joewarkfanclub

Spittal is one of our best and most productive players. He didnt have his best game yesterday, but his work rate and attitude were still first class. Even when things are not coming off for him his head doesnt go down and he is always available for a pass and tries to make things happen.

Thought the back 3 were all generally solid with McGinn being the pick of the 3. But for me, MOTM was Slattery. Always looking for the ball, always looking for the forward pass, and generally at the heart of anything good we did today.

Felt it was a comfortable peformance today albeit a little underwelming. There were periods of the game where we controlled the pace of the game and dictated the play, but we werent able to maintain it for any period of time. Queens Park knocked the ball about nicely, but we contained them pretty well for the most part and limited them to very few chances. The last period of the game would have be a bit more comfortable if we had got the 2nd goal, but we didnt and invited a bit of unecessary pressure on ourselves as a result. Re the squad. I think the back 3 looked more assured today but agree re the wing backs. Soare looks short of fitness and SOD continues to look awkward at times. His first touch is generally excellent and he does some very good things, but continually spoils the good play by doing something stupid. Midfield is a work in progress. Miller was decent enough first half but faded badly in the 2nd. Slattery had a decent game today and Spittal showed plenty of energy but was far less effective than usual. Up front Obika has to be a starter at the moment. Not seeing anything from big Wilkinson as yet to suggest there is a player in there, but its early days. My preference next week would be to see Ferrie alongside Obika, unless of course we have someone else waiting in the wings. Overall 6/10 today.

I think whats most encouraging at the moment, is that there appears to be a plan and structure about the way we are going about our business, which sets it apart from the splatterdash signings under previous managers.

Alexander wasnt that great....... Boom! Grizzly is missing all these open goals....

This is likely to be the toughest game of the section. Thankfully we are at home and on a good surface. Hopefully we can get Casey and Blaney on the park and shore up the defence a bit. Looking forward to seeing Soare in the flesh to see what quality he has. I would imagine it will be Obika and Wilkinson up top again and the midfield picks itself. I will go 2-0 Motherwell.

Some decent highlights there. Obika looks like he was really unlucky not to score at least 1 goal. Hitting the woodwork twice and a good save from their keeper. He should do better with the one in the second half, but he is getting in good positions. Lovely lay off for Slatterys goal.

Tonight was always going to be a tough fixture. Away from home on a plastic pitch only 3 days after our first competitive match of the season. Its no surprise that SK rotated the team (and defence in particular) as he has to protect certain players from an injury that could ruin theirs and our season. We are already without Butcher for a good few months. We cant afford to lose Blaney or Casey at this point, so Mugabi and Lamie had to play. I would doubt very much that we will see them again as a partnership unless its as a last resort. Sounds like we created more than enough chances to have won the game (18 with 12 on target) and SK has questioned the award of the penalty. QoS had 5 attempts at goal and scored 3. General play doesnt seem to be an issue, but being better in both boxes is a must. Overall, disappointing not to win the game but we did get the bonus point so its not a disaster. Be interested to hear from anyone at the game how Miller and Oxborough played, as well as the new boy Soare?

At least this is a debate I can engage with. Your probably right. It seems Im in the minority on here and thats fair enough, but its what I felt when I saw the strip. Being brought up in the West of Scotland certainly influences the way you think about certain things and undoubtedly makes you more sensitive to things that other people wouldnt give 2 seconds thought to. Suffice to say, I wont be buying this particular shirt. We move on.

Lennon Miller for me. Very solid performance and good goal to cap it.

This is just absolute bullshit.

I absolutely agree that we should wear what we wish. My objection to this kit has nothing to day with Rangers or Celtic. My objection is based on its association with an organisation that discirminates against a large section of our society.

You dont like a Motherwell kit without a claret band. So I think Im allowed to object to one with an amber sash if I feel like it.

Not sure what definition of bigotry you are using, but happy to be enlightened....

Really enjoyed that today. Cant beat an away day at a ground you havent been to before. Its part of what I like about this League Cup format, especially now they have done away with the regionalisation. Cracking wee oldskool ground. As for the game, very competent performance and we strolled it without really hitting the heights. The youngsters all aquitted themselves well. Wilson and Ross both looked steady enough and composed on the ball. Lennon Miller looks the real deal and took his goal really well. Young Ferrie looked sharp when he came on as well. It may well have been lower league opposition, but they all looked streets ahead of the youngsters in the Elgin team. Was interesting to see SOD start on the right of the back 3 and I didnt think he looked out of place at all. Blaney looks assured on the ball and even big Bevis had a decent game, albeit he was never really put under any pressure. I really like big Obika. I know he isnt very good in the air for a man his height, but he is a very tidy footballer with the ball at his feet and once he and Wilkinson get to know each other, I think there could be a partnership there. Glad he got his goal 2nd half to make up for the one he missed in the first. Wilkinson had a pretty quiet game, but there will be plenty more to come from him. Overall, a very good day at the office. Lots of room for improvement, but job done. Same again on Tuesday please.

If you cant see the difference between that and the new kit, then there is no explaining it. We live in the West of Scotland. I dont care about upsetting Celtic fans, but I dont want to be associated with an orange sash......

http://historicalkits.co.uk/Scottish_Football_League/Motherwell/images/change-kits/motherwell-1973-1975-change.gif

Your link doesnt work....

The big problem with your argument is that none of the above was the players fault. They were victims of circumstance. As such they didnt take any action that was fellonious. Therefore they didnt steal anything.

Not a fan of this kit at all. Im not against a sash on our kit in general, I like South American styling, the same way I have loved the Italian styling of recent kits, but this one just hits all the wrong marks.

I think Danzakis situation was a little different in that he didnt speak the language, it was a different culture, he got injured and ended up so far out of the picture that its easy to see why he would be demoralised. Add in a change of manager who wants to play a style you dont fit in to, then that has to be tough for any player. Good to see that SK isnt shirking tough decisions though. You dont want to see anyone thrown under the bus, but by the same token we cant afford to be a charity either. Glad a compromise has been reached that allows both parties to move on.

There is the other side of the coin to consider as well. Some of our fans have lost their heads over giving extended contracts to some of our youth players who didnt progress as we would have liked. Maguire is the most obvious example. There have been others. Given Max had only played a couple of first team games before he went to Cove, it could still have been considered a bit of a risk to offer him extended terms good enough to get him to sign. Take Hastie as an example. Went out to Alloa, had a good loan, came back, had a purple patch, left for a development fee and has done nothing since.

Looking forward to this one. Making the journey up mostly because its another League ground to tick off the list, but also the brother in law stays up there so free digs! No excuses here. Our squad may still be threadbare and it is early season, but we still have more resources than them and they havent played any competitive games either. Just win.

Again subtle messaging from SK. He never said we tried to sign him. Im paraphrasing, but he said, "he is the kind of character I love to have in our dressing room, but we werent able to make an offer to Mikel that would encourage him to stay." You can take them to mean the same thing, or you could also interpret it to say, " we only had enough money to sign 1 big guy to lead the line and hold the ball up so we signed Obika".

I think its all just subtle messaging. Some clubs /agents will think we have money to spend off the back of KVV and Max moving on, not to mention the wages we got off the books. We need to try and make it clear why thats not the case so they dont think they can wring more cash out of us for the players we are interested in. Its also not rocket science that if we are signing players we need to move on those surplus to requirement in order to keep our finances on an even keel and get the biggest bang for our buck. So whilst we dont have a lot of money to throw around. Its safe to say there will be players coming in and more going out.....