joewarkfanclub

Didnt realise he was only 23. Maybe puts things in a slightly different light, a la Robinson. I had though we had got him in as a back up for Maswanhise. Maybe that still is the case. But I hadnt expected him to start at RWB!

Not sure why anyone would post derogatory comments about those who have served. Those who would put our servicemen and women in the line of fire for personal or political gain is a different matter. Neither should really need stated on a football forum however.

Best performance of the season! 😉

He roasted United down the wing in the League Cup.......

Oops! Forgot about him! I agree!

As I said elsewhere, Kettlewells strike rate on the recruitment side of things is no worse than most of our managers in my lifetime. It just comes down to the pool we can fish in. We need to find players that are willing to play for what we pay AND come to Motherwell. We can try spending a bit more money to get more quality but our competition in that regard then becomes Hearts, Hibs & Aberdeen instead of Dundee, Killie and St Mirren. Given current league positions there is no guarantee that a change of policy is going to be more successful, and it comes attached with a lot more risk. For me Kettlewells balance sheet this season looks like this Good - Kaleta, Gordon, Seddon, Maswanhise Jurys Still out - Koutroumbis, Balmer, Stama, Watt (although I believe both of them will come good) Injured/Not good enough -Callachan, Robinson, Tavares. Koutroumbis not being given a chance in the last few weeks makes it kinda look like he isnt going to be good enough, but much like the decisions to bench Kaleta and Maswanhise, there could be reasons behind the scenes that the club dont want to go public with, so not gonna write him off without having seen him play. Balmer is probably serviceable but he needs to concentrate on his football instead of getting wound up by the opposition and officials. Given we have Paton, Nicholson, SOD, Slattery, McGinn and Vale all to come back by January, I dont see us really doing a lot of business unless we can identify a holding midfielder and/or a physical target man. It should also be noted the SK has been very good at getting players out the door that werent contributing / part of his plans.

Your probably not wrong 😆😆😆

Playing Paton and Halliday alongside Miller might help with ball rention, which we have really struglled with of late. But depends on the shape and formation of the rest of the team. I do hope Kaleta is fit and able to play again as I really dont like Tavares being asked to play wingback. Also if we are playing a wide player Id much prefer Maswanhise on the other side as he is our player, and far more effective for me. He also provides natural width on the left which we dont really have with Seddon or Wilson. Problem we have with Watt unavailable is what we do up top with Stama. Do we play Moses? Or do we ask Maswanhise to tuck in?

My point entirely.....

Reading the posts above, I dont think most of us are a million miles away in terms of our assessments or the way we feel. The main difference is the threshold for change. Binning a manager always costs us financially. Not just in paying that manager off, but the inevitable turnaround of players when the new guy wants to clear the decks. You could argue, as Wellfan does, that not binning Kettlewell in itself is wasting money as he will inevitably fail so giving him more windows to sign players isnt wise. But for me, at our level we need to try and get stability and allow a manager to learn and improve, otherwise it just ends up a merry-go-round. Kettlewell is certainly frustrating as hell at times, but whoever comes in after him is going to have to deal with the exact same circumstances, so sometimes its better the devil you know. He knows the players, he knows their faults. He is in the best position to know who needs moved on and who can still contribute. He seems to be able to improve players (KVV, Bair and maybe now Tony Watt). His transfer business has been a bit hit and miss, but that applies to pretty much every Motherwell manager in my lifetime, and his success rate is better than a fair few. Its just the market we operate in. He doesnt need to change much to keep me happy. Progress to a less defensive more entertaining set up as our better players return. Play players in their natural positions. Score a few more goals, keep a few more clean sheets. Make top 6. Beat St Johnstone in the Cup and sell Lennon Miller for £5m plus with loan back until the end of the season. Simples!

Thats certainly my reading of it. Bit of a left field decision otherwise....

A fit and motivated Tony Watt is an asset to any team. No doubt about that.

Some better weather and a bit more football please! Happy to take the same scoreline as this week!

Wasnt at the game yesterday, so cant comment on the performance, other than my mate that was there said both teams were shite in the first half and we were better in the second half after the changes. The game seems to have followed a similar pattern to many this season and always nice to get an injury time winner. It takes the pressure off again for next weekband gives us a chance to go above United into 4th! The fine margins in this league are ridiculous! Hoping that the team selections are all about managing injuries and protecting players and that once they clear up we will start to see some consistency in selection and improvement in performance. Still, a wins a win and despite our faults and weaknesses we remain top 6 and restore some of the gap to those below.

Absolutely this. Ive been broadly supportive of Kettlewell over the piece and continue to be so, for now. But recent weeks have seen a return to some really strange starting selections and some even stranger in game substitutions / tactics. As a result our form and entertainment value have tanked. We were comfortably top 6. But we have let that advantage go and it wouldnt take too many more poor results to have us right in the relegation mix. What happens in the next few weeks could be as season defining as our relatively good start.

With all the injuries just now, Im not sure that really is even a debate. Not sure many of us would have picked Tavares to start on Wednesday night though.....

But Id settle for Ox Casey Gordon Seddon Kaleta Paton Miller Wilson Watt Stama Maswanhise

Ox Kaleta Gordon Casey Seddon Paton Miller Halliday Watt Stama Maswanhise

Wasnt at the game tonight and didnt see any of it, so I wont comment on the performance. What I would say is that the starting line up seemed very strange. Kaleta and Maswanhise have been 2 of our better performers of late so was surprised to see them dropped. I was however pleased to see Paton and Watt included. From reading the comments earlier it would appear we did pose more of an attacking threat which is welcome, but yet again we have capitulated at the back. We seem to be missing McGinn and SOD more than most would give them credit for and the manager seems unable to get the right mix at the back. Thats 3 defeats on the bounce now with St Mirren away up next. Hardly the most appetising of fixtures right now. Shaping up to be a pretty tough looking festive card. By the time we get to January SK will either have turned it around or will be under significant pressure. I hope its the former rather than the latter, but it feels a bit grim tonight.

Is anyone else other than Oxborough guaranteed to start?

Who knew? 😆😆😆

You really couldnt make that up!

The club have said they have looked at the situation and are satisfied that there isnt anything they are doing that is causing multiple injuries. What is it that you suggest should be done to ensure we arent writing this off? An independent review? Stop training with a ball? Stop contact training? Stop walk throughs? Stop playing games of football? The one thing that anyone can realistically throw at the manager regarding our injury record this season is signing players with an injury record and that amounts to 2 players. Nicholson and Callachan. One was already in the building and had contributed significantly towards the end of last season. Our injury record IS horrendous and IF all the injuries were the same or obtained under similar circumstances I might agree with the general point being made, but sometimes luck and timing is just that. Its clear to me that Kettlewell has just driven into the back of a lorry carrying a load of mirrors. Our injuries should stop in about 7 years. 😉😉😉

Id actually quite like it to be the Friday night game. It would increase the appeal for me.

Achilles is a bad one. Certainly wont play again this season, which is probably why the comms team changed tack on their messaging. As some have pointed out Im not sure how you can compare an achilles injury to any of the others. McGinn did his quad kicking a ball. SoD got injured during a game. As did Paton and Stama. Slattery was an ACL. Nicholson knee problem. Callachan - Hamstring Vale - Calf Quite a variation in the type of injuries and setting. Not sure how our injury record compares to other clubs, but most successful teams take part in high intensity training. It needs to be managed, but if we want to improve we need to be at it too. Fairly certain SK and the management team are as concerned as anyone about the number of injuries. If we were doing something wrong they would identify it and change it. They're not that stupid.