weesacs

i agree, but the only difference is Jennings - the other 3 midfielders are the same (Las, Law and Humphrey) we never replaced Jennings and we miss him - but this is this season, we have to go with what we have - we cant really make comparisons as long we we score more than the opposition - does it really matter? Ruddy achieved a clean sheet record when he was here, and then Randolph came in and broke said record............but at the time, the defence was still getting abused for its performances - particularly Craigan and laterly Clancy we might have money to bring someone in - but with a small squad, it has to be someone who can improve what we have. Hateley, Carswell and Ramsden can all play as a holding midfielder - so unless we bring someone in who can do better than them - is it a wage well spent? Maybe someone in that position is highly sought after the way most teams play these days - and we cant compete with wages

sorry Dave - cant agree with you whatsoever, for the above post or the one beforehand the only difference it makes to how we perform today is that he gets to lead the team out the tunnel and for the handshakes and toss of a coin after that - he'll probably forget he even has the armband on Keith Lasley isnt exactly captain material either - (in the Roy Keane type mould) however one thing that I will say about both of them is that they are extreme professionals who both lead by example and give their all if reports are to be believed, he has already been in Sheffield - house hunting and to agree terms, then there is no other send off we can give him - he is out the door at 445pm TODAY! its like when a player reaches 50 caps for their country - its a small token gesture to show respect and to say thanks - Jamie deserves that from all of us

ZFA was the big difference for me - time and time again, no matter who plays on the left hand side of midfield, whether it be henrik or murphy, why oh why do they insist on cutting back on to their right foot?? 1 - it allows players to get back into shape and 2 - it stops any momentum we had as soon as ZFA came on - hit the byline several times, and we nearly scored several times - i just cant understand why McCall cant see this. there is no dount murphy and ojamma have talent and something special in their locker, but their play is becoming all too predictable i accept that we dont have many options, but what do we have is Nicky Law - a guy who has guile to unlock a defence like tonight, when a team is happy to sit in and stuff us out. But he is being asked to do a job which isnt natural to him and his talent is wasted playing that deep. He needs to be further up the park and doing what he does best. Someone else needs to step up to the plate and fill the jennings role, whether that be Carswell, hetherington, Ramsden or someone in January well played to Boaby for grabbing another goal, but he shouldve had more!!

there's alot of confidence on these boards re this game whilst our away record is fantastic, i think this will be very tough i think St Midden will make this like an away game for them - they will sit in and keep the ball and we will struggle to break them down obviously i hope i am wrong and we are celebrating like "last min Hateley free kick" game!!

it may well be their 3rd tier - but they can offer loads more that what we can, playing in front of 15-20k every week Sheff Utd are huge in comparison to us - they have looked good this year, and chances are they will go up - so he goes to them, plays in League 1 and helps them into the Championship - is that really that bad?! me thinks not!!! what concerns me........what is HE looking for? why did he not fancy Blackpool? wherever he goes, and he should go, for the sake of his own career - he goes with our best wishes

i emailed them and their Chief Exec emailed me back now im convinced - away kids were £10 - no matter what however in his email, and the website now reflects this - he advised it was £10 for U18s and £5 for U12s so whether or not that email helped - £5 is still a great price and will hopefully encourage more people to go http://www.saintmirren.net/pages/?page_id=255

i totally agree with all your points..............and i want us to finish as high as we can. My point was more relating to the fact that I cant remember the last time we lost so many 1st team players in one go. im not for one second saying we shouldn't be playing Randy or Law or Murphy - but those who will be here should maybe have a little more exposure than they would normally get so that they are ready to make the step up. Players like Carswell, Hetherington, McHugh should maybe get 15/20 mins per game rather than the usual 2mins (maybe im not puttiing my point across very well!) @weeyin - totally agree, John Sutton is the prime example of that - he went to Hearts on increased wages, and that was purely down to his last 6 months performance

Clancy??

ok.....thought some more about this, for those who are not in the McCall camp, lets say they get their way and he doesnt sign a new contract. What then? Who do we go for? Who is going to want to come in and try and deal with a club who is losing half their first team and another possible budget cut Someone suggested Jimmy Calderwood - would he seriously do better? I think some people's expectation levels are way through the roof. I also think if our home /away record was reversed - this wouldn't even be getting discussed. What does concern me though, is if people's attitudes are as they are now - what will they be like when we are in a dogfight next season? I do agree, that our home performances are not the best and I think the club need to do "something", because if our performances continue as they are - the people who they NEED to come through the turnstyles are not going to be there

after mccall touching on it the other week and now this........... http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/motherwells-darren-randolph-promises-to-guide-1487214 i think its inevitable that most of them (if not all of them) will be leaving - no real surprises but what is most important now - if they are leaving, should we be exposing some of the guys staying so they are ready to step up? or do we play with our best 11 and try to get as far up the league as we can? I dont think I have ever thought about it like this before as I can remember a time where we had so many first team starters out of contract at the one time (no doubt someone will prove me wrong!)

bet you thats what other fans say about us!!! i agree and thats why i think ZFA should start at left midfield - take the man on the outside and get balls into the box - lets see if Higgy benefits from a left footer rather than someone wanting to always cut inside Carswell more than likely injured, so need to wrap Law up in cotton wool to make sure he can come back in and Murphy or Ojamma to drop out for ZFA

whatever do you mean?? do you not realise that we have the best coaches and scouts in the world sitting in the east stand?

no its not that we have several crap players at home, its that we have several (hundred) crap fans like dewell and mjc then we have other people who clearly dont have a clue and only want to shout abuse at certain players

mentioned on another thread, but i think the over reaction relates to home performances rather than overall performances if only everyone could go to away games and see what they are missing!!

My link

totally agree it needs to be spent wisely - other teams with smaller budgets than ours have picked up a couple of gems - even though they are few and far between but what keeps sticking in my mind is when we went for someone in the summer and were outbidded (in wages) by a team in League 2 or the Conference - so that's what we are up against, i just don't think it will be easy to get these decent players in on twitter last night, it mentioned that Bradford v Arsenal on average wage terms was £747 v £59000 - now I dont know what our average wage is, but it cant be that much higher than £750 - so that must be the level that we are looking at?

its amazing how so many see the game so differently - I agree with some of what posters are saying, then disagreeing with another part fo what they are saying! i thought it was a game of 2 halves - we were better in the first half and they were better in the second half. The difference is, when they were on top - they scored. We didnt. im only judging the game on the 1st half - as Brown's tactics totally nullified us. Say what you want about him - but he certainly knows how to make teams difficult to beat. Randolph - probably our MOTM, good to see him back and making top class saves (he's definitely leaving!!) Hateley and Hammell - both poor by their own high standards, Hateley has taken alot of abuse from the fans about his corners, and last night, you seen a few of the players getting annoyed to. Is it really that difficult to tell someone else to swing it in? Hutchy and Cummins - I actually thought Cummins looked the better of the 2 last night. Yes, Hutch made a few crunching tackles and a couple of flurrys up the park but more often than not when we had the ball he wasnt interested in receiving it unless he had to. Cummins on the other hand was always making himself available for a pass (if you have the ball, the one thing you want - is options of who to pass to) Lasley and Carswell - i thought both of them started well and how different it could have been if Carsy had put his early chance away - he got stuck in and did the donkey work. I do like him and cant understand why some folk are saying he was terrible. Is that not his first start since Levante? You cant expect anyone, nevermind someone so young, to come in from the cold and dominate a midfield (especially against someone like Rae who has been around the block) Hump and Murph - teams know us so well and I dont know if thats why Aberdeen played 5 at the back - both of them were doubled up on anytime they got the ball. Murphy started well but defo faded out the game Higgy - i thought played well, good link up play and there were a few times where Ojamma was just too far away to benefit. Aberdeen snuffed Higgy out early when they dropped a midfielder to sit just in front of him any time the ball was launched to him Ojamma - turning into a bit of David Clarkson - will run all day for you, close down defenders but its just not happening for him just now We are defo missing the experience of Craggs, Clancy and Jenno - however, a message to the whole team: IF YOU DONT SHOOT, YOU DONT SCORE!

f**king hell - can you imagine if we were bottom of the league just now!!!!!!!!! a couple of things that MJC has has pointed out, that I would like to pick up on..... going back to the Butcher era - yes I agree, the rawness made it more exciting - because we never knew what to expect. (we got pumped off all the teams around us in the league but managed to beat all teams in the top 6) that has changed now - because we are more consistent now and in turn, that has raised fan expectation we have no money - zilch, zero - not a penny, so where are we going to sign all these quality players from? that leads me on to cup runs...... if money is all that matters, we have continually heard from the club that the cup runs are more lucrative than European games - if that is really the case (which i have no reason to doubt) then surely we should be making sure when we play in domestic cup games - the players know the significance??? someone else mentioned it - our problem isnt playing nice football - its the willingness to roll the sleeves up and fight for the team/fans/teammates that we lack. Once that battle is won, then we can play nice football. Any team who come to Fir Park and are willing to fight - more often than not beat us

derek adams knows the motherwell fans only too well - he'll be telling his team to sit in, park the bus and keep the ball - frustrate the home fans!! he KNOWS the motherwell fans will get on the back of the players and he also knows (as its plain to see) that we struggle to break teams down when they sit in its no coincidence we perform better away from home where there is less pressure and a positive vocal support and the other team feels the pressure to attack and we work best at then hitting teams on the counter i'd love us to win - but it aint going to be easy

i agree mate - but this is Fir Park not a miracle warehouse!!!!!!

Am I losing my marbles or have the club advertised half season tickets starting on Boxing Day?!? If so, what's the price for an east stand adult? Can't see it on official website

Almost Frazzled and WellInEurope.............. i know you are saying the defenders should be marking, schoolboy stuff etc etc but we defend as a team and attack as a team.......... at the time, I screamed at Higgy - dont effin give up - he did and pointed to Humphrey to close him down, (after watching it on tv when i got home) he then turns his back on the cross. That split second gave Consodine the space he needed to put in a good ball. Higgy giving up the chase and Humphrey turning his back is inexcusable IMO Yes - the marking wasnt great - but when you have 2 inexperienced guys in there, the experienced guys need to do there share...........the cross shouldn't have been allowed to have been put in, in the first place If the cross doesnt come in, then there's no issue of debating "he lost his man", "they tried to play offside", "Hollis was slow to move his feet" blah blah blah IMO - the cross shouldn't have been allowed to be put in - end of!

thought it was a decent performance from everyone - Hollis had a good few saves, especially so early on Thought Ojamma chased everything down and gave their defence a torrid time Murphy is defo looking more confident Humphrey and Higdon was both decent outlets and played well until both of them decided to switch off for a second and cost us So Murphy for me (again), playing better and what a goal

1991......................Aberdeen away i didnt fancy us at Perth, Schneckie or Dundee - but look how that turned out there's nothing wrong with being pessimist about certain things - but deary me how you put your point across!

such a shame we drew Aberdeen away - anywhere else other than way up North and I think we'd have a cracking away support i'd like to think we'd take more than normal, especially since our away form has been fantastic this season - but I honestly cant see our "traditional" Scottish cup turnout appearing for this game and its certainly not helped by moving the 4th round to before Xmas how many went to Inverness the other week - did we even break 100?! (on TV blah blah blah) but the support that day was dreadful!!