Ya Bezzer!

Not at the game today so won't comment on it but.... I think it will be interesting when we go into the 2nd round of matches. Usually in the second round of matches teams are more familiar with the set up and go into matches to counteract the opposition tactics established earlier in the season. If we can't win matches in the first round of matches it might be even more of a struggle to get wins later in the season unless we change something up, which I don't think is Askou's way. I've always said you look at things 11, 22, 33 matches into the season, that's when you review it so there is still a while for us to get wins but we really need to start winning matches. 3-0 up at Hearts, 2-1 up against Kilmarnock, 1-0 up against Dundee. 6 points dropped from not being able to hold a lead. It's an issue if it continues.

So purism versus pragmatism ended all even. And who can say but maybe there was some karmic element to Ward's bout of dropsy but who am I to speculate on the musings of the universe.... Actually a good game. Enjoyed it. Think we have one of better groups we've had for a while. Longelo, Watt, Fadinger, Just, Maswanhise are all better than average and we have Cook-Charles and Hendry to come in and possibly be assets. Of course there are other areas we're not so good and a keeper and a penalty box striker are required. Some slick play although lacking a bit in terms of actual real chances. Don't think the Killie keeper had too many real saves to make but good to watch nonetheless. I'd actually like to highlight Elijah Just, though he had a great match. The whole points v performance thing. Well obviously we need to start winning at some point but as I always say you can only start judging a manager until we've played a full round of matches. I'm enjoying watching it but whether it's actually effective is still open to question but you have to give the experiment time.

Was looking forward to going to the game as it seems like a whole other close season since I last saw us against Rangers. Then I come on here and we are still getting the rampant victim blaming and hate towards Kettlewell. Yuck. Maybe it's a form of de-tox to only have a home game every 30 days.

Regan Charles Cook had two seasons at Ross County and one of them he stunk the place out and the other he was really good. He seems to have adopted a middle position since going to Belgium.

Yeah but Jordan McGhee has 119 league appearances in this last 4 seasons!

Could be a good signing but he's been inconsistent across his career in terms of goal scoring, even season on season at the same club. Hopefully this is a decent season for him. Even if he can get 10 goals that'd be twice as many as last season's top scorer.

Wasn't at the game but O'Donnell is generally better in central defence than he is at full back.

I'm late to the party so I won't say much as it's probably all been covered but.... 1 lose in the last 5 league matches against Rangers. Gotta be our best run since the 1990s and long may it continue.

Obviously I'd love to see us win and I think getting them at home on the first day of the season gives us a better chance but this will be a massive step up. What I'd like to see is a good professional attitude. Go out and compete. If that gets you a result - great. However I think every lower league team we've played so far has either scored or had real opportunities to score and against Rangers that's going to present a much bigger problem. Our League Cup matches were a bit up and down, finishing on a high but this is a different type of test. It'll be interesting to see how we stand up to it.

Well it's more than just MJC. That's why there is so much pressure on managers to win over developmental coaching. Fans and the media play a big part in how football is played in this country. But I also think it's especially acute at Motherwell since we have this 39 year run in the top league. Relegation is seen as being catastrophic, even being in the running for relegation, when for most other clubs, our size and much bigger, it's something they've been through multiple times.

Wasn't Bair main attribute using his pace and strength to run in behind, chasing long balls? Maybe a passing midfield isn't what he'd prosper off. BTW I think we are still a bit away from having a 'passing midfield'.

HIs physical attributes mean he can do well in our league. He's not a footballer though, he's a unit, so stepping up to a Top 5 league always seemed a long shot. There are different levels in the game and ours is fairly low down the ladder.

And yet top European coaches came to Largs to learn from us. There are so many factors that determine national styles of football. Just for a start we are probably one of the most northerly leagues in the world that play through the winter. That alone is going to encourage a faster, more direct style of football. It wasn't that long ago we were playing on mud piles that made possession football very difficult to impossible. And I guarantee you if Rangers pump us in a couple of weeks all the positivity on style of play will go right out the window in the typical Scottish fan style and we'll 'need' to win the next match or it will be a 'disaster'.

Obviously the best performance of the group stages, kept our tempo high for the 90 minutes which you can probably put down to improving fitness. Overall, although we were better tonight, I thought all the same issues as we'd see before where still there. Thought there was a few stray passes, kinda struggled to create chances and our final ball needed to be better. And although we weren't put under loads of pressure I still thought Morton should have scored twice in the first half. Still it was a step forward and Maswanhise's second was our first great goal of the season. Lots of work on and improve on but there was signs there that we are going forward.

I've probably said this a thousand times so excuse me but Slattery cannot play as a general midfielder. He could potentially be effective as an attacking midfielder, maybe in a 3-4-1-2 or something like that. But if you are putting him a four across the middle just no.