joewarkfanclub

Our workrate and effort out of possession is commendable. We kept our shape for the most part and the score wasnt humiliating. However, we have absolutely no quality and composure on the ball and provide virtually zero threat going forward. You cant provide any threat to the opposition with 18% of the ball and I refuse to believe the players arent capable of more as they have proved otherwise albeit sporadically already this season. I like Stevie Frail and he has spoken well this week. I also accept that ripping up the way we play against the best team in the league may have not been the smartest thing to do going into this game. But the result we got was so depressingly predictable and if he wont change things going forward he has no chance of being considered for the current vacancy.

This team cant beat Celtic. Especially given the way we will set up. Anything less than 3 will be a miracle. Next game please.

Jordan McGhee would complete the set and should be enough reinforcements to see us through to the injured players returning. I suspect though, that things will continue to look ugly and dysfunctional for a few weeks yet. I do think that eventually we will have enough quality to see us safe, but its not looking great right now. Where that will leave the manager in the summer is anyones guess.

Good news is Im on holiday and cant make this. Bad news is one of the guys Im away with is a huge Celtic fan. Hoping to hide his mobile phone so we dont need to discuss this.

Hard to pick a definitive winner this week as it is based mostly on the first 45 minutes as the 2nd 45 was poor. Best first half were Halliday, Sparrow, Nicholson and Watt. Watt lasted the longest but I went for Hallidaybas I felt he was much improved and showed some leadership until he had to be replaced.

Well, what to say...... Hopes were raised on seeing the team lineups as it looked like a 4-3-3 or similar. Then the game started and it was clear it was still a 5 at the back and my heart sunk. To be fair, the changes did help as we had more legs and energy in the team and were able to press and win the ball back further up the field than in recent weeks. As a result we looked a lot more solid and created a few chances that might have seen us comfortable had better decisions been made in the final 3rd. Second half started ok, but as soon as we started to make changes we just started to retreat to our own goal line. The fact that we get to 84 minutes 1-0 up away from home and cant see a game out is a real concern. SK comments after the game seems to throw the players under the bus. You have to wonder how long they will continue to back him as a group. He is not responding well to the pressure being applied and we arent even in a relegation battle yet. This looks like its heading only one way. I dont take any pleasure in it and Im not going to call for his head just yet, but like many of the other more reasonable posters on here I am at the end of my tether........

Exactly. Anyway. Actions speak louder than words. I will watch with interest as to how we line up tomorrow, the tactics we employ, and obviously how the game pans out. I hope for a positive result!

Seems like we can actually scout more than one position at a time! Funny that! Hopefully he is of the required standard and we get the deal done!

So we should ignore his remarks about "so called experts"? If he isnt talking about us, who is he talking about? Im all for cutting him slack on performances, injuries etc, but those comments go too far for me......

Not fussed how many he scores. If he can hold the ball up, bring others into play and get us up the pitch it will be an improvement to what we have been seeing recently. Obviously the odd goal here and there would help, but I dont think thats why we are signing him. We beed a foil for Stama when he comes back. A Bowman for our Moult so to speak. If he can do that we will have won a watch.

Its not just those that are against him that are bothered by the tone. There are a few of us on here who have been generally supportive who are somewhat irked by this interview. I certainly dont expect SK to be taking advice from me, but when you work in a customer centred environment and your customers tell you en masse (Perth) what you are doing isnt good enough, you should at least stop for a second and see if there is another way to meet your objectives. If you double down and keep heading in the same direction, you run the risk of alienating your customer who decide to keep their money in their pockets. For a football manager that rarely ends well.

Exactly. He just told everyone who was in Perth last week that their opinion doesnt matter to him as they never played the game. Talk about pouring oil on the fire!

Note to SK. Beware the Happy Clapper who stops clapping. It means everyone else has too!

As someone who has defended SK through thick and thin last season and this, I find the tone of that interview pretty disrespectful (despite the lengths he has gone to to assure me it is not!) Just because I havent played football at any decent level doesnt mean I cant see whats in front of my own eyes or offer an opinion on where we are going wrong. If that was the case Jose Mourihno shouldnt have been any good as a football manager. Most of our fans are NOT knee jerk. The vocal minority maybe. But I think most fans (in the stands at least) have been pretty patient with the manager and the team EXACTLY because of the difficult circumstances we have encountered this season. That doesnt cover over the further mistakes we believe are being made in tactics, team selection, in game management etc. He could and should be making better use of the players available by using tactics and formations that get the best out of everyone. Im not buying for a minute that we have used a vast array of tactical options this season. It has been mostly sit tight, allow the opposition possession, absorb pressure until they make a mistake and try and counter. He is increasingly coming across as a manager under pressure and has utterly disrespected the view of the nearly 2k Motherwell fans who were in Perth last weekend. If he really does double down this weekend and go with more of the same, he better hope the players are able to dig out a win for him. Adapt or die. Its the first law of survival.

If he is just in for back up and not immediately pushing Archie Mair out of the first team then Im ok with it. As stated we have limited options at this time of year and we need more than our youth keeper on the bench when our first pick is just a boy. But I wouldnt be so enthused if it was felt he was goung to be a longer term solution!

Thats my beef with it. Keeper can get away with that but Watt is punished for less. The Dundee United handball as well. Comes straight over his team mates shoulder, his arm is up to help him jump (natural position for the action) and it comes off his head and steikes his arm. Not sure what the defender can do in that circumstance, other than not challenge for the ball in the first place, which is clearly a ludicrous suggestion. Anyway. Better than no clarification at all, so more power to them.

Interesting stuff. Not sure I agree on some of the decisions, but good to get some transparency.

Excellent post. My feelings exactly!

Fans will still be unhappy. But not on the same scale as they will if we go down doing the same thing and in the same gutless fashion. Your loyalty to the club and the manager is admirable. But here is a question for you. At what point does your critical thinking kick in and question whether he is still the right man for the job? Or does he have your unwavering support regardless of the circumstances?

I think thats a fair point. Alexander failed to learn a single thing from the Sligo home game and played exactly the same way in the away leg and got the same result. If SK does the same, he should expect the wrath of the fans to come down on him. It would be an absolutely ludicrous thing to do.

We played some good stuff when he immediately took over and some of the football we played last year with Spittal, Miller, Paton and Slattery/Nicholson was excellent. So it hasnt all been awful to watch. This season has been a different matter, with the odd exception here and there, its been pretty ugly. Robinsons Thunderdome team wasnt the prettiest, but it was still exciting. Thats the difference hear. Its ugly AND boring. We are also way too passive.

I would say Robinson and Kettlewell are similar in a lot of respects. The main difference is that when Robinson finally realised his preferred way of playing wasnt working, he did change it up and did something different. Obviously that also went tits up in the end. SK still has time to show he can re-invent himself and this team, but he needs to do it soon before he totally loses the support, or the booing will only get louder.

Thanks for the clarification, and I dont disagree with most if it. Modern life in general is far less tolerant than it used to be. Society has been groomed to want the next best thing now and that you dont necessarily have to wait or work hard for it. No doubt Wee Tommy would have found it tough in the current circumstances. I dont think you are in the minority though wanting SK to get it right and turn things around. Ive been beating the Slattery, Nicholson, Paton, Miller drum for a while. I (and a number of our other more patient posters) just think time is running out and the manager needs to show a realisation that there are more ways to win a game of football than the one currently being employed. He needs to buy himself time until his favoured midfield / set up is fit and available to play. Saturday is a must win. Any way possible. I dont care how ugly it is or what tactics require to be employed. But we need to give ourselves some breathing space again. That said, the same passive long ball tactics which have been failing, would be unacceptable.

I normally enjoy your posts as they are always thoughtful and well reasoned, but I think you are off the mark with this one. The manager and the team may or may not be in turmoil, I would say thats quite a subjective assessment. But things in the garden are certainly not rosy. We have a squad with 9 injured players, several of them long term, a situation which has been pretty much ever present since the start of the season. The team is misfiring badly and is struggling to create any meaningful chances, far less score consistently. We cant keep a clean sheet. We have a manager who is wedded to a system he doesnt have the players to implement and shows no sign of changing it. The style of football has been terrible for large parts of the season and we just got knocked out of the cup by the worst team in the league without so much as a whimper. Ive defended SK on here for the most part as there has been plenty of mitigation for performances and the circumstances he has had to face. We ARE still in a reasonably healthy position in the league, and until that changes he does deserve the opportunity to turn things around. But lets not pretend its a conversation that shouldnt be happening, because its getting talked about plenty in the stands and in the pubs. Thats not to say the discourse surrounding the subject cant be more respectful. But we shouldnt be comparing this place to Twitter or Facebook.

Exactly this. Simo knew exactly how we were going to play on Saturday, regardless of the personnel and he set his team up accordingly with a high press, knowing our 3 x CBs wouldnt be able to cope with it and would end up hoofing it long. SK has shown that he is willing and the players are capable of changing things up later in games. He needs to change what we are doing from the start and pose teams different questions. We are currently less than the sum of our parts. He needs to find a way to build a better collective.