joewarkfanclub

Great news. Is that all our saleable assets tied up? Be nice to get Miller on an extra year extension. But that will fepend very much on the goodwill of the player and his family.

Bad news for McGinn. He was having a pretty good season. Its amazing though how many times things happen when SK has a big decision to make. Of course he could opt to tuck SOD in one and play Kaleta at RWB, but I think Balmer, Gordon, Casey looks a formidable back line. Our set piece threat is becoming ridiculous!

Loved his interview after the game. "Its every boys dream to play for their country. And I lived my dream tonight" Class! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Aaron Chapman? 😆😆😆

There is no doubt at the moment that Ox appears to be an upgrade on Kelly. Taking pressure off the defence by coming for cross balls is a huge benefit. His shot stopping has been pretty decent as well. But one of the things that seems to go unoticed or at least not mentioned is his distribution. I dont recall him kicking the ball out of the park once this season.

That stat doesnt by itself make him the worst keeper in the league. I accept it doesnt make good reading and Im not sad he has moved on. But you have to also look at the defence each keeper played behind. Our overall defensive record last year was honking. Yes, Kelly had a part to play in that, but it wasnt all him.

Not sure it was a dig. But its hard for it to not sound that way when you just talk openly about the changes and the difference thats been made. I thought he handled it as diplomatically as he could. No personal references to anyone not have accepted the invitation etc.

You might have been away bud. It was extensively trailed. They are both now on 1 year rolling contracts. Consensus was that was good for the club as we never get into a position again where we are having to pay 3 managers at the same time.

More evidence that Fir Park is a good place to come if you want to play for your country! Long may it continue!

I certainly prefer going into it off a run of wins than defeats! 😆😆😆 That and its another 2 weeks closer to players returning to fitness and getting the likes of Watt up to speed! I think we are in a good place.

The big difference this season is we arent shipping loads of goals. The only times we have lost more than 1 goal in a game were against Rangers and Aberdeen and those were the 2 games we have lost. Even then we were unlucky not to equalise late in both of those. If you only need to score once in a game to get some sort of positive result, you give yourself a much better chance of doing so. If you are having to score 2 or 3 it makes it much more difficult. Still be nice to get some midfielders back though and add a bit more creativity for our forward players to feed off!

Best not to piss Celtic off right now as well. We can do that in the final! 😉

I would also like to point out that no one seems to be having a go at McGinn after yesterday. Whilst I thought he had a good game generally and some of his passing was really incisive, he coughed the ball up to Hibs numerous times and certainly way more than SOD did. He was very fortunate that none of his mistakes cost us a goal. Yet SOD seems to be the punchbag yet again. Why is that?

Not arguing whether we would be a better team with Kaleta in instead of SOD. There is enough evidence to suggest thats possible. Im just saying SK isnt dropping his Vice Captain unless he absolutely has to.

I agree that no one should be untouchable. Having competition for your place is what drives standards and keeps a squad honest. Johnston was our player though and we had a vested interest in developing him. Its not quite the same with Kaleta, albeit I think his quality is plain to see. FWIW, I think SOD has been very good this season. He looks fitter, quicker and his overall game has improved as a result. So I dont agree with you that he offers nothing in attack. He did make a monumental howler yesterday though, so its a fair enough debate to be having. I just think you are going to be disappointed if you think SK will drop him for that when we won the game.

There is no way SK is dropping SOD if he is fit. You just need to listen to how he speaks about him to know he is a trusted lieutenant on the pitch. I do like Kaleta though. He is a seriously good prospect. Unfortunately he isnt our player, so I think his game time will remain limited. Whether thats the best thing for the team or not is another matter.

I dont necessarily disagree with that. Gordon is probably as big a part of our assuredness at the back this season as the Ox. He, Casey and now Balmer have looked really solid and allowed McGinn to just go and do what McGinn does. However, I would say Ox does seem to bring a calmness to the back line. Theres no more screaming, shouting and hissy fits. His distribution is demonstrably better (Ive yet to see him kick it straight out the park for a throw) and just coming to catch easy cross balls takes so much pressure off the defence. I think we just held onto Kelly a season too long. I think if a club had come in for him last close season and he had moved on with our good wishes, the view of his tenure would have been a lot different.

No contest today. The Ox. Commanded his area, made skme great saves and came for cross balls the likes I havent seen since the big dutch pornstar strutted his stuff down Fir Park Way!

Thought we were poor in possession first half. Robinson was totally anonymous. I get that he and Stama were isolated but at least Stama was holding the ball up and trying to bring others into play. Robinson seems to take so long to get the ball under control and out of his feet that any chance that comes his way is gone. Id like to have some patience with him, but its difficult when other players come on and instantly offer more. Out of possession I thought we looked pretty solid. On the few occasikns Hibs did open is up Big Ox was immense. He seems to be growing in confidence and totally bossed his area. Quite refreshing! Second half was much better. I really like Sparrow. He gives us much more drive and athleticism in midfield. I feel like he has earned his chance to start as he offers something differen to Halliday and Davor. One of them has to go. The biggest difference though was when Watt and Ebiye came on. They offered more in their first 5 mins than Robinson did all game and for me both of them and Stama have to now be ahead of Robinson. Watt in particular is starting to look a lot fitter. Hopefully the staff will work him hard during the break and get him ready to start. Pleased for Stama to get his goal. He played well and deserved it. Wise of SK to take him off though and protect him when he is just back from injury. We dont want to risk him breaking down again. Overall, a great 3 points. Not sure we totally deserved it, but we took our chances and our keeper and defence did the rest. As always, there was plenty to pick holes in if you choose. McGinn and SODs both gave the ball away needlessly at times. SOD paid the penalty for his mistake. But they both otherwise had decent games. Particularly McGinn whose passing was incisive in the second half at least. Much for SK to mull over during the break. Not too many opportunities to tweak things prior to the semi final. He needs to get team selection right for that as its now looking like an eminently winnable game.

Until we change what we do in midfield our performances will continue to look like this. Solid at the back, stuffy, but not enough composure or control of the ball to get a grip of the midfield and create chances. Thankfully we havent conceded yet and have options off the bench. We will need to use them if we want to score a goal.

Good to see Balmer and Stama both start. Strong looking bench. Hopefully we can stay solid and stay in the game long enough to use it!

Brian Caldwell certainly indicated that there are no plans in the pipeline at present. But we cant ignore the situation in the POD forever......

I certainly wouldnt be in favour of that. I think the fact that the WS are going to have much more input in the decision making of club going forward, should mean we will be thinking outside the box a lot more. The younger generation have a much different outlook on what is possible and higher expectations. Of course if the finances just dont stack up then Im more than happy to remain at a redeveloped Fir Park.

And you are perfectly entitled to that opinion. Others may look at the information available and disagree.

I didnt say I was for or against. I just pointed out that there was a decent document showing the pros and cons of both sides. I found it quite interesting.