Well 4 Europe

Absolutely, it's important to mix things up. I'm by no means some football purist and have no problems in us going more direct from time to time, especially if it's effective. However on Saturday when down to 10 men St.Mirren were defending quite deep and had two men sitting in front of the back four. Sutton may have had the beating of Goodwin in the air but what are the chances of us getting to a 2nd ball? It's a hit and hope and your playing for scraps which I'm sure we would have been heavily criticized for on here had we done so, especially against 10 men. They would have been quite happy to sit deep and fight for headers and 2nd balls. What they wouldn't want was for us to try and pull them out of position and use the spare man and that's exactly how the goal came about. Don't get me wrong, I was like most getting frustrated at the pace of some of our passing and the lack of a killer ball. However I could see what we were attempting to do and I think playing a patient game and trying to work and opening was far more sensible than shelling high balls forward and hoping for the best. Also as I said earlier, I felt we were missing Hammell & Lawson/Vigurs. Those three are probably among the best passers of the ball we have and they were all in the stand. Several times yesterday we were crying out for a Lawson/Vigurs to hit a few quick switches out wide to try and stretch St.Mirren, instead Carswell and Lasley often slowed the game down and went with the safer sideways pass inside. You just have to look at his 1st half performance against United in the cup where he was dictating the game for us showing a fine range of passing to see that Lawson(if fit) in particular could thrive in such a set up under Baraclough. Anyway, I'm sure everyone has their opinions. I do however believe we took the right approach on Saturday by trying to play patiently rather than panicking as we usual do and start to go longer and longer and it paid off with superbly worked goal. Personally I'd like to see the new manager get more time to try and implement his new style on the team, of course though I'd happily sacrifice it at the expense of getting points on the board which is the most important thing at this particular moment in time.

Good to see Motherwell fans gave Baraclough a good 4 or 5 training sessions and 1 match to try to try and implement his style of football before deciding it's not going to work. Despite the fact our goal yesterday came from a passing move that started from the back, halfway inside our own half. It was probably the best bit of football we've produced so far this season and Baraclough's only been here a week. The goal itself was quite frankly a joy to watch and I for one was hoping that with more time spent with the team on the training ground, along with the return of some of the better passers in the squad like Hammell, Vigurs and Lawson that we might improve at it and be able to enjoy more of the same going forward. But nah fuck it let's just go back to what we do best, aimless high balls pumped towards Sutton. It's worked so well so far this season I can't believe Baraclough has decided to abandon such a strategy already to be honest.

Pretty poor game but we would have all taken a scrappy 3 points and a clean sheet before kick off so job done, also thought that despite the overall display there were some definite positive signs from Baraclough. - No long balls to Sutton. Always looking to play out from the back and emphasis on trying to retain possession. Was quite slow and predictable at times and you could sense some Motherwell fans getting wound up by it. Lacking a real passer in the midfield like Lawson or Vigurs hampered us and probably a lack of confidence from some players to try the killer ball and instead opted for the safer one. However it paid dividends in the end with one of the best goals we've scored in 2014 in my opinion. A fantastic team goal with McManus passing out from the back, lovely one two between Ojamaa and Ainsworth, a wonderful through ball by Ojamaa to the overlapping Law who flashed it across the goal first time for Sutton to sweep home. Wonderful to watch and if we can expect more of the same from the Baraclough era than I look forward to watching it. Don't get me wrong, it was slow and insipid at times but you can't expect the guy to implement a successful passing game in less than a week in charge. However the clear intent to get the ball down and pass it is promising and bodes well for the future. - Things weren't working, he changed it at half time, switching Law to right back and bringing on Erwin. Promising flashes from Erwin who provided a bit more mobility up front and Law going to full back after being poor at right wing helped create the goal. Also fair play to Law, after a horrednous start to his 'Well career he's slowly starting to win me round with his attitude and performances of late. Also noted Baraclough moved Ojamaa out wide after being ineffective through the middle, which also led to the goal with Ojamaa coming in off the left like he did for his own goal last week. - True to his word, gave the young guys a chance and Dom Thomas finally got his debut. Delighted for the young guy as it's long overdue and hopefully is the first of many. Should give him a bit of a boost and some of the other younger guys on the fringes also. Big vote of confidence from the manager to hand a young lad his debut in the last 10 mins of a nervy relegation battle away from home where we were holding on to a narrow lead. Overall thought we weren't great though and in fairness St.Mirren were utter shite and down to 10 men for the most part. However we needed to win and we did and it's a solid platform for Baraclough to build from. Win next week against Thistle and we are within touching distance of them and Killie going into the busy January schedule.

3 points, clean sheet and 5 clear of the bottom two. That'll do Ian, that'll do.

The Irish Mirror is already linking us with Irish League players, somebody called Seamus Conneely. Probably based on nothing other than just random speculation and putting two and two together but you'd be surprised if its a route he doesn't consider given how well he knows the league and it'll be fairly cheap. And he was talking about freshening up the squad in January during his press conference. Lets just hope if he does go down that route they're of better quality than our Irish League trio from a few years ago.

You'd think having the new gaffer in the stand to impress that the players would have been well up for this, however that was fucking shocking today. County are bottom of the league yet had 20 shots at goal to our 6, 11 corners to our 1 and a whopping 60% possession. Such a lack of confidence and belief in our team. Not helped by Black having Sutton up front by himself for large spells with us constantly aiming hopeful long balls in his direction. How Black watched the impact Erwin and Ainsworth had against Celtic and felt neither deserved a start today is laughable. He's just a continuation of McCall and we really need Baraclough to come in and asses things with fresh pair of eyes. No favourites, no certain starters, just picking the best 11 available in the formation that best suits them. The 1st half today was just so bad. Slow, predictable and just outright boring. Given we were at home to the league's bottom side Black's tactics, which looked like he was playing for the draw, were fucking shameful. The difference Ainsworth made again was noticeable. A winger that can get to the byline and put a decent cross in and Sutton's made a career out of this level scoring that type of goal. Sutton may have many flaws but if you stick decent balls into the box he'll get on the end of things and puts the ball in net. We then had a wee spell where we looked half decent. A lovely goal by Ojamaa who again was the focal point of most of our attacks and Ainsworth had a chance to wrap up the points after a quick break but dragged his shot wide. Ainsworth then proceeded to get worse and worse and after a promising first 20 mins was fucking awful for the remainder of the game picking the wrong option again and again. The team then resorted to camping on the edge of their own box again and County's equalizer was as inevitable as it was deserved. We rode our luck several times and our luck ran out at the end. Frustrating, again when Ainsworth came on and we equalized we had a wee spell on top where him and Ojamaa were combining well and we looked half decent. Sadly we soon reverted to type. We have shown in very brief flashes under Black that there's a half decent decent team in there somewhere. 2nd half against United in the league, 1st half in the cup game and wee spell round about our goals today. Not as good as we have been in recent season but good enough to avoid the drop. Hopefully the new manager with new ideas can install some organization and some belief into the team. Not good enough today overall though, can't imagine too many players impressed the new manager today. O'Brien, Ojamaa and Law were about the only three I'd give pass marks to. Big improvement needed for Paisley next week, hopefully Baraclough can shake things up and get the players fired up for that one.

Came across well in his interview, things that stood out for me were; Attractive football Players must work hard Big on giving youth a chance Looking to amend three things folk on here have been complaining about all season. Will he be successful? Who knows but you have to give the guy a chance. Good luck Ian and welcome to Motherwell.

Too small to be a keeper mind.

Nobby's not given up hope yet

A Scottish cup final, a 3rd place finish followed by two consecutive 2nd place finishes. What a fucking record and no matter what anyone says Stuart McCall can walk away with his head held high. Now was probably the right time and think McCall himself recognized that it was time for a change and a fresh approach. Some horrible lows but some unbelievable highs during his time in charge and he helped assemble one of the best Motherwell sides I've had the pleasure of watching. Thanks for everything Stuart, it's been a cracking 4 years to be a Motherwell fan.

I said much the same at the game, the whole things very odd. Ten minutes to go, Angol having to go off and space is vacated on the left. Do you bring one of the clubs brightest talents, a boy who got 7 goals and 12 assists from the left wing for the youth team last season, a player who could go on to be a big player and make money for the club? Nope, let's bring on 25 year former Alfreton Town right back Josh Law who's looked nothing more than a struggling conference player out of his depth in his dozen or so starts for Motherwell so far this season instead. I'm not heaping pressure on Thomas to be the solution to all our problems or anything like that, however giving him a 10 minute run out in a game like that today was hardly going to do the boy any harm. He could hardly put in a worse display than his experienced peers and who knows, he may have been able to add a bit of spark to proceedings? Certainly whenever I've seen him in either the youth team or first team friendlies, I've been very impressed. He's a natural left winger with pace, skill, the ability to beat players, create chances and pops up with goals as well. All things our team desperately lacks at the minute. When he sees McCall give Vigurs, Angol and Law a chance at left midfield today, none of whom are natural left wingers, while he's sitting kicking his heels on the bench must be a real boot in the baws for the boy.

Take it you weren't at Firhill on Saturday then? Best player on the pitch in a Motherwell strip by some distance. If some of his teammates had matched his effort and performance levels we might have actually left with something.

Ojamaa and by some distance. Only positive yesterday was that he was starting to look like his old self.

Right, so we're struggling to create chances and we've scored the lowest amount of goals of any team in the league this season and you think this is because we don't have Shaun Hutchinson?

I agree but I thought we coped quite well after they scored, we did retreat and sit slightly deeper but we saw it through fairly comfortably. McManus and O'Brien I thought were immense at the back again and won just about everything going in the air. Ramsden was solid enough at right back and Reid I thought had a terrific game at left back considering it's not his natural position. Twardzik also done what was required of him and the defence as a whole looked fairly solid albeit up against a fairly toothless County attack. First half was pretty poor fair with both teams lacking in confidence and creating very little. Second half McCall clearly had words at half time as they were out a good few minutes early and fired up from the start of the 2nd. We got the goal, which was a wonderful free kick by Vigurs and from then on we really kicked on and could have had a few more with Law and Sutton both passing up chances. Sutton then scored a sublime volley and it looked a case of how many. Law and Vigurs were both coming onto decent games and Sutton and Erwin were causing the County back line plenty of problems. Sutton went close again and Erwin looked to have been bundled over when running through but we just couldn't finish it off. Then when they scored it was very much what we have we hold but as I said earlier County never really created any great chances and we saw it though. With many on here questioning the mental strength and toughness of this team it was good to see them shut a few people up and grind out the win. A solid team performance and a very big three points. Definitely still more to come from this team and yesterday doesn't suddenly solve all our problems but it was a step in the right direction. We looked fairly solid and if we can get Ojamaa and Ainsworth on form we can hopefully kick on, start scoring a few more goals and move ourselves up the table.

Fuck knows, we lost any sort of shape and discipline after the free kick went in and as the highlights showed only a few smart saves from Twardzik stopped it from becoming three or four. We were crying out for changes as it clearly wasn't working yet McCall waited until there was less than 15 minutes to go before thinking about making a double change. Then Kerr was sent off, Killie scored, both subs sat down and the game was well and truly over. He did eventually bring on Ainsworth for Ojamaa a few minutes later but by that point it was a bit like rearranging the deckchairs on the titanic.

No getting away from it, that was fucking woeful today. Twardzik, Kerr and McManus are about the only three that would get pass marks for me. The rest for various reasons either struggled or were just plain shite. The difference between when we had the ball and ICT did was night and day. Every time they had the ball one of their players would move to create space and make an angle for each other which made for a decent passing game. Whenever we had the ball there was nothing. No pace, no movement, just statues that forced us into our usual routine of clipping pointless wee chipped balls forward towards Sutton who was surrounded. Why was he surrounded? Because Lee Erwin, who's put in two cracking displays up front so far this season, was punted out of position onto the fucking wing. Explain that one to me? Baffling. Also, when it was obvious we were struggling to retain possession, why was our best footballing central midfield option on the bench? Leitch had a great game in midweek and is much better on the ball than either Carswell and Lasley but when we were struggling to string two passes together today he sat on the bench scratching his arse. Apart from when he was brought in with a massive 6 minutes to go, unbelievable. Right sub, far too late. So it was no wonder we were forced into going long when our two central midfielders struggled to make a decent forward pass between them all game. We also had fuck all width. Ainsworth wasn't interested, Erwin isn't a winger, Vigurs wasn't fit and fuck knows where Law was supposed to be playing, he was just floating about in anonymity. Ferguson has taken some stick but I thought he was hung out to dry. Out of position on his full debut I though he done as well as could be expected defensively. Sadly the boy had no left foot and the amount of times he had the ball at his feet and nobody was looking to help the poor lad out was shocking. It was the same for Reid who actually lost the ball at one point because when he looked up there was not a single pass on and he was surrounded by ICT players who pinched it off him. Kerr had another good game and actually strode out of defence with the ball a few times and was unlucky not to get a free kick when he was brought down on the edge of the box after a marauding run forward. Erwin showed glimpses of his ability but he was wasted out wide. Sutton and Lasley both continued their worryingly poor starts to the season, even McCall has been reduced to bringing them off. Ojamaa just didn't look sharp, no surprise given his lack of game time and a decent pre-season. The Inverness defence strolled through the game as did the two boys sitting in front of the back four. Don't think the keeper will even require a shower after that one. I thought after Wednesday there were plenty of positives to take but there's little to take from today. The only comfort I can take is that we've got the same amount of points now as we did after 3 games last season and surely things can only get better...

Think he probably was offside, was a very late flag though. Shame cause it was a wonderfully disguised through ball by Leitch and a great touch and finish by Erwin. Would be more interested to see the earlier incident where after a driving run Erwin looked to have been bundled over in the box. Ref just ignored it and waved play on when it looked a blatant foul. Would have to see both incidents again though.

Leitch and Erwin both had very good games, two exciting prospects. Erwin in particular was a real a handful again. Carswell done well sitting in front of the back 4 and Kerr had another good game in his natural position. Four of our starting line up came through our youth team and all put in impressive displays. The young boy Ferguson done well enough given it was his debut and he was played out of position, kept it simple and made a few good interceptions. Decent enough display, well organised and showed good discipline defensively. Just lacking a bit of pace and spark on the break. Law unlucky with his effort cracking the bar and Erwin looked to have been bundled over in the box but the ref waved it away. Could do nothing about the winner, an absolute screamer from the boy.

Sorry but not having that today. The guy has his detractors and I'm not entirely sold on him myself to be honest but I thought he had very good game at left back today. Kerr I also thought came onto a decent game after a shaky start and Twardzik made several vital saves that won us the points. Given some of them like Reid and Kerr clearly weren't fit and that it was a patchwork defence I think we have to be happy with the clean sheet. I do feel sorry for our defence at times though, they get very little protection. I lost count of the number of times our midfield failed to track runners or were simply taken out the game by one pass and left our fragile defence very exposed. A worry going into the game against United on Wednesday who you feel will not be so forgiving if presented with the same opportunists. Going forward we didn't offer a great deal, any flash of inspiration seemed to come through the very impressive Erwin. Ainsworth didn't turn up until after the hour and Law drifted in and out of the game but did look lively at times and you glimpses of his natural ability. Sutton worked hard as ever but probably needs a goal to really kick start his season. Lasley had shocker of a 1st half but improved slightly in the 2nd. Lot of pressure on young Erwin's shoulders but he put in a very promising display and if anyone deserved the winner for us it was him. Overall not great stuff today but we all would have taken 3 points and a clean sheet before kick off. Big improvement will be required for Tannadice but we'll worry about that next week. Today however demonstrated exactly why nobody outside of the OF has finished above us in over 3 years. Cause somehow despite not playing well, carrying several injured players and having a makeshift team out there we have a remarkable knack of grinding out the 3 points. Long may it continue.

Betis Official twitter lists Barr as the trialist.

Given it's our last game before the big kick off I thought McCall would start with his preferred 11 for next Saturday in mind. Seems like he's gone for a mix of first team players/fringe and youth.

I'm sure I read we're playing Stenhousemuir on Saturday, on their new plastic pitch.

I thought, howler aside, Twardzik had a very good game. He was quick and brave off his line, great distribution with the ball at his feet and he made at least three cracking saves in the 2nd half. We played some alright stuff without any real pace or intensity to any of the moves. Was great to see Thomas get a lot of game time, even though it sadly came at the expense of losing Angol. Good to see him demanding the ball and always looking to make things happen. Still rough around the edges but you can see his raw talent. Also good to see so many of our own youth players on the pitch at once near the end, some promising talent coming through. Not sure where Law was supposed to be playing, his running style is creepily similar to that of his brothers and after a slow start he showed some nice touches like him too. Interesting that Lawson and Cummins couldn't even get in the squad. Injured or just not in McCall's plans? Anyway a decent run out against good opposition in preparation for Thursday.

Jack Leitch signs a new 2 year deal. Good stuff, high hopes for the lad.