wellfan

https://x.com/motherwellfc/status/1867928780771299731?s=46&t=wehikD-exiutCByWu64YEQ

At least Kettlewell won’t physically be in the dugout today.

He’s a left winger. https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/tawanda-maswanhise/profil/spieler/670987

My only prediction is that we will see the formation and starting eleven tombola drum being rolled out for this one. And with that, I’ve no idea what to expect in terms of result and performance.

1. Koutroumbis, Callachan, Blaney, Davor, Tavares, and Robinson (although now injured so we can’t try to move him on yet). It’s the managers job to wheel and deal both ins and outs when things need to be improved. Not my job. 2. The club has obviously been trying yet often failing to appropriately recruit, which will have resulted in an overspend and bloated squad as the club has had to hurriedly replace the crocks and duds it continues to accumulate. The policy of signing quantity on the cheap and/or projects vs quality in the first instance has proven to be a false economy. 3. Yes, but not because of favouritism or laziness as you put it, but because it’s easier/safer (and stupider) for Kettlewell to extend the likes of Halliday than it is for him to engage his brain and come up with a better system as well as the players required to operate that system. Therefore, I fully expect the likes of Blaney and Halliday and Davor and Robinson etc to be offered new deals when the time comes. Furthermore, perhaps it’s worth considering that our recruitment strategy might just be a bit shit and in need of a new approach. That being the reality would explain a lot of the above.

Before we begin, I’m not fishing, I’m merely trying to understand, other than the obvious points I’m about to make below, what people see in Kettlewell. Other than maintaining our Premiership status, which is the primary goal of his job, I’m intrigued to see if anyone can outline any tangible improvements he’s made to both (a) himself as a manager and (b) the overall team? A couple of obvious points to make to start with would be that his perseverance with Bair led to excellent financial and goal returns, and that he’s not afraid to give youngsters (e.g. Miller & Wilson) a lot of game time. For me, the latter highlights that he’s a decent individual coach, but his in-game management and pre-game decisions indicate to me that’s he’s not a good overall team manager. His decision-making is often baffling and to his and the team’s detriment. It demonstrates a complete inability to learn, be it through stubbornness and/or inexperience and/or plain stupidity. Whilst the former is a positive factor, these are young players that he inherited, and his over reliance on them suggests that he doesn’t trust his own signings and/or is incapable of signing the right type of experienced players to fit whatever his system actually is. There’s a real risk of overloading teenager’s at this level, both physically and mentally, so careful management of them is key. Now that I’ve addressed those obvious points, let’s return to my question above. (a) Improvements to himself as a manager? No. He’s almost two years into the job and continues to make strange decisions, opting to plug square pegs into round holes and often makes panicked wholesale substitutions when it’s too late. He generally struggles to adapt his system when an opposition manager makes in-game changes to counter his tactics. It’s his team now and he’s shown me zero signs of having the ability to develop and improve. It’s the same issues on repeat, and he doesn’t have a Bair to negate his shite this season. We’ll likely have the same Kettlewell next season and the same questions will be asked of him and his decision-making and approach to games. Ad nauseam. (b) Improvements to the overall team? No. We still lurch from crisis to crisis. Failed transfer windows, some predictable injuries, with the odd success, but on the whole poor, leading to more panic buying and a bloated squad. Then repeat. This cycle challenges the limited budget argument excuse and creates a dead weight issue every window. The biggest weakening of the team this season has proven to be his failure to adequately replace Spittal and Bair. His system doesn’t work without those types. A good manager would’ve address these positions as a matter of urgency, but Kettlewell didn’t, and here we are, struggling to score from open play. The big question is: is the team making progress under Kettlewell or are we stagnating? Maintaining the status quo would be fine if it wasn’t so awful to watch and didn’t put us at continual risk of capitulation. Putting the aspiration for regular victories aside, which will never be a weekly occurrence for us, people will begin to take their monies elsewhere if they’re continually gaslit into having to accept awful predictable crap as a substitute for some weekly entertainment and excitement. Kettlewell produces a team which, on the whole, is neither entertaining nor exciting. It’s a team not in transition, but a team that could be relegated very easily should the winds change. In summary, I thought Alexander, for example, was an arrogant twat and was delighted to see him binned, but I never lost interest in following the team. With Kettlewell, however, he’s the first manager in recent memory who’s led me to the position of questioning whether to renew my season ticket and maintain my two WS memberships or not. My view is that we’re merely treading water until he sees to it that the squad and football is reduced on quality year-on-year at the same time as decimating the budget to achieve that, which will lead to an exodus of paying fans. Are we happy with that outlook under Kettlewell? I’m not. It’s crap. Or do others see future prosperity for both Kettlewell and the team? If so, what are you drinking?!

He’s looking for a new contract, so we should be seeing a lot more of the motivated Tony Watt in the coming weeks and months.

When the stars align for Tony, he’s easily one of our best and most important footballers. He brings something to the team that nobody else in our squad can. He drags the team up the park with his wily approach to the game. He brings so much more than the occasional goal. A relatively meek and talentless squad like ours needs a player like Tony to make things happen. I’m glad that he not only got the goal, but that he also got 90 minutes under his belt. He should be the difference for us, again, this season.

We do need to move a lot of the dead weight on to free up space to bring in 2-3 players with some quality. I also think there will be a few unjust and surprising contract extensions gifted as well.

Well done Tony Watt.

It’s looking like Koutroumbis is Callan Elliot mk2. Another pointless signing.

https://x.com/motherwellfc/status/1865392065758035970?s=46&t=wehikD-exiutCByWu64YEQ Blaney for Balmer makes sense, but Tavares at RWB again is square peg in round hole stuff. He’s an out and out winger and the result will likely be Casey being exposed on that side today. An entirely uninspiring and predictable midfield 3 again too.

Which position?

As I said above, it’s ridiculous. In the age of the internet and digital tickets, this policy stands out as exceptionally stupid. Those in charge (including Las) should do better.

I think it is. it seems like you’re dismissing the reality of the current form because it doesn’t fit your narrative. I’ve posted previously that 9 points from 15 would demonstrate that he’s capable of preventing another rot. Again, a strange and presumptuous take designed to push your narrative that folk are just overly critical for the sake of it.

I don’t disagree with your point or suggestion here, but none of it would be required if the host club wasn’t being stupid.

I’m reticent to pin blame on Motherwell here. It’s the responsibility of the host club to administer tickets.

What a strange take. It’s possible to be delighted about making it to Hampden and acknowledge that as an excellent achievement at the same time as being critical of a manager who’s been in charge for almost 2 years now. Regardless of current league position, I don’t think many would disagree that we’re in utter disarray right now and things don’t look too rosey ahead. He has December to sort it out. If he can’t, I think it’s reasonable to suggest he wouldn’t deserve another transfer window.

Tickets are for collection only, there are no digital tickets. There will be no option to purchase a ticket from the SMiSA Stadium on the day of the game. If purchasing online, you must collect your ticket from the Fir Park ticket office before 4pm on Friday. This situation is absolutely ridiculous. What about the fan who decides on Saturday morning, say 7ish hours before kick-off, that they want to go to the game?! Maybe they were too busy during the week to consider the game, like most of us are these days. Crowds may already be dwindling with Well fans pissed off this week and not willing to buy a ticket until the last minute, or people may be penny pinching midweek due to Xmas budgeting pressures, and this moronic and exclusionary policy just makes things worse. The internet is not a new fancy technology. Nor are smart phones and smart tickets. Scottish football is truly its own worst enemy.

I feel for Miller. He’s completely hamstrung by the duds around him and by Kettlewell who has made him move away from his best position. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was on the phone to his agent tonight asking to get a move happening ASAP in January now.

We have 5 more games in December. 9 points from 15 will see him reverse our fortunes, but I just can’t see where the next points are coming from anymore. We’re utter shite.

This capitulation isn’t on Miller. He’s merely captain on paper to increase his stock. The buck stops with the manager.

I hope I’m wrong and that he’s shown the door before any further damage is done, but anyone who survives a horrendous run like he did last year is basically told they’re invincible.

Although we're quite clearly in free fall again, he's not getting sacked. The Club is going to persevere again with this donkey at the helm as we capitulate again and then allow him another transfer window again to repeat the same mistakes again, allowing the cycle to repeat itself again. Rinse and repeat, until we're either relegated or season ticket numbers significantly drop.

Conflating moaning with valid critique is a sign of limited intellect. It is reductive nonsense.