MelvinBragg

There are literally no other attacking options available to put on the bench assuming Seedorf is unavailable or persona non grata...

Can make five subs remember...

Lineup is a strange one, looks like 442 to me.. Kelly O'Donnell Galkagher Lamie McGinlay Lawless Foley Campbell Hastie Cole Long Unless he's going with the wacky Lawless in a midfield three idea again. Frankly the selection of Hastie given the relative unimportance of the game is bizarre...

Start with the 244 formation that finished the game on Saturday. Might lose but might get some entertainment ..

Gave it to Watt as his introduction turned the game around. But was also impressed by O'Donnell. Didn't see the Morton or Accies games but gather he was decent in both. Maybe the shift to 352 helps him or maybe the security of a two year contract has settled him. Probably captain next season...

Maybe it's nonsense, but over 30 years of watching Motherwell tells me that if we had won on Saturday then Rangers would have gone through last night. Could we, in a one off game, have beaten the other teams left in the cup? Sure but we could easily have lost to each of them as well. The thought of losing to St Mirren in a cup final doesn't bear thinking about... To be honest, this is the one season that I'm not too bothered. The main joy in Motherwell winning a trophy would be the collective joy. With no fans being there, it would be a pretty hollow victory. I'd probably enjoy it on the day but there wouldn't be those memories that you'd be talking about years later. But maybe that's just me...

McGinlay was never as bad as some made out. Don't think there's a lot between him and Carroll. Carroll's delivery is slightly better. Can see us keeping both of them as long as they aren't among the higher earners...

We are second best, no doubt. But very noticeable how easily the St Mirren players hit the deck...

Anyone know if Liam Donnelly is back training yet? I had completely forgotten about him until I recently started comparing last season's starting eleven to this season's to try and figure out what has made the difference...

Astounded at the lack of posts on this thread. For me, this game is huge. Lose today and the pressure is back on us. Seven points gap to the playoff spot isn't huge with five games to go. Massive question as to how we'll line up. How fit is Tony Watt? Was the choice to play McGinlay last week to give Carroll a rest ahead of this game or has Alexander seen something to make him want to change it? Can't see us starting two wingers and two strikers as we did last week so who drops out? I'd rip your arm off for a scrappy 1-0 win today...

While I agree that signing players who haven't played in a long time has its risks, it's important to point out the kind of players we sign. Every player we sign is surplus to requirements elsewhere or from a lower level and therefore a gamble. It's where we are in the food chain. If we don't sign those surplus to requirements then you're looking at guys with no track record whatsoever...

Couple of more defeats by three or more goals (which there have been three of recently) and suddenly our goal difference won't look vastly better than the others. We need a win in our next two games to try and get some breathing room..

Keep hearing Allan Campbell to Hibs being touted. Don't think with a free transfer to another Scottish club we'd get much in the way of compensation...

Personal preference for me would be the claret with the amber band that we wore during our season in administration. On the general point of next season's kits, for.the club (and all clubs) it's more important this year to get a kit with a wide appeal. Healthy shirt sales would help offset any financial loss this year...

If we are mathematically safe from finishing bottom and are sitting 8th after the Killie game, I will have no problems paying the £50 to a charity of your choosing. Given I had Motherwell-1 on a coupon yesterday that paid north of £150, it's paid for by the team already...

We started very well but were letting them back into it before we scored. Campbell and Cole look the pick so far. Worrying that Crawford doesn't seem to be in the right position when the ball breaks off our defence. Second ball always seems to be dropping to a Livingston player. Didn't think it was a penalty to be honest. Feel as if the ref gave it as he realised he got the first one wrong...

Just out of curiosity, Dave, is there a team in the league you don't consider to be stronger physically and more streetwise than Motherwell? No matter who our manager has been and who we have in our team, you always seem to feel that the opposition (no matter who they are) are cannier, stronger and steetwise. Not saying it's never the case, but it can't be the case every week surely....

With Accies winning at the minute, not counting my chickens regarding relegation yet..

Out of curiosity, which 5 or 6 of their players would walk into our team?

I know. I made it clear that I'm not certain we'll get the win or two we need. I saw somewhere else on here mention the year we ended up in the playoffs that Ross County went on a ridiculous run under McIntyre. Not impossible that could happen again although Accies and Killie are leaving it late for that kind of big push...

Looking at the table, one more win would give us an eight point gap over Kilmarnock and Hamilton Accies. That would require them to win three games to catch us in their remaining eight games (nine for Accies). Might be a tall order for two teams that have won seven and six games so far this season. If we can't win one game of our last eight, we deserve to go down. I reckon six points would definitely see us stay up. Problem would be if we perform as we did against Accies and St Johnstone, six points from eight games might be beyond us. For me, it's still too close to call...

Had to check that wasn't grizzly...

While I'm glad it sounds like the performance is a bit better, points are everything right now. Need a result as much as (more than) a performance...

I take your point but if we lose the next two games to St Mirren and Hibs as badly as we lost the last two games, I suspect that those odds will change..

The phrase I keep using is that we've spent years flirting on and off flirting with relegation, this might be the season it gets us drunk and gets us into bed...