ECL Sligo Rovers v Motherwell 28/7/22

[Onthefringes]

6 hours ago, joewarkfanclub said:

This is how we should be lining up on Thursday....

Kelly

McGinn Sol Lamie Carroll

Maguire Slattery

Spittal Tierney Morris

KVV  Shileds

Ditch the 4-3-3 and get after them.

A starting 12 line up? Liking it already

[Benson]

20 hours ago, SteelmaninOZ said:

Aye they were great times on that bus! 

Especially when u got pettigrew in the sweep

[joewarkfanclub]

8 hours ago, pretzel said:

I don't think Sligo will be happy with us fielding 12 men though.

I know what you mean though, i quite like the 4231 formation and feel it would suit us better. Maguire and Morris had a few pops at goal the other night and the ricochet left us light in midfield. As we all know however Alexander won't be deviating from his preferred formation.

Lol! I confused myself debating whether 4-2-3-1 or 3-5-2 was preferable. Its an age thing! They will be taking the controls to the telly off me soon!

[Welldaft Mk1]

23 hours ago, Kmcalpin said:

The reality is that he has no credit in the bank with the fans after last season, rightly or wrongly. He did achieve a fair bit but thats now history and the team is now his and his alone.  If we lose next week he won't get sacked but he will be under great pressure from the support. If we start the season badly, or even with mediocrity, and by that I mean late September, after a relatively easy start to the season, then the support will force the Board's hand, if that is indeed required.

He angered a lot of fans on Thursday for a number of reasons: poor preparation; underestimating Sligo; failure to change much from last season; and his post match comments.

I agree he won't get sacked on the back of next week's result but it will result in ramped up fan unrest and could herald the beginning of the end for him.

By all accounts he may have been gone at the end of last season if things had worked out differently. The Board are fully aware of the fans discontent and the quality of performances. It won’t take much for them to act if we get knocked out by Sligo and lose any number of winnable league games and league cup ties. 

I feel as do most of us that we should have been better prepared for last Thursday. The match fitness was always going to be in Sligo favour but to have only two bounce games / friendlies is criminal. I heard other teams pulled out but one wonders if we were playing say Sparta Prague in this round we would have made sure we were in better shape. So yes probably an element of underestimating Sligo. 

I am heading over next week and I hope to see some changes in the line up. Would like Tierney to start and Mugabi benched as they will rightly target him from the off. My concern is that as we have seen all too often we will change very little and hope for a different result.  I hate comments like the game does not need to be won in the 1st 10-15 minutes. No it does not. But we should at least try to win the game or turn it around from the off. If we start pedestrian then it is hard to change up a gear. 

Alexander has delivered top 6 by skin of the teeth. Delivered Europe by some good luck (Ross C penalty) and Hearts team that little to play for. He and the players do deserve some credit.

I just get a feeling his luck will run out next week. Hope I am wrong of course. The pressure and expectation is now on Sligo at home. Let’s see how they cope. In 2014 they were 3-1 up on aggregate v Rosenborg after 18 minutes (Won 2-1 in Norway) and went on to lose 4-3 at home. That match still haunts the Sligo fans. Let’s hope it is another repeat and same outcome. 

[joewarkfanclub]

2 hours ago, Onthefringes said:

A starting 12 line up? Liking it already

I think its worth a shot.

They may not notice! 

[joewarkfanclub]

10 hours ago, joewarkfanclub said:

This is how we should be lining up on Thursday....

Kelly

McGinn Sol Lamie Carroll

Maguire Slattery

Spittal Tierney Morris

KVV  Shileds

Ditch the 4-3-3 and get after them.

Ok, so counting is obviously not my strong suit!

If KVV is 100%  fit he plays. Watching him on Thursday he is such a selfish player Im not sure he benefits from having a partner anyway.

If henis anything less than 100% Id play Shields.

[Great Balls of Shire]

9 hours ago, pretzel said:

I don't think Sligo will be happy with us fielding 12 men though.

I know what you mean though, i quite like the 4231 formation and feel it would suit us better. Maguire and Morris had a few pops at goal the other night and the ricochet left us light in midfield. As we all know however Alexander won't be deviating from his preferred formation.

Maguire really needs to add to his game, e.g a good shot or runs from deep into box , he reminds me of Carswell , just average, the efforts on goal the other night were amateurish

[wellsince75]

completely agree about ditching the 4-3-3 as as simply we don't have 2 wingers. 

I'd accept KVV up front without either Shields or Efford as long as we had Tierney playing in the hole between Midfield/Attack.

Unconvinced that Morris/Maguire/Spittal should stroll straight into the Midfield.   Cornealius added a lot of value to our midfield and I'd play him ahead of most we have.  I'd also have a place for S'OD - appreciate he splits the fans but he has much needed experience and very decent going forward. 

[Great Balls of Shire]

2 minutes ago, wellsince75 said:

completely agree about ditching the 4-3-3 as as simply we don't have 2 wingers. 

I'd accept KVV up front without either Shields or Efford as long as we had Tierney playing in the hole between Midfield/Attack.

Unconvinced that Morris/Maguire/Spittal should stroll straight into the Midfield.   Cornealius added a lot of value to our midfield and I'd play him ahead of most we have.  I'd also have a place for S'OD - appreciate he splits the fans but he has much needed experience and very decent going forward. 

right back isnt the issue now, if he could do a job at left back, maybe

[wellsince75]

4 minutes ago, Great Balls of Shire said:

Maguire really needs to add to his game, e.g a good shot or runs from deep into box , he reminds me of Carswell , just average, the efforts on goal the other night were amateurish

At 24 I don't believe he has it in him to develop beyond what he is.  Appreciate this won't be popular but I don't think he's good enough for the 1st team. A strong, hardworking midfielder who can stop teams playing, that's about it.   Had he come up from Englands D2 rather than through our youth system I don't think he'd be anywhere close to being as popular as he is. 

[Great Balls of Shire]

On 7/23/2022 at 11:26 AM, David said:

No, I'm not saying the fans should be happy about the standard of football last season, but I don't think we have anything to complain about in the main. 

It might just be me, but I don't actually pay money to come to Fir Park and be entertained by the style of football. I come to Fir Park to see us win. How we do that matters not a jot to me. Entertainment is a bonus. If I want entertainment I'll watch the English Premiership on telly. I'm certainly not expecting to get entertainment from the level of football we see in Scotland. 

I watch Motherwell because I have an emotional investment in the club and the outcomes of the matches. If I was just looking for entertainment I'd spend my money elsewhere. 

agree to a point , it is blind loyalty with most of us, but there isnt a player who gets u out your seat. Its all right being pragmatic and if we are winning , just about tolerable but just a bit of flair. Tierney could be the one but is he strong enough?

[Great Balls of Shire]

4 minutes ago, wellsince75 said:

At 24 I don't believe he has it in him to develop beyond what he is.  Appreciate this won't be popular but I don't think he's good enough for the 1st team. A strong, hardworking midfielder who can stop teams playing, that's about it.   Had he come up from Englands D2 rather than through our youth system I don't think he'd be anywhere close to being as popular as he is. 

i agree, if he was playing with Airdrie , would bigger teams like us be interested in him? I hope he makes me eat my words on Thursday and slams in a couple of 20 yarders

[Kmcalpin]

7 minutes ago, wellsince75 said:

Unconvinced that Morris/Maguire/Spittal should stroll straight into the Midfield.   Cornealius added a lot of value to our midfield and I'd play him ahead of most we have. 

Different kinds of players in there, but I agree about Maguire. Like you I'd have Dean Cornelius in but my only concern is how much pre season game time has he had?

[mfc]

4 minutes ago, Kmcalpin said:

Different kinds of players in there, but I agree about Maguire. Like you I'd have Dean Cornelius in but my only concern is how much pre season game time has he had?

Not many of our players would get pass marks last season from January onwards but cornelius did enough to retain in his place in the team and certainly not at the expense of maguire or spittal.i would have him in my team,he gives us a bit of energy in there and atleast he makes forward runs,even though it's clear the manager has no interest in any of our midfield getting forward.thursday is huge for us and like you my concern would be his fitness as he's already 90 minutes behind the players that played the other night and some of them looked out on there feet after 30 minutes.

[Coatsy]

1 hour ago, wellsince75 said:

At 24 I don't believe he has it in him to develop beyond what he is.  Appreciate this won't be popular but I don't think he's good enough for the 1st team. A strong, hardworking midfielder who can stop teams playing, that's about it.   Had he come up from Englands D2 rather than through our youth system I don't think he'd be anywhere close to being as popular as he is. 

One on the reasons we fell away so badly last season could have been him getting injured at Hearts

[GazzyB]

Kelly

 

McGinn

Lamie

Sondre

Carroll

 

Cornelius

Slattery

Spittal (glad to see he has replaced Woolery for the “I need to Google if it is one or two L’s every time I post his name”)

 

Efford

KVV

Morris

 

 

[FirParkCornerExile]

4 hours ago, Great Balls of Shire said:

Maguire really needs to add to his game, e.g a good shot or runs from deep into box , he reminds me of Carswell , just average, the efforts on goal the other night were amateurish

Completely agree , McGuire is almost identical to Stuart Carswell always promising in the fans mind but never actually cut it.

[Kmcalpin]

2 hours ago, GazzyB said:

Kelly

 

McGinn

Lamie

Sondre

Carroll

 

Cornelius

Slattery

Spittal (glad to see he has replaced Woolery for the “I need to Google if it is one or two L’s every time I post his name”)

 

Efford

KVV

Morris

Is Morris a striker?

[Yodo]

4 minutes ago, Kmcalpin said:

Is Morris a striker?

Is Slattery a player 

[stv]

1 hour ago, Yodo said:

Is Slattery a player 

Is Armstrong a manager?

[Spiderpig]

1 minute ago, stv said:

Is Armstrong a manager?

Alexander is, who is Armstrong 

[fizoxy]

Don't see bevis getting dropped, and don't think Sol is much better either. Also don't see us getting much of an opportunity to get in behind, so we may need a bit of invention, which I think is more likely from the attacking mids than from the likes of Shields and Efford.

Kelly

Mcginn Bevis Lamie Carroll

Slattery Maguire

Morris Tierney Spittal

KVV

In reality, it's going to be the same XI.

[GazzyB]

1 hour ago, Kmcalpin said:

Is Morris a striker?

He played on the left side of attack vs Sligo and had a very creative first half, got in behind twice, once putting it on a plate for Shields. He will do just fine there this season. 

[wellsince75]

1 hour ago, Yodo said:

Is Slattery a player 

Suspect he's our best midfielder.   He took a lot of slack on Thursday night but it's questionable who actually remained in midfield in the second half. 

Morris, Spittal were both dead on their feet and Maguire dropped almost into a centre half portion. 

That said Slattery also died on his arse, just shows that none of the team were ready for 90 mins.

Additionally none of them suit the 3 man midfield.  I'd happily see a 4-5-1 next week. 

[Kat]

16 minutes ago, wellsince75 said:

That said Slattery also died on his arse, just shows that none of the team were ready for 90 mins.

Speaking of Slattery, it looked like he pulled up in the last few minutes of the game. So hopefully that wasn't too serious, he was directing players to not play it to him which they ended up doing.