournament he also lost Hanley thru stupidity and Tierney thru injury.

My biggest bugbear about it (other than not plalying Gilmour alongside Calamac in the first game) was that in the final game we knew we had to win and we didnt go with a back 4 despite Tierney not being available. He also made his subs way too late.

He did introduce Doak and go back 4 in the Nations League though and our performances were much better as a result. 

First half in Athens was very good, but I agree he didnt learn from the second half in advance of the home game.

I dont expect that to happen again this time.

Poor Hanley gets blamed for everything...do ye not mean Porteous? 🤪🤪