MelvinBragg

Burrows on Twitter saying he hopes for "a few" new faces. How many is "a few"? More than a couple..?

No. We can only bring in players that are free agents once the window is closed..

Oh aye, I agree. More an example of how little interest the BBC or SKY has in getting their facts straight about Scottish football. And to be honest with you, BBC annoys me more. SKY have to tailor their approach to their customers. BBC is supposed to be a public service broadcaster...

And according to the BBC, it's midnight...

Sounds like it was a decent strike as well...

By my reckoning that's five wages off the wage bill (or at least whatever we were paying towards Grimshaw's and Taylor's wages and some of Clarkson's wages) but I'd be happy to just see one or maybe two new faces brought in. Given what Robinson, Twardzik and Taylor contributed, do they really need replaced? Clarkson at least has one assist to his name...

Baraclough signed Samson...

Stevie Hammell at Motherwell: Over 400 appearances. 2 cup finals. Twice part of teams that finished second in the league. Aye, he's a low SPL/Championship defender... If all our players were as good and consistent in their position as Hammell is in his, we'd win a lot more games...

Or Hammell won't be fit and Chalmers is getting game time to get his fitness up..? EDIT Good to see McLean back..

Theo Robinson contributed little. He didn't get many chances but his performances didn't really justify the manager giving him another chance. His time here frankly wasn't memorable enough for his name to even come up in years to come when we talk of worst ever Motherwell teams...

McGhee's predecessors did try and address the issue, however unsuccessfully. Baraclough signed a left back, McCall persevered with Angol when Hammell was unavailable. McCall brought through Carswell and Baraclough signed Grimshaw. To say that these managers have ignored the problem is wrong. The problem is that the guys they've earmarked for replacing Hammell and Lasley haven't been up to the job. What this tells us? Despite their flaws being pointed out on here, Hammell and Lasley aren't that easy to replace...

Cadden. Some good runs into the box, tracked back well, a couple of decent balls in as well. Not frightened to have a go from distance. Not suggesting he's the next big thing or he'll be a nailed on starter for years but certainly did enough to merit a start next week...

Between the two boxes we were fine. Some decent final balls put in which weren't converted. But an inability to take chances or defend basic set pieces cost us and will continue to do so until it's addressed. Good performances from Cadden, Ripley, Kennedy and Lasley. Johnson did well in the first half up to a point, but on occasions his decision making let him down...

Surprised by the team but not displeased. Would have preferred Watt at right back only as I haven't seen Kennedy play there before. Does expose the lie that he had no other options last week...

That'll be his quota for the season then...

My prediction for the lineup is that it will be the same as last Saturday with Lasley for Law the only change. Not like McGhee to admit he got it wrong...

They are a bit rough around the edges and do make mistakes, but have shown potential in some games. Bomb scare seems a bit harsh...

ZFA, I felt, was to use the phrase "all sugar or all shite". On occasions, he'd look like a real prospect. On others, he had a Straker-like tendency to look like it was the first time he'd seen a football. Very few games that were so-so. Sadly we need players who are consistent. If he could find that level of consistency, he did have some of the tools to develop into a decent player...

You're right in that at a club like ours, it probably does impact on the chances of a player getting a chance. A manager will always have one eye on job security and probably feels an experienced player is a better bet for results. However, and Falkirk and Accies are good examples of this, there's an argument that the youth development side should be ringfenced in that no matter who the manager is, their remit remains the same. Obviously every manager is going to have an idea of the type of player he wants but with the right approach at youth level, you could probably produce players to meet most managers needs...

A huge part of the problem. I read on here someone saying that they doubted Cadden had the quality to make it. Has he even started a first team game? Like I said, even if these players aren't regular starters, it might save the club money by not paying the wages of an Omar Daley, Jake Taylor or Craig Reid if they are good enough to provide cover...

Mark McGhee talks a good game on blooming young players. His track record suggests otherwise...

Maybe he would, maybe he wouldn't but he's just an example of a young player who didn't get a chance at Fir Park to prove whether he was good enough or not because of managers choosing to bring in players from further afield to sit on the bench...

Aye, and if we continue to wait until we are "safe" every season before blooding youngsters, it'll continue to be a problem. And we wonder why Accies and Dundee United get larger fees. McCarthy, Hendrie, Gauld and Robertson all played around 50 games by the age our players make their debuts. Are they better than our players? Maybe, but the difference is they get a chance to prove it. Compare our treatment of Luke Watt to that of Andy Robertson at United or Hendrie at Accies... EDIT Just checked. Hendrie left Accies last summer at the age of 20, having played 100 games. Gauld left United at 18 and a half having played 40 odd games.

Indeed, that might be the case. But if playing Cadden on Saturday would have been worse than playing a right back in centre midfield and a left back at right back then he must be a mile away from first team action. For me, it just sends out the wrong message to our U20 midfielders that if we're two midfielders short, we'll start with two wingers for the first time in months and play a full back in midfield rather than give them a shot. They're entitled to think "what's the point?"...

To me, that seems utterly pointless. You then end up with a situation with Cadden, Watt, Thomas and any others getting game time when the senior professionals around them will have effectively downed tools. Hardly an environment to judge them in. Also feel you can't truly judge a player until you've seen how he responds in a game that matters. Playing Cadden on the third last week of the season and we're guaranteed to finish between 7th and 9th, what will you learn about his ability to cope under pressure? Why would the experienced players have downed tools? Well, if your manager is quoted as effectively saying 40 points is job done, then win bonuses or not, you're thinking "job done". Anyone remember the performances (if you can call them that) in the run up to the Scottish Cup Final a few years back? And that's one of the reasons our youth policy fails. Other clubs trust their young players. We don't...