Welldaft Mk1

I saw Robinson’s interview and he mentioned Jet2. I assume we have chartered a plane from them to fly straight from Glasgow to Tel Aviv. Lets face it sadly Jet2 will have a few spare planes sitting around at the moment. Flying out tomorrow AM and I would assume back after the game.

Google - clearly ignoring my request for 2019-2020 season. User error probably. They last won league in 2017-2018 season. Still going to be tough. I would love for us to be streetwise and utilise whatever tactics it takes for us to get through. Even if it means adopting a little of the Coleraine approach to fouls in the box !

I see their game was postponed this weekend as were others for teams involved in European competition. This is going to be a very tough ask of the team and management. An away draw in Israel is tough. The temperature at KO will be 27 degrees. I don’t think we probably have ever played in that temp in the UK but Beer Sheva will be used to it. They are rested and do not have at least one if not two flights and travel of 6hrs plus. They also finished 2nd in their league last season losing only 5 games out of 26. Will need to be 100% at it, have a decent fair referee and probably a large slice of luck along the way.

Lets be honest Aberdeen are not buying Alan Campbell. The Q is will anyone else ? He is getting plaudits from all corners and we all know how pivotal he is to our team. He just seems not to be the player that gets due recognition. Maybe if he was Australian and / or dyed his hair blonde...... He is in his last year unless he chooses to extend so his worth is probably less than we would like. I think he would be worth between Scott and Turnbull in a perfect world. Which means it would take £1.5m + for the club to be tempted. But I am sure most bids would be less than that. You wonder what the impact of him moving on would be to the team. We certainly would need a capable replacement and I expect the fans would hope for more than a player not getting game time for anyone below us in the ranking or a non league player who is a risk. Exactly 2 weeks until the transfer window closes. Will we see a bid and more importantly will we see a bid that we cannot turn down.

Well that great result v Aberdeen away will probably remove any complacency the Israeli side may have had. They probably will have heard of Aberdeen and not Motherwell so for us to win 3-0 away will make them sit up and notice. Was always going to be a tough ask but hopefully it gives our players a good boost ahead of the trip to Tel Aviv.

True. But it probably offsets by lower cost of short trip to Belfast which would have been cheaper than most other ties we could have got. BBC reporting tie will go ahead but not at their stadium as it is under development. So probably a stadium near Tel Aviv. I would expect at least 50% of prize money would be eaten up by costs for this round. You can probably rule out win bonuses but you never know....

No questioning the rationale behind bringing in another midfielder. Clearly we need cover when 6 or so weeks ago I thought we had one of the strongest midfields outside the Old Firm. With Turnbull sold and Donnelly injured that is no longer the case. God help us if Campbell is injured too. I 100% understand where we are in relation to budgets. But it depresses me when you see the Calibre of player Aberdeen are signing. Johnny Hayes and Ross McRorie to add to the likes of Lewis Ferguson and Dylan McGeouch. Hibs also adding quality rather than quantity. I hope this is a shrewd signing but I have a feeling the outcome will be similar to Lamie. Decent squad player to have as back up but not a 1st team starter. If we really are stuck with the squad we have now we are in trouble. On the face of it they are decent players but something is not gelling and our performances have been peppered with poor football and lacking in basics. Strangely enough I am more concerned since we started winning games. Our performance v Hibs and even Hamilton until last 15 minutes had me thinking we were unlucky and we would turn a corner. But v St J and Coleraine I am worried. Big week ahead. I expect v little from 2 tough away games and if we are comfortably beaten then nothing will dispel my fears we are in for a long season. If somehow we can perform well in both games and even get a result then I will be pleasantly surprised.

I think our signing policy is one based solely on us asking Dec who he rates at his former club. I hope I am proved wrong but like most I am underwhelmed that we are signing a player from a rival and generally one finishing below us that cannot get a game. This is clearly a master plan which will lead to relegation or winning Europa League. I know what 8 would bet on. I am a happy clappy but last night and recent signings are worrying the shit out of me.

Probably immaterial but that was the best potential draw we could have hoped for.

A lot of mitigating factors for last night inc the pitch which was barely useable for rugby and a referee that was as bad as I have seen at that level. Of course I am biased but it did seem as if every slight touch from our player was penalised whereas not the other way around. For those reasons alone it because a much trickier tie than it needed to be. All that said we played poorly 2nd half in particular and same errors are occurring again and again. Our inability to defend crosses in our box and give several free headers a game is and will cost us v better teams. Time and again we see am opposition player saunter into our box unimpeded and Coleraine could and should have scored before we did when Lamie lost his man. Basic basic defending. Our inability to get on the end of crosses in the opposition box is equally infuriating. Do we not practice are we just so bad. You watch ROI defender just signed for Celtic and he watches the ball, runs towards it and generally scores or gets attempts on goal. I am not saying it is that easy but we are miles away from showing that ability. Seedorf did little to convince anyone he has a future with Motherwell. Against PT opposition he was gain poor. Failing to control the ball time and again. Yes a shite pitch but I despair. We got through and as many point out we have played better (v Odense) and gone out so we should be pleased to an extent. But far too many issues to gloss over. We need to invest some of this Euro windfall in another decent midfielder, striker and possibly even a central defender. I fear for us away at Aberdeen this weekend and next week v H B Sheva is we play anything like we did last night or previous few weeks.

He did not pull him down - he brushed against him and the player threw himself to the floor. Two of the softest penalties I have seen in a game. O Hara has not been great since he came back but you could see he was totally bewildered by the 1st penalty. The referee was awful and the pitch was worse. That said we should have pushed on at 2-0. Instead we resorted to being shit 2nd half. Campbell had better no be injured or we are in bigger trouble. Aimlessly punting Long balls to Seedorf has to be the worst tactics on plant earth. Again he showed against part timers he has not got the skills to make it at this level. Lang is OK and capable of scoring goals. Bevis has been decent also imho. We got through and tomorrow get to see the glamour tie we will not be playing. We simply do not have the players to go away from home and beat a seeded side. Be a nice trip for the lads but little else on tonight’s showing.

Seedorf is an excuse for a footballer. Can not control the ball at all

Why are we firing balls up to seedorf - madness

This is embarrassing Hard not be negative but I cannot see us coming through on penalties. Robbo looked shell shocked. He should be bawling at his team

It would be nice if Motherwell started to play any thing resembling football.

Seedorf excellent since he came on - NOT Long should have scored but missed too many of those types of chances

Robinson get a grip of this team. We are playing so poorly

Awful defending AGAIN

This referee. Every tackle is a free kick to them.

Yes. Go to BBC channel and hit red button assuming you have a TV from the year 2010 onwards

I get it. I am a happy clappy. The pitch is shit but we need to do better defensively. A better side as in the Israelis will not let us off with the type of defending of cross balls we have had 1st half. I would be delighted being 2-0 up away in Europe but Coleraine are poor. How they beat Maribor away is one of life’s mysteries. Thanks to them we may get one more round in Europe.

Pitch is not helping but every cross that comes in our box nearly always finds an opposition player !

On the basis of this performance we will not get past next round. Coleraine are poor yet they have had a few chances and as usual our defence is not rock solid. A better side would have scored a couple

Off the line. Should have scored.

We were all over them 1st 15 minutes. Now developed into a shitfest. Loads of free kicks. Grass is long which plays into there hands. Need to be better on the ball.