joewarkfanclub

Thought the first half was just okay today. Berwick parked the bus, which is fair enough, making it difficult to play through them. The only option was to get round the sides and Frear put numerous balls into dangerous areas without any of our players seemingly able to attack them. Second half I thought our intensity dropped and we ran out of ideas. Our play got sloppy as a result and it was more relief than joy when we eventually scored. A few of our players seemed off the pace today but best to reserve judgement until we have played a full round of league games and everyone is up to same fitness level and the team know each other better. Robinson said in post match interview that the management team are only about 60% happy with where we are. Id say thats about right.

Get the strongest 11 out. Get the game put to bed early then rest those that require protecting for next week. We need to be seeded for knock out stage to give us best chance of progressing.

I think Erwin had lots of raw talent. He was inconsistent during his time here, much as you would expect of someone his age. Whether he has developed any or improved his attitude and application is anyones guess. However, he's not the striker we are looking for.

Aye but we could offer them Blyth for free! Big man is buzzing to go!

Getting McHugh extended is great business. He has all the attributes to step up a level. A good injury free season will see him attract suitors. This strengthens our hand.

I agree. Far too early to be judging any of our new signings.

Didnt think Dunne had a great game last night. Ball got stuck under his feet quite a lot, but I put that down to the pitch rather than lack of ability. I wouldnt have singled him out for praise but wouldnt criticise either. The one time he had to stretch his legs he proved he has bags of pace. I think once he beds into the team we will get a better reflection of how good or otherwise he is.

Cadden. Only played 45 mins but he won us the game.

Solid if uninspiring first half. Lots of dangerous balls into the box without really creating anything clear cut and a few long shots which their keeper dealt with. Carson never troubled, apart from some dodgy back passes. 2nd half, much better. Cadden and Tanner lifted the pace and much more incisive attacking threat. Squandered some decent chances before we conspired to present them with their only real shot on target which they took gladly. Did well to keep composure and recover the game. We need to look at this match in the round. It was a horrible sticky pitch. A lot of our less used players got a much needed run out and we got the 3 points required. The squad is still gelling and settling down. Everyone just take a deep breath.

I thought we were comfortably the better team for the first 15 minutes. After they scored our bottle crashed a bit and the rest of the first half was poor. However 2nd half was a different story. They created next to nothing and at one point we had 83% possession. Im not saying for a minute we were great. But we were better than them.

Ciftci is a very talented player. He always seemed to play well against us. However, if things arent going well for him he tends to hide and disappear in games. Robinson seems to put a lot of store in getting the right "character" into the dressing room so be surprised if he was a genuine target.

If Morton dont have enough to see off Queens Park we should be putting them away on Saturday at FP. We were miles better than Queens Park on Saturday whilst being a long way off the finished article ourselves.

If this is what Jacob Blyth is getting up to when he is supposed to be recovering from injury then the club should be exploring all avenues to offload him. This might explain why he has rarely been fit enough to start for us....

Louis Moult has bought into Motherwell FC hook, line and sinker. He has conducted himself impeccably at all times and has left us with memories we can cherish forever. He will move on to bigger and better things and should do so with our best wishes. He's earned it.

The Captain all day long. Controlled the flow of the game. At one point in the 2nd half we had 83% possession! Thought he actually looked better after Bigi went off. Not sure what conclusions to draw from that at this stage.

Having been at Barrow I was pleasantly surprised by the performance and result today. We started brightly, got a good goal and knocked the ball around nicely enough without being overly threatening. So we shat the nest with another defensive lapse and the rest of the first have was poor. However, we did turn it around, played some nice stuff, scored some really nice goals. I accept it was only Queens Park, and this group of players has a long way to go before they convince anyone, but it was a decent start.

First competitive game on a big wide pitch. I guess this is where we get to really see what our new players are made of! Looking for a significant step up in performance levels from the pre season games.

My main bug bear with the League Cup is that the teams in Europe dont have to play in it from the start. This immediately devalues it. I understand why we do it re Europe etc but for me its not right. If we had leagues of 16 playing each other home and away we would have less games to play and could use the space to incorporate a meaningful League Cup with all the teams in it. You could still have it as a season opener if you wished and push the league back into the empty spaces caused by less games. Unfortunately now that we are back to 4 ugly sister league games every season its never gonna happen.

I think the Dom Thomas debate exemplifies a lot of what is wrong with Scottish football. We seem to have a lot of youngsters who look to have the raw talent to become good footballers and who do well at youth level, but we dont seem to be very good at developing them from there to progress in the senior game. Im sure the reasons are complex and many, but until we figure it out, our ranking/coefficient at club and international level will continue to slide. As for Dom, good luck to the boy. I hope he makes it. But Im not devastated at his departure.

Looking forward to seeing some of our new players tonight. Hoping the game is "tastier than Barrow in Furness bus station". For those who have no idea what Im on about, I'll leave you to "Chewitt" over!

Given that the close season is only 6 weeks long now and our best weather tends to be April/May, Im not sure the summer football discussion is even relevant anymore. We are going to have to play in the winter months anyway. Its just a matter of when you want to stop/start.

Having listened to all the pre season interviews the thing that jumps out at me is that its all about the group and getting the right characters in to take that philosophy forward. I get the feeling that maybe that hasnt been the case in the last couple of seasons and some negative influences have been moved on. That being the case Im not sure Ciftci would be the kind of player we would be interested in. Talented, yes. Team player?

Sad to see The Houswives Favourite hang up his boots but it was time. Here is hoping he continues to be as successful as a coach as he was as a player and stays with us for many years to come. All the best Keef! #siwy

McHugh for Captain for me. He has all the attributes. Get him on a longer contract as well.

Goals for Motherwell FC This Season 1. Stay up 2. Play more entertaining football 3. Cup run 4. Expand Well Society 5. Stay up