wellsince75

We have a fragile defence and our current midfield offers little protection. not a new issue , been like this for over 12 months . I know we need centre halves but also believe we need to find a very decent holding midfield player who can help protect the defence and also help us hold onto the ball when we need to. hopefully we’ve got some decent signings lined up

Stevie needs to learn a bit of game mgt in these situations . This is the type of outcome that could really hurt us in what’s proving to be a tough season

I think so. Suspect McGinn is a better CH than either Mugabi or Sol.

I'm with you. We're a better team with Cornelius. If we play with both Slattery and Goss we need to play 4-5 man midfield, ideally with a holding midfielder. The defence needs some form of protection and other than Maguire (who I don't particularly rate) we have few options. How we miss the likes of wee Al in this role.

It feels like a few years since we signed a decent centre half . I’m hoping he can follow in the footsteps of the likes of craigen

without question. Griffiths would have been chased out at pace . Not too many would have welcomed him. Moult's previous relationship was a reason we got him. Im sure he had other options as well but nostalgia works for both the club and the player. Similarly I have lots of patience for Hammell. I'm willing to give him 2+ seasons as long as we avoid relegation because of his history with the club + Im tired of us chasing the unicorn and expecting every manager to work wonders. I'll happily wait a few years to see small improvements , youngsters coming through etc.

I don't disagree that he's likely to be done, equally I don't believe we're pinning our hopes on him. Having him on the books costs us some investment in coaching etc but he's not holding anyone else back. We signed Moult because he was the best we could get at that point in the window. Any player who could bang in goals and was fit was singed well ahead of Hammell being appointed. We took a chance because we had nothing to lose. In the transfer window in Jan (when players are in contract) I have little hope of unearthing a striker who can bang in goals , why would any club let them go. The hope is to bring in some youngsters on loan. What I'd rather happen is we play a formation that doesn't need 3 front players rotating. We have a couple who are out and out strikers and some other decent midfield options. I think we need to change the system. Have a decent holding midfielder to protect the defence and bring in better defenders. It's far more likely to bring in decent quality from back to front that manage to unearth a striker

Nothing to gain by terminating it now. He's back at his home club due to having the surgery and needing to be assessed. He won't return unless given the all clear. which may or may not happen. If he can't return , the loan will end. If he can and fit then we get him back. I don't know the financials but doubt we're breaking the bank and don't believe it's prevented us from signing other top talent. Unless he get's the all clear sounds likely to come to a natural end.

Would have taken 9th at the start of the season and would take it now . small margins between majority of teams in the league - majority of teams could be anywhere from 4-12th . for now 9th would be welcome

agreed - otherwise it's like a kick in the balls . Bring in 2 centre halves and have a midfielder sitting in a holding position to stop us being so exposed.

I'd be happy to keep S'OD and slip McGinn into central defence - all depends on what we can do. I'm hoping that we can bring in some decent loan signings.

completely agree about the different players. Was more thinking it took P'OD a good few months to get back and up to speed. It was really in his 2nd season back when we got the best from him. Moult pre us only played c15 games for last 3 seasons. He'll need time to get back to speed. Never guaranteed that he will but the guy needs a lot more game time before he'll be back up to speed.

Relieved tonight. Good to get a minimal of a point today. Need some level of confidence to be restored. A very interesting league and not much in it from 5th-12th. I wouldn't write Moult off . There are risks and ifs/buts/maybes. Not too different from when Uncle Phil returned to us, recognised as quality but had a few years of awful injuries. Moult needs time and if (and it's a big if) can stay injury free we'll benefit. For me it's worth a risk. Hoping we get some decent recovery time in and line up a couple of centre halves for the window.

I tried to find our win record against St/J as wanted to cheer myself up. The sunny side up version is we have patch record up there. None the less by hook or by crook go and find a way to get 3 points.

hadn't realised that, thank you. Hopefully would create a bit of a gap from the bottom 2 clubs. The more breathing space the better.

I can't recall coming through a tougher spell of games. Every week for the last few months it's felt like we're against Goliath , we've lost narrowly to teams with much bigger budgets. The players and everyone at the club must be feeling the pain and struggle , in the same way we all have. Typically I'm more interested in performance, seeing improvement. To be honest I'd be delighted just to get 3 points, irrespective of how we do it. We need a shot in the arm, 3 points and a move up the league table will do just that.

I'm with you here. Slattery is not brilliant at chasing back. Solution - stick him in front of the defence , have him as holding midfielder. Goss , completely agree - why do people expect him to go win a ball, it's not his game, he has craft and guile - if he could tackle , chase etc he'd not be at Motherwell. The missing bit for me is we need more than 3 in midfield. I believe we're a better team with Corenelius than without him, not saying he's impressive but it works for us and helps connect the move forward part of midfield. All day long I'd drop Shields (for just about anyone) but for now an extra midfielder and push up the wingbacks when we can makes a lot of sense., not just v' Celtic but in general.

Personal view is Goss and Slattery are amongst our better midfielders . That said I'd shore up the midfield and with likes of Cornelius and perhaps Maguire. Be happy to play KVV up front and bring on Moult on 2nd half.

Appreciate I'm in the pro Hammy camp. I don't believe we're far of being pretty decent team. We've lost marginally to several teams with much bigger budgets than ours. When we see players making basics mistakes , that's not for me about training and tactics, it's because Hearts and other clubs pay 2-3x our salary and have better players. Today could have gone either way, basics mistakes are costing us and have been for the best part of the year. We need to improve the quality of defence but overall I suspect we're good enough to be anywhere in the league from 10th -6th. Problem being, that's the same for several clubs. Losing games suck, bad runs suck. Getting some reinforcements in Jan may help. Equally I'm quite enthused about the prospect of VV, Moult, McKinstry as a front 3. That could be pretty exciting.

Penny and McGinn are by a distance our best defenders. We need reinforcements in the middle.

The January transfer window is always tough - unless you have lots of cash to splash and willing to pay over the odds. I'm hopefully we can land a few quality loan players , feels like the best option to land younger players who need game time or more experienced players who want to get themselves in the shop window. Also believe our chances are strong in landing decent centre halves as there's plenty out there.

Hearts at Tyncastle is often a tough venue to pick up points BUT... they've not been firing on all cylinders either. Won 5 games, same us ourselves. When we played well we got cuffed 3-0. Be quite happy to not play to our full potential and take something from the game. We're certainly capable of walking away with something. Fair to expect 1 goal separating both teams.

That's a damn fine formation and line up & makes the most of what we've got. Would swap Cornelius and Slatterys position but overall a damn fine choice.

My issue with the incident is how why the ref initially played on. Watt caught Goss, had a free kick and yellow card been awarded it would never have gone to VAR. Given how close the ref was how the heck did he miss it. in terms of red , had that been one of our players I think many would feel hard done by. It wasn't anywhere the type of challenge Mugabi put in when he was sent off v's His and many of the Well fans felt Mugabi was harshly treated.

great to get the 3 points - vast majority of our games come down to a single goal margin. Great that's its a goal in our favour. Hopefully gives the players that bit of confidence to get the ball on the deck and start entertaining again.