star sail

I don't really understand the logic in what you say. You are using Ross County as an example of a team who, thanks to a good management team have improved considerably having quickly brought together the new signings into a cohesive unit. Motherwell matched them yesterday. This is a team that is on a good run (3 victories in a row before yesterday) and everybody is happy (and rightly so) to give the Ross County team and management praise and plaudits. We matched them yesterday suggesting that we have improved and there is next to nothing in the way of positivity and praise. I do not understand why our own fans are using all kinds of reasons to have a go at our team and management. Here in one big positive. For the last 18-24 months, I have watched Motherwell teams lose goal after goal in the last 10 mins of games to lose or draw matches from winning positions due to fading badly in the second half of matches. Yesterday we scored in injury time to salvage a point against a fit, strong RC side. That's good. That for me is progress.

Of the teams we were fighting against when Baraclough took over, Ross County, Kilmarnock, Partick Thistle and St Mirren, one has since been relegated and two currently sit below us in the SPFL. We matched Ross County today, a team that have a highly rated management team in Jim McIntyre and Billy Dodds and by all accounts have made big strides forward since they took over in September 2014. I would say, putting opinion to one side for a minute, that those facts would suggest that progress has been made. Certainly under no circumstances could you agree that we are witnessing 'a terminal decline' based on those facts.

I agree with the comments made by yourself and The African. I think what has been lost and forgotten about however within this thread is the fact that the club and squad are going through a fairly major transition. I have said this several times before but I don't think we can really understate the rudderless, directionless nature of the club a year ago. Add to that an ageing, unbalanced squad and by November when McCall decided to call it quits it really was a club in crisis. What this thread has taught me is that as a support we don't have the stomach for rebuilding and long term projects. We talk a good game about giving the young players a chance, bringing in players that will have re-sale value in a few years and yet when these players don't perform instantly and the new squad of players find it difficult to gel this thread grows by 5 pages over a single week. We should have aspirations to be a top six club but we have no right to be there and certainly the end of August is far to early to be guessing as to how this season might actually pan out. Maybe we should go back to the 'proven Scottish manager' idea, a guy (eg Jimmy Calderwood) who knows the Scottish game with journeymen players of similar ilk where every point is a prisoner at the expense of any long term strategy. If that does happen however lets drop the pretense that we have any interest in the long term and the future of our young players.

Is this a parody on the newly born clichés of the Baraclough out thread or a genuine comment?

In a week when an away league cup victory and the bringing in of a Championship standard forward has brought about a baffling amount of angst and anxiety, maybe a win today will just be to much for some people to take. For me it's all good news. We get to look forward to a cup tie at Cappielow, a place that has fond memories for many of us, we finally have the prospect of a strong competitive bench each week (Fletcher, Thomas, Moult, Clarkson, Leitch for example) all desperate to come on and show what they can do, as opposed to the seasons when you look to the bench and hope that the manager does not need to make any substitutions. Motherwell are favourites today. They have had a more consistent start to the season and I believe that they have a stronger squad so all the signs are that we should have taken a big step forward from the thumping we received at Rugby Park in late August last season. I am confident of a narrow victory today. If things start to click into place it could be reasonably convincing. If we don't win or get beat, should Baraclough go? My opinion is definitely not but I can see that for some they will begin to ask some serious questions. 2-1 Well.

Sorry predictive txt. How does arithmetic come from raith?

Yes but if we had lost to Dunfermline, arithmetic rovers or Falkirk tonight then the knives would be out, so for that reason the comparison is valid. The point I am trying to make is that those who want to back the manager will see the positives, those who don't will see the negatives. Even facts are open to interpretation depending on what you want to get out of them.

Yes ya bezzer and won 3-1 away from home. That's a result in anyone's book surely?

We get it. Your gutted with tonight's result. Maybe you will get the result you want on Saturday, maybe you wont. For tonight I am just happy that we are in the next round of the Cup when others have failed this evening and we have struggled in the recent past.

Dundee are out, Accies are out, Thistle are out, Hearts are struggling away from home. It's a typical league cup evening. Motherwell have struggled through on nights like this many times before. Hartley must go. Imposter!!!!

Love it when this chat starts. We watch plays week in week out make the same mistakes. Poor decision making in good areas, allowing wingers and midfield players to ghost past them, misplaced passes over 10 yards etc, etc then we discover that it's all because the players don't like the manager and they are 'downing tools'. Think how good these players would be if they liked the manager. Maybe just as good as they were at the start of last season, after all they all loved Stuart McCall.

The loss of Pearson is proving to be telling. My feeling is that were Fletcher and Pearson playing in our first five games things would be looking much brighter. Added to that, McDonald has had a poor start to the season, probably due to a lack of pre-season. Very similar to the McFadden situation a few years ago. It is fine lines between success and failure in this league and I believe that the misfortunes of these three players are really costing us. Baraclough can't be blamed for the injuries or McDonald's lack of form (unless people believe that McDonald would be playing well under a different manager). Again there is a real old firm feel about this board at the moment with calls for the managers head and a real lack of patience. Martin Canning was a dud a few weeks back according to many and suddenly after a couple of good results, Accies are riding high again. Paul Hartely was in line for the World Manager of the year award after the Kilmarnock game and now Dundee are sitting mid table having had a mediocre start to the season. Things could all look very different in a months time. More time needed for the manager and the team. Also the young lad Taylor is not nearly as bad as some are making him out to be. I seem to remember this chat early doors with Long, Laing and Johnston.

Hammell cost us the second goal I felt. A terrible free kick that was floated in short of the 18 yard box thereby taking every Motherwell player out the game and allowing Aberdeen the perfect platform to break and get the free kick that led to the goal. He knew it to and let his head go down for the remainder of the game. Those suggesting that the four performances at the start of this season are as poor as the start of last season either have very poor memories or are just not prepared to give our current management and team any breathing space at all. Aberdeen will have much easier wins this year and with just a little bit more fortune we could have been sitting on 5 pts this evening with two home draws. I think we have played three of what could be the top four teams this year. It's what happens now that will make or break our season.

The thing is though that if as a support we genuinely believed that it is early days and that it is going to take time then we would not have had the mini meltdown we have seen after a difficult night at Tynecastle. Looking at it objectively we should be happy with 2 reasonable performances out of 3 and should be looking at today as a very difficult game where any sort of result would be welcome. The fact is though that football fans don't do objectivity well so, crazy as it is, there is already a feeling that anything short of a draw will make many Motherwell fans start to feel very edgy. For me a competitive performance will do today even if that results in a narrow defeat. A goal or two would be very welcome. 1-2 for the visitors I think. Would be very happy with a draw.

+3 I thought somebody was having a wee laugh at first until I saw that it was the topic starter that was resurrecting this. Must have been a long summer waiting to see if you would get the chance to get this going again. With last nights result it must have felt as if Christmas had come early.

Thought Ripley was excellent but Lasley was superb for the full 90 mins. Total commitment from the Captain so he get's my vote.

I was disappointed that this thread was ever started and I am still a bit mystified at the criticism he has received. When he took over in early December, I felt that top flight survival would be a massive success and he has achieved that. It is old ground now but at the time the injury list was at crisis levels, experienced players like McManus and Lasley were playing with little or no confidence, players like Ainsworth and Vigurs were going through the motions and there was a massive feeling of lethargy about the club. He is articulate and calm in interviews (a fault according to some of the fans), he has given the young players a chance, individual players have improved gradually since January (McManus, Lasley and Ainsworth being prime examples), he has brought in a whole new structure to the club (fitness coach, assistant manager) and brought in players in January that improved the squad significantly. Johnston looks like a great signing, Long showed in the last two games the potential he has, Grant is a very tidy, talented young player and Laing has I am sure a big future in the game. He has signed Dom Thomas on a long term deal and Erwin now has a reputation that few could have imagined pre Christmas. Then there is Pearson and McDonald. Again a section of the support were not prepared to give Baraclough any credit for these signings but lets not forget that McCall did not take up the option of Pearson back in the summer. To top it all off he has brought us the first victory against Rangers at Ibrox since 1997 and the first Firpark win since 2003. Billy Davis, Terry Butcher, Jim Gannon, Mark McGhee, Craig Brown and Stuart McCall (amongst others) have all held the managers seat in that time. I wanted Van der Gaag as the Motherwell manager so I have no hidden agenda but I think that Baraclough has done an outstanding job and has given this Well fan the best 3/4 days as a supporter since the 1991 Cup Semi final and Final. Congratulations Ian Baraclough. Onwards and upwards!!

Ian Baraclough, the first Motherwell manager to win at Ibrox since 1997. Sunday will be a long day. Will enjoy it tonight though.

McCall thought Law was a player worth bringing to the club and Baraclough thinks he is good enough to keep. That'll do for me. Good news.

I agree whole heartedly with the 4-5-1 formation. I have always felt that Ramsden looks a bit lightweight in the miidle of the park (although agree he performed well in the Utd game Al B) so would go with Connor Grant, who has the makings of a very tidy football player indeed. Crazy as it may sound I would go with Sutton up top. With a strong 5 across the middle, providing width, service to the frontman should not be an issue. I would take Sutton to convert those chances over Erwin or McDonald. Erwin and McDonald are better at making something happen but with 5 in the middle (2 being wingers) they should have more than enough to get things going. So my prediction if it's Ibrox is a John Sutton hat-trick, all within the 6 yard box, with assists from Johnston (2) and Ainsworth (1). 0-3 to the good guys and all the pain of season 14-15 and the last decade of misery inflicted by Rangers slipping away down the Govan back streets. Easy!!!!!

A St Mirren win tomorrow and unbelievably our fate is back in our own hands given that Killie play RC on the last game of the season. The old achillies heal was back tonight of letting a poor Kilmarnock side back into the game at 2-0 when they should have been dead and buried but the win is all that matters. I just feel that some of the individual decision making is going to have to be better if we are to avoid the drop. edit: sorry our fate would not be back in our own hands. Could have a situation on the last day of the season where Killie and RC have a gentleman's agreement to play out a draw to both go on to 42 points. All lot of water to pass under the bridge before that right enough.

Is Martin Canning an imposter? What about Gary Locke? Jackie McNamara he must be an imposter too. I only mention them because their managerial records are worse than Baraclough's over the last few months. Jim McIntyre's record up until they went on their run was woeful spanning some five months from September to January. Was he an imposter back then too?

A lot of negativity on the boards yet again this evening, largely unmerited. Let's give the opposition some credit. RC battled hard today, played the referee to perfection and threw their bodies at everything. We matched them and could have with a bit of luck got the win. Let's not forget that this team have been for some weeks now on an incredible run. That does not happen by accident and today was always going to be very difficult. Much is being made of 1 point in three games but PT have hit a bit of form, their record in the last couple of month's being excellent and Accies are no mugs despite a dip in form. Yet again people are happy to jump on the Baraclough must go band wagon. I asked about a week ago on the Baraclough out thread for people to give some constructive comments on how the tactics could be improved or the team set up differently to make the difference and guess what there was not one single idea or reply. I have said for months now that this season was lost back in July. For Baraclough to get us 10th or above would have been a job well done. With three games to go that is still a possibility. That many have thrown in the towel displays the same lack of fight that we criticise the players for. On the transfer window chat, Pearson should have been a good signing as should McDonald. It was the experience we needed. These two players have not done enough. Grant and Johnston were good signings. Laing in my view has improved the solidity at the back. Long is maybe the one that will divide opinion. The signings were fine for a January transfer window. The problem is that it has not been enough to plug the massive weaknesses in the squad and the experienced players have not done enough. McDonald's decision making today was unacceptable for a player of his experience. I don't know how a manager can influence that. A win on Friday and it is game on again despite what the doom-mongers would have us believe.

I think that what you say is right but how can it be fixed? By making a change in one area of the park another area is compromised. For me the problem has been for some time that the squad is poor to the extent that when one hole is plugged another one opens. A few examples of this would play: Play two wide men and lose dominance in the middle of the park or pack the middle and lose the delivery from wide areas. Play Sutton and lose the mobility of Erwin or play Erwin and lose the goal threat of Sutton. These are just two very simple examples. There has been much criticism of Baraclough's tactics without any real suggestions on how to solve the problems. He can only work with what he has. I think he has done the right thing by sticking by Lasley but the reality is that our captain has only had half a dozen decent games all season. When such an influential player is having little influence and there is no obvious replacement the ramifications in other areas of the park are clear to see. I would be interested to hear peoples views on how these issues can be resolved going into the last four games. For example should Grant be given a chance in the middle of the park? The task to find a good balance is actually a very difficult one and as always it's easy to judge from the sidelines.

Calderwood's win % at Kilmarnock was 30.5% over 23 games. Baraclough's at Motherwell is currently 33% over 18 games. His record at Ross County was admittedly better but how these stats can give you 90% confidence, I'm not sure. The point I am trying to make is that people have been far too quick to lay the blame at Baraclough's door. The problems with our squad of players run far deeper than the manager and people have been keen to forget the woeful displays from July to December.