joewarkfanclub

What a difference. Feared the worst when I saw SOD line up at left back when the obvious thing was to push Lamie out there, but SOD had a decent game in that position and certainly assisted with the attacking play down the left in the first half. The midfield of Slattery, Conrnelius and Goss was far more cohesive than anything we have seen for most of the season and gave us a platform to play from. Shields looks a much better player when he can play through the middle and run the channels. His first goal had shades of Dougie Arnott about it. A couple of defensive blunders aside we dominated the first half and throughly deserved to be in the lead. Second have Saints changed it up and it took too long for me for us to make the change to combat their new shape, but we defended well enough and when the changes did come, they were the right ones and we finished strongly. Much improved, and if the manager can avoid any brainfarts next week, top 6 is within our grasp.

And breathe!

I think that is a little naiive. If we win our next 2 games we could end up top 6 and of course relegation chat does look ridiculous if you are then pushing for a European spot. But given the form we are in would it really be a big surprise if we lost them both by the odd goal? If we end up in the bottom 6 and St Johnstone get any sort of result in there remaining games then the gap really is too close for comfort. With all the bottom 6 teams having to llay each other, it could very quickly become a dogfight, so its not ridiculous at all. I will feel far more comfortable if we can win tomorrow and give ourselves some breathing space.

I can only boast 50 years active service, but I cant disagree with a word of your post. I share the feelings of exasperation that many Well fans are experiencing right now. But they need to be balanced against the reality of the situation. No wins in 11 league games is a desperate record for any Motherwell manager, let alone one serving up such desperate fare. But he has 2 games to secure top 6 and probably his job. I for one will have no interest in renewing my season ticket next year if there isnt some indication that the current brand of football is a means to an end and will be addressed close season. I work shifts so cant go to all our home games anyway. So it will be back to picking and choosing for me.

They may not indicate anything. But the inexplicable benching of our most competent midfielder and other extremely strange team selections dont do anything to dampen the fire. The veil of secrecy that GA also throws around the injury status of players is also very frustrating. I get that he doesnt want to hand opponents an advantage, but if fans dont understand whats going on with the squad its not surprising they jump to their own conclusions. Part of the frustration is, that as a fan owned club, we have been used to unfettered access to information on players and all matters associated with the club, that this new approach feels foreign to us.

Im never sure whether your replies are based on reliable information or hypotheticals. FWIW, I was genuinely surprised that we were able to get Kelly on a permanent contract at all. So I would surmise there must have been some wheeling and dealing done to secure his signature. I personally wouldnt have any ill feeling towards Kelly or the club if he moves on, particularly if we were to secure a fee for doing so. However, given my previous comment it wouldnt surprise me if there is a deal where a significant part of the fee goes to him as the sweetener for his original signature. I will be very disappointed to see him go, but it will happen at some point. Its just the way it is for clubs like ours.

We play in a league full of average players. Right now our average players havent won in 11 games, including home games v Ross County and Dundee. Our problem isnt our average players. Its how they are being deployed. The fact that rumours abound about some of our better average players being benched for speaking truth to the manager would indicate there is indeed a problem. Of course you may know more, would be generally interested to hear your thoughts.

Didnt see the game on Saturday, so cannot comment. But lets not be kidded that the football since Xmas has been any worse than it was before. The main difference is results. Before we were winning games by fine margins. Now we are losing them by fine margins. The football was awful to watch and is still awful to watch. As far as Alexander is concerned, there is still no chance he gets sacked before the end of the season. He still has 2 games to get us top 6 and will be given the opportunity. If that doesnt happen his remit will be to ensure we get as high a finish as possible. Its not impossible if we were to finish bottom 6 that St Johnstone could reel us in. When you play all the teams around you after the split and go into it in such a poor run of form it is easy to go into freefall. He would then be demanded to win a play off. I think the only way he gets sacked is if we get relegated. My main concern is if we narrowly stay up and are subjected to more of the same next season. As a fan owned club its really important to keep our fanbase on side and the atmosphere is getting quite poisonous and that can become self fulfilling. Alexander seems very stubborn. He shows no sign of altering his philosophy. The rotation of the squad just seems to be how he likes to do things and the long ball percentage football just keeps on coming and is desperate to watch. I wouldnt be sad to see him go right now. But I wont be holding my breath. The board will have a decision to make though once the seasons over and we see where are.

I dont think O'Hara signing a pca is necessarily the issue here. My concern is if it points to a deeper malaise within the club. If average players are jumping ship at the first opportunity, we may have a problem.

Clarke is a fairly safety first pragmatic manager. He goes with experience and who he can trust. Both Gordon and Marshall have cash in the bank in that regard (much like O'Donnell). It would he a good opportunity to give Kelly a debut in one of the games, so its out the way should he find himself suddenly thrust into the position, but in reality, I dont thinknhe is likely to get much game time if any as Clarke will want to maintain momentum for the play offs. Id be delighted to be proved wrong though.

Pleased for them both. Be nice to see them both get game time. But I would imagine Marshall and Gordon will get a game each.

Longer than 50 secs....... We all know that, rightly or wrongly, referees tend to be more lenient in the first few minutes of a game. The days of getting the first one for free may be over, but allowances are still made until the game settles down.

Couldnt make the game yesterday so had to make do with watching online. Re the red card. I personally didnt think it merited one, particualy so early in the game. But as others have said, we all know what Collum is like, so it wasnt a clever tackle from Bevis for that reason alone. That fact that none of us can agree whether it was or wasnt, and that there was such a wide range of opinion from former players, even of the ex Hibs variety, shows there was at least some dubiety over it. I agree with all of those who said VAR would have made no diffence in this case for those reasons alone. Formation wise, I really couldnt fathom the team selection and, because of the red card, we will never know wither it was a stroke of genius from GA or just another brainfart out of what has now become amusingly known as "the tombola". Cant fault the players for effort though. Every one (bar maybe KVV and Ojala) put in an absolute shift and the Mount of ground that Donnelly and Cornelius covered in particular, was very impressive. I thought Ojala was at fault for both the goals, although McGinley should have stopped the ball coming in for the first. The big fella just doesnt look to have fully recovered his fitness and he was holding his thigh again and moving uncomfortably before half time when he was hooked. Starting to think he is gonna be another perpetually injure played much like Charles Dunne. We played very well 2nd half, albeit Hibs sat off us a bit to protect what they had and but for some better finishing (Roberts first half) and better decision making (Woolery 2nd half) I think we could have snatched a draw and taken it to extra time. However, we didnt, and its gone, so we need to move on quickly and concentrate on getting into that top 6. Lets leave the recriminations until seasons end and deal with the fallout then.

I thought Cornelius and Roberts both had pretty decent games. But gave it to Lamie. He has barely put a foot wrong all season and its quite gaulinh we will be losing our best centre half this season to a team getting relegated.

Id fancy there are likely to be more away fans than home fans for this one.....

He was also out injured yesterday. Dont know how long for, but these things can also happen....

If I was picking a team to get our best players on the park and make us hard to beat whilst making us easier on the eye, I would be going with ‐--------------------------Kelly--------------------- Mugabi------Ojala------Lamie------Carroll ‐---------------Slattery-------O'Hara------------- --------Woolery------Tierney-------Efford -------------------------KVV------------------------ There are arguments for playing McGinley at right back or even playing Sol and pushing Lamie out to the right as we did yesterday, but the midfield would allow us to link front and back without the need of a rocket launcher. Roberts and Shields would be contenders for Effords position. Donnelly I would keep on the bench as a defensive option if we need to close out a game rather than putting on 6 centre halves. Id love to get Cornelius more game time as well as I believe he has shown enough to deserve it, but that might require some more tinkering re shape. Others may have their own thoughts and Im happy to be shot down by those who are more tactically astute. But for me, our squad is capable of much better if utilised in a more productive manner.

I dont think there has been much difference between the first half of the season and the second. We maybe had a little more of an edge about us before the break and were far more clinical in taking our chances which gave us a foothold in games and probably maintained confidence in the players, but some of the football was still turgid stuff. There were games where it was a little more entertaining, the first game of the season v Hibs and the first Aberdeen game springs to mind. Was Tony Watt the difference? Hard to tell, but losing our best player didnt help, albeit his continued good form couldnt be guaranteed had the club blocked his move. The next few weeks are huge for the club and for GA. Beat Hibs and get to a Cup semi final, regardless of our league form should see him safe. Lose, but win a couple of games to secure top 6 and a crack at Europe likewise. Lose to Hibs and fail to win any of the last 3 games end up bottom 6 and it could be a different story as the fan pressure will build. I dont think we are in danger of the drop as its hard to see Dundee or St Johnstone winning 4 games between now and the end of the season. But I would prefer not to have to take that chance. Its now down to GA and the players.

Re the booing. I never boo during the game, or direct criticism at individual players for the reasons already discussed. But supporters must have the right to boo at half time or at full time to let the manager know they arent pleased with whats being served up. If we dont, how is he to know how we feel about whats on show? Whats his motivation to change it ? Given how dire the performance was yesterday, I thought the support were fairly restrained. It also struck me that whenever we actually tried to play a little bit of football yesterday we got some success in getting into their box and creating chances. Every time we lumped it forward or put a long throw into the box we lost it. Surely that cant have escaped the managers attention? I dont think our support are any worse than any other and I actually think our fans are pretty desperate to have something to applaud and get enthusiastic about (you just have to look back to some of the games at the start of the season when there appeared to be a really strong bond building to see that) Its up to the manager and the players to provide that spark.

To be fair, Robbo tried him at centre half and he wasn't that great there either......

I agree its not Donnellys fault he is being picked. All he can do is try his best. The problem is, that by only playing 3 in midfield we cant afford to have a holding midfielder who cant also build the play. In a different set up we could maybe get away with him sitting and just breaking up play whilst others do the creative stuff, but his weaknesses are exposed in this system.

I went for Lamie. Given the difficult position he was placed in by the manager, he showed the ultimate profesionalism and put in a very solid performance against his new employers. Hard to believe he is the same player who looked quite exposed at right back last season.

Not much I can say about todays game that hasnt already been said. I think we reached a watershed with GA and this team today. Our league position and points total is undoubtedly acceptable. We are in no danger of relegation and still in touch of a top 6 finish and potential Europa League qualification. We are also still in the cup with a home tie against a Hibs side that have lost their best player and in a form slump of their own. That being the case, the response from the fans at the final whistle today has to send some sort of signal to GA and the board. The fans are quite simply not happy with the product on the park. Its brutal to watch and was only ever going to be suffered when we were getting results. I actually feel quite sorry for the players, as I think they are capable of playing far more football than they are being allowed to by the manager. Whether that would result in us collecting any more points is up for question. But its clear the fans would like to at least see us give it a go. It doesnt have to be either / or. We can hit a happy medium between pragmatism and entertainment. Nobody is expecting Barcelona tiki - taka, but we do have midfielders capable of playing more football than we are currently seeing. O'Hara was our best midfielder by a mile today until Slattery came on. The crowd made it quite clear what it thought about the fact it was O'Hara making way for him. We need to change our shape and get the likes of Slattery, Shaw, O'Hara, Tierney and Goss all on the pitch together. Maybe then we can get some decent service to KVV instead of just big lumps up the pitch being knocked on to no one in particular. Our players may not be world beaters. But they are better than they are currently being allowed to show.

Must win game if we have top 6 aspirations. Will be tough as Ross County have proved in recent weeks they are no mugs and always give us a tough game. Will all be down to team selection and attitude on the night. Get both those things right and we should just about have enough quality to get us over the line.

I would expect GA to be quite ruthless in the summer. He has shown he isnt afraid to drop/move players on who arent good enough or who dont buy into his philosophy. Will be interesting to see who out of the list above he thinks he can trust.