Motherwell vs Kilmarnock 17/2/18

[Gianfranco]

Campbell vs Mulumbu should be an intriguing battle in midfield. 1-0 Motherwell.

[Desp]

Aye, Campbell up against Mulumbu should be a cracking battle.  The wee man has stood up to everything so far, and has gone toe to toe with Brown & McGinn this season, so will be interesting to see how he gets on against a man a class above those two.

I think if we have any hopes of a top six finish this season, we need the three points.  As it stands, we're three points ahead but Killie have three games in hand (and we have Aberdeen, Celtic and Rangers - all at home - before the split).  Lose this and it will be tough to catch them I'd think.

I think we'll just sneak this in a scrappy, tight affair. 

Motherwell 1-0 Kilmarnock

(Ciftci pen)

[welldaft]

Some win for Killie tonite. Must be favourites for top 6 now. 

We need to win on Saturday to keep the battle going a little longer although we have a tough run in to the split. 

Will expect a decent Killie support on Saturday given the incredible run they are on. 

That said we have only lost once since in the New Year - away to Hibs. 

Can see it being a scoring draw 2-2.

Bring it on.

[BlueKillie]

To be honest, after tonight. I haven't a fucking clue what to expect on Saturday.

So we're without Dicker, possibly Power, possibly Mulumbu, possibly Brophy.

But who cares, we are the Juggernaut. Same team that ended tonight with Jones added in.

 

[Fide]

2 - 0 to Sir Steve's blue and white juggernaut.

Brophy and Erwin.

Many thanks x

 

[Crilly]

3 hours ago, Fide said:

2 - 0 to Sir Steve's blue and white juggernaut.

Brophy and Erwin.

Many thanks x

 

You're welcome.  I'll pass on your request to our own Sir Steve but am not confident he'll give you the reply you want.  Worth a try I suppose. 

[Swello]

Really looking forward to this - Killie obviously on good form and clear favourites to be in the top half come the split - but we aren't giving much away at the moment and so I don't expect there to be too much in it. If Kipre is suspended for us, that's a pain as the back 3 has been excellent since the break and we don't really want to see that changed. Really hope wee Campbell is back as the difference he makes to us is impressive given his age and experience...Also expect Ciftci to benefit from a week with no game as it's been back to back games since he signed.

On Killie,  it's funny how our league works - Motherwell had a great spell for a few years, then St Johnstone took over and now as St Johnstone naturally decline, Killie look like they're stepping up (although they still need to actually get there and sustain it beyond one season obviously). I saw a comment on the Killie-Dees match thread along the lines of "TV Pundit vs Sir Steve" and it does bring home how important a good managerial appointment is - it's more important than anything I guess.

The thing that's annoyed me most recently has been Clarke being touted for the Scotland job by everyone going - it basically sums up the shite part of supporting a club the size of Killie or 'Well - as soon as we are perceived to have someone good,  there's a casual acceptance that they should be offski at the first time of asking and f**k the consequences. As someone who doesn't give a f**k about the national side relative to club football, I'd be pissed-off if the SFA were to weaken and demoralise one of their clubs when they had other options available. If Clarke were to leave soon, it wouldn't just knock the stuffing out of Killie now, it would leave Clarke as an unattainable benchmark for any Killie manager that came after because he would be away before his honeymoon period is over.

On the game - I think most would assume that Killie will roll us over given the run that they're on - I'm not so sure #bullish

 

[Fide]

17 minutes ago, Swello said:

 

The thing that's annoyed me most recently has been Clarke being touted for the Scotland job by everyone going - it basically sums up the shite part of supporting a club the size of Killie or 'Well - as soon as we are perceived to have someone good,  there's a casual acceptance that they should be offski at the first time of asking and f**k the consequences. As someone who doesn't give a f**k about the national side relative to club football, I'd be pissed-off if the SFA were to weaken and demoralise one of their clubs when they had other options available. If Clarke were to leave soon, it wouldn't just knock the stuffing out of Killie now, it would leave Clarke as an unattainable benchmark for any Killie manager that came after because he would be away before his honeymoon period is over.

 

 

This.

One million times this.

[Estragon]

50 minutes ago, Swello said:

The thing that's annoyed me most recently has been Clarke being touted for the Scotland job by everyone going - it basically sums up the shite part of supporting a club the size of Killie or 'Well - as soon as we are perceived to have someone good,  there's a casual acceptance that they should be offski at the first time of asking and f**k the consequences. As someone who doesn't give a f**k about the national side relative to club football, I'd be pissed-off if the SFA were to weaken and demoralise one of their clubs when they had other options available. If Clarke were to leave soon, it wouldn't just knock the stuffing out of Killie now, it would leave Clarke as an unattainable benchmark for any Killie manager that came after because he would be away before his honeymoon period is over.

Absolutely spot on.  And the thing that pisses me off the most about this was listening to Sportsound on the way from Glasgow to the game last night.  You had two pundits - I think it was Alan Preston and Alex Rae? - who patently knew absolutely f**k all about Kilmarnock.  They were getting basic facts completely wrong, from where Mulumbu was from, to the positions that players have been playing in all season - a particular highlight was during Preston's customary rant about the playing surface he was talking about how the material underneath the pitch is what can have an anatomical impact on players.......and then confessed after about five minutes invective that he had no clue what was under Rugby Park.

All of this is punctuated by opining about Steve Clarke's suitability for the Scotland job.

Gordon Strachan was at last dumped from the hotseat at Hampden on 12th October...Steve Clarke was still sitting on his couch at that point, as he had been for a year - and none of these clowns so much as remembered he even existed.  And you can cast iron guarantee that if Clarke does become the next manager of the national team, exactly these same c***s will be howling for his head the first time we lose a fucking friendly.

The standard of football reporting in this country is absolutely abysmal, but despite this it's still incredibly powerful.  A handful of bitter ex-players dictate the tabloid agenda, which in turn fosters the opinions of a legion of morons who only watch Kilmarnock/Motherwell/St Johnstone two or three times a year at best - and outwith Boyd, Mulumbu and Jones would struggle to name another player of ours.  These uninformed fuckers then seem to consistently pressurise upon managerial appointments, made by clubs (and in this case the SFA) desperate to keep people coming through the turnstiles.  It pains me to say this, but I'm becoming increasingly certain that Steve Clarke will be leaving us in the summer to take up the Scotland job...and I don't think he'll have the same impact on the national team as he's had at RP.  And as you know yourself, we'll have to dust ourselves down and start over yet again.

-----

In terms of Saturday's game, it's a very tough prospect.  Motherwell seem to have weathered an iffy spell and have picked up some good results recently - and as can be the difference for teams around the same level, seem to have picked up another influential forward.  The impact of last night's game for Kilmarnock will be a dynamic boost to morale....but one can't underrate the toll it's taken on the legs of the team.  And obviously, playing away at #TB4 is a much tougher prospect than routinely dispatching East Coast dross.

I'd take a draw right now.

[capt_oats]

Doesn't need me saying it but I'll say it anyway: the job Clark is doing at Killie is absolutely phenomenal.

As Swello says above, it really reinforces the importance and impact that having a good, experienced manager can have. There's the usual trope trotted out along the lines of "Ferguson/Guardiola/Mourinho couldn't do anything with this squad", yes Clark's been able to sign Mulumbu and Tshibola but the bulk of that squad is made up of the same players who were looking nailed on for relegation under McCulloch. He's getting a tune out of Eamonn Brophy, Kirk Broadfoot and Alan Power FFS.

I doff my cap to SSC and Killie for getting him in.

As far as the game goes, this is the sort of thing you want to see in the league tbh; Motherwell in decent form with 1 loss in 7 (and 4 clean sheets to boot), while Killie seem like an absolute juggernaut turning round matches with 10 men and casually scudding Celtic.

You obviously can't really take the early season game into account here due to the McCulloch factor however the game at Rugby Park ended 1-0 and was decided by a goalkeeping error (and we were missing several key players at the time; Carson, Cadden, Hartley, Moult along with Frear). Also, we've upgraded the forward line since that last fixture from Bowman and Fisher to Main and Ciftci. Hopefully we've got Campbell back but it's disappointing that Kipré's suspended as the back three of Kipré, Aldred and Dunne have been pretty solid since the break.

Genuinely looking forward to this #TB4 clash tbqh.

[Desp]

15 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

Genuinely looking forward to this #TB4 clash tbqh.

What's the patter all about?  This has gone over my head.

[capt_oats]

4 minutes ago, Desp said:

What's the patter all about?  This has gone over my head.

The Big 4 

 

[Desp]

Will be interesting to see how we line up with Kipré being suspended.  With Hartley also out, you would think the only way to continue with a back three would be to drop McHugh back.

How do Killie usually line-up?  4-4-2/4-3-3?

There's the potential for us to bring back the 4-4-2 diamond formation we've used against Aberdeen & Celtic with Tait & Hendrie as full backs alongside Aldred & Dunne at the back.  Midfield diamond of McHugh, Campbell, Rose & Cadden.  Usual two up top.

[thisGRAEME]

1 minute ago, Desp said:

Will be interesting to see how we line up with Kipré being suspended.  With Hartley also out, you would think the only way to continue with a back three would be to drop McHugh back.

How do Killie usually line-up?  4-4-2/4-3-3?

There's the potential for us to bring back the 4-4-2 diamond formation we've used against Aberdeen & Celtic with Tait & Hendrie as full backs alongside Aldred & Dunne at the back.  Midfield diamond of McHugh, Campbell, Rose & Cadden.  Usual two up top.

I'd be quite happy with Dunne at centre-half in a 4, as he did really well at Rugby Park there, but I'm not totally convinced that Hendrie is the guy to come in at left back. Bring on Campbell v Mulumbu, though, that'll be smashing fun.

[Swello]

10 minutes ago, thisGRAEME said:

I'd be quite happy with Dunne at centre-half in a 4, as he did really well at Rugby Park there, but I'm not totally convinced that Hendrie is the guy to come in at left back. Bring on Campbell v Mulumbu, though, that'll be smashing fun.

Is that not what we signed him as? I've no idea if he's decent or not and so I'm not convinced either - but surely if we've signed someone as a left-back and we are playing a back 4, we need to play him? Killie are decent but this isn't a cup final - if we can't play him in a mid-table game, there is literally no point having him at the club...

[Desp]

13 minutes ago, thisGRAEME said:

I'd be quite happy with Dunne at centre-half in a 4, as he did really well at Rugby Park there, but I'm not totally convinced that Hendrie is the guy to come in at left back. Bring on Campbell v Mulumbu, though, that'll be smashing fun.

There's no one else though, is there, particularly if Dunne is playing at centre-half. 

There's the potential of switching Tait to left-back and moving Cadden to right-back (to stifle Jones) but that's a fair boot in the baws to Hendrie after only playing 45 minutes.

If you want to avoid playing the snooker player, then it could be as above or going with the back three;

Carson;  Aldred  McHugh  Dunne;  Cadden  Campbell  Rose  Tanner  Tait;  Cifcti  Main

[thisGRAEME]

6 minutes ago, Swello said:

Is that not what we signed him as? I've no idea if he's decent or not and so I'm not convinced either - but surely if we've signed someone as a left-back and we are playing a back 4, we need to play him? Killie are decent but this isn't a cup final - if we can't play him in a mid-table game, there is literally no point having him at the club...

Is true enough. Maybe being handsome will translate into being useful?

3 minutes ago, Desp said:

There's no one else though, is there, particularly if Dunne is playing at centre-half. 

There's the potential of switching Tait to left-back and moving Cadden to right-back (to stifle Jones) but that's a fair boot in the baws to Hendrie after only playing 45 minutes.

If you want to avoid playing the snooker player, then it could be as above or going with the back three;

Carson;  Aldred  McHugh  Dunne;  Cadden  Campbell  Rose  Tanner  Tait;  Cifcti  Main

Pretty much, yeah. I wondered if we might see Cadden as a full-back. I'm not keen on taking McHugh out of midfield, more than anything. He's fine at centre-half, but I think we lose loads when he's not there, and has kicked on recently.

Is there no chance of Hartley being fit?

[Swello]

FWIW, McHugh was (IMO) pish at Centre Half against Thistle at Firhill. Made me wonder if his performances back there last season were seen in a flattering light due to the (lack of) form of those around him. I also think that the midfield is far worse without him in there, even if his passing has been poor this season...

[Casagolda]

Chat is that Hartley’s out long term apparently, maybe even the rest of the season.

I thought McHugh was pretty poor when he played at the back earlier in the season and was at least partially culpable for a number of the goals we shipped. Plus you’d have to shuffle Aldred about to accommodate him and I’m not overly keen on that either.

Would also agree McHugh has been much improved since the break and his part in our recent defensive solidity, sitting in front of the back 3, has probably gone under the radar so far with most of the praise going to the back 3 and Carson.

EDIT- Swello beat me to it. 

[Estragon]

14 minutes ago, Desp said:

There's no one else though, is there, particularly if Dunne is playing at centre-half. 

There's the potential of switching Tait to left-back and moving Cadden to right-back (to stifle Jones) but that's a fair boot in the baws to Hendrie after only playing 45 minutes.

If you want to avoid playing the snooker player, then it could be as above or going with the back three;

Carson;  Aldred  McHugh  Dunne;  Cadden  Campbell  Rose  Tanner  Tait;  Cifcti  Main

Aldred McHugh Dunne sounds like the kind of Victorian industrialist that forgotten statues are made for.