Sunday, December 22, 2024

‘Motherwell defying the odds but on track for top six’

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[BBC]

BBC Sport Scotland chief sportswriter Tom English has been answering your questions.

Alan asked: Can Motherwell sustain this very good start to the season and where are the weaknesses in the team? What has happened to the promised new investment in the club?

Tom answered: I think Motherwell can finish top six, Alan. Stuart Kettlewell doesn’t have a huge amount of players at his disposal, but he’s got a settled team that knows what it’s about. They’ve obviously got the class of Lennon Miller, but they’re resilient on top of that. They’re hard to beat.

A curious statistic. In every league game so far, they’ve lost the possession stats, sometimes by a massive margin. They only had 32.3% against Hearts, but they did a job on them. They had only 39% against St Johnstone and they won and only 37% against St Mirren and they won that, too.

Motherwell’s goals to shots on target must be among the very best in the league. You ask about potential weaknesses. Well, what happens when they can’t defy those possession stats or when every second or third shot on target doesn’t end with a goal? They’re kinda beating the odds a little bit right now. I like what Kettlewell is doing.

As far as investment goes… I see that ex vice-chairman, Douglas Dickie, has resigned. His farewell message said the club was in the best financial position in 25 years, which is good, if true.

Not sure if the investment trail has gone a bit cold. He also shone a light on some of the disconnect at the club, which didn’t sound great at all.

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