Tweed

I know I'm in the minority but I thought Dougie McDonald was right with a yellow card. It was a cynical tackle but I think the defender who was coming back in the middle combined with how wide McHugh was to me preventing it from being a clear goalscoring opportunity. As someone said if McHugh had been a few yards further forward I think a red would have been justified. Though I think he got that right I still think he was a parnickity picky bugger all afternoon and how that game ended up with eight yellow cards is a joke. McCaffrey deserved his, Murphy deserved his if it was handball of which having now seen four or five times I'm still not sure and Hutchinson deserved his even though its a stupid rule. And I suppose number of fouls meant Liam Craig deserved his.

Agree with Sutton, I think that was a change of a tactic rather than a reflection on his performance - I thought Craigan was mince.

I went for O'Brien - thought he was the steadiest over the 90 and he covered for Hammell who was total pish several times. That said I've seen him play better. Coke, Forbes, Murphy all had purple patches but they drifted out in my view. Thought Sutton was doing well also - shows you what I know.

I always feel an away point is a good result in this league. Just look today Celtic were the only other team that managed anything. So I don't think there is anything to be despondent about. We were defensively all over the place at times today but we created quite a lot going forward, the thing that worries me most is on days it doesn't happen for us up top I can see us shipping three or four to pretty ordinary teams. Thought Gannon had flipped when I saw the changes he was making at HT but to be fair to him it encouraged us to play more on the deck and their defenders seemed a lot more uncomfortable when we did that. Our two goals were sensational, the use of the neck muscle by Hutchinson for his header was probably harder to pull off than Forbes's shot. O'Brien's effort was out of the top drawer as well, I thought it was going to bounce in rather than back. I take it from the lack of protestation on here the other 'goal' definitely hit hs hand? Never really saw that but Murphy never argued. All in reasonably pleased - I knew our defence was shite before i went and nothing has changed.

Because McCarthy is twice the player Reynolds is?

Fitzpatrick has played under three 'Well managers - whether you like them or not they are a better judge of footballers than anyone on here will ever be, if JG doesn't see him fitting into his team then he may be told to leave - I'd be disappointed but could understand it. Fitzpatrick has done well for us more often than not. Smith has notched the odd important goal and not done a fat lot else. He'll be less of a loss. However I'm more concerned about the ins than the outs at the moment - a right back must be a must before the weekend? No?

First two games are very winnable and anything less than four points would be a disappointment. However rank rotten Aberdeen were in Europe they will still be a tough ask for us and after that its Rangers and United so you could see us chasing after that run. Overall I think we are better than Falkirk, boths Saints, Killie and Hamilton and I think we are much of a muchness with Aberdeen, Hibs and United. However these three have a bit more experience so I expect us to finish a clear seventh. On Saturday I expect us to be up against it - this is a game in most weekends I'd expect three points, this weekend with first game, championship flag and enthusiasm for something new we will struggle and I think itcould well be a 2-2.

The reason we're no telling ye is no because we'reawkward bastards btw but because Gannon has played every game differently and I think its likely there will be changes again. I would think Reynolds will play a defensive midfield role. Craigan and Hutchison as th two centre halves. Ruddy in goal is a stick on. Sutton will be up top. But how he sets the rest up both personnel and positional wise is anybody's guess.

Often said it. We have some refs who when you take the Motherwell tinted specs are who are on the whole pretty good. I watched a German highlights programme a couple of times last year when in Berlin and every game was blighted by an example of refereeing muppetry. And the Spaniards have previous - I give you Scotland v Italy. I thought Mike Dean in the Newcastle game today was top drawer and I've never been aware of him being in Europe.

I thought Sutton and Reynolds were effective, steady and made few mistakes - I thought Coke just offered that little something extra which is why I went for him. Though I grant you if Reynolds wasn't playing in that holding poition we'd have got wellied

I thought even when we were on top there were signs what a quality team Steaua were on the ball though it wasn't quite happening for them. I felt our team deserved something from that game tonight though there always looked like there was a goal in our defence. I thought Giles Coke was superb, Sutton pretty good. Slane reminds me of Faddy, all the tricks and skill not so good at the decision making and Forbes despite his goal I think looks a bit slow on the ball. But they are kids and I'm sure they'll learn. Having only seen the penalty claims once its hard to tell but my initial thoughts for both handballs were seen them given but not a stonewaller. The one we gave away clearly was. Got to say the one thing that really pissed me off tonight was the way a significant minority left when it went 3-1. Those young guys burst a gut for the cause, played better than I ever thought they would and to me deserved a clap from every Motherwell fan at the end. Roll on Perth.

Think it would be fair to say the only stories of oing to the wall were sensationalism from the press in the early days of admin. We were lucky that we stayed up. I think going down for one year would have done us the world of good as a title chasing team in Div1 I think would have got us more bums on seat and then the anticipation of the SPL again would have had the same. But there is no guarantee of that and Butcher got us the top six which was better than many dared dream so all worked out well. John Boyle took a punt. Its almost like me winning £1,000 at the races then deciding to put £600 on one that I like. If it works well then I earn a fortune, if it doesn't I'm still £400 up. He mis-managed the club for a bit and he took responsibility of it and got it back to stand alone strength. He has now learnt his business model was not viable and is getting another shot. There were a lot of people who lost their job though - granted they were in a better position than the staff at Livi and co are now as it was in a richer period and there were more jobs available. Sad times for those and some were bitter. But a bit like the banks they needed to get rid of some of the deadwood to make the business model feasible. The thing I like about Boyle is that he has learned and is not making the same mistakes again.

With the caveat that I have only seen the briefest of highlights of the Steaua game my initial thoughts: Ruddy - looks good enough for us Jennings - has good ball control and vision, maybe a bit slower than led to believe he would be but think he will be a steady Eddie in the SPL. I think he will improve the squad. Humphrey - looks quick, the way Flamurtari set themselves up in Airdrie they encouraged us to play down the other side, which we did well. Think he could have looked more lively in that game but he did a usefu job. Think he will be a good SPL player also. Coke - really not seen enough to pass constructive comment.

Rather than Scottish history - I think ever. Much as I would love to win on THursday the most important thing to me is that we give a good account of ourselves. We have some good players and I hope the likes of Slane, Humphrey, O'Brien, Coke express themselves and have a go and make them work for it. If we win 2-0 on the night or lose 0-2 on the night and do that then I'll have no complaints. We've fulfilled our seeding in this and I always expected we would lose in this round and anything else is a bonus. We have just come up against a team that are better than us.

Ah yes the 521am text - glad I wasn't the only one awoken!

The Adventures of Mitch - latest news: He has arrived in Bucharest, his bag with the tickets in it hasn't!

I always see the good in managers as I think everyone is too keen to heckle them and blame them. It got hard work defending Malpas though however McGhee is a different kettle of fish. He got the best out of a limited pool of players in his first season - he got lucky though as its not often you get to play Hearts, Hibs and Aberdeen teams that were so diabolical and Dundee Utd forgot how to win after Christmas. Though to me he let himself down last summer. Whether it was because he had an eye on the Hearts job or not I don't know nor do I care. He knew our squad was limited the year before and he had fewer players yet remained reluctant to bring anyone in. However from the outside we have no idea whether that was because of him, players not wanting to come or whatever. Last season without a desparate couple of months would have seen us in the top six and perhaps pushing for Europe through the more traditional routes. What has gone on since s interesting. People say he should have tied up contracts - perhaps but if they weren't interested in signing not a lot he could do. People argue the likes of Slane, FOrbes etc should be on longer deals. These guys have no guarantee of making it and I doubt we could afford to have them on good deals and guys to play now. If McGhee had been here now I imagine we would be going down a different route. I doubt the results would have been much different but I think the team would have been - McGhee would be planning fo him being here not Jim Gannon. Every manager is different, I respect and have a lot of time for McGhee the football manager and have no doubt had he stayed we would have had a successful season. As a person he is not my favourite just because of his attitued at times.

Sutton - reminded me of Porter at his best, led the line like Porter did at his best. The kids did well but Sutton made all the room.

Bought eleven yesterday morning. Seemed to be a steady stream through the t/o.

Heard someone say the story was in THe Sun yesterday but now the first time I have read. Seems like a lot of fuss about nothing. Everyone knows that every football club has a small percentage of arseholes in their support and its unfortunate that a couple of hours decided to prove it at the wrong moment. I think the article that appears in THe Sun shows the club to have reacted well by banning them and sending people to see the fan involved. A small indiscretion against the fans but not worth getting wrked up into a frenzy about.

I always felt if we got through the first two games we'd have done well. Nothings changed. I don't think Steaua will embarass us though and we need to make sure Fir Park is spot on for the SPL, JB said mid August, that should remain the target and the idea of playing Steaua because of who they are at FP is silly as it was always going to be a biggish name this time out. But lets not run before we walk, Thursday is doable but it is also very tough.

Only saw the 2nd half but from what I saw up until 80 mins we were the better team. We were playing short to conserve energy, which judging by the way they countered in the last ten mins was just as well as 2-0 may have been a bridge too far, as long as we careful at the back we should be fine next week. That was a lovely finish for their goal -maybe could have been closed down a wee bitty quicker but overall I'd credit them rather than criticise us.

A minority but not alone. Proof was the 1-1 game v Falkirk earlier in the season when Reynolds left to man the defence for 1 min and failed.

the very same

Strange one - the best game I have seen JM play was for Scotland u21 v Northern Ireland u21 when he was allowed to play up top. He has all these appearances for us and many of them not in his best position. If Celtic come in with 100k I think he is too much of a risk to turn that sort of money down, may not seem much but with his 1st team record they are buying only potential and if he turns out to be a duffer its a good bit of business from us. Due to our small squad I'd keep him in an ideal world but squad size and basic financial common sense is a balancing act and h has his worth and its not that high.