MFCL84

A bit of an improvement today, but still hugely frustrating. We were, amazingly, still in the game at 90 minutes, but for some reason didn't seem to think that we should or could take a risk in the final 10 mins or so try to win the ball and push for an unlikely point. Once again, a very passive performance from the midfield and defensive areas. Good debuts by Thomson and Armstrong. The other debutants didn't really have enough time to show much. Sparrow was our most effective midfield player.

Sparrow for me. Armstrong caught the eye based on attitude and work rate, and of course he got our goal, but Sparrow's all round contribution edged it for me.

I expect that we'll put up a reasonably dogged defensive performance in the first half, going in 1 goal down and then capitulate in the final quarter of the game, finally losing about 4-0. I hope that I am wrong.

I have no problem with that, it is just the way that I saw it.

This is a huge part of the problem that we have. Lack of worthwhile possession puts the back line under constant pressure. This leads to the guys at the back making mistakes. Keep the ball better and play as much of the game as possible on your own terms in the opposition half and the defence will make fewer mistakes.

Having watched that interview, I got the distinct feeling that he didn't care.

Can I ask why you go to the games and what you get from them if survival is the main thing. Don't you go to the games to be entertained? As I said when I opened this thread, going to games seems like no more than a bad habit now, I certainly get very little enjoyment from the football on display.

I think the fact that we are talking about this when sitting in 5th says a lot about how bad the football has been. Motherwell fans would usually be happy with their team sitting in this position. Why is it different this time? Probably because the football on show is brutal.

Are you happy with points or do you want more entertainment? I’ll start by saying that I am satisfied with the points tally and league position at this time. Indeed, given the horrendous list of injuries experienced this season, the points tally is commendable. However, the entertainment on show is non-existent. The persistent use of an overly negative approach, combined with hit-and-hope hoofball is absolutely dreadful to watch. Unfortunately, this hasn’t been just for the past few games, but has been the case for most/all of this season. I used to look forward to going to the game on a Saturday, but now it just feels like a bad-habit that I should give up. What really frustrates me is that I don’t think that the squad at Motherwell is any worse than most of the squads in the league, but week-in-week-out I see the opposition dominate possession, while appearing to be technically better on the ball and playing with more cohesion and purpose. I haven’t bothered to look at the possession stats, pass completion stats or number of goal attempts made; I don’t need to, because I know that to be entertained I want Motherwell to do better in all of those areas. Maybe I’m in the minority, maybe many are being entertained with this brand of football. I most certainly am not. Are you happy with the entertainment provided by Motherwell?

I have to agree. He was very slow to react on a number of occasions today and didn't look interested. Maybe he was suffering from a knock or a virus. Definitely should have been replaced earlier than he was.

A bit off topic, but the Sportscene coverage was absolutely appalling. All about Rangers, no real analysis of the key points in the game. Completely amateurish production and presentation. Finally, does anyone think that Rangers first goal had a distinct possibility of offside? It looked to me that a Rangers player, in an offside position, interfered with Ox line of sight to the ball.

I just watched back the Sportscene coverage of the game today. Butland's error was just that. From what i saw on Sportscene, Watt held his ground, Butland tried to jump over him to punch clear and simply made a mess of it. For me, a ridiculous decision to rule out a goal for that. There was a much more blatant push on a keeper shown on Match of the Day tonight and VAR decided that the goal stood. What a state our game is in.

Indeed and Davor does not too bad a job. However, he seems to be being asked to take more of a creative role. A large proportion of the play through midfield seems to go through Davor. This is something that, in the current setup, Halliday should be doing.

Interesting stats. They certainly don't reflect my perception of what Davor does for the team. Those stats would suggest that Davor is the most effective midfielder that we have. His pass accuracy is better than Miller's across the board. Maybe we should be asking big money for Davor. Davor is decent at breaking up play and retaining possession by going sideways and back. It would be interesting to understand what constitutes a forward pass in this context.

I have to agree with this. Davor is a breaker of play, not a play maker. That said, the way that we currently setup in midfield means that Davor frequently has to become a bit of a play maker. His tendency to turn back means that opportunities to make something happen in the final third are often lost, and we make so few chances from open play. That may be where some of the fan frustraion comes from.

A great result. Three points very welcome. I'm very happy with the way the league is shaping up. Well done to the team and management on getting the hard earned points. However, I'm not going to get carried away, the general level of team performance was very poor. No team can continue winning games when they give up so much territory, give the opposition so many chances and lose possession so easily. The stats today show that we managed only 37% possession. We must get better at ball retention or there won't be too many games where we get the 3 points.

I gave it to Wilson over O'Donnell, though both deserve it.

Yes, Sparrow was fully committed in the lead up to it also.

That was a hugely enjoyable game today. There were no failures in a Motherwell Jersey, with SOD and Wilson both being excellent. The defence looked very comfortable for most of the game. Our set pieces were very dangerous thanks to Miller's first class deliveries. On the whole a thoroughly deserved 3 points. I thought that we started very slowly, allowing Hearts far too much time and space, but after the initial 15 minutes we seemed to up the tempo, create a few things and gain the confidence that allowed the team to drive on to a deserved first half lead. A great, high energy start to the second half earned us a very much deserved 2-0 lead. At this point, we could have gone on and seriously damaged Hearts, but we lost a bit of discipline and shape. The team seemed to get caught up in the emotion and excitement being generated in the stands. I think that is what led to the loss of the goal as players chased the opposition in areas of the park that they should not have been dragged into. The loss of the goal led to a bit of a wobble, but I felt that we had settled again just as SK decided to take Robinson and Maswanhise off for Seddon and Sparrow. I felt that this was too negative a change that was intended to shore up the midfield and defence to try to see out the game at 2-1. A tactic that hasn't worked well for us in the past. However, thanks to Salazar, we'll never know whether we would have held out as Tom Sparow did very well to get on to his short backpass and make the game safe at 3-1. A thoroughly enjoyable Sunday afternoon.

I think that the first goal will be crucial in this one. If Motherwell go behind I can't see us being able to claw back a Hearts team that will get a boost from going ahead and be able to sit on the lead and pick Motherwell off as we'd have to chase the game. We need to get the first goal to give us something to hang on to or build on. Our chances of getting the first goal are hugely influenced by how SK sets the team out. Another negative, defensive first half is likely to see us behind at the interval with the game probably lost. We need to be getting at Hearts and pushing for the first goal.

Difficult to choose today. Nobody was outstanding for the whole game, but there were a lot of solid performances. In the end, I've gone for Miller over Maswanhise.

A bit of a struggle, but Lennon Miller because if his first half influence.

100% this. Doesn't look, like a football shirt.

I think Slattery is a very capable player, and when fit and on his game, he is very effective. My main concern with Slattery is his obsession with looking for soft fouls by going to ground far too easily. His game would Improve immensely if he'd stay on his feet whenever he can. I'm happy to retain his services at the club, but I hope that when he does get back that it is the player that we saw early last season and not the shadow of himself that he can became.

Well that's the season over and like a number of others, I'm glad to see the back of it. A season that started brightly, sank to unbelievable depths in the over-long winless run and then recovered enough to see us safe from relegation and play-off places. The 9th place finish is about right. I don't believe that we are better than any of the teams that finished above us and only 3 points taken from St.Johnstone might suggest that we are lucky not to be 10th. As for the football, in my opinion, it has generally been dreadful to watch; our ball retention is very poor and defensive organisation is awful, but we do seem to be able to score goals. Someone will have to explain to me how we manage the goal-scoring, because I don't see a creative pattern to our play. There have been some worldies this season, maybe more than we are used to (thanks Blair Spittal), but that doesn't explain why we are so high in the goal-scoring chart. I have no idea what we'll get next season. Another close season with a huge rebuild required. I'll be there though, like so many others that contribute to this forum. COYW