MelvinBragg

Craigan? Reynolds? Just a thought...

£1.5mill each or combined??? I had heard Boro were looking at Miller. As Frazzle says, hard to believe that Lambert has identified targets already...

Given I've never stood next to him, you'll know better than me, but the first time I saw Forbes (vs Llanelli), my first instinct was "Well, he's a good bit taller than Fitzpatrick and Lasley". Not put together obviously...

According to the official site, he's 6ft1...

So, a traditional Hearts team then?

Fact is that both Coke and Forbes are both over 6ft tall. As is Hately. And Hutchison is quite a powerful big lad. And then there's Ruddy. And I don't think Jennings will be easily bullied. I guess what I'm trying to say is that Gannon seems to be addressing the issue...

Let's hope so. Although if his new contract includes a bonus for goals scored, we could be in administration again...

It's my understanding that Lasley is carrying a knock. Whether he gets back into the 18 when that clears up, never mind the first 11 is another matter. Personally I'd struggle to think of 18 players I'd have in the matchday squad ahead of him, but I'm not Jim Gannon...

You are correct, sir. But he's the kind of big diddy we struggle against. How many headers did Deuchar win on Saturday...?

The good thing is that I reckon only six players are guaranteed to start for us on Saturday(Ruddy, Hutchison, Reynolds, Forbes, Coke and O'Brien), the rest of the team is anybody's guess. What formation will we play? Who knows. Yes, we'll probably struggle a bit with Kyle, but at least Kilmarnock will be scratching their head until Saturday afternoon as to what our team will be. Hamstrings their preparations a wee bit...

I suspect your hunch might be right. The moving on of Darren Smith and Fitzpatrick seems inevitable at the moment, there may be others who leave before the end of August. Irrespective of any players leaving though, there should be some scope in the wage bill for giving some of these guys improved deals. Just don't know how much the wage bill has had to be reduced by due to the Setanta debacle...

Every club loses a fair few of their former players. But normally these will be guys who played in the 1950s and 1960s, guys of advancing years. The number of former Motherwell players who have died so young recently beggars belief... Tragic...

I appreciate what people are saying about not losing these players for nothing. But I'm more thinking in terms of what Steve said about keeping a hold of them for a wee while. Not just to enjoy them but also to try and build a team that might develop over the next two years. There's the potential there for us to have a team in a couple of years with a bunch of guys in their early 20s with nearly a hundred games under their belt each. That's maybe why I'm focussing on who I would consider crucial to the team, rather than resale value where Slane may outstrip the others...

I never stated that I wouldn't be looking to have Slane on a longer more appropriate contract. But in terms of list of priorities contract wise, for me it would be.. Forbes Coke Hutchison Slane and McHugh Again, just my opinion. We've been lucky at Motherwell to have players like Cooper, McFadden and McCormack, players that can create out of nothing, but most SPL teams survive and prosper without such a player. Like it or not, in our league perspiration is at least equally important as inspiration...

Never said that there wasn't a place for guys like Slane. But the key guys for us will be our centre backs, centre midfield and centre forward(s). That's why Forbes, Hutchison and McHugh would be my priorities. You are right that guys like Slane can offer respite to the defence. But once again, only if you have people who can get the ball to them. For me our two key players outwith the defence this season are Coke and Forbes. If they can get the ball and use it well, we'll be OK. Slane will be a part of the team. But don't buy into the hype he's a key player. Not yet anyway...

Don't get me wrong, I think Slane has potential. And I would be talking to him, but he'd be down my list of priorities. I'd be trying to sort out the spine of the team first. Do you want to know why? Because without a decent spine to a team, you'll not win or retain the ball. And I don't care how many men Slane can beat, he'll not do much without the ball...

Slane doesn't concern me that much as he is a luxury player but we must be looking at Forbes and Hutchison in particular. These are guys you can build the spine of the team round. McHugh would be next on my list of priorities. Oh and while we're at it, Coke's on a one year deal. Start talking to him as soon as possible would be my advice...

Along with every other gaffer in the SPL?? Where would one find such a creature on our budget? And are there any centre backs in the SPL outwith the Old Firm who tick all those boxes? I'm not saying that we shouldn't strive to have that kind of centre back playing for us, but a bit of realism is required regards the constraints we are working under. I'm not saying it's impossible (I didn't think we could afford a six foot tall, two footed midfielder with good passing and we found Coke) but I think it will be very difficult to replace a man with Craigan's qualities (and yes I know he has weaknesses in his game too). You don't get 40 odd caps for your country (I know it's only Northern Ireland before someone says it, but it's not like the Faroes, San Marino or Luxembourg) without having something about you...

Not much call for a 50 year old centre forward though, is there...?

Though I agree Hately had a good game, it's a bit of a con to say that he only joined on Thursday or Friday. He'd been training with us for the previous two weeks. He won't have been totally unfamiliar with the rest of the players...

That's them up on the beeb now...

That's it in a nutshell for me. His comments were more striking than the actual change. The risk is that Craigan (I would imagine) is a respected figure in the dressing room. Any perceived poor treatment of him might result in alienating some of the players who've grown up round the club and look up to Craigan...

Where to start... First half, I would agree we looked nervous. Weight of expectations possibly given the optimism about the place? Having said that, re-watching the game on Alba last night, we created more in the first half than I remembered. I don't think Sutton was having that bad a game. Was winning a lot of ball but no one seemed to be getting close enough to him to make enough of the second ball. Second half, we did look a lot more dangerous. Every time we went forward, it looked like we could score. I think Murphy looks a far better player playing as a centre forward and the combination of McHugh and him has potential. Humphrey looked better than he had done previously but I have to say that could have been down to the fact we were putting the ball in front of him with no one to beat and no time to think, just enough time to whip it in. On the odd occasion he had more time to think or had an opponent to beat, he seemed to struggle. Maybe needs a wee bit of coaching on his decisionmaking? No coincidence that we looked better when Coke and Forbes came into the game more. Not sure if there's enough bite in the two of them to play as a midfield 2 in a 4-4-2 in the SPL. Having said that, Coke put in a couple of crunching challenges yesterday, obviously doesn't know McDonald's fondness for sending off Motherwell players. And now on to the defence. Hately did quite well for his debut. Obvious that he wasn't a natural full back but did well enough in the role. I like Hutchison, big and very raw, but I think all the tools are there for him to become a very good centre back. Reynolds even looked decent at centre back. Less said about Hammell the better really. Ruddy is the new Dykstra. Good goalkeeper, but some moments of real insanity. I didn't think Craigan was playing that badly and I thought his distribution was no worse than Hutchisons so the change, even though it worked, does strike me as a strange one. I can see the reasoning behind the Sutton change more as we were obviously going more for the mobile on the deck approach. How the likes of Sutton, Craigan and Lasley react to be benched or sidelined, and how Gannon deals with these players that we will need at some point over the season, will say a lot about each of their characters. Gannon has to be careful not to alienate players he might need to call upon. One thing's for sure. This is not going to be a dull season...

Tough call between Coke and O'Brien. O'Brien was solid over the 90 minutes and Coke only really came into it in the second half with the change in formation. But we only really came into it when Coke did so I went for him. His two crunching tackles also sent him up in my estimation...

I don't know what you mean...