Haggischomper Posted July 12, 2016 Report Share Posted July 12, 2016 I'll reserve judgement on applying the term 'joke' until after Saturday. Champing at the bit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrosshillWell Posted July 12, 2016 Report Share Posted July 12, 2016 Just a tad concerned that it won't be pretty come 1645, Haggis. Champing at the bit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobey_Dosser Posted July 12, 2016 Report Share Posted July 12, 2016 Lasley has confirmed he is suspended. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desp Posted July 12, 2016 Report Share Posted July 12, 2016 Lasley has confirmed he is suspended. I wonder if we'll see McDonald drop into midfield for this one. Midfield three of Cadden, McHugh and McDonald. While Tavernier and Wallace are good going forward, they are, to say the least, suspect defensively. So I'd be getting both Ainsworth and Johnson on the park with the instructions to run at them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmcalpin Posted July 12, 2016 Report Share Posted July 12, 2016 I wonder if we'll see McDonald drop into midfield for this one. Midfield three of Cadden, McHugh and McDonald. While Tavernier and Wallace are good going forward, they are, to say the least, suspect defensively. So I'd be getting both Ainsworth and Johnson on the park with the instructions to run at them. I can understand the reasoning behind playing him there but its not his position and rarely does well in a deeper role. The same also applies to Craig Moore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desp Posted July 12, 2016 Report Share Posted July 12, 2016 I agree it's not his best position, and not where you'd ideally want him, but who else is there to go into midfield? Ideally you'd want a bit of experience in there, so to go with a two of McHugh (playing his first game in Scottish football) and Cadden (most of his first team games have been on the right hand side of a three) would be a tad risky IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobey_Dosser Posted July 12, 2016 Report Share Posted July 12, 2016 I've always been an advocate of Skippy playing in midfield when we are toiling for options. My concern would be a potential lack of fitness. The odds are stacked against Motherwell on Saturday with a number of events going against us this summer. We've lost our physio, assistant manager and Pearson at a time when preparation is key. Our woes will be exacerbated by the absence of Lasley, Laing and Moult. Meanwhile all of our new signings are all stepping up a few levels and will need time to get up to speed. So it's a far from ideal time to be playing a premier league club. I've no idea what state Rangers are in but if I recall Warburton's preperation last season, they put 6 past Hibs in July. So full credit to McGhee and the squad if we can get a result here. The priority though is to be competitive and hope that a few young/new players benefit from a confidence boosting performance. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milo Posted July 12, 2016 Report Share Posted July 12, 2016 I've always been an advocate of Skippy playing in midfield when we are toiling for options. My concern would be a potential lack of fitness. The odds are stacked against Motherwell on Saturday with a number of events going against us this summer. We've lost our physio, assistant manager and Pearson at a time when preparation is key. Our woes will be exacerbated by the absence of Lasley, Laing and Moult. Meanwhile all of our new signings are all stepping up a few levels and will need time to get up to speed. So it's a far from ideal time to be playing a premier league club. I've no idea what state Rangers are in but if I recall Warburton's preperation last season, they put 6 past Hibs in July. So full credit to McGhee and the squad if we can get a result here. The priority though is to be competitive and hope that a few young/new players benefit from a confidence boosting performance. This post underlines just some of the upheaval that we've had to contend with this summer and most certainly will impact on the performance on Saturday. I will come as no surprise to anyone, but I fear a tanking on Saturday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellowell Posted July 12, 2016 Report Share Posted July 12, 2016 Time will tell but it's early doors for Rangers as well so could be exciting game with plenty of mistakes so 2 2 for me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busta Nut Posted July 12, 2016 Report Share Posted July 12, 2016 Time will tell but it's early doors for Rangers as well so could be exciting game with plenty of mistakes so 2 2 for me aye but who will win on the diddy pens? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lukemfc1 Posted July 12, 2016 Report Share Posted July 12, 2016 I think some of crticism off the back of friendly results has been OTT but things aren't looking particularly great performance wise. I will reserve judgement until Saturday. What I don't enjoy is McGhee playing down the league cup fixtures. There can be no excuses for not being ready either in terms of squad or finess. We have known these fixtures were coming for many months now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haggischomper Posted July 12, 2016 Report Share Posted July 12, 2016 I question the point of even having the league cup, especially given the fixture congestion there currently is. For me, it lost a lot of lustre when the European place was taken from it. Sure, it would be nice, financially, to go on a long run in it or even win it but, in all honesty, when I think of the league cup I just think "meh". Would prefer to see us get positive results and go through but, if we don't, I'm not that fussed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbcmfc Posted July 12, 2016 Report Share Posted July 12, 2016 I don't think anybody bothers that much until the semi finals. Given some teams don't enter until the last 16, that's understandable. I'm optimistic about the new format, although reading this thread is sucking that optimism out of me! It's not perfect, but it's far better than pre-season friendlies at this time of year, although treating it that way cheapens it I suppose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaka Posted July 12, 2016 Report Share Posted July 12, 2016 if we keep Rangers to 4 il be surprised Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steelboy Posted July 12, 2016 Report Share Posted July 12, 2016 Given that we are skint, we haven't won a trophy in 25 years and we really don't want to get beat off Rangers we should be taking this game very seriously. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MelvinBragg Posted July 12, 2016 Report Share Posted July 12, 2016 Given that we are skint, we haven't won a trophy in 25 years and we really don't want to get beat off Rangers we should be taking this game very seriously.I agree. I am kind of amazed by the people saying it's only the league cup, treat it like preseason, not that worried about it... Given our recent record in the cups is a stick that is used to beat the club and previous managers, to suddenly dismiss one of the two trophies we have a realistic chance of winning seems to me a bit daft... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmcalpin Posted July 12, 2016 Report Share Posted July 12, 2016 I agree that we should treat the competition seriously for a number of reasons, but the timing of the group stage, coming as it does in mid/late July is horrific. English teams don't start their pre season until later in the month and aren't available for friendlies worse luck. Scots teams have ended up playing each other in late June / early July thereby cutting the close season. Again clubs will be wary of picking opponents for friendlies and are in some ways limited to playing teams in the other geographic half. It seems summer football is creeping in! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steelboy Posted July 12, 2016 Report Share Posted July 12, 2016 Our season ended on the 15th of May. They came back on the 25th of June It is beyond me why the players need more than 4 weeks off. If they can't prepare properly for the season starting then they should have been back in a couple of weeks earlier. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weeyin Posted July 12, 2016 Report Share Posted July 12, 2016 It's competitive match fitness that is the challenge rather than physical fitness. And you don't get that in friendlies. I doubt Rangers will be any more advanced than us in that regard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superward Posted July 12, 2016 Report Share Posted July 12, 2016 I question the point of even having the league cup, especially given the fixture congestion there currently is. For me, it lost a lot of lustre when the European place was taken from it. Sure, it would be nice, financially, to go on a long run in it or even win it but, in all honesty, when I think of the league cup I just think "meh". Would prefer to see us get positive results and go through but, if we don't, I'm not that fussed I totally agree and said similar a while back. The league cup does nothing for me - even given the fact we haven't won a cup for 25 years. Very 'meh' for me too. That said, I think we will take it seriously even with McGhee's comments. We will be going out to win with a full strength team minus injuries. Whereas Rangers are unlikely to even play Barton for example. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steelboy Posted July 12, 2016 Report Share Posted July 12, 2016 It's competitive match fitness that is the challenge rather than physical fitness. And you don't get that in friendlies. I doubt Rangers will be any more advanced than us in that regard. In the Malpas season and the Starjnan and Llanelli debacles it was physical fitness. There have been plenty of seasons where we have hit the ground running. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weeyin Posted July 12, 2016 Report Share Posted July 12, 2016 In the Malpas season and the Starjnan and Llanelli debacles it was physical fitness. There have been plenty of seasons where we have hit the ground running. Malpas was a disaster all round, not just pre-season. There are many types of fitness though from basic cardio, to core strength, to endurance, to sprint training to speed. And then there is sharpness on the ball. I expect cardio, core strength and some endurance at this stage, but I doubt we'll see speed and match sharpness for a few weeks yet. It's a rare season when we have hit the ground running. Even when McGhee was here the first time his tactics involved us playing hard for 60 minutes or so and then hanging on in the last third of a game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graeme Bremner Posted July 12, 2016 Report Share Posted July 12, 2016 Its a tough ask but not impossible I think we can win this one but regardless who ever wins this should top the group imo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texanwellfan Posted July 12, 2016 Report Share Posted July 12, 2016 if we keep Rangers to 4 il be surprised I'm not looking forward to this game either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_P Posted July 12, 2016 Report Share Posted July 12, 2016 I think when it comes to McGhee's comments thus far about Saturday I think it would have done us few favours if he'd been cockily telling all and sundry we're going to do this or were going to do that to Rangers. Or even that we're right up for it and ready to go. There's no need for him to help write Rangers team-talk for them and if we're then found wanting he's going to look pretty stupid. I just think there's too many uncertainties going into Saturday to play the build up any other way than cagily. We don't know what team they'll select, how prepared they are, there's no form for either sides to go on etc. I don't really see too much wrong with him taking a very low key approach. Better in my mind to be publicly playing it down. That said behind the scenes I would expect the tack he's taking to be a little different. Whilst he may not be adjusting the pre-season programme I fully expect that what every level of readiness we are at currently he's going to be sending them out well prepared to try to win the game. Financially or otherwise whenever long standing players or staff at Motherwell are asked about Cups you can almost sense the weight upon the club's shoulders that a win has now become long overdue. I'm sure that won't be lost on McGhee. As for the game itself I really don't have a clue how it'll go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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