Andy_P

As per ohwulliewullie's request, tonight Matthew you're gonna be Graham Alexander. Who are you keeping, who are you letting go?

As per ohwulliewullie's request, tonight Matthew you're gonna be Graham Alexander. Who are you keeping, who are you letting go?

As per ohwulliewullie's request, tonight Matthew you're gonna be Graham Alexander. Who are you keeping, who are you letting go?

As per ohwulliewullie's request, tonight Matthew you're gonna be Graham Alexander. Who are you keeping, who are you letting go?

As per ohwulliewullie's request, tonight Matthew you're gonna be Graham Alexander. Who are you keeping, who are you letting go?

As yet the jury is out for me. But I do agree that with his "own team" we can put behind us this current weekly re-framing of views that suggests its all down to Alexander when we win and nothing to do with Alexander and all down to Robinson's players if we lose, and judge him on his merits.

I had a fair inkling beforehand that this one might not go our way, although I didn't quite foresee the margin of Kilmarnock's victory. They did a power of whining after the 1-0 game that they felt hard done by, the two weeks preparation felt like it would benefit them to establish some shape and game plan whereas our job was more about trying to guard against a loss of momentum. Awful start with a poor goal conceded so early and so uncharacteristically but a good response to return to parity to so quickly. And after that I genuinely thought there wasn't a huge amount between the teams, even though the scoreline suggests totally differently. Not much in it for the remainder of the first half and I'd even go so far as to say we started the second half marginally the brighter but losing two in quick succession just took it completely away (not to discount the poor defending in both cases) and there was an element of being caught chasing things when they added their fourth. That can happen at times. What I'd say is I compare that 4-1 loss yesterday to the 4-1 loss to Hamilton a few weeks back and they are night and day in performance even though both ended up with the same outcome. I'd say even the St Johnstone game was much much worse a performance than yesterday and I'm inclined to give them more the benefit of the doubt for yesterday, albeit acknowledging we could have been better. At the moment the result hasn't phased me too much. I still believe there the couple of results in us to get the points we need to make things mathematically safe. Whether the game has a more negative context as the weeks roll on we'll see but for the here and now I'm content that whilst not ideal we've built up a sufficient barrier to cope with the defeat whilst having a sharp kick in the balls to remind them the season isn't finished yet, but all the while still being able to chuckle heartily at St Mirren, Just a pity were at that point of the season where we need to wait two weeks before the next opportunity to rectify yesterday's failings.

Your thoughts and votes please...

Say aye to a Killie, bye bye...

I don't disagree that it is indeed bizarre that some have featured so little or not at all, or that there will have been a list of players who have been on a shortlist based on the club/DOF/previous manager's requirements. But as asked before when an attempt was made to absolve Alexander of any involvement in the January recruitment, are we to believe that a manager who has turned down several positions because the circumstances weren't right for him is going to relocate his family to join a club a couple of miles up the road who struggling team in a relegation battle and for whom relegation is going to dent his reputation, is going to to accept a job in the knowledge that there are four or five players whom he doesn't want going to be foisted upon him? I just don't buy that.

You're absolutely right, there is a further game after the split albeit at Ibrox. I hadn't considered beyond the immediacy of their next home game against Rangers.

You could rely on them making sure Rangers didn't win the title on their pitch. The prospect of beating your rivals, the newly crowned Champions and all in the last Old Firm game of the season is a whole lot more attractive for them than losing the Old Firm derby of the season which by consequence hands your rivals the league and officially denies you the 10 in a row that you've never shut the fuck up about for the last 9 years and 6 months, on your patch. There was no way Celtic were going to bust a gut to win today.

And to take it further down that road Derek's missus taught me in Primary 7. Used to bring in Dumbarton programmes on a Monday morning when he was on the coaching staff there. A few rooms down the corridor was the office of the wife of Norrie Anderson who played for Ayr Utd at the time. She did not bring me Ayr Utd programmes on a Monday morning however.

Another good day. Interesting decision to keep the same starting eleven from last weekend but nobody could argue any of the eleven weren't due the opportunity of building on their achievements of seven days previous. And what a great start! Unfortunately it didn't produce the goal our dominance perhaps merited but I don't think I can remember a start where the opposition were hemmed in for the best part of the opening ten minutes for quite some time. Such a pleasant contrast to the sluggish starts that have seen, even in some of the games we've gone on to win. A well struck penalty to give us the lead and good to see, or to be accurate hear from Jock Brown, that he demanded the ball and his finish was as assured as he sounded confident. Kelly did his usual before half-time. He's almost Randolph-esque in his ability to pull off at least one jaw-dropping save a game. The second was great instinctive finish from Cole for his second but just when we thought we might be home and dry we conceded immediately. Another good test of our resolve and it was great to re-establish the two goal advantage with a classy finish from Long rather than leave us with what would most likely have been a tortuous last half an hour sitting back, getting deeper and deeper and inviting pressure. The substitution of Long seemed to be a bit of a talking point but he was the obvious candidate for me at that point despite his goal and generally decent display. His stupidity in kicking the ball away and getting himself a yellow left him vulnerable. I imagine Alexander's thought process was that if Watt happened to be out for a period he didn't need another forward to be absent through suspension in the next game, particularly one whose temperament is regularly questioned. You just hope we can keep the momentum building when we resume in a fortnight. Much like last weekend there's a sense of frustration that we don't have a game sooner when confidence is high and we have that air of positivity about us. I must admit I don't really have any great sense of regret of what might have been. There were stages of the season where we didn't perhaps get the points our performances might have deserved but given the dangerous place we found ourselves in as recent as a fortnight ago, I'm just quite content that with each passing week we move further and further away from that place.

We certainly should....though I must admit in the short-term a St Johnstone win over Ross County and an Accies win over St Mirren, which would see St Mirren drop out of the top six would give me a certain degree of satisfaction.

Your thoughts and votes please...

And suddenly you wish there was another midweek game to ensure no loss of momentum!

Come on We Yell!

It kind of feels like we were due that against Hibs. What with the disallowed goal that denied us a win at the start of the season, the disallowed goal that might have changed the course of the game in the defeat before Christmas we've had no luck against them. I suppose you could say we'd no luck today either, but then none was needed with as accomplished a display as we've put in all season. I think you just have to give everyone so much credit for the turnaround after Hamilton and St Johnstone. There was the potential for things to go right off the rails but they dealt with the pressure of that well in midweek in gaining a good point in Paisley and they have built on that in exactly the manner you would hope today. Everyone has stood up and reacted positively to the challenge and they can be well pleased with their efforts from the last few days. We were fully deserving of the win today. Two very well taken goals with a little finesse in the build up, one quite outstanding save Kelly and a performance built on hard work, organisation and very good defending. Excellent stuff that would have seemed difficult to believe possible on either of the previous two Saturday evenings.

I would imagine if the contract has indeed been changed, then presumably the club have been compensated in some regard to facilitate such a change. I know we do well by players who are injured but a player who has become a full Scotland international on our watch and who might have gleaned some kind of financial return if he was under contrast and attracting interest is somewhat different. If and when he does go then we milk it for what we can be that in monetary terms or simply to use as another angle that can be used to sell the club to prospective signings. The parallels of Gallagher and Craig Halkett are there to be seen. There was barely a peep in comparison about Gallagher when both he and Halkett left Livingston at the same time. The press was full of how great a capture Hearts had landed. Fast forward a couple of years and Gallagher's a full internationalist, played in the Europa League, on the verge of playing in the European Championships and we don't even know what online games Halkett plays...

Your thoughts and votes please...

Taking the attitude part first I don't know, and I don't think that many of the folk who from early on in his Motherwell career decided he had an attitude problem really know either. I think it is one of these statements that has been repeated often enough to be considered as fact by some .The only ones who will really know that will be his team-mates and management. His petulance at Hamilton away in February last year did not reflect well on him certainly but maybe significant that if his attitude is as a bad alleged he simply wasn't cut loose at the end of last season rather than left with an offer on the table pretty much right up until the days before the new season started. I think his disinterest in coveting adoration from supporters hasn't helped endear him to the support certainly, and I don't think his body language can do him favours at times but because he looks like he's a torn faced moaning shite when things don't go his way or he was never one for running arms aloft saluting supporters does not necessarily mean there is a lack of effort or care on his part. As has been discussed over the past few days running about a lot and being the supports best pal can disguise a fair bit. Has he shown enough? I certainly don't think he's as good as he appeared to think he was when he left Blackpool. I haven't seen close to enough to suggest he was worthy of a shot at a team in the English Championship as he appeared to aspire to at that stage of his career. In terms of us I think as fixozy has gone on to say there's definitely a player there that in the right set up can make a contribution for Motherwell.

Would be nice to biuld on Wednesday's point.

I looked at the Key dates page rather than the fixtures themselves and filled in the blanks with our existing games.

Absolutely. You contrast that with someone like Michel Doesburg to pluck a name from the past. Adored because he applauded the fans, did the badge kissing routine and gave the odd pumped fist. Absolved him from so much blame because well, he's a nice guy ain't he, claps the fans....