Lobey_Dosser

Ewan Henderson starting makes me nervous. I’ve said before, the latest Celtic kid on the block has a tendency to score against us with Mickey Johnson the most recent examples. Fingers crossed, Turnbull, Campbell, Hastie and Scott shine for us on the big stage. When you add in Tierney, Forrest and Christie, today could be a great advert for the future of the national team. Hope we can make a game of it.

Just watched the highlights. Brilliant goals, an unbelievable strike from Hastie and a well executed move for the 2nd. Great to see our young ones click. If they continue at this rate, all three will go on to have excellent careers. Just a shame we don’t have a cup run to get excited about.

Cadden is a big Celtic fan according to Trevor Carson on a recent Open Goal podcast. Not that it matters, he’s immersed himself in the club just like Lasley and Hammell.

He’s only signed with Hibs until the end of the season. I suspect he’s been pushed out the door. Given his apparent technical ability, Bigi is a player I always wanted to get a chance but unfortunately whenever he got his opportunity, he never really made the most of it. All the best to him at Hibs. Shame we couldn’t have talked someone into taking Hartley too.

Brilliant news on Turnbull, such a special talent. The fact he appears to be a genuine Motherwell fan adds to the enjoyment of watching him progress. Well done to all involved in getting this deal done. Hastie next hopefully.

Tonight we had a team to be proud of and that goal will go down as one of the highlights of the season. There’s nothing better than seeing young talented boys take their opportunity. Fingers crossed we can get the contracts sorted out so that we see Campbell, Turnbul and Hastings combine for at least one season. Credit to Robinson for making the changes tonight. I’m no sure what he was thinking ahead of the Ross County game but tonight thankfully brings a degree of optimism.

One of the most interesting elemenys of following Motherwell this season is making sense of the starting lineup. There will no doubt be a few changes. Robinson will hopefully realise that Dunne isn’t a left back, Johnson is largely useless outside the box, Turnbull isn’t ready to play deep, Hartley looks done, McCormack is nowhere near ready and we need to play a midfield three. I don’t think we’ve beaten Hibs since their return to the top flight and it’s hard to see it changing tomorrow. Odds of 7/5 for an away win are tempting. Having said that, if Campbell and Grimshaw, it would at least provide a little hope. Will be interesting to see if Ryan Gauld still has a knack for ripping us apart.

Wouldn’t surprise me if true but presumably Robinson was looking for a payoff. Otherwise, why would the club reject it? We’ve made that mistake before with McCall.

Robinson has had an admirable habit of getting a result or two when the pressure has been on. However, he shouldn’t get the opportunity to do so again. He’s always been a manager of limited ability but his dedication has took him a fair way. Unfortunately, he’s ran out of ideas and the players are no longer responding to his training methods. Time for change.

The starting lineup seemed to be well received on social media but I couldn’t get me head round it. For a manager who favours a conservative 352 to go with a balls out 424, it struck me Robinson had ran out of ideas and/or was showing disrespect to the opposition. It proved to be both! Where were Campbell and Grimshaw? How the fuck could we expect to ‘win the battle’ with a midfield 2 of McHugh and Turnbull? As poor as we’ve been for the last 12 months, a tricky Scottish cup tie is not the time for experimenting or pinning your hopes on a new striker that is miles away from being fit. If it weren’t for keeping an eye on the progress of the likes of Turnbull, Campbell, Cadden and hopefully Hastie, I don’t think I’d bother going back this season. We are a horrible fucking team to watch. Having watched the brilliant Steelmen last night, the one bright spot from today is that some of the clowns in our current team will never fluke their way to being mentioned in the same breath as proper hero’s that possessed real quality and desire.

Is Curtis suspended for this?

All the best to McManus. He split opinion as a player, partly due to expectations, but he was a very good servant to the club and central to some memorable performances. He’ll no doubt be linked with the managers post at Fir Park in the years to come. If Lee McCulloch is interested, I’d be happy with that. Think a youth team role would suit him well.

Aye that’s the boy, remember the Benfica story at the time. I was thinking he couldn’t be doing too well as he wasn’t featuring in the national setup. Turns out he opted for NI.

Moult hasn’t featured since scoring the winner away to Forest early Dec. Think he picked up an injury that day but was expected to be back in a couple of weeks iirc. With the arrival of Stockely for £750k, I imagine a few clubs north and south of the border will be enquiring about Moult’s fitness and availability.

Scott Burns reporting St Johnstone are in talks with Inverness’ Liam Polworth over a pre-contract. I thought he may be on our radar as a replacement for Cadden. Sure he was linked with us previously.

Within the Sun’s report on Robinson, they link McManus with a return to Celtic. I recall this being hinted at when Craigan left.

I’m intrigued to see how Robinson turns the team around this month, both personnel and style of play. However, if Luton come in and offer money for him, we’ve won a watch here.

Allan is surely Hibs bound? I wouldn’t rule us out signing a midfielder though if we can move Bigi on. Ariyibi looks like an interesting prospect, plenty raw ability for us to try and develop. Great to have a bit of pace in the squad and I wonder if we are targeting more in the form of Michael O’Halloran.

Faddy and co ripping England apart here.

Very exciting to sign a player of such quality, credit to Burrows, Robinson and McCormack for making such an audacious transfer materialise. There is naturally a nagging doubt over his injury/fitness but I’m happy for the club to take such a ‘risk’ rather than sign multiple plodders. In other transfer news, disappointed to read Alfie is away. That’s a few of the young ones away this month.

Good move for Maguire. With talk of a left back arriving, I wouldn’t be surprised if we loan out Livingstone too. If so, hopefully both can make the same impression Hastie has.

If we can get in the region of £400k plus presumably a decent sell on clause for a 16 year old, then that’s great business. Leeds would be a cracking move for the boy and hopefully we see him in a Scotland shirt one day. However it’s sad if we and Scottish football are getting into a situation where our greatest prospects (e.g. Billy Gilmour) are being signed up by English clubs before fans even get the pleasure of watching the break into the first team. While the national team may be on the up, you wonder about the future of the league.

I’m not sure why we’ve had the appearance at NDP if it’s not close to a done deal. If McCormack is set of returning to Scotland for the rest of the season, there are far more enticing options than Motherwell. The way the league is shaping up, we are one of the few clubs with little to play for. If plastic pitches aren’t a concern for his recent injury, I’d be recommending Killie all day long. Opportunity to work under a top manager that has a knack of turning careers around and have a right good go at winning the league.

I feel like we are missing out, particularly when you consider all the midweek games pre and post winter break.

One of my all time favourite nights following Motherwell. That goal was different class.