joewarkfanclub

It beggars belief that anyone on here cant see the difference between the absolute gutless spankings we used to get regularly at the hands of the big two and what we have seen in the last two weeks. You'd have to be a real miserable barsteward not to accept that those two performances are as close as we have been to beating either of them in years. Yes its disappointing and frustrating not to have got anything to show for our efforts but surely folks are encouraged by the fact that we were finally competitive with them? It might also be worthy to consider how football has changed over the years and that the old ideas of playing 2 or 3 up top automatically give you more of a goal threat just isnt the case any more. There are many different ways to play. Some of which dont involve the use of out and out strikers at all. The injuries to our forwards have forced SK into adopting a style of play he may not have chosen otherwise. The extra man in midfield is giving us much more possession of the ball and more security for our defence. Before that we were much more effective as a counter attacking team and had to be as we had less possession with a man less in midfield. The last 3 games have been tough to take and naturally because we failed to score in 2 of them everyone looks at the strikers and is blaming Bair for not being good enough. But take a minute to look at the chances we have created. Who the chances have fallen to and who has had a part in creating them. Bair is offering plenty to the team. For all his good work he only had one chance on goal, hit the target and forced a good save from Bain. Other chances have fallen to Spittal, Slattery, Shaw etc. No one is criticising them for missing their chances and they still get plenty credit for the other parts of their game. I dont want to make out that Im some Theo Bair fanboy, because Im not. I can see his deficiencies the same as everyone else, but he is being measured by a different bar to everyone else in the team and that doesnt seem fair. Ive no doubt that when we have all our players back match fit he probably wont be near the first 11 as Biereth, Wilkinson and Obika will all be ahead of him, but until then, I think he is doing alright and if we start winning games again and he never scores another goal for us, no one will care as long as he is contributing towards the 3 points. The team has also been given a significant overhaul over the summer, so it wouldnt be unreasonable to think its still a work in progress and might take a couple more windows to address everything SK would like to fix. Rome wasnt built in a day, but the foundations are laid and Im quite excited to see what this team can become if SK isnt poached away and gets the opportunity to finish the job.

Wilkinson is just coming back from injury. I wouldnt have him near that pitch! He also isnt that mobile and I wouldnt suggest best suited to the lone striker role. If we are swapping Bair out for anyone, I would put Ollie Shaw in. But given SK has been very loyal to the players thus far, Id expect the same 11 to start again. Our record v Livvy is very good. I forecast a return to winning ways, but a more scrappy encounter with us winning 1-0.

I dont think thats generally the case. I think the majority of posters are reasonable enough to wait and see how a signing turns out before we judge them or jump to conclusions Most managers will lean towards signing players they know, or from leagues that they know. (See Postecoglu). It makes sense to take some of the variables out of the risk. It could be argued that assusming someone is a lazy signing because the manger previously worked with that player, is a lazy assessment of the players worth. 😉

Good luck to the lad. Best for both parties that he is able to move on and progress his career.

No failures again this week. The midfield all had good games but Paton was the pick of the bunch for me. Even in the first 30 minutes when we were generally poor in possession, he was the one snapping into tackles and leading by example. He is now an integral part of how we play. Not bad for someone that was considered a really "lazy signing" not so long ago......

As others have said, todays scoreline is very frustrating on a number of levels. I actually didnt think we were very good for the first 30 minutes. We were still organised and defended well, but we were poor in possession and didnt really create anything of note. However, we did eventually get a foothold in the game, finished the half strongly and probably had the 2 best chances of the game to that point. Second half was much better. A really enjoyable half of football with end to end stuff. We carried much more of a threat but the downside to that was we left ourselves a little bit more exposed at the back as a result, so it wasnt a surprise when we did eventually concede. The first goal looked to me like it was a cross, so disappointing to lose it that way, but we didnt let it effect us and thoroughly deserved the equaliser when it came. I felt sure we had secured a point and to lose it in the fashion that we did was an absolute sickener. Hard to criticise anyone after what was another excellent overall performance, but there were areas where we let ourselves down and we need to keep trying to improve and learn from those if we want to avoid becoming a perpetual hard luck story. Still with players starting to come back from injury and a much more winnable run of fixtures coming up, I think we should be able to put some more points on the board before the first quarter cones to an end.

Because he is a big battering ram that holds the ball up and occupies centre halves to allow our midfield to get into advanced positions. Neither Tierney or McKinstrey could do that.

I think they are targetting the Celtic support rather than our fans. They only get 5k tickets and have 60k home fans. Good business for us and they get the game played early in advance of a Champions League week......

Good move for the boy. Hopefully he gets plenty gametime and comes back ready for the first team.

I do agree that our awful record against both of the ugly sisters is in large part down to mentality. However, I dont agree that we showed that mentality last season at Celtic Park when we got a draw, and I dont agree that we saw that mentality on Sunday. These performances, and particularly Sunday were very different, and that has to be down to SK. He clearly sees EVERY game as a chance of 3 points and has the team approach it that way. On Sunday we were just unlucky. If we continue to show the same mentality against the big 2 going forward, our results against them will improve. They will still win more than us as they have bigger budgets which should dictate better players. But our win ratio should improve. Thats why I expect us to play well again on Saturday and not get rolled over. We still may not win, but we will be closer to it than we have been in manys a year.

I think he starts Bair and tries to keep the game tight and play them on the break. If we go behind and need a goal, I'd rather bring Shaw on instead of Bair than the other way around. Of course, he could start Shaw and try and get a goal in front and sub Bair on to see the game out once Shaw is done! 😉

Im gonna be bold and predict we will get something from this game. Heart says 2-1 Motherwell, head says 1-1. Spitz and Slatts to run the show and Ollie Shaw to break his duck and be the hero of the hour! 😆😆😆

I think thats a fair enough position. Add in Biereth who clearly has something about him to come through the Danish set up and be on Arsenals books, maybe we didnt do too badly and generally might be ok when they are all fit? 😉

Given that those 3 were probably our best players at Ibrox and 2 of them have been our best players all season (along with McGinn) I would concur!

Lots of good performances today. Slattery was excellent again, he is like a different player this season now that his troubles appear behind him. Hope we can get him signed on a new contract before the suitors come and take him for nothing. Spencer played very well and honorable mentions to Paton and Lennon Miller. For me MOTM was Mugabi. He won everything in the air and for once his headers all went in the direction of Motherwell players. His decision making and timing in the tackle were also excellent. Great job all round.

Great team performance today. We havent showed the mentality to win at Ibrox for such a long time and it was there for all to see in spades. We defended well as a unit, no cheap individual mistakes and the goal we did lose was a wicked deflection. Midfield passed it around for fun, got in some very good positions and but for a bit of luck or better finishing we would have had a couple of goals. For those having a go at the forward line again, its fair enough to point out the lack of quality up front, but can we not add a little perspective? I thought Bair did well enough again today. Won some headers held it up, laid it off. He never really had any clear cut chances, so not sure what folk are expecting of him. He isnt an out and out striker, but when we play someone else up top with him we tend to lose the control over the midfield we have been exhibiting. Shaw made a difference when he came on and for me he missed the best chance of the game, but Id also cut him some slack as he hasnt played a lot of football and is coming into games cold with very little gametime behind him. Going forward I'd like to see us build that up so he is fit enough to start instead of Theo. Although we havent seen anything to suggest Wilkinson is any good, he has been injured and has yet to settle so we have no idea if he is any good or not. We also have Biereth to come back, so its not all doom and gloom. We just controlled large parts of the game against the 2nd best team in the country on their own patch in a manner most of us have been desperate to see for years. Lets concentrate on the positives and take that into the Celtic game next week. This team isnt far away from where we want it to be.

UEFA are kinda powerless in the whole thing. If they dont do what the big clubs want, they will just threaten a breakaway league again, which is what got us to where we are. Unfortunately, UEFA have also realised the share of the TV revenue they can hoover up by going along for the ride is also quite lucrative for them as an organisation and individuals.

No, your not alone. Canny beat big games under the lights when it is actually dark by kick off time! Unfortunately, those that remember those days are now getting long in the tooth and the current status is just now the norm for our younger fans. Everything is skewed in favour of the bigger clubs to the extent that most wee clubs dont even have that "punchers chance" that used to exist in knock out foorball. The likes of Rangers and Celtic, despite there massive budgets compared to us are now diddy clubs when it comes to European football......

Yeh there is. Against my better judgement and in absence of something better to do on Sunday, Ive weakened and bought one. Really hope we dont get pumped now!

I dont think Stephen O'Donnell has been anywhere near as poor as you say this season. Playing wingback certainly suits him way better than how he has been asked to play for us in the past and as a result his performances this season have been much improved. Unfortunately for him he has become a bit of a target when things go wrong and the goal on Saturday was not down to him. Blaney and Casey got their positioning totally wrong as both of them were marking no one causing O'Donnell (and Mugabi) to have to come in tight on the men in front of goal, as they presented the biggest risk of scoring. Unfortunately the cross to the back post is inch perfect and Tansers finish is sublime. But its no wonder SODs was going tonto at that point as he knew he had been hung out to dry. On your general point however, I agree. Spencer is very right footed and would be far more effective on the right and Gent would appear to be the one who is likely to come in on the left when he is up to speed. I think that will give us a more balanced look in the wingback areas and provide the dynamism that makes our system more effective (as per last season). I would guess at some point over the next few weeks something will happen to allow SK to make this change naturally rather than just throw SOD on the scrapheap again (remember he is our player and the other 2 are loanees). Thats just good man management. Personally, I would have taken the chance to do it on Saturday with McGinn suspended and push SOD in one and leave Mugabi and Casey where they were. But McGinn will be available again for Ibrox and has been great this season so be interesting to see how SK approaches it. I fancy he will stick with SODs experience to begin with and change it up later in the game to make sure everyone gets time on the pitch. The good thing is you can see the future progression of the team aligning. Once it comes to fruition and we get Wilkinson and Biereth back fit it could be quite exciting times.

I was half considering going to the game as the run has to end sometime and it would be magnificent to be there when it does. Then I saw they are charging £32 and I swiftly changed my mind! Just have to try catch a dodgy stream and ignore the Rangers TV commentary!

Ive no idea why, but I feel as if we will get something out of the next 2 games. Dont know if it will be this week or the following week, but I dont think our total for the next two games will be zero. Would love it to be this week and to break our league hoodoo in the Temple of Doom. Hopefully a disappointing result in midweek will heap the pressure on Beale and we can use that to our advantage.

Nothing wrong with anything youve said there. Its just the emphasis thats wrong. Shaw isnt up to speed and all our other strikers are still injured. If SK is still picking Bair in 6 weeks time then I will support your critique. Until then, lets just accept the boy is currently the best we have and get behind him. If he scores the winner at Ibrox next week off his shin, Im sure we will all celbrate like madmen.

Are we just ignoring Biereth? Hardly SK's fault he is unavailable to us. His replacement Shaw is not long in the door and has had a couple of cameos from the bench. Bit early to be writing him off. Signing Obika is up for criticism based purely on his injury record and there hasnt been much from Wilkinson to give encouragement. But based on his previous career / stats, he wasnt disimilar to KVV. Bair is the one that everyone was thinking WTF, but honestly, he has been way better than I thought he was going to be. Nothing startling but a big honest laddie that will run about and try to create space for others to fill. Todays result isnt really a surprise given our injury woes and McGinns suspension. The fact that we were able to still put in a decent performance and just couldnt take our chances is what is frustrating. I think once everyone is back fit we will be in a strong position. Just need to try and grind out a few results until then. The next two weeks will be tough assignments.

Any streams?