Yorkyred

I continue to be amazed how some people seem to feel that going to a game of football or having a meal is more important than their own long term health. I still have family and members of my team at work with long covid, they may never be the same again, Mother in law died with it. Not going to a match won’t kill anyone.

In my view the first part is a mistake and action should be taken now rather than just allowing more people to contract the virus then act. But I’m not sure any of that is the first minister hating football fans.

A close one with a few contenders but given he was coming back after a terrible last 12 months I thought Donnelly was excellent.

I thought that overall we did pretty well against to be fair a team that’s absolutely toothless up front. I thought Donnelly did pretty well considering he’s just back, also a mention for Goss who is starting to look a decent player and not just someone who is an asset at free kicks.

As you say it depends on what’s classed as success. At league one level for all the number of bigger clubs there are also games playing in front of smaller clubs, they will never play in front of 45/60000, the standard of football at league one is not that great in truth, maybe a touch better but nothing to write home about. They will certainly earn more if that’s what’s classed as success. Nothing wrong with playing for the likes of Oxford of course but I think most players would deem real success as slightly higher up the ladder. Not something that most achieve from any club when they head down south.

Not sure I’d rate any of those as having great success. Great success for me would be playing regularly in the Premier league down south.

Can’t complain with that. Looking at the defence I expected a heavy defeat.

Finance is huge though and the gulf is only getting bigger. Look at our defence today and then their strength in midfield and attack. Outside of O’Donnell we’re looking at lower and none league players from down south. We can claim it’s about the attitude and mentality all we like but that back line does not possess a huge amount of quality in it.

Just my opinion but he’s moved from club to club and finally found one that works for him. Of course he could go on to have great success at another club, I hope he does. I just have a suspicion he won’t replicate his form with us.

Because he would no longer be playing for us.

Watts last chance to earn big money, I would guess when it’s down to wages others will pay substantially more. I think he may well struggle when he does go but you can’t really blame him.

We won’t be gaining anything.

In all honesty I’d rather we lose players against Celtic than against opposition we tend to gain more points from in general. Maybe that’s the old firm negativity kicking in again but historical stats don’t lie.

Honestly I’m not sure it was, O’Donnell seems to take more stick at times because he’s an international player. Expectations on him are always higher and everything he does is scrutinised. Players are with Motherwell because they have their limitations, they would not be with us otherwise. Nominations for player of the month include Bevis, Goss, and Lamie, all have improved but all have mistakes and inconsistency in them. I think the majority of the squad this season are decent players, we don’t actually have many complete duds and I can live with that.

Big ask for Cornelius in a game like this. I would be delighted with a draw but fear a defeat.

It’s getting very difficult to see us holding on to Watt, another terrific performance. Terrible conditions but again an example of the quality within this squad if they have the right mindset, Mugabi has turned around my opinion of him, Woolery looked like a player deserving of that long contract. Very difficult game up next but you never know.

Mentality, that’s it. As you say you can forget about everything else. They thought they could just turn up, stroll around, switch off, and still take the 3 points. Can’t remember seeing Alexander so angry.

Midfield is still the priority for me

You honestly think there is any pressure on the manager ? We’re in the top 6, for me the pressure is absolute zero. I don’t even think we’re a poor side, I think we have a strong squad of players that are dreadfully inconsistent. A couple of decent signings in January and I’m convinced we will finish top six, we won’t be near bottom four.

We were more than capable of winning two cups in one year if we had been playing anyone else other than a pretty rampant Celtic.

I’m pretty sure Shields will retain his place, there is indeed a good argument for the same starting 11 even though on paper it’s not the strongest team we could put out. I’ve no doubt we have a top 6 squad of players, certainly stronger than last seasons squad and probably as good as any over the last four or five seasons. It’s really down to Alexander to make the most of them and if we stay on the front foot we will do well. Revert back to allowing the opposition just about all the possession is not something I’m in favour of, we’re actually better than that and should go out full of confidence against just about anyone.

After the Rangers games I don’t think anyone would have predicted 6 points from the next two games, many would have though two defeats. I’ve got zero complaints, it’s two fantastic wins.

O’Donnell was outstanding.

The amount of possession and shots given to the opposition does worry me, I’m just not convinced it’s a sound tactic moving forward if we want to try and build something which I thought was the whole point of giving longer contracts. Maybe it is looked at as a short term fix until he gets the midfield he really wants which is fine by me, I just hope that’s the case.

No argument from me on that one but it’s certainly a factor in the pressure the defence has been put under this season and again we relied a lot on Kelly again. I just worry it’s not sustainable over the course of the season. Hopefully we strengthen midfield n January and see a change of tact and with that we may also see the entertainment factor improve slightly.