MJC

Absolutely has to be Watt for me. Again he showed that he is the only player in that team capable of making a positive difference in games.

I think we could be best described as a ‘workmanlike’ side who are awful to watch. The problem is that while we have workmanlike players in the middle like Slattery, like O’Hara, even Grimshaw, we have no one to balance that out with a bit of flair or footballing quality. Any one of those three would be a lot more effective if we had a Turnbull (obviously an extreme example, granted) or a (January - April 2019) Hastie in the side to offer something a bit different. At the back, and I’ve said it for a while, but we need to get O’Donnell out of that team and get that captains armband off him. He is an absolute imposter in our colours and costs us more often than not.

From what I’ve seen and heard of them this season they have been struggling to create chances, much like ourselves. And when we played them at Ibrox we matched them up in the middle and they didn’t like it. I don’t see GA changing much, if anything, in the way of lineups, tactics etc but I actually think this is the type of game where his ‘trusted’ system might work for us. It would be great to finally win a league match against them though, but as a wise poster on here once said “Motherwell do not beat Rangers”.

I actually wouldn’t be surprised if we got a point from this one. 0-0

Our midfield is pish. We clearly don’t have the players to go with a three man midfield as GA wants to do. Apart from anything else we are just too slow in that area for that to be effective and teams just run over the top of us.

From that picture it looks like both feet are off the line, albeit the right foot is close.

That’s what I take from the game too. We were dreadful for the majority and looked second best, yet we managed to find ourselves in a very winnable position thanks to the one player we have who is capable of making a difference only to throw it away as soon as we were put under any pressure. As a team we are utterly dismal.

Context is everything when it comes to draws. And if you are 2-0 up at home with fifteen minutes left and you don’t win then that is two point thrown away. Never mind whether you think the penalty decision was harsh( I’ve not seen it again so can’t say) or whether the re-take was harsh (again, I’ve not seen it again but reports on here and Twitter suggest that Kelly was off his line when the ball was struck, in which case that would have made it the correct decision), we were in a winning position yet threw it away. That, in my view, is totally unacceptable and unprofessional.

That is just fucking typical of us. Regardless of the decision, the re-take, yet again a two goal lead is ALWAYS an Achilles heal for us.

Stroked home by Watt! 2-0!!!

There he is yet again! Tony Watt 1-0

Yes I do, to an extent at least. With some extent of the support. As I said, rightly or wrongly, should we lose this on the back of three straight defeats then the reaction from the support will be unpleasant to say the least, I reckon. However hopefully we get the win and we won’t even be discussing this in a couple of hours time.

Perhaps it’s not a watershed moment, but on the back of three straight defeats and three poor performances if we were to lose at home to St.Mirren then that will, rightly or wrongly, crank up the pressure on the manager. All hypothetical at the moment of course and if we win then this discussion will be irrelevant.

For GA’s sake we better get a result tonight. A draw would probably be just about acceptable but if we lose then a great deal of the support he has will always be lost too. I hope I’m wrong but persisting with SO’D and Grimshaw is madness.

Yip! O’Donnell and Grimshaw keep their places. Mental. Also Shields starts and KVV benched.

On.

Pitch inspection at 6.30pm

I could be wrong but I’m sure Sunday was St.Mitten’s first defeat in a good few. They will be a tough opponent, no doubt about that and if the wind and rain keeps up then it will only make things even tougher. It will not be a pretty spectacle this evening, that’s for sure. I can see shades of that horrendous midweek double header against St.Mirren from back in February 2020. The 4-4 Cup debacle that we lost on penalties followed by a 1-2 defeat in the league the week later.

It’s hard to tell what will happen with Roberts to be honest. I certainly can’t see us paying any sort of fee for him, especially with his Hearts contract up at the end of May.

Gallagher? He’s already gone? I know you like to get up on your high horse and all sanctimonious on here about other supporters giving (quite often perfectly valid) criticism of the club and certain players but you really should get your facts/players right before posting.

That’s a really good read that, honest and up front. He certainly looks to be enjoying his football here and has that rapport with the support. Naturally though he will have one eye on his next deal and it’s going to be hard to keep him here if he maintains his form. Hopefully though his enjoyment at being at the club and the fact that he himself acknowledges that he wasn’t as happy or settled elsewhere will be a factor in in his decision, although we all know that money talks. I reiterate, I hope he stays focussed and stays in form for us this season and what happens after that will take care of itself. And I hope he remains below the national team’s radar, for now anyway.

If we play against St.Mirren like we did yesterday, or against Hearts, or against Ross County for that matter then we will be lucky to get a draw. I’d be dropping O’Donnell and Grimshaw for this one, 100%. 1-2 defeat I reckon.

Yes. But the problem is that we don’t win the headers. In that case zonal marking is useless.

I wouldn’t be against that either. Obviously Ojala has captained his country so would be an obvious candidate but I can see the case for Watt. O’Donnell being captain just won’t do though.

I said that when he was appointed. SO’D is never a captain/leader in a million years. I would be giving Ojala the captaincy tomorrow.