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2015/16 Ins & Outs


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He can assist all he likes...the problem is that he cant defend for toffee

Thats about it for me. His first duty is to defend and that is his weakness. In turn thats putting additional and unwanted pressure on the central defenders and Ripley. All too often opponents are allowed to run unhindered into the right hand side of our box and have a crack at goal or fire over a cross.

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Many opinions that Moult is a candidate to be sold flying around - don't see it myself.

 

I would say Marvin is the rare type of player that many clubs down south in championship / top few of 1st division would pay good money for if he was more consistent. Might take McGhee another half season to get him there.

 

Moult is playing with great heart, and has good deal of self confidence. Most goals are in the box though, and there are 4 or 5 guys in SPFL with similar scoring ability. I think he will be here and do well for us for years to come.

 

I could see either Hall, Laing or Kennedy being a nice pickup for an English 1st division club looking to pull in a reasonable defender and could be the first player sold to get some incoming cash.

 

Not keen on Gomis after this season. Will thank him for his efforts and let him return to hearts. We have Leitch waiting for his chance, before a new batch of kids start coming through.

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His stock may not be as high as it was after the play-off but given Ainsworth will still have a year on his contract left in the summer and presumably he'd quite like first team football it'd seem natural for his situation to be looked at. Seeing he's, for the most part, been an awkward fit in McGhee's starting XI (a couple of impact sub appearances apart) and I'd imagine is one of our higher earners then it wouldn't be a surprise if he was to move on for a fee.

 

It'd make sense as Cadden seems to have the right side of midfield locked down with MacLean as a back-up option for the "young midfielder" spot and Dom Thomas is an option on either side of the front 3 (though from the 20s highlights during the week it looked like he was playing a bit deeper).

 

I guess we'll see what happens in the remaining games and how things play out in terms of our relative safety Andy whether or not McGhee makes an effort to see if he can fit him in and how.

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I think quite simply, ainsworth has lost his mojo. It seems to me that he's either lost all self confidence or he's simply downed tools. Either way, he's not responding to McGhees style of management and I don't expect to see him at the club next season.

 

I actually like him, but as has been typical of the old fashioned winger, inconsistency has plagued his career, the long list of former clubs corroborates that and any potential suitor may be reluctant to be paying a fee for him. Expect a termination of contract by mutual agreement or a swap for a young lower leaguer.

 

With regards Josh Law, I think folk need to remember that he is not a right back to trade. He was converted because McCall didn't sign one and has been a stop gap ever since. I don't see a place for him in our team in midfield so it'll be an interesting battle between him and Laing (also not a natural right back) for the no2 shirt next season. But what can't be taken away from him is he's a grafter and despite being asked to play out of his natural position, does so with conviction.

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Despite his inconsistency I'd have thought we'd still be in a position where we'd consider Ainsworth an asset. Unlike the players whose contracts we mutually terminated in January he's still been at the very least around the match day squad, if not a first pick. So I'd be surprised if we'd just cut him loose, I just don't think we'd be that hard to deal with if a deal was on the table that suited all parties.

 

Given teams have paid fees for his services before I'd have thought his agents would have been able knock together a highlights package that could convince a League 1 club down south to pay at least a nominal fee. Despite him not having started much of late his stats in the time he's been here still show up pretty well.

 

As far as Law goes I thought it was interesting that whenever McGhee was talking up Laing's performances at right back the other week the qualities he was highlighting in Laing were all attributes you don't get with Law: height, pace, strength etc.

 

I like Law but my view on him has always been quite consistent. As a right back he's a good squad player to have around and know you'll get a certain level of performance from. The sort of player to cover for injuries or maybe have a short run in the team now and again rather than someone you look at and say "that's a first choice full back". For me he looks like a player who's been converted to the RB role and it shows in the defensive side of his game.

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Ainsworth is a big time confidence player and an emotional one at that as well. Essentially having went from a first pick to not starting since McGhee came in.

 

McGhee has said he is one of the most talented players in the squad so I don't think he is frozen out or about to get punted. He just needs to prove to McGhee he can improve the defensive side of his game. Whether Lionel decides to stick around and do that or start to look elsewhere I think will be more up to him than anyone else.

 

Ainsworth going forward can be unbelievable and I would be challenging McGhee to get him into the team more than anything. To be fair he may be doing that in training and Lionel isn't responding.

 

As for Law, decent squad level player who has served us well. But he hasn't got any better at eradicating the positioning mistakes which teams take advantage of. I think we will see Laing in there as first choice on an ongoing basis when fit.

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Im a big Ainsworth fan, but it looks to me that McGhee is trying to get him to work as part of this fluid front three and maybe Lionel just isn't cut out for it. My view is that unless we are going to stick him on the right wing and play balls infront of him, then really, theres no point in bringing him on.

 

Saying that, even when it looks as though he's not doing much, more often than not he still is the guy who provides the assist, whether from a cross or a corner.

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Just for clarity I'm not suggesting that we are, or should be, looking to punt Ainsworth or that he's been frozen out or anything like that.

 

What I'm putting forward is more that in light of all the discussion of us potentially looking to cash in on players (Moult, Johnson, even Cadden, Hall etc) and the fact that the club is on record as looking to be more effective in terms of bringing in fees then it wouldn't be surprising if a player who's under contract, (presumably) at the higher end of the wage scale but has found himself on the bench or isn't an obvious fit for the first team would be one of the players we'd be looking at moving on before we considered selling on guys who are currently first choice picks.

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Just for clarity I'm not suggesting that we are, or should be, looking to punt Ainsworth or that he's been frozen out or anything like that.

 

What I'm putting forward is more that in light of all the discussion of us potentially looking to cash in on players (Moult, Johnson, even Cadden, Hall etc) and the fact that the club is on record as looking to be more effective in terms of bringing in fees then it wouldn't be surprising if a player who's under contract, (presumably) at the higher end of the wage scale but has found himself on the bench or isn't an obvious fit for the first team would be one of the players we'd be looking at moving on even before we considered selling on guys who are currently first choice picks.

Yeah you might be right. My reply wasn't directly to yours although it came directly after it. Just my general thoughts on the subject.

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Yeah you might be right. My reply wasn't directly to yours although it came directly after it. Just my general thoughts on the subject.

Ha! Nah I didn't take it as a direct reply. Just on reading back my posts I didn't want to come across as "we should/shouldn't be selling...".

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I think Josh Law gets a really unwarranted bad press on this forum. He's not Cafu, but I think he's a steady right back who does a good job. I bet many other teams would like to have a right back on six assists.

 

Watch the 1st goal inverness scored into us in the cup he was caught sleeping

 

And one of the goals at st johnstone early in the season hes no where near his position

 

Need a new right back he clearly isnt good enough him and that jo chalmers are having a contest whos can cost the team the most goals

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Having watched them back there, I agree partially with you. Against Inverness, he certainly could have been positioned better. However, Tremarco got made a massive run from left back to get into that position, you have to ask why none of our midfielders or forwards spotted it and made any effort to match his run or help Law out.

 

The one against St. Johnstone is unfortunate. Perhaps he should have put a tackle in, but it's a dangerous game diving in, in a situation like that. He was beaten a bit easily though, I'll give you that.

 

I guess my point is that I think the criticism of him is over the top. I think every defender in our team has made mistakes this season which directly caused goals, but people seem all too keen to continually bring up Law's. I think he is a steady right back, not the best we've had, not the worst we've had and probably about the standard we can expect/deserve.

 

I too was impressed with Laing's spell at right back and would like to see him develop into first choice right back, but I certainly don't "dread" seeing Law's name on the team sheet and I'm more than happy to see him play a part in our squad.

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Having watched them back there, I agree partially with you. Against Inverness, he certainly could have been positioned better. However, Tremarco got made a massive run from left back to get into that position, you have to ask why none of our midfielders or forwards spotted it and made any effort to match his run or help Law out.

 

The one against St. Johnstone is unfortunate. Perhaps he should have put a tackle in, but it's a dangerous game diving in, in a situation like that. He was beaten a bit easily though, I'll give you that.

 

I guess my point is that I think the criticism of him is over the top. I think every defender in our team has made mistakes this season which directly caused goals, but people seem all too keen to continually bring up Law's. I think he is a steady right back, not the best we've had, not the worst we've had and probably about the standard we can expect/deserve.

 

I too was impressed with Laing's spell at right back and would like to see him develop into first choice right back, but I certainly don't "dread" seeing Law's name on the team sheet and I'm more than happy to see him play a part in our squad.

Hes certainly not of the standard that I'd expect, if we had 11 players of Laws standard, we really would be fucked

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He was signed as a right-back and had played there consistently for his former Club...the fact McCall tried to play him as an attacking midfielder still makes me laugh

So how do you know he played as a right back as alfreton town? McCall certainly seemed to think otherwise from the outset.

 

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/motherwell-win-race-sign-midfielder-3582155#gWA1TtQpdzPJJPAg.97

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