joewarkfanclub

Im as frustrated as anyone with some of SKs initial team selections, some of his tactics and certainly last season, his in game management and substitutions. He isnt the perfect manager and he does a lot of stuff I dont agree with. But you have to look at it in the round and apply some balance and logic to any criticism offered. Saying our attacking play was poor for most of last season when we finished 3rd top scorers in the league just dilutes any credibility to what might be a decent argument if more balance was applied. Yes there may have been points last season when our attacking play was poor. But it evidently wasnt for most of it. How about giving some credit to the manager for tightening up a defence that was as leaky as a seive last season and look forward to the potential of our attacking play improving when all our midfielders and forwards are available for selection again (albeit thats likely to be nearer xmas).

Im not sure thats right. I watched that interview. Im sure he said he was learning a slightly different role than he was used to. Happy to be corrected though.

We were the 3rd top scorers in the league last season after Celtic and Rangers........ 🙄🙄🙄

Why is Davor missing? I agree that Halliday has been much better the last few weeks, but it was a low bar and him and Davor in there together just arent physical or mobile enough. No issues if its Halliday and Miller or Davor and Miller. I agree that we shouldnt persevere with Robinson as a loan striker. Either give him some support thru the middle or play him wider in a 3 (or not at all, although that would be harsh given how isolated he has been on his own).

Id forgotten about Tavares. I need to get myself a squad list so I dont forget everyone we have signed! Of course SK will stick with Robinson thru the middle and doesnt seem minded to drop any of his "leadership group" which I presume is why Halliday keeps getting picked. So it will probably be same again with some minor tweaks up top.

Friday night is our biggest game of the season so far. A big game at home under the lights with a chance to get to a cup semi final at Hampden and the additional revenue that comes with that. We cant afford to be messing about. Our best 11 in their best positions from the off. Lets get at United, put them under pressure and play on the front foot. We are a much better team when we do that. Assuming Watt cant play, Id go with the following....... Ox McGinn Gordon Casey SOD Wilson Miller Davor Vale Moses Robinson Id keep Maswanhise as an impact player from the bench. He has been more effective from there later in games than he has been from the start.

Did Ryan Jack go to Turkey? 🤔

Certainly no idea about Koutroumbis. But based on his highlights reel and his 45 mins against Rangers Stama looks to have something about him. Different debate though.

PS The referee turned out to be the whistle/card happy pain in the arse predicted pre match.

Not too many stand outs this week. Some very average performances from most. The subs all improved us and mostly did well. Went for Ewen Wilson. Thought he stuck to his task today, despite being targetted by Aberdeen today. Put in some great last ditch challenges and tried to pass out from the back where he could. The young man is growing in stature.

Ok. Maybe not then! 😍😍😍

Thought it was a poor first half today. Our defence looked shakey from the off without coughing up too many chances. Just couldnt keep hold of the ball at all and as such offered nothing going forward. Our problem is definitely in midfield. Halliday and Davor together are just too slow against better sides. We cant continue to play Miller out of position when we have multiple options up top to allow him to play where he is most effective. We looked much better second half especially when Watt & Tavares came on. I thought we might have sneaked a point at the end, Moses has a great chance and Mitov makes 2 very good saves. We may have deserved it on chances created but probably not on balance of play. SK has some big decisions to make on Friday night. He needs to be bold and show he has the bottle to make them.

Its on Aberdeen TV apparently.....

I presume only outside the UK.

It depends what you mean by due diligence. I presume you mean his acknowledgement that Aussie teams have much longer pre seasons because they play a lot less games and have more time off? Obviously, Im no Sports Scientist, but it would never have occurred to me that our pre season training would increase the risk of injury to someone from a different league. I presume it would have been put to our sports scientists / fitness coaches and they havent flagged it up, so Im not sure its something that can be pegged on Kettlewell by himself. As for comparisons with Danzaki, didnt he turn out to be just not very good at football?

Thanks for providing some balance. I didnt think the first line was defeatist. I didnt say that I think we will lose. There are other posters who will do that. I go into every game thinking we can win it. But 50 years of following Motherwell tempers that a little. Aberdeen have started well. They seem to have found the right manager at last and have a squad of players that on paper should be better than ours. But we all know that football isnt played on paper, so there is always the chance of an upset. Despite our horrendous injury list, SK has managed to once again generate a real camaraderie in the dressing room. That together with the sprinkling of talent we have in the team could take us a long way. Im just not gonna get upset if we dont win today. As long as we play well and meet our "non negotiables" 😉

Not a fan of 3rd kits but that is a topper! Just a shame about the sponsor. They really should provide an option of purchasing it without. Even if it costs more......

Is it? Is it aye? Amazing how you can reduce 2 paragraphs to one sentence and pretend it supports your agenda. If we play brilliant tomorrow and lose 5-4 will you be calling for the managers head? Edit: shoulda checked my original post. It was actually 5 paragraphs.

I dont think the actual result matters too much for us on Saturday. Obviously any kind of result and the additional points that goes with that would be welcome. However, Im more interested in the performance and the development of the team this week. Aberdeen have 100% record so far, so losing to them on their own patch wouldnt be that much of a surprise or any kind of disgrace. But if we can be competitive with them, create chances against them and look like we are continuing in the manner in which we have started the season, I will be pretty happy. We really need to improve our home form this season as thats where most of our fans see us play and where any "feelgood factor" comes from. Away wins and points are welcome. But home points need to be our bread and butter. It takes so much more pressure off the manager and players.

Loved "Young George" in both his spells at Fir Park. Had a touch of class about him. One of the better full backs Ive seen play for us.

Mixed feelings about Clarke. I think he has done generally very well getting us to 2 finals, but there ARE serious question marks over his decision making in the summer. Persisting with a back 5 v Hungary after Tierney was injured and given Ralstons limitations at LWB was borderline criminal, and not spinning the wheel earlier in the second half when we needed to win was inexplicable. That said, I didnt see any point sacking him at that point when the only obvious alternative was David Moyes (same mindset, same players). I dont really care about his press conferences this week. I just want to see evidence on the pitch that he has looked openly at things and come to some positive conclusions. If he gets the team right tomorrow night and he wins the game, then he will have bought himself some time with this footsoldier.......

Great news. Well deserved. Anyone know why the boys call him Dougie?

I concur! 🧡❤️🧡

A rolling contract makes sense. Means no one can come poach SK or Frail without paying us a fee, and if we need to get rid, its never more than 12 months to pay up. Gives us stability and is a good message to send out to this squad, who all clearly buy into what SK is preaching. I also read that its something Brian Caldwell has done at previous clubs, so maybe just the CEO taking care of business......

I didnt think we were "brilliant" today, but we were solid enough and stood up to some fairly roughouse tactics as is usual from a Levein team. We were the better team for the most part and thoroughly deserved to win the game. The manner we did it was very pleasing. Of course we have loads of room for improvement. But given the number of injuries we have and the turnover of the squad, its hard to imagine we wont improve markedly as the season progresses. Plenty of reasons to be optimistic.