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Motherwell v Aberdeen 22/10/2022


SteelmaninOZ
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We won 5-0 two weeks ago. A result that most agreed had been coming. The general view before that was that we deserved to have got victories out of the Dundee Utd and Hearts games. 

We also dismantled Inverness in the cup shortly before that spell. 

Since then we have played Celtic twice and also played Rangers.  Not saying those games don’t count as they do. With a bit of luck you get a victory or a drawn in one of those games. 

100% the football on show has been way better than what was served up by Alexander in my opinion. 

There is obviously a plan in place and there appears to me to be buy in from the players to that plan. 
 

Some of the deficiencies that were there in the summer are also clearly still there.  Primary for me is the final third. KVV is hot and cold. Today he was very cold and we have no options on the bench to replace him, or worse genuinely challenge for his place regularly.

Shields in my opinion doesn’t offer enough. No where near it. Lightning fast but see very little threat and seems to give the ball away so much. 

Injuries to the potential replacements leaves us well short. 

I get the call for a more destructive player in midfield to compliment Goss and/or Slattery.

Aberdeen did not play us off the park today. Not at all. They did have about £1m worth of forwards on the park (back to my point about our options there).  Again with a bit of luck we get at least a point (KVV scores or we get the penalty).

Results in the league suggest there is little between every team bar the Old Firm.

No reason with a weeks rest, a little uplift in  performance and some luck that we cannot win the next two on the road. 6 points from those games and St Johnstone would be ok. 
 

For greater consistency we need some injured players to return and a couple of decent additions in January IMO!
 

All a long way of saying that’s it’s way too early to be giving up on Hammel.

 

 

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6 minutes ago, Spiderpig said:

So drop experienced players and bring in academy players with no 1st team experience very little game time and probably not ready to step up, aye OK then that will sort us out, give SH a call and pass on your wisdom. You really are a fud.

So just so I’m reading your comments properly because someone like spittal is an ‘experienced ‘ player you don’t believe he should be dropped .  What’s your wisdom and advice then how would you fix it or would you bury your head in the sand like hammell and play the same non performers in the same system every week and hope for the best ?

 

As I alluded to earlier that fact we have no 21/20/19/18 year olds ready to step up is on one man that oversaw the academy and has now somehow found himself in charge of the first team - rather ironic 

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10 minutes ago, Spiderpig said:

So drop experienced players and bring in academy players with no 1st team experience very little game time and probably not ready to step up, aye OK then that will sort us out, give SH a call and pass on your wisdom. You really are a fud.

FUD the experience players are giving us nothing so it’s time for changes . So again if u think the three shitebags are okay then u really do talk shite 

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22 minutes ago, stv said:

Stonewall penalty at the end. Ladies shirt pulled or even a hand ball after it. Why did Hammell not ask for var review or is that the officials choice only?

He certainly mentioned it post match and having just seen the Sportscene highlights then it looked a clear foul on Lamie. I’m not going to clutch at straws and try and say that that is why we lost today as we were awful but incidents like that are surely why VAR was brought in?

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We aren't any better or worse than most teams in the league,we just happen to be the team that's hid the skids over the last few games,to be honest I would have probably settled for where we are right now coming into the season with a rookie managerial team in place.theres definitely concerns though,were starting to see the same problems rearing there head again,the team's looks disjointed and yet again we still don't really know what our best 11 is.we can't keep defending like school boys it's killing is,both goals today we're completely different but yet as equally as embarrassing as the other to concede.if we were even remotely competent at the back we could have walked away with a point at rugby park and st Johnstone at home,those points could have been valuable and at the same time not allowing those teams to walk away with the 3 points who are going to be in and around us come the end of the season.im all for changing the shape and trying to make us harder to break down and atleast give us a platform to work with,we have been on the wrong end of losing by the odd goal to many times this season already,we ain't going to score loads so one might be enough if we can somehow cut out the daft goals and lapses in concentration at the back,to be honest I'm not sure we can as we seem to have been saying that for as long as I can remember.i love hammell as much as the next fan and want him too succeed but he needs to.learn from the mistakes being made and quick,I really hope we don't go to tannadice and adopt the same approach,this game shouldn't hold any fears but we can't go there and give them a helping hand,if we can go there and shitfest the game and come away with a point,I will settle for that.

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 Very frustrating day and genuinely worried as we have hard set of fixtures. We need guys giving their all and sorry..and just my opinion but van Veen is not a guy that will sweat blood for the cause, tota lazy arse attitude and fact he had rant at Penney says it all. Yes I know he has 10 goals and of course can't be dropped mainly cos no one challenging for jersey. However he needs rocket up the proverbial 

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2 hours ago, Great Balls of Shire said:

Also I've been critical of sod in the past, but is he any worse or better than mcginn? Maybe cos he's no played for a while he's got better in my mind 

Mcginn honking for 2nd goal but been solid for us, however fact we cant find place for guy with 25 caps bewilders me

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We won 5-0 two weeks ago. A result that most agreed had been coming. The general view before that was that we deserved to have got victories out of the Dundee Utd and Hearts games. 

We also dismantled Inverness in the cup shortly before that spell. 

Since then we have played Celtic twice and also played Rangers.  Not saying those games don’t count as they do. With a bit of luck you get a victory or a drawn in one of those games. 

100% the football on show has been way better than what was served up by Alexander in my opinion. 

There is obviously a plan in place and there appears to me to be buy in from the players to that plan. 
 

Some of the deficiencies that were there in the summer are also clearly still there.  Primary for me is the final third. KVV is hot and cold. Today he was very cold and we have no options on the bench to replace him, or worse genuinely challenge for his place regularly.

Shields in my opinion doesn’t offer enough. No where near it. Lightning fast but see very little threat and seems to give the ball away so much. 

Injuries to the potential replacements leaves us well short. 

I get the call for a more destructive player in midfield to compliment Goss and/or Slattery.

Aberdeen did not play us off the park today. Not at all. They did have about £1m worth of forwards on the park (back to my point about our options there).  Again with a bit of luck we get at least a point (KVV scores or we get the penalty).

Results in the league suggest there is little between every team bar the Old Firm.

No reason with a weeks rest, a little uplift in  performance and some luck that we cannot win the next two on the road. 6 points from those games and St Johnstone would be ok. 
 

For greater consistency we need some injured players to return and a couple of decent additions in January IMO!
 

All a long way of saying that’s it’s way too early to be giving up on Hammel.

 

 

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3 hours ago, Robbos boy said:

Never thought I'd say this, but sorry Stevie, it's just not working. Time for a change, you can go back to your youth job as its not been filled. We asked for a striker you brought in a cripple. Van Veen we all know has no pace, but he can lay passes off if you had a proper striker to play off him. Solholms position play is poor and he can't header the ball away. McGinn has had enough chances, Slattery and Spittal have been poor for weeks and who ever sanctioned a new contract for Barry McGuire needs his head examined, sits on the bench every week and due to his absence becomes a better player to some. Controversial or not, get Neil Lennon in, he will boot a few rear ends and get a bit of fight into the team. 

It’s not working at the moment . Here is my opinion on the rest of your post.

Louis Moult - clearly a gamble but one most fans were willing to take .  Sign yourself up for the hindsight police.

Van Veen-  doesn’t need to be another striker that plays off him, it just needs to be someone that isn’t Connor Shields

Solhom - poor positioning yes sometimes but he is great at headering the ball - does your seat face the pitch ?

McGinn -  enough chances  LOLZ - the guy is 8/10 every week.  Get yourself off to Specsavers .
Slattery  -  he has been off the pace last few games  but we are generally a better side with him in the engine room

Spittal - he played 2 great throughballs in the first half alone but we didn’t capitalise . Looked gubbed  after 60 mins and should have been taken off 

Barry McGuire - I’m not a fan but he’s there to provide squad cover and come on late in a game to shore us up - not required recently as we are never in front.

Neil Lennon -  the guy is a weapon with well publicised personal issues he should be nowhere near any dugout far less ours.

 

 

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I predicted it. The first word out of his mouth was disappointing. Well Stevie do something about it. Anything. But FFS don't keep telling us it's disappointing. You need to be ripping these frauds of players a new one. Stevie, you were a decent player, your a nice guy but a soft touch and it's doesn't take players long to suss it out. You have been promoted to a position in which you are struggling big time and the guys at your side don't have the experience either. This only ends badly I'm afraid.  I hope I am wrong. The only hope is that with no domestic football during the month of the world cup. Maybe we can regroup and change things.

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Neil Lennon wouldn’t come to us, we couldn’t afford his wages or meet his budget demands. He got frustrated at Hibs because of the latter so how long would he last here?

Plus he would bring a lot of baggage and focus that we really don’t need and would have Motherwell fans arguing amongst themselves even more than they usually do.

Non starter.

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52 minutes ago, ppower said:

I predicted it. The first word out of his mouth was disappointing. Well Stevie do something about it. Anything. But FFS don't keep telling us it's disappointing. You need to be ripping these frauds of players a new one. Stevie, you were a decent player, your a nice guy but a soft touch and it's doesn't take players long to suss it out. You have been promoted to a position in which you are struggling big time and the guys at your side don't have the experience either. This only ends badly I'm afraid.  I hope I am wrong. The only hope is that with no domestic football during the month of the world cup. Maybe we can regroup and change things.

How do you know he is a soft touch? Have you been in the dressing room?

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2 hours ago, stv said:

Stonewall penalty at the end. Ladies shirt pulled or even a hand ball after it. Why did Hammell not ask for var review or is that the officials choice only?

He should also have played his joker in the second half

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5 minutes ago, spudmfc said:

Just caught the highlights..ffs we were denied a pen against hibs at 0-0 without VAR...it's now in place and we are still denied a stonewaller,both these games have been close and the decisions have affected the result,typical standard of our officials

Saw that as well. The officials have made a total arse of it.

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1 minute ago, GrahamH said:

Saw that as well. The officials have made a total arse of it.

I said before var was introduced, it would only be effective if the people operating it were competent, its still the same Willie columns etc who are in charge interpreting it. ..it will improve things, but it won't be used to full potential in Scotland 

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16 hours ago, Yorkyred said:

We need to start by making improvements with what we have, we won’t be changing half the squad. I’m simply not accepting this thought that  we can’t be better than this with the players we have. Take Lamie as an example, for some reason he’s gone from getting to the point of being very reliable to all over the place at times, the midfielders as a group  have also gone backwards. At the moment we’re making poor decisions game after game which are totally avoidable regardless of the quality of the players. We signed two strikers who are not fit enough to start a game, we need them fit and up to speed to give us those options up front. 

Agreed. Certain members of the squad like Kelly, Lamie and Slattery have regressed. I exempt Van Veen from criticism today as he clearly wasn't fit and shouldn't have started.  I know Hammell has been hobbled by injuries but he isn't playing players in their best positions and the system of 4-2-3-1 just isn't working. Today, Tierney was playing far too deep, leaving VV  isolated between 2 wide players. The youngster needs to spend 6 months in the Development squad - not ready for first team football.

Yes players had an off day today, but what worried me most was that we looked disorganised with a disfunctional midfield and leaky defence. From start to finish the defence looked very shaky. Anyone who thinks that our only problem is a powderpuff strikeforce is kidding themselves. Our problems lie in all parts of the team. 

Aberdeen weren't much better than ourselves but took the few chances that came their way. They had more pace, won more 50/50 battles and were more streetwise. For their second goal I counted 3 "mistakes" starting in midfield and culminating in McGinn having to cover 2 men. We gave them too much space and time, in danger areas. What do we do in training? The team lacks bite, energy, aggression and pace. Leadership is also sadly lacking.  Presumably one of Stevie Hammell's objectives is to keep us up this season?

Finally I'll refer to a bizarre incident highlighted by my good friend Spiderpig. Just as Paul McGinn was about to take a throw in front of the away dugout, Jim Goodwin reached over and pulled his jersey from the back. Even more oddly and somewhat worryingly, the 4th Official who was standing about a metre away laughed and joked with Goodwin about it.  A yellow card???  If thats the standard of our officiating then we're all doomed.

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Our next 3 games: Dundee Utd (a), Hearts (a), Celtic (h).  We’ll get zilch from that lot.

The relegation bells now well and truly ringing loudly at Fir Park.

Nobody to blame for this situation but the board. Clearly intended to start the season with Alexander as manager. Let him  make all the pre-season arrangements, downsize the squad and bring in new signings etc.  Panicked (under pressure from support?) after the two European ties with Sligo Rovers and sacked him.  Clearly had no plans in place for a replacement.  Then go through an “interview process” only to offer the job to the academy director, a rookie with little or no experience for the job.

If, (and it’s a big if) there’s anybody left on the board with a semblance of common sense they should now be quietly looking around for an experienced manager to either:

(1) Come in on a short-term basis to help Stevie Hammell out; OR

(2) To take over and allow Stevie Hammell to go back to his job as academy director.

And there’s no point in saying we can’t afford to do this because the cost of relegation means we can’t afford not to do it.

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