Motherwell v Ross County 03/08/2024

[Dossertillidie2]

19 minutes ago, grizzlyg said:

Can I just ask those slating Kettlewell, who should we bring in?  Ye not brilliant today but hardly disastrous.  

Rhys McCabe for me 

[joewarkfanclub]

SK aint getting binned anytime soon.

[Dossertillidie2]

7 minutes ago, joewarkfanclub said:

SK aint getting binned anytime soon.

I agree but his football for me is as bad as Alexander’s. To be fair tho there isn’t many teams in Scotland who play an attractive style of football that I can think of in the league. Last week I genuinely nearly fell asleep tho it was that bad. Today was marginally better. 

[grizzlyg]

Amazed no one has yet said Stama is a waste of money 😜😜

[steelman1991]

I must have been at a different match to a lot of you guys. I don’t remember us creating a lot of chances 🤷‍♂️

[joewarkfanclub]

21 minutes ago, Dossertillidie2 said:

I agree but his football for me is as bad as Alexander’s. To be fair tho there isn’t many teams in Scotland who play an attractive style of football that I can think of in the league. Last week I genuinely nearly fell asleep tho it was that bad. Today was marginally better. 

Not sure its as bad as Alexanders.

That was eye bleeding stuff.

We have played some decent football under SK at times. Its just a bit pedestrian at times and a bit disjointed at others.

When it works its good to watch and we can score some really nice goals.

It just never seems to be done off a solid platform with distinguishable patterns of play.

[Dossertillidie2]

Anyone any info on this Everton game? Is it at fir park or goodison? Just asked a first team player and he knows nothing about it but SK mentioned it in his post match that they were playing them this week 

[wellup83]

17 minutes ago, steelman1991 said:

I must have been at a different match to a lot of you guys. I don’t remember us creating a lot of chances 🤷‍♂️

Robinson missed a sitter, I'm sure Moses managed to miss a guilt edge chance in the first half as well as ducking to avoid heading an inch perfect cross from O'Donnell of all people. Wilson hit a shot narrowly over in the first and had a cracking long range shot saved by Laidlaw in the second. We also hit the post in the second half. We may have looked pedestrian at times but we created numerous opportunities over the 90 minutes for sure.

[stv]

33 minutes ago, grizzlyg said:

Amazed no one has yet said Stama is a waste of money 😜😜

See that Stama what a bloody waste of money he is. 

[Kmcalpin]

22 minutes ago, Dossertillidie2 said:

Anyone any info on this Everton game? Is it at fir park or goodison? Just asked a first team player and he knows nothing about it but SK mentioned it in his post match that they were playing them this week 

It's in Liverpool. An odd friendly but if it gives some players much needed gametime then fine.

 

[FirParkCornerExile]

28 minutes ago, wellup83 said:

Robinson missed a sitter, I'm sure Moses managed to miss a guilt edge chance in the first half as well as ducking to avoid heading an inch perfect cross from O'Donnell of all people. Wilson hit a shot narrowly over in the first and had a cracking long range shot saved by Laidlaw in the second. We also hit the post in the second half. We may have looked pedestrian at times but we created numerous opportunities over the 90 minutes for sure.

Correct, the hysteria about this game is quite an eye opener. The most depressing stat of all was again the attendance 4353 , to not even break 4000 home supporters on a glorious opening day is utterly pathetic. I'll be amazed if the WS can ever increase our pathetic crowds.

[Kmcalpin]

8 hours ago, grizzlyg said:

Callachan on bench and big Ap Stam

At 6' he's not so big. He looked absolutely tiny when standing next to Akil Wright. 

[wellfan]

10 hours ago, FirParkCornerExile said:

The most depressing stat of all was again the attendance 4353 , to not even break 4000 home supporters on a glorious opening day is utterly pathetic. I'll be amazed if the WS can ever increase our pathetic crowds.

If the club is serious about increasing its fanbase and, therefore, home crowds and revenue, it seriously needs to consider employing a manager who knows what they're doing. No amount of excellent work by the WS and the new CEO will change that, as fans want to be entertained, even in defeat.

This isn't a reactionary view based on the League Cup or today; rather, it's based on a view of Kettlewell's entire tenure, which indicates to me that there's been no real progress made in terms of the overall team performance and identity. He did well with Bair, for example, which I've acknowledged, so it's clear to me that he can coach players at some level and generate success in that aspect. However, a manager needs to be more than that. They need to be tactically astute. 

I understand why Kettlewell is still here and had his contract renewed, and that's simply because the club board has shown itself to be incompetent in recent times. Asleep at the wheel, perhaps, and taking the easy option due to the poorly managed clusterfuck surrounding Alexander and Hammell. So, here we are, and it's groundhog day. 

Ultimately, and unlike Alexander, Kettlewell isn't an arrogant prick and he seems to work hard, but he's just not very good at managing a top flight football team, and that's a shame. Taking last season into account, and given there's only one year left on his contract, I think it's a matter of when and not if now.

Unless he has a good first half of the season, the calls for him to be replaced as we approach January will be deafening. It's probably fair to say that match day attendances will only continue to stagnate, at best, if he continues to serve up crap and sign duds and crocks. We'll reap what we sow. 

[Ya Bezzer!]

3 hours ago, wellup83 said:

It's horrendous. The usual slaters just don't know how to support the club. 

Alexander had us Top 6 and it wasn't good enough.  Might be a while until we finish that high again.

It's just what supporters do now.  They have the power through social media so they are going to bash the big red button.

However it's almost always a case of destruction rather than construction.

Don't always agree with his choices but if we finish above our position last term Kettlewell will have done OK in my view.  

[Ya Bezzer!]

21 minutes ago, wellfan said:

If the club is serious about increasing its fanbase and, therefore, home crowds and revenue, it seriously needs to consider employing a manager who knows what they're doing. No amount of excellent work by the WS and the new CEO will change that, as fans want to be entertained, even in defeat.

The fanbase isn't increasing.  There have been times when we had excellent players, good form, good results and the home crowds never really change.

We have limited appeal and that's what we have to work with.  

As a fan, I want to be entertained but let's be realistic everyone is happier with one point than none.

[Kmcalpin]

Given our line up, which was almost identical to last week's against Partick and our lack of "progress" so far in the league cup, I would happliy have taken a draw at 3pm. In other words, I had very limited expectations. Just relieved that Ross County didn't snatch a late winner. In normal times, if there is such a thing, I would have looked to win this game. 

Over the piece we deserved to win the game by a clear margin. Ross County spurned 2 very good chances but we wasted far more. They came for a point and achieved that. As expected they were very physical and our strikers simply couldn't cope  with that. Midfield too took a bit of a battering with Davor and Miller suffering more than most. In the former's case the old boxing adage that a good big un will always beat a good little un was especially true. I had to admire his courage and determination though. He was flattened several times but always got back up again without complaint and with a smile on his face. 

Defensively, I think we've got a bit to go. Ostensisbly, the Ox has improved us between the sticks and thats a start. Wing back is still a concern with a chronic lack of pace hampering SK's preferred set up. I thought Blaney had a poor game although Gordon was more impressive. I'm still curious about Balmer's absence. Still we did achieve a rare clean sheet.

Midfield is a continuing worry, not least because of injuries. Mostly through necessity, the balance is all wrong and we struggled badly today not just in an obvious attacking sense but also defensively.  Neither Halliday nor Davor could compete against bigger and faster opponents who put themselves about, much to Lennon Miller's detriment.  

Up front, Robinson and Moses looked very lightweight and toothless against a huge Ross County defence.  Either one might be ok playing with a big physical sort but we don't seem to have one.  I don't know much about Stuparevic, who was inexplicably absent or the newly arrived Ap Stam, but hopefully they they offer something a bit different to our 2 starters today. 

Ewan Wilson was my MOTM. He had a decent game and it was encouraging to see his annoyance with himself when Laidlaw saved his decent shot; he knows he could have done better, had he connected properly. 

Whee do we go from here? Answers on a postcard.    

[Kmcalpin]

1 hour ago, FirParkCornerExile said:

Correct, the hysteria about this game is quite an eye opener. The most depressing stat of all was again the attendance 4353 , to not even break 4000 home supporters on a glorious opening day is utterly pathetic. I'll be amazed if the WS can ever increase our pathetic crowds.

Today's attendance was about 240 down on the same fixture last year.

[MJC]

Our attendances are never going to increase regardless of the product on the park. Regardless of prices and financial climate our support is lazy and apathetic and has been for as long as I can remember. We have fans who just aren’t interested in going to run of the mill games but will come out of the woodwork for Cup finals and European games.

And let me be as clear as I possible can be here. I am not talking about people who for whatever reason can’t go to games be that location, money etc. that’s their business. I am talking about people who absolutely could be at the game but they just don’t go, instead they’d rather sit in the pub or go to the bowling, the golf, the races or whatever. I’m sure most of us know at least one person who falls into that category.

The sad reality is we are a poorly supported club and nothing that happens on or off the park will ever change that. 

[MJC]

Yes because Semis/finals and a big day out at Hampden are appealing in themselves, the same goes for Euro games. But league games against Ross County or St.Johnstone don’t have that glamour and it seems that it’s that glamour and appeal that a lot of our ‘supporters’ really care about, not the club itself. 

[Ya Bezzer!]

1 hour ago, MJC said:

Our attendances are never going to increase regardless of the product on the park. Regardless of prices and financial climate our support is lazy and apathetic and has been for as long as I can remember. We have fans who just aren’t interested in going to run of the mill games but will come out of the woodwork for Cup finals and European games.

And let me be as clear as I possible can be here. I am not talking about people who for whatever reason can’t go to games be that location, money etc. that’s their business. I am talking about people who absolutely could be at the game but they just don’t go, instead they’d rather sit in the pub or go to the bowling, the golf, the races or whatever. I’m sure most of us know at least one person who falls into that category.

The sad reality is we are a poorly supported club and nothing that happens on or off the park will ever change that. 

Don't think any of those things are exclusive to Motherwell's support.  Probably applies to all teams at all levels.

We have a limited support but I don't think we are 'poorly' supported.  In a Scottish context we are probably a Top 10 club and probably only Kilmarnock and Falkirk get slighlty better supports from all the non city clubs. 

[FirParkCornerExile]

6 hours ago, wellgirl said:

They've said they will but I've said this before. A lot of people can't afford to go. If it comes to people being skint and paying 24 quid to see a football game or spending it elsewhere then then a lot of people will opt out. 

That financial side doesn't seem to be affecting other teams to the same degree.  A lot more St Mirren fans can appear to afford to go to the games - please don't anyone give us the free ticket pish as the reason for St Mirrens increased attendances - that's just not true, same with Dundee and Kilmarnock who've all seen a significant up turn in attendances. I accept they have had successful seasons however even on successful seasons our attendances barely fluctuate 500 a game. 

[FirParkCornerExile]

2 hours ago, Ya Bezzer! said:

Don't think any of those things are exclusive to Motherwell's support.  Probably applies to all teams at all levels.

We have a limited support but I don't think we are 'poorly' supported.  In a Scottish context we are probably a Top 10 club and probably only Kilmarnock and Falkirk get slighlty better supports from all the non city clubs. 

St  Mirren , Kilmarnock, Dundee are bucking that trend , all have seen significant improvement in the home support. St Mirren are averaging nearly 1000 a match more than us and its not free tickets before anyone  offers this as a reason, there is zero evidence to back up that claim.  

https://www.worldfootball.net/attendance/sco-premiership-2023-2024/1/

 

[steelboy]

58 minutes ago, FirParkCornerExile said:

St  Mirren , Kilmarnock, Dundee are bucking that trend , all have seen significant improvement in the home support. St Mirren are averaging nearly 1000 a match more than us and its not free tickets before anyone  offers this as a reason, there is zero evidence to back up that claim.  

https://www.worldfootball.net/attendance/sco-premiership-2023-2024/1/

 

They claimed 5800 for the 0-0 game last December. There's no way the crowd was that big. That's 73% full which looking at this video it obviously isn't. 

The dodgy charity gets money from the Scottish Government which they then use to buy St Mirren that don't get used. That's how the Scottish economy works these days. 

[Yodo]

What was pretty plain on Monday night SK doesn’t like to be criticised or questioned on his tactics . I thought he was very arrogant to the 92 year gentleman who told him the result was down to him and it was the worst display he’d seen in years . Unfortunately for SK it’s not a popularity contest but a results driven business he won’t be allowed to go on a run of no wins like last season 

[wellon]

13 hours ago, stv said:

He can’t cross in a decent ball with any concistancey . Once he gets towards the 18 yrd line more oftren than not it’s backwards or a wee pass inside. Oh for the days when a wide man ,beat the first defender and just ran towards the line and crossed it over. Other parts of his game are passable.

Wilson looked enthusiastic.

Yep, I've always thought he was suspect defensively, just said I've seen him worse than yesterday's game.