Ya Bezzer!

Turn the flood lights on!

For the record our European scorers are 5 - Stevie KIRK, Jamie MURPHY 4 - Ross FORBES 2 - Alex BURNS, John SUTTON 1 - Dougie ARNOTT, Tommy COYNE, Nick CUSACK, Billy DAVIES, Shaun HUTCHINSON, Paul McGRILLEN, Bob McHUGH, Shaun McSKIMMING, Paul SLANE

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Joint top with Stevie Kirk, I think. EDIT. Yep, Kirk scored 2 against GKS Katowice and 3 against HB.

Murphy! I was waiting for that to be disallowed for some reason. Hopefully we can go in at the break 1-0 up now and get some confidence from that goal.

Where is Forbes playing? Out left or behind the strikers?

Yeah, running through the opposition with the ball. Shitebag in the tackle? I'll bet he won more fouls than any other player in recent times, when O'Brien was getting kicked, elbowed, pulled, hauled down and chopped you were probably stuffing a pie in your face.

He'll get a good reception from me where ever he goes but I highly doubt he will end up at Celtic in the immediate future. First of all he is earning much more in the Premiership than Celtic can pay him - why would he take a step down in wages? Secondly he is 27 years old, he is entering his peak years as a footballer - why would be take a step down in level when he should be playing at the highest level? I could maybe see him coming back to Scotland at 31 or 32 or something like that but not at this stage in his career.

I'd like us to challenge for the top 6 but I don't expect us to finish top 6 and if we do its a bonus. As others have said there are 6 city clubs in Scotland with a lot more resources than we have and normally you'd expect them to take the top places. I'd expect us to see off Breidablik and would like a run in at least one of the cup competition but generally I'm happy if a) we play reasonably well and b) we stay clear of the relegation zone.

I think you were watching a different match because Hateley, Humphrey and Sutton were probably our worst three players and even our best players on the night weren't by any stretch of the imagination "outstanding".

Gannon had money to bring in players (McGhee comp, Quinn, Clarkson transfers) Brown hasn't had anything like that to bring players in. As for Gannon's brilliant transfer policy a mere season later Mouataoukil, Jutkieiwcz, Ruddy and Coke are history, and Hateley had to be signed up by Brown during the close season. 12 months after he appeared all we really have Gannon to thank for is Jennings since Humphrey hasn't really done anything yet.

How many Motherwell players have scored double figure tallies in 3 different seasons in the last ten years? In terms of goals he's our 4th top scorer since we were promoted in the mid eighties (only Kirk, Arnott and Coyne scored more) and is in the Top Twenty SPL goalscorers since the leagues formation. He was also, by my reckoning, our best player for his last final two seasons by some distance which is why we got one of the biggest fees for him the club has ever received. He even won Scotland caps while at the club and is probably the only Motherwell player to score an international goal for Scotland while at the club for 40+ years.

-----------------------Ruddy------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------- Corrigan---Craigan--------Reynolds-----Hammell ------------------------------------------------------- McFadden--Leitch----------O'Donnell-----Pearson ------------------------------------------------------- -------------McDonald------Clarkson--------------- -------------------------------------------------------

Just out of interest did anyone emerge from the 'Well team that lost in the semi finals against Man Utd?

Just echo what others have said - I reckon if we score we'll go through and if we score first I think we can sink the tie there and then. If Breidablik score first though it could get nervous! As for dropping Forbes, I wouldn't when we need an away goal and he's scored 3 in our last 4 games and is probably our second best bet for a goal outside of Sutton in the squad.

The problem with Reynolds is he isn't really any better now than he was in his first full season. He is a decent player but he still has the same little flaws in his game and hasn't really ironed them out over the years. To me he's stalled between levels. Good enough for the SPL, not good enough to push for international caps or really attract teams to come after him.

He was a Celtic fan. I'm sure if you or I had been playing at Queen's Park or Clyde and Motherwell came in for us, even if it was unlikely that we'd make it to the first team we'd want to give it a try, that plus a pay rise into the bargain! As for loan signings, when Motherwell bring players in on loan its for the benefit of Motherwell, not to develop them for other clubs. If Slane was brought back it would be because he'd give the team something it doesn't have right now not because we would be doing Celtic a favour! Anyway I didn't hear the "we shouldn't be developing other teams players" complaint when Ruddy was on loan. What happened? Everton cashed in and we were left without a goalkeeper. Seems it's only a problem if its a Celtic player.

Re: Hateley/Saunders Hateley hardly played any football in the warm up matches so must have been even more of the pace than the rest. I think I'm right in saying he only made 1 sub appearance in the 3 warm up matches and has been carrying an injury. Saunders is good at attacking the ball but he still has a lot to learn about positioning, picking up his man, situational awareness, keeping in line etc. In fact against any opponent that moves around a bit, he worries me slightly. Last night he was caught out a couple of times but got away with it. I'd stick with Hateley although I thought he was one of our poorer performers last night. It just seems to me Hateley at right back and a clean sheet go hand in hand.

Hammell.

Interesting to see what the board makes of tonights performance. First of all Breidablik. They were streets ahead of Llanelli and Flamurtari Vlore. I thought they might flag in the second half being only part timers but if anything they looked to have more in the tank than we did. Almost everyone in the team could pass the ball and they weren't a bad outfit at all. I'd go as far as to say if they played in the SPL they would have a decent chance of survival. However.... We were miles off the pace in terms of fitness and game sharpness and yet our goalkeeper didn't have a real save to make in the match and we won 1-0. It wasn't the best from us but we will be better by the next game and I'd hope we would be able to score at least once in Iceland making it a difficult task for Breidablik. None of our players were really at top form but most of them tried hard and I'm reasonably confident we will go through. I don't see any reason why we should fear Breidablik on their own patch although they won't roll over but I think we are a bit better than them. Randolph (6) Not much to do, one easy save to make and that was it but looked confident and commanding. Hateley (5) Looked off the pace even taking into consideration the early start to the season. Craigan (6) Hasn't got any faster over the summer but looked reasonably assured. Reynolds (6) Started well but then had a few shaky touches but general on top of things. Hammell (7) Good performance from Hammell, never really troubled at left back, won lots of balls, looked in good condition Jennings (6) Obviously not in peak condition but did OK in the midfield role. Lasley (7) Energetic as ever, even showed some good touches. Forbes (6) I see the debate going on as regards Forbes. Can't run, doesn't look fit, even looks a little lazy sometimes but all our best stuff came off his foot whether it be crosses, corners, defence splitting passes and of course the goal. Humphrey (4) I'm afraid I seen nothing from him to suggest he is a player, tonight or most of last season. Sutton (5) A bit lumbering tonight, needs to sharpen up. Murphy (7) Very lively, showed some excellent touches but lacks the final ball. Hopefully that will come with more games. MotM: Stevie Hammell for a good, solid performance.

Really? The two bottom sections of the East Stand have more empty seats than filled ones. I'd say at least 30% of the seats in the East Stand are still available. I think we'll be lucky to break 6,000 but that's still a decent crowd for us these days.

Highly unlikely Breidablik are as good as MyPa. MyPa had top quality players like Sami Hyppia and Joonas Kolkka plus a bunch of experienced Finnish international players like Tianen, Jakonen, Mahlio, Koskinen. I might be wrong but I think Breidablik only have a couple of players with 1 or 2 caps and a bunch of U21's. They are nowhere near the level of MyPa - on paper at least. Of course you could also say our current team is nowhere near as good as the one that lost against MyPa!

Maybe its like a fancy restaurant when they say there are no tables left but when some one important appears they magically manage to find one.

Aye! Summer football! I just walked from Motherwell station to Watsonville and it's like someone threw me into a swimming pool. It was actually raining so hard it went through my leather boots. The floodlights are on so presumably someone is running about on the pitch churning it up before the season has even started!

Are you sure we are seeded for the third round? From what I see there will be 42 teams in the third qualifying round and there is no chance we would be in the top 21 sides based on our co-efficient of 6.158, in fact I make it we would be ranked 31st out of the 42 teams.