Well 4 Europe

I'm obviously referring to the abuse he receives everytime he pulls on a Motherwell strip, not the pathetic moaning that goes on here.

As I suspected... Hateley has become a real scapegoat this season which is a shame when you consider the service he's given the club over the last 3 and a bit years and the remarkable consistency he's shown for the majority of that time. He's not been as good this season as he was last, yet neither have Hammell or Hutchinson for example in my opinion yet they seem to get away without any abuse whilst Hateley seems to bare the brunt of it. It's a shame, especially as the defence as a whole doesn't get as much protection this season as it has done in previous seasons when we had Jennings. Essentially I don't understand why Hateley gets all the abuse when the defence as a whole has been poor this season, and even then they haven't had much protection so I'm not sure how much blame you can proportion to the defence. Then again I've never understood the need to find a player to abuse week in week out regardless of how he plays so what do I know.

Can't tell if you don't want Hateley to play because you think he's signing for Sevco as you alluded to above or because you genuinely believe he's not good enough. Either way it's a load of shite and Hateley will be playing on Saturday.

We went 12 games unbeaten in the SPL when Broon took over, only conceded 3 goals in those 12 games as well. What a run that was. We then got pumped 3-0 by ten man United at Tannadice and only won one of our last eight games that season.

Why wouldn't he be playing?

Wasn't a great performance and was more about grinding out the result but I would say Hutchinson and Cummins were the pick of the bunch. I'd give it to Hutch as that big Ngoo looked a real handful in the previous games I've seen him in and Hutch dealt with him really well today

I think Faddy starting had the desired effect. After the last two performances everyone was in need of a boost and seeing Faddy starting certainly made me more confident of us getting a result. Maybe it gave the rest of the team a lift too? Let's be honest he's just a class act and showed last night he's still a cut above this level. We're very lucky to have him.

We've hardly registered a shot on target let alone a goal against John McGlynn's Hearts this season and are probably just about the only team that hasn't beat Hearts this season. He might have been shit and out his depth but he knew how to shitfest us out of a game. Glad he's gone, might make it a better game now.

Whole team put a shift in but it has to be Law for me. Has that extra bit of class and quality in the final third and set up the two goals. As I said on the match thread his ball for Higdon's goal was sensational. Law for creating both the goals but well done to all the team, not a failure amongst them.

Fantastic team performance, very proud. Also how good is Nicky Law? Must be the best non Shellic midfielder in the SPL and on tonight's performance he would have a fair shout of getting into their team. His ball for Higgy's goal was absolutely sublime. Well done McCall and the boys.

I blame Hateley.

442 or 451 though? Or a back three with Hummphrey and ZFA as wing backs? Be interesting to see how they line up.

Can only be Randolph. Flapped at a few crosses which was out of character, however he made three stunning saves in about 5 mins that kept us in it. If everybody was a 7 or above on Saturday everybody was a 6 or below tonight. Although I thought Carswell did put in another decent shift but when we needed a goal and some creativity he maybe should have been the one sacrificed.

Dire. Some people around me said we played some nice stuff in the 1st half, really? One shot off target which was a tame Humphrey shot that trundled wide from over 20 yards out and that was it, lot's of tippy tappy pish with no end product. United done a number on us having clearly seen us on Saturday. Sat deep so Ojamaa couldn't get in behind them, put three in midfield to crowd out Law the man that makes us tick. Without those two we were left passing the ball side to side relying on Higginbotham/Humphrey to produce. They both did fuck all, Humphrey worked hard but caused the United left back no problems what so ever as he strolled through the game. Higginbotham has skill and showed some nice feet but his final ball was just as infective. The defence were all rank, I try and defend Hateley but he was fucking diabolical tonight. Randolph was head and shoulders above the rest and was the only thing that stood between us and an embarrassing score line. Once United got the opening goal their game plan fell perfectly into place. Sit back, let us have the ball and then pick us off on the break when we inevitably gifted them the ball. Was nice to see Faddy back but it just can't be me that was bemused to see McCall shunt him out to the left wing? Was never going to be effective out there, I would have hooked Higginbotham and put Ojamaa wide left and put Faddy in the role behind Higdon. Then thrown McHugh on with ten to go for Ramsden/Carswell. Thought the two subs were bizarre and we looked even more disjointed after they were made. Piss poor and sadly all too predictable night.

Mcfadden will start on the bench and rightly so in my opinion with the way the team is performing. However we all know Ojamaa starts to tire in the last 20 mins of games due to the high intensity of his performances and the shift he puts in. Imagine being able to bring on a fresh Faddy for the last 20 odd mins after Ojamaa has ran the defence ragged for the previous 70. For the 1st time in a while I feel we have not only genuine quality but actual competition for places, well in the forward areas anyway. Hopefully we don't get turned over and the whole thing doesn't turn into a damp squib. Should be a good atmosphere and hopefully we get the 1st goal and really push on from there. Can't wait for tonight either way.

Remember the last time ICT came to Fir Park our starting 11 had no Stevie Hammell, no Simon Ramsden, no Shaun Hutchinson, no Jamie Murphy, no Henrik Ojamaa and had three teenagers in the back 4(including the much maligned Fraser Kerr) and the recently punted Jonathan Page and we still ran out 4-1 winners. So I don't think we should be handing the 3 points over to Inverness just yet, their defence is fucking rank rotten as well and we've been in good form at Fir Park of late picking up 10 points from a possible 12 and scoring 12 in the process. They aren't in great form at the minute so we have every chance on Saturday.

Law and Randolph are gone. Does anyone really think two talented players such as those two who are sure to have a wealth of options from teams willing to double, triple, quadruple their wages will commit themselves to Motherwell for a fraction of the money they could earn elsewhere and possibly a reduction of their current deals given our financial state. In any case nobodies going to commit themselves when they don't even know who the manager is going to be next season. The biggest hold up I imagine in the whole renewal of contracts is that we're trying to get McCall tied down first. The fact he wanted to wait till after the window had closed and here we are nearly two weeks later and we've heard nothing doesn't fill me with confidence. In my opinion it can't be allowed to drag on much longer or we could find ourselves in a similar situation to when Gannon took over. The quicker McCall makes his intentions clear one way or another for next season the better.

You can't take away his hat-trick though, he scored it. Being a striker is about scoring goals, whether you score three goals in a series of three games or in just one game is irrelevant. He did score them and they all count. My memory of Blackman is that he was a quick, powerful centre forward with a decent left peg. Very raw, who's all round game wasn't the best but he wasn't afraid to have go and was capable of turning half chances into goals. Some of his finishes for his goals were excellent; Tynecastle, St.Mirren Park and Mcdiarmid Park in particular stick out. To me his attitude seemed to be the problem. When he first arrived he was out of contract at Blackburn in the summer and looked like he had a point to prove. He then hit 10 goals in his first 15 starts for Motherwell which ever way you slice it is outstanding. Then I gather Blackburn set the wheels in motion to offer him a new contract and he just seemed to lose interest. He'd came and made his point, was getting his bumper new contract and just downed tools. His form in December and January from my recollection was that he was fucking hopeless and that his heart wasn't in it and he was simply going through the motions until he could head back to Blackburn. To me he has all the raw attributes to be a good striker(strong, mobile, good movement. good in the air and a good finisher) hence why he was bought by a Premiership club when he was still in his teens but due to a poor attitude appeared to lose his way. Been very impressive for Sheffield United and although it's a big step up this move isn't as far fetched as some have made out to be, especially with Reading when you see the success they've had with Adam Le Fondre. A million pounds while a shit load of money for Scottish teams isn't that big even for smaller Premiership teams like Reading and they clearly feel Blackman's worth the gamble. As has been pointed out, 1.2 million for Blackman reflects better value for money in my opinion than 6 million plus for Hooper..

Aye we weren't very good but we still scored 3 and won, I've seen Motherwell teams of the past that when they don't play well they got thumped. Hell I've seen Motherwell teams who could play well and get thumped so you won't hear me complaining about a Motherwell team that can play below par and take the three points. Not pretty but we showed why we are where we are in the league. Also that's now 10 points from a possible 12 at home in the last 4 SPL matches at Fir Park with us scoring 12 goals in the process, decent turnaround in home form. You can't play well every week and I'm just glad we have a team who can roll up their sleeves and dig out the points when they aren't on top form. Well done to McCall and the team.

Can only be Higdon.

I agree. The guy looks done, too heavy and too rich to give a fuck anymore. He's still only in his twenties as well. I see a move back to Sevco in the near future when their embargo's lifted and he can slip right back into his comfort zone.

In his last 100 games for Kilmarnock, Boyd scored 52 goals. Better than a goal every two games. That's more than 'decent' and that was without having the so called better players around him. He was a very good young player and a better player than Higdon. Sadly he made the mistake that so many young Scots make and rather than go down south and test himself and try and develop himself into a better player he joined one of the Old Firm. He got into his comfort zone and became a big, fat lazy bastard. Could still put the ball into the net but never bothered his arse about trying to improve himself. He stagnated, never progressed and thus never fulfilled his potential. A better player than Higdon. Oh and he wont be signing for us.

Our last 3 home matches in the SPL has seen us pick up 7 points from 9, scoring 9 goals in the process. Oh and the best football I've seen us play this season was in the 2nd half of that Aberdeen game at Fir Park, Higdon played(and scored) while Hammell and Humphrey were on the the bench. Should we revert back to that formation having Hateley and ZFA as wingbacks?

Yet we lost and we didn't score. Now that Murphy's gone we need all the goals we can get and dropping the guy that's our top scorer who's scored 4 times as many goals as the next top soccer at the club probably isn't the best solution.

Nope, his last appearance for Huddersfield was the play off final at the end of last season.