MJC_MKI

Absolutely nothing atall, but I find it very disrespectful of a player to come out and openly say that he "will stay here six months then look for a move elsewhere". Who does this guy think he is? He's been here just over a month and so far he's been very average I would say and now he thinks he's too good for us? Scott McDonald and Mark McGhee are strongly disliked by sections of the Motherwell support for similar comments to the press when they were here, but at least they had actually proved what they could do whilst at Motherwell FC. I don't begrudge any Motherwell player or manager the chance to move on to bigger clubs, nor do I blame them for it as that's just the way it is. I do however find it a different story when someone openly talks of their desire to move to 'bigger and better things' after they've only stayed here for as long as they have to, ie. "I'll stay for six months". Especially more so when the player in question has only been here a month and hasn't really done anything to suggest that they are worthy of playing at a higher level.

Rangers are no great shakes, but they ARE better than the rest of the SPL outwith Celtic and over the course of the season will prove that. As for Aberdeen and Hearts, both of them finished above us and in the top six last season and both of them have better squad depth than we do which will put them in better stead to cope with a full SPL season where injuries and suspensions build up. I'm not saying that our squad is 'poor' but it is small and is made of a number of young, inexperienced players so it is a big ask for them to never mind get through an entire SPL season, but to finish above sides like Aberdeen & Hearts who both finished above us last season when we had argueably, a stronger squad than we have now.

Maybe not, but they are still miles ahead of the rest of the SPL. We won't be anywhere near them as we do not have the players or the consistency to compete with them. Even when we played well against Rangers the other week and were handed a golden chance to take the three points we couldn't do it and that is why we don't compete with them, because when they get a chance like that, they take it, we couldn't do that. If our performances since the Rangers game are anything to go by then we have absolutely no chance of a top three, or even top four finish. We were absolutely awful yesterday and our midfield, like our forward line, is non existant. We won yesterday, but did so more through luck than anything else as had Falkirk not been as poor as they were they would have taken at least a point. Hibs, Dundee Utd, Hearts & Aberdeen ALL have better squads than us IMO and will finish above us this season. There's not much of a difference, but over the course of a season, I think you'll see those sides will pick up more points than we will against the other sides. Our start to the season has been excellent and has more than surpassed expectations but I think we have been slightly fortunate to have only lost once so far.

+1

We played very well against Rangers and should have won, but only drew. We played very poorly against Falkirk and deserved a point at the most, but we won. I'll take that thank's very much. These are the games we need to be winning and we've done that. Okay our performance left a lot to be desired for us, but it's points that count and I'd much rather be talking about 'winning ugly' than 'losing spectacularly'. A lot of work needs to be done, but at the end of the day, I'm happy to have won and well done to Jutkiewicz for getting off the mark.

Not a day for hittting the long, high balls, let's hope we keep it on the deck and try and play some football otherwise this will be a drab, drab affair. No doubt the away fans will be shunted up to the top deck of the South Stand aswell.

From what I've seen of Fraser so far, he looks unconvincing, however he has only played four games so it'd be harsh to write him off as a no hoper based on just that. However, it is worth remembering that in his time at Inverness he lost his place to the absolutely woeful Zibi Malkowski, albeit for a brief period, before being kept out of the team last season by the not much better Ryan Esson.

At the end of the day, a prediction of the outcome of a football match before it has started is no more than a guess. No one knows how a game is going to pan out over 90 minutes or how certain players will play and if anyone will be sent off or injured or if bad refereeing decisions affect the result etc. Certainly when I make a prediction on here, I don't sit and think about it for hours beforehand. As has been said, I've predicted us to lose on here before every SPL game this season and apart from last week, my predictions have been wrong. As a Motherwell fan, I'm obviously delighted to have been wrong on so many occasions that I've predicted a defeat, but on the whole I don't think my predictions, or mere guesses have been that crazy...For example, on day one, I predicted on here that St.Johnstone would beat us 2-1(I think). Now, in the end, I was wrong. But so were those who predicted that we'd go up there and win comfortably by 2-0 or 3-0 scorelines and as it happens, we could easily have lost that game as St.Johnstone were probably the better side over the piece and missed an absolute sitter late on in the game with the scores level, so I don't think a prediction of a narrow defeat is any more wide of the mark than one that had us winning 3-0! Likewise with the Aberdeen game at Pittodrie, we got a point, but were clinging on at the end. My point being, that it doesn't take much for a 'prediction' to be blown out of the water. No one has a crystal ball when they make their predictions, it's just that some people predict from a neutral perspective, like Billy Dodds, or from the Claret & Amber tinted spectacles perspective, like some on here, or from a negative/realistic/non Claret & Amber tinted spectacles wearing/having been a Motherwell supporter for long enough to know that Motherwell are actually a very hard team to predict, but at the same time hoping to be proved wrong point of view, like certain others do...

I was listening Radio Scotland on the night we were playing Inverness and he sounded gutted when we won that game, as he did every time we scored.

What's to be suspiscious about? Like it or lump it, the Old Firm derby is a big, big thing in Scottish Football and plenty of neutrals watch them, both up here and down in England. It's a game that generates interest in folk and not just those who support either team. I know plenty of Motherwell fans who do watch and have watched them over the years, usually because they have friends or family who support either team and they watch the games with them. Obviously you're not going to remember every single thing that happens in every single game, but certain things you will and in the case of that Jorg Albertz free kick, that was a very good strike and has been replayed time and time again since on the TV and such, so it's an easy one to remember.

A bit harsh to be honest, it was the defender on the end of the wall, Jackie McNamara I think, who shat it and jumped out of the way that caused that goal. Kerr was a decent goalie back in his early days at Celtic and was on the verge of a Scotland call up when his injuries struck. Welcome on board Stewart. And fair play to him for recognising that Motherwell are a 'massive step up' from Airdrie Utd

Have to agree unfortunately, I think a draw's the best we'll get. Up until two years ago, Falkirk were our bitches and we used to regularly beat them, but that's changed now and we've only won once in our last seven meetings with them. This will be a tough game for us.

Not if his contract's up we won't.

Thanks for filling me in.

Was that him who was talking to groups of supporters in the East Stand before the game? If so, what was he talking about?

Her in the pink jeans who was taking her top off and swinging her hips and her flabby belly?

Don't you believe that. The authorities would take action against clubs like us before they would against Celtic, or Rangers, for that matter. The fact that Zemmama and the referee both saw the missile means that we could well be in serious trouble for this.

He definately wasn't booked which was a disgrace given his celebration right infront of the East Stand.

The stewards and police were concentrating on that section at the end of the game, I don't know if they saw who threw it but no doubt the CCTV will be getting studied to find out who did.

Just back in, we were well beaten today, simple as that. We played better in the latter stages of the first half after we'd equalised but fell away badly in the second and didn't look like scoring. We looked very lightweight in midfield and up front again today and that's why we were beaten, because Hibs were much sharper up front, albeit our defending for the first goal was shocking IMO. It's all about how we bounce back now because if we lose to Falkirk next Saturday then that could well set us on a very sticky spell especially with a trip to Parkhead coming up. We're going to go through good and bad patches throughout the season, that's just to be expected so let's just hope that the boys keep the chins up and get back on form against Falkirk next Saturday. As for the incident with Zemmama and the coin or lighter throwing, that's just poor fare from our fans and could well land the club in hot water because Zemmama pointed it out to the ref who in turn informed the stewards and police so that was disappointing to see.

If Gannon does well for us then it's only to be expected that bigger clubs will come knocking on his door. I don't begrudge any Mothewell manager or player for wanting to move on an better themselves if they are good enough and have given us the best service that they can, but there's a way to go about things and there have of course been a few individuals over the last few years who's attitudes in their deparutres has left a bad taste in the mouth. We all know who they are.

This is actually a very hard game to predict because both sides are capable of playing good stuff yet as has been said, could also both easily cancel each other out. Hibs are a strange team aswell in the sense that you just don't know what you're going to get from them. I thought they were superb when they came to Fir Park last season and humped us 4-1 yet were rank rotten when we drew 1-1 with them at Easter Road in January and seem to have continued their unpredictable form into the new season. Either 0-0 or 2-0 either way for me.

I think you're right about McGhee saying that last season about the Hearts job, but to be honest I think that he DID regret not getting on that plane eventually, especially once the European 'adventure' was over. His attitude toward the club and the support really riled me at times last season and it was as if he just didn't want to be here. Jim Gannon so far has been a breath of fresh air to the club and has handled himself very well when talking to the media and does seem to have a genuine enthusiasm for his job at MFC and doesn't spend half of his pre or post match interviews talking about Celtic like his predecessor did. Don't get me wrong, I think that McGhee was/is very good with the media aswell and speaks very well, but does so more for himself than of the club.

With the St.Mirren games being back to back for us, I can see us winning one and losing the other. We'll probably win the league match on the Saturday and lose the Cup game as I just can't see us winning both and with St.Mirren's league record compared to their Cup record at New St.Mirren Park/Greenhill Road/Feegie/The Methadome/Paisley Shyburry or whatever you want to call it, I'd be more confident of us beating them in the SPL rather than the Cup. You never know though, we might just win (or lose) both of them.

In a nutshell. Foran doesn't deserve anything from Motherwell fans. He was a very average player who chipped in with a few goals now and again and only held 'cult status' with some of our fans because he was 'a bit of a character' who frequented the local boozers every weekend. There have been far better players and servants to Motherwell FC down the years who have come back to FP playing with another club and haven't been applauded or cheered by the Well support so why anyone would do it for that nobody is beyond me. Applauding the opposition is wrong anyway as far as I'm concerned. As for the result, it was always going to be a difficult tie for us because we were the favourites, all the pressure was on us and our record in games like that against lower league sides in Cup competitions is piss poor. I wasn't there last night but it sounded as though it was a bit of a struggle with Caley putting up a good fight but the only thing that matters is that we got through it and we're in the next round. When have we ever had an easy game at home against Inverness? That was a very tricky tie and it was just important to win it so well done to the lads for doing just that. And on a side note, GIRUY to Billy Dodds as I'm sure anyone else who was listening on Radio Scotland will tell you how gutted he sounded each time we scored last night. Put that in yer pipe and smoke it you wee jug eared muppet!