Tweed

I think there was a lot at Dundee United that was rotten to the core, there were more than football issues there. McGhee had work to do because Baraclough seemed to be OK if plan A worked but could not adjust and also seemed incapable of instilling confidence in the team. However he did build us a team that was good and with proper management could do well. As for our game today. First half was excellent, a combination of bad decisions by forward players and excellent goalkeeping gave Dundee a sniff at the break. They improved afterward but didn't get in behind us that often. McManus and Hall kept the line well overall but I didn't think McManus covered himself in glory at the goal. Moult was absolutely outstanding, worked hard, good runs, tracks back and great finishing. Nice to see Clarkson get some game time and make a positive impact with the run and cross for the third goal. Massive three points bearing in mind we have a six pointer in a fortnight and an almost certain defeat next week.

Been reading through the stuff on this and I have to say there is more I like about it than I don't but LH's concerns are valid ones if the communication is/was as he says and you would hope that we were already planning for 2016-17. I'm not keen on the bonus points and I will be interested to see how they determine the draw - will there be a form of seeding and if so will the home/away be random. Certainly think it is worth a shot.

I thought it was split 50/50 after costs.

Marvin Johnson for me but I couldn't grudge any votes for Grimshaw, Pearson, Law or the front two.

Right good game that we could have won and we could have lost and on balance the draw was probably not far from being a fair reflection. First ten minutes of the second half we were truly humped in the middle of midfield as Hearts drove right through us at will but we tightened up and had a spell on the ascendancy when we went 2-1 up. When McGhee made his first sub we seemed to lose the out ball and Hearts were right on the front foot. It was calling out for a change and Robinson was it. When he came on he won one header and it pinned their defence back a bit as they realised they couldn't push up the way they were. Really thought Ripley was really poor today which is a shame as he has overall been a good signing for us but the outfield players were all on it. Pearson and Lasley flagged a bit later but Grimshaw grew more into it and covered for them then. Not convinced Ainsworth was fully fit.

Three months into the season and we're at the bottom end of a very tight pack that starts in 5th and ends in 11th. It isn't going to take a huge momentum swing for us to move away from the bottom. Although yesterday sounds like it was brutal we were a lot of players down. Hard game next week but one we shouldn't be scared of.

I wasn't there but it looked like one of these days even from the brief highlights. To be honest on balance I think it was a penalty, McManus's hand was so high he gained a huge advantage but I do get it was only there from the leverage from the jump before. The encroachment is so unlucky. Law follows the forward in, which you would because you wouldn't be confident that a referee would penalise them for it. But on the way in he overtakes him and then heads the ball clear which highlights to Thomson he was in the box early. Given where the ball was and the sequence of events he couldn't not notice it. And for all he was right, it does seem annoying it happened because we followed their guy in and only did it because referees fail to penalise 99 times out of 100. I didn't feel I had any complaint with the second yellow. For all it was a nothing foul it broke up such a promising attack I don't think you could fail to caution in the circumstance and the time was such McManus should have let him go. He's old enough to know better and I think he really let us down. But Dingwall is a new game and hopefully we get the breaks and can do the business.

I'm incredibly confident because my sister is getting married and I will be in absentia, That normally means we win.

I learnt on Saturday that the Gaelic for vampire is in fact vampire.

Final ball was sadly lacking today and think all the six in midfield and up top who started were guilty of it but take that important thing out they were all decent. Was one of those frustrating games where I felt we were almost playing very well but just couldn't get it to click fully. But we defended sensibly, got the goal when the chance came and overall we have to be quite content. Lots of flashes that suggest with a bit more confidence and hard work we could make a serious upward movement.

Did he not rule Ainsworth out this time last week?

Yes and no. I would agree we had more of the game but I would be hard pushed to think of a chance we had that was better than any of the Aberdeen ones that were included. When you only have five minutes you are going to show the best opportunities rather than try and give the viewer a feel of which team had more of the game, territory, half chances and on that basis I think they got it about right.

With the angle that shot is inconclusive in respect of Rooney. Pawlett didn't make a play for the ball so by the letter of the law is inactive. Overall it is a tough call either way - if we had marked their best forward it wouldn't have been an issue.

Josh Law for me. Kept his winger quiet, blocked several crosses and held the line well. Add in supported his own winger a few times. For me this was his best game in a Motherwell shirt, maybe other than the Stjarnan home game. Johnson was a close second but as I said in the match thread some poor decision making at the end of promising runs and bursts and that knocked a point off. Nobody less than a solid 6 or 7 out of 10 though and if you do that every week you'll have a good season.

Not long back from Aberdeen and that was a good game of football. We did lots of things right and would say we were generally the better team throughout. Problem was that they were a wee bit nippier than us in possession which meant they got a couple of free chances on the break when we couldn't quite scamper back quickly enough. Josh Law was immense, especially second half. Johnson's final ball and decision making still needs work but at least he was getting into the right place to have a chance of doing something. Moult and Fletcher are two guys I really rate. Pearson superb also, minus one slack back pass and one moment of stupidity picking up another needless booking. We can't afford our best players picking up needless suspensions. However one point we got for that, we need to go to Kilmarnock next week and at least not lose or it wasn't worthwhile.

I thought we looked like a disjointed team of guys bursting a gut for the cause yesterday. There seemed to be nobody who knew who was going where apart from a couple of times we pressed effectively as a unit. Because of that we struggled to get Fletcher and Moult involved at the business end of the pitch. Kudos for the two of them for tracking back and getting involved but the result of that was when they did they had nowhere to go and neither had the pace to run at them. For all that is a poor Celtic team, they are still the best team we will play this season and if we work hard in the next couple of weeks and continue with that endeavour there is every chance we can beat some of the teams we have to play between now and the end of November.

Grimshaw. Decided after that game that he'll do. Didn't think anyone had a particularly bad game, they just didn't link very well.

Never noticed it at the game but McDonald blatantly pushes the defender as the cross is coming in for our second goal. That should never have stood. Probably the wee break we needed. Surprised nobody from Thistle was complaining about it.

Ainsworth. Every time he got the ball we looked dangerous.

In flashes a game of football threatened to break out. Everything good about us came from Ainsworth and we really need to work hard to get him into games and today we managed it and when we did we looked like we might score. Pearson also will occasionally give you an attacking moment, he played one ball to Moult that was excellent in the first half. However there were long spells we couldn't get rid of it. For a team that can pass (watch back the Ross County goal and a couple of passages of play in the 2nd half - we can), we really need to believe in our ability to do it and it might not keeping coming back at us. I was just saying to my faither that we needed a second goal when it came as I suspected there would come a moment that Thistle would throw the kitchen sink at us and they did. Shame to lose a goal from a set play yet again. Looked like they won two headers whilst our goalie seemed planted. Poor goal to lose as it suddenly meant the comfort which we were playing was no longer there. Five minutes after the goal we looked like a team that was scared to win but after Lawless hit the post we seemed to be a bit more comfortable. Thought the defenders did pretty well as a group but just got a bit deep at times. Ripley should have done better at the goal and quite why he seemed so keen to lamp Seabourne I'm not really sure. Granted he was a hacking git. Lasley could have been booked both just before and just after he did but other than that had a much more comfortable game today. He also was the victim of a cowardice tackle. Agree with others that Steven McLean was hopeless. Seabourne just fouls people all the time and seemed to get away with it more often than not. Hard to argue with any of his cards to be honest but he had no idea about foul detection and the Thistle right back should have had at least a yellow for the 'tackle' which injured Johnston. Very poor challenge making a back which is incredibly dangerous.

They have been relatively well off but are a very unfashionable side (I asked my friend in Helsinki) but he does rate the job he has done and it looks like they are about to win the Finnish league this season. Credentials are there but it is a different league and I suspect he hasn't been in Scotland for quite some time.

Shame they showed close to precisely no fight on the pitch.

Just to be pedantic, Baraclough had a 100% win ratio against John Hughes which is about 100% more than Mark McGhee managed against him.

I have not watched any of the game and will not be watching it but I find this concerning to hear. I think there are two things we are much better at under Baraclough than we were under McCall. They are passing and fitness. Sadly when I look at the last few games, our players (especially defenders) have got lazy and rather than passing the ball they are treating the ball like a hot potato and walloping it as hard as they can. If we trust in our ability to play out, we may lose some daft looking goals but we'll be under less pressure and lose less goals like the one it sounds we lost on Saturday.

Possibly, my frustration is we have better players than the performances we have seen and if they actually performed at their potential we could easily make the top six. As I said elsewhere, the move we scored from on Saturday shows how good we can be if we focus and concentrate and either the manager is telling us to do something or the players aren't doing what is asked of them. Either way we need to play closer to the potential we have.