wellsince75

the excuses of only having a 2 friendlies. boys worked hard to a man blah blah. We look miles off the pace and no idea how to break a team down.

he goes on an on about Slattery - what am I missing did Slattery get booked - can't see it anywhere other than Lewis's rhetoric.

overall game is playing out as expected. Sligo less quality but well into their season. We look rusty as we ease into the first game of the season. Sadly Bevis sold the first goal. He has done, did and will continue to give away cheap goals, penalties, mistakes. He's hard working but always carries this risk factor.

Looks like FP is bouncing

im the same mad dog. less than 10 mins to go, commentators must still be in the bar

This is a really good point. I was looking at the standard of signings that Hearts/Aberdeen/Utd have been able to make. The gap between them and us is also huge in terms of budget. There was always a gap but can't remember if feeling quite so stark. The rest of us are all decreasing in quality over a sustained period of time. All that being said and done really looking forward to tonight. Let's get the season started in style.

we've got plenty of good attacking options in midfield - just change formation if needs be.

Did Robbo get us to 2 cup finals ? can't recall him ever mentioning that Don't worry about his sides poor form, he's spoken honestly to the players , they need to work harder and they'll go again . These Motherwell, oops St Mirren players will get through .

I don't believe it's doom doom doom to say this will be tough nor is it wish for GA to get the hoof. It's more t hereality of where SPL sits in the overall quality of European football. The Irish leagues at one stage where not close to be level with SPL , over the years that gap has reduced. Suspect most of Europe now consider us to be the 'Diddy' teams. I wish us well, want us to win, would prefer it to be comfortable. Equally there's not been many games against any level of competition in recent years that fell into this category.

Suspect this will be tougher than we’d like this to be .

Agreed - tough gig. In truth I suspect most Scottish Teams will get pumped out the competition by what's deemed lesser Euro Teams. From all our trips to Europe the tie against Dortmund sticks in my mind as one of the performances to be proud of. Hopefully (assuming we make it to the next round) we can re-kindle some of that pride

The signings we’ve made give me hope the 433 as we played it will change . Within defence and midfield we have a lot of very decent players . upfront is weak. I can can’t envisage a world with efford , kvv and shields bring our front 3. l could see having kvv as an out and out striker with Tierney coming from deep + a whole host of midfield options would make us a much more dynamic team. it would be wasteful to continue with the 433 as was .

I believe we have a better 11-15 than we had this time last season . Im keen to see if we evolve our tactics/formation - are we actively looking beyond being fit and strong ? playing some football would be a welcome addition to this season

did S'OD feature at all today - I'd have thought most players would be given game time at this point of pre season. can't help but think he's moving on.

there's a whole bunch of formations that could work. The ask is drop the tombolla and look for a settled team .

this is good news when you consider Woolery wanted to move on, he wasn't guaranteed a spot on the team and we got cash. Seems pretty amicable to me and happy that we reduce the squad size.

Personal view is Woolery moving on is a good move. He certainly has pace and some skill, albeit didn't really hurt teams. Many of us in the first half of the season couldn't believe he got a start every week. With our without a fee I don't see it being a loss. Re Keeper - can't help but think Kelly is one if the very few players we have who would attract interest from bigger clubs - a bit of extra protection perhaps ?

personally think Goss is ok but not in a 3 man midfield as he's a bit powder puff and doesnt offer protection to the left back. I thought Spittal was brought in as the left sided midfield player. Be interesting to see who starts from the likes of Slattery, Spittal, Cornelius ,Goss, and now Morris. Not to mention Tierney who looks better as an old number 10 type player. Gives plenty of options for formations though - a decent blend of players.

Add Henry Smith to that list as well. I do have some fond memories though of Kirkie getting stuck in, he had brilliant battles with Walter Kidd and never backed off.

My issue isn't with the player - he may be a decent midfielder/winger. I'm personally bored to tears of this 'he can play anywhere in the front 3'. at least with KVV he was singed as a striker - go sign another one of those please. I also don't understand the pile up of decent players for the same position - multiple right backs, centre halves and now midfield players - unless we're moving away from the 4-3-3 I've no clue what the plan is.,

Hope he carries that form rather than what he's done since 2019, albeit I don't know if goals are what he's judged on , is he a midfielder, winger or something else. Certainly miss the years of brining people like Coyne, Coyle, Skippy, Higdon, Sutton who were all out and out strikers . Not saying Morris won't add value, more that signing strikers who scored goals regularly would be nice to have.

we must have a much better win/points ratio for the games he played v's the ones he didn't. I'm a fan and glad we have him . Personally dislike badging him as a playmaker, he's a good worker, breaks up play and can pass but I don't see him as a playmaker. Giving him that title creates an expectation that frankly no one in our team can lay claims to. Our playmaker was sold to Celtic for millions and unlikely that we'll find an affordable replacement unless some gem comes via our youth system without being pinched before they reach puberty .

Hearts are one of the teams we always had a real battle with when I first started going to games , a fair amount of needle in our matches back in the day with all sorts of 1:1 feuds all over the park . I respect that they’ve rebuilt their club and have a fair amount of perspective of where they should be. Utd and Aberdeen both hang on to their new firm rhetoric with Aberdeen in particular expect to win the league, even though 40 years have passed since their hay day . overall love our club and have varying levels of dislike for all others

Gallagher had one great season with us - was he playing alongside Aldred ? Perhaps much stronger playing beside quality players . overall not impressed that Robinson is still pegging his hopes on the same players he had his hopes on with his time as Motherwell - unless they get off to a great start I don’t see him lasting

I’m with you . 8 years with more than 50% win record . He took Aberdeen as far as he could . Sadly it highlights the restrictions our league has . Old firm fight for top spot , a few other clubs battle for best of the rest .