MelvinBragg

Don't disagree with any of that but a few on here will simply refuse to acknowledge that McHugh has done anything right...

Continually? First game in two months tonight. Don't let the facts get in the way of your agenda though. Liam Donnelly is the least of our problems...

Cadden being out for four months surely rules that out. Campbell's recent form will hardly have teams beating a path to our door. I don't think Turnbull's body of work is enough to have teams ready to make a bid (although Robbie Leitch to Burnley was a surprise). Our other better players? Carson, Dunne and Tanner? All injured. So the comments are a mystery to me...

Nope. Tait was left wing back...

Apparently we switched to a back four. Don't know how we did that with the personnel we have on the pitch...

Apparently undone by a long throw...

Very much this. I thought Grimshaw was outstanding. Got caught out a couple of times in the first half but got back to rescue it and seemed to adjust his game. Second half, they never got the better of him and his energy and use of the ball were excellent...

Random question. Will Robinson be in the dugout today given he was sent to the stand at Ibrox? Not as if it's the first time it's happened with him...

Useful, and also depressing at this point in time when you see the names of Tanner, Dunne, Cadden and Carson on it...

Yes. He has fallen down the pecking order. Possibly temporarily due to tiredness, manager fearing burnout but he has fallen down the pecking order...

Maybe because McHugh is suspended we need a centre midfielder? Rose would be my choice but he may still be injured. Campbell has fallen down the pecking order....

I'd heard it was PE...

I did say a couple of weeks ago that those who were saying that Robinson was too entrenched with 352 were equally set on the idea that the 352 was the root of the problem and changing to a back four would automatically improve things...

Don't fine them. Make all of them take the place of a Motherwell fan at work or at school tomorrow and let them take the slating for such a humiliating display...

Anyone watching confirm if it was a soft penalty decision? Given it's Thomson, I'm kind of assuming it was but we are prone to acts of stupidity...

Their last four league games were home to Kilmarnock and Hearts and away to Accies and St Mirren Given the money spent in the summer to improve an already expensively assembled squad, anything less than 12 points from those games has to be seen as underwhelming...

Add in cup games and ignore the first disastrous season with us (playing in that bizarre Moult-McDonald-Bowman front three) and it's one goal every 292 minutes or three and a bit games. But as weeyin points out, he's always going to be the 'second' striker. The work he does running the channels or taking central defenders on has created space for Moult and Main in the past. France just won the World Cup with a striker that doesn't score goals but brings out the best in others. Problem is if the guy he's making the space for is missing the chances. Similarly you could slate wingers or midfielders for lack of assists but what if the striker is missing sitters? That reflects poorly in the statistics. Bowman and Johnson would be my front two. I suspect that Johnson's conversion rate would be better than Main's...

If I were a sports journalist, I would no doubt have time to research it and break it down to goals per minute but I'm not and I don't. The point I was making is that 14 goals in 79 appearances doesn't tell the full picture if 20 of those appearances were 20 minutes sub appearances when the team was losing and struggling to create chances. Neither does the stat of 14 in 49 appearances. Who was it that said that statistics are like miniskirts in that they give you a good bit of information but don't show you everything..?

Funny thing is that I checked his stats as well before I read your post. Another way to look at it would be 14 goals in 49 starts. Almost one in three. Not bad for a second striker if your main (no pun intended) striker is banging them in. Sadly isn't the case at the moment. I know that some might say dismissing the number of sub appearances is ridiculous but I always feel that if Motherwell are bringing a striker off the bench the chances are that we're losing and not playing particularly well. To judge any striker on a number of 20-25 minute appearances when the team aren't playing well seems harsh to me...

Bigirimana is a tricky one. If you say he's fine against the weaker teams, how do you explain his performance against Rangers? Is he actually better against the better teams who are less concerned with pressing us and play their own game more? Tied in with this is any discussion of a new contract for McHugh. He gets a lot of criticism but the number of headers he wins in midfield is important. Our defenders themselves have mentioned the protection they feel he offers. Does he track runners, something that Bigirimana has been seen as neglecting this season? Centre midfield is an area where, if you're looking to trim the budget, there are a lot of bodies so in theory we could make savings. At the minute, I'd be looking at McHugh, Campbell, Bigirimana and Turnbull as the midfielders that I'd definitely be looking to keep. Harsh on Grimshaw who when he gets a run of games can make a contribution and Rose who is a steady player who rarely has a poor game? Possibly. And could McHugh be replaced by Maguire if the management see him as a defensive midfielder long term? Or Donnelly who plays there for Northern Ireland U21s? Gorrin? Where he fits in, who knows? Having seen him a couple of times, he looks decent but do we need him? We need to look at a squad where we have so many centre midfielders and only one winger and strikers that don't seem good enough. Problem is pretty much every player we have has either been signed by Robinson or has had their contract extended by him. Will he be ruthless enough to get rid of 'his' players? After all, they're a super bunch of boys...

Hibs away conceded 3 Hamilton home conceded 1 Rangers home conceded 3 Dundee away conceded 1 Hearts home conceded 1 Aberdeen away conceded 1 Kilmarnock away conceded 3 Livingston home conceded 1 St Johnstone home conceded 1 Not 'shipping' masses of goals. Only three league games when we've conceded more than one goal. If in each of the games we have conceded 1 goal, we had scored 1 more goal than we did then we would have six more points than we have now. We have played 11 league games and failed to score in 5 of them. I'd suggest that while our defence may not have been great, the forward area is a bigger problem....

I'd like to pretend to be shocked....

Live or later on?

They're a special case though as they only allow players from the Basque region to play for their team, although I gather they've been stretching the definition of Basque origin recently...

Didn't realise that Livingstone only played 45 minutes of the reserve game. Would still be astounded to see him in the team. Fully expect Tait and Cadden as wing backs in a 352...