Handsome_Devil

I don't object in principle to us shelling it up the park but in that case why not have Woolery and Shields close to Van Veen and actually commit some midfielders to chasing the seconds balls? I - like everyone else - just don't get what we were trying to do last night. It wasn't only that we barely played football but even that limited approach wasn't done with any conviction. The combination of our tactics with the team selection was, yet again, inexplicable. Having McGinley/Carroll as left back in March having seen them all season is a borderline sacking offence. Committing to both of them going into next season should absolutely be a sacking offence... And how any professional squad can have literally one genuine central striker in it for the 4-3-3 of choice remains utterly mind-boggling. But for all the squad balance criticism, I genuinely don't think the players are the biggest problem right now. We're obviously not brilliant but nor is this a four points from 27 squad as hopeless as it currently looks.

With the exception of Gannon I can't remember us binning a manager when we weren't in serious danger of relegation. Kampman arguably also had circumstances. But anyway, there's no point in going mental calling for GA to go because it's a waste of breath. It's just not going to happen. Should we lose - or even not win - on Saturday though, I think he'll have reached a tipping point from which it is highly unlikely he'll recover even when he turns round the current form. He will need a minor miracle to win the fans back. In autumn I predicted he would survive our bad run but another was inevitable and that'd cost him his job. That's obviously wrong because our pre-Xmas form was so solid it built a buffer and extended his contract so I'll revise by one crisis. We'll just about emerge from this crisis but I don't think the players are behind the constant chopping and changes, the reactive style, hoofball etc. And without that the chance of us edging enough 50-50s, as Alexander's whole philosophy is based on, to be successful is slim. He'll last to September/October and will jump or be pushed then.

Must we? Adam will dominate the midfield till Dundee score, from which point they will sit back and watch us alternate between pointless slow passing done badly and random hopeful punts. 0-1.

On chances we should never have lost but County can say they had the goal so didn't need to do any more and our efforts to break them down we're feeble. As for Alexander, so may questions which get repeated almost week after week. For all I don't like him and his approach, I think he actually could be an okay manager - but if he was half as clever as he thinks he is he'd be twice as clever as he actually is. He needs to pick a team and stick to it, and then our glaring errors with the squad bat might not turn out to be fatal. Fair to say if we don't win on Saturday it'll be toxic and hard to argue it's not deserved.

Because even if we go 2-0 up we'll put on seven defenders. Under Alexander we've scored three (or more) goals in a game three times and only once against top-flight opposition.

Alexander strongly implied in his press conference KVV won't be fit so I'd expect to see him start.

I'm split between heart and head on this one...the latter has seen me make a modest investment in County (close to a mind-boggling 3/1!!!) but the former has given me a wee feeling we'll sneak it. Possibly just because I'm back in the country for it. As for the team, who knows...Kelly obviously and I'd definitely keep Carroll at LB and have Lamie inside of him. I'd be tempted to stick with Mugabi and SOD but I wouldn't be averse to SSJ or Ojala coming in and Mugabi going to RB. Midfield, god knows. Shaw has earned a start and I don't see us dropping Donnelly. If we assume Slattery remains persona non grata I'd give MOH the nod in the other spot but Cornelius has his claim. Up front equally random. Woolery will obviously keep his place and it's harsh to say Amaluzor and Roberts haven't played themselves in as well but if KVV is fit I'd still bin one of them and play the other. Without context a point wouldn't be a disaster but with the situation what it is we need to be going out to win this one...2-1. Maybe.

Ha, I said literally the same thing to someone a couple of hours ago. Agree completely. I think the big difference to then is when Humphrey was still in his project phase, we still had Sutton and then Blackman scoring regularly. This season Woolery and every other inconsistent but has pace and potential forward gets judged a lot quicker and harsher when there's no one around acting as insurance. And just as Humphrey became truly dangerous he had higdon finishing his assists.

The is just an impression with nothing to back it up but I've a feeling Alexander considered yesterday a freebie, used it for minutes in the legs and would have been surprised as anyone we fluked something. Dropping your two previously first choice but injury prone CBs, protecting KVV made sense in a way. He also said at the AGM Tierney was a project rather than immediate starter yet pitched him in, Cornelius had been wanting time and got a run, he gave SOD a reward for training well etc. Even the subs were guys we've hardly used recently. Hat off to them they were great did Alexander seriously think Amaluzor would go from our the squad to salvaging 0-2 at Ibrox?! God knows who we pick on Wednesday.

If we somehow make the cup final and WWIII causes it to be postponed I'll be absolutely raging.

We are a strange, strange bunch and either two points from the 15 coming up or 13 would not surprise you hugely. Wonderful point today and I thought for a fleeting second when Lamie reached that free kick it was 3-2...

What a turnaround that was...undoubtedly rode our luck at times but Rangers eased off and we took full advantage. Fantastic day, especially the 6-4-0 in the dying seconds.

He's an error in waiting even on a good day - and when he does sell the shirts he often falls apart. He offers bugger all going forward. For all that, I could actually live with him as back-up to someone decent. But when we've already got one so so LB, retaining the other and not looking to improve that position for next season is a major mistake.

There are no words.

There are very few in our squad who I would write off as completely useless but there's only so many bodies you can have around on the margin, even allowing for wanting a larger squad than usual with corona. We just renewed Maguire - fine - and you could make a case for MOH, Donnelly and Grimshaw (to create a group) all having a certain value so each meriting a deal. But if we end up re-signing all four of them or even three we'll be in bother. Could certainly see MOH and even more so Donnelly being tempted to leave for St Mirren under Robinson. And frankly I will pay the taxi fare to Paisley for McGinley.

Depending on how the Senate here finally swings they might be up for grabs shortly, get a cheeky bid in...

It's also worth saying that unless you play beside that mountain in Portugal there's only so much you can do with a stadium...are many of the new ones for big teams in Europe significantly better? They're just bigger really. The other issue is that building all at once means things obviously look the same. FP has three stands different because they were done at different times, it takes decades for quirks to emerge as happened at the historic grounds. But you can see wee modifications gradually happening now, Killie putting in standing, St Mirren I think took out seats to put in blind commentary. Anything we have with four sides which aren't identical, some safe standing and no huge gaps in the corners does for me, beyond that it's just icing on top.

I'd also be considering knocking down the main stand and starting again but presumably what is hard there is that it costs a fortune without the immediate captial of selling the ground first as with a new stadium. Im not convinced there aren't creative solutions though given we don't actually need the seats there for capacity. It needs a TV gantry, some posh seats, changing rooms and some internal facilities but the rest could be literally anything we want, and could fit on it. What would the residents nearby use? Could you put a gym, physio etc there and let the Motherwell running club, cyclists, god knows who use it? A couple of flats? No idea how viable any of this of course but it strikes me there must be intriguing possibilities in replacing a stand when the traditional concern - it's standard capacity - is basically nil.

We've not won there in the league since Owen Coyle day?

Aye fair enough. Though tbh because I really like Robinson I would actually now begrudge St Mirren pipping us a lot less than previously. A certain team in dark blue contributing to our ongoing collapse mind would irritate me considerably more!

You can understand the ref missing it due to the angle or whatever but having seen the replays there's surely no United fans claiming that first one wasn't a stonewaller under the current rules?! Anyway, agree on our prospects (nil) although 1) our performances at Ibrox have not been, relatively speaking, that bad of late and 2) Rangers seem to benefit from dodgy offsides against us rather than penalties atm.

Nothing to do with Robinson but if St Mirrren pip us to sixth it's not unfair questions are asked just what on earth happened. When we beat Livi on Boxing Day we were fourth and six points clear of United in seventh. If they'd caught us fair enough but at that point we were in a position where anything other than a massive collapse would see us no worse than there. St Mirren at this time were 12 points behind us with 13 games to play to the split. Whether or not we finish sixth or seventh - dull financial reasons apart - doesn't bother me too much, arguably being best of the rest is a much more fun ending to the season than being tonked in the upper half anyway. But in a season where you've got to a superb position among the dross at Christmas with the target of fifth for probably Europe, it's a hell of a opportunity missed...even bumbling along on a point a game average since NY would not only have us safe in the top six but looking exceptionally good for getting the passports out. Perhaps it's just because we normally actually take these chances (in the league at least, don't mention the cups) when they come up that I'm so annoyed with us throwing it away this time whereas a regular dull midtable season doesn't wind me up at all.

A couple of years ago someone at Motherwell (I forget whether it was Burrows or McMahon, one of the pair I think) said that with the way access to European football and the knock-on effect of trickle down income was changing, being in the league from 2022 (again I forget if 2021/22 or 2022/23 was meant) was more essential than ever. Almost to the point of an existential issue for the club as it is (full-time football, massive youth academy etc). Okay, we obviously have the Turnbull money but we've had transfer windfalls before and rarely spent the cash like we have this season. St Mirren obviously had a bit of a coup landing Brophy last year and are now speculating to accumulate on Robinson as well it seems. It's great the 'third tier' clubs in the top-flight are being a bit bolder in investing while - you hope - being sustainable fan-run operations. FWIW I really liked Robinson as Motherwell manager, at least till he ran out of steam, and with the obvious exception of not hurting us I hope he does really well for you.

He's got a job for life at Motherwell and is doing a degree to be a sports director, something he could manage as a number three with us but probably not as number two at a new club. We'll probably bump up his role eventually if he stays put. You could imagine he might change his mind if a managerial job came up and he fancies going that path but chucking what he has at Motherwell to be assistant at St Mirren would seem a mental gamble to me.

Perhaps but I don't see him leaving Motherwell to be assistant elsewhere.