joewarkfanclub

You talking about the Killie game? At the game I thought it was a red. He was late and his studs were up. Looked like he caught him on the knee. Was hard to tell how much force was used and Im not sure the tv pictures help with that. Given that the ref was right there and immediately gave the red card, Im not sure how they could justify the overturn. PS I think it is an issue. At 1-1 and Killie down to 10 men, you would have to fancy our chances. Particularly as we scored right after that.

I dont hate it. But think we are a bit lopsided unless we are playing without width and relying on the full backs to get forward. Lowry has to play central to dictate play and pick passes. Your general points have merit though.

I think Ive got to the stage Id like to see Matty Connelly given a chance. I know for confidence reasons, a manager will always support his goalkeeper, but when part of the way we play requires good distribution, its hard to stick by someone when its harming the team. The mistakes I could actually live with for a while, but outside of those, his distribution still isnt great. Connolly has always seemed very comfortable with the ball at his feet. He is a little on the short side for me, but I think the other side of his game would have benefits. He is also "Our Player" and Id like to see us try to develop him if we are having issues with a loanee. Your thoughts would be appreciated YT.

We didnt really tighten up until after the League Cup Semi Final v St Mirren and that was in November.

Not sure Im in this camp. I am concerned, so not officially backing him. However, in the spirit of the question, I think it all depends on performances. If he can turn that around and scrape a few draws here and there or even the odd win then Id be of a mind to stick rather than twist. Butnif the performances continue to be increasingly poor and we continue to lose games, then I think it becomes increasingly difficult. Ask me again at the next international break.

Fancy it? I will put the cones out if you pick the team! 😍😍😍

Hard to give it to anyone based on a 45 minute performance but went for Lowry.

Its gonna be a long week!

Ultimately, there is no way the Executive Board are emptying Alfred this early. They have backed him heavily and have to give him time to try and get it right. If we get into December and are cut adrift at the bottom then there is a conversation to be had before tge January window. These are his players and he/they will be given every opportunity to turn it around. Apart from anything else, if we get back to having a reputation of showing managers absolutely no patience, it thens becomes difficult to recruit anyone decent in the future. There are clearly huge doubts hanging over him right now, but I dont think its a total lost cause, as there were flickers of hope in that first half today. Individual errors are absolutely killing us right now. The players have to take some responsibility for that. But Alfred also has to provide tge best platform for them to be able to play their football. Its gonna be a long week......

I actually thought that we played pretty well for the majority of the first half. The sucidal start apart, we got in their faces, won the ball high, played some nice football and created a good few chances. Felt like we were in control of the game at that point and could have been a couple of goals in the clear. The second half capitulation though, wow! Kilmarnock didnt even have to do anything special either. A few long balls over the top, 2 more gifts and we were done. How the same group of players can put in such markedly different levels of performance in the same game, is absolutely wild. We are now in deep shit and Im not sure the manager looks like he knows how to get us out of it. Starting to fear the worst......

The Motherwell fanbase hasnt lost its shit though? There are some dissenting voices, sure. But it was always thus. What there has been is vigorous and open debate about our current shortcomings and what can be improved upon to get better results. Any organisation that has a desire to improve needs that. Just nodding and pretending everything is fine never helped anyone.

I see Johnny K is available for selection on Saturday. I wonder if we will see him make an appearance or whether SOD goes to RB with Sparrow in front of him. We certainly need to strengthen the RHS of the pitch somehow. We cant be go into Saturday as wide open as we were last week.

Exactly why he needs to get the team selection and tactics right on Saturday. Trust has to be earned before it is given.

I really hope not. That really would be verging on insanity. We need a result. He needs to play the players that have shown him he can trust.

I dont think we are actually miles apart in our viewpoints. I support a lot of what you are saying about the fans, lack of patience or knowledge about what may or may not be going on behind the scenes.

I think 20 - 30 minutes as a sub, and if successful putting him in against Kilmarnock away might have been kinder/less precipitous. But aye, its hard to see a way back for him now. I hope Im wrong. I really want him to make the grade.

I dont condone fans booing individual players at any time. As you say, it is entirely counter productive. Im also sympathetic to the general theme of your posts. But I agree wholeheartedly with the subsequent posts of KMcAlpin and Wellfan. Giving Willy Vogt his first start in weeks against the best team in the league was frought with danger. I could understand giving him 30 minutes at the end if the game was going well. But Alfred effectively threw him in at the deep end and told him to go swim.

GA 15 is a quality dram! 🧡❤️🧡

Thats absolutely fine. And if Willy hadnt been hopelessly out of his depth and harming the team, then no one would argue. But his first half was so bad that it was very clear that it wasnt going to end well. By not substituting him he merely prolonged the agony and risked damaging the player further due to the reaction from some if the less patient members in our support. FWIW, I wouldnt be championing Maswanhise right now given the form he has been in regardless of any rumours. Said on the other hand brings something to the table most weeks. Despite the chaotic nature of his play on the ball, he is quite disciplined tactically and always works hard for the team.

Has there been a media backlash against us? I dont buy newspapers, so no idea what they are saying. Sportsound was always anti Jens due to him showing their old boys network up. Halliday and Stewart were always pretty positive, Tom English a bit of a weather vane, the rest not so much.

Only got 20 minutes. Game was gone by then, so no real chance to impress.

It may well be that Alfred is well aware of where the problems lay on Sunday and is just protecting the player (a little too late imho). If that is the case then I would expect to see something very different on Saturday. If we do, lesson learned, we can move on. If not and we get another insipid, passive performance with no press and no control of the football, then more questions will arise. You cant win every game. But here is a way to lose football matches, and going down swinging, playing your way on the front foot is more palatable than what we saw on Sunday.

Mmmmm. Who did he play on the right side again? 🤔🤔🤔

Graeme McGarry nails Sunday (12mins). Obviously, he doesnt have his coaching badges either, so he might not be seeing the big picture.

Aye. Not expecting the team to reach Jens levels anytime soon, if at all this season. But Id like to see a shape, structure, patterns of play, any evidence really that we are trying to implement the clubs/managers philosophy. We really havent controlled games in the way we did last season, even in the games we have played well. Thats led to more pressure on our defence and in our box, so no surprise we have conceded some cheap goals. We either need to get back to the fundamentals that made us successful last year, or just not play out from the back quite as much, especially when teams have shown they are ready and equipped to deal with that. The little chipped ball into midfield or into wide areas seems to have been disgarded in favour of the long ball to Seb. Whether thats because Paulsen just isnt as good at it, or Alfred doesnt want him playing it, I dont know. But there are still opportunities to find space on the pitch that we are not utilizing right now.