star sail

I agree about the atmosphere. St Mirren players and fans were more up for the game from the start. When the direct blood and thunder approach of a good Scottish football side works in can certainly stir the emotions and St Mirren did it very well yesterday. You could see the passion in their play. SR had them well up for the game and he had clearly used the negative press about their style to his advantage. I actually thought SR was a great manager for us and I don't think his achievements were ever fully appreciated for the very reason that supporters now believe that they should be watching budget Barcelona's every week.

St Mirren's game plan was successful last night but there is a ceiling to that style of play. That is why Scottish teams are embarrassed every July/ August by European minnows who'd style of play had moved on from the 1980's. Remember that Robinson's / Alexander's/ Kettlewell's style of football was generally rejected on this forum because of it's pragmatic industrial approach. A Motherwell team playing the traditional Scottish way could just as easily have lost that game last night. SR is very good at what he does. I don't doubt that this is an experiment that may not work. Our old Captain Stephen Craigan had already written it off during the League Cup group stage. Kris Boyd predicted us as relegation favourites but I think both of those dinosaurs have already been proved wrong. I think any one of us would have taken this season to date if we had been offered it back in August.

If Slattery was fully fit he would have started today. We have to remember that was his 3 rd game in a week after a return from injury. The manager has to manage those situations carefully. The game is won and lost on fine margins. The first, the referee helped to tee the corner up for Saints. The second, Just was unlucky that the ball hit off him and landed as it did. It was a great finish none the less. The 3rd could just as easily have been a great save but the ball looped into the back of the net For me the first goal set the tone and St Mirren managed the game very well from that point onwards. When I take a step back from the obvious disappointment of the evening, I would still rather be watching our brand of football than St Mirrens and I believe by seasons end we will still finish above them.

Thanks 👍

Thanks for your reply. I hope to do the same. 👍

Apologies if this has been asked several times before but do we have to transfer tickets to the people we are with? I was hoping to just use my phone for m and the three people I am walking in with.

Agreed.

MJC will be happy this afternoon. His first team won, his second team won and Motherwell won as well. I still believe that Hearts position is false despite today's result. I think we showed how vulnerable Hearts can be if a team plays well against them. I expect the season to finish like this despite the OF angst we have been forced fed in recent weeks. 1. Celtic 2. Rangers 3. Hearts We have definitely missed some golden opportunities and have played the OF at their most vulnerable. It has been a frustrating season in some ways but still reasonable for optimism. I think this next week could set the tone for the rest of the season for us.

MJC seals the win for Motherwell!!! Keep talking nonsense!! It works an absolute treat!!! Great result and well deserved. The players were due a win for their efforts!!

Because they are decent managers with something to offer despite all the horseshit we have had to read in this forum about all three of them

It is definitely the best draw. Rangers and Celtic will both be playing better by November so St Mirren give us the best chance to proceed. Second semi-final in two years is fairly impressive. Beating St Johnstone away and Aberdeen away is no easy run to the semi final. On performance to date I think Motherwell go into the game as slightl favourites.

Yes. Almost every single statistic in every game we have played so far. The most important statistic, the final result, has not matched the in game stats but undefeated after 5 games with three away from home is still a reasonable return. It has been widely recognised that we are playing some of the best football in the league. We outplayed the team sitting top of the league for 60 minutes on their patch. There is plenty of reasons to think we can beat almost anybody in this league if you actually care to give the many positives some consideration.

Thanks.

Thanks. I am on the ball as always. Completely missed that.

Has Blaney left? The BBC feed suggests he has. It says omething along the lines of 'with Blaney and Casey departing Motherwell will need to strengthen at the back'

I am really pleased for SOD. He has taken some unfair criticism and deserves the praise when it comes his way.

The referee, linesman and VAR decided it was not a foul, not that there was no contact. Football is not a non contact sport. The Killie player has actually been really cute by unbalancing Ward without giving away the foul. I am not sure the point you are trying to make about me being in the Killie end when I am the one trying to give the benefit of the doubt to our player.

This is what I find really strange at times about the Motherwell support. Where as most supporters tend to be biased in favour of their own team, particularly regarding refereeing decisions, we seem to find weird and wonderful ways to argue against our own team If you want to say that Ward could have done better, that's fine or that it was not a foul, fine, or that he was ahead of the ball, fine, or that he jumped early, fine. To say that there was no contact whatsoever however is made up fantasy. Ward gets a nudge in the lower back by the forearm of the incoming Killie attacker. That is what is clear from the Sportscene highlights. Why make things up just to argue against the team you support?

I have just watched the highlights and Ward definitely gets nudged in the back. The Killie attacker is actually very cute about it making no attempt to play the ball. He just pushes with his arm into Wards lower back to unbalance Ward and push him underneath the flight of the ball It would have been a soft free kick but Butland got a free kick for similar contact against Tony Watt last season. I would go as far as to say that if that had happened to Jack Butland yesterday going into the last 10 minutes with Rangers defending a lead , it would have been given as a foul. Ward should still have done better but it is not as black and white as it maybe first appears. More generally on the game, the support were crying out last season for a better style of football that was attractive to watch. We now have it. Happy days.

I see that the weather has to change fairly dramatically around kick-off to heavy rain and strong winds. That might suit Kilmarnock if they are looking to make the game physical and disruptive. I think Motherwell will get over the line with a victory today but only just. I am hopeful that the supporters will focus on our own team and the positivity around the good start to the season because any negativity, like the adverse weather, will play into Killies hands. A narrow 1-0 victory with plenty of patience required throughout the 90 minutes.

Pretty much this for me. I have mellowed over the years with my opinion towards the Old Firm in particular. There was a time, not so long ago that I would want to see them lose in Europe but now I am happy to see them both progress. I can't really remember when my feelings switched on this. I have enjoyed watching all four teams in Europe this season, particularly Hibs and it has been disappointing to see them crash out. It is a win/ win with the OF at the moment because if they do progress great, if they don't the meltdown that follows is equally as entertaining and it is interesting to listen to as a dispassionate observer. Bottom line is if the Scottish coefficient is improving it means generally speaking that the game in Scotland is improving and I can't see any negatives with that.

I just don't get the hatred towards Kettlewell. He saved us from relegation in his first season in charge, there is almost no doubt about that. We got our first league win at Ibrox in many years. He got the best out of KVV, turned Theo Bair into a sellable asset and introduced Lennon Miller to the first team squad. It is generally agreed that he worked his socks off for the club to the point where it all got too much in the end. When the fans turned on him in the last few games ( as they did very vocally) he reacted in kind and made some ill judged decision. It happens with human beings under considerable pressure. Would any one of us want him back as manager of our club? No. Does he really deserve to be slaughtered for contributing to the continued SPFL status of our club, a status that allows JBA to now do his thing? I don't think he does. There were some comments over the last few weeks about Dougie Imrie being the pantomime villain and how tragedy shows how shallow those negative emotions actually are. Do we really need Kettlewell to be another pantomime villain so that we can enjoy the football and feel validated in our opinions?

Because Motherwell were generally equally as shite. I think Motherwell have taken a big step forward under JBA and I think they will have enough on Saturday but it will not be easy because Kettlewell was not nearly as shite as he was made out to be and Kilmarnock will be motivated and well organised. Loses to shite teams with shite managers is not just simply down to the whims of chance.

There seemed to be a consensus on here in the end that Kettlewell was an imposter as a manager. If the people that were confident in that opinion have the courage of their convictions they will feel very confident about this coming weekend.

I think MJC enjoys a little bit of trolling and a few of his predictions are a little tongue in cheek. It is when he predicts loses against the Scottish 3rd /4th tier teams that I start to think he may be on the wind up. As you say though, it adds a good element of colour to the forum and it would be far more boring without his predictions. I think we will win today. I have been impressed by the start we have made and I don't buy into the Derek McIness love in of the Scottish media. St Mirren beat Hearts last weekend and I don't think that was a surprise. 0-1 Motherwell and the Gorgie faithful to start turning on McIness.