joewarkfanclub

Hopefully a few players back after the international break. Even if they dont feature from the start it will be nice to have more cover from the bench. Having Slattery, Just, Sparrow and Hendry able to come on to freshen things up would be a huge boost. With Welsh available again and surely straight back into the side, it also gives us McGinn, SoD, Priestman, Balmer, Halliday as cover. Thats a really strong bench, and where we probably hoped we would be after the window "slammed shut" 😉 Falkirk are likely to play attacking and open so it should be a really entertaining game and might work to our advantage. A high scoring Motherwell win for me.

Leave him be! Thats as close to MJC tipping a Motherwell win as any of us should be comfortable with! No need to respond MJC! I prefer ifs, buts and maybes!

The system IS pretty straight forward. Albeit the instructions are far from clear. I go to Scotland games, so Im fairly comfortable with the Hampden App, which does actually work quite well. Season ticket holders can buy for themselves and as many others as they like. All they need to do is download the Hampden App and link it to the same email your season ticket is linked to. During the week of the game all the tickets will be sent to your app. You can then scan in all your group before entering yourself. If you want to distribute the tickets, get each member of your group to download the Hampden App and link an email. You can then send them the ticket via the app. If you are buying for other season ticket holders, you get the opportunity to provide their details when buying the tickets. If they also have the Hampden App, I presume the ticket will go straight to their app during the week of the game, although Im not 100% on that as Ive never done it before. If not you can still distribute as above. It is a bit of a faff on first use, but once you understand it, it really is pretty simple. I do get why people are getting annoyed though. It is a lot of change to get used to. Also, never had an issue with the QR code at the gate. Unlike the paper copies which preceded the app, which were a nightmare to scan.

Allocated sections were in a previous communication, but they should have highlighted them again. We are basically in the East Stand starting in Section F1 round to G7. We also have sections in the north stand and south stand. Not sure if you can pick your seat or if they will just be allocated randomly.

Ive not argued that it wasnt a f#ck up. I would have preferred he put his laces through it. My argument (I prefer debate) is that its not solely on Ward. We have a manager instructing him to play that way. No surprise that he did as instructed. I also have sympathy with those saying we should give Ox a chance. Perfectly reasonable stance to take. My question is, why hasnt the manager done so? He see's the same things as us. But he also see's Ox in training every day and has decided to stick with Ward. Why?

Im not sure I agree with that. If you look at the still, there is a clear pass to Watt, that if it comes off allows him to turn taking 5 Celtic players out the game and giving us a great opportunity to attack. Ward makes a rickets of it, and you could argue the pass is too risky. But the manager has stated clearly numerous times that he wants us to take risks and thats what he likes. I was happy to criticise Ward over the handling errors, as these are basic goalkeeping skills, but this isnt the same, and totally ignores the lack of options the manager has to deal with this without ripping up what we do. If fhe thought Ox was the answer he would have been in after the Killie game.

If Ox isnt up to it, its a long time until January if you've burned the only alternative. Im not saying Im happy with the mistakes he has made, but I was more upset about the handling errors in the Hearts and Killie games than today. Not that it makes any difference what any of us think as JBA is going to back him and thats all that counts.

He also cant train due to injuries. He just looks after himself and turns up on matchdays. All fine as ling as he is playing well. Can just imagine this place if he made a mistake! "What we doing signing a guy who cant train! We shouldnt be a retirement home for former players!"

Firstly, Id seperate the previous handling errors from this one as they are not the same type of mistake. 🙄🙄🙄

Its almost as if Jens is a good manager who knows what he is doing! 😉

Sorry but I disagree. Firstly, Id seperate the previous handling errors from this one as they are not the same type of mistake. If the manager tries to drum into you in training that you dont just hoof it and goes on at lengths to show why doing so was why we lost against Hearts, then you can understand why Ward was reluctant to put the laces through it today. Its still a bad decision. He should hoof it. But this is a team having to learn an entirely new way of playing. We all feared that this was the type of goal we would conceed, so no surprise that it has happened, other than its taken this long. The important thing is whether he/we learn from this and can avoid doing the same again.

Our system doesnt work that way. We need the keeper to step up and be an extra player at the back to create the space to play out. If Jens is watching Ox in training he will know whether rhe is capable of that or not. Id wager thats why he supported Ward so strongly after the repeated mistakes. Id also wager he will do the same again after this one.......

And what if Ox cant handle the passing out from the back stuff? Your only going to add in more of those kind of mistakes. The manager see's both in training. He clearly thinks Ward fits the system better. If he stops making saves and/or starts dropping the ball again, you have to have a decision to make. But at the moment we just need to accept that these things are going to happen the way we play. The surprise is its taken this long.....

Thought we missed Welsh a fair bit today as well. Not so much defensively. But its very noticeable that McGinn isnt as comfortable playing out to his left side. Having a left footed defender that side gives us a lot more balance.

Im gonna defend Ward a little bit here as well. He was having a fine game right up until his mistake. His save at the start of the first half was an absolute worldy.......

Stama did well for his 2 goals, but for me Johnny K was brilliant. So much energy. Kept Kounekti quiet all game and dealt well with Maeda when he swapped sides. Gave us a great out ball going foward down that side.

Do you accept now that we did have a chance in that game and had we managed the game better we would have got something?

Thats absolutely heartbreaking. It felt like a defeat at 2-2 but to lose it in injury time is an absolute ballbuster. We started the second half very well and deseved to go ahead. After that I thought we got too deep, didnt keep the ball well enough and when we needed to freshen up from the bench we didnt have sufficient quality to see it home. Priestman and SOD are fine but Osong offers nothing beyond that it was Halliday and some young boys. Those blaming Ward for the second goal, I get that its his mistake, but for me that ones on the manager. At 2-1 up he has to get the message out to take fewer chances at the back. I get he wants us to be brave and he will point to the Hearts game as to why we should continue to play our game, but every now and again you just need to clear your lines and allow your team mates to get back in position. Lots to like about our play again. Nice to see Stama get 2 goals, but looks like we will be carrying a few injuries into the break. Hopefully they arent serious, because the only way our results and league position improves is by having a deeper squad that allows us to substitute players before they are absolutely out on their feet.

Decent first half, but we didnt really start playing offensively until we went behind. Not convinced with the penalty but only seen one angle so hard to say. Probably deserve to go in level. Great save from Ward right at the start of the game and fine strikers finish from Stama for the goal. Hopefully that will give everyone a bit of confidence going into the second half. P.S. How poor is the Celtic crowd!

Club saying they hope to have information soon. You'd like to think it will be this week sometime.....

Hopefully have Slattery, Just and Hendry all fit and available!

Nothing wrong with realism, but fans are allowed to get excited and dream. That doesnt influence games. (Although negative energy across a whole fanbase can be self perpetuating). The important thing is that the players dont get carried away, and there is no chance of that under this manager.

Im not sure the first win at Ibrox came out of the blue. We had been there earlier in the season and, although we lost 1-0, we had actually played a lot better in that one than the one that we won. Slattery, Miller, Paton and Spittal were fantastic that day. Unfortunately Slattery got injured just after that and we never had the chance to play those 4 together again. I get that you dont want to get your hopes up for tomorrow and thats a perfectly reasonable position to have. But you could do with being less definitive in your posts. You are probably correct in that, we statistically ARE unlikely to win tomorrow. But to say we definitely will not and have no chance, just doesnt bare any examination.

We have literally beaten Rangers twice at Ibrox in the last 2 seasons with teams that were much poorer than this one, having failed to do so in the previous 27 years. We havent beaten Celtic at Parkhead for a while, but we have had a couple of creditible draws. Again with much poorer teams than this. Nobody is getting carried away here. No one is saying we are going to pump Celtic, we may well lose. But if you cant allow yourself to have just a little hope right now, Im not sure when you can. Isnt that what following a shite wee diddy club is all about? PS you do know we have scored more goals than Celtic this season, despite not having a striker like Higdon or KVV?

It is. But we have McGinn back, so that should soften the blow a little. Id be more concerned with Balmer partnering Gordon.