Ya Bezzer!

Maybe but I still think most managers are far too cautious about giving players a chance. For me you'll never know unless you give players first team football. There have been lots of youth hotshots that do nothing in the men's game but I think it works the other way too. There are players at youth level that only reach their potential when they start playing 'real' football. And I've said this many times, not every youth graduate needs to be 'Turnbull' level. The standard of the league is pretty poor so if players can come in at 18, 19 and compete and then gain experience and improve over the years that's good enough. I think some times we focus on bringing through sellable assets rather than players that are going to serve the club.

We were top six scorers in the league and have scored 17 more goals this season than St Johnstone. This and the 'tombola' are two very tired memes.

He kinda already has. Only 2 bookings in his last 11 appearances. Contrast with 6 bookings in his first 11 appearances.

It's great to be going into the final home game of the season with something to play for. Could be a great night or a bad one but I for one am glad it will have some meaning. This is what football is all about.

You could have answered the question.

First of all pretty much every club that replaced a manager this season went backwards or at least didn't improve any - Aberdeen, Hibs, Dundee, St. Mirren. You could even argue Rangers went backwards, at least in terms of their league challenge when Gerard left. The idea that you replace the manager and things get better just doesn't stand up. The context of the Scottish league is such that the major problems for any manager don't actually change any by replacing one for another, especially when the main thread of criticism is 'better style of football'. The players just aren't there to play good football. Across the league we export anyone with a hint of talent almost immediately. Season after season after season of sold off talent is why we are where we are. At Motherwell and pretty much across Scotland. Only Rangers and Celtic have the millions to replace who they sell. Secondly if you look at the clubs that actually got top 6, they were all managers that were supported by their clubs through quite severe criticism from fans that, quite frankly, often are more concerned about cathartic output than level headed analysis. Hearts fans were desperate for Robbie Neilson to start badly this term so they could continue their Jettison The Manager campaign. Ross County waited till round 11 of the season before they got a win, Dundee Utd had the second worst run of defeats (6) and had a run of 2 wins in 16 mid season. Yet by sticking by the manager they all achieved top 6 finishes. Meanwhile, outside the Top 6, Hibs and their clown owner fired two managers and are currently 8th in the league on a run of 2 wins in 16. The same record Aberdeen currently have although they are even more lowly in 10th. Dundee sacked a manager and haven't won a game since, while St Johnstone stuck with Davidson, despite 8 losses in a row (the worst run of any team this season) and they might well survive. Certainly they have a better chance. I've been arguing for year and years about the steep decline of Scottish football. When we do relatively well people don't want to hear because they feel it is a sort of attack on the achievements of the team. When we do poorly folk make the usual reflex kick at the managers and pile 25 years of game wide mismanagement across Scottish football on a provincial coach a season and a half in. It's time supporters start actually talking a wider view on the poor standards of Scottish football. Every single manager in this league, newly appointed or not, is swimming against a tide of decline decades old.

OF are so far ahead over everyone else it's hard to see that happening. Celtic haven't lost at all since September. Rangers haven't lost at home against any domestic opponent at Ibrox (apart from once against Celtic) since the 19-20 season when Accies beat them.

Fantastic result. Last game of the season, under lights, against Hearts, we win we pretty much seal European football. I'm excited. And we got a clean sheet.

Wee fact I noticed, Ross County have only scored once in open play in the last 7 matches. They have had 3 penalties in that time though. Dare we dream of keeping a clean sheet? Or not conceding a penalty!

This kinda feels like this seasons Cup Final. Certainly can't lose if we want European football. One of our biggest problems this season is the away form which is abysmal. Not won away since November, 11 matches I think. However these things have to change eventually. Hopefully who ever is out there today is up for the game and gives their best. And it would be nice if we got some of the good luck Ross County had at our place last time....

Bit unlucky so far..... BUT..... 1 clean sheet in 16 league matches is the reason we can't win a game. We need a new back four for next season.

It's easier to mock when folk display a complete lack of understanding of the whole situation around Motherwell FC and the whole context of Scottish football. We have to play to our strengths, Alexander did that, did it better than the bottom half of the league, did it better than teams with massive budget advantages all the while trying to repair and rebuild relegation candidates who lost all of their best players over the last few seasons. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do, we did that and, believe it or not, it worked. Yes, it worked. Next season is a different stage of development. I want Alexander to bring in at least a couple of technically better players in key positions so we can move forward and adapt our tactics but that is easier said than done and there are no guarantees. A lot of our supporters need a massive dose of reality.

Maybe, just maybe, it takes more than one summer transfer window to build a good team especially when there is no outstanding talent already there and you are operating on a budget.

We were fine first half. Second half we lost a poor goal 2 minutes in and then Rangers put everyone behind the ball and hit us on the break. Since we have virtually no technical ability in the team that was pretty much a death sentence for us. In fact today is almost a validation of Alexander's tactics over the season. When we are on the ball we are hopeless. I know that. Alexander knows that. A lot of our fans haven't caught on to that yet cos they operate on mollusc level logic. Nothing changes until we have players that can put a foot on the ball and defensively organise themselves. Given the limitations of the squad Alexander has done a reasonable job. I don't think he's a great manager, but I think he's done enough to get the opportunity to improve the side over the close season. Alexander has guided us away from looking like relegation certainties to Top 6 - is that worthy of the level of abuse he gets? Not for me. As for it being rubbish to watch, of course it is, it's Scottish football. Scottish football is utter garbage.

Tactically inept and he got this squad of players into the top 6? Righto. And we might be on a poor run but we have never lost more than two matches in a row. That should show people that, while not very good, we are at least competitive in the league.

42 posts and you are coming out with this garbage? My opinions about Alexander are all over the forum. They were all over the forum before you even turned up.

If we were tactically inept it wouldn't have been 1-1 at half time and we wouldn't have two draws at Ibrox this season against a vastly superior Rangers team. People need to stop talking rubbish.

There are lots of things that need to be improved but are people really drawing conclusions on the manager from a match against a Rangers team that's in a Euro semi final and has lost one league match in two seasons against any domestic opponent other than Celtic? Rangers are streets ahead of us in every position. We did well to compete in the first half but our flaws were there to be exploited in the 2nd half. These remaining games are about giving some fringe players a chance and building towards next season. Everyone KNOWS a win is going to be hard to come by. Alexander is not going to be sacked after 8th and 6th finishes. Just give it a rest. And while you are giving it a rest why don't you just think about recent managerial sackings in Scotland - Were they on reflection justified? Did they work out? Did the 'fans' get it wrong? The answers are mostly obvious.

First half was decent enough but the second half was our biggest problem this season - not being able to defend. Losing a goal within 2 minutes of the restart against 10 men that should have been preventable has lost us the match. We've had 1 clean sheet in 15 matches and that's not good enough. Over the close season we need to completely revamp our back line and midfield because we are hopeless when the opposition has the ball in our half. Don't get close enough to people, don't make tackles, we press the ball in the opposition half but in our half we hand out invitations.

Alexander's record against Rangers isn't too shabby. I'll take one 1-6 defeat for 3 draws out of four.

I'm happier with a Saturday fixture. If some other nefarious force could move it to 3pm with 1 day's notice I'd be even happier.

We could catch them at a good time if they play a weaker side and/or have Euro glory on their minds instead of taking each game as it comes. Let's just hope having suffered the last match at Fir Park we get a better performance/result.

I don't get this. You'd rather Motherwell lose out because of what Rangers fans say? They are intolerable anyway, even with 1 trophy in a decade or whatever it is. Motherwell fans should be focused on Motherwell.

Las was fantastic for us over a long, long period. I'd even go as far as saying that the decision to steal him from under Kilmarnock's noses for his 2nd spell was a historically important one for the club.

Not good but I think we were pretty fortunate with the regular season fixtures. Surely we aren't going to lose three times to Dundee Utd away from home?