Ya Bezzer!

Absolute rubbish. What about Kilmarnock when Sutton came on and we played better. It was only a couple of weeks ago so I doubt you have forgotten so soon. Some people around here are very selective. And what about the entire season when Sutton started up front and we finished 2nd? As for "he is slow...etc, etc." he is the 4th top goal scorer in the league this season. Celtic have spent millions of pounds and don't have someone on 11 league goals this season, on top of that he has scored more goals than an other Motherwell player since Willie Pettigrew and is something like 4th on our post war list. He's got into double figure every one of the 5 season he's played for the club. As for the "if we are not creating chances" well who do you want in that situation? Someone with an absolutely superb chance-to-goal ratio like Sutton or someone that runs around a bit but is 70% less likely to score? There's some kind of myth some of you out there like to repeat that Sutton doesn't contribute or we are better when he's not in the team. Well here's the facts. We have won 9 matches this season and John Sutton has started 5 of them and scored winning goals in 3 of them. In another 2 of those wins the winning goal was scored after John Sutton came on, (recent wins against Kilmarnock/Inverness) and in the remaining 2 wins Sutton scored a total of 4 goals coming on as a sub. So he has literally contributed to all of our 9 wins this season and scored 5 goals in the process. Goalscorers are worth their weight in gold. Getting rid of Sutton would be a terrible mistake.

This sort of attitude needs to be booted the fuck out of Motherwell. Alloa, Raith Rovers, Cowdenbeath, Livingston et al have got results against Rangers this term. I'd actually rather have Rangers than Queen of the South. Against QoS all the pressure and expectation is on us to win and QoS are a good team who have played well all season and would have a lot of confidence. Whereas Rangers all the pressure is on them and they are a flaky team. Pressure and flaky teams don't general work out well.

Might be meaningless by that time, as we need to beat them and have Ross County drop points elsewhere somewhere along the line. From a Motherwell point of view, I'd want Ross County first. Beat them at Fir Park and all of a sudden their run is over and we are right down their necks again with 4 to go.

We are the big favourite to finish 11th but that's been the case for a while. The only difference is most supporters have come round to the idea. Our recent home record is pretty good so I don't think it's impossible for us to win three out of three there. Difficult but not impossible, especially if we get good supports out and make a lot of noise. We are due Ross County at home, so if we win that, and can win our other home matches, then you are looking at a couple of away matches that could make the difference. I don't believe Ross County will get full points from their next five, so we have to scrap and fight as hard as we can so that if/when they do drop points we are right behind them. I'd say we have maybe a 25-30% chance of overtaking Ross County. Everyone else is safe in my book. What we can't do is go into a play off in poor form with the fans on the teams back. If it is a play off let's go into it flying and with that confidence I think we have at least a 50/50 chance against anyone trying to get up.

I don't know if others will agree but if we are going to go down, I think it might be for the best for Rangers to be promoted. I suspect they won't be as bad next season as this one and that leaves us playing for a play off place from the very start of the season. I think we could compete against Hibs, QoS, St. Mirren, Falkirk for a Championship title but like I said Rangers I'd expect to be a lot better next season. Of course that means being relegated by Rangers in a play off which is stomach turning. Like you say though I'd fancy us to win a play off against Rangers more than any of the others. The pressure on Rangers would be immense and I don't think their team is much better than ours at this moment.

McCall v Baraclough - the loser takes the blame!

Our away record is even worse under Baraclough than it was under McCall. In 9 away fixtures under Baraclough we have conceded at least 2 goals in 7 of the matches and we've only kept one clean sheet, which rather damningly was his first match in charge.

That's because we are either the best team in the world or the worst in their eyes. They need to start clocking reality. People on here have shown no respect whatsoever to Partick Thistle before or after the match, when they have totally outperformed us twice on their own ground, and have had a much better season with out throwing money at the team. But we, mighty Motherwell, WOULD have won if not for a simple selection error by the manager. It all came down to one thing because because otherwise how could THEY beat US? Even though history shows we only have a 3 in 10 chance of actually winning there. Seriously deluded.

The blame Sutton people have to recognise a number things. 1) Without Sutton's goals this season we'd already be relegated. 2) Partick Thistle were better all over the pitch than us yesterday and have been all season, look at results and league placing, or if you were one of the 1,000 Motherwell supporters who came to this match on the back of the St. Mirren match expecting a win but weren't at the previous game at Firhill, on our last match there. 3) The team froze under pressure, would any other formation or minor line really change have prevented that? 4) When McDonald, Erwin, Pearson, Lasley, in fact the whole team, is poor, why does Sutton get the blame? 5) We've started Erwin upfront in 6 matches recently , won 3 drawn 1 and lost 1 and one of those wins only came after Erwin was moved to wide left, and the others were against the two poorest form teams in the league. What makes people on here think that we are some invincible outfit with Erwin up and that victory is inevitable?

4 points between 13 Aug and 31 Oct over 11 matches. 5 points between 1 Jan and 13 Mar over 11 matches. And that is why. Not today, Motherwell teams don't often win a Firhill. Those runs are the reason.

No one was really MotM material. Long made a good save but his kicking was suspect all game. Erwin was poor but you can't fault his effort. Really struggling to come up with anything better than that.

If we are relegated it falls on Baraclough's head because he had enough of the season to turn things round but I don't think he did much wrong today in terms of tactics and team selection today. The players simply did not perform today because they knew they had to win and the pressure got to them. Also Partick Thistle I thought were very good, very well organised and worked very hard to make sure we never got a sniff. Balatoni had McDonald in his pocket, and the Partick midfield pressed and closed down our midfield. As a result the two players that have made a difference were shut out the match. I don't think the personnel changes Sutton/Erwin/Johnson had anything to do with it today. The only chance we really had in the game came from Sutton pressuring a defender and if anything we were worse when he went off. Erwin had a stormer on the left against Kilmarnock but he didn't perform today because no one did, the whole team just wasn't up to it and we could't compete against a team that was never going to roll over like some of the poorer teams we've played have. A lot of our fans need to realise that we have no divine right to go to Partick and win, we actually have a poor record there down the years as I tried to explain to one or two of you before the match. As long as it's arithmetically possible I won't be throwing in the towel but we have to be realistic, we are odds on favourites now for the play off and it is going to be very difficult to get up to 10th. However if we are going to survive the play off, we need to go in on a good run of results so even if we lose the chance to escape the play off that has to be the motivation.

A lot of Motherwell supporters needed a wake up call before this match but maybe they've finally got the message. Partick Thistle are a better team than us. Forget about the points, Partick are 27 goals better than us this season. 27! And it showed big time today. They closed us down right across our front four, won every second ball in midfield and looked a lot more dangerous going forward. And as I said before the match, midweek all the pressure was on St. Mirren, today it was all on us. We looked subdued from the very start, players weren't doing the basics, no movement, they looked leggy from a few minutes into the match and we had absolutely no creativity. Basically it was a must win game and we froze big time. Partick for me were far the better team, we never caused them any problems and they ran out well deserved winners. 5 games, we need to win 4 of them at least now. That's the task. We better hope we get 3 home matches post split!

Higginbotham has been poor this season, although he remains a potential danger but he's not been in the form he was last season. Here's one I know you'll enjoy Weeyin. Steven Lawless has the joint top assist record in the Scottish Premiership this season with 8. The others are Marley Watkins, Greig Stewart and our very own Lionel Ainsworth.

Just over 3/1 is not exactly long shot odds when you have the worst away record in the league. The good thing is if we do win, it puts a bit of pressure on Ross County since they are playing on Monday, they'll know they have to get a result and that will definitely be on their minds more than it would have been if they were just concentrating on a Saturday fixture.

They agreed to it because it spreads the money around better. A club that finished further down the league and got less prize money gets an extra set of games and potentially more. Also if there was a straight forward 2nd Championship v 11th Premiership, two teams would lose out. It also means that anyone outside 2nd in the Championship has to beat the league runners up and 11th in the Premiership which I think is fair. Maybe I'm wrong about this but in England isn't it 3rd v 6th and 4th v 5th? That way a team can be promoted without every beating the next best team in the league, which is less fair I think than our system.

Good keeper and out of contract. Craig Samson is out of contract at Killie but I'd imagine they would want to re-sign him and MacDonald is maybe a back up plan. Mark Ridgers is under contract next season at St. Mirren so I'm not sure they would be going for him although Marian Kello is free and will probably be released. You wonder what happened to him that he couldn't get in that St. Mirren team.

Assuming a worse case scenario tomorrow that Partick beat us, Ross County beat St. Mirren. Motherwell 31pts; Ross County 37 pts (+ GD) POST SPLIT Assuming we beat Ross County Motherwell W5 D0 L0 Ross County W2 D2 L1 (15/8 = 7 point gain) Motherwell W4 D1 L0 Ross County W2 D0 L3 (13/6 = 7 point gain) Motherwell W4 D0 L1 Ross County W1 D2 L2 (12/5 = 7 point gain) Motherwell W3 D2 L0 Ross County W1 D1 L3 (11/4 = 7 point gain) So 3 wins out of 5 saves Ross County, no matter what we do. If we drop any points at all we need Ross County to either win only 1 game post split or lose at least 3. If we lose any match, Ross County can't win more than 1 for us to over take them on points. There are other possibilities that go to goal difference which would probably be very, very tight unless we got since big wins.

If we lose and Ross County win they go 6 points ahead with a superior goal difference (although it might be over turned in the final matches). Partick's goal difference is out the park so they effectively have an extra point, and would therefore go 8 points clear in the above scenario. That mean's we'd have to beat Ross County at Fir Park and then gain 4 points over them over the remaining 4 fixtures, which is a big ask; not impossible but it really would be a great escape. Basically we have to match Ross County's result tomorrow, if they win, we have to win, if they draw we can drop 2 points, etc.

Football's a strange game. As for Hamilton, they actually have 2 draws in their last 3, one of which could save our bacon since it was against Ross County.

Remember the Championship season is shorter at 36 games, than the Premiership season at 38 games. Also the Premiership team is left kicking their heels while the Championship clubs in the play offs are playing competitive matches, something of an advantage I'd say in terms of keeping up match fitness. It's true that a team finishing 3rd or 4th has to play 6 games to win promotion but I think it's to the benefit of everyone. Even if the Championship clubs don't get promoted they get some bumper crowds and a bit of excitement at the end of the season. A 3rd or 4th team getting to the play off final could easily play in front of 30,000+ fans. That's hundreds of thousands of pounds, a lot of money for clubs at that level. Also as those with a grouse have pointed out it can seem unfair if a 4th team finishes 15 points behind 2nd and gets promoted. Well I'd say if a 4th team goes through an extra play off, beats 2nd and then wins the play off final against the Premiership, no one can really complain too much and say they won promotion on a fluke.

With our away record? With our record at Firhill (70% loss/draw from last 10)? With Partick's recent form? We are shorter odds away from home than Dundee who have lost 1 match since the New Year.

Well I hope Baraclough had the final say as that should be the managers perogative but Pearson and McDonald where signed due to a number of factors including the chairmans beneficence and the fact that both players had ties to the club. And the point remains that I find it highly doubtful that without Pearson and McDonald we would have turned round. Alternative histories and all that but it remains my opinion. As for fitness levels, I'm sick to death of hearing about them. Sure, we started the season unfit due to the pathetic pre-season instigated by McCall but that was not the problem outside of August. The people that go on about fitness on this forum are the same people that said Lasley was finished and should be put out to pasture. The simple fact of the matter is if you have mental energy, you have physical energy. If, on the other hand, you are getting humped ever week, there are tensions in the dresssing room, people are making bad mistakes, you can't seem to get a lucky break, and you are down the bottom of the league, well, guess what Einsteins, it don't look good on the pitch. Most of us have played the game even if it was only school football or boys club level. No one remember the old lead boots when you went 3-0 down or you are on a bad run and the opposition scores first? Look at Accies, when they blow us away was that fitness or confidence? When we put 4 past them, was that fitness or confidence? Get your head around this. There are no unfit professional footballers, outside of players coming back or playing through injuries, getting regular football in this league. It's impossible. Not addressing Andy P in particular here in case he thinks I'm attacking him personally, this is a general point. In future anyone going on about fitness should go into sports science details as to what our training regime was, why and what was wrong, explain why we've gone through probably the most successful sustained spell for the club since the 1950's using it and then go into detail as to why the new training regime is better, why and what benefits we can expect from it. Or you could stop grasping for incredibly simplistic answers and just belt up about something you know absolutely nothing about! I'll reiterate the point - looking unfit and being unfit are too very different things and team confidence is the single biggest factor in this league where most teams are of pretty much the same standard. Anyway, back to the point, I think Baraclough is a fairly inexperienced manager, with all due respect to Scunthorpe and Sligo, Motherwell is a totally different level of football from the stature of the players he's dealing with on a daily basis, to the hugely increased media interest and the standard of football and opponent. I think he's made a lot of mistakes and, lets be honest about this, skirted very close to losing the fans and therefore his job. He's taken risks that may relegate us. However he may well grow into the role and there are a few signs he may be doing so. I want to see us maintain a level of performance and if we continue to improve, play good football and win matches even if we are relegated, my view would be 'Do I feel positive about Baraclough getting us up again?', rather than 'He put us down, fire him'. Overall, I think that's a pretty even handed view to take.

I've said before I don't want to go back to Hamilton, well, ever! Also Dundee probably wouldn't have much to play for post split might be a bit of a stroll for them whereas Accies are bound to be more up for entertaining Motherwell.

I think it's fairly obvious that Pearson and McDonald have turned us round, rather than Baraclough. If those guys hadn't joined I doubt very much we'd be on the run of good form that we are. I'm speculating because I don't know anything for sure but I think there was some player resistance to changes Baraclough made and perhaps the dressing room didn't have confidence in him, as a minor name in the game, but with things turning round now the camp is probably a lot happier and less fractious. That gives Baraclough a chance to win over the players and prove his coaching methods. I said elsewhere that I think Baraclough changed too much too soon. We won his first two matches, and had found a wee bit of form before under Kenny Black. There was no need to make the drastic changes that Baraclough made in almost one foul swoop. He should have got us out of the relegation zone first before he changed the whole regime at the club. It was a foolhardy and reckless thing to do and we may well still pay the price for that terrible spell through January/February. He got his priorities wrong in my opinion and was far to eager to put his stamp on the club. That's raging ego at play there. Despite the up turn in form we remain the favourites to go into the play offs and perhaps even to be relegated since we will likely face Rangers. However I would personally give Baraclough a second chance depending on our performances post split and if we do finish 11th, in the play offs. If we maintain something like the form of the past month or so I think it would be a harsh axe that fell on his head. However if we tail off or fail with a whimper in a play off then I think you'd have to assess it on the next 6/8 performances.