joewarkfanclub

Seems like we can actually scout more than one position at a time! Funny that! Hopefully he is of the required standard and we get the deal done!

So we should ignore his remarks about "so called experts"? If he isnt talking about us, who is he talking about? Im all for cutting him slack on performances, injuries etc, but those comments go too far for me......

Not fussed how many he scores. If he can hold the ball up, bring others into play and get us up the pitch it will be an improvement to what we have been seeing recently. Obviously the odd goal here and there would help, but I dont think thats why we are signing him. We beed a foil for Stama when he comes back. A Bowman for our Moult so to speak. If he can do that we will have won a watch.

Its not just those that are against him that are bothered by the tone. There are a few of us on here who have been generally supportive who are somewhat irked by this interview. I certainly dont expect SK to be taking advice from me, but when you work in a customer centred environment and your customers tell you en masse (Perth) what you are doing isnt good enough, you should at least stop for a second and see if there is another way to meet your objectives. If you double down and keep heading in the same direction, you run the risk of alienating your customer who decide to keep their money in their pockets. For a football manager that rarely ends well.

Exactly. He just told everyone who was in Perth last week that their opinion doesnt matter to him as they never played the game. Talk about pouring oil on the fire!

Note to SK. Beware the Happy Clapper who stops clapping. It means everyone else has too!

As someone who has defended SK through thick and thin last season and this, I find the tone of that interview pretty disrespectful (despite the lengths he has gone to to assure me it is not!) Just because I havent played football at any decent level doesnt mean I cant see whats in front of my own eyes or offer an opinion on where we are going wrong. If that was the case Jose Mourihno shouldnt have been any good as a football manager. Most of our fans are NOT knee jerk. The vocal minority maybe. But I think most fans (in the stands at least) have been pretty patient with the manager and the team EXACTLY because of the difficult circumstances we have encountered this season. That doesnt cover over the further mistakes we believe are being made in tactics, team selection, in game management etc. He could and should be making better use of the players available by using tactics and formations that get the best out of everyone. Im not buying for a minute that we have used a vast array of tactical options this season. It has been mostly sit tight, allow the opposition possession, absorb pressure until they make a mistake and try and counter. He is increasingly coming across as a manager under pressure and has utterly disrespected the view of the nearly 2k Motherwell fans who were in Perth last weekend. If he really does double down this weekend and go with more of the same, he better hope the players are able to dig out a win for him. Adapt or die. Its the first law of survival.

If he is just in for back up and not immediately pushing Archie Mair out of the first team then Im ok with it. As stated we have limited options at this time of year and we need more than our youth keeper on the bench when our first pick is just a boy. But I wouldnt be so enthused if it was felt he was goung to be a longer term solution!

Thats my beef with it. Keeper can get away with that but Watt is punished for less. The Dundee United handball as well. Comes straight over his team mates shoulder, his arm is up to help him jump (natural position for the action) and it comes off his head and steikes his arm. Not sure what the defender can do in that circumstance, other than not challenge for the ball in the first place, which is clearly a ludicrous suggestion. Anyway. Better than no clarification at all, so more power to them.

Interesting stuff. Not sure I agree on some of the decisions, but good to get some transparency.

Excellent post. My feelings exactly!

Fans will still be unhappy. But not on the same scale as they will if we go down doing the same thing and in the same gutless fashion. Your loyalty to the club and the manager is admirable. But here is a question for you. At what point does your critical thinking kick in and question whether he is still the right man for the job? Or does he have your unwavering support regardless of the circumstances?

I think thats a fair point. Alexander failed to learn a single thing from the Sligo home game and played exactly the same way in the away leg and got the same result. If SK does the same, he should expect the wrath of the fans to come down on him. It would be an absolutely ludicrous thing to do.

We played some good stuff when he immediately took over and some of the football we played last year with Spittal, Miller, Paton and Slattery/Nicholson was excellent. So it hasnt all been awful to watch. This season has been a different matter, with the odd exception here and there, its been pretty ugly. Robinsons Thunderdome team wasnt the prettiest, but it was still exciting. Thats the difference hear. Its ugly AND boring. We are also way too passive.

I would say Robinson and Kettlewell are similar in a lot of respects. The main difference is that when Robinson finally realised his preferred way of playing wasnt working, he did change it up and did something different. Obviously that also went tits up in the end. SK still has time to show he can re-invent himself and this team, but he needs to do it soon before he totally loses the support, or the booing will only get louder.

Thanks for the clarification, and I dont disagree with most if it. Modern life in general is far less tolerant than it used to be. Society has been groomed to want the next best thing now and that you dont necessarily have to wait or work hard for it. No doubt Wee Tommy would have found it tough in the current circumstances. I dont think you are in the minority though wanting SK to get it right and turn things around. Ive been beating the Slattery, Nicholson, Paton, Miller drum for a while. I (and a number of our other more patient posters) just think time is running out and the manager needs to show a realisation that there are more ways to win a game of football than the one currently being employed. He needs to buy himself time until his favoured midfield / set up is fit and available to play. Saturday is a must win. Any way possible. I dont care how ugly it is or what tactics require to be employed. But we need to give ourselves some breathing space again. That said, the same passive long ball tactics which have been failing, would be unacceptable.

I normally enjoy your posts as they are always thoughtful and well reasoned, but I think you are off the mark with this one. The manager and the team may or may not be in turmoil, I would say thats quite a subjective assessment. But things in the garden are certainly not rosy. We have a squad with 9 injured players, several of them long term, a situation which has been pretty much ever present since the start of the season. The team is misfiring badly and is struggling to create any meaningful chances, far less score consistently. We cant keep a clean sheet. We have a manager who is wedded to a system he doesnt have the players to implement and shows no sign of changing it. The style of football has been terrible for large parts of the season and we just got knocked out of the cup by the worst team in the league without so much as a whimper. Ive defended SK on here for the most part as there has been plenty of mitigation for performances and the circumstances he has had to face. We ARE still in a reasonably healthy position in the league, and until that changes he does deserve the opportunity to turn things around. But lets not pretend its a conversation that shouldnt be happening, because its getting talked about plenty in the stands and in the pubs. Thats not to say the discourse surrounding the subject cant be more respectful. But we shouldnt be comparing this place to Twitter or Facebook.

Exactly this. Simo knew exactly how we were going to play on Saturday, regardless of the personnel and he set his team up accordingly with a high press, knowing our 3 x CBs wouldnt be able to cope with it and would end up hoofing it long. SK has shown that he is willing and the players are capable of changing things up later in games. He needs to change what we are doing from the start and pose teams different questions. We are currently less than the sum of our parts. He needs to find a way to build a better collective.

Agreed.

Its the risk vs reward thing. Its a much bigger risk sacking a manager sitting 5th, even if the form is patchy and football honking. If we were producing the same and we were sitting where St Johnstone are you really have nothing to lose as you are going down anyway. That and the injury situation are the main reasons Im sticking with him for now, but if nothing changes in the next few weeks and we get dragged back down into the pack, I maybe forced to re-evaluate. Saturday is huge for the manager.

It was awesome. Fair took my mind off the fitba!

Nicholson. The only player who showed any fight, spirit or footballing ability.

No interest in going to this one. Or any other away game until the manager and the team prove they are worthy of such support. Might not even bother watching a stream if there is one. The manager needs this one. Win, and maybe the players are still with him. Lose, in another gutless performance devoid of evidence of any tactical shape and I may be forced to cross the floor to Wellfan's side of the chamber!

At the Trail West gig trying to forgive myself for deciding to go to Perth and witness that horror show in person! There's no arguing from me that it hasnt been a shitshow all season. The only debate is whether SK can turn it around, or whether we think anyone else would do better. The latter shouldnt even be a consideration until the former reaches its natural conclusion. Yesterday was definitely a huge tick in the against column for me. Im broadly sympathetic re the injury situation and the limitations that puts on the side, but you cant go into a cup game against the bottom team in the league with such a big away support and not want it more than the other team. Yesterday was the first signs Ive seen that the manager might be losing the dressing room. The body language was poor all over the park. If that happens he is done for. Thats why next Saturday is huge for him.

A broken clock is right twice a day.....