wellfan

The ref was a total donkey, but he was one of several donkeys on the pitch last night.

Yes, those deficiencies have also been very apparent recently. But our strikers are still a problem as well, right?!

The next three games: Killie away St J away Hearts home We need to take at least 6 points from this run to turn things around before Celtic pump us at the end of the month.

Given the stinking recruitment in the attacking department, with Biereth being the exception, perhaps we need to revisit this thread to take our minds off of the recent performances.

It's a good job we've forgotten how to play football, as that plastic pitch won't allow that anyway.

Much like Saturday, his answer was to throw the stagnant game plan out the window and bring on all the subs when it was too late. It has all the whiffs of panic and it cannot continue like this.

It almost beggars belief that we're so painted into a corner in terms of personnel that this now seems like the least worst option.

Careful now, the hyperbole and language police are about.

Can't we just sign 11 Biereth's, please?

Yep, Craggs hit the nail on the head with that comment. It may also be that Kettlewell doesn't have a good manager instinct either.

I don't disagree, but it really is clutching at straws.

Feed the Bair.

More donkey defending. This team has the look of having zero confidence about them and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Kettlewell needs a miracle now, which won't come because he signed a bunch of shite and sent everyone else out on loan.

He's got until January in my opinion. But then again, would you trust him with cash in the window to sign more potential duds and crocks?!

We do seem to be a bit of a mess at the decision-making level and that's been much discussed on this forum since before Burrows left. This isn't a problem unique to Motherwell. It's pervasive across football now and managers all know that they're one bad run away from a sacking.

That would only work if Kettlewell bothered to put Spencer on the right.

He entered panic mode on Saturday as well, and it worked, but he won't last beyond January if that's all he's got up his sleeves.

Biereth aside, we're so one-dimensional and that makes it easy for teams to suss us out and then rely on us making our routine mistakes to guarantee them a goal or two. Kettlewell is under a lot of pressure now and looks to have nothing up his sleeves now that KVV is gone.

Wilkinson is worse than a man down so far. Wasteful with every ball he recieves and too slow to make any effectice runs. And that was a terrible goal to lose. More leaks than Downing Street.

This move will play right into their victim mentality.

Agreed. Given the personnel available and the desire to play a back 3 with wingbacks, it must be SOD and Spencer in the starting eleven. Both are RWBs, but I imagine Spencer will shine on his natural side, and SOD has shown in the past that he is more than competent at LWB. We all seem to agree that Spencer is wasted on the left, so let's hope that Kettlewell agrees.

If this happens, it'll be clear that Kettlewell has entirely deluded himself with his ‘hanging my hat’ on the Bair project and isn't willing to admit he was wrong. I still can't believe we gave him a 2-year deal.

We're the bookie's favourite, just.

Agreed. With all the general negativity around the majority of the performance, and Biereth (rightly) taking the MOTM for singlehandedly changing the game, we shouldn't forget that young Luca did exactly what was expected of a striker and scored a goal when in the box. He deserves praise and I hope we see more of him coming off the bench as he develops.

I agree with this position, as it's naive to be a one-trick pony in this league. But, I honestly don't see what fine-tuning, major changes, or other players we can rely on that would allow Kettlewell not to have to place all our eggs in the Biereth basket until the January window. Just look at the last five games. The reality is that Biereth has shown us that he is currently our only good attacking option with his goals and assists. Persisting with variations of Shaw, Bair, and Wilkinson will see us concede more than we score. However, maybe Wilkinson will improve by playing alongside Biereth more often?! I hope so. And maybe Obika will come back, not get re-injured, and batter in 10+ goals. He's better than Bair and Shaw. By now, it should be evident to everyone that we are, unfortunately, solely reliant on a fantastic loanee striker staying fit because Kettlewell signed a variation of crocks, duds, and cheap projects instead of spending those combined wages on 1 or 2 actual known quantities. It was a risk that turned out to be a mistake. And I'm sure he knows that now and will be feeling the pressure.