Ya Bezzer!

I'm not a big fan of O'Donnell, as most will know, but some of his better performances as I seem to remember have actually been when he played at left back. Maybe you are just reversing the same problem but I always think if you are going to play one of two out of position you might as well put the better one in the correct role to maximise their effectiveness.

It's suggesting to you he doesn't have a strikers instinct based on one incident in a poor overall team performance when the player clearly isn't up to speed, hasn't played in the team and is maybe lacking a little bit of confidence. There were plenty on here slating Van Veen in the first half of last season. I'm not saying he's the answer but he deserves to be judged on a run of games. Bair has 10 league starts, Shaw has 1. You can't lump them in together and I think that's what a lot of people are doing.

I said before the match I wanted to see a strong start and I got a dreadful start. Ross County really should have been three up in the first ten minutes. We really need to make stronger starts to matches because we are giving the initiative to the oppositions and if we keep doing that we are going to be out of games early on. Lennon Miller was noticeable in his absence and the midfield really didn't work yesterday. I think 'officially' it was a 5-3-2 but Spittal was trying to link with the forwards and that really only left two in there and Slattery was completely anonymous yesterday. I've said it before but Slattery is an AM, he cannot performance as a centre midfielder or someone with defensive duties. Although we lost 3 goals I don't think we were defensively too bad, the main difference in the teams was Ross County's radical idea to actually shot at goal. Brophy and Murray's goals were both well taken and some good propaganda for the idea forward players should be finishers. You'd think as an idea that concept should be obvious but..... The third goal though was poor from us and we need to bring up Dan Casey. The guy can be an asset and he has good qualities but his positional discipline is all over the place and he really needs to screw the heid a bit. I actually thought he was to blame for the losing goal against Celtic when he was right where he needed to be and then for reasons unknown ran across the goal out of the area the ball was played into. Even the goal he scored earlier in the season, why on earth was he there to score it? I think from a coaching perspective Casey is a 'spare the rod, spoil the child' type. Kettlewell really needs to keep Casey under firm reigns to get the best out of him. Also from a defensive point of view our full backs are, and have been, an issue for a while. O'Donnell shouldn't have been given a new contract and a succession of loan players over the past couple of seasons hasn't helped either. Spencer was probably our best player going into the second half but as others have said he's a right back playing left back. Upfront I've seen enough of Bair to come to the conclusion he's a space filler and that's about it. He's a big guy and he doesn't even win headers. However I think some or even most here are being harsh on Shaw. He's had no pre season and started one match and some folk are saying he should never play again. Come on. Not saying he's the answer and I'd play Wilkinson and Biereth in front of him but for me he gets into positions and had one of our few efforts at goal yesterday. On Biereth, this guy is miles above Scottish Premiership level. His pace, his drive, his ability can transform our season if he stays fit and other managers don't send out an assassin to deal with the guy.

While I don't want to adopt Shaw as a cause he has started 1 match for us against Theo Bair's 10.

Quite simply we would have lost if Mika Biereth hadn't come on.

First off, let's hope the manager notices we've not scored a goal with Theo Bair on the pitch for two months.

Imagine we started playing before the 85th minute. Going to have my dinner first before I comment on the game cos, if you excuse the pun, there's a lot to digest.

Agreed. The difference Max Johnston made last season, even when he came on as a sub, was huge.

I don't see Ross County finishing any higher than 10th this season so we've got to be beating them at home. They've not scored in their last 3 league matches and haven't scored more than once in the last six. Of course we haven't exactly been putting them away either. We've only scored 2 league goals in the first 60 minutes, so we need to step up from the off and take this game by the scruff of the neck and make sure we play a 90 minute match instead of waiting until later in the game to actually put some pressure on the opposition.

Talking generally rather than about individuals but we've seen over and over again, both Scotland at international level and Motherwell at European level were we are on the football ladder. We are miles behind the leading nations at international level, on par with minnows at club level and it's all going to get worse since we've literally given up on producing youth players in Scotland. I mean there are literally about 4 young Scots getting game time in the Premiership this season (Lennon Miller, Kilmarnock's David Watson and...at a push....Josh Reid at Ross County and Ryan Duncan at Aberdeen). That's it. And if anyone says "Oh, all the good Scottish youths go down to England now" well I make it three Scottish youth players that have gone down south and made it through to club and international level (Gilmour, Hanley, Hyam). Everyone else is non Scots qualifying through a parent. So until I see more evidence I don't have much hope in the English system producing Scottish talent outside the 'yir granny wis fae Castlemilk' route. We've qualified for the Euros and that's great and all but domestically and internationally we are heading straight off a very tall cliff.

Blame the sash. 🤣

I think this is the last year of his contract unless he signed a new one. I'd fancy he could get a better deal elsewhere though but I'd have him at our place.

I like Anderson a lot. He's an excellent finisher, something we don't have.

Obviously the red card changes the match but hopefully this is a bit of a wake up call for Kettlewell. You cannot play the same way every week because you get figured out pretty quickly.

Don't want to criticise Kettlewell too much given he's done quite well but he needs more than a Plan A and I'd start to worry a bit if thing start to go really wrong. Not lost 4 league matches in a row since 2017 unless I've missed something.

I suspect Bair in first choice for the long haul. I don't see Kettlewell dropping any of the midfielders and our other strikers aren't suitable for playing to the game plan we've shown so far. I think that is Kettlewell's plan. Bair is there to take up a space in front of the centre backs and we get midfielders beyond him into the box. That's the tactic with this squad for this season.

Livingston have only lost to Old Firm this season and have 4 draws out of 7 in the league this term. I think that kind of sums them up. I'm an admirer of David Martindale, I think he does an excellent job at Livingston, and this will likely be a tight and scrappy match.

I'm not singling out players BUT it's all for nothing if you don't do the basics. Celtic didn't win today through a bit of quality. It was a ball into the box in the last minute of the game, we should have handled it and we didn't. That happens against Livingston and players would get pelters. You shouldn't get off the hook just cos it's Celtic. The whole plucky loser thing is worthless. You either do or you don't in this game and I'm afraid we didn't. It's so, so frustrating.

Bair was the better option for todays match but he's sub Ryan Bowman as a 'lump-up-front'.

Rarely have I been more infuriated by a result. I can only say what I saw at the match. First of all don't let teams cross the ball into the box in the 97th minute If you do everyone in that box needs to try and make a contact and everyone left it. We've put in a really great performance today and then just thrown it away because we couldn't defend for 2 minutes. Football simply doesn't exist for the rest of the weekend. I am fucked off.

Celtic are starting Bain in goals and have Lagerbielke and Scales at centre back. That's probably the weakest Celtic will ever be at the back. I hope our players look at that and sense an opportunity.

Looking for the break we've not had in the last two matches. We are due it and who knows? We might get it.

Defo looked like a handball but I don't think it was a penalty as his hand was down by his side and not in an unnatural position. Didn't we have three penalty shouts today? I'm too far away from the other end to comment though.

Jermaine Hylton scored for Arbroath today. Think it was his debut, I wasn't aware he was there.

Disappointing result especially with some tough looking fixtures coming up. We were easy on the eye but didn't really carry enough threat. Only really created one chance in the first half and two in the second and obviously didn't take any of them. Full backs don't really offer anything going forward and Bair was isolated a lot of the time. I've never liked Motherwell playing one up front and still don't. Zipped the ball around well and didn't deserve to lose but at the end of the day the game is about putting it in the net and we didn't really look like doing it today. Felt a bit sorry for Oli Shaw as he was literally just on the pitch when the chance fell to him. Maybe 5 minutes later he puts it away. One of those ones where you just have to take it on the chin.