Casagolda

Was that not Sam Campbell who got let go the other day?? I think Mahon was one of the random ones who was out of contract in the summer then got an extension that the club never acknowledged publicly.

Think he’s already away, going back to Ireland apparently.

Wilkinson only stated 7 league matches for us, one of them in midfield and at least a couple of others wide of a front 3. Yet still managed to chip in with 3 goals and an assist. His goals alone against Hibs, Ross County and Dundee helped us win 5 points this season- a quarter of our total tally so far. I mean it’s not like we even had to pay him off either or pay part of wages to ship him off on loan. Someone has literally given us money(no matter how small) to take him. It didn’t work for a multitude of reasons, it happens at levels. All things considered though it certainly wasn’t a disaster either, I’m not sure Nicks Daws needs to be slated over this one.

Each to their own but I honestly think Gent’s defensive ‘frailties’ are massively overstated. I think unfortunately first impressions of him and that Ross County goal in particular have stuck. Which is harsh as he was a young laddie generally being chucked on when we were a couple of goals down and the team had lost all semblance of shape. Since he’s been starting in a settled line up, I honestly think he’s been fine. Yesterday for the most part, I actually thought he was excellent defensively. Just having a quick look he won the most duels of any player on the pitch, won the most tackles and also made the most clearances. Yes he made a mistake for their goal but I’d put that down to a tired clearance more than anything else after the shift he’d put in. Like you say, he’s good going forward and was also our best outball most of the afternoon as well as being involved in both goals. It’s a shame we won't get to see more of him and Spencer down each side like as it’s been promising and the most balanced the teams looked all season.

I do have some sympathy for Wilkinson. He was clearly signed to play in a pair when we were doing 352 at the start of the season and he has still managed 3 goals with just 7 league starts. However when he got injured Kettlewell’s since veered away into 523 and 541 etc, neither of which has a role for him in the team. Decent technically and seems a good finisher but not physical enough to lead the line on his own or mobile enough to play wider. He’s also not a central midfielder either as we know. So fair play to Kettlewell if he’s going to cut his losses rather than try to force it to work- very Robinson like. Biereth is clearly the main man, I’m not sure if wide of a 3 is his best position but another couple of assists today has him on 6 goals and 5 assists in just 12 starts. Meanwhile Bair, who probably started the season as 4th choice, now has 5 goals and 2 assists in 14 his starts. Forcing his way above Wilkinson and Obika in the pecking order. The latter if he can stay fit, can hang about as an experienced option off the bench. Where all this leaves Shaw who knows, hopefully back in Barnsley.

Well that’s kind of the point I suppose. Either play players in their proper positions or if you don’t have the players to play the way you want, change the shape to accommodate the ones you do. Don’t pick 4 or 5 players out of position just because you’ve got a bizarre 523 fetish.

I have sympathy with the low numbers but honestly, at times he really doesn’t fucking help himself. I mean we had a central midfielder playing rwb today while 2 actual right backs were playing in the back 3. Meanwhile 2 of the 3 senior players he had available on the bench were defenders. Even then, I could live with all that it if it was maybe a 352 with Bair and Biereth through the middle and Slattery in the midfield. However having Slattery on the right of a front 3 again after his horror show there on Saturday beggars belief. Kettlewell trying to force players into the formation he wants to play instead of the shape that best suits what he has available has been one of our biggest problems this season. Once again today it was about 4 or 5 square pegs shoved into round holes just so he could play his weird 523 formation.

There was a point early door’s yesterday where Davor hit a cracking first time ball in behind the Livi full back for Gent to race on to, he left him for dead and put in a peach of a cross for Biereth- who in all honesty really should have scored. But still, tears in my eyes stuff. Reminiscent of Goss to Max Johnston last season and everything I’ve been screaming about for months. Crazy the difference having some natural pace and width in the wing back roles actually makes. Last few weeks is by far the most balanced we’ve looked in months. Think it was after the Hearts game where I really lost faith Kettlewell. When despite Gent’s impressive cameo in Perth a few days earlier, he started that day with Spittal at lwb and finished it with Mugabi up front. Then two games later he went up to Dingwall with SODS at lwb and Wilkinson in midfield. I genuinely think Kettlewell’s been his own worst enemy at times this season. I honestly think if he’d started Gent from the Hearts game onwards and shown a bit more trust in Davor, we’d have picked up at least another win by now. I’d say all things considered, he can count himself fairly fortunate to have gotten through to the window still in a job. However I’d have probably said the same about Robinson in the 18/19 season and in fairness, he learned from his mistakes and managed to turn things round significantly. Like others have said, it’ll be interesting to see if Kettlewell makes the most of his reprieve and where he goes from here.

It was certainly a hard game to assess. Leaving aside the fact Livingston are clearly utter shite, I thought we were excellent first 20 mins or so. It reminded me of how we use to start under Kettlewell at Fir Park last season, on the front foot and getting after teams. It could easily have been 3 or 4 even at that stage. Livi scored and it seemed to completely spook us. We dropped right off it and invited them back into a game that we should already have had had wrapped up. Which makes Bair’s goal all the more ridiculous, not only was it a sublime bit of skill/composure it also came at a vital point in the game. So given how we reacted the first time they pulled 1 back, plus the fact we haven’t won a game in 3 months, the terrible weather and that we had a back 3 of Mugabi being flanked by two right backs- I can understand the no risk approach 2nd half. Even if it was fucking terrible to watch. That’s the win Kettlewell needed to get him through to the window, so for him it’ll be job done. Plus let’s face it, we’d have all taken a 1-0 before the game so I’m not going to grumble at a 3-1 win and getting to watch Theo Bair cut about like prime R9 for 45 mins.

No wonder Biereth has a hold of his shirt, he’s presumably trying to wrestle himself free from the c**t looking to pull his arm out the socket.

Not sure I really agree with the criticism of the squad. At the back you’ve got- Kelly, SODS, McGinn, Butcher, Mugabi who have about 800 top flight appearances in Scotland between them. Blaney and Casey aren’t exactly inexperienced kids either. A half decent manager should be able to make at least a semi-competent defence out of that lot, at least 6 of them are fucking full Internationals. As for midfield, name a manager in the country that wouldn’t love to sign Lennon Miller? Slattery and Spittal both have genuine quality at this level as well and won’t be short of options this summer either. While Paton has certainly regressed in recent weeks, as above Davor is beginning to look the part. Just like last season, finding the right balance is key. Hint, it doesn’t involve chucking Conor Wilkinson in there during an important relegation 6 pointer. Up front, yes it’s all about Biereth. People seem perturbed by that like we should have a plethora of quality forwards at our disposal. Outside maybe Aberdeen or possibly Hibs, name a team that does? Hearts are currently 3rd with Shankland sitting on 15 goals, their 2nd top scorer is on 2. It is what it is, I mean for f**k sake last season if KVV got injured we were relying on Shields or Mandron. Is this a vintage Motherwell side? No. Are there obvious gaps and drops off in quality in certain areas? Yes there is. However is it one that is capable of doing better than languishing in 11th, with no wins in 15, the most goals conceded in the league and lowest number of clean sheets? It absolutely is(imho). I come back to what I say most weeks, we look a poorly organised side who are far too easy to score against who have no discernible attacking game plan until we go a goal or two down and we invariably chuck the kitchen sink at it. That’s surely a poor reflection of the management team and their coaching abilities.

Very much this. Not only is it no wins in 15 but the also most goals conceded in the league, the lowest number of clean sheets and just generally, we look a poorly coached side most weeks that’s far too easy to score against. We’ve also only scored 3(THREE) first half goals this season, once again today we started slow and waited till we’re 2-0 down before we started to play a wee bit 2nd half. It’s Scottish football, being well organised and difficult to beat is half the battle. On this 15 game run we’ve now conceded at least 2(or more) goals in 60% of them. Honestly, I know our strikers take some amount of stick but what chance have you got when you need to score 3 goals most weeks just to be in with a shout of winning a game!? I don’t actually think this squad or season is beyond saving but Kettlewell’s simply not the man to do it. Seems like a decent guy, done a great job keeping us up but he’s been given more than enough chances to turn this season and he’s repeatedly failed to take them. Shake hands and part ways before it’s too late.

Think that’s the issue with this one up top formation and it had shades of Van Veen last season before Kettlewell took over. First half he got little in the way of support or service and cut a frustrated figure as Gogic had him in his pocket for the most part. Second half though, we seemed to get more balls into his feet and got him some support. Suddenly he created two great chances for Spittal and Slattery as well as being through on goal himself, although sadly he seemed to get the ball stuck under his feet. Overall you’ve got to be happy with a point and our first clean sheet since September, especially with the horrific conditions and Saints missing a penalty. Frustrating though with the run we’re on and the number of clear cut chances we passed up. We look a far better and more balanced site with Gent in it(who’d have a thought it!?) and it was night and day from Davor from his previous appearance in Paisley. Kelly’s best game in a while as well and probably Blaney’s best game for the club.

Didn’t see the game and only going off highlights but… I see we even tried switching SODS and Spencer last night before giving Gent a shot- still didn’t work. Gent came on at half time and in the highlights forced Laidlaw into a good save while creating two good chances for Biereth. Like, I know we’ve said it all before but it’s genuinely mental to me that Kettlewell has got to this stage and he still hasn’t tried the boy there from the start even once. I was hoping to be proved wrong last night but one look at that team selection and you knew what was coming. A mental formation/lineup and sadly a predictable outcome. This was his Raith Rovers, complete with Kelly chucking in a couple of goals and playing up to the cameras afterwards again. It’s just so strange to me that someone like Kettlewell can come in, quickly identify where Hammell was going wrong and fix it. Yet when it’s comes to clearing up his own mess, he’s tying himself in knots and can’t see the woods for the trees.

But he hasn’t really learned, I guess that was kinda the whole point of the post. His recruitment was heavily criticised in Dingwall, just like it has been from our supporters this season. His Ross County team couldn’t defend, guess who’s conceded the most goals and has the least clean sheets in the league this season? He went into a tailspin up there that he couldn’t get out off and was ultimately sacked after picking up 2 points in his last 10 matches. He’s currently sitting on 4 points from his last 11 here... Like I mean you can put all these things down to coincidence I suppose. Maybe he’s just been incredibly unlucky in both jobs. Or, perhaps you could see it as a pattern. I also wasn’t dismissing the job he did last season at all, far from it. However as was said the other day, coming in and giving a struggling team a short term lift over a few months is a completely different thing to building your own squad and trying to manage it through the trials and tribulations of a 45-50 games season. My point with Kettlewell was simply that he’s now had 2 chances at it as a manager and on both occasions, it’s gone exactly the same way for him.

Sure I’ve said it before but my biggest concern with Kettlewell turning this round is that he’s had one previous season as a manager in his own right and it went almost the exact same way. He done a phenomenal job in the short term last season no doubt and you can’t take that away from him. However if you park it to the side for just one second… The guys had 2 seasons as a manager in his own right, 20/21 with Ross County and this one with us. His combined league record reads- Played: 33 Won: 6 Drawn: 9 Lost: 18 For: 29 Against: 53 Clean Sheets: 5 So a win rate less than 20%, a loss rate above 50% and some horrific defensive stats that are sadly entirely in keeping with what we’ve witnessed so far this season. He got the sack in Dingwall after taking 2 points from his last 10 games in charge, leaving them 4 points adrift at the bottom of the table. He couldn’t turn things round then and personally, I haven’t seen anything to suggest he’s going to do it here either.

I’ve been banging this drum for months but unfortunately he only seems to trust Gent marginally more than he trusts Davor. Even after he came off the bench in Perth midweek where he set up the equaliser, Kettlewell still tried Blair Spittal at lwb first half on the Saturday against Hearts and then Spencer(again) 2nd half. He only seems to see him as a last resort with 15-20 mins to go when we’re inevitably chasing the game. We’ve kept 1 clean sheet in 16 games this season and have now shipped 12 goals in our last 4 matches at Fir Park. I know I’ve said it before but honestly, how much worse can the boy actually be defensively!? We generally look more of a threat when he’s on the park and he played his part in the equaliser again yesterday as well. I mean we haven’t won or kept a clean sheet in 3 months anyway, for the love of f**k Kettlewell just give the boy a chance for a couple of games. I actually think some pace and natural width could make a massive difference for this team. We still shows flashes of being a good side and even in amongst a lot of shite yesterday, put some decent moves together. However to me we look like a side lacking in confidence, being hamstrung by those in charge and their bizarre fascination with square pegs in round holes. While he certainly done well at the end for the equaliser, bringing on Shaw instead of Davor at 2-2 and finishing the game with only 1 actual midfielder while we were down to 10 men was an absolutely wild decision.

Not to kill the vibe but I’m not sure I agree with the clamour for this to be honest. February to May was lightning in a bottle stuff for us and Van Veen. If this season has proved anything though, it’s that these things don’t last. Just like in the long term Kettlewell is proving himself to be the extremely limited manager that got binned after less than half a season in Dingwall, Van Veen would ultimately go back to being the decent but frustrating Scottish Premiership striker that he was prior to Kettlewell’s arrival. It would be expensive and he won’t come back and magically solve all our problems. Priority in January should be an actual left back. Unless Davor does an Ally Gorrin, then we need a proper sitting midfield option as well. Maybe even a winger as well so we can mix things up occasionally and not be so utterly fucking predictable. We’ve kept 1 clean sheet in 14 games, have no left back, no wingers and our midfield is held together by a 17 year old who’s currently crocked. Call me crazy but spunking most of our January budget on a temperamental 32 year old journeyman striker to add to the 5 we already have probably isn’t the best plan.

Was bored at work so went to have a look at Kettlewell’s only season as sole manager of Ross County. Looks kind of familiar? They actually started the season quite well too and picked up 8 points from their first 5 matches. What soon followed was a horrendous run, only picking 2 points from his last 10 games in charge. He was eventually sacked with them 4 points adrift at the bottom of the table. Struggling to score, shipping goals for fun etc. He didn’t seem to know how to turn it round back then and we’ve seen little to suggest he knows how to turn it round this time either. I get Motherwell manager is a tough gig and I think sacking the manager should be a last resort. Plus I actually like Kettlewell, he seems a decent enough guy and you can’t speak highly enough of the job he done last season. He clearly has some merits as a coach. However it surely can’t be a coincidence that his only two full seasons as a manger in his own right have both went exactly the same way?

Yesterday in isolation was terrible but nothing new or surprising. Another slow start, we haven’t actually scored in the first half of a game since the 3rd of September. Players playing out of position. Poor defensively. Another goal lost from a corner- 4 of the last 6 goals conceded have now been from corners. Just 1 shot on target again(a penalty). He actually tried Spittal at lwb on Tuesday night after hooking Spencer at half time. It didn’t work then either, Gent then comes on and we score twice including the equaliser he set up. What does he do? Gives Spittal another bash at it first half yesterday. Then when that inevitably didn’t work, he gave Spencer another shot at- just in case he’d suddenly developed a left foot after his last half a dozen failed attempts at playing there. Don’t even get me started on what on earth Bair and Wilkinson’s supposed roles are in this team. Now just 2 points taken from a possible 27 with Celtic away next surely to take that to 2 from a possible 30. We’ve just 1 clean sheet in 14 games now since the League Cup group stages ended. We’ve conceded 2(or more!) goals in 6 of the last 7 matches. Frankly, we just look like a poorly coached team that’s going backwards at a rate of knots . Each to their own but if it was up to me, chucking Mugabi up front yesterday would’ve been his last act as Motherwell manager. A desperate tactic from a manager who’s sadly ran out of ideas and doesn’t look like he has a clue how to arrest this slide. I imagine he’ll get to limp on for a while longer just cause but for me, it’s simply now a question of when not if.

See just watching this back, that’s a fucking excellent goal. Similar to Casey’s goal against Killie earlier in the season. Pitch excuse or not, it’s actually mental our sole tactic on Saturday at Rugby Park was to just aimlessly pump high balls towards the three forwards. Playing out from Kelly, everyone bar Blaney, Spittal and Wilkinson has a touch as we go from one end to the other to score. Shows what we’re potentially still capable of if we get the balance of the team right.

See to be fair I don’t think anyone on here has really accused the players of chucking it. However there confidence has clearly been slowly eroded by a manager continually trying to fit square pegs in round holes and persist with things that clearly aren’t working. Just like Hammell did last season. Spencer being a prime example and to the surprise of nobody, it didn’t work again last night and he was hooked at half time. Even then, we still started the second half with Blair Spittal in the left wing back role!! He finally brings Gent on and suddenly he offers us some pace and width. Spittal and Paton have more space to operate in, SODS has room to get forward down the other side and the strikers have somebody actually putting some balls into the box for them to attack. Fair play, last night was a good comeback but it’ll count for nothing and simply paper over the cracks if lessons aren’t actually learned going forwards.

Gent comes on, within 10 mins beats his man and puts in a peach of a cross for us to equalise. Who’d have thought it!?

Folk genuinely wanting to give him til December/January!? I’d have sacked him the second he handed in the team sheet with O’Donnell and Spencer as wing backs again.

Said it on the match thread, chucking SODS on with 10 mens to go when we were chasing a goal was so bad it was almost funny. Yesterday wasn’t anything different. Switching one 30 something wing back for another while Spencer continued to struggle down the left solved nothing. Still no pace or width in the team. Swapping to 10’s out for 2 strikers didn’t change anything, as you said it was essentially the same shape except we were just shelling more high balls forward instead of even attempting to play through the middle. It was rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic. For me, it was the most worrying sign yet that Kettlewell isn’t going to turn this round. He didn’t address any of the issues or problems and his sole plan yesterday was to try to shitfest his way to a point. Which, even if we’d been successful, is just kicking the can down the road a bit. We got a late point against Ross County last week and it’s done absolutely nothing to improve matters. Until we actually start to see signs of change and addressing the fundamental issues within the team, I refuse to buy into the Kettlewell deserves more time patter. It’s Scottish football, you play each other so often teams will work you out eventually. As a manager you either adapt or you get sacked, simple as that. Kettlewell’s got 2 massive games coming up to show he’s up to the task. If he doesn’t, then I honestly don’t think he can have any complaints about getting his jotters.