joewarkfanclub

Aye watched the "no goal" again. The Dundee player IS still offside when the ball is headed forwarded. Its very marginal though and not at all obvious on first viewing. He is trying to close Thompson down though and could be considered "active" but he doesnt play the ball and its Thompsons poor clearance that results in it falling to Portales. It probably is technically the correct decision, but I dont think its a clear an obvious error feom the referee, so if VAR dont get involved, I dont think anyone is talking about it. We defo got away with one. Re the red card, I dont think Koutroumbis has intent to harm his opponent but he catches him really high. Its just a really poor challenge. I wouldnt even appeal that one. Its not of the Balmer variety where there was some mitigation.

Ox was solid. No chance with either goal. The one that stood and one that didnt. Casey was solid. Thought Halliday was the pick of the midfield. Slattery and Miller were a bit hot and cold. Sparrow put in a shift and took his goal well. Voted for TJ as he changed the game. Should have given Dan a tap in at the end, but will forgive him for shooting as we won anyway.

Thank you! 😆😆😆 Fixed it!

Thought it was a decent enough performance today. A bit one dimensional and lacking pace in the first half, but we knocked the ball about ok and created 3 decent enough chances that should have at least hit the target. Dundee did have more shots on target but Ox did well and had no chance with the 2 that did hit the net. Not sure why the second one is ruled out. They are saying offside, but I didnt think you could be offside from a throw in? Much better 2nd half. Maswanhise is the one player we have with real pace and it makes so much of a difference. Slight change of shape second half as well which was good to see. Im liking Wimmers ability to change it up when plan A isnt working. Overall, a great 3 points and nice to be safe with 3 games to go. Will let the Executive Board get moving on our plans for next season.

Was a red card all day long. A very poor tackle. That said, Dundee's defenders got away with quite a lot. They should have seen a few more yellows for persistent fouling. The elbow to the back of the head or in the back in challenges was prevalent.....

His problem is he rarely finds a Motherwell player with a pass. Constantly gives the ball away. His decision making is also suspect. Great assist for the goal though, so credit where it's due.....

I should add, that I dont have any problem with loanees in certain circumstances. For example to cover a short term injury when we dont have a player of sufficient standard on our books (Furlong / Gent) or the player coming in is of a standard we couldnt afford to bring in on a full time contract (Mika Biereth) But the loanees this season have barely contributed, so they clearly havent hit the levels required of them.

100% agree. Kinda hoping that this is one of the main reasons for going for someone like Wimmer who has a strong background in youth development. Otherwise whats the point of thinking outside the box?

No issues with the Halliday extension on its own. As others have said he has earned it with the minutes he has played and some decent performances, obviously we need some experienced heads around. Im just concerned that with SOD and possibly McGinn also being extended we could end up in a similar position injury wise next season. If Wimmer wants his high press next season we are gonna need younger fitter players who wont break down under the stress of what they are being asked to do. With Nicholson, Robinson AND Stama also under contract, the space to bring in new talent is already looking limited. Ward? If he is happy being back up to Ox, I guess thats fine. I would be annoyed if we offer Balcombe a contract as well.....

Hasnt really worked out that way though. Wasnt at the game on Saturday, so cant comment on how he played there. But we have seen precious little of the workrate and determination to do well he showed in his first spell. Not saying he cant be a success again in the right set up, but I wouldnt be falling over myself to re-sign him for next season.

Thats handy information and should be circulated by the club via social media. As a community club we should be doing everything possible to encourage as many people as possible along to Fir Park on a Saturday.

Do you have to contact the club direct to do that? I couldnt see an option for direct debit.....

I will probably renew. But similar to others, because it helps the club as opposed to anything else. No point being pro fan ownership and anti Barmack if I dont put my money where my mouth is. Appreciate it is becoming increasingly difficult for some and making a lot of people stop to think. Ive held off until now just to see what league we will be playing in and how that was reflected in communications....... Quick question, do the club not allow fans to pay their season ticket up on a monthly basis? Ive never looked into it before and didnt see where there was an option to do so. Would maybe be the deciding factor for some if they didnt have to find the cash all at once.....

My point entirely. Its not always how much money you have. More how wisely you spend it.......

I think we could play 4-2-3-1 Ox Johnny K SOD Casey Seddon Miller Halliday Sparrow Slattery Maswanhise Armstrong

Data analysis is obviously important. But it should only be part of the picture. We should still be having a scout getting eyes on anyone identified to see how they actually perform in the flesh. Maybe thats too labour intensive for the the world we now live in, but it doesnt feel right to be signing players we have never actually seen play. Obviously, we arent flying anyone out to Australia, but we should be using contacts to do some of our business for us. There was a reason that managers signed players they knew. They trusted them to be able to do a job. Can you really trust data?

They pay a lot more than half the teams above them. Casemiro is apparently on £350k a week. Dont imagine there are many at Bournemouth on that money!

Balmer also out with a hamstring injury. That probably means the end of his season. Ordinarily wouldnt be that bothered, but with Gordon, Blaney, & McGinn all out it leaves SOD & Casey as our likely centre halves. With Winmer quoting Johnny K as a possible in a 3, it means we are down to bare bones in defence. Incredible when you think about the size of our squad!

Exactly this. If we signed half the players, we could afford to pay for a little more quality (maybe less injury prone) and supplement with youth. We seem to have lost our way in the transfer market.

Tell that to Man United....... Obviously not the same league. But the principal is the same. As highlighted above, you need to spend your money wisely. Given how little so many of our players have contributed this season, it could be argued we havent done that, or at least need to do better. Of course we have been unlucky with injuries, but again, as others have pointed out some of those could have been forseen. Others, not so much. Wimmer needs to be quite ruthless if he wants to get his own players in and give himself the best chance of playing his style of football, if indeed ge still thinks he can do that. I note today there was lots of talk about "compromises". But if he does want to play a high intensity game, he will need youger fitter players to do so.

I understand that. So we need to try and bridge the gap in other ways. You dont do that by signing a team full of other teams cast offs. As I said, there will be exceptions to the rule. Someone like Paul McGinn has done very well for us until his injuries. Experience will always have its place. But with SOD, probably Halliday and potentially McGinn all still here next season and Nicholson and Robinson still under contract and likely to be still injured at the start of the season, we need our new recruits to be young and full of energy. Otherwise we are likely to suffer another season like this one.

I know the club need to make decisions on season ticket prices pretty early to get money in over the summer so they can start planning for next season, but they must be pretty confident that we are staying up to fire a price increase in. Unless of course they have done their market research and are confident folk will still part with their cash for a season in the Championship. FWIW, I do think we will stay up. But I wouldnt say Im confident that we definitely will!

If we want to progress and finish higher than the teams above us in the league, I think we need to stop signing players they have let go. They are letting them go for a reason. Tony Watt should be a great example of that. Similarly with Halliday albeit he has done a job this season. There will always be exceptions to the rule, but generally speaking we should be looking at getting younger more dynamic players with a bit of pace (ability) with the prospect of developing them. We have enough old experienced legs in our squad as it is. Dont think we need any more.

I thought that bit went without saying. If they dont have any ability, no one will want them, so there is no sell on value. 🤔🤔🤔

He will probably end up at Dundee if they survive the drop and they are in the market for a centre half. He wont want to have to re-locate back in the central belt when he is from up that way. He probably IS a better centre half than we have at the moment, but his best years are behind him and not the kind of signing we need to be making. Younger, with a sell on value is our demographic....