joewarkfanclub

McInnes did a real job on us today in the first half (not for the first time) and there wasnt a single part of the team performing effectively as a result. Killie were well deserving of the lead at HT and it left me questioning where we were really heading this season. Credit to SK. It was a bold move to change things at HT and tear up his gameplan, but it worked a treat and Harry Paton had his best game in a Motherwell shirt. We bossed the second half and thoroughly deserved to win the game, despite missing the penalty. The squad is threadbare at the moment due to injuries, and I think we beed a couple more in before the window closes, but SK and this team keep answering the questions placed in front of them Long may it continue!

Rumours are that Fletcher has signed and we are looking at Ollie Shaw. Id guess that means Efford will be away? Getting hooked at half time today doesnt bode well. Spencer had a good second half today, but he looks more naturally right footed. Wonder if we are in the market for a natural LWB or if we are just patching up until Soare is fit again? Given our injury woes, we have made a good start to the season. But it will be interesting to see what other business we can get over the line before the weekend.......

Lamie off to Dundee on a seasons loan. Given that it has pretty much been one out, one in, hopefully that means our mystery striker can be announced now!

Agree with this. For all our media input is visually eye catching at times, I would just like to see highlights. Just 5/6 minutes of the goals and main talking points. I dont always catch Sportscene and with the League Cup games being on Viaplay theres been no access to even that. I would have thought there is scope to provide both.

The best thing about Alan Campbell is his attitude. He may not feature much for Luton this season if the manager prefers other players. But he wont let it get him down. He will focus on the next challenge and take it from there. I liken him very much to John McGinn. I remember one match at Easter Road wee Al had him in his pocket. McGinn was always a good player, but I never thought for a minute he would captain a Premiership club and be Scotlands most important player. Not saying wee Al can reach that level, but there are parallels there and it wont be for the lack of trying.

Just in the diddy cup. Nothing to worry about. Our injury list on the other hand......

Welcome back! 😉 Edit: Ok, it wasnt for long, but the real David is still in there!

It was a horrendous tackle. Its a red card in my book. That wasnt my point.

No. I just quoted my own post instead if editing it......

Deleted.

Oh, I agree, 2 wrongs dont make a right. Im only pointing out that the majority of our fans didnt see it as a wrong when we were doing it. We lapped it up and praised it. FWIW, O dont think Dunne is a bad guy. He runs grannies for their messages FFS! But he did make a very bad decision and the weather did the rest. As a result we are denied a player who looked like he could be very important to our cause for the next 3 months.

And didnt we love it when Rodgers et al were giving us it tight? We even spawned a term for it "Thunderdome". It wasnt pretty, and it pushed the boundaries, but it made us competitive, and we lapped ut up. Now Im not saying Im happy with Dunnes challenge. Its a very poor one indeed and the conditions played their part. I dont doubt he has been told to slow Biereth down a bit, but Im pretty sure he wont be happy that he has put a fellow pro out for 3 months given the injuries he has had.....

After Saturday the team selection will be interesting. I wouldnt be going with Wilkinson & Bair up front, but theres a fair chance SK probably will. Given McGinley is out in the cold and Obika an Biereth injured it could be Kelly SOD McGinn Bevis Casey Wilson Miller Slattery Spittal Wilkinson Efford There is always the option of putting Blaney out left, but I would have thought SK would have done that on Saturday if he though he was capable. Personally, I would also Move Casey in one and play Blaney instead of Bevis, but again, that doesnt look like a preferred option.

We werent that bothered when Bowman was putting himself about at Hampden. It was a bad challenge, and its going to have a huge impact on us. But lets not be hypocrites......

Biereth being out for 3 months is a huge blow. He looked the real deal with the pace,power and finishing that we had been missing and would have complimented perfectly the other forwards we have at the club, taking away the unreasonable expectation being placed on their shoulders. We now have a problem, and its one that will require to be addressed as we cant go the next 3 months limping by waiting on Biereth to be fit again. Fletcher is an interesting one. I really like him as a player. He is a clever footballer who links the play well and brings others into play. Problem is he has never been a prolific goalscorer and doesnt have any pace, so Im not sure he would be the answer to our problems. Like others have said. We maybe considered him or even approached him, but the finances didnt allow us to follow it through. Thats why we have ended up with Obika, Bair and Wilkinson who, for me, are all there to fill the 2nd support striker role. I think we probably need to see if there is another loanee out there similar to Mika, with pace and power. Otherwise we wont be able to stretch teams by going in behind. Re McGinley, I think he should have played on Saturday and left the rest of the defence alone given it had been fine in the previous games. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but we made too many changes due to one player being unavailable. That says to me McGinley will be on his way as soon as there is a club that will have him. Big problem is it only leaves us with Ewan Wilson fit. We will either need to get someone in there or just play the boy. He might need to sink or swim. That doesnt seem fair to him, but we would at least find out if he is good enough.

Nope. Not interested in the ugly sisters and Im at most Scotland games so no need.

Like most games in our league, this one is hard to predict. Killie will be on a high having despatched both Rangers and Celtic already, but I would expect a reaction from our players after yesterday and as others have said, Killies record away from home is not as good. I think a lot will depend on who we have fit and available. But I would expect SK to try and get back to basics with team selection. I expect hard fought close encounter with us winning by the odd goal.

I am 54 years old. In the first 22 years of my life we had appeared in exactly zero cup finals. In the last 32 years we have been to 5 and won 1. Of the 4 we lost, we played Celtic or Rangers in every one. We are one of a select number of clubs who have won all of the major trophies available to Scottish top flight clubs and have a rich history in taking the beautiful game around the globe. You can also add in numerous top six finishes and European appearances to that list. This belief that there is somehow something wrong with our club because we lost a very tight cup tie by the odd goal away from home against a similar sized club who are in good form is just ludicrous. Yes Kettlewell got the team wrong yesterday and thats on him. Whilst he may not say it, he will know that, and it will hurt him. However, his record is still excellent and the squad he is building is still well short of where he (and we) would like it to be. Can we just for once, wait until October or November before we decide he is shite, his players are shite, he will be gone by xmas?

Maybe he has laid some ghosts to rest? Been a tough 18 months for the boy. I think we all forget how young he still is at times. Great to see him back firing on all cylinders. He really seems to be enjoying his football this season.

No failures this week. Back 3 all solid with Mugabi outstanding. Slattery had a good claim for MOTM but when you get an assist and a goal on your debut, its hard to argue with the impact Biereth made from the bench.

Thought it was a poor first half today with both teams cancelling each other out. Defensively I thought we were pretty solid and we had the only real chance of the half with Big Casey unlucky to see his header come off the woodwork. Second half I though we were much better. With Slattery and Spittal orchestrating things. Big Wilkinson was much more involved after a pretty anonymous first half and probably just about deserved to stay on instead of Bair who put himself about without really being productive. The game undoubtedly swung in our favour with the introduction of Biereth. As debuts go, it was pretty impressive. Pace, power, touch and he can finish. Cant wait to see what he can do when fully fit! The penalty is unlucky. Not much Casey can do about it, but it has to be given. Thankfully it only spoiled Liam Kellys night. Thoroughly deserved 3 points and you feel there is so much more to come from this team, once everyone is fit and get to know one another properly. I think its safe to say SK might just know what he is doing.......

Cant argue with any of that tbf. And I will give you Theo Bair. Even I was looking at a that one and thinking "2 year deal?" He may end up still being shite over the longer term, but his performance last week was enough to remind me that I should just wait until Ive seen the player myself before I think I know better than the manager. He clearly thinks he see's something in the guy and on the evidence of last week, he might not be wrong.

Theres a difference between speculating and deciding its all doom and gloom. You used to he one of the more balanced posters on here but this season, for some reason, you have decided that Kettlewell has signed sub standard players and we look to be in trouble. Thats fine and its your perogative. I just find it strange as you are normally the one telling everyone to cool their jets and give the manager time. You could well be right in respect of this seasons signings, and I will put my hands up as being the happiest of clappers, but forgive me if I wait until September to decide if Bair, Wilkinson, Souare et al are any good or not. More than happy to offer opinion and debate their progress though, just so we have something to talk about. 😉

SOD is definitely a good guy. Really want him to kick on this season and show why he was considered Scotland class.......

Mebbes aye. Mebbes naw. Mebbes we should wait and see?