Jump to content

S Robinson Motherwell Manager


CoF
 Share

Recommended Posts

We now have an 8 point gap over 3 teams which although it's still very early days we have given ourselves some wriggle room with 2 tough league games up next.

 

I think Thistle will pick up points soon (hopefully not September 30th) would be preferable if Dundee and/or Killie could become completely detached asap!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm confident we can go to hibs this weekend and get a result. If hamilton can go there and win then we definitely can.

 

Robbo is a manager i've rated from the day he got the job, the early signs are very promising with the squad he's built for us. as was said in his interview it's been a good start but nobody is getting carried away as it's still early days with a new squad. Who knows what we may achieve this season, one thing i'm certain about and that is we wont be in any relegation trouble this season.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think we caught Hearts at the right time!

 

This.

 

Cathro Hearts we should be beating (or immediately Post Cathro for the pedants out there). 8 out of 10 teams in the league had beaten them in the past year and every other team in the league had taken at least a point off them - except us. Overall they had 4 wins in their previous 21 league matches.

 

Under Levein they will probably improve so we definitely caught them at a good time.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think one of the things that impresses me most about Robbo is that he doesnt sugar coat things. If we've not performed to the standards he expects he says so. He doesnt single out players for criticism and is happy to include himself in the collective. I think the previous acceptance of mediocrity / just surviving is a thing of the past. This squad has higher expectations / goals than that. Very good man management exemplified by his desire for competition for places. If any player isnt cutting it then he will be out and someone else will get a shot. Its a million miles from what we had to endure this time last year....

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think one of the things that impresses me most about Robbo is that he doesnt sugar coat things. If we've not performed to the standards he expects he says so. He doesnt single out players for criticism and is happy to include himself in the collective.

 

He just comes across as having an incredibly balanced view on things and always has a clear focus on the bigger picture. If you look at his demeanour and language after each game you wouldn't know if it was a win or a loss.

 

The Hearts game the other week was the best I've felt leaving Fir Park in quite a few years yet his post-match interview was as factual as you could get. Other managers might have laid the praise on thick but he was straight in with what worked / what didn't and where we could improve. That stability alone can only be a good thing.

 

 

As an aside - compare that to McGhee at the end......

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

He just comes across as having an incredibly balanced view on things.

 

If he did that on here he would probably fall victim to a miserablist trope!

 

We've got better but I think there is still a lot to learn about this team.

 

If you look at our results so far this season we are up 4 points on the corresponding fixtures last season but lost the same number of games - 2 out of 5.

 

(Rangers 0-2/1-2; St. Johnstone 1-1/1-4; Ross County 4-1/2-1; Kilmarnock 0-0/2-0; Hearts 1-3/2-1; Total 5/9.

 

That's an improvement but it's mostly centered around that one match against Hearts - which was our best overall performance of the season (so far).

 

Due to the rather odd fixture list this season (4 home/1 away) we still need to see if we can get any sort of away form going and if we can get results against teams expected to finish in the Top 6, defeats against Rangers and St. Johnstone so far suggest we've still got a bit to go in that regard.

 

So although there has been an improvement I think we shouldn't jump the gun until at least a full round of fixtures has been played. We've been a little bit fortunate that we've had very winnable home matches (in contrast Partick have had Aberdeen and Celtic) and we've also got away with some poor 1st half showings when we might have gone in at HT with worse scorelines than we did.

 

One other area to look at is if Robinson is willing to adapt his plans. Seems to me that Bowman and Campbell weren't part of them early on but 5 games in I think both of these players have proved they are worth a starting spot and have consistently improved overall team performance. Hammell also proved on Saturday that he is miles better than Dunne with his foot on the ball.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love stats as much as the next man, and think I take a pretty realistic approach to where are likely to finish in the league most seasons.

 

The overall level of performance so far this season is, however, an improvement, and I think that's where we can take some hope for a better campaign.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd say we're probably two points better off than where we should be (beating Hearts rather than the draw I hoped to sneak) so I'm not getting carried away. A win at Easter Road on Saturday, however, and I'll join you all on cloud nine. At the moment I am quietly satisfied and cautiously hopeful for the rest of the season.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd say we're probably two points better off than where we should be (beating Hearts rather than the draw I hoped to sneak) so I'm not getting carried away. A win at Easter Road on Saturday, however, and I'll join you all on cloud nine. At the moment I am quietly satisfied and cautiously hopeful for the rest of the season.

Quietly satisfied and cautiously hopeful is a good place to be. I'll have some of that. Its a long way down from cloud 9!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think that while we're only two points ahead of where we 'should' be, there are reasons why people are much happier with how things look this season compared to last.

 

Fitness. It's early in the season but we seem to be conpeting longer in games rather than holding on and looking shattered with 20 minutes to go. Add to that we look at lot more physically imposing than previous seasons. I feel that in the past that the Hearts team would have physically bullied us out of the game.

 

Substitutions. Our manager makes some. When we're not losing. Who would have thought it? And generally they seem to improve us. Again this seems new.

 

Team selection. Seems to be mostly on merit. Robinson signed Tanner, Bigirmana and Fisher but Campbell and Bowman have performed so they start. No apparent playing of favourites with 'his' signings (for what it's worth, I think the three guys I mentioned that aren't in the team will contribute over the season). The only one that seems to baffle fans is Rose but given results, and the fact he's been keeping his place in the team, have to figure that Rose is doing exactly what his manager asks of him.

 

Team spirit. There seems to be a genuine good feeling around the squad (absence of a short fat Australian helping?) but I suppose the real test will be when results aren't going our way.

 

I think these are some of the reasons that people's optimism seems disproportionate to actual results. Compared to the start of last season when McGhee seemed to not know his best team and was signing people on loan he knew nothing about, there at least seems to be a plan. Will that plan work? Who knows but having one is a start...

  • Like 13
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think that while we're only two points ahead of where we 'should' be, there are reasons why people are much happier with how things look this season compared to last.

 

Fitness. It's early in the season but we seem to be conpeting longer in games rather than holding on and looking shattered with 20 minutes to go. Add to that we look at lot more physically imposing than previous seasons. I feel that in the past that the Hearts team would have physically bullied us out of the game.

 

Substitutions. Our manager makes some. When we're not losing. Who would have thought it? And generally they seem to improve us. Again this seems new.

 

Team selection. Seems to be mostly on merit. Robinson signed Tanner, Bigirmana and Fisher but Campbell and Bowman have performed so they start. No apparent playing of favourites with 'his' signings (for what it's worth, I think the three guys I mentioned that aren't in the team will contribute over the season). The only one that seems to baffle fans is Rose but given results, and the fact he's been keeping his place in the team, have to figure that Rose is doing exactly what his manager asks of him.

 

Team spirit. There seems to be a genuine good feeling around the squad (absence of a short fat Australian helping?) but I suppose the real test will be when results aren't going our way.

 

I think these are some of the reasons that people's optimism seems disproportionate to actual results. Compared to the start of last season when McGhee seemed to not know his best team and was signing people on loan he knew nothing about, there at least seems to be a plan. Will that plan work? Who knows but having one is a start...

Great post.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just want to acknowledge the fantastic piece of business Stephen Robinson did by bringing in Peter Hartley to replace Ben Henegan. To bank £400k and bring in a ready made replacement is great work. I thought Hartley was superb on Saturday - he is a great organiser and very physical which are brilliant qualities for a defender. In fact all of his recruits have been excellent. I love big Cedric like everyone else but I think Craig Tanner is a superb player and looking forward to him getting an extended run in the team.Well done the manager!

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here here . Manager deserves a lot of credit with re his transfer business . Also well done to the board for backing there man . Board/football side of things seems to be working well together . Long may it continue . Must confess when Robinson got the job I wasn't sold on it and looked like a cheap option compared to others mentioned at the time however credit where it's due . He is doing a terrific job in a short space of time

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...