joewarkfanclub

Jeez! I forgot about that! Absolutely! Great chance. If Stama misses that he gets slaughtered!

I didnt think we could win both games, and we might not still. But I was greatly enthused with how we were able to control the game second half today despite Aberdeen throwing the kitchen sink at us and us not having that strong a bench. Hopefully we will have McGinn and Hendry back next week. Just would be a bonus. We need a league win and now have the muscle memory to know it can be done.

Some really good performances today. Welsh was very good, as was Longelo. Stama put in a power of work again but really needs to get the monkey of his back and convert a chance or two. RCC had a really good game and would have been easy to give it to him for his goal alone. However, went for Watt. Another absolutely outstanding performance from him, all the more impressive because he makes sit look so effortless. He is my surprise package of the season as he came in with pretty much zero expectation.

Thought we started slowly today. Probably the poorest Ive seen us this season. However, we were solid defensively and grew into the game. Despite it being a fairly even first half, I felt we had the best of the chances and shoulda gone in at the break in the lead. JT was unlucky to hit the woodwork and Stama had a very good effort cleared of the line. Said and Fadinger should have both done better with their chances. Second half we were in control of the game, scored a great goal and shoulda put the game to bed. Stama has 2 very good chances and shoulda done better with the header in particular. Really pleased to get the win and a pretty good performance considering our injuries. We now have another big game to look forward to and some more cash in the bank. The JBA train is still coming down the tracks!

Do you think we have a chance in rhe semi final?

True.....

https://www.facebook.com/share/17HY69tVFz/

Mmmm. Not feeling so confident now. Just is a miss. Surprised Koutroumbis on bench. But JBA does like SOD. Hopefully Said and RCC are fitter, sharper than last week.

Agree with this. Id probably go RCC but wouldnt be surprised if it was Said as JBA has more history with the player. One will replace the other at some point for sure.

I believe it is on MFC TV for international supporters.....

So the battle of the ex Motherwell managers / players goes to extra time! Not sure who I would prefer to win. Given any semi final would be at Hampden, Im not sure it matters. One thing is for sure though, I wouldnt swap JBA for either of our former gaffers!

Cup win. No question. We cant win the League, but we have a chance in the cup. Also getting to Hampden is always a good day out.

Following on from the duscussion over injuries yesterday, Nick McPheat just posted this..... https://x.com/nmcpht/status/1968664920972480718?t=zeZWtozC1KGKFd3UzzCWhQ&s=19

If it was an illness, I would very much agree. That said, by divulging injuries and keeping illness confidential, you would effectively highlight a player with an illness, so it brings you back to the same place......

Ive had a look on the club website and I dont see anywhere that this information is listed. Its been a frustration for sometime and not something we have been very good at since Flow left. I get that some of it is private medical information and thats down to the player themselves, but I dont think it would be breaching any confidences to state the basic nature of the injury and timeframe for return. Of course it could be down to managers not wanting to give opponents too much information in a bid to keep them guessing. From what little I know or can glean from other sources the list looks like this.... Robinson - Achilles - October Stuparevic - Knee - Long term Nicholson - knee - unknown Sule - unknown - unknown Sparrow - muscle - unknown McGhee - thigh - unknown McGinn - unknown - unknown Stamatelopoulos - shoulder - unknown Slattery - unknown - 5/6 weeks Hendry - unknown - unknown For a club our size, thats a lot to contend with......

Looking at the Premier Sports Cup payments and both clubs get £30k for a televised quater final on top of £100k prize money. Not to be sniffed at. And thats before our share of the gate money. Cup runs ARE important for clubs our size.

Seems to be a late add on. Read elsewhere it was gonna be on Premier Sports 2. https://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/2025/09/16/quarter-final-tie-to-be-shown-live-on-premier-sports/

Presumably Premier Sports requested it in their contract and they got what they wanted. Certainly games from previous rounds were on simultaneously, albeit they were being streamed rather than broadcast live. Not gonna lie. It made my decision not to go to Pittodrie much easier after the shit experience we had up there last time in the league.

I think its just load. The game is getting quicker and the close season is getting shorter. Our teams used to finish mid May and start back mid August. Now they finish the end of May and are back playing League Cup mid July. I know players live very different lifestyles now, but their bodies must still need some rest and recuperation. Im sure JBA said as much in a recent presser.

Its starting to look a lot like last year. Hopefully it doesnt spiral down into the shitfest that ended up. We are starting from a much higher water mark though, so Im hopeful we will be alright.

There's a world of difference fitness wise playing the way Kettlewell did and playing the way JBA does. FWIW, I actually think the players look way fitter this season than they did last year. But a high intensity press and playing out from the back the way we do takes a lot more energy than a low block.

See, I can understand why it was given but I think stonewaller is pushing it. I get his hand is out from his body, but it deflects onto his arm from close range and I felt he was trying to bring his arm towards his body rather than away from it. I actually thought the one on the line a few minutes earlier was more of a shout as it stopped a certain goal. But thats not the rule anymore (if it ever was) so probably the correct decision. Edit: feck Kettlebell! 😆😆😆

Exactly my point. We have been very good at playing out from the back and as a bi-product, teams are getting very little of the ball to do anything with. Its just when they do, we arent defending our box very well. We have conceded 7 goals in the league and gifted 5 of those by not doing our jobs properly.

I dont think he has had a real run of games until this season. Last season he came in with no pre season, got injured twice then broke his wrist. We have what we have until January. If his record doesnt improve by then, I will maybe concede he needs moved on. Until then we need him to contribute until Hendry, Osong etc are fit enough to push him for a starting spot. Im happy enough that Maswanhise will get us enough goals to keep us out of trouble, but we need someone to lead the line and at the moment Stama is it. We do need to stop shipping gsoft goals though. Its great that we do that mostly by just keeping the ball, butnit would be great if we didnt concede pretty much every time we give away cheap possession!

As Ive said elesewhere, I think a big problem next week could be injuries. With Koutoumbis, Welsh and Stama all going off with some sort of pull/tweak/injury on top of the others we already have (McGinn, Hendry, Slattery, McGhee, Sparrow) then we could be severely limited as to the team we can put out. Hopefully some of them are just minor/precautions and it wont look as bad as Im projecting.