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Whilst I get the need to slow things down, I understand the shouts about Ox not releasing the ball early. On a couple of occasions when 10 man Aberdeen were fully committed to attack, we outnumbered them 2 to 1 on the halfway line and quick punt up the park to the likes of the expectant Maswhanise or Vale or indeed almost anywhere would have caused all sorts of problems for them. That's why some fans became animated.

Here Here....absolutely baffles me our support think we could get a better manager for the peanuts we pay. It's been evident in Kettlewell's time with us that he gets it wrong from time to time but always has 100% backing from the players which can't be said for his predecessors. When/if he loses the dressing room that'll be the time for change but for now we have to stick by him.

Over the piece, we deserved our win. When the teams took the field, it became clear that we needed to keep the ball on the ground. Each team that visits us seems to be bigger than the last and Aberdeen had 3 lads 6-3 or over. Our line up seemed a bit weird but was no doubt influenced by injury and I suspect illness. We began slowly but after 1 or 2 scares, gradually carved out chances for ourselves and it was a great to see Ewan Wilson score his first goal with a rocket finish. Rubezic rightly saw red. He butted the annoying Watt and probably made contact. If that wasn't enough he feigned to butt him again and then shoved him to the ground. If that isn't a red I don't know what is. MOTM Manwhanise then scored a well taken second. He was a thorn in the Dons' flesh until he was retired. Unbeknown to most of us, Peter Leven and Richard Foster had a slight disagreement in the tunnell at half time and were red carded for their sins. Somewhat predictably, the second half was an anti climax as we sought to see out our lead. At the time I thought it was overly negative but in hindsight, SK likely had an eye on next week's game and told his charges to go easy until full time. Still it was disappointing to see a 10 man team create several chances for themselves, find space around our box and smack the woodwork. Aberdeen look to be a decent side albeit they can handle themselves physically and won't be bullied by anyone. It was encouraging to see the likes of Nicholson, Slattery, Vale and McGinn, but not Koutroumbis, get some game time. Tony Watt worked hard, made a goal but not much came off for him. The gamble of playing with only midfielders worked up to a point. It was ok when we were in possession but not when we were out of it. Halliday had a decent game doing some unglamorous work, but I thought Davor looked a like a wee boy lost. That said he was on a hiding to nothing. He picked up an early yellow card (?) and faced much bigger and heavier opponents. All in all a good result with some good football in short spells, but a few weaknesses as well. I've watched worse games at Fir Park and those who couldn't make it or chose not to, lost out unfortunately.

My take exactly. There were several worse tackles that went unpunished. I was shocked when a VAR review was announced.

Wasnt his worst game, he does cover a lot of ground and closes off space well. But he isnt the strongest in the tackle and his passing is always a hit or a miss. Thought the yellowcard he got was a bit harsh given Halliday had just got clattered by the guy Davor tried to tackle. Walsh ignored that and was very quick with the yellow. Couldnt believe they were actually considering a red!

Remember also that a Manager's job is on the line and a run of wrong decisions by officials could have far more consequences than costing us points or upsetting fans. No wonder Managers lose their cool regularly. Some, like McInnes, get away with it. Others do not. I was encouraged when Collum appeared keen to improve standards and be more open to addressing issues. That optimism has now gone. First half on Sunday Walsh was clearly out to make his point and Kettlewell was a cert for a card. Collum seems to think that apology after apology is sufficient. And nothing is going to change.

See this is the thing. I sit within earshot of him and Kettlewell has always been VERY vocal on the sidelines and imo he's not any more vocal now than he was last season. Is it just a coincidence that he's had these cards since he came out and openly criticised the Refs and VAR decisions? Don't get me wrong, he should learn to control himself on the touchline and not give the Refs the opportunity to flash the cards in the first place but I think he's become a bit of a target for them.

Give it a rest. You’re the one with more interest in what I’ve got to say on here than what I have in Kettlewell.

The buck stops with the manager. It’s a team, not individuals. If he has to shout like mad at them during the game, then he’s not preparing them adequately or selecting them appropriately. But, yes, young players can be forgiven in this context, but they’re not all under 18 and/or inexperienced.

https://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/2025/01/06/st-johnstone-cup-tickets-now-on-sale/ Main stand it looks like

That stat is based on this season alone, and as always stats can be made to look like anything you want. Dig a bit deeper and over the last 3 seasons, since they were promoted, they have picked up 82 points at home and 38 away (68.33%). The first year up it was 32 at home and 8 away, (80%), and that doesn't take into account any points picked up at Livingstone or Accies in those seasons. For comparison, we have picked up 63 points at home and 60 away during the same period (51.22%). Their pitch most definitely gives them an advantage, in my opinion. And yes, I am sitting at home bored, which is why I bothered working it out.

No Kettlewell out shouts this morning then?

Not sure you can put lack of game intelligence down to SK? Players either have it or they dont. I thought Halliday was the only one yesterday that looked like he was trying to manage the game out. Probably not surprising as he is one of our most experienced players. SK also mentioned in his post match remarks that he was frustrated we didnt manage the second half better, so I dont think the players were doing it under instruction. We do have a fairly young squad, so hopefully they will learn and improve. The return of the likes of SOD, McGinn, Nicholson and Slattery should also help.

Not got a lot of confidence in us getting a result here, kind of agree with those saying the surface favours Killie although I’m sure we will have been training on astro more lately due to the weather so players might be less affected by it. My main thought is that similar to the last game at FP, McInnes will set them up defensively and we will just lump long high ball’s at them as our passing is poor to say the least. Also I’d like to see our distribution being quicker, in a forward direction and for players to look to the left rather than constantly turning to the right hand side all the time. The amount of times Wilson was standing in acres of space yesterday only to be constantly ignored was ridiculous.

I wonder what stand we'll be allocated at McDiarmid Park for the cup game on the 18th? Hopefully the North Stand. Tickets are meant to go on sale today and I used the link on the official site but this only directed me to the league game scheduled for the 25th, despite being labelled otherwise. Hopefully this is fixed this morning.

This decade in the League it's 4 wins, 4 draws and 4 losses between Motherwell and Kilmarnock. Only once has a team scored more than twice (Kilmarnock put 4 past us in March 21) and there has only been 5 goals in the last 3 matches. Everything points to this being as tight as you can get. These matches usually go to the home team though. We've not won at Rugby Park since 2021 though where our record is 1-1-3, while at Fir Park we have a decent record of 3-3-1

We have an OK record at Killie and Livi but that doesn't mean the games won't make your eyes bleed. It's not about excuses, it's about the astro making games unwatchable even when you win. I'd struggle to think of 3 great games I have ever seen on plastic.

Thought we were honking for the first 25 minutes with the usual shitfest hoofball missing out the midfield. Albeit the application and effort were much better than Tynecastle. Aberdeen played the better football in that period without really hurting us. The Casey chance seemed to be a turning point for us and really should have been converted. Thought both our goals were very good finishes and the red card deserved. Watt does Rubezic up like a kipper and he falls for it. He can have no complaints. Second half I thought we failed to control the game and made much harder work of it than we should. We still played some decent football on the break and probably should have got the third goal to finish them off. Overall a good 3 points. Not the perfect performance but under the circumstances more than acceptable, particularly with the league tightening up behind us yet again.

Took a while to get going but we were pretty good first half. Should have scored a couple before we did. Casey i think missed a sitter of a header & someone took the ball out of hallidays feet before he was about to smash it from 8 yards. 2 great finishes & fat tony did what he does by niggling & goading that red card. Superb stuff. The rest of the first half we passed it about in complete control. Fuck knows what happened 2nd half. The ball was a hot potato that our guys just panicked anytime they touched it. We really missed Miller not being able to take the sting out it & play a few passes. Aberdeen looked the team with 11 men. Three points, clean sheet, great stuff but by god we made hard work of that 2nd half

Glad someone else appreciates the unglamorous stuff that Halliday does. He got us out of a few situations today with his positional sense. Like you I thought we looked pretty comfortable in central defence although I still don't think we defend particularly well in our wide areas. I also have the feeling that the refs now have a bit of an agenda against Ketts although admittedly he doesnt help himself at times. Walsh today had a little smirk to himself when he dished out the yellow card.

Makes a nice change having stupid ref/VAR decisions going our way. Kettlewell might actually have an enjoyable afternoon

Not a single shot on or off target 🙄