Casagolda

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.

Imagine we’d actually got a good few months of him and Gent down either flank, bombing forward and getting some decent service into Mika…. Shame that Kettlewell completely lost the run of himself during that period and we never really got to see it. Had one of the best strikers in the country feeding off scraps most weeks while Gent and Spencer only ever started 4 games together. But aye, I agree with @capt_oatsabove. Despite a presumably reduced budget and having to move on a lot deadwood, I think the recruitment on the whole has actually been pretty good this season. Certainly be interesting to see what Kettlewell gets up to this summer with essentially a clean slate to work from.

Fair does. Like I say, I’m not saying he was necessarily right or wrong to do what he did but I could I understand it. We were flat on Saturday and time was running out. Sometimes a youngster who’s fearless might do something to provide a spark or provide an injection of energy. I thought it was worth a punt looking at what he had available to him and I’d never criticise a Motherwell manager for being willing to give academy players an opportunity. Let’s face it it’s not the first time his subs have baffled the support this season and I doubt it’ll be the last. And of course had he not got his starting 11 badly wrong, we probably wouldn’t even be having this discussion.

I get that but see to be fair to Kettlewell, what other options did really have? Oli Shaw- A striker that hasn’t scored for either of his last 2 clubs. His last competitive goal was for Kilmarnock against Stenhousemuir in July 2022. Davor- A tidy and combative midfielder who I like but not exactly going to give you any guile or goal threat. At 26 you could count his senior career goals/assists on one hand. Moses- Probably who we all wanted to see but in reality he hasn’t played competitively as far as I can see since November and has had about a weeks training since. If Obika hadn’t been crocked(again) I’m not sure he’d have even made the bench. So chucking on Ferrie, a regular scorer at youth level and Wells, someone with a bit of creativity was worth a punt imho. It didn’t really work but to be honest I’m not sure the result would’ve really been any different if Davor and Oli Shaw had been thrown on instead. As it is, it would have at least been a decent learning experience for the youngsters and there could be some long term benefits. Hopefully we see some more of them before the season is out.

To be fair Luca Ross got chucked on earlier this season and scored the equaliser against Ross County. That’s his only league appearance to date and he still has as many league goals as Shaw(our most used sub) and Obika(our 3rd most used sub) combined. Ultimately if these boys don’t play, they leave. Wells as above for example is out of contract and has options on the table from elsewhere, the only chance you have of getting him to commit is to show him a genuine path to first team football. I’m not sure a few mins in some post split dead rubbers will do it. I mean you learn absolutely nothing by chucking him on when we’re 3-0 up with a few minutes to go anyway and neither does the laddie. They might struggle at times but I guarantee the two of them will have learned more in 10-20 mins yesterday, playing in that sort of environment under that sort of pressure than they would in 120 games of development football. If even one of them develops into a first team player and potentially sellable asset as well, well then that will surely be a lot more valuable in the long run than sneaking a point from yesterdays game.

I’ll be honest, the result didn’t really annoy me today(kinda half expected it tbh) but the team selection and subsequent first half performance really did. Starting a game at home to a vulnerable Aberdeen side with what was essentially a flat back 5, with no pace or width in it was mental. First half it felt like we were the away team, Aberdeen must have had nearly 60% possession while we were set up like we thought we were still playing at Ibrox. I would be more forgiving if it was the first time Kettlewell had made this mistake but we must be into double figures already this season alone. I mean did anyone other than Kettlewell honestly see McGinn starting at lwb today over Gent and think it’d end well? I’ve said it before but honestly feels like he’s his own worst enemy at times when he does shit like that. Fair play he realised at half time he’d fucked it and 2nd half was certainly better. We had our chances but unfortunately guys like Bair, Spittal, Vale etc who’ve been excellent of late just weren’t at it. On a positive note it was good to see Wells get his league debut, he obviously sees something in Ferrie as well. Can’t be too many Premiership games this season where a team has had three 17 year old academy players all getting game time. Top 6 was always kind of fanciful, we’d given ourselves far too much to do but I don’t think it’s quite time to panic again either. I reckon 1 more win before the split would just about see us safe.

Aye, my initial reaction was is it worth it at this stage. However if it's a long term deal then fair enough. Bair is literally the only forward we have under contract for next season and as crazy as it would have seemed 3 or so months ago, if he keeps improving/scoring at his current rate he's bound to have interest as well. Would be delighted if we could keep Vale but I imagine that could be difficult. Even a half fit Nicholson looks like he's still got plenty to offer and long term(if he wants to stay) it feels like he could help fill the void when Spittal inevitably moves on. Fire Obika and Shaw into the sun.

A week is a long time in football.. To be honest, I wasn't even surprised when I heard we'd taken the lead. For all the criticism Kettlewell has had this season, outside Rangers on Christmas Eve we've ran the OF close in just about every game under him. However like most, once they inevitably got their penalty I was fearing the worst and hoping to cling onto a point at best. So absolutely fair fucks to them for showing the character to go on to win it. Kettlewell deserves huge credit as well, could've easily shut up shop and settled for a point but the Nicholson for Davor sub felt bold and showed he believed we could still win it. To be honest it looked like we rode our luck at times(as you have to) but it honestly feels like we deserved a bit of that for our performances against them both this season. I said after Cappielow/Pittodrie that I felt Kettlewell needed a big win or two before the end of the season to put some credit in the bank for the inevitable poor runs that were sure to follow and fair play, they don't come much bigger than this.

Can only assume Gent and Vale are carrying knocks. Had honestly hoped we’d seen the last of SODS at rwb and young right footed loanee at lwb. I mean it didn’t work for the 3 odd months he tried earlier in the season but you never know, maybe it’ll work tonight. Be interesting to see how Nicholson gets on at least.

That was our season in our 90 mins today. At times we look good, we play some nice football and you start to think Kettlewell’s got something about him. Then we lose another soft goal, he makes weird subs which fucks the balance of the team and the whole thing ends with yet another kick in the baws to leave you absolutely scunnered. To be honest first half I thought he got it spot on. We were really good, solid shape which kept a pedestrian Celtic at arms length but carried a real threat in transition. The goal itself was a thing of beauty and no more than we deserved. I feel like I’ve seen worse Motherwell teams but I’m struggling to remember a weaker one(mentally). Certainly feels like if you apply just a bit of pressure we will invariably crack. In 2024 alone we’ve already had Easter Road, Pittodrie and now today where we’ve contrived to throw away points from strong positions. I’ll be honest, I have the fear for Wednesday as well. I think we’re a better team than Livingston but I worry it’s going to be a repeat of Cappielow a few weeks ago…

The current Scottish Football Writers Player of the year came through our academy just last season. Meanwhile Lennon Miller, widely acknowledged to be one of the brightest young talents in Scotland, is contracted with us until 2026. Which, if the club play it right, should be another 7 figure fee received for an academy product to add to Turnbull and Scott in recent years. Not to mention what we got in compensation/fee’s for the likes of Hastie, Campbell, Johnston, Cornelius, McAlear and McKinstry etc. Or what a lot of these boys have contributed to the first team during their time at the club. We’ve always lost a few, always will- it’s the nature of the beast. However any plan going forward that involves cuts to or has a negative impact on the academy would be a major no no for me.

You’re not the only one. We’ve kept 3 clean sheets in 26 league games this season. We’ve now conceded 2(or more) goals in 46% of those league games. We’re well into double figures for goals conceded from set plays as well. So aye, much like Hammell scratching his head(literally) and bemoaning the loss of cheap goals, how about you(the manager) actually take some accountability and do something about it. Also I know it’s shouldn’t by now but honestly, watching him chuck on a clearly finished Obika and a 17 year old laddie who struggled to get a game for Stenny just to continue with his throw as many strikers on as possible when chasing a game philosophy wound me up no end. Especially when it meant Nicholson, you know a winger with some actual pace and creativity, was forced to play as a deep central midfielder to accommodate them. Ultimately I think Kettlewell will probably get a new contract cause those in charge will see it as the path of least resistance. This last week felt like a big one though, things like winning a big cup tie at Cappielow or holding on at Pittodrie midweek are the sort of results that generate a feel good factor and could really get doubters(like me) onside with such a decision. However despite slowly coming round to the idea of keeping him after our recent ‘upturn’, I must admit watching us ship 7 goals in 8 days including another 3 from set pieces has me feeling like we’re back to square one.

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.