2019-20 Rebuild

[texanwellfan]

Hard to believe that you would pick an amateur to be your starter?  Are we sure this is the starter as mentionned by Robinson or is this just a low cost option been put our way? I'd like to hear what Robinson has to say.

[Pettywulliegrew-2]

13 minutes ago, texanwellfan said:

Hard to believe that you would pick an amateur to be your starter?  Are we sure this is the starter as mentionned by Robinson or is this just a low cost option been put our way? I'd like to hear what Robinson has to say.

Christy Manzinga is Motherwell’s tenth new recruit of the summer window.

The 24-year-old frontman has been with the club for several weeks and has already demonstrated his ability, having scored a spectacular bicycle kick against Gretna in pre-season.

He also featured in a closed-door bounce game against Partick Thistle. That, combined with his performances in training, has convinced ‘Well boss Stephen Robinson to add him to the squad on a one-year deal, with the option for a second year.

“We are excited by what we’ve seen from Christy and are pleased to add him to the squad,” the Fir Park gaffer said.

“Even after the first day in training, we thought there was something there.

“We would’ve added him sooner, but we spotted a small issue during his medical that is being sorted by our head physiotherapist, David Henderson.

“He is four to six weeks away from getting to fitness. When he does, we feel he will be a big addition to our forward line.

“He has played a lot as a number nine, but he can also play on either flank. He’ll bolster our options and add even more pace and power to our forward line.”

Christy came through the youth ranks at PSG, signing as a 13-year-old and playing in the same youth team as Cedric Kipré, as well as alongside Adrian Rabiot, Presnel Kimpembe, Ferland Mendy and Kingsley Coman.

Spells at French sides Lorient and Angers followed in his late teens, before moving to Belgium with Royal Châtelet. He has also represented DR Congo at Under 21 level.

He will wear squad number 12 during the 2019/20 campaign.

[wellwell91]

33 minutes ago, Kmcalpin said:

Rumours of Danny Johnson to Dundee.

Yip that’s what I’ve heard 

Not sure if it’s permanent or a loan

Good luck to him I think he’ll score a few goals for them if he’s not played as lone striker 

[stv]

New guy = a squad player.  a speculative signing who hopefully takes his chance.

[Yorkyred]

I find it very hard to believe the guy is the final piece of the jigsaw the management team are suggesting we need. We will be looking to sign an out and out central striker with a bit of a record, this is not him. 

I wish him well and hope he takes his opportunity, he’s at the right club if he wants to try and push on.

[weeyin]

8 minutes ago, Yorkyred said:

We will be looking to sign an out and out central striker with a bit of a record

Us and every team on the planet.

[Yorkyred]

22 minutes ago, weeyin said:

Us and every team on the planet.

But will they all be looking at the 6th tier of football down in England ?

[weeyin]

1 minute ago, Yorkyred said:

But will they all be looking at the 6th tier of football down in England ?

Good teams will be. That's why scouts from the big clubs turn up all over the place just to keep an eye on things (and why we lose teenagers to clubs down south).

[wellowell]

Don’t actually get this signing as Robbo said this week would be no more squad fillers and if any more signings were to me made they would be automatic starters . No disrespect to him as never write off signings before seeing them ,but would not expect a player to come from a Belgian Amateur  League to be an instant starter . 

[supermarv]

39 minutes ago, wellowell said:

Don’t actually get this signing as Robbo said this week would be no more squad fillers and if any more signings were to me made they would be automatic starters . No disrespect to him as never write off signings before seeing them ,but would not expect a player to come from a Belgian Amateur  League to be an instant starter . 

I don’t actually know if it’s an “amateur” league like it is here. The Belgian First Amateur League is the 3rd division of the Belgian tiers. Ultimately if a team in that league won back to back promotions they’d be in the top league. So I’d give an estimation that they are more likely Scottish championship level, could be wrong but I’ve actually heard of his former team. 

He also has a pretty decent pedigree coming from PSG. And obviously he’s been in over a while and the management team have been keeping a watchful eye over him so he must have impressed, of course that excellent overhead kick. I don’t see Robbo signing all these excellent players etc. To bring in a complete dud, so I’m not writing him off yet, more optimism like I’ve shown to every other signing. When we signed Hylton many doubted and rightly so but I believed he was an excellent player and proved correct. 

[Yodo]

28 minutes ago, supermarv said:

. When we signed Hylton many doubted and rightly so but I believed he was an excellent player and proved correct. X

So after a few games against what can only be describe as poor opposition you have decided this guy is a superstar come on get a grip .

[mfcdez]

Just popped in for my periodical visit to enjoy the usual unbridled joy and optimism at our latest signing and , as ever , I've not been disappointed .

Obviously Manzinga's pedigree and track record to date is somewhat questionable and uninspiring , but before him we have had Moult , Johnson and Kipre , from Wrexham , Kidderminster and Leicester u23's respectively and none of them worked out too badly .

Sometimes a player just needs the right environment and coaching to find their spark and begin to fulfill their potential .

I doubt very much that the coaching staff in any way have him pencilled in as our first pick number 9 and main goalscoring threat , more likely a low cost punt who may , just may , click in our setup ( both on and off the pitch ) and kick on to fulfill the early promise seen in him by a very prestigious European club . 

Moult , remember , was originally behind Wes Fletcher in the pecking order to start with , but grabbed his chance with both hands and became our most prolific striker in a long time and landed us a sizeable transfer fee ,  whilst Fletcher faded back to anonymity in the Welsh leagues . 

For the moment I will trust the judgement of the management and scouting team , and hope that his signing works out well and he is a valuable addition to the squad .

Welcome young man , and best of luck .

 

 

[weeyin]

We signed Willie Pettigrew from East Kilbride Thistle (a team he joined because he wasn't deemed good enough in a brief spell at Hibs).

[fizoxy]

I think we’re pretty thin on wingers and strikers in the reserves/u18s, so this looks like a relatively low risk move to give us some depth in a key position.

Johnson seems to be the odd one out, not being particularly quick or dynamic and unable to play up front alone. He’s a decent finisher, so will prob get some goals for someone. 

[Kmcalpin]

Manzinga being brought in to replace Johnson as a squad player and given the chance to prove himself?

[KirkySuperSub]

Danny Johnson away to Dundee on a permanent deal...

https://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/2019/07/26/danny-johnson-leaves-for-dundee/?fbclid=IwAR0JEdO3rePL2rPQXRTCfKhCWC4UrV8B0YdV7f1v9aDUy_sTjf7u5xUMoyk

 

[David]

I think everyone knows that we have to give all of the new signings a chance, but this idea that any criticism of them based on their career to this point should be off the table is getting tedious. How boring would the place be if everyone just responded to a new signing by saying "great, I trust the managers judgement, let's see how this new guy gets on."

It's natural to see a new signing and immediately look at where he's been before and what he's accomplished. Is that a cast-iron indication of how he'll do for us? Absolutely not, but to completely dismiss it as not worth discussing is mental.

Personally, I'm not impressed by this guys career to this point. It's a signing that has me scratching my head a bit, as I'm fairly sure there are players available in Scotland for similar money who have a better track record. In fact, even though playing with a lone striker isn't really playing to Danny Johnson's strengths I'd have more confidence in him than this new guy based on what they've both done in the past. Johnson can score goals for us if given the chance, he's done it before.

Now, just to clarify, this isn't me not "giving the new guy a chance," it's me, as a fan, looking at what he's done until now and forming an opinion. That opinion will change as he gets chances to play for us, and obviously I hope he turns out to be a superstar.

[The African]

Danny Johnson leaving is probably a good bit of business for both parties. He was going nowhere with us. The equaliser against Celtic will live in the memory and mean that he should be remembered with a certain fondness that his limited appearances might not otherwise warrant. Good luck to him at Dundee, except against us.

[1991]

Not overly bothered by Danny moving on, I recall his performance for reserves in the cup final at Hearts and thought he showed nothing, i know that was one game but he should have shown in that game. He scored a few great goals for us and for that i wish him all the best.

[Lukemfc1]

1 hour ago, David said:

I think everyone knows that we have to give all of the new signings a chance, but this idea that any criticism of them based on their career to this point should be off the table is getting tedious. How boring would the place be if everyone just responded to a new signing by saying "great, I trust the managers judgement, let's see how this new guy gets on."

It's natural to see a new signing and immediately look at where he's been before and what he's accomplished. Is that a cast-iron indication of how he'll do for us? Absolutely not, but to completely dismiss it as not worth discussing is mental.

Personally, I'm not impressed by this guys career to this point. It's a signing that has me scratching my head a bit, as I'm fairly sure there are players available in Scotland for similar money who have a better track record. In fact, even though playing with a lone striker isn't really playing to Danny Johnson's strengths I'd have more confidence in him than this new guy based on what they've both done in the past. Johnson can score goals for us if given the chance, he's done it before.

Now, just to clarify, this isn't me not "giving the new guy a chance," it's me, as a fan, looking at what he's done until now and forming an opinion. That opinion will change as he gets chances to play for us, and obviously I hope he turns out to be a superstar.

Spot on!

It isn't being negative it's just giving a bloody opinion. This is the same folk that were telling us not to base any sort of opinion on Curtis Main's goal scoring record, look how that turned out.

I think its perfectly fair for fans to pass comment on a player based on what he has done so far in his career. It clearly isn't an exact science but most of the time you can judge a player roughly by what he has done so far.

Personally speaking I'm not overly concerned about this one as I think he sounds more like a low cost punt than anything else, I can't imagine he is going to be on any great deal of money.  It sounds like we will be looking to bring in another more experienced striker soon so I'm okay with this.

With that being said I can totally understand some of the comments about the boy coming from an amateur level.

[santheman]

i can only go with what I saw  of him when he played against Gretna and he looked pretty good, very strong and powerful, so I'll give the coaching staff their place and respect their judgement on his performances at training and not on where he came from.

[David]

11 minutes ago, santheman said:

i can only go with what I saw  of him when he played against Gretna and he looked pretty good, very strong and powerful, so I'll give the coaching staff their place and respect their judgement on his performances at training and not on where he came from.

And that's absolutely fine, but at this stage it's perfectly reasonable for fans to look at what he's done previously and either show concern or excitement. The key point is that despite what all of us may say just now there shouldn't be anyone here who doesn't want the guy to do well.

If the standard answer of "judge him in the months to come, don't doubt the managers eye for a player" were cast in stone this place would be boring as hell. I may not agree with some of the views on here, but so long as they're actually based on something and not just negativity for the sake of it then they have their place.

Argument, debate and discussion is what somewhere like this is all about. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but those people are probably better off just reading the official website for news and not getting involved in platforms such as this, as we're going to see dissenting opinions.

[wellowell]

To clarify my point I have no problem with the signing and will give the boy every chance to shine and hopefully he will turn out good . My point was about Robbo saying he was not signing any more squad players as had to be a starter if any new signings , and obviously we all agree Manzinga does not seem to fit into that definite starter mode at the moment . He may turn out to be another Kipre and just needs a platform to perform and maybe will do very well but definitely looks line another squad player  currently though could become a regular starter in time . I think Robbo was definitely not meaning him when he made this comment and we possibly might have another striker in mind to come in .Time will tell 

[David]

Yeah, I'd be very surprised if we see the window close with us having the strikers we have at the moment. 

[Yodo]

I hear the centre forward playing with North Motherwell AFC knows where the goals are surely due a chance