joewarkfanclub

I was okay with the starting selection to begin with as he has earned the right to prove us all wrong. But it was fairly obvious from early in the second half that we needed fresh legs and more width to counteract what United were doing, so my only beef is that the subs should have come earlier. We looked more of a threat when Longelo and Said came on. Be nice to see them start on Saturday.

Agreed. We need to be winning this. We have proved team selection isnt necessarily defining for a Jens team, but attitude will be. Come out the blocks firing with the desire to make a statement. Lets go into the tough holiday period feeling good about ourselves.

I thought Slattery gave the ball away a lot today, but he was always available to take it again and never hid. Not his best day at the office, but he was in the same boat as a number of others. Fadinger for example started very poorly, although he came onto a game and put himself about a bit defensively. I do agree though, Slattery isnt at the level he was at last season or at the start of this one. It does look as if his fitness has gone back a little bit. Not sure if thats lack of game time or lifestyle choices. Hopefully he can back to his early season levels as we go into the new year.

No real stand out today. Loads of ok performances. Coulda picked McGinn, Watt, Fadinger, Just. Went for Johnny K just because he was solid again playing out of position.

Thought the wind spoiled that today. Or at least stopped us playing our football. Loads of "nearly" passes with a lot of things just not quite coming off. I still thought we were the better team in both halves and at least tried to get the ball down and play. Thought United played for longer balls and set pieces. Good to get a 5th clean sheet on the bounce and nudge the unbeaten run upnto 9 but disappointing not to sneak it at the end. 3 points next week is a must.

As an aside, but still talking about what we want from our goalkeeper, how good would Big Sieb be in this team? 😆😆😆

This would generally be the case for most Motherwell keepers as in the past we would generally have less possession of the football and be backs to the wall at times. This side? Im not so sure. As Wellfan says, our best form of defence this season has been keeping the ball. Its a very weird feeling......

Now that we are all much more comfortable with Jensball, Im all up for more Cruyff Turns on top of our unecessary passes & dribbles! Just need to sort the striker berth to get back to having more high goal shoots! 😆😆😆

Never saw Dixie play but my auld man raved about him. I imagine if we had someone like him right now we would win the league! RIP Dixie.

No one should be abused at their place of work. And it should go without saying that no-ones family should be abused at their place of work either. However, football is an emotional game, as SK showed repeatedly on the touchline with us and on Saturday night at Kilmarnock. If you have been in the game for as long as he has, you know this, and you deal with it. I dont wish any ill on him or his family. As others have said, we have much to thank him for. But the manner in which he left did leave a bad taste in the mouth, so I wont be weeping any tears for him regarding his current travails either.

Given that you forecast a 4-1 win at the weekend I will embrace this new positivity! All aboard the Jens hype train! 😍😍😍

Need to see the highlights back. I dont recall it, so cant think that it could be that bad. The shot in the first half is a bad miss though. I know you are taught to go back across goal but its mid height and no power in it. He should have smashed it. Left or right side, matters not. The keeper got plenty time to look at it.

I would think thats likely. He has had to be patient for his minutes so far. But I really like him as a player. Hopefully he will seize the opportunity with both hands so TJ has to fight for his position when he gets back.

I think it says a lot that when we played without AP or Hendry against Hibs we didnt lose anything. We just put someone else in there to do the job and continued regardless. Albeit it was a very specific tactic to try and isolate Hanley and make sure we stopped them building anything. Again yesterday, Livvy tried something different to put us off our game, but we found a way to adjust and figured it out. The manager just continues to impress. I think we need to enjoy it while it lasts as he is clearly destined for bigger things.

Always a hard venue for us to pick up points. But Uniteds form has dropped off a fair bit, so I sense an opportunity to get something out of this and keep the run going. A point would be a good return. 3 points, and we will be making another statement. A full weeks rest and training should help. Lets do this.

I dont recall the header but take your word for it. My eyesight isnt what it used to be! I agree with the rest though. Even if Jens is happy with what Stama and Hendry do for the team, another striker in a different mould is a must in January. We cant keep relying on Maswanhises goals, espencially when he will be away to Afcon shortly. No idea if Sule would be that man or if he will even be fit by January, but it would be a lot to expect him to hit the ground running so Id be wanting us to have someone else in mind.

Johnny K for me all day long. Was at it right from the start and was very aggressive in the tackle and going forwards. Livvy couldnt deal with him and had to resort to kicking him to slow him down, which they did. How Kettlewell never saw a player in this boy is anyones guess.....

Was waiting for this. Yes, was a bad miss. Should have scored. But point me in the direction of any other chances he had today other than his penalty. On the other hand Hendry missed 2 just as bad but he runs about and does things so doesnt get the same criticism? For clarity, Im not excusing Stama's misses. Just putting context around why his goal return might not be what would want/expect.

Given the changes we made again, I thought that was a very decent performance, albeit with still room for improvement. We are a better team with Watt in midfield no doubt. But felt that when he had to go off, Priestman did well and Fadinger really stepped up. Thought Johnny K was excellent all day until he had to go off after a couple of really late tackles on him. Thought SOD looked rusty first half, but came onto a bit more of a game second half. 3 goals going on 5 or 6 with gears to spare. 6 points off top. Cant really complain.

DORIS to you sir! 😆😆😆

I understand the debate and doubt over Stama and Hendry. Statistically you can make a case for saying neither are very good when it comes to measuring their worth as a striker. However, that really depends on what their role in the team is and what they are being asked to do. No one actually knows that, and only Jens can really assess whether they are worth their place in the team or not. For what its worth, I did think Stama would have come good by now and scored more goals from open play, and since that hasnt happened, Im willing to conceed that we will be looking for re-inforcements come January. However, I keep hearing that Stama has continually fluffed his lines and Im struggling to recall this conveyor belt of sitters he has missed that proves any point. Similarly with Hendry. We are not a team that continually gets to the by line and throws the ball into the box for a striker to attack or pays off second balls that they could exploit. Everything we do is very measured and controlled to the extent we look like we are trying to score thw perfect goal on every occasion. As a result our strikers are lucky if they are getting 1 or 2 chances per game. Even Haaland would steuggle off that. And for those complaining that Maswanhise is just a winger and as such his goals dont seem to count as much? Id point out he plays a similar position to Mo Salah, and no one is saying he isnt a striker......

Some of us are old enough to applaud that! 👏👏👏

No idea how we will line up. Hopefully Watt is rested and good to go again. Wouldnt be averse to the 4-6-0 again with Just, Cookie & Maswanhise up top. I quite liked it! Think we will dominate possession on our lovely bowling green of a pitch and hopefully have too much for Livvy. 3 points is a must with another tough away tie next week.

Anyone know what is actually wrong with Watt? I note he wasnt even on the bench, so suggests more than just rotation / load protection.

Wild Sheep Enterprises anyone?