joewarkfanclub

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?

SOD on Open Goal this week. Some good stuff in there amongst the usual nonsense.

Every chance. However, Bologna's old manager is now at Juventus and there was talk of him taking Ferguson there befor he got injured. If Ferguson has a strong finish to the season, Bologna might be in the market for a new midfielder. Be a far better move for Lennon imho.

I havent checked the makeup of their squads / starting 11s. But it does give them an unfair advantage in that if they wanted to give their youth academy players experience of first team lower league football, then they have the opportunity to do so, and get them "first team ready" without any risk attached or having to send them out on loan as we do. If they choose not to take that opportunity or fill their teams with non Scottish players then more fool them.......

For what its worth, I have every respect for those who have served and even more so for those that have given their lives in the service of their country. I have little respect though for the majority of politicians who send our brave lads n lassies into danger. Very rarely has it ever been for the right reasons. Power & greed are usually the order of the day. I would never disrespect a minutes silence, but I no longer wear a red poppy, mainly due to the insistence of the same politicians that not doing so is in some way unpatriotic. I will continue to stand silently and wear a white one for peace, in the hope that no more of our sons & daughters have to die needlessly in the name of politicians who could never do what they do.

I think they still do some of their training with us. I presume that side of things is still looked after. But nothing beats gametime. Wilson benefitted of 6 months with Beith Juniors. He went away a boy and came back a man. Of course he had two poor loans before that. All about picking the right loan club.

I agree, but the SFA (or the League) have tried things in the past. The 3 foreigners rule was stopped because of employment law and the U21s rule just saw bench places taken up by boys who never played. Not really sure what the answer is. Certainly doing away with the reserve leagues hasnt helped. I know they cost money, but in the overall scheme of things allowing youth prospects the opportunity to cut their teeth playing alongside and against senior pro's certainly seemed to have boys ready for first team football earlier back in the day. (Which you would imagine would save a club like Motherwell money in the long term). Of course its not just as simple as that, but it is a contributory factor.

Id forgotten about that. His first touch was sublime. Woulda took the roof of if he had finished it!

The only thing Halliday is guilty of imho is not wanting to he smacked in the face with the ball. He turns his back to stop himself being hurt and the rotation brings his arm up towards his face (possibly trying to protect it). I dont think he makes his body bigger and the ball wasnt going in. Last season it was a penalty all day long due to the idiotic rules. This season we were supposed to have re-evaluated and raised the threshold, resulting in far fewer decisions like yesterdays. You can definitely make a case for it being a penalty if you choose to, but I thought we had moved on.

I thought the referee was poor today. Reminded me of a young Willie Collum. That said he wasnt any worse than some of the others we have had. Thankfully we got the 3 points so it didnt matter.