Goggles & Flippers

Wasn't it reported that the match delegate (in a suit in the stand) filed a report. In this case he/she probably thought the yellow was not fitting and conveyed that to the SFA. Upon looking at it we were fortunate to have Carroll finish the game, it was reckless and unnecessary. 11 v 10 on that pitch would have meant all hands to the pumps for us to walk away with a draw. We were fortunate to avoid it on the day and probably right to get it today. However as he wasn't elevated to a red card the 2 game ban seems harsh but still what we'd expect if he did walk on Saturday and he'd also have the extra disciplinary points. I'm all for it as long as its transparent, and consistent and fair. This sort of thing can only target player and I suspect manager activity. Therefore it will be interesting to see if any Rangers player is charged for their role after their winner. This next bit is distinct from the above and its important on here that distinction is made. Celtic's penchant for political statements, Rangers recently for pitch invasions and vandalism and both the Old Firm clinging onto sectarianism and to a lesser degree their diet versions in Edinburgh and Killie come under the remit of the SPFL. When are we eventually going to see some censure for their behaviour? Points deductions, fitting rather than paltry fines, closed doors games, etc? I'd advocate the referee ceasing play at the first utterance of the sash or any Republican glorifying and matching the players off the park. Every minute is a point deduction ......

Talking of limits, any chance you can limit your output on here?

Erm ... because he's on a one year deal Sparky, we've seen him play 180 minutes or so of competitive action for us and this is your solution. Stand aside Jose Mourinho we have a new master tactician in our midst.

http://www.hesgoal.com/news/50744/Livingston_vs_Motherwell.html?fbclid=IwAR2VmN2Ml4ukjnd5R4x9AFxNcVp-bzsEOESew_KtpEIL_Am-S-4fZxKD2-s

I must be doing something wrong because both those streams don't have a pook on them for me

I yet again read comments about our players after what are competitive friendlies minus the 10 substitutions that: Donnelly is now a world beater Long is suddenly an imposter and Scott who should be sent down the leagues last week to serve an apprenticeship can now stay When I throw in 12 months ago Bigirimana being touted as the key to our season after putting his foot on the ball in the Cup Final and People looking back on Gorrin as they key member of our squad that's currently missing after only starting what? .... 16 games? Add in various negative comments until mid-October after they signed for both Moult and Higdon about their suitability And of course the usual suspects focusing on where a player has came from rather than what they bring Can we all just chill the fuck out!

100% about Scott. Add into the mix Cole, Long, Manzinga with possibly Tanner, Ilic and Hylton who can act in a forward role (by which I mean not isolated). Surely a club of our size and budgetary constraints can't afford to supplement the forward players much more than we already have.

Idea for Provan, a pastiche of the Bazinga catchphrase used by Sheldon Cooper, the colours are already halfway there. UBH, what should my cut be?

Spelling and grammar mistakes on an online forum, the natural habitat refuge of the arseholes among us

We already know what Hylton and Seedorf are capable of. The experimentation I suggested was not to combat Dumbarton it was to explore the dynamic and interaction of that set up among the current squad and rotate players in what was essentially a fitness/sharpness builder. As it turned out the pitch stifled rapid wing play and their set up stifled finding openings. This is something we will face this season on a few occasions. As I said on another thread, it was felt certainly at times throughout 2018 that Robinson hadn't learned to mix things up every cycle of matches and tended not to have anything beyond a Plan C. I do think that has changed significantly. Seeing a front 2 partnership work, or a standard 442 or even a squinty one.

Sorry Andy, not with you on this one. Would you be saying the same if in theory Turnbull went to Celtic via LA Galaxy in 2 years time? Cutting us out of £6m? We'd have had just over 2 years of his first team involvement by then.

This! Rightly self interrogation of our own past dealings means we have exploited the system, for me that was clever and something we have to do. We play in a league exploited by two Glasgow clubs and in a country exploited in a paltry TV deal and we have to make hay while the sun is shining, whenever or where ever we are able. It's nice to be nice but being ruthless is also a required at times. I'm sure Robinson will mention turning the screw or being ruthless in at least 10 pressers this season. If its good enough and what we expect on the park then it should be what we expect of the running of the club too. The key difference in the past it was a player, Club A and Club B (us). It was up to Club A to know the rules and not let them be used against them. We wised up and offered players like Hastie and Erwin contracts within a few months of the end date to ensure compensation. Not to do so meant we forfeit or get diminished returns. I imagine very few clubs make this omission now. What we have here is MFC, a player, Oxford and Columbus. With Columbus doing the bidding of Oxford without any discernible reward other than the gratitude of Oxford. The gain is Oxford bypass fees that mean they would potentially have to limit his wages or may not be able to afford his services. What makes it stick in the craw is he has been muted to be a target of Oxford for a good few weeks with rumours of him training with them (can anyone confirm this). All hypothetical but as for the incentive, maybe it was muted Cadden could expect a higher weekly wage due to doing this. £1,000 a week extra is £50k a year and on a 4 year deal is a £200k saving on what we may expect in compensation. The thought of Cadden's representative high 5'ing and feeling like he's some master tactician with whoever from either club after some dirty dealing, talking via Skype scheming how to fuck Motherwell gives me the rage.

Calm yer jets there sparky, look at the title of the thread and you’ll have your answer. As for the midfield and wingers, yes undoubtedly, but I know what they are capable of already, a game against Dumbarton shoud be for experimentation in my opinion. There’s a good chance we may need to have a battling 2 banks of ball winners when facing Rangers or Celtic, I’d rather have that middle 4 than seedorf who while rapid looks like he’d blow over in a strong wind.

It's weird this time last year despite the two cup finals the season before I didn't have the level of optimism I do now. When I think of every position I think there are 2-3 capable players. Of course I may have a few of the youth players out of position or not giving them credit for others they have performed well at just due to lack of exposure. Ilic or Hylton may be able to play right winger in addition to Seedorf, again I've just not seen enough to verify. If anyone wants to add anything or make suggestions please do, I don't see enough reserve games to fully comment. ---------------------------------- Carson/Gillespie ----------------------------------- Tait/Grimshaw ----- Hartley/Gallagher/Dunne ----- Carroll/Tait/Livingston --------------------------------- Donnelly/Maguire ---------------------------------- -------------- Sloth/Polworth/Campbell/Semple/Cornelius -------------------- ------------------------------- Turnbull/Ilic/Tanner ---------------------------------- ---- Seedorf -------------------------------------------------------- Ilic/Hylton ----- ----------------------- Tanner/Cole/Scott/Johnson/Long ------------------------- It's a decent showing all round and many teams will be worrying how to combat us.

This is the set I'd I'd really like to see, Grimmy and Tait allowed to move forward and shore up midfield when attacking, Campbell to do the dirty work and Sloth to spray the passes. Then that forward line ..... look at the pace. A few players dropped that don't justify it but it's all about seeing what's what at this early stage. Subs I'd make would be Carroll on for Grimmy and switch sides with Tait, Seedorf for Hylton and maybe Polworth or Maguire on for Sloth --------------------- Carson ------------------- ----- Hartley --- Gallagher --- Dunne ----- Grimshaw ------------------------------- Tait -------------- Sloth ---- Campbell ----------- ---- Seedorf ------------------------- Ilic ----- ---------------------- Cole ---------------------- Available: Gillespie Maguire Livingston Polworth Carroll Donnelly Hylton Long Johnson Scott Semple + Not to overlook Turnbull and Tanner to hopefully return to how we remember them. Purely because I think we need to have more than one formation. Standard 4-4-2. If we're doing well and not governed by injuries I'd like to see the subs as Hartley and Gallagher, by all accounts two strong characters, see if they can gel together. Mcguire on for Polworth and I'd like to see Johnson play with a target man. --------------------- Carson ------------------- Grimshaw - Hartley - Dunne - Livingston Sloth ---- Campbell ---- Polworth ---- Illic ------------- Johnson ---- Scott --------------

OK Campbell then

Forgot the cups, League cup semi, Scottish cup quarter, penalties, gutted Sportscene to continue with glaring errors and Thomson eventually agreeing with Stewart if he argues long enough A completely random object (chib made of an Asda trolley bar?) will end up being thrown onto a pitch and will need 3 days of blanket press coverage Both Rangers and Celtic fans will riot in Europe, Celtic getting another fine for Green Brigade antics

Who's the Nostradamus/Warren Buffet and who's the Michael Fish/Alan Hansen "you'll never win anything with kids" c.1995 of this forum. I'll start the ball rolling: What we've seen so far suggests there's been a good foundation made and players will only gel as time goes on. I think we'll replace Killie in the top half of the table even with their plastic pitch giving them 10-14 points a season. Hibs may falter too however have the war chest to go out at the 11th hour and buy class. Maybe St. Johnstone will be in the mix too if they get Stevie May and he rekindles his old form in blue League position 4th, however may hinge on what sort of business Hearts and Aberdeen do. We'll get Europa league on last weekend Scott to start all games till Parkhead Ilic to slowly move as the season progresses from the wing to take on the Turnbull role Huyton to be used deeper to allow Seedorf to continue as an out and out winger Campbell solid as always and chips in with 4 goals Gallagher to win player of the season One of our strikers will get 18 minimum We'll score first more and not chase games as much. Robinson will have a plan B, C and D this season and will also mix it up come October and the end of the first round of matches Grimmy will run 70 yards, skip 3 tackles and bury it. Yellow card for jumping into the Bois section Happy to be proved wrong about: Turnbull to return early, seems like he's never been away but slight lack of focus due to all the press and social media b/s Celtic will sniff in January as expected, hoping his form till then secures more English interest

Getting back to the original point about sending him out for 6 months, I don't think we are there yet, he's already made a mark and can't recall anyone talking about sending Turnbull to the lower leagues in mid November, or how fortunate he was to have some veteran holding his hand. There's enough of our youth academy graduates who have been slowly introduced in the right way. Lack of composure on a few occasions aside, he still bagged a brace (albeit against woeful opposition) and will be looking to stake a place ahead of a loanee and a guy on a one year deal and a guy who Robinson doesn't fancy as a sole striker. Based on all of that, I think it is madness to send him to the Championship and for him to see merit in it. When Turnbull turned down Norwich many of us argued, well go down there and show they what you can do, have courage and confidence in your ability. I think the same should be the case now for Scott in the current Motherwell team.

Had Erwin featured in half a dozen games and scored 3 when he was loaned, or still had to make the step up?

I reserve judgement on that until after the game at Parkhead.

Has there been any news on when he will return to light training, expected return etc.

Yes if he was more clinical he'd have had 5 bagged as a minimum. And despite the result last night, let's not overlook how poor they were. In the 38 games of a regular season we will only get a team so poor or misfiring occasionally. Sharpness will come with exposure. I can't recall anyone coming out with chat like this when Erwin broke though. I do think he will be behind Long/Cole unless he steps up and gives Robinson no option other than start him.

Based on Robinson's comments during the week I suspect there's maybe money for one more or possibly a loanee if there's a glaring issue identified before the window closes and we've got a few league games under our belt. But I took from it, our business is pretty much done. Ideal world for me would be a return for Gboly to help with competition (plus he's a known quantity) but I think he caught enough attention of others in this league with deeper pockets when he was here. As for the traditional number 9, we have Long but what about Danny Johnson? Correct me if I'm wrong, you see that as a back to goal player who can function alone?If so, it appears Robinson thinks he can't. We now favour a 4-3-2-1 which evolved from what didn't really return much success before Christmas. In that there's not much scope to put say the big target man in Scott with the penalty box striker in Johnson, especially when one has just broken through and the other has been continually overlooked.

Your first post I've got the gist of first time without having to use creative thinking.