joewarkfanclub

My point wasnt that we shouldnt change the system now. It was more, do we actually have enough fit midfielders of sufficient quality to justify going to 4 at the back, which ultimately will require an extra body in midfield or up top?

I think Kaleta can be that player, but we dont play in a way that allows him to be. He has the pace and delivery but we regularly ignore him standing in acres of space on the right to fire balls at Stama and Maswanhise who have little or no chance to get it under control before they are challenged. Once our better midfielders are fit Id like to see us go to a four, not sure that now is the time though given what we have at our disposal. We can get width though if we play to Kaleta's strengths and push Maswanhise out wide left. Then maybe Stama et all would get some delivery to feed off.

I certainly dont think he will do so on Wednesday night for the reasons The Wellfan has given above. However, if the results and performances dont improve and we do end up on a winless run, he would need to be mental not to change it up. He must know he doesnt survive another 16 without a win?

You may have some merit in that. I go to watch my team because Im fed up watching the same sanitised ticky tacka Pepball being played by most top teams. The Euros this year were largely gash with maybe Georgia and Turkey being the only teams to buck the trend. However, my custom being guaranteed doesnt mean it should be taken for granted. The Well Society made a big deal this summer of wanting to grow our support as an alternative to outside investment. For that to happen the product has to be worth watching otherwise occasional supporters wont be enthused enough to return. That doesnt mean we need to be playing silky free flowing football. You are right in that we cant afford those kinds of players. But what we can do is get a solid team unit together and sprinkle it with a little fairy dust to create a halfway house where we are effective enough to win games, but attractive enough to not bore the shite out of everyone. SK did that to good effect last season. There have been glimpses of it this season (mostly in the second half of games when he has made changes) but Saturday was a huge step back.

The only real alternative in there at the moment is Halliday and he cant run. Maybe with Paton in there and Watt up front to help Stama, it wouldnt be as big an issue, but right now who can tell? I wouldnt be averse to trying Seddon in there to see what he can do but then you have the problem with the back 3 not being comfortable on the ball. Of course this is all predicated on keeping the back 3. Moving to a 4 would provide different options. Ox Kaleta Casey Gordon Seddon Miller Halliday Paton Maswanhise Watt Stama

I'd tred carefully there David. I know there is an argument to be made in favour of pragmatic football/managers when it gets you results, and I was broadly with you on the Alexander argument. Not that I (or you) was supportive of Alexander per se, I just didnt see him getting sacked when he had got his top 6 and qualified for Europe. The problem with it is that the environment becomes toxic before you even hit the winless streak as the football is so bad its not worth watching. So the minute results go against you the outcome is inevitible. FWIW, SK has shown that he can be more than that. Some of our football under him has been pretty good to watch. Peak Spittal, Slattery, Paton, Miller last season in our first game at Ibrox was a joy to watch. So Im hopeful that the current "Alexanderballesque" performances are a means to an end due to our injuries rather than a preference of style. It would seem madness for a fan owned club who claim to have a community ethos to choose to serve up football that will drive fans away instead of attract them. The proof will be in the pudding though. Lets hope it tastes sweet!

I would have brought Seddon on for Balmer. He played LCB very well against St Johnstone and played some very good passes out of defence. He also gave Wilson more security at the back and allowed him to go forward more. Watt through the middle would have been fine, but agree to then bring Moses on when we werent getting any delivery into the box seemed pointless. Paton should have been on at half time. Personally I would have hooked Davor as Halliday has more football in him, but neither could have complained about being hooked. I can only presume SK is still trying to manage Patons minutes to prevent him from breaking down again. Thatbeing the case he would seem an unlikely starter on Wednesday. Which would make our options limited.

A null vote could certainly be justified. Went for Ewan Wilson because he was probably the least worst of the starting 11. Paton made the most impact of any of the subs, by virtue of being able to do the basics. But he wasnt on long enough to justify MOTM

Assuming SK wont ditch 3 at the back, I think the best we can do is.... Ox Casey Gordon Seddon Kaleta Miller Paton Wilson Stama Watt Maswanhise Although, thats probably really a 3-5-2

Took a little time out last night to not think about football and digest what I saw yesterday. For the first time this season I am genuinely worried. We have had some poor performances this season, but they have generally all had some form of mitigation and we have generally bounced back with a win. Wasnt too enamoured with the starting 11 as Davor and Halliday together generally never goes well, albeit the change from a box to a diamond should have helped. But with Maswanhise being asked to play through the middle we really needed our wingbacks to push high and support the front 2 and this never happened causing us to get deeper and deeper until our defence and midfield were camped in our penalty area. We could have gone ahead if Balmer had converted but it was absolutely no surprise whatsoever when we conceded, and even more annoying that Hibs didnt have to do anything to work for either goal. The half time subs for me were all wrong. Stama wasnt having any impact, but he had been left so isolated he deserved at least a chance to show what he could do with Watt alongside him and Maswanhise out wide. He must be really evaluating his decision to join us now. We did get marginally better in the second half, but it was such a low bar it would have been impossible not to. Going 3-4-3 did improve our attacking impetus a little but it left us wide open at the back so was no surprise when we lost the 3rd and putting the game beyond us. My main bug bear from yesterday is that SK is back to picking the wrong starting formations and making baffling substitutions. We never seem to play to our strengths. Kaleta is an absolute flying machine and has proved he can deliver a good cross. But we dont have any patterns of play to get him on the ball in positions he can take on the defender. Miller has absolutely no support in midfield. It was telling that he started to look more effective when Paton came on as he at least seemed to be able to carry the ball and pass it to a team mate! Our defenders are all too similar. Casey, Gordon and Balmer all like a header and a wrestling match but none of them are great with the ball at their feet. Seddon really needs brought back in there until SOD or McGinn get back. With Davor and Halliday in front of that 3, its no surprise we cant keep the ball or build any passages of play. SK has some big questions ahead of Wednesday. He needs to find the right answers before this bump in the road turns into another malaise. I wont be able to defend another winless streak if he hasnt learned anything from last years.

Be interesting to see how we set up, but likely to be a diamond with Davor at the base, Halliday and Miller the middle two and Maswanhise at the point to support Stama. Gonna need energy from Wilson and Kaleta to make it work.

I dont actually think Tom Boyd does have no regard for Motherwell, or winning the cup with us. Ive heard him interviewed before and he does state it was some achievement. But he is a Celtic fan and he puts his achievments with them above ours and has definitely paid no regard to us when talking openly about big games between them and us since that time. It has certainly done him no favours with our support and rightly so. He should be regarded as one of the greatest Motherwell captains ever. The fact that he isnt speaks volumes. Maybe he doesnt care about his legacy at our club. Its a shame, but its his problem.

Asking players and fans to drive up the A9 when the weather forecast is as shite as it is, would be really poor imho. Id rather we didnt have to postpone as we dont want the fixtures to back up, but safety really should be paramount. The roads are already bad and Saturdays forecast is horrendous.

Id love Tony Watt to turn it around, prove his fitness and earn a contract with us and finish his career here. I just dont see it at the moment though. I get that he is unlikely to get fully match fit without significant gametime, but I had hoped to see some improvement in his cameos from the bench to show he deserved to start. That hasnt happened. He still has time. Id like to see him start up top with Stama, as I think both would benefit from having someone with football intelligence alongside them. For me, Vale is a safer bet once fit again. If he is out of contract at the end of the season, I think getting him on a permanent contract would be a no brainer.

Doak plays in a position where he has no competition. Its much easier to make a case for his inclusion when there is a weakness in the squad that he can fill. I think he proved it last night. Im all for Lennon being included in a squad to get him used to the environment. But there is no way he is getting gametime at the moment when the bench has John McGinn on it. Re Kenny Maclean. He is one of the most underated players in the squad. He has played in a number of different positions for Scotland and never let us down in any of them. Players like that are a managers dream, hence why he has been trusted in this Nations League A Group as a starter in the absence of McGregor. I dont know whether he will still be around should we get tot he World Cup, but I wouldnt bet against it. It would be nice for Lennon to be called up soon whilst he is still with us as it would add a bit to his value, and I have no doubts he will be a Scotland regular very soon. Just not right now.

The future is bright.......

Dykes gets us up the park. He doesnt have much of a goal threat, but none of our strikers do given the way we set up. Conway worked really hard last night, but he was no nearer to scoring a goal than Dykes, Adams or Shankland before him. Our goals basically come from midfielders arriving late in the box. McGinn, McTominay, Armstrong, McGregor, McLean have all been beneficiaries of the work done by Dykes since his arrival in our squad. That may change with Doaks rise to prominence, but I wouldnt be writing Dykes off just yet.

Seems to be doing well. Hopefully he can add something to the team in the second half of the season!

Without wanting to disappoint Texan here and get into a tit for tat debate, do you think Lennon Miller is ready for the Senior Squad right now?

He is answering loaded questions from journalists and trying not to give them their headline. Clearly Croatia are better at bringing through young players than we are. But thats a different question than trying to protect young players when they are not quite ready for the senior squad. The two are related. But they are not the same. He did the same with Ben Doak when folk were clamouring for him to be involved. Clarke will select Miller when he is ready. Right now, I dont think he is.

😆😆😆 It'll never last! 😆😆😆

Not sure what folks are expecting from Stevie Clarke? Who does Lennon Miller displace in the Scotland squad. Gilmour, McLean, Christie, McTominay, McGinn, Armstrong? You could make a case for Connor Barron, but even he is further ahead in his development than Miller. Lennon isnt ready for the senior team yet. He clearly has the ability and if he had bossed it against Celtic and Rangers recently not to mention his last U21 apearance then the calls for his inclusion would have been harder to ignore. Folks can pick fault with Clarke for many things, this isnt one of them.

No argument here. We are far from perfect and SK still makes his fair share of mistakes. But he as a manager and we as a club are getting more right than wrong. The big test is going to be around the turn of the year when the majority of players are fit and available for selection. SK is going to have some serious decisions to make. Hopefully he makes the right ones. Oh, and hanging on to Lennon Miller until the end of the season, even if it is a loan back, would be good!

On the Turnbull v Miller debate. Turnbull certainly had more impact with his goals but he didnt debut until 18. Millers has already played 50 games at the same age so his ceiling is probably far higher.

Brian McLair certainly signed for us after being at Aston Villa youths but I had to go and check about Faddy as I had never heard of the Hearts link. We seem to be the only team listed on his youth career from aged 15. But there is an article in the Daily Record saying that he had signed S-forms with Hearts but was training with us. In the interview Faddy says he was training at Motherwell from aged 12. So no idea what the actual situation was with Hearts?