David

Well, not in person anyway. only behind a keyboard.

Didn't you do the same?

Just when you said there will be no excuses or hiding places, I take that to mean that if and when we hit that period, many would suggest the next step would be sacking the manager. I'm fairly certain we’ll hit an extended winless run this season at some point. The lack of depth when it comes to quality in our squad suggests that injuries will lead to a period where we don't perform well and results suffer. That is unless we're incredibly lucky and avoid many injuries this season, of course. In my opinion, Kettlewell has done a good job thus far. It's sometimes forgotten (or ignored by some) that he's a young manager still learning the job. Before coming to us, he’d had six months as a manager on his own. This upcoming season is only his second full season as a manager, and he’s only just turned 40 years old. Sure, he likes to talk, but I'd take that any day over one of the "boys" who get managerial jobs in this country and can't string two sentences together without resorting to clichés that say absolutely nothing. Sacking a manager should always be an absolute last resort. The upheaval it causes at the club is immense, from seeing fellow coaches leave and player routines being disturbed, to a new manager coming in with different ideas and different requirements regarding the playing staff. Interestingly enough, we sacked Graham Alexander two years ago today, and the chaos and upheaval we've experienced since then hasn't been good. We're only now really getting back to something resembling normalcy.

The thing is, it has taken Kettlewell this long to get the team looking like he wants them to look. If we then sack him a few months into this season, we hire a new coach who then comes in and the whole process begins again. I think continuity is key. The recent chopping and changing of managers has done us no good at all. I was being sarcastic.

Agreed. County is an absolute must-win. If we don't get all three points there we're surely favourites for the drop?

He's played one entire game. From start to finish. Which is what I said. So, calm down.

He's played one game for us. One entire game. Maybe wait until he's played more than that before judging how he's looking in the Scottish game? By your reckoning Henrik Larsson would have looked like he was "struggling with the pace of Scottish football" when he misplaced that pass under pressure to Chic Charnley in his first game for Celtic. He went on to do not too badly. Exactly.

How can you say he’s struggling with the pace of Scottish football when he’s only played one actual match for us? We’ve not really seen him play in Scottish football yet. He’s played one game and 36 minutes when he’s been brought on from the bench. I can understand you perhaps questioning his record up to this point elsewhere, but claiming that he’s struggling with the pace when he’s only played one full game is quite something.

I'm not being patronising; I'm simply asking why you said something that is clearly a bit daft. There's a difference. The club is doing what it always does. They're trying to get the best players they can on a limited budget, while those players are likely receiving similar offers from other clubs and, as they are entitled to do, weighing up their options. The only waiting the club is likely doing is waiting to hear back from the agents or clubs of players they have approached about coming here.

Far from an ideal performance, but it's still early days. Like it or not, we've lost some key players and individuals in the dressing room, such as Blair Spittal and Liam Kelly. We've signed eleven new players, a fair number of whom have been injured before the season has even started. The likes of Wilson and O'Donnell likely weren't considered first-choice players this season, but we've had to rely on them for various reasons. My preferred approach is not to judge until we're about eight weeks or so into the league campaign, as that gives new players time to settle in and gives injured players a chance to come back and make an impact. The bottom line is we're through, and we've got a home game against Killie in the next round, so that's good news.

What makes you think the club are "waiting" until the last possible minute to sign players for key positions? Do you honestly believe the management team are sitting around saying, "We still need to replace Spittal, but it’s fine, we can leave it for a bit longer. No need to worry about it just now"? Yes, we knew Spittal was leaving months ago, but we didn’t know who else was staying or going, so we wouldn’t have known our budget. Also, even if we had identified a player months ago to replace him, what makes you think that player would want to commit to us so early? Any agent worth his salary would be advising his players to shop around and see what other options are available before agreeing to anything. There are many factors that go into bringing in new players. It’s nowhere near as straightforward and simplistic as you like to make it out to be.

Means we can add him back onto the list of potential managers everyone loves to mention if & when Kettlewell goes. Valakari, Davies, Nijholt, and once again Van Der Gaag. the gang is all back together.

Honestly, I'd rather be a happy clapper than a cynical ball of discontent every time Motherwell win. I feel sorry for people like you. It's football. Enjoy it. If it causes you such unhappiness turn it off and go do something else with your spare time.

I'm fairly sure Balmer will be our first choice at the back when the league campaign starts.

Watch the game and see.

What conclusion?

Wells is a winger and Stuparevic is a striker (or potential second striker). Halliday made perfect sense. You might not like the guy, but as a replacement it's fine.

We're already playing with two up front. Paton is...fine... for now. It's still basically pre-season. As I say above, if he's still a regular pick in this position once all our transfer business is concluded I'll be worried. Until then, it's about bedding in new players, getting everyone up to speed and getting through the group.

We're playing with two up front today, so doesn't that represent a change from "plan A" in itself? Paton is there because we have little by way of options in that area at the moment. it's still only July. If the window closes and he's still there? then I'll be annoyed.

Who would you have replaced Paton with?

For those who don't like the current offering, there's these two crackers on the website as well...

Maybe the club will put away some money to cover us for the infamous "10th place finish and no cup run" that has lots of people on socials ready to press the panic button and hand control to Hollywood Erik.

Went with Balmer. I would have gone with young Dylan Wells if he'd gotten more game time today, he was everywhere. Still a bit rough around the edges, but he has some qualities that suggest with time and coaching he could be a good little player. Nice debut from Balmer. Looks solid at the back, and I think he'll be a threat at set pieces.

Pretty standard stuff for this early in the season really, so no surprises there. I'm quite impressed by young Dylan Wells. He's looked good so far this game. Balmer looks good at the back and a threat at set pieces.

I've long said that Kettlewell is an underrated manager. He's still relatively young in the profession, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him go on to carve a very good career out for himself at a higher level either domestically or down south.