MJC

Six fucking minutes?!?

Get fucking in there!!!

Well that is just typical of this fixture. We miss a gilt edged chance at one end then they go up the other end and score. And to compound matters it looked a mile offside. We never get any breaks in this fixture.

He made a cracking save from Billy Dodds in the last minute too. A month or so later he got himself sent off at Rugby Park for elbowing a Killie player in the box and conceding a penalty into the bargain.

There is very little in football that I find more infuriating than the patronising guff about how “we were so brave, yet so unlucky” that we get all too often after a loss to Rangers especially. Far too many times over the past 20 years many Motherwell sides, managers, players and some supporters seem to view anything less than a heavy defeat in these games as some sort of moral victory. Why I don’t know, because despite our dreadful record in this fixture, very rarely have Rangers actually hammered us by playing swashbuckling football and scoring great goals. Many of the games, particularly at Fir Park, have been relatively tight yet we have lost out by the odd goal after gifting them a couple through poor defending or a poor refereeing decision or us not taking chances. Even some of the games at Ibrox have followed a similar pattern. I stand by what I said, if we score first on Sunday we have a chance of getting something.

Steven McLean the referee for this one. I’m sure he was the ref the last time we beat them in the 2017 LCSF too.

Perhaps but for us he was always an excellent stalwart and played over 300 games for us in some very good Motherwell sides and also some very poor ones, but he was always a crucial player for us. I would certainly consider Steven Hammell as a club legend before I would consider James McFadden.

Steven Hammell now inducted to Hall of Fame. Well deserved. A proper club legend.

This will be a good test of our recent ‘solidity’. I’m confident that we won’t roll over to them as we would have done this time last year and I think if we score first then we would significantly improve our chances of getting something from this one. Optimistically 1-1 Realistically 2-1 to them.

Marvellous result and another clean sheet. Delighted with that. Well done lads.

Likewise, I can’t stand international breaks during the season. All they do is get in the way of the real football. Tough one on Saturday, hopefully we are at or as near to full strength as we can be. Can see this one either being a draw or a narrow loss. 2-2 or 1-2

In fairness and meaning no disrespect, he also plays alongside players of a far higher calibre with Scotland than he does for us. You often hear the opposite side of that argument about Andy Robertson when he is criticised for not playing as well for Scotland as he does for Liverpool. SO’D is a really good player with bags of ability but I think he is more suited to playing for Scotland and the way they play than he does for Motherwell.

Genuinely didn’t see Roberts re-joining. Great capture!

All good teams need a solid defence and hopefully we’re on the way to being that. It would certainly make a change from the past few years anyway. Welcome to our great average sized, firmly established top flight club Sondre Solholm.

Four years ago was it not? Absolutely loved that night. Louis Moult’s goal to make it 3-0 was a special moment. It was brilliantly taken and you knew then that there was no way back for Aberdeen. That season was a great time to be a ‘Well fan.

Yes that’s where he left us to go to I’m sure. It was indeed Tommy McLean who also took him to Dundee United in 1996.

Not pretty but that’ll do. Watt yet again proves his worth to the team. I’ll need to see Carroll’s challenge again but first impression was that it was reckless and deserving of a red. Six point from the last six, can’t ask for more than that.

0-0

It definitely has, I certainly wouldn’t argue with that. I was sceptical when Burrows replaced Dempster but I feel that he’s grown into the role and has been good for us overall. He hasn’t got everything right, granted, but I feel like he is doing a good job.

Yes I accept that and that’s fair enough. I was just meaning that with Burrows you know that he’s got the club’s best interests at heart as opposed to say, a Vladimir Romanov type at Hearts, albeit I know he’s probably quite an extreme example.

I thought the same at the time but likewise I’m glad to have been proven wrong. Burrows has been excellent for us overall. Yes he’s got some things wrong but that’s part and parcel of the role but to have someone in that position who you know is Motherwell through and through then you know the club is in good hands. His handling of the Rangers ticket allocation for the 2nd leg of the playoff was superb. Many a previous Motherwell regime would have simply bowed down and given them whatever they wanted. The club’s PR and communications with the support has improved tenfold under Burrows. I know some of it can be a bit over kill on social media, but it’s important that the club can engage with the support, especially when it’s a fan owned club.

Have you ever actually seen him play? Fair enough if he ends up being another player who barely features or makes no impact but at least give him a chance!

Clubome to our great wee Welc Sean Goss.

Woods was an occasional liability and a permanent bombscare for us. Even when he was having one of his better games you just knew a major howler was just around the corner ie. that Rangers Cup tie. I have honestly never forgiven him for that. I know people argue that he made over 100 appearances for us but it should be pointed out that he was here for nine years and in that time either played second fiddle to or at best couldn’t hold down the No.1 jersey against five different goalkeepers. That says it all for me, it was clear that none of the managers we had during that time trusted him as a first choice goalkeeper.

I agree with you that we don’t afford young players the opportunity to break through enough, we didn’t even get Turnbull in the team as soon as we should have! But when you look at the current crop of young players on our books like Maguire, Devine, Cornelius you don’t really see any signs that they will be able to make much impact on the first team.