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The reasons it wasn't worth risking these players has been listed numerous times, so wont list them again, you dont need to agree but its well wide of the mark to say there were " no reasons"

And so it continues. A few days after the SFA scrap the KMI panel because it was embarrassing our wonderful referees, the FA in England announce they will publish full details of their own KMI panel decisions.......in an effort to be more transparent and give fans a better perspective of how decisions were arrived at. The corruption up here is beyond belief. It's about time our clubs united, said enough is enough, and tore the system down. Sadly unlikely given who pulls the strings up here..

Sounds like the opening line of a bad country & western song.

The point is that the KMI panel highlights outcomes, even if they have no official capacity. In that way the spotlight remains on repeated errors (or otherwise) that referees and var make. In England that transparency is seen as a good thing, a positive in fact. In Scotland the SFA see transparency as an embarrassment, a dissention. So they shut it down. It's what Dictators do. (As I believe many who live in the USA are now experiencing first hand). I agree it would be better if such panels could take direct action and include Officials. But at the very least they maintain the spotlight and address the issues that we all see.

Well if the hat fits 🎩 Willy just needs coaching, game time and skill. But you may be beyond redemption. 🤣🤣

Don't forget he set up the team for :- Helsinki at Fir Park and we played them off the park. Never got beat by our jinks team Falkirk. Beat Hibs away. Stenny team picked to suit injurys and a shitty pitch, hands tied a bit on this one. All after some of our best players had been sold He has come in and followed on pretty seemlessly. He's doing a great job already.

We've had a number of posts which would rival the gettysburg address in length and verbosity, to try to communicate a simple fact, ie Wilson, Ross, whyte and Booth are not at the standard we need in the team, despite having several opportunities to prove otherwise. Will they ever make the standard, im not so sure as there is scant evidence to support that assumption from what we have seen so far. If there is anything good to be taken from the shambles at Ovhilview on Sunday its that the aforementioned players are nowhere near ready to be starting first team games, so i hope AJ has learned this for the future, especially when we have a fit squad available.

The issue is not with rotation but with the quality of player AJ has in reserve. That's not his fault and he is not going to hide behind that excuse. It takes a lot longer than a few weeks to build the quality of squad depth we require if we are to continue to mix it with the big boys. A run of injuries is another hurdle to overcome. And less easy to predict. On Sunday we were dependent upon Wilson and Ross who did not progress when loaned to lower league clubs and struggled to secure a starting position at Raith or Annan respectively. And they have shown next to nothing since returning to Fir Park. Harsh for some, but realistic. For some reason, misguided loyalty or financial reasons perhaps, their contracts were extended. That error came home to roost yesterday. They were out of their depth......against Stenhousemuir. It affected the whole team. Sadly, the whole experience may well have damaged them. Booth and Mcallister are at a different stage of their careers and may develop given the patience and Loan experience afforded to the two mentioned above. Time enough for them yet. Connolly did just fine and is a decent back up. Although at an early stage, Whyte has clearly benefited and matured from his time at Stenhousemuir. His appearances this season reflect that progress. Whether he turns out to be the next Turnbull or Miller time will tell but early signs are promising. Contrasting his progress with that of Wilson and Ross is very telling. Same path. Different outcome. Different quality. I really don't know what to make of Vogt. Given the other excellent signings our recruitment team have uncovered I cannot believe how little he has contributed so far. Flashes at best. At times he looks lost. At other times terrified. Hopefully we see soon the abilities that encouraged us to sign him. Gutted at losing to Stenhousemuir but not that surprised. The match played out as I feared believing that considerable rotation would be a huge factor. Not sure what other options AJ had. I really don't think he chose one cup over the other but rather decided to protect as many players as he could. Had he given up on the League Cup as many suggest, why then risk the players he did second half? When we qualify for Europe next season we will be in a much stronger position to compete on all fronts. With greater depth and hopefully less injuries. It is actually amazing how well we have started this season.

The voice of sanity: the manager's had an amazingly difficult time dealing with a new country and language (though his English is better than some of the pundits on Sportsound), a wife and new baby living here too,, a squad in turmoil during the window, a raft of injuries and obvious difficulties in recruitment, particularly up front. He's already explained the quick sequence of fixtures has meant he's had very little coaching time and to work on tactics and, after one of our best nights in Europe, people turn on him after he warned us about our difficulties in beating lowly opposition in the LC last season and that we can't always play to our best because of all the availability problems. That plastic pitch would hamper any team which depends on accurate passing and all teams playing on that surface know this. Whatever happens on Thursday, I'm sure AJ will play the best team he can to carry out his chosen game-plan. We need to get behind the team and make FP start rocking again.

If we can consistently increase the quality on the bench and challenging for the bench that will strengthen our squad depth. So over all we end up with a stronger squad of, say, 25. It will also challenge the players who are first choice. Even allowing for injuries, Sunday demonstrated that there is room for improvement. Using your numbers ranking, if a player proves incapable of increasing from 22 then surely we identify a replacement that is capable in time of that rise. And if a player is content to remain at number 22 is that really the mindset we should accept? I don't expect every one of the 25 to immediately be the same quality of those starting. But that should be their objective. We need to see progress. Those players at the 'lower level' must improve over time to keep their place in the production line. If we can fill that production line from within then all the better. In the same way that turnover is seen in the starting eleven, it should be seen in those who are waiting in the wings. It is tough on those that fall by the wayside. I get that. But better they play at a level which matches their ability and/or ambition than finding themselves out of their depth and suffering mentally as well as physically.

I am in Australia and will watching the game live on Friday morning on the English coverage on SolidSport

The job at Motherwell after JBA left was probably one of the toughest you could get . Not sure many would have fancied that gig . Not only replacing one of if not our best ever managers imo who took us to 4th place and some of the best football I’ve seen played at FP . So he comes over having not played at a high or even decent level and fully commits by bringing his young family over then sees his best players leave and a major injury list headache . In my humble opinion that’s takes a lot of b**ls to be able to deal with these early issues and he’s only what 35/36 ? im not expecting a similar season as last but if we finish the season still playing the same way and still in this league I’ll be delighted . For me anything else will be a bonus so as it is I’m fully behind Alfie and I feel the majority are although as is life nowadays there will be a few out there getting twitchy on the seats at the game or the same on their keyboards ready to pounce when it’s not going well . Thats life I suppose but as proved last year if we’re all in it together the good AND the bad times well be fine Alfie will find his feet and with new signings hopefully enjoy the rollercoaster of the MFC.

Jba team didn't set the Heather on fire initially , we have lost 3 top players from our midfield so does anyone really think we should be as good as the team that finished last year. I dont think we will lose many goals next year so that may balance the loss of our midfield. Some Fitba fans love to catastrophise as well as be unrealistic

Since the latest we can change the list is Thursday morning, I’d imagine that some on the list won’t be fit for Thursday but might be fit enough for the following Thursday and are added for that reason.

Said on FB after the Falkirk game there seems to be a little 'emperor's new clothes' feel for me, we're nowhere near as dynamic (Hibs winner aside) as last season. and we're playing without a striker effectively, IF we're are good as we're supposed to be Stenny should have been a formality. Glass coffin situation up by.

The perspective is that one or two are clearly not good enough for the top division despite having been given the recognised route and support to build their career. Not based solely on Sunday but also based on the past two seasons. They have not developed as we all had hoped. Sadly that happens all too often within every club. But for a number of reasons they are what we have at the moment and that's not their fault. More generally, at what age and after how many games does a player stop being regarded as a youngster? When should we reasonably expect to see progress? I think it was you who highlighted that Wilson has played over 100 senior games. Many of those games surrounded by senior players within an established line up. Add some Under 21 International appearances in 2024. Numerous coaches They are all doing their best and that effort is appreciated. For their own good I believe it would be better if they moved elsewhere.....loan meantime or straight transfer. It was painful seeing how much they struggled on Sunday. To be clear, I am not blaming any of those youngsters for the loss on Sunday. I don't think any senior Motherwell player came off that park thinking they had done themselves justice. I am just saying there comes a time to identify when a player is not up to the standard we require. That does not mean a player....youngster or otherwise.... does not have a future elsewhere

There were, what? Eight changes to the team? When you change that many players at once, you're changing partnerships, movement, communication and most of the structure around them. A young/fringe player coming into a settled Motherwell side alongside nine or ten regulars is a very different proposition from several of them being thrown together at the same time. They can still be criticised for playing poorly, of course. That's football. But I think some perspective is maybe needed there.

You had me convinced 🤣🤣

I still find it incredible that we have fans that judge new players on 1 or 2 first team appearances after just moving to a new country and having 4 hours of training. So not understanding everything David pointed out is not quite as surprising to me.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, we're in danger of oversimplifying what goes into these types of decisions. It's not simply a case of looking at the fixture list and deciding to rest half the team because there's a European game coming up. From what I gather, the players are monitored pretty closely. The staff will have data on how far they've run, how much high-intensity running they've done, sprints, accelerations, training loads and how all of that compares to their normal levels. Then you've got the medical side. A player can be perfectly fit to play but still have a bit of tightness or be carrying a heavier workload than normal. The advice might be that he's fine for 30 minutes, fine for 60, or that another 90 minutes probably isn't a great idea. They'll also look at recovery, how the player has been training, how many minutes he's played recently and his own injury history. A 21-year-old who has hardly missed a game through injury might be treated differently from a 30-year-old with a history of hamstring problems. The opposition (and the playing surface, no matter how much some people like to dismiss it) comes into it as well. The coaching staff will have analysed them and worked out where they think they can afford to make changes without weakening the team too much. So the manager might effectively be getting told that Player A is absolutely fine, Player B has played a lot but isn't a concern, Player C is showing signs of fatigue and Player D is carrying a minor issue that could become a bigger problem. He then has to make the decision. That's particularly relevant for a club like ours when we're playing Thursday-Sunday-Thursday and have been doing that for several weeks. Some players could end up playing four or five games in a fortnight if you just keep putting out the strongest XI. That doesn't mean rotation is always the right decision. Managers can still get it wrong. You can change too many players, lose the rhythm of the team and end up going out of a competition you had a decent chance of progressing in. Teams far bigger with managers far more experienced than us have slipped on that banana peel before. But I do think it's worth remembering when we see a team selection we don't like that the manager isn't working with the same information we are. We're looking at the names on the teamsheet. He's looking at the teamsheet plus all the physical, medical, training and opposition information behind it. We can argue with the decision he eventually makes. But there's usually a lot more behind that decision than simply "Europe is more important, so we'll rest a few players."

There is still hope for willy vogt , but there is absolutely no hope for you.