joewarkfanclub

I think they are targetting the Celtic support rather than our fans. They only get 5k tickets and have 60k home fans. Good business for us and they get the game played early in advance of a Champions League week......

Good move for the boy. Hopefully he gets plenty gametime and comes back ready for the first team.

I do agree that our awful record against both of the ugly sisters is in large part down to mentality. However, I dont agree that we showed that mentality last season at Celtic Park when we got a draw, and I dont agree that we saw that mentality on Sunday. These performances, and particularly Sunday were very different, and that has to be down to SK. He clearly sees EVERY game as a chance of 3 points and has the team approach it that way. On Sunday we were just unlucky. If we continue to show the same mentality against the big 2 going forward, our results against them will improve. They will still win more than us as they have bigger budgets which should dictate better players. But our win ratio should improve. Thats why I expect us to play well again on Saturday and not get rolled over. We still may not win, but we will be closer to it than we have been in manys a year.

I think he starts Bair and tries to keep the game tight and play them on the break. If we go behind and need a goal, I'd rather bring Shaw on instead of Bair than the other way around. Of course, he could start Shaw and try and get a goal in front and sub Bair on to see the game out once Shaw is done! 😉

Im gonna be bold and predict we will get something from this game. Heart says 2-1 Motherwell, head says 1-1. Spitz and Slatts to run the show and Ollie Shaw to break his duck and be the hero of the hour! 😆😆😆

I think thats a fair enough position. Add in Biereth who clearly has something about him to come through the Danish set up and be on Arsenals books, maybe we didnt do too badly and generally might be ok when they are all fit? 😉

Given that those 3 were probably our best players at Ibrox and 2 of them have been our best players all season (along with McGinn) I would concur!

Lots of good performances today. Slattery was excellent again, he is like a different player this season now that his troubles appear behind him. Hope we can get him signed on a new contract before the suitors come and take him for nothing. Spencer played very well and honorable mentions to Paton and Lennon Miller. For me MOTM was Mugabi. He won everything in the air and for once his headers all went in the direction of Motherwell players. His decision making and timing in the tackle were also excellent. Great job all round.

Great team performance today. We havent showed the mentality to win at Ibrox for such a long time and it was there for all to see in spades. We defended well as a unit, no cheap individual mistakes and the goal we did lose was a wicked deflection. Midfield passed it around for fun, got in some very good positions and but for a bit of luck or better finishing we would have had a couple of goals. For those having a go at the forward line again, its fair enough to point out the lack of quality up front, but can we not add a little perspective? I thought Bair did well enough again today. Won some headers held it up, laid it off. He never really had any clear cut chances, so not sure what folk are expecting of him. He isnt an out and out striker, but when we play someone else up top with him we tend to lose the control over the midfield we have been exhibiting. Shaw made a difference when he came on and for me he missed the best chance of the game, but Id also cut him some slack as he hasnt played a lot of football and is coming into games cold with very little gametime behind him. Going forward I'd like to see us build that up so he is fit enough to start instead of Theo. Although we havent seen anything to suggest Wilkinson is any good, he has been injured and has yet to settle so we have no idea if he is any good or not. We also have Biereth to come back, so its not all doom and gloom. We just controlled large parts of the game against the 2nd best team in the country on their own patch in a manner most of us have been desperate to see for years. Lets concentrate on the positives and take that into the Celtic game next week. This team isnt far away from where we want it to be.

UEFA are kinda powerless in the whole thing. If they dont do what the big clubs want, they will just threaten a breakaway league again, which is what got us to where we are. Unfortunately, UEFA have also realised the share of the TV revenue they can hoover up by going along for the ride is also quite lucrative for them as an organisation and individuals.

No, your not alone. Canny beat big games under the lights when it is actually dark by kick off time! Unfortunately, those that remember those days are now getting long in the tooth and the current status is just now the norm for our younger fans. Everything is skewed in favour of the bigger clubs to the extent that most wee clubs dont even have that "punchers chance" that used to exist in knock out foorball. The likes of Rangers and Celtic, despite there massive budgets compared to us are now diddy clubs when it comes to European football......

Yeh there is. Against my better judgement and in absence of something better to do on Sunday, Ive weakened and bought one. Really hope we dont get pumped now!

I dont think Stephen O'Donnell has been anywhere near as poor as you say this season. Playing wingback certainly suits him way better than how he has been asked to play for us in the past and as a result his performances this season have been much improved. Unfortunately for him he has become a bit of a target when things go wrong and the goal on Saturday was not down to him. Blaney and Casey got their positioning totally wrong as both of them were marking no one causing O'Donnell (and Mugabi) to have to come in tight on the men in front of goal, as they presented the biggest risk of scoring. Unfortunately the cross to the back post is inch perfect and Tansers finish is sublime. But its no wonder SODs was going tonto at that point as he knew he had been hung out to dry. On your general point however, I agree. Spencer is very right footed and would be far more effective on the right and Gent would appear to be the one who is likely to come in on the left when he is up to speed. I think that will give us a more balanced look in the wingback areas and provide the dynamism that makes our system more effective (as per last season). I would guess at some point over the next few weeks something will happen to allow SK to make this change naturally rather than just throw SOD on the scrapheap again (remember he is our player and the other 2 are loanees). Thats just good man management. Personally, I would have taken the chance to do it on Saturday with McGinn suspended and push SOD in one and leave Mugabi and Casey where they were. But McGinn will be available again for Ibrox and has been great this season so be interesting to see how SK approaches it. I fancy he will stick with SODs experience to begin with and change it up later in the game to make sure everyone gets time on the pitch. The good thing is you can see the future progression of the team aligning. Once it comes to fruition and we get Wilkinson and Biereth back fit it could be quite exciting times.

I was half considering going to the game as the run has to end sometime and it would be magnificent to be there when it does. Then I saw they are charging £32 and I swiftly changed my mind! Just have to try catch a dodgy stream and ignore the Rangers TV commentary!

Ive no idea why, but I feel as if we will get something out of the next 2 games. Dont know if it will be this week or the following week, but I dont think our total for the next two games will be zero. Would love it to be this week and to break our league hoodoo in the Temple of Doom. Hopefully a disappointing result in midweek will heap the pressure on Beale and we can use that to our advantage.

Nothing wrong with anything youve said there. Its just the emphasis thats wrong. Shaw isnt up to speed and all our other strikers are still injured. If SK is still picking Bair in 6 weeks time then I will support your critique. Until then, lets just accept the boy is currently the best we have and get behind him. If he scores the winner at Ibrox next week off his shin, Im sure we will all celbrate like madmen.

Are we just ignoring Biereth? Hardly SK's fault he is unavailable to us. His replacement Shaw is not long in the door and has had a couple of cameos from the bench. Bit early to be writing him off. Signing Obika is up for criticism based purely on his injury record and there hasnt been much from Wilkinson to give encouragement. But based on his previous career / stats, he wasnt disimilar to KVV. Bair is the one that everyone was thinking WTF, but honestly, he has been way better than I thought he was going to be. Nothing startling but a big honest laddie that will run about and try to create space for others to fill. Todays result isnt really a surprise given our injury woes and McGinns suspension. The fact that we were able to still put in a decent performance and just couldnt take our chances is what is frustrating. I think once everyone is back fit we will be in a strong position. Just need to try and grind out a few results until then. The next two weeks will be tough assignments.

Any streams?

He had been here 3 weeks and it was his first start. I would have stuck with Miller, so that decision was on SK not Davor. If we dont throw him in now in the middle of an injury crisis, when do we? Bair has also shown he copes better up top on his own than he does when he has a playing partner. He just needs to worry about his own game then. I certainly wouldnt argue with playing Shaw up top on his own, but dont think Bair has done too much wrong to be dropped.

Assuming everyone injured remains so, and McGinn is suspended, I would go....... Oxborough Spencer SOD Bevis Casey Gent Davor Slattery Miller Paton Bair Not the worst looking team and with more dynamism feom the fullback areas we should give St Mirren a different problem to solve than last time out. Our big issue is off the bench there wont be much left to change it up other than Shaw for Bair or a midfielder. Hopefully Spittal will make it as he is our most important player so far this season.

The cost of VAR might be worth it if it resulted in better refereeing decisions. The fact that it is demonstrably not makes it feel like more money pissed up against the wall......

Surprised to hear that Efford was a "top earner" at the club given that he was essentially still injured when he signed his extension. I had thought it was another case of the club looking after a player until he was fit again. Given some of nuanced chat from some posters, it feels like there have be some strange decisions taken within the club over the last 12 - 18 months.......

Was it any different when Walter was at The Rangers?

Only if your not a Scotland fan! 😉

I fancy us for this one. No team talk required. We are in good form, at home and with a score to settle. 3-1 Motherwell.