welldaft

Anyone putting McTominay in defence needs therapy or to become assistant to Clarke. He almost sold the jerseys in the last game v Israel on a number of occasions and it was an experiment that did NOT work. Not much better v Czechs either. He either starts in midfield or not at all. It has to be Porteous or Gallacher as part of a back 4 with Cooper and Robertson. Right back may be O’Donnell but he either blows hot or cold in games and we need someone more reliable for a game of this magnitude. Who that may be - goodness knows.

In many way a blow to have 3 possibly 4 starters missing. In another way it may mean Clarke will stop pissing about with strange formations to fit Tierney and Robertson in the team. 4-4-2 or 4-5-1 with players in their preferred positions. If Clarke starts with McTominay in defence I would sack him before we KO. McTominay is a good midfielder but he has shown he has poor defensive awareness. Lots of people on here saying not to play Gallacher or O’Donnell and if we had McKenna and Palmer I would 100% agree. I would also say neither have been at their best for us this season but they are defenders first and foremost. Gallacher has not let Scotland down so far and would have performed better in defence than McTominay did v Israel in Nations League game.

I thought I counted 12 FFS. To make it up I will state that St Johnstone will definitely not be relegated. There.. all mended now.

If McTominay plays at the back I will nail my dick to a plank of wood or not bother watching the game. I genuinely fear Clarke will stick to what has palpably not worked last 2 games. If he does and we lose then his time is up. The very least is get to the play off final. If we lose there as painful as it will be it would not be that unexpected. If Norway win through Haaland will single handedly batter us.

Rangers Celtic Aberdeen Hibernian Motherwell Kilmarnock Livingston Dundee United Hamilton Ross County St Mirren I am going for Rangers as they do seem to be winning games with a little to spare but Celtic have stumbled over the line recently. It will most likely come down to the Old Firm games as they seem to be streets ahead of everyone else and will drop few points v rest o league. Aberdeen to finish 3rd but Hibs to push them all the way. I have gone for my team to finish 5th based on nothing more than we beat Aberdeen 3-0 away and should have probably have edged Hibs at Easter Rd. If only we can stop losing 1-0 to lesser mortals and conceding 4 penalties every game. St Mirren to go down only because Hamilton will do a Hamilton. They always do. Edit to add - AmericanFan knows as much about soccer as I do about American Football. Although he was not far wrong with his thoughts on our standard of play so far.

I remember the halcyon days where we signed 3 or 4 players on deadline day. We did most of our business early this season. I suspect we would like to move a couple on and possibly even those who only signed in the summer. Now that Cole is here is Jordan White going to get a game anytime soon ? I doubt Campbell will leave but you never know. Maybe a cheeky wee bid later in the day to test our resolve. I would like to see us sign a winger who is better than we currently have. Not difficult ! Maybe another midfielder but that will only happen I guess if anyone moves on. I expect a quiet day all in all.

This type of post shows why we hate the Old Firm with a vengeance. Even after wining the game you get clowns posting shite and trying to wind everyone up. Desperately tragic

St Johnstone have played well. Well worth a draw at least. Celtic look poor by their usual standards. Might be a closer title race than many were expecting.

Apart from quality corner kicks he was rather ineffective truth be told. Quite sure Polworth would have done better

You would still get a penalty or possibly two.

Don’t tell me they had a FULL HoUSE of Killie players. I will get my coat..... Where has this come from ? I assume made up nonsense.

Interesting. I can see St Mirren being a little pissed off if that is the situation. Also if Motherwell have any more than a few players with Positive Covid I would expect game to be called off otherwise this becomes farcical if it is not already.

The rules state that as long as there are 13 fit players and a Goalie then the game should go ahead. That was put in place as we know every team will have players affected and to agree otherwise would mean too much disruption. But this is unchartered territory and if there is a risk more may be affected then who knows what the outcome will be. Probably a mix of 1st 11 and back up players so I am sure Killie could still filed a decent team. Hell I know if we had a few of our 1st team players affected right now there would be plenty of Motherwell fans who would think our chances of winning would be enhanced

I know. 3 teams with a combined coefficient of a third of that of Sporting Lisbon. Good luck to Dundalk but the Champions path is a hell of a lot easier than the main path.

It rather helps that Dundalk are somehow playing a Faroes team in the play off round. I very much doubt they would have beaten Sporting Lisbon. Or Hapoel Beer Sheva who won tonight to head into the Group stage.

I am hoping he signs a new deal. I suspect he is quite rightly waiting to see what options present themselves before the transfer window closes apart from Hibs or Aberdeen. It is all very quiet and I suspect there may be some interest, but whether it is at a level the club would be interested in I very much doubt. Assuming he went to a Grade II side we would be entitled to circa 600,000 Euros or thereabouts in compensation. So it would have to be an offer of £1m+ for us to be remotely interested. That is why it is a no brainer to dismiss interest from either Hibs or Aberdeen this transfer window. The club should also be thinking about ramifications of letting arguably our best player leave. We have sold Scott and Turnbull for reasonable money this year. Still think Turnbull was a steal and still am bemused no other sides were interested !! So to let Campbell leave and replace him with another average Joe would enrage the support. Especially if it coincides with us struggling even more than we are now..... Keeping Campbell for a season and getting compensation is looking the more likely outcome unless he signs a new contract or we get a deal we cannot turn away. I suspect the latter will not materialise.

No doubt when our time comes around our 3 players will be Carson, Campbell and Watt instead of 2 youth players and the kit man !

Well assuming he went to a Category 2 club then circa £600k which is between £500k and £1m Either way Hibs could not afford him and as I stated if we are going to be offered £500k when we could quite probably get that in compo anyway why would we ever let him leave before his contract is due to end. As for the Cole rumours. Not sure I am on board with that one. Liked him while he was here but he was hardly prolific and still have one of the worst ever misses at St J to his name.... I know he has been a bad boy allegedly but Marc McNulty would be a better bet - pardon the pun.

We would be due potentially between £500k and £1m in compo. He would not be leaving for less than £1m this window. We are as well keeping him for the season if a bid of anything less comes in.

A big game this... The way the season is panning out It looks most likely there will be 5th place up for grabs for Europe as top 4 seems pre determined. I am still optimistic we will get our sh1t together and head up the table next couple of months. But lose this game and I may have to rethink our top 6 credentials. I also think that Killie will be the other team in the mix For 5th so again a very important game. Would take 4 points from next two games. Anything less and a bottom 6 berth is more than likely.

As stated many times before if our strategy to get ahead is to sign players that cannot get in the Livi team then we deserve to be floundering. When we signed Lamie they were amazed. Nothing I have seen since has surprised me. If he was anywhere near a decent defender we would have quite probably stopped the 2nd and 4th goals from going in. Not all his fault but very culpable. Jones is actually behind him when the ball is played forward for the 2nd goal. I like Robinson and he’s done a v good job to date. If he persists with playing Lamie then I do have to wonder if he has lost the plot. Sooner Carroll is back the better. I though McGinley would start but if he cannot get ahead of Lamie then that is a HUGE concern about his ability. bad day at the office and maybe in part to do with midweek exertions and travel. That plus we can not rotate the squad like Rangers can. Bigger and more meaningful games coming up next 4 matches. Will be a real barometer as to whether top 6 or relegation battle is looming.

I guess we have just got to get used to what is becoming increasingly likely to be a rollercoaster of a season. More so than is normal for a Motherwell Team. I am genuinely in the dark as to how good or bad we are. On the face of it we have a decent squad. But we seem very capable of turning in inept performances littered with defensive mistakes and little attacking threat. Then you have Aberdeen away where to be fair most things went our way, but we were very good and easily bettered a side that look favourites to finish 3rd or 4th at the very least this season. Some of our additions in the summer look like they have not got what it takes to be regular starters but are because of injuries. Not naming names as most have been well covered. Even some players who were good last season have been poorer this season. Realistically I think we should be aiming for 5th and Europa Conference League. But not convinced we have what it takes. Rangers I expect to beat us as they look stronger than previous seasons and we generally don’t get the rub of the green or luck required to overcome them. I think back to their 0-0 game with Livi away this season. There is NO way we could withstand that pressure without imploding at some point. It will be after this weekend where we will get a better understanding of where we are at. When we play kiLmarnock and St Mirren to complete 1st round of fixtures. All fun and games...... Edit to add - If Campbell leaves then I worry for us. He is that pivotal to the team and could easily be the difference between top 6 and bottom 6 and relegation battle.

Or they have budgets that are many multiple smaller than teams like Sporting Lisbon. It comes down to money and UEFA making a mockery of seeding every qualification round so that 90% of the seeded / larger sides get through the group stages. It is a feckin stitch up. Both Motherwell and Aberdeen have played to their seeded status and expectations. So disappointing but not entirely unexpected.

Come on Aberdeen. Take it to ET.

Me too. Disappointed but in many ways it would be more painful if we lost 1-0 in the 91st minute to a penalty or another cross that was not defended. They were no great shakes but were at home (kind of) and are marginally the better and more streetwise side.