Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[ropy]

The form isn’t bad.  Maintain this and pull out an unexpected win somewhere and top six is a possibility.  Mental.

[thisGRAEME]

40 minutes ago, welldaft said:

If only we could sort out the Goalie and defence we would probably have made the top 6. 

Hilarious that this isn't actually out of the question. 

If by some miracle we did, you'll find me in the Main Stand puffing on a cigar the size of a pool cue for the five remaining games.

['WellDel]

8 minutes ago, alsybaba said:

Answering the point - you are correct, Alexander looked to protect that lead which in the SPL is crucial to shitfesting up the table, not pretty but that's why we finished in the top six.

 

5 minutes ago, crazylegsjoe_mfc said:

I'm trying to cast my mind back to how we reacted in all of those games we were 3-0 up under Alexander.

Alexander would have shut up shop at 27 mins, giving zero fucks about the aesthetics of the remaining 63 and we would have headed back down the A90 with 3 points. 

His style of football was eye bleeding and he had his many, many faults, but if he'd been in charge tonight and we'd accumulated that lead, we'd 100% have won. I would never want him back, but Kettlewell could have done with a little of his single minded approach to winning to see us over the line tonight.

That and a team of less shitebaggy players...

[alsybaba]

4 minutes ago, 'WellDel said:

 

Alexander would have shut up shop at 27 mins, giving zero fucks about the aesthetics of the remaining 63 and we would have headed back down the A90 with 3 points. 

His style of football was eye bleeding and he had his many, many faults, but if he'd been in charge tonight and we'd accumulated that lead, we'd 100% have won. I would never want him back, but Kettlewell could have done with a little of his single minded approach to winning to see us over the line tonight.

That and a team of less shitebaggy players...

Alexander would have shut up shop after 5 mins!!!

[crazylegsjoe_mfc]

5 minutes ago, 'WellDel said:

 

Alexander would have shut up shop at 27 mins, giving zero fucks about the aesthetics of the remaining 63 and we would have headed back down the A90 with 3 points. 

His style of football was eye bleeding and he had his many, many faults, but if he'd been in charge tonight and we'd accumulated that lead, we'd 100% have won. I would never want him back, but Kettlewell could have done with a little of his single minded approach to winning to see us over the line tonight.

That and a team of less shitebaggy players...

Graham Alexander never had a three goal lead in the league as Motherwell manager, never mind one after 27 minutes at Pittodrie, so it's an utterly pointless discussion to have. 

[Well Fan]

The point is about game management when leading 3-0 after 30 mins. 

So how is this aspect pointless? 

It highlights SK naivety as a manager in this regard. 

Hopefully he learns quickly going forward. However, he does seem a decent guy with decent man management skills. 

I guess it's all a learning experience. 

 

[welldaft]

34 minutes ago, ropy said:

The form isn’t bad.  Maintain this and pull out an unexpected win somewhere and top six is a possibility.  Mental.

That table screams get Kettlewell tae f*ck……

Just kidding. I get that two wins in xx amount of games is not a great look. But sentiment of most fans and more importantly the Board will be based on the here and now.  Doubt we will pick up any points from the next two games but we have bought ourselves some breathing space  from the last 6 unbeaten games

['WellDel]

56 minutes ago, crazylegsjoe_mfc said:

Graham Alexander never had a three goal lead in the league as Motherwell manager, never mind one after 27 minutes at Pittodrie, so it's an utterly pointless discussion to have. 

It's not simply a point of the goals advantage, but more of the mindset when having a lead of any sort and how to manage a game from that point. It's certainly not pointless, a manager with Alexander's viewpoint absolutely see's that game out tonight, no question. Making the subs to go 10-0-0 could have been his option and he'd have done it no matter how ugly. Kettlewell needs a ruthless streak that should start with binning Kelly, he is the catalyst for all the defensive uncertainty. 

[Phillips455]

Honestly, I've given up watching this team away from home. Same old story of either getting ahead and drawing or going behind and drawing.

And always including a Kelly "Masterclass" performance to ensure we won't go with 3 points.

 

Now we have 3 games back to back to back against the top 3..... no pressure eh?

[rowsdower]

16 minutes ago, Phillips455 said:

Honestly, I've given up watching this team away from home. Same old story of either getting ahead and drawing or going behind and drawing.

And always including a Kelly "Masterclass" performance to ensure we won't go with 3 points.

 

Now we have 3 games back to back to back against the top 3..... no pressure eh?

Exactly, the pressure is on them. Imagine losing to us.

[welldaft]

1 hour ago, Phillips455 said:

Honestly, I've given up watching this team away from home. Same old story of either getting ahead and drawing or going behind and drawing.

And always including a Kelly "Masterclass" performance to ensure we won't go with 3 points.

 

Now we have 3 games back to back to back against the top 3..... no pressure eh?

Actually think we have Livi away (live on Sky) in between Celtic and Rangers. But still Top 3 in the next 4 games is daunting enough. 

I want Kelly benched and have for a while, but Kettlewell seems unable to do this. It must mean Oxborough is even worse. I get Kelly is the Captain. I get Kelly is an influence. I get he is an all round good guy. Hell he even made a few saves tonight.

But he still made a few glaring errors and even the 1st goal is yet another on the long list of shots that just seem to evade him. I have started to notice his positioning is so often near his front post, so any shot across him pretty much ends up in the other corner of the net more often than not. 

 

 

[Handsome_Devil]

I'm not sure simply shouting game management is a fair criticism of last night. Aberdeen didn't cut us open in the first half, we lost a goal to our own shy (criminal - McGinn and Mugabi? Though hard to tell on a small screen) and a corner. Game management is often managerial speak for howling individual errors when said individuals aren't named and shamed.

Aberdeen, at 0-3, were always going to through waves forward, we actually dealt with it pretty well at first, other than our usual comic cuts from set pieces.

Throwing on another defender to see things out when our defence, and GK in particular, are a bomb scare, was highly unlikely to work against a side with Duk, Miovski, McGrath ,Clarkson, the delivery of Barron etc imho. 

Instead, the principle of what we changed - another body to threaten the space beyond their midfield - was exactly right. Personally I'd have ditched Paton instead but fair enough. It kept them more honest, eased the pressure, gave us an outlet etc. It probably saved us a point in fact and nearly saw us nick all three.

However, seeing the tide hasn't been stemmed inside 60 seconds of the second half, quite why we waited so long until when we did to change is beyond me. By that point the defence had totally fallen apart and it was about salvaging a draw.

So I'd agree Kettlewell can take some blame for last night but while he made a mistake on the evening, the bigger issue is overseeing the collapse of Kelly and the back three, particularly at set pieces. Fix that and our goals for suggests we're not in a bad place. But that's like saying a ship is seaworthy other than a great gigantic hole in the side. 

Major repairs needed for the next two to keep it respectable before the next must win at Livvy.

 

[Casagolda]

10 hours ago, YassinMoutaouakil said:

Bair has scored more in his first season than KVV did in his.

...it's mid February 

His movement for the 2nd goal is genuinely excellent.

Gent’s been whipping those crosses in every week but there’s usually nobody on the end of them. If Bair suddenly starts adding those types of goals to his game then f**k knows how many he could finish the season with.

Another cracking pen as well from the big man as well.

Edited February 15 by Casagolda

[Desp]

1 minute ago, Casagolda said:

Another cracking pen as well from the big man as well.

I assume everyone else thought he'd ballooned it over the bar and not just me, aye? 

[JamesP_81]

Just watched the highlights there . I get that watching us capitulate in real time over the evening would make for much bleaker feelings on the match but I reckon we've been pretty hard done by there with Paton's disallowed goal . You could have called for about 5 or 6 fouls by both sides in the whole sequence leading up to it so just seems pretty weak to chop it off for hands on a back.  Yes Mijovski's could perhaps have been allowed but their 2nd shouldn't have as 2 offside players touch tight to Kelly . 

It would be so much better if we just didn't put ourselves in this position tho by throwing away 2 absolute comedy goals. 

[MurrayWell]

Tried to look at the positives as often as possible this season, so despite being a bit pissed off with the last couple of results I'd rather get back to that. 

Absolutely delighted for Bair, still cannot quite believe the pelters he has taken from some, he's arguably been our most consistent performer this season. That's him joint third top scorer in the league and only three goals behind Miovski, who has been talked up for a huge money move. The guy has been excellent for us, the management have taken a fair amount of stick in recent days, rightly so for some things, but credit where credit's due for seeing the player there, when it seemed like nobody else did. And massive credit to Bair for continuing to prove folk wrong. 

[Dosser1886]

10 minutes ago, Desp said:

I assume everyone else thought he'd ballooned it over the bar and not just me, aye? 

Totally, but it  also looked like it was hit by someone full of confidence, great to see.

Edited February 15 by Dosser1886

[thisGRAEME]

12 minutes ago, Casagolda said:

Gent’s been whipping those crosses in every week but there’s usually nobody on the end of them. 

Here's a question btw: how is Gent so good at crossing on the run, when his dead ball delivery is absolutely miserable?

Unfathomable.

[Well Fan]

Liam Kelly has been a pretty good goalkeeper for the most part in Motherwell FC colours (imo) 

However, his form has totally collapsed of late. No more incredible saves, covering for the constant defensive slip ups. How many points did he previously save us? 

Does he need dropped... Yes. 

Is Oxborough good enough... I have absolutely no idea. 

But, I now believe, SK is sticking by LK in the hope his form picks up to past levels and he goes to The Euros. 

If he is dropped, his place is lost in The National Squad. 

So I'm guessing, this is more a loyalty showing towards Kelly, more than purely footballing reasons. 

Hope he quickly pulls himself out this rutt and is back to his best. We need him back to point saving for MFC and our survival. 

Do that and enjoy your involvement with The Scottish National Euro Squad. 

Edited February 15 by Well Fan

[Desp]

There is absolutely no chance that Liam Kelly will be in the Scotland squad for the Euros this year.  He's probably just behind Jim Leighton in the pecking order at the moment.

The only reasons I can see for Kettlewell not dropping him just now are that he's either too much of a shitebag to drop his goalkeeper, and captain, a matter of months before his own deal is up, or that the Ox is utterly dung.  Could be both.