Well 4 Europe

They're a good team who've won something like their last 7 away games on the bounce so it will be a very difficult game. However under McGhee we've already taken points of all 3 teams who are currently above them in the table so there's no reason why we can't take something here if we perform to a similar level that we have been over the last 3 games. I read today that McGhee said Moult had a bug and Ripley had food poisoning and both would have probably missed the game at Tannadice so it was probably just as well it was called off. Hopefully both are fit for this one, team pretty much picks itself at the minute and let's hope we can pick up where we left off.

What a result, fair fucks to McGhee and the boys. When's the last time we won at Parkhead and Ibrox in the same year?

Grimshaw's improved a lot over recent weeks, seems to suit the role he's currently playing in. Would be happy to keep him and Ripley to the end of the season. Can't see us doing much in January mind you, we have a fair amount of deadwood we'd have to move on first. Twardzik/Samson(pick one) Craig Reid Jake Taylor Louis Laing Jack Leitch Wes Fletcher/Theo Robinson/David Clarkson(could punt at least 2 of them) Could all move on and very few would notice/care. Easier said than done right enough but until we shift some of them on(if possible) then I can't see McGhee having much room to manoeuvre.

Agreed. No doubt having Lasley and Hammell back makes a massive difference to the team but I wouldn't single either of them out as having particularly better games than any other Motherwell player yesterday. Moult, Pearson and Grimshaw would have been my top picks yesterday incidentally. Also thought the much maligned McManus had a good game alongside young Ben Hall who had a good, solid debut. Kept it simple and didn't get caught fannying about like Kennedy did several times against Hearts. Ripley also much more assertive, sharp of his line this week after his hesitancy at Hearts first goal the other week. Looked like something they'd been working on in training. The whole team would get pass marks for me though. First half the best we've played in a long time, could easily have gone in 3 or 4 goals up. Bit more difficult in the 2nd half but the team dug in and got the deserved 3 points.

Monday evening saw Fir Park host the 110th Annual General Meeting of Motherwell Football Club, yet the first where the owner shared his presence via an iPad hook-up from Barbados! The board kicked off proceedings by discussing the financial statements, confirming that the extra rent paid for the year ended May 2015 was a combination of issues with Dalziel Park, weather difficulties and Stuart McCall hiring Ravenscraig for a week to allow his squad some artificial surface experience before out Europa League trip to Iceland...... Season 2014/15 was described as an "annus horribilis" where everything which could go wrong did go wrong - except the play-offs! When challenged on why we remained managerless during November of last year it was advised that whilst the Argentinian consortium was still a possibility, a stipulation from them was that no successor to Stuart McCall was to be hired. Les Hutchison was next to speak, extolling the fact that from twelve months ago when we had nine first-team players out injured our new fitness regime sees only one player currently on the sidelines (Joe Chalmers). Whilst directing great praise on both Alan Burrows and the board "without whom you, the fans, would not have a club to support", his main focus was on fan ownership as he compared the eight thousand regular paying members of the Foundation of Hearts with the five hundred subscribed to The 'Well Society as "not good enough". Mark McGhee took the floor for the final part of the meeting, during which he referenced a new model for developing our young players which will be announced in the next few weeks with a core aim of having our eighteen-year-olds ready for first team action instead of two years in the Under 20's, and also feels that this philosophy will encourage more fans to join The 'Well Society. As both Motherwell manager and Scotland assistant he felt embarrassed that our team at Ross County contained only one Scot. He thought the two transfer fees we have paid recently for Marvin Johnson and Louis Moult to be money well spent and a mixture of better scouting and picking up players like Shaun Hutchison from exit trials as well as loan signings to plug any gaps will stand us in good stead. We had a youth player from Man City training with us for two weeks who Patrick Viera played in a game for us to watch but felt he wasn't ready to play yet, Mondays see our thirty-six man squad compete in a mini-league to get young players playing with our experienced professionals and he is keen for the likes of Dylan Mackin, Chris Cadden and Dom Thomas to go out on loan and get twenty first-team matches under their belts. WIth that, the meeting closed with hopes expressed that the current season concludes a lot more smoothly than the previous one. Copy and pasted from the boy over on Fir Park Corner.

That Vigurs goal btw, imagine having a midfielder with a bit of technique and quality about him. Not good enough for us mind you, doesn't run about enough.

Grimshaw. Just done his job quietly and effectively, superb engine in the middle and was snuffing out attack after attack all afternoon and was always available to take the ball into feet and rarely wasted possession. Law, Kennedy, McManus and Johnson all deserve mentions, however there were no real failures today. Everyone played their part and put in a good shift.

Honestly, that was night and day from what we've seen so far this season. Superb performance for the most part and their keeper made 4 genuinely top class saves in the last 5 mins to deny us all 3 points. I can't remember the last time we created as many chances in a game. Lost our shape for about 20 mins when Lasley went off injured and to be fair we had a few lucky escapes that could have buried us. However we showed good character to get back in it and once we equalized we settled down and could have won it. We had a good shape, we were aggressive in the challenge and when we had the ball we popped it about well and played some decent stuff while creating chances. Johnson and Law were like different players, Grimshaw was superb in the middle, Kennedy and McManus were both solid again at the back. Ripley only had one real save to make but it was a belter and our goal was textbook Skippy, inbetween two defenders and a bullet header. The first game I've genuinely enjoyed since the opening day, obviously a lot of hard work done on the training ground this week and a lot more to be done as well, however that was hugely encouraging today. Well done to McGhee and the entire team.

Blackman scored 10 goals in 17 starts for Motherwell, what were you expecting exactly? Admittedly he downed tools for his final few games once he got a new contract at Blackburn sorted but you can't say he didn't do us a turn when he was here.

You're not wrong to be fair, some folk are absolutely gagging for him to fail. Not quite sure why, boy knocked his pan in for us last season and for me he was one of the few to come out of it with any credit. Good luck to the boy, if I had two dodgy knees and some big English club waved a three year contract that could set me and my family up for life in front of me I'd probably sign it as well.

Well the chairman of Valakari's current club has come out today and been quoted as saying they won't negotiate with Motherwell until the end of the season, which for them is the 25th of October.

Surely the quality of the manager is more important than the quality of the league he's managing in? The Scottish Premiership/1st Division is hardly comparable to the English Premiership but that hasn't stopped Alex Neil making the seamless transition from one to the other due to the fact he's simply an excellent young manager. Does Valakari fall into that category? I honestly have no idea, I know next to nothing about his management career other than simple facts about the trophies he's won in his native country. He could be potentially be a very good young manager who needs a bigger platform or he could simply just be an average one doing well in a shite league. It's really up to our board to try and find that out, however dismissing him out of hand when you know next to nothing about him is absurd.

You mean apart from the two seasons where he won league titles with Reading and Milwall, as well as the season where he won promotion with Brighton?

Was exactly was wrong with the first substitution? McDonald was having a shocker in midfield and Moult was getting little change up front and was one more challenge away from getting sent off. Within 5 mins of taking Moult off for Leitch and moving Skippy up front to his best position he scored. Playing a midfielder in midfield and a striker up front, it'll never catch on.

Hearts have just said there's going to be no pay at the gate option for Motherwell fans. No ticket, no entry.

Inverness chose to put the ball out in order to make a sub, why should we have to give it back? The only problem I had with the whole incident was that Johnson somehow failed to even hit the target. As for the tackle that caused the whole incident, I have little sympathy for Warren. He put an early marker on McDonald after about 30 seconds when he came in late with a horrible looking tackle that forced Skippy off for treatment. It was a 50/50 between him and Pearson and he got a sore one. Shit happens, don't dish out and all that. As for the game, it was one going on three or four. Bossed the game, created plenty of chances and stopped them from managing a single shot on target. Fletcher bossed the two Inverness centre backs and turned them inside out, his goal was very much right place right time. Laing strolled it at the back, Johnson was unplayable at times; his run for the penalty was superb although it looked soft award. Ripley didn't have a save to make but came off his line to claim at least half a dozen crosses and bossed his area well. Man of the match was Lasley though, the number of tackles and interceptions he made to break up their attacks was incredible. Life in the old dog yet it would appear. Team came flying out the traps today and looked fit, well drilled, organised and got a thoroughly deserved three points. Only one game but you can't ask for much more than a performance like that accompanied with a win and a clean sheet.

He's just signed for Ross County on a two year deal.

http://cricfree.sx/watch/live/motherwell-vs-borussia-monchengladbach-live-streaming Dodgy stream, bit jumpy but working alright for me.

To be fair I think it is a route the club are looking to go down, we tried to sign Durnan from QOTS this summer but he pied us in favour of joining Dundee United. Also 'heard' the club were apparently after Shaun Rooney of Queens Park and Jordan White from Livi but that could just be nonsense. Still, would hope we start to see some movement this week given pre-season starts on Thursday and they're away to Holland next week.

Looks like he's going for it, either a bold move or stupid one by Baraclough. Time will tell I suppose.. Anyway come on to fuck Motherwell, into these cunts.

Seen an article this morning where Nigel Clough says Sheffield United plan on activating a clause to extend George Long's contract before sending him back on loan to us again for next season..

The club have mentioned that a few players are a booking away from picking up a suspension, from what I can gather that relates to McManus, Lasley and Pearson so I would imagine they would be three that won't be risked here. You can argue about McManus fair enough but we'll definitely need Pearson and Lasley at their absolute best to have any chance in the play-offs so giving their ageing limbs a rest here might not necessarily be a bad thing. Wouldn't make wholesale changes, although I admit it is tempting but I'm not sure how beneficial it would actually be, however I would like to see the likes of Dom Thomas and Moore get a start to show Baraclough that they might actually be useful players to have on the pitch instead of just warming the bench. Would probably give Sutton and Ainsworth a start as well to stake a claim for a place in the team ahead of the play-offs.

How predictable.

Think that's the third goal he's set up on the overlap since his move to right back, a pretty decent return. Thought Law was actually alright yesterday, nothing special mind but his usual solid display at right back. Struggling to understand some of the criticism coming his way. Also can someone please explain to me how the fuck Law is as culpable for their goal as O'Brien?