Andy_P

Always quick to accentuate the positives eh!

A very pleasing afternoon. I thought Morton would have offered more than they did and expected a tougher contest but you certainly can't argue we did what we had to do in a very professional manner. The early goal set the tone and we were in control thereafter. A nice second from Cadden had Morton teetering on the brink and when Harkins went off that was it. The opening 15-20 minutes of the second was akin to a training exercise. I can't remember the possession count they came away with last week on BTSport at the Queen's Park game but it wouldn't surprise me if we surpassed that at stages during the second half. The game needed a goal to bring it back to life a little, be it one totally against the run of play, or one from ourselves and fortunately it was the latter. Good composure and finish from Tait when most seemed to be a little taken aback that McHugh's shot, which from my vantage point looked like was going nowhere near the goal, connected with the junction of the post and bar. And just sheer class from Moult for the fourth. A four nil win despite missing two one-on-one's and two or three other decent opportunities was not the level of dominance I expected but in terms of qualification it sets us nicely hopefully to confirm things on Tuesday. It also presents further opportunities for a little more rotation of the squad with perhaps starts for Rose, Moult and McManus before the group stages are out. There remains the question of how will the team fare when we are faced with top flight opponents but that will answer itself in due course. I don't think there's a huge amount more we could have asked of the team at this stage. They are winning, scoring goals and there's a shape, style of playing and togetherness developing with each game. Plenty to be content with at this juncture certainly.

Your thoughts and votes please...

I suppose Wallace did what was asked of him keeping us up that first year (we won't mention the few months of the second) but you do wonder how it might have panned out had David Hay remained in charge with some of the attacking talents he had within the team.

Steve McLelland?

Did we get enough for a second player or are we still a bit short for a second player? Or are there other sponsorship opportunities that we could consider if we can't stretch to a second player?

Would it not just be the case they haven't sorted their fixtures as far as October. They usually only tend to release them in 4 - 6 week batches at any one time.

Even though they didn't it's not actually been that bad a night. The one thing with so many penalty shoot-outs tonight (eight is it?) is that it starts chipping away at the maximum totals team can reach when it comes to the four best losers going through - if they worst were to happen on Saturday. The more draws and penalty shoot-outs the more likely three wins will be enough to get you through, worst case. Still hope the Spiders do it on penalties mind you.

A more comfortable result than I suspected it might be, especially at half-time. Despite scoring an excellent early goal we never really built on it and single goal leads are always fraught with danger regardless of whoever it is you're playing. It all just felt a little bit off in the first half. The final third of the pitch always seemed to be congested and wasn't doing us many favours. We were showing little in the way of creativity, urgency and were struggling to get much width into things, particularly with Frear appearing to have two men on him most of the time. One positive in the first half was the contrasting style of Kipre to Heneghan and McManus in building moves from the back. One or two of his efforts didn't find their intended target and he was perhaps overused early on but nice to see someone look comfortable coming forward and willing to exchange passes with the midfield rather than the frustrating overuse of the lofted diaganol. Well before we reverted to type when we were edgy and struggling to break them down at least. Second half was obviously much better. Definitely an upping of the intensity level and performance levels combined with Queen's Park tiring helped us ease away in the end. And some pretty clinical finishing too it has to be said. Nice to see one of the newbies open their account. Our usage of Tanner is going to be interesting in the months ahead. I certainly don't think he's at the same level as Nicky Law but I think he's as close a player in style to Law we've had since he was here. The popping up here and there all across the midfield and front line linking up and getting himself into the box. If he's given licence to roam I think when he develops a greater understanding with those around him and builds up that sharpness I think there's the potential for him to have a positive impact on our forward play this season. Two excellent finishes from Ryan Bowman to add accomplished finishes earlier this pre-season can only be a good thing, when our other new striker Alex Fisher is still bedding in and the likelihood of Louis hanging around much longer recedes. And then the icing on the cake with Louis fine free-kick when we were lead to believe he wouldn't even be featuring far less rattling home overhead kicks and 25 yarders. Fair gladdened the heart! A good bit to improve on but a good result and a decent enough display over the piece to build on.

Your thoughts and votes please...

Again, not an unreasonable suggestion but when his seat in the dressing room is still warm and his departure is still being discussed daily I don't see the need for it to get lumped in with the big FP thread at this point.

Not uncommon for names to be misspelt on team-sheets when you go away. But at home? At your new club? Step forward Declan Ferguson, or rather David Ferguson at Ayr.

Controversial? I wouldn't say so. He looked a more rounded player in the pre-season games than Fletcher but the fact is there Fletcher started at Inverness and Moult was on the bench come the opening day so whether through fitness, tactics, or perception of ability he replaced Fletcher. No denying that one. Isn't close to the talent of Johnson? Comparing apples and pears that one with a winger and a striker. The flip side is of course that Johnson doesn't have a quarter of the heart, worth ethic and determination that Moult has, which is as equally relevant in a player's skillset. But the post in general is a hint of the kind of revisionist stuff that often comes when a liked and rated player doesn't declare their undying love for the team and sign a new 5 year deal. I'm sure we'll begin to see a few posts that will view Moult in a different light More than 35 goals in two seasons, a winner at Parkhead, a last minute equaliser in a derby with 10 men, the goal that turned the tide of a relegation battle, became a community ambassador for the club, turns up to support the ladies team and fans events and responds to pretty much every tweet he gets. But you know...never said it before but I always thought he was a bit over-rated and full of himself. And right on queue..... As an outsider with no previous connection to the club the guy has bought into Motherwell FC like few before him and has conducted himself brilliantly on and off the park throughout. As the agreement that both club and player willingly entered into reaching its conclusion absolutely none affection has been lost in the eyes of this poster I can assure you!

It doesn't bother me at all but I kind of get what you are saying, "stepping stone" sounds quite cold whereas something like "help me reach the next level" means exactly the same thing but leaves less room for offence to be taken.

Largely covers much of what I had intended to post. I agree that the positive style of play emerging is very encouraging and to add that the fluidity of those involved was pleasing too. I noticed for example Bigi and Rose alternating sides for a spell in the first half, as the game wore on Tanner roamed around the pitch and looked increasingly the better for having that freedom. And in his brief time on in the second half MacLean also looked totally assured both centrally and when he moved out wide and linked with Tait and the strikers. Obviously there will be matches and occasions where discipline will be required but it can only be a good thing to have a midfield with the ability to play their way through the opposition in tandem with a fluid forward line that will keep defenders constantly on the move. I haven't watched Robinson's interview from after the game but I would suspect he would have taken quite a lot of encouragement from what he saw last night.

I wasn't aware beforehand that the intention was to give each "eleven" (ten+ Griffiths) forty-five minutes each but it gave the run out an interesting dimension. I must admit to being a little more at ease at full-time than I was at half-time. I'm fully aware that results in pre-season games mean little or nothing but even this early you hope to see the emergence of some shape, ideally a style of play that's easy on the eye or some individual pieces of skill that hint at something from a player. The superbly taken goal apart that most certainly wasn't in evidence in the first half where the concern at the number of aimless punts allied to the ease in which Stirling were able to carve out opportunities was quite apparent. There was no cohesion whatsoever and a single striker wasn't perhaps how many would have envisaged us starting with against a Third Division side. Understandable to an extent and put in context when you consider that the first half time included new signings such as Dunne, Rose and Tanner, a trialist and guys like McManus, Tait and MacLean who were returning from long absences. And of course perhaps Robinson's hand was forced a little in terms of formation, by having Moult, Fisher and Blyth all unavailable for one reason or another. The second half eleven were hardly world beaters but it was a relief to see that a half that was much more based on playing football, keeping possession and building moves rather than the hopeful lofted diagonal. Of the trialists Tuton and Dembele certainly seem worthy of closer inspection against a team at a higher level on Tuesday.

I can't say that part of them upsets me too much. In that respect however grudgingly they are there to be taken advantage of. If you want to sign a player you use whatever means you can to attract them to your club. Now whilst we might enthuse them with the prospect of playing on the best surface in the country, in front of a small but generally passionate support the carrot for of our signings from England is the profile you get from playing in Scotland and that will largely be when you play against those two. Look at it a another way. I'll use Tom Ince as I saw his name pop up on Sky Sports News earlier. Do you think Huddersfield were saying to him join us and you'll get to play next season in front of 75,000 at Old Trafford or join us because we'll be playing in front of 12,000 at Bournemouth?

Nor the free entry for U16`s either, assuming I picked that up correctly.

The flip side to that is that neither had McDonald or Ojamma before they were signed after trials. Accept that their CV up to this point plays its part, of course, but it's surely as much what they do when they are actually with us on trial than anything that's gone before. Open minded about them.

IIRC they warmed up in the box when a portable set of goals was provided. SPFL regulations apparently state you must use them if provided. The groundsman asked them to do so, they refused/gave him unnecessary grief whereupon the bold McGhee intervened and Motherwell became the baddies for having the temerity to ask them to shift 10 yards to the right.

I think in a sense whether any bids are received and even if they do get within the club's valuation we can't just accept first time. To do so would undermine the message the club have been giving for the last few years. I would suggest there's a kind of a propaganda war that's been going on for the last two or three windows now where the message is being reinforced again and again that the goalposts have moved at Fir Park and flying a kite, as Hearts appear to have done with Cadden, is increasingly pointless. If Hearts genuinely believed they could get Cadden for something like £100k it suggests there are those still to heed the message. Whilst the timing wasn't right in terms of a replacement it was arguably beneficial in getting the good terms for Johnson's transfer to Oxford. But in terms of the propaganda war it was a fair example of us publicly telling Oxford and importantly anyone beyond them looking on that we wouldn't bend over. And we didn't. We stuck to our guns. A lot of it is perception. In the same way that for a while any player coming through at Tannadice or NDP was automatically considered the next big thing and interest reflected that so too do we have to build that perception until our talents, whether home grown or acquired attract realistic opening offers. I don't think it insignificant then that our COO took to social media to quickly bat away suggestions of an improved Hearts bid knowing it was likely to be picked up and recirculated. It provided a good opportunity to reinforce the statement that we are in a different place from a few seasons back and can brush off such bids now. I don't expect it'll be the last we'll hear it.

I guess we'll just need to wait and see but I think I remember us hosting Dunfermline on the second weekend of the season one year (possibly 2005'06) as they were still fitting/ripping up their artificial surface and East End Park was unavailable. Hearts have of course used Murrayfield before so that wouldn't be a surprise either. Edinburgh rugby aren't using Murrayfield for run of the mill league games anyway so no likelihood of a clash of dates if they did look at that option.

Tweet from Hearts suggesting their first two home games (including us) won't be at Tynecastle.

Europa League 3rd round qualifiers, second leg, are scheduled for 3rd August. I've no idea though what round the Scottish sides are in at and what the likelihood is of making the third round, but on the assumption that that Rangers do, yes you would be looking at the Sunday.

I wouldn't quite say it reads as done and dusted to me but before you encroach into financial discussions there's few things more than you can do a player to show how coveted he is than to hand him your club's captaincy.