fat_tony

I think wing back gives him a bit more protection and support from both midfield and behind. It allows both him and Johnston to get forward more and play. It was great seeing loads of the more senior players talking to him at points and coaching him through the game. A lot of that happening throughout the team as well, especially Butcher and Casey. Those two seem like natural leaders in there. It was great seeing them constantly talking to Kelly and Goss, organising things around them. We've missed that leadership so badly.

It's that age old question of "where are we most shite". I'd much rather see him in the midfield than stuck at CB.

Yeah, hopefully the addition of Butcher brings a bit of balance to the middle of the park and allows us to rotate options as needed.

Me too. I actually quite like him as a player. He's limited, sure, but works hard and tends to get himself into good positions to create chances.

This is something I've been thinking about a bit recently with the clear lack of leadership both on and off the pitch. Not just Lasley but under Alexander's tenure we saw an emptying of a lot of "characters" who had either been around long enough to become part of the club or at least showed some genuine love for the club. The likes of Campbell, Dunne, O'Hara, Grimshaw and Watt were a mixed bag in a footballing sense but all noticeably contributed to the team spirit we seemed to have. Coupled with a lot of staffing changes with GA bringing in a load of his own people there's been a shift from what was a fairly established framework of people who "were" Motherwell FC to a load of, for want of a better word, mercenaries for whom MFC is just the next job. There's been a massive loss of identity all through the club and I think we're feeling the effects of this on the pitch right now. Totally academic point, but with that framework and identity intact I wonder if Hammell may have been more successful.

Delighted with Butcher signing. I think he's exactly the type of player we need to give the midfield a bit of dig and let others play. It should allow us to rotate the various options based on opposition/form/fitness.

Yeah I've no idea where people are getting this idea but there's no chance we're going to poach a manager from another club of a similar level.

That may very well be the case. I'm certainly not ITK, the injury thing was just something I'd heard tonight. I thought he started off well enough but definitely tailed off post-Euros and hasn't really looked the same player since.

Someone was saying tonight that O'Donnell is pretty much done. Said he's been struggling with a bad hip problem which is why he hasn't been playing unless as a last resort. When he's fit I rate him as a player but that's a good year, year and a half he's looked miles off the pace when he's played.

I genuinely think each of them have something to offer but they badly need an experienced leader along side whichever one of them is playing. The combination of the two is relegation material.

I think that match really highlighted Hammell's inexperience. Well in control at half time, although it was being played at the pace of a training match. McInnes made the changes at half time and Killie came out better and stepped it up in the second half. We did well to get the second which should have killed it off and looked like it was going to until the red card. They stepped up another gear, we didn't, and I thought Hammell should've looked at making changes at that point, rather than waiting until the last 5 minutes when it was too late. Hugely worrying that we couldn't hold onto a two goal lead against a 10-man team with the worst away record in the league. In future, when the opposition get a red card let's just say no thanks.

Easy...Penalty to Rangers!

We don't normally lose to Aberdeen. We expect a higher standard.

Hammell on the radio saying there was a handball also that was very clear on footage he'd seen (as well as the boy trying to swap jerseys with Lamie). As much as it's very much sour grapes from me there's a point about when VAR is applied and when it's not, because if our media team can have caught footage of that, surely to f**k the VAR centre should be reviewing it?

Spare a thought for all the Rangers fans who are going to have to pay to get their tattoos changed.

That depends which Jim Patterson you mean. His resurgence under McGhee was nothing short of magical.

Me too. It's a risk, given his inexperience, but then so is every appointment we make. There'll certainly be no shortage of passion and he understands the ethos of the club so have at it

I'm with you on that as well. Happy enough with McGinn so far to be fair but I don't think he offers more beyond what SOD can. There's certainly an argument that we haven't seen SOD perform to his ability enough, but given the previous talk of a nasty virus and then obviously falling out of favour with GA, it's not all that surprising.

That was a strange match in that I was hugely annoyed to lose it so late, but overall came away feeling slightly positive about the season. The team needs work, there's no doubt about that, but there were signs yesterday that we are capable of more. Goss was definitely the pick of the bunch for me. Constantly involved and always looking for a pass, although often having to go sideways due to a lack of movement ahead of him. Maguire had a slow start but grew into the game and started to do some neat stuff in the middle to win and retain possession. I'm still concerned about the amount of time he seems to need though. Not sure he has the quick decision making needed to survive in CM at this level. Happy enough with the two full backs. Neither are blessed with pace but both SOD and McGinn looked to get forward as much as possible and got some tempting deliveries into the box. Just a shame we don't have a goalscorer looking to get on the end of them. The forward line is a concern. Shields and KVV both offer something in certain situations, I think, but don't do it for me as a pair. Shields certainly has the physical attributes and causes issues but seems rather naive in his positioning and decision making. KVV needs people moving off him and none of Efford, Shields or Morris seem capable of doing that. Tierney seems to link well with him, but we need someone with a natural instinct to get into scoring positions to finish it off. My shopping list? Striker, left-back, centre-back and winger, in that order. Hopefully this week sees the new manager appointed and a chance to improve the squad before the window closes. It'll be a work in progress but there was a glimmer of hope yesterday that there's enough about the team to build on.

He just said exactly what everyone has been saying since January. I thought he was spot on and it was refreshing hearing a commentator who has a clue where the fans are at. See Chris Sutton for an contrasting example.

Anyone who watched Motherwell last season won't be surprised by this. We were brutal but effective until Christmas, then when we lost Watt we were just left with brutal. A couple of decent performances post-split, but they were very much the exception.

Are the players genuinely this bad or have they all just chucked it?

Maybe we can just leave Alexander in Ireland.

I entered the ballot and just had an email to say I didn't get a ticket. Now I'm off to Twitter to rage at Alan Burrows as if he's just broken into my house and shagged my wife.

Ricicles were the thinking man's frosties. A Rolls Royce of a cereal taken from us far too soon.