Well 4 Europe

Can't jump eh? 9 goals in 14 SPL games. Lethal.

Still don't like the Law/Lasley partnership, leaves us far too open and with some of the attacking players that ICT have that worries me.

If Hutch was half the player some on here make him out to be he'd be twice the player he actually is. If Reynolds or Craigan made as many mistakes as he has already this season they'd be getting crucified on here. Boys been a bombscare this season without Clancy or Craigan there to hold his hand. Not my definition of a great defender.

Thank you, begining to think I was making it up! No offence to the lad but I just can't see how anyone could say Jutkiewicz lacked uper body strength, he was built like a brick shithouse. Someone else said Porter was the best striker we've had post admin, in my opinion Jutkiewicz was the best all round striker we've had post Admin. Porter might have been a better poacher but for me Lukas all round game was superior, he had a bit of everything. Was strong, moblie, bullied defenders, excellent control particularly at chest height for balls fired up to him, could hold up the ball and link up play, good in the air, hard working and a powerful left foot. If anything though it was probably his finishing that let him down at times and he didn't score as many goals as he could have. However I thought as a striker he contributed so much to the team, much more than just goals. Plus I just loved his attitude, rarely you see such commitment from a player on loan. When he as injured he could have packed his bags and went home having already done himself enough to get a move elsewhere, instead he battled through pain week after week for the team. I remember when he was doing his own lap of honour after the 6-6 game he could barely fucking walk, who knows how he managed to sprint for that ball at the end cause he could barely move for the last 15 mins of the game. Jutkiewicz was a player you could clearly see from early doors had something about him, I mean Everton paying a 7 figure sum for him when he was in his teens showed he was cut above most your likely to see at Fir Park. No surprise to me either that since he's left us he's been transferred for another 7 figure sum, the second time before he was even 23. We were very lucky to have a player of his quality, he's destined to get his shot in the Premiership soon in my opinion. Jutkiewicz McDonald Porter Would be my order for strikers post admin, and that's no slight on Porter who was a fantastic player for us but it just shows the quality of striker we've had at Fir Park over the last 5 years or so. Probably why Higdon goes so unappreciated by some, which is a shame cause the big man does a cracking job for us.

Right sorry am I imagining this? I thought and would describe Jutkiewicz as a powerful centre forward. I remember him being unfit when he first arrived in terms of match fitness etc. but he was built like a tank. A proper athlete if you will with plenty of upper body strength. Someone please tell me I'm not making this up or was I watching a different player?

Fair enough, it's your opinion. Still bamboozled by your claim that Jutkiewicz lacked 'upper body strength' mind you.

Right the Partridge at right back thing was madness and I'll accept that as a mistake. However... Yeh, calling bullshit on this. Don't know what Jutkiewicz you were watching. Pearson's played Premiership, Champions League & International football, won Scottish football young player of the year, has had transfer fee's totted up into the millions and you're comparing him to Darren Smith, Ross Forbes and Marc Fitzpatrick. Seriously? Wow.

David Partridge a left footed centre half at right back? Lacking a 'big strong forward' despite having picked Lukas Jutkiewicz up front? Lasley ahead of Pearson? No offence, but do you watch Motherwell games?

McHugh had 4 in 4 for the U 20's and yet still couldn't get a sniff of a proper game even when the 1st team went 4 games without scoring. Carswell had a good game in Levante then disappeared. He then had another good 45 mins at Tynecastle and has barely been seen since, this despite the obvious failings of the Lasley/ Law partnership in recent times. In my opinion you have to ask if these boys will ever get a chance under McCall regardless of what they do and if McCall will simply continue to pick his favourites? I mean we've had what 1 win in 8 and yet it seems the majority of the team is untouchable.

Never mind Forbes and Lawless, Stevie Craig has 4 goals in 6 games for Thistle this season. Get him back and he'll fire us to Europe nae danger.

8 goals in 14 Domestic matches this season. A goal every 1.76 games. 8 goals in 18 games in total this season. A goal every 2.2 games 24 goals in 57 games for Motherwell in total. A goal every 2.3 games. Yet still they complain.

Law and Lasley doesn't work as a midfield pairing. When Lasley goes forward Law is already up with him and when we give the ball away our defence has no protection. Seriously how many times in the last 5 games or so have you seen us give the ball away and suddenly we're caught out 4/5 on 4? No Jennings there to sweep up and protect the defence. How McCall can't see this is beyond me, or why he wont give Carswell the chance to try and fill the big Jennings shapes hole in the team. We lack a spark at the minute and are so slow and pedestrian in our build up play. So predictable. Four or five passes between the defence and Law/Lasley then clip it forward to Higdon. When we do get it forward we take ages to get the all under control, play it wide and by that time the opposition have time to get bodies back and get organised. Outside individual inspiration we look devoid of ideas going forward. Another goal for Higdon, well done again the big man for bailing us out again. Oh and I don't care what anyone else says I love Ojamaa and he'd be the first name on my teamsheet at the minute(outwith Randolph). The amount of lost causes he chased and times he made something from nothing be that forcing a throw in/free kick/corner or the amount of shit balls up to him he fought for that we built attacks from and the power of work he got through was phenomenal. The only forward today who seemed to play with any urgency and an intent to make a real difference and it's no surprise that again today he was involved in the goal. He's been instrumental in 3 of our last 4 goals. Fuck what Steelboy the haters say, I love the wee man and his attitude and desperately hope he gets the goal he deserves soon. On the whole not good enough, too many below par performances this afternoon and I include the manager in this. Big improvement needed for ICT next week.

Sorry Hateley isn't a consistent performer? I'd argue he's been one of thee most consistent performers we've had over the last few years, hence why he's only missed 1 game I think in over three years under three different managers and why he played every minute of every game last season. Oh and no and no for me too on Murphy. He's got the talent to play at a higher level no doubt but I have questions marks over the physical and mental aspects of his game.

Fuck sake, regardless of who we got folk some on here would have moaned like fuck. They're Aberdeen, not the Brazil side of the 1970's, we're more than capable of going up there and turning them over. Shoud take up a decent crowd for what's a good away day. We can also hardly complain about the draw either which has been kind in recent years, we had fairly simple run to the cup final a few years ago and had an even easier one last year which we somehow made an arse of. As long as it's not moved for telly I'm happy, chance to get revenge for last season. Bring it on.

He set up Higdon's 4th against ICT, 1st against Dundee & Law's yesterday. Can't think of a fourth. Still he's got more assists than anyone else this season for us by my reckoning. He also got about half a dozen in the 2nd half of last season as well. So that's like 9 goals and 9 assists in just 20 something starts and a dozen or so sub appearances for us. Amazing return from such a young lad who this season is playing his first full season at this level and is still learning. Still... Boo Henrik! Pass ya greedy shit! Look up! Yer final ball's terrible etc.

It was indeed a lovely assist by Ojamaa, believe that's his 3rd of the season which puts him top of the assists chart for us if I'm not mistaken. Not bad for a wee greedy shite who doesn't look up or know when to pass etc.

They were pretty gash today against Celtic, yet from 2-0 down in the 88th minute ended up somehow snatching a draw. Fair play to them for not giving up and getting there reward which sadly will probably give them a boost for Wednesday. Even more worrying was that Gary Mackay-Steven came on and scored so will probably start against us. Would be fairly happy with a draw to be honest, especially if we could beat Dundee on Saturday. Seven points in a week would be pretty good going, easier said than done right enough.

yaaaaaaaaaasss

You know what I was wondering, how come Bob McHugh can't get a game? Our team couldn't score in a brothel as they say, 4 games without a goal. McHugh has 4 goals in his last 4 games for the U 20's, not the same level obviously but he can only score in the games he plays. Yet at 2-0 down on Friday and looking for a goal who does McCall bring on... Omar Daley. By the time McHugh came on it was 3-0 and the game was gone, what was the point. 1-0 down at Tynecastle with 10 minutes to go we need a goal and McCall again chose Daley, McHugh never even made it off the bench. In fact he's barely had a sniff since he started against ICT in a game which we won 4-1 strangely. I'm no Mourinho but I'd have thought if your regular strikers are off form and your firing blanks perhaps giving the guy scoring for fun for the U 20's a proper shot might be worthwhile..?? I'm by no means saying he'll solve all our problems but I'm a bit bemused at McCall's treatment of him. I'd have thought he'd done enough in his limited appearance time this season to merit more of a chance especially given the barren run we're on. Then again if it were up to me I'd play Carswell(an actual centre midfielder) alongside Lasley on Saturday and try and play two proper ball winners in there to offer some protection to the defence and bring a bit more balance to the team. Maybe I'm just mental but in all honesty if given the chance could Carswell and McHugh really do any worse than those who've played ahead of them the last few games? Maybe just maybe throwing in a few young hungry players with a point to prove might give the team the boost it needs by adding some freshness and giving those dropped a kick up the arse.

In fairness Jim Gannon meets that criteria you've outlined.. It might shock you but I'm not sure McCall is the man for the job either, however I don't agree with you that he should be sacked. I think a mutual parting of the ways at the end of the season could be best for both parties. I'll try and explain before some people jump down my throat. McCall has done a great job so far no doubt, Scottish cup final and top six finish in his first half season. His first full season we reach a record SPL points total and qualify(somewhat fortunately) for the Champions League for the first and probably only time in our history. However let's be honest where else is there for him to go? Look at this season, his budget has been cut drastically and we seem to be on the decline as a team. If he get's us to a top six finish this season and get's the youngster some first team experience in preperation for next season then it will have been a successful season for me. However next season his budget will probably be cut again and he'll lose probably at least 9 of the first team in the summer. Is it really worth his while trying to rebuild the team? Will he just end up undoing all the good work he done in his first 18 months at the club? Does he even have the contacts as most(if not all?) of the players he's brought in from down south he seems to have managed at Bradford at some point. His 'contacts' do seem limited and if his budget is cut again will we end up with a team of ex Bradford League 2 players? Things can also go stale. Plenty of managers stay too long and things can turn sour. It already seems to be starting for McCall surprisingly. Despite what he's achieved certain sections of fans have never seemed to be fully behind him. Be that because they don't like his style of football, or his appaling OF record or just the fact he use to play for Rangers. I don't know. However there seems to be a real sense of negtivity surrounding the club in what really should be an enjoyable season for Scottish football. If I were McCall I'd try and get this season back on track and get a top six finish(which is well within reach imo) and get out before the fickle fans turn on him if he fails to start next season brightly. He'll have done his flailing managerial career the world of good and should be able to pick up a cushy League 1 job at the very least with a decent sized club. We've had plenty of good times during his tenure but got out before things go stale. Everyone wins.. Assuming of course we pick the right replacement. However finding someone with a good contacts list of decent players willing to play for what we pay as well as being able to blood the youth players is easier said than done. As I said last time we picked out Gannon and he did bring through the youngsters and brought in some very good players but we all know how it ended. I'd just hope we'd continue our approach of thinking outside the box and don't go for a Hughes or a Calderwood. Someone young, ambitious with fresh ideas and a new approach that will relish the challenge. Maybe even a foreigner who knows? I like McCall and can't deny he's done a great job, but I think a parting of the ways at the end of this season could/would be beneficial for both parties. I'm not sure that he'll be at Fir Park next season regardless of what happens this season anyway.

I'm intrigued, so who would you want to replace McCall with if you got your wish?

You can say 0-4 flattered Hibs and it did but you can't defend like we did at this level and get away with it. The first goal Kerr sold himself and was turned far too easy we cut wide open and their boy had a free shot from the edge of the box witch he dispatched well. We were then the best team, Hammell should have had a goal and Higdon should have buried his chance after great play by Ojamaa. Then again 2nd half we were on top and Murphy put a dream ball across the 6 yard box begging for a touch and we had no takers. Then Humphrey gave away the ball and one long ball forward caught out our entire defence(obviously lessons not learend from the Celtic game ) and it might have been harsh but Randolph did look like he brought him down. If it had been Ojamaa down the other end we'd be screaming for it and I can see why he gave it. Two fucking shocking goals to lose defensively. We then had our chance with a pen and Higgy fluffed it. Their third in fairness is probably the worst pen I've ever seen given at Fir Park but they took their chance and we didn't. I was halfway out the door when the fourth rolled in but it looked another horror show defensively with nobody putting in a challenge. We were unlucky in a way but neither defence was up too much however Hibs took their chances, we didn't. I'll say it again we badly miss a Craigan or even dare I say it a Clancy to organise our defence and get them in shape. We also badly miss Jennings who's partnership with Lasley was what our team was built around. The defence now looks lacking in protection, the midfield lacks bit and to make matters worse we're not taking what chances we do create. I agree it's ridiculous to be calling for McCall's head but with the way things are going and some of the decisions he's made this season questions are obviously going to be asked. Has to be said at the minute he doesn't look to have the answers. We look a rudderless ship at the minute and when he took Ojamaa off it seemed to be the final straw for quite a few around me..

Never mind the officials, the worst decision off the night was from McCall when he took of Ojamaa. Created a few chances and 0-4 might be harsh but our defence was horrific and midfield non existent. Questions are going to be asked, McCall at the minute doesn't seem to have the answers.

When did McCall say Humphrey was injured?

Three of our last four goals have come from Hateley's corners, over 30% of our goals in the SPL this season have come from Hateley's corners. Probably best just to leave him to it.