MelvinBragg

My thoughts looking at that lineup? What a cracking first eleven and what a shite bench...

So you're saying they can only play if they let us have 12 men? Can't see the other teams in the league agreeing to that..

Kettlewell confirmed that Bair and Biereth are players that have been discussed but neither deal is done post match today...

For me, we learned little today that we didn't already know. None of our current back three is a talker or organiser. This we knew. While they both have qualities, neither Wilkinson or Obika look capable of shouldering the majority of the goalscoring burden. Not news. We have some good midfielders and Miller and Spittal are our key players this season. We knew this. What did we learn, if anything? Didn't learn anything about Oxborough, one way or the other. We learned that McGinn is better at RWB than O'Donnell (bit of a problem as he's probably part of our best back three as well). Zdravkovski looks comfortable on the ball but not a stern test of him. I can understand people being underwhelmed by the early part of our performance. We took a bit to get going. But we did play some nice stuff and often were just missing that final ball or more often than not a finish. The positive is that we are creating chances. Just need to try and take more of them...

Another centre half? Surely not...

Share with the group...?

I agree with alot of what you say but here I actually think the opposite is true. There was a bit of excitement on here when we had the lad Fowler on trial. The possibility of us discovering a hidden gem is always an appealing one. I think the negativity tends to come when it's a known quantity, someone like Bair, that fans have seen and been unimpressed by already. Not that it's always justified, as you say Watt and Sutton are just two players who have underwhelmed elsewhere but did well with us. But even if not justified, it is understandable...

I normally disagree with a lot of what you post but I think you're taking unfair flak here. You're not suggesting we sign Kane or Haaland, you're suggesting players of a level we have signed before. I said to someone last night we should be looking for the striker equivalent of the Macedonian midfielder. Someone who is maybe a bit of a gamble but who has a degree of a track record... On a more general note, it seems like for some you aren't allowed to question the quality of any new signings. For me, it's fair game. But if you dare to suggest that you think someone is not good enough on the basis of your track record, you get shouted down on here. If people want to suggest they think Bair isn't good enough on what they saw at St Johnstone, they're entitled to. I remember people being really unimpressed we were signing Brian Martin. I say this as someone who believes that sometimes it just clicks for a player at a certain club and not at others (John Sutton) so am generally willing to give folk a chance. But I respect people's right to base their opinion on someone's track record without a response of "saying he's pish before he's played for us"... It's all about opinions...

Also worth pointing out Bair wouldn't be a loan as he has been released by St Johnstone.. Both pretty uninspiring names, to be honest. If you're signing Bair, you'd have been as well keeping Shields and playing him in a front two.. EDIT Also worth noting that Obika is a doubt for Saturday. Part of me already thinking that he will spend a lot of time out..

Of those 33 games, only 8 were starts.. Not that I'm saying those are great numbers but it's a clearer picture. Had a quick glance at some of his appearances. A fair few were after 70 minutes, some after 80 minutes. In a St Johnstone team that didn't create much...

I'm well aware of that. That's why I said that he had earned our trust for now. All I'm saying is that this is a different challenge to the one he inherited in February...

I tend to agree with much that you've said here. What I would add is that we have played with a 'number 10' for a lot of the games under Kettlewell. If you consider a number 10 an advanced midfielder playing behind the strikers, sometimes going beyond them, then Spittal has been playing almost as a 10. Kettlewell would have been more honest saying "Danzaki plays where Spittal does, he's not going to get a game because my replacement for Spittal will be to bring Paton on and push Slattery forward". Someone made the point to me that some managers are good at identifying players to bring in, some are good at moulding what they have into a team and others are good at both. We know that Kettlewell can take what he inherited last season and get the best out of it. We still don't know if he can sign the right players. Having seen Wilkinson and Souare, I have my concerns. His performance so far as manager means he has earned trust of the fans for now. But he has been in football long enough to know that a few defeats will see questions asked...

I always kind of thought there was a player in Tierney but we weren't sure how to use him. He also suffered from being often brought on late in games when the team was playing poorly and asked to turn it around.. Pretty obvious though that barring a managerial change, his time at Fir Park is over. Pretty early but my instinct is that Walsall sending us Wilkinson and getting Tierney, they're getting the better end of that deal... Only other thought is with Tierney away and Shields (and if rumours are to be believed Efford) to follow out the door, we have very very few attacking options. Particularly given Wilkinson and Obika's injury records. I know Kettlewell likes running with a small squad. It's starting to look skeletal..

There was another twitter rumour doing the rounds about some Nigerian striker playing in Eastern Europe. Sunday Adetunji...

Butcher has never played midfield for us...

I'm a bit torn on midfield. We probably need another body but I don't want to only see Miller when Slattery is suspended...

I was surprised by the chat about midfield but if you think we're signing another defender when we have six players who play centre back (even if one is injured), I think you're being optimistic. If we move one on, maybe...

Remember it's a back three so you need to factor in McGinn has been third wheel in both lineups. If anyone thinks that simply putting Blaney and Casey in for Lamie and Mugabi will be a vast improvement, they're wrong. Blaney and Casey are solid enough defenders when they have had Butcher organising them and pushing them around. Dundee United last day of the season showed that they were lesser players without a talker alongside them. Either we try an experienced player like McGinn in the middle of the three or we need to find a Aldred/Hartley type figure on loan for six months. If you're playing a back three, the guy in the middle of the three has to have a degree 9f football intelligence and leadership. Don't see an obvious candidate in the squad currently...

Possibly. Although it could also be that like Johnston last season, they feel Wilson needs another six months just to be totally ready for the first team...

While he has some pedigree, over the last four seasons Souaré has played under 40 games. I'm assuming that we feel his fitness won't be an issue having looked at him in training but I have my concerns...

Did I really hear him say that he feels we have enough in midfield, it's just wide areas and up front?

Find the absence of Efford interesting given he had seemed to be featuring heavily in preseason. Maybe injured..?

Indeed. Someone on here used a story from March last year in the Record (I think) mooting interest from Sheffield United and West Ham as evidence we should have offered him a contract last summer. For me, that story is evidence that there was no point in offering him a contract last summer as he would have known better offers were forthcoming... EDIT Checked back. It was Luton not West Ham, but the general point still holds...

It was clear he was going to be rubbish given the amount of hype the club were putting out there. Kettlewell clearly doesn't rate him at all. To offer some mitigation for Danzaki though, he arrived as the wheels were falling off the Hammell regime. Van Veen had downed tools. Players that were brought in to steady things were getting injured (Blaney, Mandron), experienced professionals were performing hilariously badly (O'Donnell, Slattery), Hammell was throwing any shit at the wall to see if it would stick (the 4222 with Spittal and Slattery as two 6s and Tierney and Danzaki as two 10s seemed extreme, just wear a T shirt saying 'SACK ME, I HAVEN'T A CLUE'). Danzaki may have been pish but it was hardly the ideal situation for a young guy trying to adapt to a new country to land in. Had he arrived to a semi functioning team, we could have made a better assessment. His Motherwell career was 126 minutes...

And given there already was that interest last March, it wasn't in Johnston's interests to sign a new contract even then. Paul McGinn's signing was nothing to do with Johnston and more to do with Alexander trying to run O'Donnell out of town...