fat_tony

I agree. We only need six players to take this mob. Shower of impostors. I expect we'll see the "first choice" back five (assuming Tait is fit, McMillan if not). For midfield I'd expect Pearson to start, along with Lasley, Cadden, and Lucas. Moult up top, maybe with Bowman? If not, then I'd guess Clay will feature somewhere. I'd be surprised to see Ainsworth start after the Hearts match. I think Tait's suspension doesn't kick in until Saturday?

For anyone unable to go check it out just now: http://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/2017/02/08/statement-carl-mchughs-red-card/ Cracking statement, and exactly what's needed in my opinion. We can't change what's happened, but by drawing attention to it we are highlighting the issue of inconsistency and addressing the fact that our players have not been treated the same as others.

It seems like nowadays you're meant to win the ball then completely cease any momentum. Unless of course you're in the box waiting for a set piece, or "shepherding" the ball out of play, then you can do whatever the hell you want, even if the ball's nowhere near.

Jules made a number of big mistakes yesterday. He lost the ball in dangerous areas a number of times (including getting mugged for the third goal). As I said above though, he also did some nice stuff and could do well given some more time. Cadden put quite a few balls across the box that were much better than they appeared. Ainsworth just wasn't on the same wavelength, and Moult couldn't be on the end of them because he was having to play both his own and McDonald's roles.

Having just watched the highlights, I'm even more annoyed about yesterday. McHugh's tackle was textbook, and shouldn't have even been a foul, never mind a red card. It's the momentum which carried him into Cowie, but it was never out of control or dangerous. Studs down, winning the ball, perfect.

I haven't seen it again, so you may be correct, but certainly from what I saw at the time it looked like a fair challenge. If that is a red card offence, and the referee is correct, then football is officially fucked.

Agreed re: Jules. He started brightly but looked really uncomfortable at times. I thought there were glimpses of a player in there, and definitely worth more game time, but I wouldn't have had him anywhere near MOTM. Funny how we can all take different opinions away from the same match isn't it? Anyway, Lasley did very well early on, but i thought lost the ball a fair amount later in the game, and put us under pressure at times. I'd still have him in there next to McHugh, no question though. Lucas and Pearson were good when they came on, and Moult was tireless as always with no support. But for me it's Cadden, as most of the times we managed to get into good positions or threaten hearts' goal, he was involved.

Thought McGhee called it spot on today myself. Pearson and Lucas were positive when they came on and McMillan was a forced change. You can't manage for poor refereeing.

A natural left sided midfielder with a proven track record of scoring goals at this level? Sold! If he hadn't played for the club previously everyone would be delighted with this signing. I really don't get the issue some have with returning players if they do the business.

But the point is if it's just a link, nobody knows what it is unless they click it, which takes them to another website or app (depending on the device). Whereas if you add a few words saying what the link is, people can get the context from that and decide whether they want to click or not. Anyway, to the point in hand, interesting one if official, not sure how another midfielder fits into the plans but then again, I know absolutely nothing about the lad.

Do you genuinely believe that we'll be able to just "bring in" another striker of McDonald's standard? He is absolutely crucial to our team.

We've had a period of 7 or so years challenging at the upper ends of the league, had nearly annual European trips, several cup semi finals, and a cup final. The only thing that would have put the icing on the cake would have been winning a cup. It's been better. Nobody in their right mind would've expected that to just keep going without any difficult seasons. Bigger clubs than ours have been through similar peaks and troughs.

McHugh. Exactly the type of player we've been missing (and Lawson should have been). Hopefully we'll see him improving each week as he gets his sharpness up. Samson made some cracking saves, despite a few "Samson" moments. Moult wins the effort award yet again. He must be dreading the day McDonald leaves.

Feels like a sore one today, especially after their sending off. It was starting to feel like it was only a matter of time before we scored until McDonald's red card. At the time I thought it was soft, and having seen the replay I think a yellow would have sufficed, especially given other similar challenges in the match. I can see why it was given, but it looked to be a little late rather than all out dangerous like O'Halloran's. Surely we'll appeal that and show Kiernan's booking as evidence? It fairly knocked the stuffing out of us though, and we were second best from then on out. That first goal was painful to watch. Kenny Miller just strolled into the box completely unmarked and got to pick a spot. Shocking defending. The substitutions were a little baffling to say the least, but in defence of McMillan he had very little support. Hammell seems to be completely unwilling to push forward nowadays (or is instructed not to), meaning week after week, whoever's in left mid has very little, if any, support. I really felt for Moult today as it seemed like the only way he would get any service would be to cross the ball in then get on the end of it himself. Typical 100% as always though. On a positive note, that was my first look at McHugh and I thought he looked pretty tidy for the most part, tended to know where to be, and played some nice passes, and looked to get the ball moving quickly, something we're very poor at. I get the feeling that perhaps Lasley would be the better partner for him though, as even with him slowing down a bit, he's still a lot fitter and quicker on the ball than Clay. Tough one to take, but we can't wallow in self pity, just have to gear up for a massive game on Tuesday.

But we haven't non-contested them all. Since McGhee's been back we've beaten Celtic at their patch and had a right go at them at ours, losing out to a late moment of class. The frustrating thing is that we don't take that approach to all of the games against the OF (or other opposition for that matter). Rangers still don't look any better than a decent Premiership side and other teams have demonstrated that if you pressure their defence they can't cope. We were doing it well today until McDonald's sending off. Some will argue that being set up not to lose is a good approach, but we just don't have the level of players able to keep their concentration and fitness for 90 minutes against superior opposition. Much better to live and die by the sword in my opinion. I can always take losing better when we've been thoroughly outplayed by a better team while trying to have a go. That today is a very sore one to take.

I would have taken him back in a heartbeat. While Ainsworth has much better end product on his day, if he's not "on it" then he's almost like a man down. Even if he's not doing well, Humphrey's pace causes teams to double up on him. A big part of our success in his time here was down to the potential threat of Humphrey and double marking freeing up space for others like Murphy who could make a greater impact.

This thread has turned into the best Christmas present ever. Hilarious stuff!

Interesting. As with any of our squad, he's got to be for sale if the price is right. I've been very impressed with him for a young defender though, so I'd be sorry to see him go. But there's plenty left on his contract, so I'm sure we'd be in a good position to negotiate should anyone come asking.

Points on the board means more than potential points from games yet to play. We could take a shoeing off Aberdeen in our game in hand, or, naturally, we could go there and win (or draw). Killie have done a lot better so far than I expected at the start of the season, I thought they'd be adrift at the bottom, but finally Clark seems to have got the message across and got them performing a bit better. I've not seen them this season, so I can't really comment who is the "better" side. I do know that we're capable of scoring goals and posing a real attacking threat, and if we approach the game in the right way, we're more than capable of winning. But, the nature of the league this season is that teams are all taking points off each other and no-one seems capable of putting a proper run together at the moment. I'd take a scrappy 1-0 right now, but am hoping we've got a bit of a point to prove after last weekend, and can go out and win in a bit of style.

I really wonder whether some do, or if it's just a habit. I've got two guys who sit next to me and do nothing but moan at every little thing that doesn't go our way. They seem incapable of seeing anything positive in what the team is trying to create, and the second a move breaks down it's "oh, here we go again", "here comes their goal". How can that be an enjoyable experience?

If we can approach the match with similar tactics and mentality to yesterday, we should have an extremely good chance at progressing as they're not even in the same league (figuratively) as Celtic. Hearts showed that the way to deal with the zombies is to press them hard and high and put their defence under pressure.

Rodgers was pretty complementary on Sportsound after the match. Said Moult, McDonald, McManus played well, and Motherwell deserved credit for making it such a tough match. Or words to that effect anyway. Like some others, I certainly don't blame Ainsworth for losing the ball to Toure. He was just about at the half way line, and had his touch come off he would have been through with a clear run at the Celtic goal. The midfield should have closed up behind him to cover the hole, but by that point I think tiredness had firmly taken hold. Still smarting about the result, but the more I think about it, very pleased with the performance.

Yet, just to play devil's advocate, the cross for Ainsworth's goal showed exactly what Hammell can do going forward. Do we get as good a delivery from either Chalmers or McMillan? Hammell's defensive form is definitely a worry though. Gutted to lose that one today, but the level of performance was heartening. Against lesser teams it's likely we wouldn't have been punished as severely for our mistakes. If we can keep that level of performance up for the next few weeks, we can definitely pick up some much needed results.

I know what you mean, but I think writing off the last 25 years completely is a bit of an exaggeration. That was all I was saying. Given some of the squads we've had since McGhee's first spell I'm disappointed too that we haven't won any silverware. It's the nature of cup football though, that it gives unfashionable, lower quality (in comparison to most of your big city clubs) teams the chance to win based on a handful of performances. I miss a day out at Hampden though, must be about time for at least a semi final soon, right?

That's not exactly true though, is it? We've reached two cup finals and numerous semi finals since then, which I would class as doing well in cups. We haven't consistently done well in the cups from one season to the next, and have had some epic disappointments, especially since the 2011 final, but we've had some good cup runs in the last 25 years.