Tweed

Supporting Motherwell is meant to be about frustration, disappointment, what ifs? So St Johnstone at home for me. No seriously, Hearts is probably the best win we have had as they are by far the best team we have beaten and that was the kind of stuffy game we so often make an arse off after the other team are down to ten so we did well there. Hateley's goal was special and the escalator at Central station after it and in hindsight I thought that the 'Well fans were going down the escalators and the smelly bastards were going up was a symbol of things to come but we're still above them eight weeks on. But my highlight is Lasley's goal against Inverness and the cry of 'Why the fuck are you all shouting shoot? YAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS' coming out in the same breath of the one next to me.

Missed the last three well v killie games due to other commitments and one being on the telly. Its strange how killie are getting plaudits for doing so well yet find themselves behind Aberdeen who are being portrayed as murder. I've seen nothing of killie apart from highlights but from them they look decent middle to front and defensively inconsistent. Since the cup game we have defended incredibly well so we need to keep that up and we should have a good chance. Though if killie score first we need the fans to be patient and not turn on them. Whilst that didn't cause the st johnstone debacle it didn't help.

Only good things to say about us yesterday. Hibs were a much better team than Dundee Utd were a fortnight ago and this is a more impressive three points for us. We created enough chances to win the game four or five times over however there was always this lingering doubt that they could nick one, as with someone like O'Connor in their team it is always possible. Defensively cool, calm and collected and the once they got into a real good position Clancy made an oustanding tackle. On another day we could have been made to pay for our poor finishing but we got away with it. If we perform like this every week though we are going to have an excellent season. Well done Motherwell.

Higdon really is a strange beast. Normally I think he is a bit of a donkey who is good for a goal. Yesterday he looked like a not bad played who couldn't score in a brothel. More and more you can see our success comes because we are a team who work really hard for each other and don't have any standouts. And for me that was the case again today. But I think I will go for Clancy for the job he did on O'Connor.

I never said he called the ref a cheat. I used that as an example of another instance of a straight red being shown. However to my mind reminding him there are two teams on the pitch is accusing him of being impartial, therefore the referee had a right to send him off. Maybe some wouldn't have but to my mind he has clearly broken the rules of football during that game and therefore was sent off.

He maybe said he felt it was harsh. However when you look at what he said (assuming that article is true) he questioned the referee's impartiality and to me that is the offensive bit. And he was almost certainly sent off for that under the term foul, abusive and offensive language. If your impartiality is questioned by a player you have an obligation to send him off. McFadden was sent off while at Everton for calling a referee a cheat. Whether Jennings felt it was harsh or not if his recollection of what was said as outlined in the article is correct then the referee was correct to send him off.

I would have thought this admission of guilt (for the red card offence not the betting scandal) would be enough to clear the referee. http://thesun.mobi/thescottishsun/sport/spl/3278803/Im-so-sorry.html?mob=1 Not really wanting to say anything else about his innocence or otherwise because like everyone else on here I have no idea.

As someone who deals with complaints every day I think that is a tough letter to answer which from the point of view of the customer is what you are looking for. Though I think someone said before it sounds a bit of a witchhunt against the member of staff - your gripe is with the situation not the person; the person just caused the situation. I think the other tactic is to be a pain in the arse. If you get no reply or a sort of reply that tells you nothing keep at it.

I thought Hateley did a magnificent job on Swanson and won a ton of tackles. Offensively a little less consistent but set up a goal up there too. Hard to ask for much more. I thought they all did a good job but Hateley is my pick.

Actually given how well McCall has reacted and mentioned the support you lads give the team on a few occasions you could do worse than get him banging the drum in the press (pardon the shite pun). Might get a bit more positive publicity coming from the gaffer than what could be seen as a few young lads trying to grab the limelight in the press. And thats not meant to be an insult to anyone but its how it could be seen from the outside.

I'm not overly surprised by these stats. I thought we were far the better team, looked a lot more composed on the ball and retained it very well. But with that came a bit of a problem in that our crosses tended to be met by Kenneth and Gunning or the stand. And when we played on the deck the final ball just didn't happen and moves petered out. However when the chances did come along we were incisive which is pleasing. By trying to keep the ball we did play ourselves into bother a few times but we managed to recover well which was also impressive. Craigan now looks a lot more comfortable with Clancy beside him than he did just a couple of weeks ago. He just seems to take a few games to settle to a new partner. But I thought Hateley was absolutely immense against the most talented player in the world and I imagine there'll be enquiries from Spain to see if he has any Spanish blood. To be honest I've seen us play better but for us to control the game up there and win so comfortably can only make it a great Saturday night. Also I thought the referee had a great game today. He tried really hard to let the game run. There may be some arguments about a couple of handballs from our defenders but I thought both were close enough to the ball being played that it would have been harsh to penalise. He also got our penalty spot on.

I went and thoroughly enjoyed it. The three comedians were top drawer though I felt they deserved a bigger crowd. But they got on with it and put on a good show. I would say there were less than 50 there.

Looking back at the two decisions KMcalpin talked about. The first one probably was a foul by Considine however a red card is technically only awarded in a circumstance such as that for 'denying a goalscoring opportunity'. I don't think a referee could allow an advantage and then send someone off for denying a goalscoring opportunity because if he had denied it there would be no way you could play advantage. So if he didn't deem it as denying a goalscoring opportunity was it a bad enough foul to merit a yellow card? My hunch is probably not but others may disagree on that. As for the one on Clancy. I watched Sportscene and I didn't notice this and I didn't notice it at the game either which whilst it may have happened it must have been a tough one for a referee to spot. Actually I thought Alan Muir did quite well yesterday - never looked like he was going to have an influence on the game.

No. I have many. I think the one asset he has that the Hump doesn't is a turn of pace. Humphrey seems to have one speed = friggin quick but the other night Daley seemed to be going like a whippet then upped it again. We've not seen enough of him to make a cast iron judgement yet. However the thing with wingers is that they are inconsistent and that is Humprhey's problem and I'm sure Omar will be the same. However having one of those two in reserve to throw on if we are struggling will be a blessing. However I don't think swapping one for the other will change games as teams can just set up the same. I think the knack will be is if its 0-0 or 1-0 to throw the other one on as well.

I think the East Stand have been absolutely brutal the last two Saturdays. Last week they really turned on the team the moment it went 1-0. Lets not forget until then we had been no worse than average though we deteriorated rapidly. Today there were exasparated noises as we passed the ball backwards - would you rather we passed through three Aberdeen players? No, thought not. We tried hard to work openings today and Aberdeen defended effectively to stop us. There is a difference between walking the ball into the net than trying incisive balls that have little to no chance of working. Also booing the subby. It wasn't the change I'd have made but booing because someone is staying on - how the feck do you think that is going to build up his confidence? And McCall was bang on in his post match. How good would McHugh and Murphy have been defending set plays. If it had been me I'd have made the same change we made on Tuesday night and taken Jennings off. Higdon would have been nearly last on the coming off list purely because he is big. We beat Hearts because he won header after header at corners - we need to remember players do more than their core job. I know its tough to get behind the team when they are struggling and not giving you a lot to work off. But the players gave 110% today, granted at times they struggled, but the least ALL of them deserved was support from those in the stand.

I think it is safe to say Craigan and Clancy will get a real stern test at Tannadice next Saturday. They have a lot of players who are quick and possess trickery. We will have to play incredibly well at the back to even think about coming back down the road with anything. However United are less organised than Aberdeen and St Johnstone and at home they will go for it which might leave us some space. However I'm not sure our forward players are playing well enough to capitalise fully on it. However I have only been to one away game this season and I am looking forward to it. Just hope we can do the business.

Although Clancy isn't the biggest I think he'll cope with height a lot better than he will pace and trickery but I agree he looked assured against Fallon and Vernon and given he has had two pretty rough performances already this week it is a testament to his character. And how that header stayed out I will never know. All that said I thought Hateley was our best today. He kept Foster as an attacking threat completely quiet, tackled well and made good decisions on the ball and put in some beautiful balls from open play - his corners were disappointing though.

What was the difference between Aberdeen today and St Johnstone? In my mind not a fat lot. The difference between Motherwell today and Motherwell last week was immeasurable though. Both Motherwell performances were substandard but what we did today was avoid careless mistakes at the back and made sure first and foremost that Aberdeen ended on 0. We're going to have days where our attacking flair and lovely passing moves just don't come off. What is important for us is when that happens we don't giftwrap the three points to the other team with outbreaks of moronic defending. Today first and foremost we made sure we didn't lose the game and then we got the wee rub from a moment of individual brilliance to give us three points. There were so many things to like about that goal. That he bothered to get off his arse and play on. That he went for the box. That he waited until support was arriving to force the goalie into a decision. That he finished it with such aplomb. All reasons that that was a good goal and for a boy that has not had many chances to show that confidence almost arrogance was pleasing. Aye we'll not be spending too long on this game in the title winning DVD in May ;-) but it was a cracking three points given the setbacks we've had this week and the improvement in the defence. By the way Clancy was miles better today and is maybe showing signs of settling into the role. Big test for him next week though.

The thing is I don't think he was isolated on Tuesday night. Murphy and Law were never far behind him. He was isolated on Saturday but I think that was due to us being garbage rather than by design. Playing one up top is fine as long as there is support close to him. On Tuesday I didn't really think the game was crying out for a change. The only one I may have made was McHugh for Murphy and with the best will in the world - would that have stopped the kamikaze 2nd goal? To be fair on Clancy I think he was hired to have someone else who could play right back after Saunders got crocked. After that his hand was forced by what happened to Hutchinson. Clancy has not done enough for me to convince me he is a centre back. On your first point on Quantity v Quality there is always a call to be made. When McGhee made his call Setanta were still here so there was more money in the game and every single SPL club has had to tighten their belts since then. So basically every club has had to make that decision with two or three players less so an exact comparison like you made is unfair. You can only compare the general idea and I think McCall is right. I hope I don't regret saying this but there is no way we are anywhere near the worst club in this league so unless we are unlucky beyond belief with injuries we will stay up. So I would always rather take a punt so we can push on for 3rd/4th/5th if we all stay fit than accept 7th irrespective. But we understand on the flip side we could come 10th. Has McCall picked the right players? Possibly not but that will only become clear over a longer period of time. However I think his philosophy is correct. However if we have a spare bob or two trying to find a dedicated centre half to play centre half for a couple of months may not be a bad shout. And whilst the last two games have been disappointing we have lost goals to individual errors (normally from Craigan).

Not quite the same but we came from 3-0 down to draw at Tynecastle as well.

Hang on. Nobody complained when McGhee decided to go with a quality squad rather than a bigger one. In fact I'm sure its a risk that we'd all have taken and then hope we avoid injuries. With whats happened to Saunders and Hutchinson I really don't see how renewing Craigan's contract was a mistake. And given that he was right up there in the MoTM threads against Kilmarnock, Hearts and St Mirren doesn't suggest he is over the hill yet. In the last four games he has been forming a central defensive partnership with someone he has never ever played with before and who wouldn't list centre half as his favourite position. Now you may argue we should play Page but that decision isn't Craigan's. If Hutchinson had stayed fit and we'd even drawn with St Johnstone and won yesterday nobody would be saying the squad is too thin. Aye its a gamble but if its a gamble between 9th and top 6 it is one worth taking. On last night's game we lost because we made poor decisions on the pitch. I'm sorry but if McCall sets up a team in such a way that we are one on one with the 'keeper three times and fizz six or seven balls across the box and we fail to win the blame lies with the players. While we played well to a degree in the attacking end of the pitch, all our forward thinking players made bad decisions. Law shot to the wrong side of the 'keeper at the start of extra time and should have squared it at the end. Murphy ran when he should pass and vice versa and so on. We had enough chances to win three or four games. Unfortunately with two of our first three defenders out just now we are going to experience frailties at the back. And every club has that and it something, whilst we don't need to like it, we need to accept it. But last night we showed we can create chances and we can score goals though we should have scored more. I know some people may say we should have changed it and i would have still been inclined to tweak it a bit however I think given what we had available were they likely to have done any better? I don't think so. Jennings and Murphy are underperforming though and I think even in a much improved performance these are the two that need a rest. Obviously I'm disappointed we are out but at least last night we looked like we'd played football before, had some idea what we were doing and played some sweet stuff with pace. You also get the impression we might win a game some time before 2020 and on Saturday that looked like an alien concept. Also on Saturday I thought the crowd were quick to turn on the team (I know they were awful) but it really can't help having howls of derision at every pass the moment we are 1-0 down - last night at least we stuck with them even when we went 1-0 down. After Saturday it would have been easy to fold and lose 4-0 and they showed a bit of character to bounce back.

I never believe a manager's team till 30 mins before kick off so I don't think it is cast iron will be the same. We were rank on sat but apart from clancy who I'd never seen before we have seen them all do better. And on a one off I'd rather persevere with the ones we know can do the business rather than fling in eleven we hope can do the business. Though I don't object to the odd tweak. I'd like forbes to play and I'd like craigan to have a rest.

Ironically that was all Higdon's fault as well....

McCall said at the Q&A night that when we lost 5-0 to Rangers last year he threw on a couple of kids and they couldn't get into the game and it set them back which is why he didn't throw them on when we got humped by Rangers this time. I think there is something in that. The time to put them on is when games are won not when we are dejectedly passing it about the middle and the fans are on the team's back.

Atrocious. Total inability to pass the ball, no creativity and no awareness of what was going on. To be honest I think we were trying hard enough it just didn't happen today. Wrong decisions all over the place, couldn't get the midfield in the game - did they show enought to get in it? Humphrey wandered inside so often - thats not his strength. Higdon was the best of the forward six. And he was mince. Craigan and Clancy were on the whole fine but then lost concentration and every time they did it cost us a goal. But they aren't quick enough. The full back - Hammell was all right, Hateley probably had the best bits of play for us but he also had some of the worst. Randolph didn't cost us any goals despite his moment in the first half. Life under McCall from day one has drifted from really highs to really lows and today is the worst I've seen since the 1-4 at Dunfermline under Malpas. Hopefully it was a freak and he gives them a rocket up their collective rectums because performances like that will end the optimism in jig time.