Lobey_Dosser

I immediately booked a hotel in Wrexham so that would be handy. I now need to get my head round the options for Sligo.

Brilliant for wee Al, thoroughly deserved. I hope he’s managed to shake the injury he was carrying in the last few weeks of the season. Fingers crossed we get the opportunity to see him in Cardiff.

One of my all time favourites. I’ve never been one for collecting stuff but I strangely kept a hold of my match ticket after his debut at Ibrox and still have it now. Good luck to him, he’s been outstanding for Motherwell on and off the park.

I’m pleased for Alexander more than anyone. Folk seem to forget that we were spiralling towards relegation under Robinson. We’ve now achieved a key objective for the season and right in the hunt for a European place. That’s exciting, regardless of our style of play.

I really enjoyed that game last night. Dunfermline were very good in the first half in particular, playing at a high tempo with some lovely patterns of play. Dom Thomas was excellent and offered an end product.

The lineup threw me, as it often does under Alexander, but the tactics were far from bizarre. The game plan appeared to be to match up with Maloney’s 343, which has been powderpuff until today, and overpower them. There was enough evidence to suggest it may have worked with 11 on the park. Having said that, I’d question both the starting personnel and the decision not to substitute Ojala for O’Donnell early in the first half.

Hard lines. Who knows how it would have panned out if wasn’t for the red card which was the right decision. We rightly went out with a plan to be aggressive but Mugabi, and Roberts by the looks of it, went too far. Nevertheless, there was enough about hat performance to give me confidence that we can still finish the season well. I was pleased to see Donnelly respond so well to the recent criticism. At the other end of he scale though, McGinley was weak and Ojala looks more and more a liability each week.

I’ve always liked Donnelly despite never been convinced he is a proper midfielder. Today, I actually felt sorry for him when the boos rung out as O’Hara was subbed but it baffles me that he is starting week in week out. Slattery playing as the pivot was integral to to our early season success, I’m equally as baffled as to why he’s been on the fringes since Christmas.

What a result. Well done Motherwell. Well done Alexander.

Superb news regarding Bevis, I wasn’t expecting that. His development, particularly under Alexander, has been a real highlight.

That was a proper cup tie today, I absolutely loved it. Some would have had question marks about the midfield selection before kickoff but O’Hara was outstanding on his return and Donnelly was at the heart of everything. As a team, we showed true grit and determination to recover from a shaky start and should have won more comfortably in the end. Credit to Alexander for getting everything spot on today to get us into the quarter finals and rack up a 3rd victory over Aberdeen this season - is a 4th next week too much to ask for? Early days but Efford has shown plenty of promise, he might turn out to be a bit of a fans favourite.

For the first time in a while, there are plenty of contenders for motm. I was pleased to see Donnelly have a good game given the criticism he’s been receiving and O’Hara was excellent on his return - great call from Alexander to start him. Efford and Shields also impressed and there’s more to come from them. Motm though has to be KVV for spearheading a fine team performance, Aberdeen couldn’t handle him.

I can’t think of this game without Rory Fallon popping into my head. Nevertheless, I’m looking forward to seeing how we respond to recent disappointments. I like Alexander a lot but recent chopping and changing has been a little unnerving. I hope we can get our best 11 players on the park on Saturday. Last time we met at Fir Park, Watt nullified the influence of Brown - I wonder who will have that task on Saturday.

An utterly dreadful 2nd half performance against a team that was there for the taking. I like Alexander but we’re on a slippery slope now, we appear to have lost the plot since Watt moved on.

Real lack of quality in key areas at key moments. I don’t think Alexander will wait long to make changes to the front three. I’m struggling to recall if I ever seen Ojala run prior injury, hopefully tonight isn’t the norm.

The growing gulf between the big two and ourselves gets more depressing by the year but there’s not much we can do about it with the widening finances. Specific to today, we were up against a Celtic team that’s in a very good place just now so it’s not a performance to dwell on. It’s vital though that we get a response to our dip in form at Tannadice, then follow it up against Aberdeen. The challenge for Alexander is finding the shape and personnel that can carry a threat going forward post Watt. I’d be surprised if we persist with the box in midfield any longer, I’d revert to 433 or 4312 and get some pace and creativity back in the team.

I don’t mind the shift to the back 3, particularly if it gives Carroll license to push forward with the ball. Struggling to work out who will play closest to KVV though, with this shape I’d have expected Tierney to play as the 10.

Excellent. To think where we were a year ago, it’s been an outstanding turnaround. And not only are we winning games but Alexander and his staff are evidently developing our players, some of whom were struggling badly prior to his arrival.

United must be offering silly money for Watt to jump at that deal so quickly. Good luck to him if that’s the case, United really are a drab team to watch though. I hope we can sort something out for him to move in January to prevent things turning slightly sour, United have probably ploughed all their money into Watt’s signing-on fee though.

Really depressing news today but the writing has been on the wall for a good few weeks. As hard as it is, much of Europe and beyond will implement similar restrictions on crowds, indeed some already have. Here’s hoping however that crowds (of at least 25/50%) can return quicker than last year once the booster has been rolled out to a sufficient level. Grim spell ahead unfortunately, fingers crossed those that cling onto Motherwell and football for a bit of light relief and pleasure can get through it safely.

Well said.

Outstanding yet again from SODs. What a guy, what a team.

Mugabi, by some distance.

That was a helluva comedown from being at Hampden last Saturday. Celtic obviously have some decent quality amongst their ranks but they remain a fragile team that we never came close to testing today. I found the inclusion of Goss a strange one and it played in Celtic’s hands, allowing their midfield three to dictate from start to finish. Hopefully we can up our performance levels at Tannadice next week or the good start to the season will be quickly forgotten unfortunately.

Glad to see him punted. The fact that some of us, myself included, were content to see him sign is a painful reminder of how bad we were last Jan.