joewarkfanclub

Maybe we are to Hearts, as Falkirk are to us? 🤔🤔🤔

Nuance & perspective are wonderful things! Clearly JBA isnt a Motherwell legend (yet), but he deserves a little more credit than he is being afforded in some quarters. The number of draws we got in the first quarter of the season were a little disappointing given how well we played at times, but they were achieved by a manager and team trying to bed in new players and a totally new system. Mistakes were made and a few wins slipped out of our grasp. Disapppointing but understable. However, we did slowly improve and after the League Cup semi final exit (reaching Hampden seems to have been turned into a negative) we seemed to have unlocked the secret to a water tight defence and results improved. Our record against the top 6 is held up as a weakness this season. Yet we are undefeated against Hearts, have drawn twice against Rangers at home, lost narrowly at Ibrox after a hotly disputed penalty claim. Beaten Celtic resoundingly at Fir Park, lost twice narrowly at Parkhead in keenly contested matches, unbeaten against Hibs home & away. Only Falkirk have got the better of us. So our poor record is actually a myth if you turn it around and ask what the top 6 teams record against Motherwell is. The Aberdeen Cup game was a sore one and Jens has to hold his hands up a little for the starting selection, but the the state of the pitch, weather and 2 red cards are at least mitigating factors. We have broken all sorts of records this season with least goals conceded at home, clean sheets records, longest home run without a defeat, attendances etc etc. Of course the wheels have come off a little bit and you could argue that the pressure of being involved in a potential title race got to us, but you have to factor in the recent injuries, suspensions and some really chronic refereeing decisions. Has Jens been perfect? No. Have the team been perfect? No. But whilst our deficiencies have been shown up in recent weeks, its still the best season I can remember for quality of football and entertainment, and we are still sitting with a GD of +25 in April. Picking holes in an otherwise fantastic season is easy to do and if you ignore the circumstances, you can make a compelling case, but just as circumstances can fall for you, they can also conspire against you, despite you having control over neither.

I like Priestman, but I dont think he can play the Slattery role. He could however play the Fadinger role and maybe push Lukas forward? Another option would be Nicholson, who I thought looked sharp yesterday when he came on. Similarly, McGhee looked very comfortable at right back yesterday. Good to have some options. We should use them to keep the squad fresh and give the opposition a different question to answer. Id be interested to find out what the issue was with Eythor as he was definitely in the training pics during the week. I know folk have their doubts about his quality, but big Henderson was getting away with murder yesterday and needed bodied!

There are some good points in there, but the no plan B thing isnt one of them. Jens has made various in game changes and employed the long ball regularly throughout the season when necessary. I agree with Mcghee and Nicholson, both looked very useful yesterday when they came on and I would like to see both get more minutes as we go into the split. As for Falkirk. I agree McGlynn is a very good manager. But to suggest he is doing better than Jens because he has got them top 6 and has a winnable cup semi final is pushing it. We are above them in the table for a reason, and have also been to a cup semi final. If MGlynn gets them to the final there is a conversation to be had about who has done better, but not yet.

I wouldnt blame Ward, and not necessarily McGinn (although he could have cleared it up the line to Sparrow), but Watt plays the pass back to Ward blind and clearly cant see the Falkirk players behind him. I think its fair to attribute blame there (if blame is to be attributed at all) as Im sure the manager doesnt coach that.

Hard to see us winning this one with the form we are in currently but Hearts have also struggled at home against poorer opposition than us. Id happily take a point. Not so sure we will get it though, unless the officials decide to throw us an unlikely bone!

Longelo for me too. Was the only real out ball in the first half and made a lot of good runs going forward. Nicholson, Priestman and McGhee were all decent when they came on, but werent on the pitch long enough to influence MOTM.

Falkirk (and McGlynn) did a number on us again today. Their press was very clever. They waited time and again for the ball to go to our full backs (mostly SOD) which triggered them to go mob handed to close the full back and the midfielders that side blocking off all the available outballs other than back the way or over the top. They were more than happy for Ward or the CBs to have the ball. We struggled with it all afternoon and it caused a fair amount of disruption to our usual passing / possession game. That said, the goals we lost were all very poor. The first is a free header with Fadinger being the culprit for losing his man (he hasnt been at all himself wearing that mask. I do wonder if it obstructs his vision). The second comes from the aforementioned press, but should have been cleared by McGinn and/or Watt who plays a totally blind pass putting Ward in trouble. The third just isnt a penalty, or there would be 20 penalties a game. Overall we had 14 shots to their 12 with 5 on target to their 4. So even though we were off it in terms of performance and Falkirk deserved to win, the stats for us werent horrific. The fine margins are going against us at the moment, so we are going to have to dig deep and find a performance from somewhere. Slightly concerned that there was no Eyrhor today as it left the bench looking very weak. Although I did think Priestman, Nicholson and McGhee all looked decent when they came on. Maybe we need to freshen the starting 11 up next week?

No, he appears to be available. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/articles/c070d7v7nj7o

Good piece of business. A good full back at our level and probably still room to develop. Hopefully the sign of things to come.

I get that you are trying to beat the drum for impartiality and fairness and I commend you for it. But we dont live in an ideal world. We all know this. So until we do, I think its fair enough to be annoyed.....

The lesser spotted SFA Referee's Compliance Officer. Nice to know they still exist!

I didnt mean defending his actions. Maybe I should have said "raising concerns regarding the level of punishment and its implications for the wider game......"

I think Oscar deserves a start, but Nicholson is probably more like Slattery from a style/creativity point of view.

Exactly this. Diving to gain a penalty is cheating and gains an advantage for your team. I dont see the difference, but it happens all the time (including by our players).