MJC

Amazingly we are the only side to have beaten them at home in the league this season and their only other home loss was in the League Cup Group Stages against, believe it or not, Arbroath! We really need to get League points on the board but this will be a tough one. 1-1 I think.

Our home strip should be a predominantly amber top with claret band and/or trimmings with predominantly claret shorts with amber trimmings. At the very least the top should be mostly Amber even if the shorts alternate to also Amber and occasionally white(although I’m not a fan of white shorts one bit but I know some are). I don’t know if we tried to be too ‘out the box’ with this seasons effort but it just doesn’t work. If it was actually like the 1980s kit with the Amber panel on the back as well as the front with claret numbers and the shorts design matching up with the top then it wouldn’t be so bad. But it isn’t…and it is.

Announced as 2,067 which is very impressive. I’m not keen on the fluorescent kit despite its good cause and I am usually a firm believer of always wearing our first kit unless there is an obvious colour clash, but I would make an exception for this seasons horrific home strip. Whoever signed off on that abomination should get their jotters. As well as not really being like the 1980s kit that it is supposedly a ‘throwback’ to it is just an awful kit to look at. Far too much claret and the trims and designs from the top and the shorts don’t in any way match or align. It’s just a shambles of a strip.

Not a good performance but job done and that’s what the Cup is all about. Liked the look of Mandron, as well as scoring a brace I thought he put himself about well and chased everything. I enjoyed that today even though it wasn’t a great spectacle, but going away to an old terraced ground like that right next to the sea with a big travelling support is what makes Cup football special.

Yeah quite pleased with that lineup too. I’d imagine Blaney will be at LB and good to see Mandron starting, if nothing else it hopefully gives Van Veen some much needed competition.

KvV benched, Mandron, Crankshaw and Blaney all start.

I think it is 2, they had their game called off the same day as our St.Mirren postponement in December there.

Livingston v Dundee Utd off tonight which means Utd can’t go above us.

Well it’s all well and good saying we’ve only lost 2 from the last 6 but at the same time we have won 0 from the last 8. The football on display is poor and the signs aren’t encouraging. A loss to Arbroath would only make the mood worse. I don’t think Hammell will be fired if we lose next week, but I think he might walk.

Our main priority will be staying in the league but to suggest that “next weeks cup game doesn’t really matter” is absolute nonsense. If we were to exit the Cup at the first hurdle to a lower league side at a time when the mood around the club is already at or very near rock bottom then that could well be the tipping point for our already fragile confidence. It would also be the end for Steven Hammell as well I reckon. Apart from that we have seen in the past how a good cup run can provide a welcome break from the turgid monotony of the league and, unlikely as it is, with a few kind draws we might be able to go deeper into the tournament. So next Saturdays cup game at Arbroath absolutely DOES matter.

We will lose, it's just set up for it. 3-2 Arbroath AET after we go 2-0 down, fight back to level then not have a clue what to do next before they take it in extra time. I have absolutely no belief in this team whatsoever.

He looks and sounds absolutely scunnered as you would expect. He talks about the work they do to prepare but clearly it isn’t working because the players we have either just aren’t good enough or they aren’t taking on board what they are being told to do, or a mixture of both. The sad reality is that from one week to the next absolutely nothing changes. Our defending is shambolic and we are shipping at least one cheap goal every game, our midfield has no bite and we are toothless up front. And no one is taking any ownership or leadership on the park and unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be much of that coming from the bench either. I don’t see what, if anything Steven Hammell can do to improve things.

Those two along with Spittal, McGinn and Shields are Championship level players at best. This team would struggle to be mid table if it was in the Championship and I think we’ll see a good example of that when we go to Arbroath next week for what will be yet another turgid struggle and it will be no surprise whatsoever if we lose. It might well not be our only trip to Gayfield in 2023 either, as I really can’t see us finishing above 11th. We have absolutely nothing about us, no leadership, no goals, no defence and very little in the way of ability. Our confidence looks to be dropping with each passing week.

Questions surely need to be asked as to why Blaney isn’t getting a start. If it is because he is not fit or not ready or not showing any more than Lamie and Sol then what was the point in signing him?

Not fucking good enough.

We’re heading for the playoffs at best this season and we can have no complaints.

Fucking pathetic defending. We just cannot see a game out.

Crankshaw starts as does McKinstry. Blaney still on the bench as is new signing Mandron. Clearly Sondre and/or Lamie are undroppable.

If we lose I actually think he might. Hopefully we get the win though and he and we can start turning things around.

When the notification came up on Twitter there all I saw at first was the name Mikael. I immediately thought we’d re-signed Ndjoli. Fortunately not though.

Yes the name is amusing in the Crawford Baptie mould…

Oliver, Olly, Ollie. Fair enough lol. I know nothing about him but hopefully he can make a difference.

We’ve signed Olly Crankshaw on loan from Stockport according to Twitter. He’s a winger. For some reason I find his name quite amusing, though hopefully he can make a serious contribution for us. Welcome to Fir Park.

Falconer was a superb signing and he almost single handedly saved us from relegation that year. We actually paid a transfer fee to Celtic to get him, changed times. In his debut he missed a penalty against Kilmarnock and we looked doomed then as we were in a run of about 7 straight games without scoring. But he came good.

Re: van Veen, he is our best forward player by some distance. Not that that would be difficult but he is probably as good a ‘No.9’ as we could hope to have given our budget. The problem is he is surrounded by too many players who don’t/can’t support him properly. If he played in a Motherwell side with Ainsworth, Ojamaa, Humphrey or Turnbull then he would be scoring alot more and we would struggle to keep hold of him, in my opinion. He was labelled as ‘the budget Bergkamp’ when he signed. Dennis Bergkamp himself would probably struggle in our forward line right now.