Ya Bezzer!

John Philliben basically played about 350 games for us plugging any hole in McLean's back 5. Could play anywhere across the back. He played a lot at right back latterly. Stevie Kirk was mostly a midfielder but at times played upfront as a striker. Tom Boyd mostly a centre back or left back. I do seem to remember him having a spell in midfield though. Didn't he score twice against Hibs playing in a midfield role? It was 5 decades back so I might be wrong!

Does anyone know why the SPFL highlights of this match have been taken down and aren't available any more?

If we consistently can't bring in the right type of players during the summer I wouldn't get your hopes up for the winter window. It's getting harder and harder to bring in good quality players . You've got the impression it's been a real struggle going back over several managers now and Hammell probably has fewer contacts in the game.

I didn't see the game today but I think Moult can still play in a 4-4-2. Any other formation probably not.

He wasn't the worst player to go through the club recently but he was inconsistent and injured half the time. For me he had his chance and moving him on was fair enough. We should judge players on 'did they do enough' rather than 'are they better than this lot'.

He's been out for a while with a fractured foot. So he's defo not fit. Apparently Toby Sibbick did him in training.

St Johnstone are in decent form. Run of 4 unbeaten, with 3 wins and have only lost 1 in 5 home matches and that was against Celtic. Having said that if everything went to form I'd be a lot richer. Our injury issues are a bit concerning. This is a game we really need to get something out of, even if it's only a draw. We need to avoid St Johnstone going 7 pts ahead of us.

Like Rangers a couple of weeks ago Celtic were there for the taking tonight. The team battled away but the stupid decision making and inability to pass, keep possession or put in a good final ball was glaring. Our lack of ability on the ball is actually embarrassing. It's amateur level stuff. The 2nd Celtic goal summed us up. Not only completely avoidable but us turning what should be pressure on Celtic into guaranteed nil points with sheer sloppiness. That's us 1 league win at home from 7 this season and that was a dodgy pen that VAR probably wouldn't even give these days. Can't really afford for St Johnstone to go 7 points ahead of us so we really need to get something out of that match.

We are 4 points off the play off spot with the worst form in the league, an inexperienced manager and obvious defects as a team. Some teams above us have games in hand. I think it's fair to say if we don't pick up anything in the next two matches we are starting to look a little adrift in the bottom 4.

Slattery and Spittal are the two biggest disappointments for me this season. If O'Donnell comes in for McGinn we are going to be in a bit of bother. I mean that's probably the case anyway but I mean even more so.

In the three matches we've played since VAR was introduced we've seen three game changing decisions that were wrong. Penalty against Aberdeen not given, Watt sent off for nothing and Gordon not getting sent off today. We are paying a 6 figure sum annually for VAR and it's not made a blind bit of difference except to make the matches even more unwatchable with long stoppages.

VAR a worthwhile addition to the Scottish game providing correct decisions and fairness for all. How much are we paying a year for this?

Hearts should have absolutely buried us in the first half. We've lost a goal in first half injury time and against 10 men. Gordon HAS to be sent off but isn't because he's the cuddly toy of Scottish football. Come back from 0-2. Lose it to a penalty right at the end. What's it like being a Motherwell supporter, eh?

I don't care if they get the decisions wrong or right. I've lived with that for 40 years and we've already seen that VAR makes no difference on that standard. However if there are 3 or 4 minute delays for refs to make decisions for things like goals then the game is done for me as a spectator sport.

Watt challenge was never a red card and if people are saying it's the law then the law is a hinderance to the game and needs to be changed. Reminded of, I think, one of the games from the last Euros when a played was sent off and a penalty given when there was absolutely no contact. Think it was one of the Sweden games. Anyway it was deemed dangerous play with no contact but I don't think there is even any force or aggression in Watt's actions. Sure, give a foul, maybe even a booking, but a red card? We have 5 wins in 13 which is reasonable but if you look closer 4 of those wins are away from home and 3 of them are shitefest 1-0s with a wee bit of luck through in. Again it just begs the question, how does a team like Motherwell compete and entertain at the same time?

Aberdeen were terrible at the back but not bad going forward. In the first 10 minutes they made 2 big blunders at the back and we didn't even attempt to take advantage of them, we just let them recover and get away with it and that kind of set a pattern. Aberdeen are definitely there for the taking defensively but we didn't put them under enough pressure, especially first half. However one thing Aberdeen did do that we just don't is load the box. Pretty much every time Aberdeen attacked they got 4 or 5 players into the 18 yard box. Our players just don't do that.

Celtic rested a lot of their first team against St Mirren and put in their worst display of the season. Obviously not taking that in as a factor but that's hardly surprising because you don't do nuanced consideration. As for Livingston, they pretty much play the Alexander game, remember him, two results against Rangers last season, and that was deemed unacceptable by our support. As for your second point, I can throw your daft argument straight back at you. How do you know? Were you there at the interviews? My view is based on an internal appointment and barely even any press speculation on anyone else. If you can back up that there was a good, experienced manager with a track record that was serious about wanting the job let me know. The whole point of my post was if you don't want 'eye bleed' football how do we compete in this league? Because it seems, unless we get some unexpected results, we'll be sitting near the bottom of the league when the break comes. You served up no answer and preferred to yap, chihuahua-like at the poser of the question. I wasn't surprised.

It's not very good but it was better than the one he inherited. Remember back then when we were about 3 months away from the Championship?

VAR was shocking today. Aberdeen scored in 4 minutes and I think it took them longer than that to award the goal.

Don't blame Hammell, he was put in a terrible position. No one else wanted the job and that's why he's there. And forget about managers, formations, line ups. This is a squad of footballers who, for the most part, cannot pass a ball and have next to no game intelligence in terms of moving into space or releasing the ball. That's all the analysis you need. Essentially they don't have the basics skills to play 'on the carpet'. Alexander's 'eye bleed' football might not have been great to watch but it maximised what we had as points over a season. Now we are trying to play football and giving the ball away, again and again because we literally can't play the way fans want to see the game played. Yet again we had just over 4,000 home supporters at the match. We are self financing. We simply do not have the financial power to bring in quality footballers. There are 3rd or 4th tiers of football that have more money than us. That's the brutal truth. Alexander's way was deemed unacceptable by our support. So what's the realistic alternative? As I've said for some time there I think there is a real disconnect between where we are as a club and where some of our supporters think we should be. That's an enormous danger because it's delusions that bring the great downfalls.

Looking forward to seeing, fingers crossed, my first goal from open play this season. Hoping for it to be down my end of the pitch would be probably asking too much!

Aberdeen's away form in the league has been shite. W1 D1 L3 and 4-13 goals for and against. Their defence is as bad as it was last season. If we don't go into this one looking for a win we have big problems.

Let's have a red card sweepstake. Someone write 1 to 22 on a bit of paper and cut them out.

3 league goals scored at home so far this season. 1 OG, 1 penalty and 1 free kick. Literally not score in open play half way through October...

Call me a cynic but somehow I don't think we are going to operate VAR better than the English Premiership does.