Speaking ahead of Saturday's meeting between the sides at Rugby Park, Shiels suggested the Steelmen have a "much bigger" squad than Kilmarnock and that the Ayrshire side "can't shop in the same market as Motherwell".
Well manager McCall was keen to avoid a war of words with the often controversial and outspoken Shiels, although he was quick to dismiss the Northern Irishman's views on the size of his squad.
"I find Kenny interesting and entertaining, I have never had any problems with him, unlike a few of the other SPL managers," said McCall.
"I had a little smile when I read his comments, I don't know if Kenny believes everything he says himself - I thought he perhaps had a few too many sherbets.
"Since I arrived at Motherwell, Kilmarnock have always had a bigger squad than ourselves.
"They did lose players in the window and that brought them down to having a similar size of squad as we do here.
"I'm not going to complain about our size of squad though, sometimes it can be a good thing and we have also been fortunate with injuries."
Saturday's match will be only Motherwell's third fixture of 2013.
They trail second-placed Inverness on goal difference in the Scottish Premier League and McCall knows his side cannot let their lack of match-sharpness play a part against Killie.
"We want to come out of the blocks early and don't want to see any signs of rustiness," added McCall.
"The boys should be raring to go, since we have been inactive results have been quite kind, now we need to do our own bit.
"First and foremost we have to clinch a place in the top six and it would be fantastic if we could go on and achieve a European (qualification) place again."






















