MOTHERWELL FC: MORE OF THE SAME PLEASE, MR MCCALL
Six weeks in to the season, 7 games played, 1 defeat, 2nd in the league, 8 goals in the last 2 games, 5 clean sheets and 0 players lost from the squad that has started so well. Some pretty good looking numbers there. Add to that the 2 major additions to the team in Law and Higdon (as well as Clancy and Daley), and you could say that we are the strongest that we have been since the beginning of the McGhee era.
McGhee’s team may have boasted the talents of McCormack, Porter, Hughes, Clarkson, O’Donnell et al, which on paper is definitely a more attractive team than the current crop, but by jove these lads are giving it their all. Being at the summit means that everyone comes after you, and while in the past, players would have shirked at this, McCall’s group seem to be using it as motivation, to prove they deserve to be there.
In the SPL, we all know that playing pretty isn’t the be all and end all, and certainly against St Mirren and to an extent Hearts, we just shaded the wins. Having missed both these games, I can only go on what I’ve been told by others. In the 5 games I’ve witnessed, barring the Kilmarnock game, I’d say the brand of pass and move football the team are playing is perhaps the best in the league.
Despite going down 3-0 to Rangers, they posed threat through the speed at which they broke up field after sustaining pressure. For the majority of that game, Law, Lasley, Jennings, Hammell and the rest sprayed some neat passes about and made some good running, albeit with no end product. The Inverness, Clyde and Dunfermline games did have the deserved ending and the scuddings those teams have taken off the back of that, are why The Well are where they are.
With no one away on International duty, the squad has some time to relax and be injury free come the visit to Parkhead next weekend. The majority of their squad will be called up for their respective countries, which may give way to fatigue and frustration on their part. Having not been to Parkhead in over a decade, I am looking forward to this visit with a certain degree of optimism.
Results against Celtic have been easier to come by than against Rangers, even when the blue half”of Glasgow have had “poor” squads when facing us. St Johnstone’s win over the Sellic shows that they can be beat, even by a team that has no goal scorers in it. The unpredictability of the SPL may just throw up another shock. A shock at least for non Motherwell fans.
Everyone who has watched The Well this season knows what this group of players are capable of. Consistency is the key. Perhaps the players have given that extra bit of effort to show themselves off in the transfer window, but they need to maintain this standard of football now that we are half way through the first cycle of games.
The backing that the fans have given so far this season has been awesome as well and is a driving force for the boys on the pitch. Confidence in themselves and one another is one thing, but knowing they have the belief of the fans, manifest in shouts, cheers and ridiculous songs to the theme tunes of Sunday night soaps, can only inspire them when they are on the park. A glance at the Tweets of our social networking squad show that they really are reacting to the chants and the drum and the banners on display at this season’s games.
The difference it made to Chris Humphrey against Dunfermline last weekend is proof that getting behind the players makes a difference. Having tried and tried and tried in the first half to cut inside and get a shot away, his head could have dropped and he could have faded out the game as he has done in the past. Instead, at the start of the second half, with the wind of the travelling support behind him, he tornadoed through their defence before firing in off the post.
It’s a goal that he has pretty much tried to score in every game he’s played in Claret and Amber and it finally paid off. Hopefully, like with Higdon, this will herald a potency to his game this season, that he has lacked in the last 2.
If we can keep everyone fit, and keep them playing with the passion and commitment they have so far, then this could be a season to savour. Traditionally we struggle in the winter months, but if we rack up enough wins before the darkness hits, we should be ok. It would be ridiculous to suggest that we will be in Champions League contention come March, when the SPL will probably resume it’s usual shape, but going on what has gone before so far, I’d say a top 4 finish isn’t too much of a stretch.
Having lost no one in this window, prolonged success may see us diminish in January. Murphy and Randolph will, I imagine, be the 2 hot picks from our squad, both of whom would be pretty darn hard to replace, unless we get good money for them. We can but hope that the prodigal McFadden will be fit enough to consider a six month deal to get his career back on track after injury, if we lose our big players.
But, for now, we have a cracking set of players, who have set a fairly high bar in the first 7 games. The next few games after Celtic all give us home advantage over St Johnstone and Aberdeen in the league, and Hibs in the League Cup. I wager the Hibs game to be the trickiest, as their luck needs to turn at some point…but I think we’ll still send them crashing out, maybe take penalties though.
With the Scotland games up this week, I wish Levein’s men all the best. At this moment in time, as patriotic as I am, I am club over country, but despite not really being a fan of Levein, I want 2 wins from 2. The Czech game will be a tough test, but hopefully , hopefully, they can bring Scottish Football out of it’s current funk.
Up The Well! (and the Tartan Army!)
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