joewarkfanclub

That was another tough watch today, particularly in the first half where we played literally zero football and restricted ourselves to one long range shot at goal all half. Folk can point to the pitch as an excuse, but Livvy seemed to manage to pass it around fine on it and were well worthy of their first half lead, albeit it came from another poor mistake from Carroll who got his body shape all wrong. Second half was a little better and at least we looked a little more dangerous until we gifted them their second by not closing down quick enough. Why it took GA until nearly 70 minutes to ring the changes, only he knows. But ultimately he did make them and the one pleasing thing about the day was the character the players showed to keep going and dig out the result. Absolutely delighted to get the point and make top 6. With only 1 point between ourselves, Ross County and United, a European spot has to be the target. It would also be nice if we could put in a few more performances like last week and much less like todays. Longer term, GA will now be our manager going forward whether we like it or not. Lets hope he has a development plan that will make us easier on the eye next season.

I presume SOD must have been one of those ill at the start of the week?

Woolery is always gonna be one of these guys who splits opinion, a bit like Chris Humphrey. Lightning quick but frustrating as hell. I think the disappointing thing was that we waited so long for him to fulfill what looked like potential and the minute he actually had a couple of good games he was back on the bench. I agree that Efford is probably a safer choice right now, but regardless of how Woolery plays, he does force the opposition to have to think a little differently as to how they are going to defend. If they push too high a line he has the pace to hurt them.

He will probably be at St Mirren next year if they sell Alnwick!

Crowding tbe box and blocking space for a free run seems to be the order of the day. Cant argue with the stats if they support it. But as a team who seem set up for the counter attack its very frustrating to see us regularly clear the ball from our box to see it come straight back in again. Stats or not Id much prefer to see 1 of Shields or Woolery or Efford or KVV left up to at least give us a chance to counter

If Slattery is off at the end of the season, I hope its because someone has come in for him and offered a big fat transfer fee. But given he hasnt been playing, thats unlikely!

It was never nailed on, and yesterdays win makes it more unlikely. But its still not impossible so we should continue to keep our counsel until after next week!

SOD was unlucky with the first goal yesterday. Our 2 centre halves were posted missing and he was forced to come in from the left to cover the space. He gets decent first contact on the ball. Not sure you can blame him for it rebounding off Sol into Brophy's path. I must confess I thought GA had totally lost it yesterday when I saw the team line up on the field. I naturally assumed SOD would be on the right and Lamie on the left with Bevis and Sol in the middle. I still think that would have been preferable, but I thought SOD had a decent enough game on the left.

Not having seen much of Livvy this season, Im not really sure how they play, so hard to say how we should line up. But Im all for not changing a winning team as it sends out the signal to the rest of the squad that this is the minimum standard required to stay in the team. That said, I always worry about their pitch. Its so weather dependent. Hot and dry and it will be like a glue pot impossible to dribble on. Pishing down and it could be a lot more playable but with long balls skidding off the surface. Hard to prepare a gameplan with such variables. Fingers crossed we can get another performance out of the team. I will take winning ugly this week if thats what it takes.

I said exactly this at the game. Much more comfortable for the fans to see us defending the ball at their corner flag than camped back in our box. Much better game management.

I agree with much of that. I think the frustration is that, if it had not been for the managers inexplicable mistakes, top 6 would have been home and hosed weeks ago. He has many fine qualities, but he needs to identify his weaknesses and learn from them by not making the same mistakes over and over again. Oh, and bin the hoofball. Today proves we can actually play a bit and still get results.

The midfield 3 were all excellent today and I could have given it to any of them. However, I went for Shields. He led the line well, ran the channels and took his 2 goals well. Showed exactly what he can offer if played more centrally. KVV remains an enigma for me. He has moments of absolute brilliance in a game, but too often looks lazy and disinterested. Case in point was Cornelius goal. He played a sumblime pass to Efford, but instead of bursting a gut to get into the box for the return he just stood back and admired his good work. Thankfully for him Cornelius did burst a gut and finished well, so his actions were overlooked. I will forgive him though. His run for the 4th goal is absolute quality.

I think a point does us. I dont see Ross County beating Aberdeen away or Hibs beating Hearts. However, 3 points has to be the goal if we are targetting the European place. It would be nice to finish 4th and give wee Tony a slap in the puss.

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.