wellfan

Utterly appalling performance and quite incredible that we came away from the game with a point and a clean sheet.

No. 30% possession is classic Kettlewell away from home.

Sticking with the two-man midfield is beyond a joke after seeing what played out in the first half.

Bring on Andrews for one of the back five and go 4-3-3.

Watkins knew exactly what he was doing to Gordon there. Dangerous prick.

Whatever our shape is when we’re off the ball, it isn’t working. It’s making Killie seem like they’ve got 14 players on the park. We’re a complete mess right now. They’re dancing through us.

Killie proving to be far more of an attacking threat than us tonight so far.

If you can tolerate Si Ferry, who is a total roaster, the first 40-45 mins of this are worth listening to. It’s basically Watt and Halliday discussing Motherwell, with a good few laughs and insights.

Another young lad with a lot to prove as he gets more senior minutes, so we should hopefully benefit nicely from this loan deal. And he should hopefully fill the void left by Miller.

You can compare what you want. My point was that it’s not really fair to suggest that Valakari was a bullet dodged when you consider their lengths of tenure in this league and managerial background. Some further context would be that Valakari took over a team about halfway through the first half of the season in October, and Kettlewell took over a team halfway through the season in February following a transfer window where the squad was notably strengthened. It’s true that Kettlewell’s start was better than Valakari’s in this league, but they inherited different squads, and let’s not forget that Kettlewell presided over a lengthy winless run, which was much worse than Valakari’s current record in this league. In summary, and as I said above, it’s not really possible or fair to directly compare them at this stage or say one was a bullet dodged. That’s all whataboutery.

With the likes of Vale and Nicholson back, there really is no point in recalling a player like Stuparevic. As others note, the priority should be moving him on and replacing him with a big target man to allow the hoofball tactic to be deployed when required.

The context is that Valakari has had zero transfer windows at St Johnstone and Kettlewell has had three at Motherwell, so I’m not sure how you can compare them in this league at this stage and say that the former is a bullet dodged. Some research would show you that Valakari has a managerial career stat of 1.76 points per match, whereas Kettlewell has 1.39. Yes, Valakari may be doing crap in his first few months in this league, but it’s not a fair comparison to be made. Whataboutery.

‘Kai Andrews will head to Motherwell on loan until the end of the season.‘ https://x.com/transferscot/status/1876364212764840275?s=46&t=wehikD-exiutCByWu64YEQ

Davor was rendered useless once booked as he was unable to make another tackle to try to break up play. A bit unfortunate for him in that regard.

Perhaps the wit is lost on you or perhaps you’ve also proven my point. Take your pick.

I’m not flattering myself, you’re doing that for me with your habit of continually engaging with my critique of Kettlewell and posting directly to/about me.

It’s always amusing to see adults reduce themselves to the usual childish behaviour in their quests to belittle those critical of Kettlewell.

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.

Everyone and their dug has some sort of virus at the moment, which I imagine includes football players. Your point on the lack of game intelligence epitomises the Kettlewell approach at times. It’s so infuriating.

Killie were due to replace their plastic shite with grass for the 2025/26 season, but that’s been delayed until the 2026/27 season, meaning another 18 months of shite at Rugby Park.

Special mention to Halliday who did well today.

Another 3-4-3 (in attack) and 5-4-1 (in defence) masterclass - or whatever it was today - where we have 30-40% possession and win again and keep another clean sheet? Probably not. McInness is much more streetwise than Thelin. He’ll have Killie better prepared to counter our tactics and press. That said, it’ll be interesting to see if Kettlewell reverts to type or not for this match.

Ox was decent today, making at least one goal-stopping save. His distribution and urgency were, however, honking.

A thoroughly deserved and much-needed home win today, with a lot to be pleased and pissed off about in equal measure.