purestate

Hickey injured (again) so SO’Ds wouldn’t be the worst choice to, at least, provide cover in squad and maybe persuade SC to adopt a similar expansive passing game. on other hand I’m quite happy if all Well players get a chance to rest rather than play meaningless friendlies.

Agree although he is still young and could improve overall as a player but is unlikely to be main striker at many clubs. Now if we could persuade someone to buy the joint 11th goal scorer in SPFL (a goal every 1.6 games) for a couple of million that would be a deal worth making 😉

I wouldn’t suggest those against are luddites as such, perhaps overly sentimental? personally I’ve been going for well over 40 years with season tickets in East stand and now PO’D. I wasn’t born in Motherwell, have never lived there and so have no real connection to the place other than the ground itself. I was a Well fan in EK in late 70’s / 80’s while most around me were Old Firm because my dad took me to Fir Park after visiting friends in his home town, Wishaw. Maybe my lack of direct connection to the town but also having had an uncle who worked at the Craig explains why I wouldn’t be adverse to moving to the old site of the steelworks as a reasonable alternative. However I will also be perfectly happy to stay where we are and while improved facilities of all kinds would be ideal it’s not a deal breaker for me to keep being a supporter.

Mods, i know Jens isn’t having it but could we have a a League permutations thread for all the thoughts and speculation?

Yes that seemed to be the case but also seemed more deliberate than just that reason. JT and Said were regularly looking to run onto Wards through balls and nearly worked as a tactic on couple of occasions.

Ward’s performance was a bit odd. Presumably the multiple long balls in first half was on instruction but his distribution started getting very sloppy towards end. I suppose the good thing is that we lost goals early in the season from these types of lapses but defended the resulting loss of possession better today.

Agree a draw would be best but a Celtic win is next best option for me as I want us to overtake both of them.

For once there were a few not in contention. SODs and McGinn were solid - gave it to SoDs due to his entertaining rampaging. had he finished the on-two with Ward it would surely have been the longest one-two goal ever. As others honourable mention to Slatts. He stayed on his feet even with some rough tackles where it would merit going down and would have nicked it if his curling shot had gone in.

Immense performance and took absolutely every pleasure in seeing them suffer. Great to see Eythor getting off the mark although (being picky) with the rampaging Longelo down left and interplay on right wing he could have had several more if he’d stayed more central.

Agreed and Jens suggesting that as well in press conference. He’s very measured in his response to questions and suggesting referees would benefit from more time to review and discuss decisions seems in keeping with his continuous improvement approach rather than, what for some others would be , a dig at officials.

The interpretation aspect will almost always come into play in whatever circumstances occur. eg if Priestman is a red because of clear goal scoring opportunity the why not award goal and not send player off. Would almost certainly discourage deliberate fouls as potential for striker to miss/goalie to save is higher. but what about Gordon situation. He definitely deliberately brought player down but surely he, along with pretty much all except Var official, thought it was a yellow and nowhere near being a clear goal scoring opportunity. Rule would then be faced with specifying how far out, how many players closer to goal, whether a shaved beard increased SoDs aerodynamic interception sprint speed etc. Sin bins to remove absolutes in a game might be closest to trying to avoid ruining spectacle. May even make the 10/15 mins more exciting as team with advantage try and press it. id be quite happy if Gogic and few StM bruisers were shown early reds right enough.

A few people trying to temper expectations which fully understand but I’m more in the “this is our year” camp. We’ve shown that we have the beating of this Aberdeen team this season who have a lot of pressure on them from media and, I expect, fans tonight. No reason to think that our mindset will be any different from what JBA has instilled One may be enough but if we score twice we will definitely win and we absolutely have the personnel to score many more. COYW

Was surprised to see some comments on match thread suggesting Slattery should be substituted. I thought he was immense in both and attacking and winning the ball back. Sure not everything he tried came off but to continue to try seems to be the philosophy of the manager which Slats and the other players are thriving on.

Aye but can they do it on a cold, rainy night in Motherwell? 😉

If not us I wouldn’t be adverse to Stenny winning it with an Olly Whyte screamer 😆