Andy_P

Your thoughts and votes please...

I recollect that in our season in administration and were similarly flush with youngsters, it tended to be the teams at the top of the league we tended to do better against. Not least a certain midweek fixture against the dirty Jambos themselves. All at Tynecastle ofcourse but they've taken points against Hibs in the derby, Champions League winners elect Aberdeen and Utd so it illustrates they can be troublesome on their day. I'm hoping however that with the considerable nous and experience in our team, and the John Sutton effect, we'll know how to handle this one and that maximum points will remain in Lanarkshire.

You've underplayed that quite a bit there Lobey. For the avoidance of any doubt that was on loan MOTHERWELL STRIKER LEE ERWIN SCORES LAST MINUTE WINNER AGAINST AIRDRIE!!!!!

It seems an obvious link given their interest in him in the past but a bit has changed since then ofcourse. They have had some new investment and if their new investor is serious about where he wants to take them then I'd wager he will be seeking someone with a greater profile than Stuart McCall, fine manager though he may be. There's also the possibility that if there are of those involved in the discussions earlier in the year, still floating around Brammall Lane, then they may not be overly keen to go back to someone who chose to stay with a pishy wee sweaty sock mob over their big club with all its potential. But you never know. The thing is though we've changed a bit since those discussions too. I certainly wouldn't want McCall to go but he would leave a squad looking a good deal healthier than it was when the Blades came in for him first time around. There would be a fair balance of contracts expiring in January, the end of the season and beyond that would gave any new incoming manager a fair degree of scope to do what he wanted to do within the budget. But again I certainly hope we don't need to concern ourselves with that.

The back end of last season proved that the two schools of thoughts don't need to be mutually exclusive. You can beat Celtic and still achieve all the good things we've done in recent years. You can and should aspire to do both. The team, playing staff and management, in my mind set themselves a high benchmark last season in those last three games against Celtic in terms of tactics, self-belief and fearlessness. That should have been fresh enough in the memories of those who remained from last season but sadly the contrast was marked and we were timid, cagey and lacking self-belief when we began We only ever got close to those levels from the back of last season in the last half an hour or so, but it was too late by then. We have the ability to cause them problems when we play them, we just need to recapture that winning mentality.

I remember a game in the mid-nineties at Fir Park where were 2-0 up at one stage and they came back and won 4-2, would that be one you were thinking of? I think McLeish might not long have jumped ship to Hibs and Jim Griffin was holding the fort.

Two different Cup games if I mind right Coolhandluc. The first one I referred to we drew up there (1-1 I think) but fucked up the replay back at Fir Park with John Gardiner chucking one in, late in extra-time. The second Cup game was a couple of years later and was the one it pished down all day and we were pumped 4-0. Had to go back there a week later for a league game as well to have our noses rubbed in it again.

Great memories both, perhaps all the more special given as Tynecastle was and would continue to be graveyard for us in the latter part of the eighties, nudging into the nineties. I wasn't fortunate enough to be at Tynecastle for "Kirkie's Game" but well remember excitedly waiting for the higlights to come on Sportscene that night (highlights on a Saturday night - heady days indeed) to see it. What stuck out wasn't the penalty save or even clawing it back to 2-2 but Johnny Gahagan's leap of celebration as he warmed up behind the goal. I was at the game Coolhandluc mentions though as I wasn't able to make it to the Cup game which was due to be played shortly after. That was a great goal and a very good result at the time but it seemed to get lost in the excitement of the Quarter Final. We'll say no more about that...

Not much to write home about really, save for the last twenty minutes or so. We were far too deep to begin with and with Celtic pressing us high up the pitch it was leaving us absolutely no margin for error with our passing. As a result and we were being squeezed into the last third of our own half and giving the ball far too often. As ever it seems to be it wasn't a bit of genius that broke us down, or some screamer from 30 yards, just a mixture of poor defending and a little bad luck. Hollis was partially culpable but it seemed a damnded if you go for it, damned if you don't kind of scenario. Will need to see it again. Irked a little that 15 seconds earlier Stokes goes down seemingly injured then up he pops Lazarus like to score when the ball is palmed into his path. Thought if not exactly threatening we at least managed to push ourselves a bit further up the park after we went behind. The early goal in the second half just killed it. Fortunate that we didn't concede immediately afterwards or they may well have sniffed blood but we recovered and after the introduction of Anier went on to play our best football of the game and looked the half decent fitba team we actually are. You have to concede ofcourse that at 2-0 up Celtic had likely eased off a degree by that stage but if either of Sutton's chances go in with about 5 minutes left who knows? So yeah another trip to OldFirmland tinged with a little disappointment and whatmighthavebeens. The big positives ofcourse came elsewhere which means we can go into the international break still in 3rd place and with two weeks to help those with niggles and fitness issues get closer to 100%.

Underboyle change your password quick. Your account looks like its been hacked and taken over by MJC!

Your thoughts and votes please...

It's a difficult one to call on several counts. About the only thing I'm pretty much assured of is at one point this week Stuart McCall will say we need to be at our best and for them to have an off day for us to get anything out of the game. We certainly shouldn't be going there overawed. We've won the last two against them and should have taken at least a point at Parkhead on our last visit. When considering what team and formation will we play, I must confess I'm stumped. I'm thinking of McCall's "horses-for-courses" remark recently. We could introduce Lawson if we wanted to go for an extra man in midfield for more ball retention. You've Ainsworth if you want some pace for speedy breaks. Or you even have scope for another centre-half in there to go along similar lines to the last game at Parkhead, where we did really well after a fraught first 10 minutes. Nice to have options. It remains to be seen whether the Celtic team will be flat after Wednesday - they still have a good variety of options to freshen if not replicate their team from last night - but I think we can bank on the fact their fans will be. I've been told by a few that the only times they are stirred these days outwith Champions League game is when the opposition take an unexpected lead and they have some "sport". Hmm... Quietly confident. I'll leave it at that.

I think since we're not even out of September it's taking it a bit far to suggest he's running out of time to make an impact this season. There is ample time for McFadden to make a further impact. I say further as it's only four or five days from his first goal of the season, a beauty at that, and even yesterday whilst he perhaps went for one man too many a couple of times, he looked as tricky as he's been for a while. It is also evident from McCall's comments that he is also being treated with kid gloves to an extent whilst they continue to work to get him to full fitness. I'm sure come the end of the season Faddy will have made a full contribution to our campaign.

I thought that was cracking today. Pretty much dominant from the first minute to the last if we'd won by about five or six I don't think County could really have argued. They caused us a problem occasionally on the break and there were times if their shooting from the edge of the box had been better it might have caused us more of a worry certainly. But on the possession, the chances created and shots on target we fully deserved that win today. And it is all the sweeter for the fact that we'd to come from behind to win it. We certainly didn't deserve to go in behind at the break - I actually thought it was very harsh indeed that there some boos from the East Stand at that point - but there was no panic, we just kept doing what we'd been doing albeit perhaps a bit more directly and the rewards eventually came. Great stuff!

Your thoughts and votes please...

By 1115pm last night I'd imagine they had long since moved on to something else. From memory I've seen them announce their winner between six and seven in the evening. The last time I saw it he was only sitting on something like 2% of the vote. Nice to see his goal acknowledged and all but nae danger I'm going to pay money to vote for it.

Guessing our game will be on Wednesday 30th October as we're playing St Johnstone at stupid-o-clock on the Sunday before it.

Nice poser for McCall to have as regards the attacking side of things. weeyin has already mentioned how pace caused County problems in the two games at Fir Park last season and allied to that my perception was that we were most effective when we played football against them and kept the ball on the deck. I think Higgy got one against them but was actually subbed in that first game if I remember rightly when we adopted a less aerial style. A lot of players on both sides have come and gone since then ofcourse so what was significant before Christmas last year may be much less so now. There's also Faddy to consider. We know what he can produce on form so with a bit of a breakthrough on Wednesday with that rather delicious finish ideally you wouldn't really want to stunt any recovery of form but at the same time neither Sutton or Anier deserve to be hooked for him. I'm thinking that when you have these attacking options that are currently working well, there's good competition for places, you've the former players element in Vigs and Lawson if selected and that generally the defence is looking pretty decent, then I'm pretty positive about our chances tomorrow.

Wow, Aberdeen in the Cup! That's fresh and exciting!

First and foremost pleased to be through. Made five changes and didn't really need to get out first gear to secure passage to the next round. Shame about the defensive lapse at the death taking a little of the shine off it, as otherwise the back four were in complete command with McManus in particular absolutely strolling through the game. Good to see Bob score and even more so delighted to see Faddy off the mark too. You really hope that will be the spur that will see him kick on now. Looked a lovely finish, with a deft touch of the boot to see it home. Crowd was announced as 1600 odd at the end, I'd wager the majority were visiting fans and the Bois were in great form as usual.

Your thoughts and votes please...

Yes. Was tweeted earlier by Flow that it was tongue in cheek. You wouldn't have thought so mind you by the tone of Scott Burns article in the Express, even when Ramsden states the fact he has no coaching badges might stand against him...

I remember Livi fans up the back of the Main Stand the night we scudded them 6-1 in the "We're Both Sponsored by Motorola So Lets Play a Daft Friendly for a Silly Glass Vase Challenge" with a chant that went "Loyal Supporters, Loyal Supporters". They were all gone without about 15 minutes left.

Saw them post on Twitter last week they were running a bus for a tenner a head but there weren't too many seats left as I recall. Maybe worth a wee tweet to check out the latest situation.

As obviously one with a long memory, Steve Diggle, points out talk of an easy win for Motherwell in Cup ties has gone awry on plenty of occasions before. In fact we need only look back to the previous round where at one stage there was barely a top flight team in the lead, for a warning of what could happen if the attitude isn't right. But I do hope that come the end of it, it's a fixture we'll have won relatively comfortably and will have benefited from seeing three or four of our squad players get a run out. Which three or four, or perhaps more, is up for debate. There are cases to be made for pretty much of all them, just unlikely to be all of them at the same time. Some good memories of games there, the 5-0 in the League Cup a highlight, though nods to Kevin McBride's injury time goal around New Year and a double(treble?) from Richie Foran in an early season win come to mind too.