joewarkfanclub

Defence and Ox were all generally very good. Thought Halliday put in a shift as did Watt, albeit Tony didnt have his best game on the ball. Tawanda is MOTM by a distance though. When he is on that form he can be unplayable. His take down and finish for the goal is probably just as good as the Rangers one.

Another derby for me. Would be lovely to get 3 points and try and gain ground on Aberdeen and United. But not losing and stopping Killie from making any inroads into the gap between us would be an acceptable return. Not sure any of the injured players will be risked on the plastic, so could be a few selection issues again.

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.

Just seen its the Premier Sports game today. Not sure why our games ko needed to be moved 30 minutes and the Glasgow Derby went ahead at 3pm, but hey-ho!

Thanks for pointing this out! I had totally missed that and had planned for 3pm!

Much as I want the game to be on tomorrow, that might not be the worst result for us as a club. Gives a few more days recuperation going into the Killie game and then the Cup. Possibility of getting Stama and Seddon fit would ease the pressure a little bit. Especially if we could re-arrange the bounce game for those others that need minutes due to coming back from injury. Of course, none of the international breaks helped us in that regard so maybe just wishful thinking.

To be fair, you have been consistent in your disapproval! 😉 Some of your criticism is absolutely justified and the hyperbole can be quite entertaining!

From Scott Burns as well, so reputable source. No idea what the boy is like, but if he has the quality of Kaleta or Vale, then age shouldnt really be an issue. The English academies are full of players who might not make it down there but would light up the SPL......

Or an average Scottish Premiership level manager who makes his fair share of mistakes, has signed some diddies, but has also signed some decent players and somehow has us sitting top 6 despite one of the worst injury crises I have seen in my lifetime. The football is shite to watch and he has deserved criticism at various points, but a donkey of the highest calibre would have us bottom of the league surely?

I didnt see any touch by a Motherwell player in real time. I couldnt believe SOD had tried to play the ball when he could have just let it go out, so I guess he felt it had come off someone. But it was such a rotten touch it was unbelievable as he wasnt under any pressure to play it. Thought he had a poor game yesterday, but unsurprising as he hasnt played a lot of football recently.

Thought Casey did ok and I do love his mazeys out out defence, but went for Ewen Wilson who stuck to his task, got up the line when he could and had a few decent blocks and interceptions.

If SK is to be believed in his interviews, and I accept that could be up for debate, I dont think hoofball is the tactics. He seemed genuinely frustrated tonight that we couldnt manage one incisive forward pass until the 81st minute. That would suggest that the team just arent implementing the gameplan and are resorting to hoofball because they are under pressure. Regardless of that, he is the one charged with control of team selection and tactics, so its still on him to find something that works. He was dealt another body blow today with Miller and Stama being unavailable, but if Kaleta was in any way fit, he should have started the game instead of SOD as thats an unforced change that wasnt required after a decent performance in the last game. Its things like that, that limit my sympathy for him in respect of the injuries he has had to deal with this season. Just do the simple straight forward thing and dont overthink things. 1. Who do we have fit and available. 2. Whats the best formation to get all of those players playing to their maximum potential. 3. Go with that. Aberdeen are very much rocking up under pressure but so were Hibs and to an extent Hearts today. It very much depends on what cersion of Motherwell turns up that will decide this game, as neither Hibs not Hearts had to be very good to beat us.

That was absolutely awful today. Right up there with the Hibs game for absolute lack of any quality on the ball. Not sure if Kaleta was 100% fit or not, but SOD is coming back from injury as well and had a terrible game. His decision to play the ball which led to the corner for their goal is really poor and of course it was exacerbated by another blunder from Ox. Absolutely nothing wrong with the goal. On this occasion VAR gets it right and the referee corrects his original mistake. No doubt, we needed subs made at half time, but yet again the subs SK chose to make were wrong imho and did not improve things one iota. Dont want to lurch into another kneejerk reaction after another single defeat, but its the same mistakes all the time and its so predictable. I get that theres illness in the squad and I get that we have a lot of players in varying degrees of fitness, but I refuse to believe there wasnt a better way to set the team up today. Just telling the wing backs to push further up the park to support the midfield and stop them being overun would have been a start. Otherwise whats the point of playing 3 at the back? Really bad day at the office again and the pack have started to gather behind us again. We really need a win against Aberdeen or Kilmarnock to give us a boost going into the next run of games!

Frail said he was going to play in a bounce game to get him minutes as he has been out for so long. I presume if he comes thru that unscathed he will get some minutes from the bench.

I like Casey. He has a lot of attributes. But he IS prone to concentration lapses and that HAS cost us goals in the past. I thought he was doing much better at the start of the season in the LCB position alongside Gordon and McGinn and it would be good to see how he gets on back there when McGinn is fit. I also dont mind Blaney. He is probably better with the ball at his feet, but again concentration is his problem. He often loses his man and has cost us goals. Probably why the narrative of Blaney and Casey not playing together has arisen from as they are both prone to these mistakes so going a full game without either of them making one is statistically unlikely. For me, any assessment on whether we keep a player or move them on should be based on whether there is a better player available. Moving on Bevis and Butcher last season for Gordon and Balmer was probably the right decision. Similar discussions will be had again this season.

Really interesting piece. Just goes to show how difficult it is to make it in senior football. Clearly our best youth team in many years and although a few got into our first team and are still playing at a decent level, only 3 would really be considered as having been really successful. A handy reference to have when we are having debates about pathways to the first team and whether managers are supportive of young players or not.

It is. But Id be holding him to a higher standard than myself, given I had lost my shit at several points during the game. Given the calls that have been given against us in recent weeks that are so obviously wrong, I find it difficult to be critical of him in that regard. But yes, I was mostly being supportive of him calling out the officials in the media.

This is the image VAR used to decide the offside. They have clearly drawn the red line on Casey's elbow. He cant be offside with that as you cant score with your elbow. The blue line, which goes through his shoulder is in line with the defenders foot and is the onside line. Ive no idea whether Casey was or was not offside. It was very close. But he cant be offside on the basis of the still they have used. Yet more evidence of absolute incompetence and why VAR should be binned. (I know it wont be).

Sorry, but Im with David on this one. Much rather have a manager that sticks up for our club in the media, regardless of how much it infuriates officials. We arent getting fair treatment anyway, so he might as well highlight it. Its not going to stop if he stays quiet. The more you highlight it, the more visible it becomes and the harder it becomes to ignore. At the very least we develop a seige mentality that gets us over the line in tough situations. PS I think we will take something from this game. At least a draw.

Harry Paton was the best player on the pitch first half. Was surprised when he was subbed off. Despite just coming back from injury he still looked ro have running left in him. Unlike TJ who was done after 69 minutes.

Id rather get beat 3-0 having a go as 3-0 just waiting for the inevitible. Of course there is a halfway house where if we get our defensive set up right and play on the break we can hurt them. But that requires Maswanhise and Kaleta both to play and be seviced appropriately. They are the only 2 in the team with the genuine pace to hurt Rangers. Get them into good areas with Stama in the middle and we can nick a goal or two.

I think we need to know the Well Society's proposals for getting their hands on the winning ticket! Surely they have one?

Re the alleged defensive midfielder. I saw someone over on P&B mention Jordan McGhee at Dundee. He isnt someone Ive paid particular attention to, but I spoke to a Dundee supporting mate who said he is one they would be hoping to extend as he can play a number of positions. Sounds like the kind of utility player that SK likes. Apparently he is from East Kilbride, so maybe looking to move closer to home?

Did I ever say how much I was in favour of external investment? Happy to support your nomination as Chairman! 😉😉😉

Phil O'Donnell Sunday 🧡❤️🧡