Motherwell Vs Levante Discussion Thread

[sbcmfc]

Last night was desperately disappointing. We'll probably never really know how good Levante were, but their next set of results of Europe may provide a clue. Anyway, I felt we made serious errors off the pitch and on it. We clearly did not learn from playing Panathanaikos.

 

Our weaknesses this season are many but I didn't see anything last night that wasn't evident against Ross County or St Johnstone. I'll take 3 quotes from the Ojamaa thread which sums up our key weaknesses perfectly for me.

 

Step forward Real Dosser - "We are so pedestrian when we get the ball the other team have all the time in the world to get back and then we

play 20 passes across the park or back to the defence before somebody makes an arse of it and gives it away."

 

Then Wellfan 1984 "Sometimes it seems our team is too scared to go for a killer ball, instead we move side to side with no real plan of what to do next then we just pass it back a across the field."

 

and finally Well4Europe "I've said it before, I'd get Law out of centre mid and back to a more advanced position. He's the most creative player we have and we're wasting him where he is in my opinion."

 

I can't disagree with you, but....

 

Sometimes this patient play can be fine, I sometimes feel the fans are a bit impatient, pass it about without going forward, and people are screaming to "get it up the park", get it up the park and lose it and it's "what are you hoofing it for".

 

Obviously in an ideal world, quick passes on the deck will quickly move the ball forward, and sometimes you need to force it a bit and show some urgency, like we did early 2nd half in both home games.

 

It's not the holding onto the ball that's the problem, but I agree that eventually you need to take a gamble and get a ball into the box, or pick out a killer pass (or try) when we have possession.

 

We seem to be able to keep the ball ok, we just don't do anything with it.

[Wellfan1984]

I can't disagree with you, but....

 

Sometimes this patient play can be fine, I sometimes feel the fans are a bit impatient, pass it about without going forward, and people are screaming to "get it up the park", get it up the park and lose it and it's "what are you hoofing it for".

 

That is fucking annoying when the fans do that

 

Obviously in an ideal world, quick passes on the deck will quickly move the ball forward, and sometimes you need to force it a bit and show some urgency, like we did early 2nd half in both home games.

 

It's not the holding onto the ball that's the problem, but I agree that eventually you need to take a gamble and get a ball into the box, or pick out a killer pass (or try) when we have possession.

 

We seem to be able to keep the ball ok, we just don't do anything with it.

 

You don't need to be quick, but the whole idea of holding onto the ball, between the midfield and defence is that you force gaps to open up - those gaps don't always open up, but sometimes they do, but we're so intent at times to passing it out to either left wing or right wing, which leaves our wingers aiming for one player out of 6 in the box, as our midfield have decide to hang about, and stay outside the box.... just in case we need to move it to the other wing.

 

We need someone to sit in, while we let Law do what we know he can.

[steelboy]

Do you actually mean a better team? Or do you mean harder to beat?

 

 

i watched pana on wednesday so my thoughts are maybe coloured a bit by that. they were playing a malaga team who levante beat 3-0 last season and are meant to be much weakened but were by far second best. after they went a goal down they were never in the game and without our mistakes to feast on didn't offer much at all.

 

i mean better as in if they played i think levante would win. how else can you judge teams, a couple of players who can do a few flicks doesn't make a good side. i also think that if we were to keep playing them both until we won a game we would beat pana first.

[sbcmfc]

Agree steelboy, I'd rather pay money to watch panathinaikos, but levante are better, if not as easy on the eye.

 

Folk comparing a team that beat real Madrid last season, finished 6th (and I believe they blew 4th in last few games) in la liga with stmirren, hearts or Dundee utd is ridiculous!!!

 

Stmirren, hearts, Dundee united and Motherwell at their best could play Real Madrid every Saturday from now until the end of time, and NEVER beat them. Given if we played levante 10 times we'd maybe pick up a few points, much like playing the old firm.

[Scarecrow]

Stmirren, hearts, Dundee united and Motherwell at their best could play Real Madrid every Saturday from now until the end of time, and NEVER beat them.

 

The pedantic gene in me wants to disprove that statement on so many levels, but to honest I canny be bothered !!!

[sbcmfc]

The pedantic gene in me wants to disprove that statement on so many levels, but to honest I canny be bothered !!!

 

Maybe a slight exaggeration?

[levanteguest]

Hi, today the admin activated my account.

 

I would like to talk about my team because i have seen that your information about Levante UD is wrong.

My team is from Spain, but does not play "tiki taka" as R.Madrid or Barcelona our style is to try to keep our gate to 0 and try to score a goal in a counter. Some of you have talked about lucky. The last season, we were 4th during 90% of season.

During 2 matches(and not the first) we were FIRST in Spanish La Liga, here can you see this comic:

 

 

 

In black it says "Levante first alone after the 8th match of season", and you can see Juanlu(who scored the first goal last thursday) in a very old car asking to Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi: "How much did you say that have paid for your cars?"

Because last season was a miracle. Levante don't have money, our players come free because are players without teams or another teams borrow us players.

And that team made by players without teams... was all the season in the first 4 places of la Liga, only at the end of the season due that if Koné played more matches, Koné had to sign with Sevilla for a year more, and Koné wanted to be free after season so Koné didn't play last 4 matches and we lost the 4th place against Malaga and we had to play euro league instead of playing Champions League.

Last season in march we won 2-0 to Atletico Madrid and in May wi won 3-0 to Athletic de Bilbao. As you know that teams played the EuroLeague final in Bucarest.

 

This year is already a clue, because we lost Koné and we have only played 2 oficial matches.

 

Maybe as you said we will relegate to second division, but for me, i think that play in Europe for fist time in our history is enough.

I am 34 years old and i'm a Levante fan since i was born. I saw for first time Levante in first division (aka Premier League) when i was 26! When i was a child at school nobody knowed what "Levante" means. All the child were fans of R.Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia. It was too hard be a Levante fan. And as me, there are about 2.000 full love Levante fans, that have followed Levante in second, third also fourh division! Now, we are 16.000, but as i mentioned before, is people that weren't levante fans in third or fourth division.

So as you can imagine, the last season and the beginning of this is a DREAM for me. I would never believed that Levante would play in Europe. NEVER.

 

Ok, so this was my little presentation, i'm sorry for my english, and i would like to tell you that all of you are welcome in my country, in my city, and of course, in my stadium.

[ropy]

Welcome

[dosser1886]

Welcome to the forum levanteguest.

 

Levante sound a bit similar to Motherwell in that we have a small core support , but can only dream of ever having 16,000 fans watching us no matter how well we do, and are not one of the bigger well known teams in our country. Amazingly we have been in Europe for the past few seasons but we very much realize that this will probably be know as the "good times" to have been a Motherwell fan

 

Even though you guys may think that you have very little money by Spanish standards compared to us here in Scotland I'm sure that it is way more than we could ever dream of paying our players. Hence the reason that you have far better players than us.

 

I watched Koné playing in his first game yesterday he looks a right good player.

Anyway good luck to you and your team, you pretty much have the tie won. Apart from our team not playing too well in the first game we reluctantly have to admit that your guys are a better team than us.

Cheers

[SteelmaninOZ]

Welcome to forum LEVANTEGUEST

[decorator]

Thought that 'decorator' chap was the one and only to hold the title at being at every European fixture we've played? He was even in Albania - I've seen the pictures! Not many pictures from Athens mind... He lost his camera on a binge with shock horror, a Rangers Oldco fan

 

myself and rumpole take that title

[pingu]

Welcome to the forum LevanteGuest and thanks for posting!

 

I'm sure all of us can recognise being the underdog and that is something we share in common!

 

Did you see the game in Motherwell? I think a lot of Motherwell fans did not realise that we didn't just play bad, we played bad because Levante made us with their tactics and better players. Although Levante are not a 'tiki-taka' team I think there is a lot of our support that give Levante a lot of respect because of their recent achievements. Anyone who says Levante are no better than an SPL team does not know much about football! I think a lot of people, me included, are frustrated with our performance because we know we can play better, like we did against Panathinaikos (we did not deserve to lose 2-0 and 3-0)

 

What do Levante fans think of Motherwell, Scotland and Scottish football? I would be interested to know. .

[vespa]

welcome Levante guest nice tio hear from yoand well i like to say i hope you have no luck in the second leg com on well GET INTO THEM we need to go all gun s and at least give it a go

[levanteguest]

What do Levante fans think of Motherwell, Scotland and Scottish football? I would be interested to know. .

 

I haven't been in the match, but in our forum a man who was there (Dejan is his nickname) says that:

 

http://es.granotas.n...36/380/#p780099

 

I haven't write before, tonight arrived from Scotland.

About the match, to comment that Motherwell is a lowly team and i think that we don't have any problems on next Thursday, it is not prepotency, it is a reality.

But this time i don't want to comment about trainers or tactics. I wanna comment how good we were recieved at Motherwhell, his kindness, education and sportivity between his fans. In my group we were 6 and before the match we were taking beers inside the stadium, where all the fans meets. Just arriving they welcome us and the offered to help us in what we need(inclusive we were invited to a beer by them). From the bar up to our seat, almost everyone who see, everyone who say hello to us.

 

At the end of the match, they stopped us for congratulations us about the match and the team that we have, they wishes us for good luck, there was a scarves interchange( i gift the scarve that the club had made for the match).

I am fascinated with this people, everyone who has travel to Scotland will tell the same, i'm sure. For me, this people are brothers and i hope that we welcome them as they made with our, althoght i don't think that they are coming too many(expensive trip). On thursday i will take a look near the stadium to try to find some of them for thank them, in some way, the good people that they were with us.

I'm only can say: THANK YOU VERY MUCH MOTHERWELL!

 

So i think that our fans will offer his help to yours.

Again, sorry for my english

Edited August 26, 2012 by levanteguest

[Stu]

welcome Levante guest nice tio hear from yoand well i like to say i hope you have no luck in the second leg com on well GET INTO THEM we need to go all gun s and at least give it a go

I can barely read that, so good luck to any Spaniards on here...

 

I haven't been in the match, but in our forum a man who was there (Dejan is his nickname) says...

Very pleasing to hear that our fans made such a good impression. We might not be able to score goals in Europe, but we seem to do very well at making friends wherever we go. Great to hear.

[Special aka]

........................

Very pleasing to hear that our fans made such a good impression. We might not be able to score goals in Europe, but we seem to do very well at making friends wherever we go. Great to hear.

 

Was thinking the same myself.

 

The owner of a restaurant we ate at on Panarmou, (Athens), on the Tuesday night said that reports had come back from Pana fans intimating how well they had been treated at the 1st Leg. He gave us complimentary beers and said that we would be similarlly honoured in return.

 

Maybe that explains whu we got away with doing this ................

 

 

 

[craildo1]

LEVANTEGUEST - where is the best place for Well fans to get together in valencia pre-match for a bevvy i.e. Pubs/square etc??

[levanteguest]

LEVANTEGUEST - where is the best place for Well fans to get together in valencia pre-match for a bevvy i.e. Pubs/square etc??

 

Usually the visitors fans should go here:

 

https://maps.google.es/maps?q=39.493444,-0.359439&ll=39.493444,-0.35944&spn=0.002018,0.004128&num=1&t=h&z=19

 

Because there are bars like "amsteleria" to take a beer and the street is so wide for aglomerations. But if you want to make some noise, maybe you could go to the "Arena Mall". In google maps, Arena Mall is still under construction but now is finished and you have some nice bars to inside and if you sing it will be heard very strong

And if you wanna meet some Levante fans:

 

https://maps.google.es/maps?q=39.49582,-0.367206&ll=39.49589,-0.367216&spn=0.004036,0.008256&num=1&t=h&z=18

 

There are 3 bars together where Levante fans usually goes to

[fergi4]

Levante got beat 2-0 away from home tonight. Conceded 2x penalties, got 7 yellows and a red card....need to figure how to upset them like tonight!

[Brazilian]

Mmmmmmm, bookies reckon;

 

Motherwell to win both halves. 100/1

 

But very short odds for our players to score anytime

[Motherwell89]

got 300/1 for 3-0 correct score to take us through earlier in the week

[Wellfan1984]

Where the hell you get that? 150/1 at William Hills!

[Motherwell89]

ladbrookes last week, down too 276.00 in decimal now whatever that translates to haha

 

also falkirk an motherwell away wins double for 80/1

[johnnyg]

Hope we can do it! But there allways next year!

[Well-Made]

From the BBC Rumours

 

 

Motherwell manager Stuart McCall faces an anxious wait to discover if he can take Omar Daley to Spain to face Levante on Thursday as the player has a problem with his passport. (The Herald)

 

 

From the Herald, the Full story

 

 

Thomas JordanSports Writer

 

Passport issue leaves McCall's plans tied up in red tape

Stuart McCall, manager Motherwell, faces an anxious wait to discover if he can call upon the services of Omar Daley against Levante in Spain tomorrow evening.

 

inShare0 Stuart McCall has selection worries ahead of the Levante tie Custom byline text: Thomas Jordan The Jamaican midfielder may miss the Europa League play-off round second leg due to a problem with his passport and is by no means certain of boarding the team flight. The 31-year-old made unsuccessful trips to both Edinburgh and London yesterday as he attempted to resolve the issue and McCall, who is short of players as they attempt to overturn a 2-0 deficit from the first leg, is keeping his fingers crossed that Daley makes the flight.

 

Contextual targeting label: Sport "It's the same problem as Levante had with the lad Diop on the way out," he said. "I don't know if it's tit-for-tat and they're not answering phones because their guy didn't get in for the first game, but that was nowt to do with us. I don't know if Omar's going to be allowed in, hopefully he will.

 

"He needs a visa and it takes up a full page of his passport – and his passport is full. There are no empty pages. He's been to London and Edinburgh and we're still waiting to get it finalised. The Spanish authorities were on holiday on Monday so we are waiting to find out what the situation is."

 

Chasing a two-goal deficit against a team that finished sixth in La Liga would be a daunting task at the best of times but with a number of players all struggling through injury, the last thing McCall needs is to be without Daley.

 

Michael Higdon described the first leg at Fir Park as the most difficult night of his career and is expecting similar tomorrow. "They are a very good side," said the Englishman. "It's going to be tough and it's going to be hot. It could be a long night but we go there feeling positive. If we start well then you never know.

 

"The first leg was probably as tough a game as I've ever had. Their two centre-backs are very good, as is the big midfielder who kept standing in front of me. It was difficult. There are other areas to hurt them but I will need to raise my game if I am playing.

 

'Physically, it was very tough. I am quite big, but they were bigger. A key area of the game was the centre forward playing against the defenders – and their defenders won that battle. We have to try to make that better."

 

Meanwhile, the defender Steven Saunders faces at least three further months on the sidelines following an operation on a knee injury sustained during pre-season. Saunders missed the bulk of last season after rupturing his Achilles tendon while playing for Scotland Under-21s in August. McCall said: "He has got his head on to be back for Christmas."