Andy_P

Following our punishment I'm curious as to Police Scotland's views on the punishment and the seemingly lack of any blame being apportioned to them in the "failings" identified. Ultimately the police have the power to determine if a game can go ahead or otherwise and to make sure they do clubs have Pre-Ops meetings with them to ensure the police are satisfied suitable arrangements are in place. With the Play Off being such a high profile encounter there will undoubtedly then have been discussions with MFC to hear what plans the club proposed to put in place for that game and, one might safely assume, various demands made by the police over and above the norm as to how many stewards they wanted in place with determinations on what kind of force they intended to deploy on the day. Let's not forget that the club will have paid considerably for this "advice" and "approval" for the game to go ahead. So if Motherwell FC are being seen to be culpable here, what of the body who will have instructed them on the levels of security required, who now having seen that advice as being proved to be seemingly inaccurate and the level of security viewed to be inappropriate, may perversely benefit from being able to point the very failings they contributed to that day as a way to have their budgets increased! Nice work if you can get it.

Yet week in, week out you make the case for the type of set up which is going to result in exactly that happening! In our current guise beefing up the midfield as you crave to prevent us being bullied by these tough tackling physical sides you refer to is almost invariably going to result in our attacking edge being blunted. Off the top of my head I recollect a midfield three working for us with varying degrees of success on a couple of occasions. The first was when you had Jamie Dolan anchoring a midfield that had the likes of Lambert, Davies and the energetic O'Donnell doing great things backed up by ball playing defenders such as Martin and Krivokapic. The other was under Jim Gannon where he totally changed the dynamic to have Hateley, Forbes, Coke and occasionally Jennings in central midfield. That initially worked to an extent in that we played lots of good football and sprayed it about but generally got nowhere fast and lacked a cutting edge. There are times and places to play three in midfield but if McGhee wants to adopt that setup on a regular basis for me he is going to require to revisit it after he's made some fairly major personnel changes for adopting it regularly with Pearo, Lasley and Gomis is going to make for frustrating watching.

Forgot to post this earlier. Your thoughts and votes please...

Completely scunnered. Part of me thinks that yet again we're on the receiving end of an outcome that is undeserved and harsh, yet at the same it's difficult to shake off the belief that we got our just desserts for our manager's lack of ambition. Now don't get me wrong we had plenty of possession, we will have wracked up quite a number of completed passes - largely unchallenged in noweheresville in the centre of the park barely a chance of note was created. McDonald worked his arse off but it was soul destroying to see him having to come almost to the half way line on occasion to try to take possession. Little surprise that our goal when it did come (completely out of the blue) it was through a set-piece - a wonderfully well worked set-piece admittedly. Now I'm pretty supportive of McGhee but that was how I might expect us to set up away to Inverness not at home and not in a Cup game. And it wouldn't surprise me if wasn't as much obstinance as tactical preference that when we did score he had Moult sit down and then return to a single striker in the closing stages. I can't criticise the team for effort but when you go out the Cup I want us to go out knowing we've chucked everything at the tie and given ourselves the best chance we could have of progressing. I don't feel we did that today. Very very deflating.

Whilst I don't believe there would be any jump in attendance whatsoever because of it I would still happily welcome Faddy back once more. The situation is someway removed from the summer of 2014 where we were kept waiting and waiting all summer and it got to the stage he was chasing his tail trying to gain match sharpness and it took six months to get there. Now it's very a much a case of if he signs, given its been publicly stated on several occasions he's on buttons and is contributing behind the scenes then great! If he doesn't well its not like a regular first team starter has been pulled from underneath us, so we move on with no great loss. I'd contest that if his attempted lob over the Ross County keeper been an inch or so higher and he'd subsequently popped it in the empty net to equalise there wouldn't be as much chat about it being "pointless" or a "waste of money". And whilst in no way comparing the respective abilities and talents of the two it also makes me smile that in the last few days there has been some vociferous defending of Vigurs who often stood accused of not bothering his arse, yet here we have someone who repeatedly voices his affinity for the club and gives it his best no matter how off the pace he might be, being summarily dismissed. Funny old world.

This attempt at analysis of the policing and stewarding of the Bois makes for really really painful reading. Please just stop.

I think on reflection Milo it probably seems like I'm forever pulling you up about how you view things but I think at the root of it all I want to do is ease your worries. You know like a matey arm round the shoulder and reassure you things aren't as bad, that it'll all turn out okay. Rather than just be some arsehole on the Internet whose always on your case! In case it comes across that way.

Note the word often Milo. More a generalisation of your posting style than the current snapshot in time. I find the good points you make - of which there are many - are smothered and lost in a sea of panic and fear that utter disaster lurks permanently around the corner. But to take the current state of affairs the flip side to your fears about Kilmarnock and Dundee Utd is that we have a wonderful opportunity with successive fixtures against the 11th and 12th placed sides in the table to give ourselves breathing space.

Did we not get a point at Pittodrie scored by one of McGhee's substitutes? Did we not beat Kilmarnock after Moult came off the bench to net the winner? It may not be sweetness and light but things are rarely as black you seem to paint them.

Your thoughts and votes please...

It's fine margins again isn't it? Didn't deserve to win. Certainly didn't deserve to lose. A bit of discussion about culpability for the goal but in my mind's eye (which may well be miles out!) it goes right back to a panicky hurried clearance from an experienced campaigner that should know better (Pearo) that gave Thistle really cheap possession from which they were able to mount the attack they scored from. I don't really see a great comparison at this stage of last season in all honesty. We''ve not been startling since the turn of the year by any manner of means but the performance levels are still way above where we after the first month of last 2015. It's a time for cool heads and a positive result (whoever it comes again) I believe will do wonders for the players confidence and help us get back on track. I sense some masks are slipping when it comes to McGhee though. I see it a little damned if you do, damned if you don't. A manager makes a like-for-like change and he'll be accused of lacking a Plan B. A manager mixes it up a tight game with an unexpected switch and he's accused of being mad for deviating from the tried and tested. A little bit like Barraclough getting bitten when he allowed Ripley to go up for that corner against United early in the season. You know don't I mind a little bit of ambition or something a wee bit off the wall now and again in an attempt to flumox the opposition. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. That said whilst not against his idea of mixing it up a little in the midfield, the choice of Johnson to partner McDonald bombed completely and was very quickly evident it wasn't working and should have been rectified. Disappointed but still have plenty of faith in the management and team that we'll be able to recapture the form of December sooner rather than later.

Fair enough weeyin, but you've made reference to the Grella thing twice in the past day. Gives the impression it's stuck in your craw a bit.

Should that, and your previous dig, not really be directed more towards Dempster than Burrows? She was Chief-Exec at the time was she not?

Then apologies are also due from me to supermarv!

It can often be the case you are further down the food chain and require other teams to do their business before you can get your man though. Not always as simple as 'I want him' and his club going aye OK then.

And out of Sky Sports News and Alan Burrows, who would you think has the greater knowledge (and interest) of when the transfer window closes in Scotland?

Your thoughts and votes please...

Smudger scored a special goal at Hampden in the League Cup Semi Final the year after the Celtic penalty shoot-out tear-jecker. Overhead kick if I recall correctly. That also turned out be quite harrowing viewing in the end. At least one own goal. There might have been another or I might be getting that mixed up with a game around the same time against them in the League.

But don't forget. We lost 6-0 to Hearts and Accies managed to draw with them. And other stuff... Doomed.

Funny you should say that when reading through the discussion wondered how long it would be before you took the opportunity to re-emerge to have a pop. Irresistible as I suspected.

Do we have that much of a pettit lip that we are going to compare every teams performance against Hearts now just so we can continue to mope?

Talks a good game without producing? We're three weeks into the first transfer window he since he returned!!

Utter nonsense on several levels. For one thing it's a potential moneymaker for the club. OK a home tie with ICT isn't going to have the coffers overflowing but who knows who you might get, and who wants to show it, if you get past them. Not that I'd particularly fancy it but there's even the potential for live coverage of a replay for this round and MFC won't be dismissive of an unexpected £80k. But even the finances aside a Cup run can keep your season alive and extend interest when there's little to play for in the League, which I hope will be the case for us. And even if not, a Cup run would be a great diversion from the tension and drudgery of a relegation battle. Nah the Cup for me is right up there in terms of importance and excitement for me. Already looking forward to the tie with Inverness.

Same three points lost as last Saturday but that was so much more frustrating. By no means anything like a startling display from us but overall unfortunate not to get a point I felt. I think the fallout from last weekend was evident early on as we appeared tentative and edgy but gradually grew into it. Frustrating that County scored with pretty much their only attack of the half. A very well worked corner you would have to concede but for our part, very poorly defended. A good response though and we went on to dominate the rest of the half. One or two decent chances - efforts from Moult and Cadden spring to mind and there were a couple of occasions where we just didn't get the break of the ball. County played us brilliantly in the second half. Gave us the ball to play with which we did, without creating too much, and on almost every occasion they managed to break they looked like they'd score. The only surprise was it took them so long to get that second. Our late consolation was no less than we deserved and with had either or those balls from McFadden or Lasley been a foot or so higher then who knows, we might have got that point I felt we deserved. The obvious positive was the performance of Cadden who looked in no way overawed at he faced today and went to be many folks' Man of the Match. Lots of energy, a desire to get forward and generally get himself involved in the game. Even an effort or two at goal. Very impressive. But overall quite deflating to have lost, and that another game against a side we should be looking to beat at home has come and gone.

Your thoughts and votes please...