fizoxy

Yeah, he landed badly when the killie player backed into him, pretty much on his head. Then he took another head knock later in the game.

Funny that the article describes him as commanding, but St. Mirren fans are not of that opinion. We need a goalkeeper, and our options are limited, so don't have a strong opinion on tnis one.

Saturday was woeful, but Raith under Hammell was the all time worst for me. Albion Rovers under McCall and Ayr Utd under Kampmann (I think, Greg Denham was playing) definitely up there too.

Seems ton have had sporadic appearances and has asked to be transferred, presumably because he's not getting game time.

Yeah, for some reason he goes by JT even though his name is ordered TJ.

I mean, he signed Bair, Biereth, Furlong, Gent, Spencer, AP, JT, Gordon, Seddon, Kaleta, all if whom seem to be consensus good signings. He has got Miller to this stage, and improved Max and Spittal to the degree that they got good moves. Wilson has flagged lately but it wasn't that long ago we were all raving about him too. He also got a ridiculous tune out of KVV, and an equally ridiculous fee, but we prob don't want to talk about that one much. I know he's signed a fair few duds as well, but I'm genuinely interested to see his hit rate compared to other managers, and what other clubs our size have been selling folk for.

SK is approaching where managers go past their sell by date at a club like ours. We saw it with managers that we look back relatively kindly on, such as McCall and Robinson, and even mclean. You do well, but either get picked off by a bigger club (how fucking dare you), or you stay long enough to run out of luck/funds to take it any further, and you either quit or get sacked. The number of injuries and player sales/leaving under SK during his tenure seems to have him speed running towards this, In addition, at clubs where winning something or signing big names isn't likely, changing the manager is pretty much the only interesting thing that can happen. As such, that's where most folk are going to go when things aren't great. There's little interest in a manager building something over a number of years, or just maintaining a level of stability, because that's fucking boring. Despite "10th and a cup run" being the mantra of many a 'Well fan, the reality is that's just not acceptable by a large portion of our fanbase. A cup run is dismissed if we don't win it, and by its nature, 10th is flirting with relegation, and involves losing more games than you win, which is unforgivable. Now, we could finish mid table, but that has to come with entertaining football, which no one can define. FWIW, I don't believe Simo did anything to out-think SK, they just played the way they have been under him, as he is also a one trick pony, fortunately for him his trick worked against us.

Taking a risk on someone coming back from injury isn't a terrible idea in isolation. However, we signed Callachan when our main midfielder in slattery was out for a year, and we already had Nicholson and paton who have been injury prone, and halliday who cant last 90. Then add the fact that we knew Miller was on borrowed time with us, and you can see the whole midfield recruitment strategy was a shambles. Especially when we lost our best player from last year in that position. On the squad size. We had a number of injuries at the start of the season, so that has to be a factor in making more signings than planned. If Nicholson wasn't injured, would we have got maswanhise? Are the loan kids inuded in the 28? How many players are fit and not in the match day squad each week? A couple? If we had our usual squad of, say 23, we'd be royally fucked with the injuries right now. We got a good turn out of Wilson due to seddons injury, but he seems to be feeling it now, as tends to haplen with young players. Are any of the other young players real prospects? I'm not seeing much from their loan exploits to suggest so.

He seems to have played 30+ games most seasons, so not injury prone (until we get hold of him at least).

I don't think we set up particularly defensively. We have 2-3 attackers and push our wingbacks high, particularly on the right. There have also been very few games in SKs tenure where we haven't been competitive and in the game in the latter stages, and we rarely shut up shop when ahead (i wish we would sometimes). We tend to be slow and deliberate at the start of games, but we've had our fair share of games where we've scored early too. The opposition have a say in that too. It looks like the players are being asked to play through the lines from the back, but they panic and punt it instead because most teams know hown to press to prevent that. As you saw on Saturday, making mistakes when trying to play through midfield can lead to bad things. That means we either don't have the ability to play that way, or aren't being coached to stick to it regardless. My opinion is that our players are largely not that good. Good coaches will make the most of the players they have (let's park the recruitment side, because that's it's own issue), so maybe 31 points from this lot at this point of the season is a good return? How many of our team would be a regular starter for other teams in the league? Miller?

What constitutes an entertaining game is subjective. Some like watching long series of intricate passing, others prefer a more direct style, fighting for second balls in the final third. Some want to see their team press high, others want to see their team draw the opponents in and hit them with blistering counter attacks. Are we defining entertaining as slick attacking moves, goals galore (for both teams), and displays of skill? Or are we talking about intrigue, incident, and discussion points? What team in the Scottish premier is the blueprint for entertaining football? Celtic? St Johnstone? Who would we say is theost progressive and entertaining manager in the league? I personally don't enjoy watching teams like Man City, as I think their style is boring, but Brighton and Liverpool are more fun to watch. My favorite motherwell side was the McLean team just before he left, but I also loved the Robinson thunderdome era (the season when we got to 2 finals and people were complaining about our style and the fact we couldn't beat celtic to win them). When it comes to our games, when the whistle goes all I'm interested in is us winning, and based on the general vibe from the crowd, most people are the same. Celebrating wins is fun, but I can't remember ever having the buzz of a good losing performance sustain me over a weekend. I don't think I've ever pulled out the "We played better than you" schtick to a fan of a rival team that beat us. One thing I can guarantee is that not a single fan would sacrifice results and points for performances in real life. Attacking and creative players are expensive, and they don't last long at clubs like ours. They can be the difference when still playing a more cautious style. Otherwise, to play a more attacking/creative style, you're going to concede more chances. Stuart Kettlewell's preferred style seems to be using high wing backs to press teams in wide areas, as well as hitting quick counter attacks. That's entertaining when it works, as we saw with max and KVV, or Gent and Bair. We have also had some good young players, and unearthed some gems, which is also entertaining. I think that our struggle this season is that we haven't had any consistency in the WB area, although kaleta has shown in flashes that he can be dangerous. In addition, we can't keep any kind of consistent lineup on the pitch due to a ridiculous run of injuries (something that can be discussed in its own right). Those quick passing moves and free flowing attacks would be more likely if players had the chance to build partnerships. This discussion is cyclical, and will surface again when our next manager guides us to successive 3-2 losses.

We somehow had a handful of decent chances despite being so bad again. Our defense did a great job with the last ditch blocks, but killie fans must be furious about not being able to take any more than a point from that. It was fun listening to killie fans boo us using Dels shitfesting tactics, not so much them booing and slow clapping head injuries.

I was the backup plan, but the machine also gave me the wrong ticket.

I don't agree with the sentiment that we're shoehorning Miller into the team, or that we will somehow be a better team if we lose one of the best midfielders in the league. He has been excellent since day one, with less dips in form compared to the average player. Midfielders tend to get a raw deal from fans in general, unless they're hacking folk or scoring goals. Miller's delivery from set pieces will be sorely missed, and his football IQ as a defensive mid is way too high for someone his age. I think I saw something about him making the most interceptions at some point. I don't think we can expect much from slattery this season, as well as callachan, and Paton has been unable to string a good run of games together, on top of halliday being able to put in 60 mins max each week. I'm glad we're rumored to bring in at least one midfielder, but we might need a couple more if Miller goes, unless the crocked players come good.

Newell is a regular for hibs, there's no chance of us signing him. Think sibbald is injured too. Also, I don't think we need to recreate 1980s WWE to improve our midfield defensively.