2021/2022 Rebuild

[Kris-A-Goalda]

On 4/22/2021 at 2:29 PM, Onthefringes said:

Larne you say?

Fudser, as he's affectionately known over here, is pulling the strings against Gael Bigirimana at The Oval tonight...

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/football/56794280

[Motherwell Daft]

On 4/22/2021 at 4:40 PM, MearnsWell said:

Polworth has turned into a bit of a Kante recently...

Aye,  Kante get a game

[grizzlyg]

1 hour ago, Motherwell Daft said:

Aye,  Kante get a game

Ah'll dae the jokes!! Lol

[El Grew]

The media are full of bullshit at this time of the season as they try to fill their columns and airtime with the latest “exclusive scoops”.  Best to ignore them entirely.

One of the major problems we have had this current season has been an inability to score goals from open play.  This is down to an utter dearth of creativity, craft, guile and ability to pick passes for the forwards from our midfield. The players we have are simply unable to provide these qualities.  This means we are left relying far too much on scoring goals from set pieces. For me this is an area where we really do need to improve on the crud we have been signing as midfielders.  Cull the squad to free up some cash to try and raise the quality of players we sign.

[Shaka]

Not sure Ive ever seen a team as bad at set pieces as us. Whoever thought of that fucking horrendous short corner palava needs a clout wi Declans baseball bat

[weeyin]

3 hours ago, El Grew said:

The media are full of bullshit at this time of the season as they try to fill their columns and airtime with the latest “exclusive scoops”.  Best to ignore them entirely.

One of the major problems we have had this current season has been an inability to score goals from open play.  This is down to an utter dearth of creativity, craft, guile and ability to pick passes for the forwards from our midfield. The players we have are simply unable to provide these qualities.  This means we are left relying far too much on scoring goals from set pieces. For me this is an area where we really do need to improve on the crud we have been signing as midfielders.  Cull the squad to free up some cash to try and raise the quality of players we sign.

I agree, but I can't remember the last time we signed a creative midfielder that didn't take pelters from a large portion of our support for not tackling like Wee Al.  Turnbull would likely have received similar treatment if he hadn't been an academy product.

[Kmac]

Now that this season is ‘over’, other than aiming to finish as high up the league as possible and securing prize money that will not be reinvested in the first team squad, the task ahead becomes ever clearer.

As suggested by others, I don’t believe that Carson will be number 1 next season. His recent injury worries and goalkeeper coaching suggest that whilst he can be an extremely capable back-up, we will need a number 1.

Other than that, we go into Matchday 1 of 21/22 with a squad of 

 

————————-Goalkeeper

 

O’Donnell———-Mugabe——Centre Half—-Carroll

 

RM————-O’Hara——-CM———-LM

 

————-Watt—— Striker 

 

Subs:

Carson

Mcginley

Lamie 

Grimshaw

Donnelly

Crawford 

Lawless 

Maguire 
 

Realistically, we need 6 first team starters signed over the summer. Additionally, IMO, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Grimshaw, Mcginley or Donnelly leave the club, whilst I would be actively looking to offload Lawleff.  For the sake of the squad, we probably need a minimum of 2 strikers brought in and if we can offload any of the afformentioned 4, an additional Centre half and central midfielder. 
I make it minimum 7 and maximum 9 in over the summer and running with a squad of around 22/23 including some youngsters down from the current 33. I would imagine/hope/expect that trimming the squad by 30% should see a significant uptick in quality but time will tell

[gaz7]

8 hours ago, weeyin said:

I agree, but I can't remember the last time we signed a creative midfielder that didn't take pelters from a large portion of our support for not tackling like Wee Al.  Turnbull would likely have received similar treatment if he hadn't been an academy product.

That's a great point wee yin. And 100% correct. Our midfield has been really poor this season and other than love in for campbell totally justified . When polworth was top assists in league he was still getting grief on here for being a "shitebag lazy bugger" who's set pieces were worst ever. It was hilarious and I wish we had someone in that form now. A midfielder who always wants the ball I hope is a priority. 

[Yorkyred]

33 minutes ago, gaz7 said:

That's a great point wee yin. And 100% correct. Our midfield has been really poor this season and other than love in for campbell totally justified . When polworth was top assists in league he was still getting grief on here for being a "shitebag lazy bugger" who's set pieces were worst ever. It was hilarious and I wish we had someone in that form now. A midfielder who always wants the ball I hope is a priority. 

Gorrin ( apart from getting booked too often) is one of best midfielders we’ve had while I’ve been watching the club, technically way better than the vast majority of the others with a good energy level and he got stuck in.

[Yorkyred]

51 minutes ago, Kmac said:

Now that this season is ‘over’, other than aiming to finish as high up the league as possible and securing prize money that will not be reinvested in the first team squad, the task ahead becomes ever clearer.

As suggested by others, I don’t believe that Carson will be number 1 next season. His recent injury worries and goalkeeper coaching suggest that whilst he can be an extremely capable back-up, we will need a number 1.

Other than that, we go into Matchday 1 of 21/22 with a squad of 

 

————————-Goalkeeper

 

O’Donnell———-Mugabe——Centre Half—-Carroll

 

RM————-O’Hara——-CM———-LM

 

————-Watt—— Striker 

 

Subs:

Carson

Mcginley

Lamie 

Grimshaw

Donnelly

Crawford 

Lawless 

Maguire 
 

Realistically, we need 6 first team starters signed over the summer. Additionally, IMO, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Grimshaw, Mcginley or Donnelly leave the club, whilst I would be actively looking to offload Lawleff.  For the sake of the squad, we probably need a minimum of 2 strikers brought in and if we can offload any of the afformentioned 4, an additional Centre half and central midfielder. 
I make it minimum 7 and maximum 9 in over the summer and running with a squad of around 22/23 including some youngsters down from the current 33. I would imagine/hope/expect that trimming the squad by 30% should see a significant uptick in quality but time will tell

I would see Donnelly as a first 11 starter, we’ve missed him this season. I would be looking for two centre halves, another central midfielder, two wide players, and two strikers. If Cole is willing to stay I would see that as a positive, I think Roberts offers plenty, Kelly of course would be a superb signing but I don’t see that happening. We need a couple of real leaders in the Aldred/Hartley mould, Gallagher has certainly not been that and I’ve always liked a captain at centre half. Looking at midfield it’s been the same problem, Campbell for all his strengths is not a natural organiser and for me the biggest weakness this season has been midfield, it’s been a total cluster in truth. I’m surprised Crawford and indeed Mugabi were given new contracts, I think that will turn out to be a mistake, OHara has gone backwards, Hastie will drop down to the Championship, Grimmy needs a move, Lawless has actually played regularly at two top six clubs and will end up a usefully signing in my view, even if it’s coming off the bench. I’ve never rated Seedorf, he lacks a football brain. It would be nice to see one or two youngsters coming through but I don’t have enough knowledge of that level to comment.

[wellsince75]

55 minutes ago, Kmac said:

Now that this season is ‘over’, other than aiming to finish as high up the league as possible and securing prize money that will not be reinvested in the first team squad, the task ahead becomes ever clearer.

As suggested by others, I don’t believe that Carson will be number 1 next season. His recent injury worries and goalkeeper coaching suggest that whilst he can be an extremely capable back-up, we will need a number 1.

Other than that, we go into Matchday 1 of 21/22 with a squad of 

 

————————-Goalkeeper

 

O’Donnell———-Mugabe——Centre Half—-Carroll

 

RM————-O’Hara——-CM———-LM

 

————-Watt—— Striker 

 

 

Personal view is Mugabi isn't an auto start - if he was he'd be playing just now.

Keeper - find a way to retain Kelly - even on loan
RM-LM -   this won't be popular but I'd have liked to give Hastie a run in the team to see what he can offer.  I also thing wing back could suit him. 
Strikers - I reckon Cole will sign - I don't see him getting a bigger club. 

[Shaka]

57 minutes ago, Kmac said:

Now that this season is ‘over’, other than aiming to finish as high up the league as possible and securing prize money that will not be reinvested in the first team squad, the task ahead becomes ever clearer.

As suggested by others, I don’t believe that Carson will be number 1 next season. His recent injury worries and goalkeeper coaching suggest that whilst he can be an extremely capable back-up, we will need a number 1.

Other than that, we go into Matchday 1 of 21/22 with a squad of 

 

————————-Goalkeeper

 

O’Donnell———-Mugabe——Centre Half—-Carroll

 

RM————-O’Hara——-CM———-LM

 

————-Watt—— Striker 

 

Subs:

Carson

Mcginley

Lamie 

Grimshaw

Donnelly

Crawford 

Lawless 

Maguire 
 

Realistically, we need 6 first team starters signed over the summer. Additionally, IMO, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Grimshaw, Mcginley or Donnelly leave the club, whilst I would be actively looking to offload Lawleff.  For the sake of the squad, we probably need a minimum of 2 strikers brought in and if we can offload any of the afformentioned 4, an additional Centre half and central midfielder. 
I make it minimum 7 and maximum 9 in over the summer and running with a squad of around 22/23 including some youngsters down from the current 33. I would imagine/hope/expect that trimming the squad by 30% should see a significant uptick in quality but time will tell

That squad is absolutely terrifying. 6 first team starters needed  PLUS a bench full of players who are championship level at best. Looks like Carson could be done as a frontline number 1 and Donnelly is the only remotely decent player of the other 7. ZERO goalscoring threat from anywhere on the pitch. 

The thing is, I dont see us recruiting 6 first team players! Especially when we are handing out contracts to utter shite like Crawford and playing Lamie every week, plus starting that fucking awful lad from Blackburn ahead of Mugabi, who Im still not sure about but will at least be here next season. 

Unless there is a serious investment in that squad, (and I doubt there will be anything near whats needed) Il put good money on that squad getting us relegated next year

[Yorkyred]

16 minutes ago, Shaka said:

That squad is absolutely terrifying. 6 first team starters needed  PLUS a bench full of players who are championship level at best. Looks like Carson could be done as a frontline number 1 and Donnelly is the only remotely decent player of the other 7. ZERO goalscoring threat from anywhere on the pitch. 

The thing is, I dont see us recruiting 6 first team players! Especially when we are handing out contracts to utter shite like Crawford and playing Lamie every week, plus starting that fucking awful lad from Blackburn ahead of Mugabi, who Im still not sure about but will at least be here next season. 

Unless there is a serious investment in that squad, (and I doubt there will be anything near whats needed) Il put good money on that squad getting us relegated next year

Bit early to be talking of relegation Shaka, we usually make it to half a dozen games in before that starts.

[ropy]

McGinley is meant to be a left sided centre back 

[Kmcalpin]

Like others, I'm not convinced that Carson will fully recover from his injuries and thats a concern. I'd sign Kelly permanently in a minute but thats unlikely I'd think. A very good keeper but he's not the best in the air.  If we were to retain him we'd need 2 big dominant central defenders; we'll probably need them anyway. We've lost a worrying amount of goals from, and conceded chances to headers all season; as we can see from the last 3 games against Morton, Accies and Hibs. That needs to change.

Midfield needs an overhaul. Hopefully Donnelly will return and add stability to the defensive midfield. I don't think we'll miss Alan Campbell as much as many think. A great work ethic and attitude but he's not had a great  season; better than other midfielders admittedly, but thats faint praise.  

[wellsince75]

Losing Campbell is a loss.

I do believe the team expects too much of him.

He's a great tenacious guy to break up play, win the ball for us and give to someone else to build.  In the past he had Turnbull, Gorin, Polworth and others who knew what to to with the ball.   The lack of guile and skill is a real issue for us. 

If his perm replacements is Crawford then yes, we're going to miss him. 

[Kmac]

3 hours ago, Yorkyred said:

I would see Donnelly as a first 11 starter, we’ve missed him this season.

Donnelly has talent, no doubt, but his injury record in recent seasons is awful, I don’t think we can rely on him sadly. 

 

3 hours ago, wellsince75 said:

Personal view is Mugabi isn't an auto start - if he was he'd be playing just now.

Keeper - find a way to retain Kelly - even on loan
RM-LM -   this won't be popular but I'd have liked to give Hastie a run in the team to see what he can offer.  I also thing wing back could suit him. 
Strikers - I reckon Cole will sign - I don't see him getting a bigger club. 

I also don’t believe Mugabi should be an auto start but You can feel free to put in Lamie instead of him. IMO, neither are good enough but there isn’t a chance we’ll go out and sign two centre halves with the quality we actually need. 

 

3 hours ago, Shaka said:

That squad is absolutely terrifying. 6 first team starters needed  PLUS a bench full of players who are championship level at best. Looks like Carson could be done as a frontline number 1 and Donnelly is the only remotely decent player of the other 7. ZERO goalscoring threat from anywhere on the pitch. 

The thing is, I dont see us recruiting 6 first team players! Especially when we are handing out contracts to utter shite like Crawford and playing Lamie every week, plus starting that fucking awful lad from Blackburn ahead of Mugabi, who Im still not sure about but will at least be here next season. 

Unless there is a serious investment in that squad, (and I doubt there will be anything near whats needed) Il put good money on that squad getting us relegated next year

Sadly, I fully agree with you. I’m not fearing relegation yet however the squad as it stands, is at bare bones. If we were left with Kelly, Campbell, Gallagher and Cole, you might be thinking, okay, we’ve got a decent core to build around. The reality is, we have no core squad which can be built upon and that will need to be completely remade over the summer. Even in the Gannon and Barraclough days, we had  few quality bodies In the squad that you knew could drag us through games at our level. Watt aside, we have a terrifyingly shite squad on our hands that would struggle to compete for a championship playoff. 

[GazzyB]

Lamie has shown since Alexander came in that he's actually quite good. No problems whatsoever with him being in the starting XI next year.

 

Some of the doom and gloom stuff above about how we are doomed for relegation and we have a squad of Championship players is just repetitive pish. We've been reading it all season and when it came to it we weren't even really close at all to being relegated.

 

Lighten up a bit.

[underboyleheating]

4 hours ago, Shaka said:

Unless there is a serious investment in that squad, (and I doubt there will be anything near whats needed) Il put good money on that squad getting us relegated next year

As a fan owned club ‘serious investment’ ain’t going to happen. If by investment you mean financial, those days have long gone. We are what we are and survival is our main aim every season. Anything else is a bonus. 

[bobbybingo]

One or two decent players make the difference in most SPL sides. Our terrifyingly bad guys are, in most cases, no worse than you'll find at Aberdeen or Hibs. We need a few new faces in the right positions, not another bus load who will inevitably be of lower quality and take half the season to gel.

Not easy to find the right faces, but if Alexander can, there's no reason why we can't be top 6 and better.

[Welldaft Mk1]

56 minutes ago, GazzyB said:

Lamie has shown since Alexander came in that he's actually quite good. No problems whatsoever with him being in the starting XI next year.

 

Some of the doom and gloom stuff above about how we are doomed for relegation and we have a squad of Championship players is just repetitive pish. We've been reading it all season and when it came to it we weren't even really close at all to being relegated.

 

Lighten up a bit.

This.....Pant wetting before we even see who is leaving and who we sign is a bit sad truth be told. 

Lamie still has the potential to screw up, but since he has played centrally he has been alright. Arguably better than Dec since he came back in the side. I maybe worried if we had Lamie and Mugabi only at CB but if we could unearth another Aldred or Prime Hartley then we should be OK. 

 

[wellsince75]

57 minutes ago, bobbybingo said:

Our terrifyingly bad guys are, in most cases, no worse than you'll find at Aberdeen or Hibs

 

Hibs have a really solid squad.  They had players like Murphy and Cadden missing from their squad yesterday.  I think we're streets behind some of these teams.  

 

[bobbybingo]

17 minutes ago, wellsince75 said:

Hibs have a really solid squad.  They had players like Murphy and Cadden missing from their squad yesterday.  I think we're streets behind some of these teams.  

 

Under Robinson, aye, we were. At times under Alexander, yeah. But I don't agree we're streets behind many teams, and with a bit of improvement we can get much closer. Hands up who thinks Aberdeen are gonnae improve under Glass or Hearts won't buy another load of expensive rubbish? If Alexander's up to the job, we don't need 10 new starters.

[Yorkyred]

1 hour ago, bobbybingo said:

One or two decent players make the difference in most SPL sides. Our terrifyingly bad guys are, in most cases, no worse than you'll find at Aberdeen or Hibs. We need a few new faces in the right positions, not another bus load who will inevitably be of lower quality and take half the season to gel.

Not easy to find the right faces, but if Alexander can, there's no reason why we can't be top 6 and better.

I would agree with that, there is little to be frightened of outside the old firm.

[santheman]

3 hours ago, bobbybingo said:

One or two decent players make the difference in most SPL sides. Our terrifyingly bad guys are, in most cases, no worse than you'll find at Aberdeen or Hibs. We need a few new faces in the right positions, not another bus load who will inevitably be of lower quality and take half the season to gel.

Not easy to find the right faces, but if Alexander can, there's no reason why we can't be top 6 and better.

He's been around the League's down south long enough to know what players might be available and who would be a good fit for us.

I have every confidence he will know who we need but whether the funds are there to secure them is another matter