Ya Bezzer!

Lasley has missed 7 matches this season and we have lost 6 of them and the one we did win, we stole the points (1-0 away to Kilmarnock). Must be a coincidence that out of those 7, the 3 worst results of the season - defeat away to Morton, 0-6 v Hearts and then today, are included.

That remains to be seen. What is actually fact though is that Barraclough lost the same number of games in August as McGhee has in three months of league fixtures.

The last two league performances have been very poor but people need to remember where we were last season and even at the beginning of this season. People also need to remember we are 6 points from a Top 6 place and 12 points from bottom. The amount of negativity that comes from our fan base can't be dismissed as one of the big problems at the club. Within 7 minutes of start of the match, fans were screaming abuse at players and for the second week in a row I saw fans screaming at each other. Last week we lost to a world class goal in the last minute and people called the performance a "tactical disaster". This week, when 2 wins on the trot would see us shoot up the league, people are taking about "oblivion" and inevitable relegation. Sadly we live in an era where people are conditioned into extremes. Everything is the best ever or the worst ever when actually it's not. Our fans need to take a long step back and here and look at what is actually going on. Are we in a good position - no, was it a sore one today - yes, but there is a hell of a lot of football still to be played the reaction to what is in effect two poor performances, is totally over the top. This time last season we took 1 point from 24, just remember that before you lay the blame of the world at Mark McGhee.

The transfer policy since Les Hutchinson took over has been abysmal. I think Baraclough brought in 18 players.

Two league games?

Very, very, very poor performance but why McGhee is getting all the blame I can't understand. A lot of those players are dross under their third manager. I didn't agree with the line up or formation but the players just didn't look up for it, Kilmarnock wanted it more and that is inexcusable and not the fault of the manager. Take Lionel Ainsworth, whether you think the way he was singled out for the Partick Thistle result was right or wrong, he had a chance today to show what he could do and make sure he was in the team next week. Instead he was dire and got hooked at half time. And it wasn't only him, most of the team was in the same boat not just performance wise but attitude wise. Also, another abysmal performance where Lasley was missing. There are guys on here who could tell you his age down to the minutes and seconds but we are much worse without him. Much worse.

If this season has taught us anything it's that we should always play 4-4-2.

Well first of all add up the point tally of Inverness and ourselves over the last season and a half and you'll see that there is a bit of a gap there, they have proved themselves a better team than us. There cup anniversary is also a bit smaller than ours. Secondly think back just a few months ago to when they came to Fir Park and beat us fairly easily. Whatever you think of McGhee, and unlike most or any fans, I'd beat he poured over that match and came to some conclusions to give us a better chance of winning the match. Will anyone deny that we were more likely to win, based on the performance, on Saturday than during the previous defeat? As I've said I thought we were marginally the better team, a big improvement on the previous match. It's not a 'tactical disaster' if you'd still have been in the cup if the ref had blown a minute earlier or if you are eliminated by a shot that the lad Roberts will probably never replicate in his career. That's nothing to do with tactics.

Gomis, although I though he tired in the second half.

Just for the record I would start every game with McDonald and Moult up front but that's not what I'm talking about. If Motherwell fans continue to behave like they did today no manager worth his salt will want to touch this job. It will become a poisonous chalice. Instead of supporting the team today when we equalised, all we got was jeering, ironic applause, "you don't know what you're doing" sung from the stand, boos, verbal abuse of the manager etc, etc. It's pathetic, over the top, completely out of order and self defeating. It was 1-1 in a game we were competitive in! Why? Because the manager didn't put on a player who, incidentally, later cost us the match. Or was it about something else, eh? Cause I doubt such a reaction has come about due to his won 4, lost 5, in the league or the fact that he's improved the standard of play immeasurable since coming in. The tactics and formation did not lose us the match today, any reasonable person can see that because its as clear as day, or it should be to anyone not having an apoplectic fit because we got put out the cup for the 24th year in a row. We lost because Law and Moult failed in basic footballing tasks and that is beyond the powers of the manager. Oh and I couldn't care less how many people 'seem to agree'. A thousand people who are wrong are still wrong.

I thought we were marginally the better team today. Certainly wasn't much in it. Except for a worldie 25 yarder of course. McDonald's header goes in instead of hitting the bar and that last minute shot sails over the bar and we would have been through. We are losing by the thinnest of margins right now and we've not had any luck at all. The reaction during the game, to the defeat and to the manager is completely ridiculous. What do people really expect McGhee to do? He's taken over a poor team and his predecessor spent all the money in catastrophically bad summer transfer deals. This season is all about incremental improvements and staying out of the relegation places. The team HAS improved, we are going through a bad spell results wise, but before that there was a good spell and with the exception of Hearts I've yet to see a team out perform us on the day. A few weeks ago Motherwell won at Celtic Park now there are McGhee must go threads. We didn't lose to Albion Rovers today, we didn't lose to a part time Icelandic team squandering a 2 goal lead and we didn't get beaten 5-0 of Accies. We lost narrowly against a team that is basically better than ours. Some people need to take a good hard look at themselves and grow up.

If we are above 2nd bottom in the league, we are.

Has it gone over everyone's head that we played one up front every week until McGhee came in?

What has 15 minutes before he came on got to do with the moment when the winning goal was scored? Also 15 minutes before Moult came on, we were pressing Inverness back and eventually equalised. Inverness were no threat at that point in the game. Taking off Lasley was McGhee's big mistake today.

I know exactly how this thread is going to go now. 1) We were still in the cup when Louis Moult came on the field 2) We didn't improve any when he came on 3) The 90th minute goal was due to Moult not putting a challenge in on the guy that scored and then turning his back on him and jogged up the park while his man blasted in the top corner. The fans got what they wanted today and it blew up in their face, but, hey, let's blame McGhee anyway. Our fans were an absolute disgrace today, screaming, yelling, booing a manager when his team is sitting at 1-1 with half an hour to go. We are going through a period right now where we are having no luck whatsoever, and how do the fans react - like they did today. This rabid dog stuff is an absolute embarrassment.

Gomis can surely play the Grimshaw role.

I like Ainsworth overall but he's been rotten this season which is why he's not in the team while someone like Johnson, not exactly a model of consistency himself, plays ever week. Ainsworth has the talent to play at a higher level than us but basically he needs to pull the finger out because he's not worth the money we spend on him right now. If there are harsh words in the dressing room, fine, as long as they are honest ones. Would love him to get back to form, we need the goals he scored in previous seasons for a start.

As far as I could see there was absolutely no trouble in the stand whatsoever and no flares or smoke bombs but I was mainly looking the other way towards the end we were attacking so I may have missed something. I then saw about four police trying to gathering around a boy of about 15 or 16. There was an argument between the police with some fans and then a police woman tried to grab the boy and pull him out the row. The boy resisted moving backwards and then about 8 police all weighted in. The boy darted off into the crowd and the police, after making a complete fool of themselves gave up. A bit later the boy came out of the crowd again and the same thing happened only this time 15 police officers (I counted them) all weighed in. After that the 'action' moved away from where I was sitting and I'm not sure if the lad was actually arrested, I didn't see him being taken out, but the whole thing seemed to be extremely heavy handed and unnecessary. There was young children in the crowd in tears due to the completely over the top reaction of police. The boy didn't do himself any favours by resisting arrest twice but who can say that they wouldn't react in the same way if you had 8 or 15 police officer manhandling you for what seemed to be next to nothing? I've been going to the football for a long time and I've never been involved in casuals or ultras or anything like that. I'm a middle aged man and I don't approve of everything some of the younger Motherwell fans do (including throwing flares and smoke bombs) but scenes like this have to be put into context. The police last night caused much more trouble than they prevented. The police were a bigger danger last night to the general public than any supporter. It also irks me that every police officer there last night probably earned my days wage over the duration of the game in overtime and that I am paying for it twice, both as a football supporter and a tax payer. There was absolutely no requirement for 15 police officers to be in that section of one stand, never mind them charging around like the Keystone Cops trying to lift naughty boys.

Hall and McManus were solid enough, McDonald ran him self into the ground without much support. Went for McDonald.

I'm not saying Vigurs is some Pirlo-esque kind of genius, I'm saying he's scored the goals this season in a handful of appearances of Johnson, Ainsworth, Gomis, Lasley, Grimshaw and Cadden combined and has the technique and vision to do things other players in this league can't. He was basically shunted out the club last season and no adequate replacement was acquired, showing up a rather shambolic transfer policy at the club that goes back through Baraclough and McCall. The twist was Lawless, one of the best products of our youth development in the last 10 years, scoring the winner....for Partick.

I think he put Johnson through the middle because he was out tallest forward player. Unfortunately he is also a total shitehawk who would never win a header against the likes of Seaborne in a month of Sundays.

We need a creative central midfielder who can score. Without Pearson in form we are seriously lacking. The irony is we had one in Vigurs.

Neither team really deserved 3 points but Partick managed something we didn't - shots on goal. Cerny didn't have a save to make. Two points. 1 Moult has been poor recently. McDonald ran himself into the ground tonight but he had nothing to play off. Moult badly needs a goal to get his confidence and form back up. 2 Pearson just didn't have the engine on him tonight to make runs from midfield. That reduces our goal threat significantly. With these two factors we ate going to struggle to score.

3-4-3 at the moment.

Moult has been very poor, we've actually got 3 upfront, Johnson in the middle.