L CUP Motherwell v Kilmarnock 18/08/2024

[Happy Dosser]

Wonder why SK finally cracked and brought in a winger? For whatever reason, it's welcome, since we were  one-dimensional and predictable.

Now we've just got to work on the  forwards getting on the end of crosses.....

[FirParkCornerExile]

My Tuppence worth:

We are through against a Premier league team at home for the first time in a long time, Happy Days. 

Thought the defence were pretty decent throughout even when Killie had 11 on the park.

Maswanhise looks like he could be a real asset to us.

McGinn was outstanding despite a couple of rash ones late on.

SOD did well forus as did Lennon Miller.

Watt did a turn for us.

Midfield still not strong enough.

Didn't create anything when it was 11 v 11 , that said neither did Kilmarnock.   

Halliday just doesn't do it for me, nor Robinson.

Our set pieces are woeful. 

Attendance from the home support was utterly pitiful.

Those who booed Tony Watt please tell me what good you think that does? thankfully in the minority and were drowned out by the majority still  but still pathetic.  

All in All in the Cup all you ask  is to get through, we did it, and got another home tie avoiding the OF so all in all a few positives but still plenty room for improvement. 

[wellup83]

14 minutes ago, FirParkCornerExile said:

Those who booed Tony Watt please tell me what good you think that does? thankfully in the minority and were drowned out by the majority still  but still pathetic. 

It's the manchildren who stand with their arms crossed in utter defiance, looking all around as if to say "look at me, I'm not clapping the Judas" Grow up fs the guy actually put a decent shift in when he came on.

[FirParkCornerExile]

2 hours ago, AllyMax said:

Not seeing it as being as dire as others seem to think. Watt, the new guy and taking off Halliday composed us. We delivered an awful lot of ball into therir box that no one was getting on the end of. 

It's a cup game. Being in the draw for the next round is all that counts.

I tend to be a bit like that , there are positives. Even at 11v11 the 4th best team in the league last season created fuck all against us. Last season wed have chucked a couple in for them.

[Ya Bezzer!]

1 hour ago, bobbybingo said:

I'm not 100% on that, to be fair, but surely Utd didn't agree to letting him line up against them.

Watt has already played three times for Dundee United in the competition so I'd imagine that means he's cup tied.

[Ya Bezzer!]

Ok the quality of the football hasn't been great but that's three clean sheets at home and we have honestly not been troubled at all in any of those matches except when Kilmarnock threw the kitchen sink at it in the last couple of minutes of extra time.

I think the current squad has potential if Kettlewell abandons some of his pre existing ideas about how we set up.

And of course when the injury situation improves.

[MelvinBragg]

5 minutes ago, Ya Bezzer! said:

Watt has already played three times for Dundee United in the competition so I'd imagine that means he's cup tied.

That ends after the group stages apparently. Hence him playing today...

[FirParkCornerExile]

Anything in it 

 

[wellfan]

Much better today, but only once Kettlewell finally made subs, which allowed Miller to drop back into his pivot position. Maswanhise, Watt and Moses were significant upgrades on Halliday, Davor and Robinson today. I also though Sparrow did well when he came on, and special mentions to Seddon and Wilson for playing a couple of different positions each today as Kettlewell fiddled with the line-up throughout the second half.

The less said about Halliday, the better, but it was to be expected when he was signed. Him and Davor should not start together again in the double pivot positions, or whatever it is they're doing, as Miller is wasted in the advanced role he's being pegged into recently. We were crap until all that was changed, so let's hope Kettlewell has learned something.

Watt worked hard when he came on and Maswanhise was brilliant. It was so refreshing to see a winger taking on his man, over and over again, and then getting a deserved assist. 

[stv]

3 hours ago, grizzlyg said:

This cocktail is going down a treat, loving it. Weather amazing.........whoops.......wrong chat 🤣🤣

COYW

In florida the now, don't know if it's the heat or the game that had me sweating profusely. 

[bobbybingo]

23 minutes ago, Ya Bezzer! said:

Watt has already played three times for Dundee United in the competition so I'd imagine that means he's cup tied.

Can you only be cup tied against your previous club? 

[Mootherwell86]

Think my main takeaway from today is that Miller needs to be back playing in that deeper role. We were far more in control when Halliday went off and Miller dropped back in. 
 

 

 

[santheman]

1 hour ago, FirParkCornerExile said:

Anything in it 

 

Word on the street is that he's been offered a contract.

3 different sources but it could just be the same rumour circulating.

[Kmcalpin]

We're though, deservedly, and thats what matters. A very defensive cautious set up to begin and long high balls to the isolated Robinson was never going to work against a huge industrial scale defence. Over the piece we created quite a lot of chances but were toothless in the box.  I was disappointed with Killie as they were cynical and overly robust.  Masters of timewasting and conning a naive ref. They have only themselves to blame for going  down to 10 men and truth be told only a weak referee saved them from going down to 9 men.

The second half changes really paid dividends and Tony Watt added some much needed guile and hold up play to our game. However, young Manwanhise really stole the show and looked very promising. It was disappointing though to watch us sit back and defend against a fired up 10 men with nothing to lose. A few needless slack passes at the back had us biting our nails.

A curious officiating anomaly at the end of 90 minutes. Vassell, who seemd to be made of glass, went down injured and whilst he was receiving treatment, the 4th official signalled 6 additional minutes.  Play resumed 2 minutes later, but only 6 minutes additional time were played. Surely he should have waited until Vassell recovered then calculated additional time?

As for our line up, the defence was pretty solid and the Ox was sound apart from flapping at one cross. Midfield again struggled and the balance was all wrong. Young Wilson didn't play badly but seemed like a fish out of water. Miller was the best of the bunch but again took a kicking, from less gifted opponents. Up front, you had to feel sorry for Robinson stuck out on his own feeding off random high balls against agricultural opponents. 

Bottom line though is that we progress and are at least £40K better off.  

[weeyin]

1 hour ago, santheman said:

Word on the street is that he's been offered a contract.

3 different sources but it could just be the same rumour circulating.

Turnbull was in the stand too, apparently. Would be quite the coup to bring him back as well!

[Mad Dog]

2 hours ago, Ya Bezzer! said:

Watt has already played three times for Dundee United in the competition so I'd imagine that means he's cup tied.

He played today though.

[Spiderpig]

16 minutes ago, Mad Dog said:

He played today though.

He is on loan with Dundee untd covering the bulk of his wages so he is free to play in the cup as he did today and also if we progress, but not against his parent club unfortunately.

[Mad Dog]

23 minutes ago, Spiderpig said:

He is on loan with Dundee untd covering the bulk of his wages so he is free to play in the cup as he did today and also if we progress, but not against his parent club unfortunately.

Yeah, I get that but there was a suggestion that he would be cup-tied which he isn't. Unless we're getting kicked out of the cup in the morning due to an 'administrative oversight'.

[santheman]

1 hour ago, weeyin said:

Turnbull was in the stand too, apparently. Would be quite the coup to bring him back as well!

Although one of the WS guys over on P&B says he has it on good authority that Jack is only training with us so I would think he would be more in the know about these things.

We can only dream about Turnbull. 

[weeyin]

I wouldn't be surprised about Jack only training with us. I imagine he'll receive better offers than any we're likely to make. 

[SteelmaninOZ]

And the journey continues….

 

[SteelmaninOZ]

 

[pretzel]

It's funny reading some of the comments from Killie fans on social media. They have one good season and they feel like they should be easily brushing the likes of ourselves and St Johnstone away. As they have done, we have had to deal with playing in Europe midweek before playing domestically days later. 

Their side didn't seem to be all that weaker despite the B team suggestions. I thought we played some nice stuff in the first half but both sides lacked any real quality in the final third with Watkins hitting well past the post and O'Donnell hitting it right to the keeper with his weaker foot despite the ball falling kindly for him.

It was lunacy from Findlay to launch himself into that tackle at the position with no real threat when he was on a yellow but I'm not complaining. It was nice to dominate the proceedings but we were so wasteful at times. It was frustrating seeing the Killie players feigning injury, with a special mention to the keeper as McInnes sent one of his players around to tell him to drop so that he could get a quick team talk, funny how we never seen any of that again once they went a goal down. I've not seen any of the action back but I was convinced Brad Lyons was going to see red for his reckless tackle, the fact that he dropped to his knees with his head in his hands seemed to be telling.

It was a nice finish by Moses, I was convinced it had gone wide. Happy to see Watt and Maswanhise make a positive first impression. I am delighted with a home tie in the next round, it is great to avoid you-know-who. 

Despite all the doom and gloom, we have only lost one game in seven so far lol. 

 

 

[Kmcalpin]

1 hour ago, pretzel said:

It's funny reading some of the comments from Killie fans on social media. They have one good season and they feel like they should be easily brushing the likes of ourselves and St Johnstone away. As they have done, we have had to deal with playing in Europe midweek before playing domestically days later. 

Their side didn't seem to be all that weaker despite the B team suggestions. I thought we played some nice stuff in the first half but both sides lacked any real quality in the final third with Watkins hitting well past the post and O'Donnell hitting it right to the keeper with his weaker foot despite the ball falling kindly for him.

It was lunacy from Findlay to launch himself into that tackle at the position with no real threat when he was on a yellow but I'm not complaining. It was nice to dominate the proceedings but we were so wasteful at times. It was frustrating seeing the Killie players feigning injury, with a special mention to the keeper as McInnes sent one of his players around to tell him to drop so that he could get a quick team talk, funny how we never seen any of that again once they went a goal down. I've not seen any of the action back but I was convinced Brad Lyons was going to see red for his reckless tackle, the fact that he dropped to his knees with his head in his hands seemed to be telling.

It was a nice finish by Moses, I was convinced it had gone wide. Happy to see Watt and Maswanhise make a positive first impression. I am delighted with a home tie in the next round, it is great to avoid you-know-who. 

Despite all the doom and gloom, we have only lost one game in seven so far lol.

Pretty much agree with that. Killie fielding a B team or not we were one or two players short ourselves. Lyons should have seen a straight red but the feeling around us was that as Findlay had been asked to leave the field, the ref didn't want to red card a 2nd Killie player. It looked a stick on red card all day. O'hara should have been booked for time wasting. I don't get why referees allow this kind of thing to rumble on unpunished. Overall, the ref was conned far too easily. I didn't really get why McInnes ordered his charges to time waste at all. You'd have thought they'd want to avoid a punishing additional 30 minutes at all costs given their important visit to Scandinavia on Thursday.

Killie fans deserve a lot of credit for staying to the bitter end. However, both teams contrived, in different ways, to make it a nail biting and exciting last 15 minutes. I did have some sympathy for their catcalls and booing about our time wasting late on, but it was limited, given their side taking it to theatrical and protracted levels earlier in the proceedings. Sauce for the goose and all that.

I've just watched Moses' finish. A lovely cross well finished it has to be said.  

[Happy Dosser]

Yes, it was a nice goal but because Moses didn't react  straight away I thought it had slid past.

Funniest moment of the day was McInnes telling Kettlewell to calm down when the latter had his spat with the Killie player: McInnes was having histrionics all game at the ref's decisions and was always in the ear of the officials, a job he delegated to the relentless Tony Docherty when he was his assistant.

That's consecutive home games where our manager has got involved with an opposition player and got booked for it.