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Motherwell v Celtic 30/09/2023


SteelmaninOZ
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18 minutes ago, bobbybingo said:

Yeah, it's his job to pick the team and he is currently going with Bair because he fits his system. If you don't want to offer an opinion on what a better option would be right now because you know we don't have better options right now, you might as well pick a cloud to shout at.

Bair does fit with his system of setting up to lose three games on the bounce due to signing an ineffective striker. This forum is the cloud for all of us to shout at. 

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28 minutes ago, well_said said:

I would rather have Bair than the lump of wood that is Wilkinson, hasn't impressed since day one in my opinion.

It's that bad we really are now in the position of choosing between being booted in the left or right nut. 

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3 hours ago, wellfan said:

Continuing to play a solo dud striker will prolong this spell of good performances. 

So who would you play instead of Bair at the moment? Both Shaw and Wilkinson were pathetic when they came on and, as a result of them being unable to hold the ball or link up play, our defence and midfield were given less respite than with Bair on the pitch. As for their efforts to close down opponents? Non existent.

With those two on the pitch, we had eight outfield players running their arses off while that pair strolled around without a care in the world. Bair is not a goal scorer and signing him seemed nonsensical to me. As stated endlessly on here. we are crying out for any sort of goal scorer to benefit from our general play. But on yesterdays evidence Bair contributed far more than those other two were willing to do. It's not just about ability. 

And if anyone is not encouraged by our performances against both Rangers and Celtic, then that is because they are determined not to be and are unwilling to acknowledge progress. Of course points are important. Nobody thinks any differently. But compared to the hidings we have suffered from both of them over recent years, yesterday and last week were a huge step forward. 

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10 minutes ago, dennyc said:

So who would you play instead of Bair at the moment?

Biereth aside, our recruitment in the striker department has been appalling. That Bair is our only current option (he's the best of a bad bunch) is not good news for us going forward this season. Kettlewell needs to fix it quickly. 

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13 minutes ago, wellfan said:

Biereth aside, our recruitment in the striker department has been appalling. That Bair is our only current option (he's the best of a bad bunch) is not good news for us going forward this season. Kettlewell needs to fix it quickly. 

Don't think anybody disagrees with that.

Lack of a cutting edge aside, were you encouraged by our general play over both games?  And our ability to compete with teams whose budget and player quality is far ahead of what we possess. And the performance of our midfield and the often slated central defence,  Rangers booed off the field despite defeating us and the obvious relief from Celtic players and fans yesterday suggests we are not the walkover we have often been. Obviously the results are extremely frustrating and questions over our forward recruitment are valid, but it looks to me like we are making solid progress in many areas.

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Just now, dennyc said:

Don't think anybody disagrees with that.

Lack of a cutting edge aside, were you encouraged by our general play over both games?  And our ability to compete with teams whose budget and player quality is far ahead of what we possess. And the performance of our midfield and the often slated central defence,  Rangers booed off the field despite defeating us and the obvious relief from Celtic players and fans yesterday suggests we are not the walkover we have often been. Obviously the results are extremely frustrating and questions over our forward recruitment are valid, but it looks to me like we are making solid progress in many areas.

I am absolutely encouraged by and pleased with our progress under Kettlewell and how well we’ve played in midfield and defence in general, but absolutely scunnered by the poor striker recruitment being the dominant factor this season. If Biereth doesn't come good, we’ll likely be in the market for a proven (likely costly) striker in January whilst paying the wages of several duds/crocks. Not an easy task for Kettlewell to remedy this situation. 

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3 hours ago, wellfan said:

What you mean is that we’ll be alright once we panic sign a striker with an actual goalscoring pedigree in January. 

No, not what I mean at all. I think we'll be OK with what we have, but will likely finish bottom six, but in no danger of relegation, if one of our current crop of strikers doesn’t come good. On the other hand, if Wilkinson or Biereth come good, we'll be top six and conceivably in the European places.

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3 hours ago, well_said said:

I would rather have Bair than the lump of wood that is Wilkinson, hasn't impressed since day one in my opinion.

So we can be critical of Wilkinson when he's started 6 games, including early league cup run-outs, and also claim that Shaw isn't up to the job after a whopping 0 starts and a total of 60 minutes of football, but when it comes to other players we're best to give them time to settle in and see how they get on after a few months?

If Bair's job is not to actually score goals but instead provide knockdowns and suchlike, then why hasn't Shaw gotten a single start alongside him up top? Surely the idea is to have him provide those knockdowns to a striker who can score goals, no?

I've seen it said that we'll see things improve when Kettlewell can finally deploy two strikers, but he's had Shaw available and has been using him from the bench as a direct replacement for Bair? 

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27 minutes ago, David said:

So we can be critical of Wilkinson when he's started 6 games, including early league cup run-outs, and also claim that Shaw isn't up to the job after a whopping 0 starts and a total of 60 minutes of football, but when it comes to other players we're best to give them time to settle in and see how they get on after a few months?

If Bair's job is not to actually score goals but instead provide knockdowns and suchlike, then why hasn't Shaw gotten a single start alongside him up top? Surely the idea is to have him provide those knockdowns to a striker who can score goals, no?

I've seen it said that we'll see things improve when Kettlewell can finally deploy two strikers, but he's had Shaw available and has been using him from the bench as a direct replacement for Bair? 

It's only my opinion.

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2 hours ago, David said:

So we can be critical of Wilkinson when he's started 6 games, including early league cup run-outs, and also claim that Shaw isn't up to the job after a whopping 0 starts and a total of 60 minutes of football, but when it comes to other players we're best to give them time to settle in and see how they get on after a few months?

If Bair's job is not to actually score goals but instead provide knockdowns and suchlike, then why hasn't Shaw gotten a single start alongside him up top? Surely the idea is to have him provide those knockdowns to a striker who can score goals, no?

I've seen it said that we'll see things improve when Kettlewell can finally deploy two strikers, but he's had Shaw available and has been using him from the bench as a direct replacement for Bair? 

If we go 2 strikers who drops out?  The 4 midfielders doing great so can't see any of them dropping out and the 3 at back with 2 wing backs is working just fine.   I would give Shaw a start and see how he gets on

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15 minutes ago, grizzlyg said:

apparently one of the turnstiles and a fair few seats......but remember.,.......best fans in world!!! 😡😡

Give them the minimum allowed , I'd happily take the extra cost on to the price of my season ticket if it keeps the scum away. The green brigade are untouchable in this country and are allowed free rein to do as they please.

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3 hours ago, David said:

If Bair's job is not to actually score goals but instead provide knockdowns and suchlike, then why hasn't Shaw gotten a single start alongside him up top?

His job is to provide knock-downs for Spittal and Slattery. That much is obvious at this stage. The issue with playing with an out and out striker is that he will probably need the support that Bair supplies thus sacrificing a midfielder.

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3 minutes ago, steeldrew said:

I'm sure it's just an illusion from the Cooper but it genuinely looked like there were more fans than seats in the McLean Stand. The aisles all full the whole match. 

Apparently they managed to open a gate to let people in without tickets . Ban them completely .

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2 minutes ago, wellup83 said:

His job is to provide knock-downs for Spittal and Slattery. That much is obvious at this stage. The issue with playing with an out and out striker is that he will probably need the support that Bair supplies thus sacrificing a midfielder.

If that is the case, and it's the system we're going with, then Bair actually isn't the 4th choice striker who's only playing due to injuries? Or are we going to see Wilkinson picked over him now that he's fit? 

Because the truth is, if we're relying on the bulk of our goals coming from Spittal and Slattery, I don't know how successful that's going to be. 

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21 minutes ago, steeldrew said:

I'm sure it's just an illusion from the Cooper but it genuinely looked like there were more fans than seats in the McLean Stand. The aisles all full the whole match. 

I think your right there,I've thought the same myself and not just yesterday's game,it's looked that way for a couple of seasons now atleast.

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42 minutes ago, steeldrew said:

I'm sure it's just an illusion from the Cooper but it genuinely looked like there were more fans than seats in the McLean Stand. The aisles all full the whole match. 

Remember a time when there used to be a police cordon round the ground and if you didn't produce a ticket you were turned away. Simpler times.

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