Luke92

So Lasley, Graham Alexander, Tommy Wright and who? Gary Holt or something? Hard to get really excited about these names but at this point give me Tommy Wright and shitfest until May and I'd be satisfied. The thought of how feart the players would be of Tommy Wright is majorly appealing at the moment.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55546870 Manager within 48 hours apparently!

Gallagher story looks like dirge stirred up by his agent. I'd be shocked if Celtic were even looking at him after the season he has had thus far. Liam Kelly looks like a good move, hopefully we can get it finalised. To me, it doesn't bode well for Carson's recovery time. I wouldn't expect Kelly to come in unless he thought he was going to get a chance of first team football atleast to start with. On the manager front I really hope we are making quick progress. We really need someone in by atleast the Rangers game to give them a chance to bring folk in. The goalkeeper position is a no brainer but I don't really think it's a bright idea for Lasley/Foyle to bring in their own players prior to a new manager coming in.

Probably a bit OTT on these two, McGinley done an interview suggesting he was finding it tough settling in and I think someone speculated that there was something more to it i.e he was struggling with this. In regards to Cole, I'm a big fan of him but I always feel like he's a similar type that can't wait to get back down the road to England. I get that this is the goal for most guys coming to the club but I just feel it is a bit too overt at times. I think we down ourselves a wee bit sometimes, we aren't THAT shite a place to be. Cole and others jump at the chance to go and then come back here as a last resort (Long) There is a fine line between getting these guys who are ambitious and having guys that actually enjoy being here and might actually stay for more than a couple of seasons. Contridicting myself but in saying all this Devante is probably one of the few guys I'd keep just now. You know though, come contract expiration we will be 2nd choice to some L1 club.

There's been some really good analysis on here over the past 3-4 days, a very interesting read. My feeling following Saturday is that things inside the dressing room are significantly worse than I thought they were. I really hate cliche football fan patter but from looking at the performances/comments made I really do now feel that there is a bad attitude within the club at the moment. In short, I thnk we have a combination of the below within the team: Players who think they are better than they are - Long, Polworth, Hastie, O'Hara, Gallagher Players who would rather be elsewhere/are looking for a move - McGinley, SOD, Gallagher, Campbell, Cole Players who aren't good enough - Lamie, Seedorf, White, Crawford, Chapman, Mugabi, Maguire You can add or remove based on your own perception but the general idea remains the same. Sure, you will often have elements of this within any squad but at the moment we have far too many guys that just don't have the right quality or mentality to play for the club. We need someone through the door ASAP who can get the right characters and quality into this team. We have the bones of a decent team but the problem for me is even the guys who are good enough aren't fully commited to Motherwell past this season. We need a manager who will properly motivate the existing players as well as bringing in new ones. As a general rule, I am normally against the run of the mill short-term type appointment but on this occasion I'd be quite happy with that. Someone like Tommy Wright would be fine, come in and steady the ship. Shitfest until the summer and regroup. My preferred option would be to go for someone in between that, someone with a bit more ambition that might do the short-term bit but also actually build something. Clearly not going to be a popular choice with some but someone in the mould of Malky Mackay for example. On a more general note - and this is something that has been bothering me for a wee while - I don't think the balance is right in terms of the benefit we are seeing from youth development. I really think we need to do more to get more benefit out of the talented young players we produce. At the moment, we seem to be getting very limited playing time out of boys who are then snapped up for a fee or more increasingly a compensation package. This money then appears to go directly into the 'clear the debt' fund. I understand our model is to develop players and move them on for money, but we need to do more to try and get more out of this either through more game time sooner for young players or actually reinvesting some of the money in the playing squad. If you don't do this, what you find is you reach a point where the well is run dry and fans start to question where all this money has gone.

On the face of it a good result but last night was utterly grim viewing. It doesn't feel like we create any decent chances - like at all. To me, it just summed up the season thus far. A really shite experience and I actually find it draining watching us at the moment. I thought Cole was the only guy who looked like he might do something. If Lang is away in January I'd like to see him upfront with Watt, might as well get a partnership going as that is the likely front two for the rest of the season. IMO Cole should start every week regardless. I've said this before but Liam Polworth is absolutely murder at taking set pieces. I've seen statistics banded about previously about his number of assists from them, fair enough but generally the amount of times per game where he fails to beat the first man or totally fucking mishits it is infuriating. As far as January is concerned, it sounds like Robbo is looking at doing a January 2018(?) and totally changing things about... again. I think we all know who needs to go, lets hope our recruitment is a bit better than it was in the summer. This coupled with some guys returning from injuries should hopefully ensure that we are okay.

I'm all for getting other boys through the door in January but it feels like we are constantly changing things. I appreciate there is always going to be a high turnover of players due to the contracts we offer but I think we miss a bit of continuity. It also doesn't say a lot for our much acclaimed recruitment. Basically all our key players are out of contract in the next 6 months and a lot of them look unlikely to sign. Perhaps the current economic situation might reduce the number of suitors but I can still see the likes of Campbell and Gallagher taking off. Not trying to mimick the many h*ns on social media regarding Saturday's game but I really do think the 5-5-0 set up was a sad indictment of where we are just now. I am 100% for being pragmatic but honestly i found the defence v attack training exercise rather embarassing. Aye, it worked for 70 odd minutes but we've all seen that movie before and they were eventually going to score. By all means be defensive but when you have the ball, actually have the intention of keeping it and put someone up front to hold it up. We were willfully giving them it back, that is something I'd expect a lower league team do at Ibrox. I am by no means in the Robbo out camp after a defeat to Rangers but the next three games are really important. Make no bones about it, our form is absolutely shocking and if it wasn't for two gifted victories we would be close to a relegation battle. Let's be honest, we have been in this cycle before and Robinson is more than capable of changing things in January but at the moment it feels like we have a bloated squad with a lot of guys who either aren't of the quality required or don't want to be here. On top of that, I don't think Robbo is getting the most out of the guys who are good enough. To me, one of the biggest issues is we seem to have all of these forward options but the majority of them aren't getting played in their preferred role. I would like to see Watt playing with Cole or Lang in a two consistently rather than strikers getting played out wide. As much as I'm not a fan or torn faced Chrissy Long, I think you would have got a tune out of him in a consistent role like that. If we get the right combination up front, get our injured players back and bring in a quality centre back I think we will see things vastly improve.

We are now living in real life FM. In all seriousness, I think there is a place for statistical analysis in football but the importance put on it by some is pretty misguided. There are still so many different variables that aren't accounted for in many of these systems and often the lack of context can result in a totally false impression. Ultimately this stuff can be helpful but a lot of stats need to come with a warning label depending on the context, the player role, their opportunities/exposure and so on. From my conversations with people involved in the game the folk advocating for this stuff usually haven't played much football before and are coming at the game from a very different standpoint. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but it usually results in the posting of analytics without the required football insight on top. Getting the balance right is the key and I'm sure someone like Robinson will ensure this is the case.

Like many of us I've grown up watching us consistently fail in dramatic fashion. Over the years it does condition you to expect the worst but I still hope for the best. Serbia are a good side but they aren't France or Italy. They are beatable. In all honesty, I'm sick and fed up of excuse making/glorious failure, we need the boys to quite simply find a way to win. The biggest thing for me is it's time for our big players to step up, go and make the difference and you become a hero. I think this is the team Clarke will pick, the only variation on this I can see is Mckenna for Gallagher or Armstrong for Christie. I can see both arguments but I'd be really surprised at any line up outside of that. From the bench, I want to see Griffiths and Patterson involved. I think they are the ones who can make things happen if we need a goal. Working from home means beer drinking will be starting early to calm these nerves.

Luka Milivojevic out with Covid Don't know much about this boy and if he would played but less options I guess

This probably sounds really naive, but I'd like us to actually have a proper go at Celtic on Sunday. I think there is a genuine opportunity to get at Celtic's defence and in particular Shane Duffy. His confidence is shattered at the moment, so much so that it wouldn't surprise me if he gets taken out of the firing line. I really hope Devante Cole is fit to start as I think he could give this defence a turid time. Honestly, I'm a bit fucking fed up of our recent OF form. It really tilts me that lesser teams seem to pull off more results against them than we do. Praying that this isn't a typical tanking we seem to get post a bad OF european result.

See how if this was priced reasonably I actually would have bought it but £20 is fucking mental. I wonder how many people will actually pay this. Not sure if it will be worth Livi's while to have a few hundred £20 buys v many more £10-15 buys. I'm all for supporting Scottish football and that but its going to be a hesgoal job tomorrow.

My inital take upon first hearing Ross a couple of years ago was that he was probably a bit of an arse and was maybe trying to make himself sound a wee bit more articulate than he actually was. I can't really describe it but his tone didn't come across entirely genuine to me. Maybe it was the whispering. Anyway, fast forward a year or so later I've heard him more and more and I do think he has some good insight into the game. I think he also does have a personality which could suit to management. Some of his insight is quite refreshing compared to the normal guff trotted out in football interviews and podcast. He also must have a clear love for the game judging by where he has cut his teeth coaching wise. Personally though I think he should probably shut his hole about other clubs in the league while he is in this position.

YAS

Permanent is even better. #WELCOMEBACKDEVANTE (please)

I'd be really surprised if Campbell signed with Hibs/Aberdeen. He would obviously command a really good contract at either side but I think he is destined for down south. There hasn't been a huge amount of chat over the last few years but anything I have seen from Alan has always been little snippets about him maybe wanting to show what he can do down south. I get the feeling that will probably be where he is heading. I'm a big fan but maybe I'm a wee bit less on the hype train than some. I think he is a stick on to get a decent club in the England Championship and do well. Do I think it will be a promotion chasing side? Probably not. He has great attributes but I still think his size and to some extent technical ability might work against him. Like I say, I think Campbell will thrive when he leaves us but there is definitely a reason why we haven't been receiving bids left right and centre for him. I'm really hoping this isn't another young player we let go on compensation but if he does go without signing a new deal he has more than earned his move and noone should be criticising him regardless of where he goes.

Coincidentally was discussing Cole's availability over pints during Sunday's game. Honestly, I was always a big fan of Devante. I thought he was really underrated during his time here. He gave us a proper physical presence upfront but was also dynamic enough. The idea of having Cole + Watt, Long and Lang would give us real options. I know there is a lot of support who aren't his biggest fan but I never really got why. As has been alluded to it wouldn't surprise me if we moved White or Hylton out on loan especially given the change of system.

To be honest our record recent record against the Old Firm, particularly at home is starting to piss me off. We seem to be swept aside far too easily. I look at lesser teams in the league and they seem to compete a bit better in this type of game than ourselves. It might be a bit of nostalgia but even going back to when we were relegation candidates it felt like we would give the Old Firm more of a game at Fir Park. You could argue the Old Firm has improved signficantly over the last couple of years, as well as this you could probably say that stylistically we maybe aren't as well catered to defend as well as some of the other teams in the league but for me it feels like we go in with pretty much the same game plan every time expecting a different result. Clearly the likes of Rangers are not our bread and butter but our record against Rangers is shocking, and sooner or later getting consistently pumped by them at home is going to rub the fans up the wrong way. At the very least, I expect us to be able to compete with them at Fir Park and make things difficult. Yesterday was just too easy.

Oh well, that was a fun ride I suppose! Don't want to go over the obvious but last night was there for the taking, ultimately though Beer Sheva had a couple of players of quality and a team of 'streetwise' guys who knew how to get through in situations such as these. At this level, you simply can't just give away goals for free, which is what we done last night and is what we have done repeatedly in this competition. Football wise, there was a period of 15-20 minutes where I thought we were massively dominant. You could see though, during this period if we didn't score we were susceptible to getting caught on the break. There was a lot of plus points and effort but we just lacked that bit of quality in attacking areas which the likes of Turnbull would have brought. That bit of magic to create a clear cut chance or goal just wasn't there. Special mentions go to Alan Campbell and Tony Watt who I thought were a credit to themselves. As I have alluded to SOD and Gallaghers individual errors cost us big time. Outwith this though, I thought Nathan McGinlay was shocking. I thought he looked good in LWB when running with the ball etc but his passing and defensive lapses last night were really high opening. Deer in headlights comes to mind. Re Gallagher, Motherwell Twitter appears to have imploded resulting in his wife tweeting about folk. What have I missed? Surely it's okay to criticise his perfomance last night.. No place for personal stuff due to footballing performances but I've honestly not seen any of that. Maybe I've already got those accounts blocked though..

Really looking forward to the game. End of the day, not much is expected of us so anything is a massive bonus. I know hee-haw about Beer-Sheva but based on their previous European outing I'm guessing they are well behind where they were when Celtic played them. With that being said, we shouldn't kid ourselves their budget will be light years beyond us. A quick look at some of the foreigners they have in their squad appear to be of a decent calibre. Are they any better than Celtic and Rangers though? I would suggest not, so a difficult ask but by no means impossible. For me, the team picks itself. I'd be going for Long over Lang for his pace in behind. I would presume they are going to have the majority of the ball so our tactic will be to catch them on the break. To that end I actually wouldn't mind seeing a guest appearance from Seedorf or Jake the Snake in the last half hour or so. Carson Gallagher McGinlay Lamie SOD Campbell Polworth O'Hara Grimshaw Watt Long Either way, lets enjoy it as best we can. Not often we are playing in September in Europe and who knows when we next will be.

Apparently there is work being carried out on the ground

Really pleased for big Cedric. I think he will thrive in the EPL. There was some amount of utter shite said about him when he with us but anyone with half a clue could see he was going places. Hats off to the club for taking the chance on him, if I remember correctly he was second choice to some other French boy we wanted in a trial match. It's mental to think he could have potentially fallen out of the game at that stage of his career.

Caught the tail end of the Coleraine game and was pretty impressed. With that being said, we should be favourites to beat them. The majority of their squad looks to be comprised of uncapped Irish players. Whether we will or not is a different matter but we couldn't really ask for a much better draw. In the next round, it will likely be Beer-Sheva. I see Beer Shava actually beat Laci in last year's qualifying. That's by no means an easy tie but a lot better than some of the others we could have got. I'd hope we can at the least beat Coleraine and give Beer-Sheva a wee game, they would be well favourites to park us out though I'm sure. Generally speaking, despite the 3-0 at the weekend I'm optimisitic that we will start to turn things around. I like us much more since the change of system and the combination of Long and Lang/Watt looks a bit more like the thing. I'm usually one to get majorly pissed off when we roll over and don't make a game of it against the Old Firm but i genuinely thought there was some signs of improvement. We moved the ball a bit better and done okay until the final third. I would like to see us take more shots on goal mind you as we seemed to make one too many passes up front. Mugabi btw. He is looking like our best CB at the moment. I think his comments regarding game time are actually quite fair, in a 3 with a run of games I think he could actually turn out to be decent for us.

Thought we were pretty fortunate last night, Glentoran could easily have been a couple up in that first hour or so. Gallagher and Grimmy looked particularly shakey. With that being said fair play to the lads for persevering. I was happy to see Robinson change system and put 2 up. As a lot of us alluded to in the last few weeks, the 433 hasn't been working and it was time for a change. Whether we stick with it at the weekend I'm not too sure. I'm not really as sold on the Polworth - O'Hara - Campbell combination as some. All have good qualities but I honestly think they can improve. I'd still really like us to move the ball quicker, we still dither on the ball a bit too long for me. I also don't think we are breaking quick enough in the counter. Hopefully this will improve with time. Watt looked good when he came on albeit against a tiring opposition. I think he demonstrated that he is a different option than the other strikers we have. He is willing to take defenders on with a bit of trickery. Hope to see him get more minutes in the coming games. I've seen a list of potential opponents from Kassiesa's site and if we get lucky with the draw we could have a chance of progress.

Hamilton Accies 'running out of change' at a Lanarkshire Derby