Casagolda

I was going to say Derek McInnes but aye, the pair of them pretty much have Scottish football sussed following that exact blueprint.

It does indeed. If you’ve got a team of hard working laddies that are reasonably well organised and difficult to beat, you’ll be at worst comfortable mid-table. If you also have one or two bits of quality in the final third, then you’ll be in with a fair shout of Top 6 and even Europe. Last season despite having some very decent players capable of producing some good performances, we ultimately achieved little cause we were so brittle. Kettlewell’s biggest job this summer was always going to be to make us more resolute defensively and while it’s early days, it certainly looks like we’re heading in the right direction in that regard- with the addition of Gordon in particular looking inspired. I’ve seen some chat/concern that we look heavily reliant on set pieces but I’m honestly not too worried about that at the minute. If you’re building a new team you do it by starting with a solid base, the rest can follow. Plus it feels like with the sheer number of options Kettlewell has at his disposal now, some combination of them is bound to ‘click’ in the final third at some point.

Agreed and fair play to Kettlewell like. I genuinely thought he was just tiding us over till Seddon was fit, especially after a ropy display against Thistle. However in a week where there’s been a lot of talk about youth development(or lack of) in Scotland, he’s stuck by Wilson and was rewarded with an excellent performance today. And he certainly wasn’t the only one. Maswanhise gives us a different dimension going forward. Gordon was rock solid(again). Sods popping up literally everywhere. Halliday and Davor were like men possessed. Robinson excellent with his back to goal, albeit questionable when actually facing it. Miller just oozes class. Even all the subs made an impact and played their part. Just one of those class days when one of the bigger spending City clubs roll into town and get absolutely battered all over the pitch. Sparrow’s goal to clinch the win at a point when we were only just about hanging on was cathartic. Echo what others have said, most enjoyable game at Fir Park by some distance in well over a year.

Is there not rule you can switch after the group stage? I’m sure it was Utd themselves done it a few years ago. Or have I just made that up?

Dunno like, did you see the nick of some of the forwards getting minutes in the Scottish Premiership this weekend… A lot of them only get a game cause they’re big laddies who work hard and are a ‘handful’. Which is evidently enough to get you a gig in Scottish football, even if you canny trap a bag of cement. Like I said and I stand by it, in terms of natural ability I think Watt’s got more than most at this level and more than what we could probably otherwise afford. It’s his attitude and application that’s always held him back but that’s why he was at Fir Park in the first place. It certainly wasn’t an issue during his first stint and a jilted Tony Watt, with a point to prove and a new contract to play for is imho an interesting proposition-especially if someone else is footing part of the bill.

Not sure I agree with that. Watt is still only 30 and has more ability than most at this level. IF he’s fit and motivated, there’s absolutely no doubt(for me) he could still more than do a decent job. In terms of fitness, he played over 40 games for Utd last season no bother- registering 15 goals and 9 assists in the process. In terms of motivation, he’s out of contract this summer and must know at his age he’s probably only got one more big contract in him. So he’ll need to produce the goods this season if he wants it. Not convinced it’ll happen like but if we’re only taking on a percentage of his wage till the end of the season, I honestly don’t think it’d be the worst signing.

The guys had no pre-season, hasn’t played since May and has had less than 10 days training. No matter your view on Kettlewell, you can’t possibly deny it was a gamble to start him today and one he didn’t have to take. Especially when he’s literally got 2 senior strikers he also signed sitting on the bench.

I didn’t boo yesterday but I can certainly understand the frustration. Let’s face it, we’ve been shite to watch at Fir Park for nearly a year now. We won 5 league games there all last season and 2 of them were in August. We then won 3 of the remaining 17- that included 2 wins against an awful Livi side that were relegated and the other was Derek Adams Ross County the night before he was sacked. People put a lot money in and it’s really not been much bang for your buck. We’ve now played 3 games there so far this season and only managed to score in 1 of them against Edinburgh City and even that was a bit of a slog. However, given that only 2 of our new signings started and with the injuries we’ve got at the minute I didn’t think in isolation yesterday was worth booing. We didn’t create much but we didn’t give up much either and we still haven’t conceded a goal yet at Fir Park with Gordon impressing again. I said last week that now wasn’t the time to judge Kettlewell’s summer business but most fans don’t really do patience or big picture. My biggest concern is that yesterday was(on paper) our best chance to put 3 points on the board to try and build a bit of positivity and momentum. You felt getting off to a good start would be important for Kettlewell this season but with our next 3 games against 3 of last seasons top 4 I fear it could very easily run away from him before he even gets the chance to get half his new signings on the park.

By my reckoning that’s now Motherwell’s last 3 clean sheets in the league at Fir Park having all came against Ross County, across 3 different seasons.

Said much the same post match. During the group stages Koutroumbis and Callachan didn’t feature at all. Balmer only made 1 appearance. Sparrow, Kaleta and Seddon made 1 cameo sub appearance each. Stuparevic featured in every game but got less than 90 mins across all 4. Only really Hegyi, Gordon and Robinson got any sort of tangible game time. Apart from that it was a few kids and a lot of last seasons dross sans Gent, Spittal and Bair- arguably our 3 best players during the 2nd half of the season. We’ve really still to see what most of the new guys can actually do, not to mention the new Aussie striker or whatever other business we might do. The likes of McGinn or Nicholson’s haven’t kicked a ball yet either. So aye, probably not time to panic just yet as I would hope things would start to look a bit different by the end of August as players sign/come back from injury/get up to speed etc. Today was awful though, no doubt. As has most of this group stage to be brutally honest. Kettlewell will be judged more harshly this season as it is now HIS team and it looks like he’s had a bit of backing to put it together but now’s certainly not the right time to judge him or what he’s done this summer- it’s not even August!! We got through that’s the important thing, now let’s never talk about it or the worlds most pointless penalty shoot out ever again.

Reading his interview after the Clyde game, it did sound like Miller is potentially going to be given a more advanced role this season. Certainly on Saturday he seemed to have more license to roam about than last season, where he was generally just sitting- the change of shape probably helped. At times he was still the deepest midfielder spraying the ball about(see 1st goal) but then suddenly he’d be the most advanced supporting the strikers or bursting into the box. There was some debate the other week about Kettlewell building the team round him and I think we’re seeing that’s going to be the case. Everything’s going through him already and he’s now even taking the free kicks, pens etc. To be fair to Paton, I think his best attributes as we saw on Saturday are his energy and ability to pick the ball up from deeper and drive forward with it- even if his decision making in the final third is questionable at times. Which makes Kettlewell’s decision to play him as a 10 the previous couple of games quite baffling as it pretty much negated everything he’s actually good at.

Well to be fair to Kettlewell, he did tweak the shape and it was certainly much better than Tuesday night. First half was decent enough, Wilson looked lively down the left and done well to set up the goal. One scare when we switched off from a quick free kick aside we looked comfortable . The first 15 mins of the 2nd half we stepped it up, we missed 3 or 4 great chances and should have been out of sight only to then concede the most comical goal you’ll see at any level this weekend. Suddenly what should have been a case of how many turned into a nervy cup tie. We got their in the end though I suppose, Miller head and shoulders above everyone else. Certainly looked much more of a threat going forward than the other two games but our defence still looks highly suspect under even the slightest bit of pressure.

Very much this. Hard to have much sympathy with a manager who plays Paton and Halliday as his two ‘10’s’ and then bemoans the lack of quality and creativity in the final third. Last night was definitely grim but it was essentially still last seasons team sans Spittal, Bair and Gent- our 3 most creative attacking players last season. Only 2 new additions started, Gordon who didn’t really put a foot wrong and Robinson who was hard to judge as he was basically starved of support or service. We’ve played 180 mins and I don’t think we’ve really learned anything so far that we didn’t already know about Kettlewell or any of the players.

Is that Liam Gordon??

Well I’m voting for Erik to sling his hook but I have the fear that there’s a fair share of our fans that will fall for his patter and McMahon’s scaremongering.

Not sure about Nouble but to add to the speculation I heard we’d apparently been talking to the boy Robinson who was at Dundee last season. Also that we were trying to sign a goalie who’s played in Scotland before(not Joe Lewis).

I’d happily pay that if it meant I never had to see SODS attempt one ever again.

I have some sympathy for Goss to be fair. Under Alexander the job of the midfield was to basically to shuttle up and down the pitch while the ball was repeatedly launched over their heads. Under Hammell, it was him and Slattery being outnumbered and overrun every week in his mental wide open 4231 formation. Under Kettlewell when he actually got some legs alongside him in Cornelius and out wide he looked a different player. Suddenly he didn’t have to run about covering half the pitch and he could basically just sit their screening the defence while pinging passes to Johnston/Furlong. You know, play to his strengths- what a concept!! Midfield is all about balance, especially at our level where we can’t afford a ‘complete’ midfielder. They’ll all have their flaws and the key for us is basically getting the balance right between grafters and footballers.

On Easton, thought he looked pretty handy yesterday from what I saw. He created Rovers best two chances first half and was only denied a cracking individual goal himself in the 2nd by a great save from Laidlaw. Given his age and the fact he’s spent most of his career playing part time, you can’t imagine he’d cost the world so you can certainly see why Kettlewell would think he’d be worth a punt. Can he replace what Spittal produced this season? Probably not but I’m not sure many could. Other than Lionel in his first season, I’m actually struggling to think of any others who’ve hit double figures for goals and assists for us in a single season. See to be honest as much as I like Spittal, I’m not convinced he’d hit anywhere near the same numbers again next season either. As much as people are concerned about replacing Spittal and potentially Bair, I’m more worried about the other end of the pitch. Stating the obvious but we wouldn’t have to score as many goals next season if we could you know, keep a clean sheet every so often. How Kettlewell plans on going about fixing the defensive issues that have plagued us this season is what I’m most interested in this summer.

Agree that was a fitting end to the season. Players shoehorned in out of position? Check. Flat and insipid 1st half? Check. Chuck in the obligatory soft goal? Check. Lose all sense of shape/structure as we throw as many forwards on as possible? You better believe it. We even got to see Mugabi and Kelly staring at each other one last time as an opposition player nips in between them unchallenged to score. On the beach or not though, today was pretty much what I’ve come to expect of us at Fir Park this season. We won our first 2 home games back in August, we’ve won 3 in 9 months since- Livi twice and against Derek Adams Ross County. Only the 1 clean sheet in that time as well which is absolutely wild. I’m still genuinely not sure what to make of Kettlewell or this season, I’m equal parts intrigued and terrified at what he’ll get up to this summer. In 6 months time we could be 3rd or 12th and honestly I don’t think either would surprise me.

Made less appearances than Casper Sloth.

I actually think it’s one area he’s really started to improve on. If you watch his goal against St Mirren for example, once it goes to SODS at the back post Bair is the first one to anticipate it’s going to go back across goal. He attacks that space and subsequently bundles it in- he wasn’t doing that at the start of the season. Much like his movement for his goal at Pittodrie, you can see they’ve clearly been working on it. I suppose there’s a limit on what we can expect from a striker at our level. As much as Bair isn’t a natural poacher/goal scorer like a Moult or a Sutton, there’s also no danger those two would have had the pace and power to score his goal at Dens for example or chuck Golsdon and Souttar about up top on their own for 90 mins at Ibrox. If you could combine them, you’d have someone who wouldn’t be playing for Motherwell. I mean 13 goals and 4 assists from just 26 league starts is honestly a ridiculous return from a guy we all thought was going to be a cheap 4th choice option at the start of the season. If he finishes the season with a few more goals, I think he’ll have a fair bit of interest in him this summer.

Aye but I suppose the difference with someone like Miller was he made his debut literally about a week after he turned 16. He’s never really been back out the squad since. I mean it’s probably easier to commit your future to the club when you know you’re going straight into the first team squad and even getting some minutes the second you turn pro. Cause let’s face it, what else did we really have to offer? I imagine facilities and standard of coaching will be much better at Brighton’s academy for example than ours, as will the money on offer. If there’s not a genuine path to first team football, these boys will be away- which is why I wasn’t surprised to see Kettlewell chucking Wells on against Aberdeen a few weeks back. Hopefully, we get to see a bit more from him and likes of Ferrie, Ross etc post split.

I mean, that looks fucking horrendous.