El Grew

IMO we need to stop leaking easy goals and the way to help do that is to abandon the attacking full backs theme. First and foremost full-backs need to be solid and dependable and able to defend and I'm afraid at present, that's the last thing you could accuse Moutaouakil and Hammell of. I've also never been convinced that Reynolds is a centre-back. So for me get Saunders to RB and Reynolds to LB. Field team in 4-3-1-2. Murphy to play slightly withdrawn just behind the big two front men. GK - Ruddy RB - Saunders CB - Craigan CB - Hutchison LB - Reynolds RM - Hateley CM - Coke LM - Jennings CM - Murphy AC - Jutkiewicz AC - Sutton

Apparently its our biggest defeat at Ibrox since 1910. Well, records are there to be broken.

Ya Bezzzer, I understand your point and it is well made. However, the board do need to make up their minds whether they want to be in the SPL and competing at a reasonable level or whether they want to go down to SFL 1 and let some others with ambitions have a go. I'm certainly not advocating reckless spending of the like we saw when John Boyle arrived at the club but there is a medium to be struck without going tonto with the club's finances and future. Jim Gannon needs to be given a bit help to bring in a couple of more experienced players to help him bring the youngsters on. If a few of the younger ones continue to progress then the club can reap the benefit of the revenue from selling them on. That's the way it has to be for clubs like us.

Jim Gannon is spot on with his obervations on Scottish referees. Take last week at Easter Road. Hibs committed 22 fouls and had 1 player booked. We committed 4 fouls and had 3 players booked. Anyone looking at these stats would be forced to conclude that we are a team of cluggers. The referee was Ian Brines who is amongst the worst referees I've ever seen and yet he has been allowed to continue to handle Grade 1 games rather than get sent to the 3rd division. Jim Gannon is being pilloried by all parts of the media because he has had the audacity to speak publicly about something that nearly all football fans agree with him on - that the state of our referees is shocking. Personally, I think it's a case of 'who is the English upstart coming here and telling us how bad our referees are' by the small minded, old-firm biased, in-bred media. I listened to Tam Cowan on radio Scotland at lunchtime today defending referees and berating Jim Gannon for his views and said he should "keep his trap shut". I don't know who he thinks he is bit its him that needs to keep his trap shut as its nothing but hot air and wind that comes out of it when he speaks. The next time he says something sensible will be the first time. Fat arse Jim Traynor then comes on and reduces the debate to the level of making it personal - "Who does Jim Gannon think he is? He only managed Stockport County so what does he know about anything?" Then the two-faced wee turd goes on to criticise referees for exactly the same things Gannon has been trying to get the SFA to look into. He states that referees might be inclined to referee Motherwell games with a view to 'punishing' Gannon for his outbursts. Ah, so he admits our referees might not be so unbiased after all. Just remember the treatment that Craig Levein had to suffer for also having the temerity to criticise two of the most biased instances of refereeing last season when against Rangers in the cup and then in the SPL, Dundee Utd were shamefully treated by Mike McCurry and Kenny 'Bluenose' Clarke (both of whom thankfully are no longer in employment at the SFA). Levein suffered the same kind of media tirades and abuse as Gannon is getting now. He even defied the SFA and refused to pay a £5K fine 'for bringing the game into disrepute'. Jim Gannon has my full support in his criticism of our referees because if nobody raises the issue then the standards will continue to fall. For far too long referees have been allowed to get away with ridiculous performances with no action being taken. Stick in Jim the majority of fans are behind you on this.

- Undoubtedly the better side won and probably should have won more comfortably. - We only really competed from when Samaras scored until half-time. - Man of the match and the best goalkeeper seen at FP in years John Ruddy. - It took 3 goals right out of the top drawer to beat us. - The guy who came off the bench (the bench mind you) to score the winner cost £4M!! - Jim Gannon inherited a playing staff that had been sorely neglected by previous managers and deserves great credit for getting us into 5th in the SPL with a team of boys. - Disappointing to note that yet again (as in too many games this season) we capitulated far too easily in the second half. - We badly need to look at our two full backs who couldn't defend for toffee. - Jim Gannon will need a wee bit of financial help from the board to try and get a few more experienced players in.

I'm not an apologist for referees but I can't understand what all the fuss is about Saturday's referee. IMO he got nearly all the big decisions correct. The tackle to deny Sutton in the first half was clean and fair - no penalty. Buaben's two fouls were shocking and both booking offences so after the second he had to go off. Swanson's tackle on Lasley was disgraceful and disgracefully late and merited a red card. His one major blunder was in not sending Myrie Williams off for two reckless and shocking tackles. If these tackles had been perpertrated by us on Dundee Utd players I think Levein would be singing a different tune. As for Lasley's 'goal' it should have stood. He was miles onside when he ran onto the pass before squaring it. I was sitting in line with the 18 yard line in the east stand side and the linesman on that side had four offside decisions to make in the game and he only got one right. You can't blame the referee for this.

I think where we have gone wrong against 10 men in our last two games, has been that we continued with four defenders, Tom Hateley in front of the back four, three midfielders and two forwards. As soon as the opposition went down to 10 men, we should have pushed Hateley into the midfield to go to 4-4-2 and shut the midfield and the game down. We didn't and in both games this led to Aberdeen and Dundee Utd having to make minimal adjustments by moving to 4-3-2. It let them continue with two forwards and also control the midfield area when we should've had the game shut down.

I thought both sets of players should've been commended for providing an exciting and entertaining game in what were absolutely atrocious conditions. In terms of the game, I think we were a wee bit fortunate to get the draw as Aberdeen missed two great chances in the first half and were by far the better side in the second half. Aberdeen started both halves much better. Our goal came against the run of play and our inability to stop cross balls into our box eventually cost us the goal. They certainly bossed the first 20 minutes of the second half and we only came alive again after their goal. Overall though considering where we were before Jim Gannon came, only 1 loss in 12 games, clear 5th in the SPL by 4 points I'm quite happy.

Can confirm that is the one and only Pat Gardner. Signed from Dunfermline. Great passer of the ball but always a move ahead of team mates for which he got the stick!!!

Cheers Ernie. Good to see somebody who knows how football tactics evolved.

Got to agree with the guy's argument. Time was when teams played 4-2-4 and 4-3-3 then Alf Ramsay came along and won the World Cup with 4-4-2 and people bemoaned this for long enough for only playing 2 forwards. Now we have 4-5-1 (and variations thereon) and are reduced to only 1 forward. Its difficult (to say the least) to argue against the fact that the accent has now gone firmly to not losing games of football. Yes we all want to see out team winning but surely we want a bit of entertainment too.

Folk can debate it until the moon turns claret and amber but the truth of the matter is that £22 to see an SPL game is too dear. And this goes for all SPL clubs not just ours. At the Hearts home game a couple and their young son were waiting to get in at the East Stand and had to fork out £42 to get in (Adult @£18 + Adult and Child @ £24). And that's before adding their travel costs, programme, eats etc. The same couple and child going to the cinema to see a top film would only be required to pay a total of £19.25 for entry. Regardless of your football supporting persuasion, it's not rocket science to see where the better value for money is to be found.

So Gus MacPherson thought it would be "completely ridiculous" to play his team's CIS Cup Semi against Hearts at Easter Road!!?????? Well we had to it back in 2005! So what's so special about St Mirren then??? And as far Hearts fans comments about stadia. They are having a laugh. Access to and from and parking at their hovel of a ground is a complete bloody joke. As for new Love Street, its a completely soulless set of 4 boxes.

My, my, my, what a lot of fuss over very little. Maybe JG wants to bring new players to the club in January and JB has told him that he needs to shift some out first. Simples.

Great to see the big lad scoring two cracking goals today.

Fantastic result today. Well done lads. Whilst I can appreciate the comments about us not scoring goals etc. IMO Jim Gannon has gotten his priorities right in that he is making us a hard side to break down and score against. He has given us bit of steel in our game and all good sides begin by having a solid goalkeeper and defence that gives nothing away which gives them a solid platform to build on. The forward part of the game is always harder and good forwards are rare and cost money however I'm confident that this side of our game will come good.

A hard worked for and earned 3 points for which we should be thankful. People really need to get things into persepective. Jim Gannon arrived at FP only 4 months ago and IMO inherited as thread bare and poverty stricken squad as we've had since the mid-1970s and he was pitched straight into the qualifying rounds for the Europa League. I'm pretty sure that most fans at that stage feared the worst for the club. But he got us through that and although we didn't qualify, we did come out of it with loads of credit - only being beaten finally by ex-winners Steaua Bucharest. He has quietly, efficiently and effectively taken some our own young players and allied them to some other young players he brought in, built up a decent looking side - in 4 months!!!! He has taken us into the SPL campaign and after 7 games he has us 5th in the table only a few points from 3rd with only one defeat. With the exception of Celtic, we've now played all the sides in the top half of the table (Rangers, Hibs, Dundee Utd, Aberdeen) and have only lost once. I for one think he has performed nothing short of a miracle so far. Most fans would have chewed your hand off if you'd offered them all that after Mark McGhee left. Okay, so we didn't play so well in the second half yesterday, but we still managed to win. Remember that young players form can be a bit in and out so give them a break and stick with them. Its great to see youngsters trying their best and, with no small measure of success as opposed to watching elderly deadbeats whose best years are behind them.

Aye it is a sweeping statement. I'm an 'older member' of our support and I totally applaud what Jim Gannon's trying to do. Possession of the football is 9/10ths of the game. I for one am pleased to see it and he has been a breath of fresh air in the SPL unlike those on the usual managerial merry-go-round who perpetrate the 'long ball game'. How many times do you see Scottish footballers looking up to see that there is nothing on then just booting the ball up the park hoping that something will come out of it? Since Gannon arrived, we have played some of the best football I've seen from a Motherwell team in years. And, he has got us playing like a team all working for each other and not 11 individuals. As far as the East Stand's concerned, I thought all the 'moaning gits' were in the Main Stand. I've moved back to the East Stand after a few seasons in the Main Stand (for financial reasons) and it seems there are just as many if not more there.

Ruddy looks like a good goalkeeper in the making. Has made couple of errors but then that's the perils of being a goalkeeper. I personally like Jutkiewicz. From the little first team action he's had I've liked what I've seen so far. He has good physical presence, strong in the air and likes to take the ball into his feet and lay it off for others. He's the type of player that can do well in the SPL. Last week against Hibs he was played wide right (why, you'd need to ask the manager) and he showed some nice touches but was clearly out of position. Also, Jim Gannon said that the lad's fitness or rather lack of it, surprised him and that they were working to get him up to full match fitness. We need to give the lad a chance to settle. After ll he's come to a 'foreign' country with a different style of play to perhaps what he's been used to and yesterday was his first full 90 minutes and he scored the only goal of the game which turned out to be the winner.

I had the dubious pleasure of being invited to New Douglas Park a couple of weeks ago to see Hamilton play Hibs. Hibs were rank rotten and Hamilton thoroughly deserved to beat them. Hamilton played 4-5-1. Antoine Courier played up front and ran the Hibs centre backs ragged especially Bamba, with continual runs into the inside right and inside left channels backed up by midfielders feeding off him. The Hamilton midfield kept a high line and pressed and stifled Hibs so much that their defenders had no option but to go long and this played into the hands of the Hamilton back four. I saw Jim Gannon at the game - he was in the BBC radio commentary team. So I thought, well done Jim, you've just seen how to beat Hibs. I therefore thought turning up today that we would have it all sussed out and get the 3 points, However, I thought our performance was reminiscent of our opening game against St Johnstone in that the players didn't seem sure about the formation and as a result looked all out of sorts. I couldn't work it out either and the best I could come up with was that we were 4-2-3-2 but I'm still not sure about it. We seemed to have two holding midfielders in Hately and Cokes and two attacking midfielders in O'Brien and Forbes with two forwards in Sutton and Jutkiwietz. Although only Sutton seemed to play in the centre as Jutkiwietz seemed to have been deployed to play wide on the right. Hately and Cokes both had poor games today and as a result we just weren't able to get going. So come on JG stop messing around with the formation. The side, formation and tactics you used against Rangers worked a treat so why not stick with them? If its not broke then don't fix it.

Have to agree with this one. Seen all our SPL games so far except Aberdeen and although we play some really good football we lack real penetration and goal scoring threat. Today, for example, I thought we never looked like scoring from open play and that our best chance of goals were going to come from set-pieces.

Its well enough documented on this site that I never liked Mark McGhee from the day and hour he came to Fir Park however if it is correct that our fans shouted the kind of bile that it is being reported then I condemn it utterly. If it is true then those involved, and they may well be a minority, have brought nothing but shame on our club. Mindless morons.

Jim Gannon's been like a breath of fresh air for Motherwell and the SPL. IMO one of the major reasons that Scottish football has stagnated in recent years is due to the people who have come into management in the SPL. With only a couple of exceptions, eEverytime a managerial position has come up its been the same old tired guys that get tipped for it and generally get it and continue with the same boring old ideas and attitudes. Fair play to John Boyle (and I have been one of his biggest critics during his time at FP) but he appears to have unearthed a real diamond in Jim Gannon. Gannon has arrived without any of the baggage that usually accompanies SPL managers when they go and off the managerial merry-go-round and it is impossible to believe that he and the likes of Maurice Malpas etc. are in the same profession. He immediately noted the lack of athleticism, fitness and skill evident in some of the players at our club but that there were some terrific youngsters with great potential and unlike the previous regime has not been afraid to play them. He has (again unlike the previous regime) used his knowledge of the English game and lower divisions to unearth other good young players and play them. Necessity may be the mother of invention but Jim Gannon has demonstrated imagination and management ability way above others who have been 'kicking around' the Scottish scene for a long time. Good luck Jim and long may it continue.

A terrific performance from all players and a terrific result. Remember we failed to beat Kilmarnock on four occasions last season so this is certainly a step forward. I thought we played some lovely football, showed great energy and desire and were fully committed in every aspect of our play yesterday. The goals came at exactly the right time. The second goal gave us a vital cushion because at 1-0 any team is never out of a game and I thought they would've been delighted to only gone in one goal down considering the roasting they'd had. The third goal was vital and killed them off because they were just beginning to get wee bit on top of us and had they got a goal back it might have put us in trouble. I don't think we had a failure but I would give special mention to Saunders, Hutchison, Hately, Coke and O'Brien. The first three of these played with a style and maturity that belied their youth. If we did have a fault, it was perhaps in not converting some our terrific play into more goals and if we'd won 5 or 6 nil Kilmarnock could have had no complaints. I have been really impressed by Jim Gannon so far and I like his refreshing attitude towards young players and not being afraid to make early changes if he thinks something's not working out. And so far his approach has made for entertainment which is also a pleasant change. They probably will lose more games than they will win but if they continue to play this brand of on-the-carpet easy on the eye football I for one will not complain.