joewarkfanclub

Great 3 points which takes the pressure off a bit. But a real mixed bag of a performance both from the players and tactically from the manager. Initially, I wondered what the hell he was up to with the team selection, but heard him pre match say he was forced into it thru illness and injury, so got to cut him a bit of slack there. Thought the performance for the first 30 mins was not too bad. We looked the better team and ones most likely to score, but our defence still looks like it can conceed at any time, so it was no surprise when they did. I actually didnt see too much wrong with their first goal that was disallowed. Maybe Sportscene will clear that up! We did well to get to half time without conceding further. 2nd half I felt was a bit more even, so it was ironic that we scored twice in that period before withdrawing into our shell to defend our lead for the last 15 mins. GA will undoubtedly feel vindicated in his substitutions as we picked up the 3 points, but it is absolutely brutal to watch and we dont look any more solid with 6 defenders on the park as we do with 3 or 4. Much to work on. Hopefully a couple more faces in, some of the ill and injured back, and maybe start trying to find a more settled team selection. A step forward. But only a little one.

Pretty easy this week. Liam Grimshaw. Solid all round performance. Great finish for the winner! Great block to save us at the end, and a trade mark lung busting run to split the Livvy defence and pass to Woolery who should have scored. Tony Watt the only other serious contender for a consistemt performance over 90 mins.

If we havent won a game by the end if the first round of fixtures AND there is still no sign of a structure and patterns if play to give us any hope that our prospects will change, then I think it would be fair enough to start asking serious questions. However, this is a new group of players. We need to see the rebuild complete and give players a chance to get to know each other and the league before we start getting itchy trigger fingers. There are a lot of question marks at the moment without doubt. But the manager and the players deserve at least a chance to try and answer them. Expect a shitfest today, although the rain will help the surface. Wont be paying £20 to watch it. But might have to use an alternative streaming source and watch through my fingers.....

Not the games Ive been to. We never seem to match them in the physical contest. They always seem to bully us. Especially from set pieces, but then I guess everybody does that to us so not sure what point Im trying to make!

Id agree with that. No point trying to play football on that park. Match them up, get stuck right intae them and try and "Out-Livvy" Livvy.....

That would be my recollection. Even in the Championship chasing seasons of the early / mid 90s I dont recall us breaking the 10k barrier and they were really good teams to watch. So I cant see how we can have dropped over 50% of our crowd in that time. Happy to be proved wrong though as my memory isnt the greatest any more!

Hope he is able to transfer the positivity from this interview onto the pitch! We could be doing with a win on the board soon!

Sorry, but from the way you have worded your post, it just appears as if you are just reading what you want from the article so you can have a go at the club, or maybe Alan Burrows in particular The article says "Motherwell cannot promise to challenge for trophies every season...." but it doesnt say we wont try. Like other contributors have already posted, its perfectly possible to try and be the best club we can be in every department. The problem we have right now is that it feels like we are still struggling to get things right on the field of play, whilst at the same time doing very noteworthy things off it. I quite liked the article. Never at any point did I read "Alan Burrows doesnt care about winning trophies or football matches".

Really? Id be surprised if thats true. We have had around 4500 season tickets on average for the last few years. I dont ever remember us getting crowds regularly in excess of 9000 apart from games against the ugly sisters.....

Personally, Ive never bought into the importance of an on field captain. I think the captains role should primarily be as a conduit between the players and the manager/club and whoever has the trust/respect of both the manager and the players is best suited to the role. On the field I want to see leadership all over the park. It shouldnt be down to just one player to do that. Unfortunately thats an area where we have been sadly lacking in the past couple if seasons. Robbo put great faith in the beginning to getting the right sort of player through the door with the right mentality, and it paid dividends with a run to 2 cup finals in one season. Sadly, that strength of character has been lacking for some time under both Robbo and now GA. In short we are far too soft/nice a team, so our lack of football ability in certain areas is magnified. Hopefully that can be rectified before the window closes and some of the new signings will be able to bed in and show their worth......

Best of luck!

No stewards involved when they started throwing glass bottles at Dundee fans as they came off their bus. I dont like to see heavy handed stewarding as it is entirely counter productive to improving the matchday experience. But we cant ignore the fact that we appear to have a small section of arseholes within our support intent on causing trouble.

Maybe Barcelona will follow the Motherwell model and get back to being more than a club..........

Sell on fee.......

Done.

Didnt see the game today, but a point at McDairmid Park is never a bad thing. Especially against this St Johnstone side who are one of the best and most organised they have had in years. Alan Preston (for what its worth) reckoned we started well but faded first half and St Johnstone deserved to he ahead at half time. However, he said we were much better 2nd half and worthy of a draw and could have maybe sneaked it at the end. Given Dundee got an absolute spanking today we need to be going into next weekend with a bit of confidence. Its a good chance to progress in the cup.

Ive no doubt the black kit will sell well. Manufacturers all do their market research these days and know whats popular. Its like the pink Scotland kit. I hated that but it sold really well. Just personal preference. Im a bit more of a traditionalist when it comes to these things, which is why I would have preferred a Roma/Galatasaray style black kits.

Id have him back, no problem.

Why be happy with an away shirt that doesnt look like Motherwell colours?

The away shirt we shoulda had......

Have to disagree with that. I thought for the most part St Johnstone were excellent. They were very disciplined, well organised and when they did get the ball they didnt just hoof it and tried to keep a hold of it and move it up the pitch in a constructive manner. Sure they got a couple of breaks in the first 15 mins and that is the bit of luck you need in Europe as you say. But I never thought at any stage they were being over run or were backs to the wall, so I would say it was a very creditible performance against a very decent side. That will give them huge confidence for the weekend. How they manage the physical recuperation after their exertions and a long flight home will be the key.

That has mileage! Van Veen, Van Veen, Van Veen, Van Vee-ee-een...... Get the ball into the box, And he will score.......

Perth is always a difficult place to go, regardless of how their European exploits turn out. They didnt win 2 trophies last season without having something about them. Id be happy to maintain the same level of performance and come away with a point. 3 points would represent a very good day at the office.

To the tune of Big John Sutton..... Kevin Van Veen Motherwells no.9

Starting to look like a good bit of business. I felt at the time it was too early for him and he shoulda stayed and developed further with us, but was always too good an opportunity for him or us to turn down. You always hope to he proved wrong in those situations as its great to see our academy graduates do well, but I dont think anyone would be swapping him for KVV this week....