MelvinBragg

I thought to play for Scotland that you simply had to be a good SPL player. I'm thinking Andy Webster, David Goodwillie (when he made his debut), Ian Black (apparently capped on last season's performances) or going further back Barry Robson, Kris Boyd or Colin Cameron...

This kind of thread amuses me.. Motherwell fans always go on about how Hibs and Dundee United get better transfer fees for their players because the media talks their players up. We don't need the media to downplay our players' qualities. We do it well enough ourselves. Not that I'm suggesting Murphy should get a cap but why we feel the need to point this out on an internet forum about one of our own is beyond me. Let's have more threads praising the qualities our players do have. As others have pointed out, Murphy generally scores more than ten goals a season while playing wide midfield. Can't think of too many non Old Firm midfielders with that return over a number of seasons. Could he play at a higher level? I don't know but he is a very, very good SPL player that eight or nine other sides in the league would have in their first team...

How many young, inexperienced players played the majority of the game tonight? The young players do need to learn but Carswell and McHugh will learn very little on the bench. As others have pointed out, there are a couple of poor sides in the league this season. For me, this season is a real opportunity to give three or four of these players a run in the team in order to see if they can cut it at this level. Write off this season to an extent and use it to build for the future. More game time for Cummins, Angol, Carswell, Hetherington and McHugh might lessen the rebuilding we need to do next summer. Just my opinion, mind...

Mark McShovelface was fond of it too. Stephen Hughes at wing back vs Nancy and at left wing vs St Mirren in the cup spring to mind. Although at least he was honest about it. I recall him saying in an interview that he only had 12 or 13 players he "trusted"...

Carswell.

Aaron's point aside, hard to argue with you there. Difficult for McHugh to score when he doesn't get on the park...

Me too. And he's not Estonian...

This season..? Really...?

On the basis of...?

I might be alone here but I don't really care that much about the U20s results. Shouldn't be about results at that level, more about developing skills and tactical awareness. Obviously if they are developing properly then results should follow, but I wouldn't care if we lost every game at that level if we manage to produce two or three players ready for the first team...

Maybe he's assuming defeat next week...?

Hammell was injured..

Best goalkeeper I've ever seen in a Motherwell jersey...

Any number of ways that eleven could line up. Straight 442 with Law out wide and either Hateley or Ramsden in the middle (Ramsden can play RB) or more like the 451 that has been suggested. Concern with the 451 is you leave Higdon isolated...

To be honest, I read my post back and it sounds like a defence of McCall. Only issue I have with that is that given his record, he shouldn't really need anyone to defend him..

I agree and said as much at the start of my post. But the thread seems to have turned into a discussion of McCall's merits as a manager. So it seemed the most appropriate place to counter what seems an all too gleeful criticism of him..

Not sure where to post this as several threads seem to have descended into analysis of Stuart McCall as a manager. But here seems as good a place as any... Is McCall a great? No, of course not. He's only been here around 20 months. But let's look at those 20 months, shall we? He was in the door two minutes when he had one of his two first choice centre backs sold. And then found the club's top scorer at that point in the season was now on loan to a rival club. What did he do given those circumstances? Brought in a few guys in Jones, Jeffers and Ross who didn't cost the earth and who all helped get us to a cup final. Ok, he made a bit of a mess of said cup final but he got us there. Then what happened? For the second time in six months, his top scorer walked out of the door for nothing. So he brought in a replacement for free and used the wages freed up after the departure of his three short term signings to bring in a good first team midfielder, a defender surplus to requirements at Kilmarnock and a versatile winger to sit on the bench (a guy who had a big hand in wins at St Johnstone and Aberdeen). And when the season looked to be drifting away a bit he brought in a striker no one had heard of who gave the season a kick start. And took us to third place. And so to this summer. With his budget cut, he finds himself losing the club captain, another centre back and a key midfielder. He only managed to bring in only one defender but despite that has us unbeaten in the league after seven games. Ok, there are the three cup exits, only one of which was unexpected. Obviously our season could go very wrong from here but judged so far, I reckon he's done an excellent job. Are there areas he could do better in? Aye, I'd like to see younger guys given more of a run but he is at least giving Cummins, Hetherington and Carswell more of a chance than Page and Lawless got last season, albeit through necessity. Could we do better against the Old Firm? Aye. And he does seem too respectful of opponents at times. But as with players, no Motherwell manager is going to be without his weaknesses. Otherwise they're not at Motherwell long. Wednesday night was a sore one, but there seems a rush to kick McCall when he's down. More games like it, and fair enough, I'll put my steelies on and join in. But for me, he's earned the right to be cut some slack..

On the downside, Ross Forbes would have been playing...

It was pretty amusing. You could hear Mcleod's thought process "If only I'd got two white players mixed up..." That was nice of her...

I'll assume you were at the game then. When Angol came on, BBC commentator told us it was Omar Daley. Obviously when he runs on the park, he'll see his name and number and correct himself, right? Eh, no. For the next two minutes, he keeps referring to him as Daley (referring to him as the Jamaican international and being a quick winger) until Craig Paterson clocks it and corrects him. Cue a few seconds of silence as Liam McLeod thinks "bollocks"...

I don't know but he's only played 20 minutes here and there. I'd doubt it mounts up to more than 12 full games. And he's scored at least four goals. I might be wrong but I can't imagine he's played that many minutes in the first team... And Murphy has been mainly used on the wing. McHugh strikes me more as an out and out striker. Sadly I fear we might not get the chance to find out...

With his record of goals per minutes played, I'd hope not. I don't know what it is but I'd imagine it's decent...

This should be the season for it with some very poor sides in the SPL. Too bad some Motherwell fans don't accept the phrase "transitional season". We need to start blooding these young guys or they'll never develop. Only so much they can learn in the U20s...

If that's your assessment of our other midfielders, suggests we need more than someone to protect the back four. Early in the season when Law and Lasley were paired there, Law seemed to be playing deeper. I reckon a solution would be for Lasley to play in front of the back four. Jennings showed that you don't have to be that quick for the job. But failing that, Carswell would be my preferred option...

Having seen what most of the SPL has to offer, I'd be tempted to give Carswell a run. We won't find out if he's good enough unless we give him a run of games. No way we'll get relegated this season so giving guys like Cummins, Carswell, Hetherington and Angol a real chance to show what they can do will let us know exactly how much rebuilding is needed next summer. Might not be as much as we feared...