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I think thats exactly the point JBA was making post match. If we slow the ball down and take the sting out of the game we maybe stop them building up a head of steam, and dont leave ourselves so open to the counter attack. Its still early in the process, but we do need to address our rin game management.

There also seems to be quite conflicting opinions over our striking situation. As someone who has defended Stama quite strongly on here, I was certainly disappointed that he didnt start yesterday, especially given his goals in the last couple of games. However, he did go off at Celtic Park with a bit of a knock, so I figured it was just a bit of a precaution ahead of the semi-final not to risk him from the start. It was also a good chance to give Hendry some minutes now that he seems to have addressed his injury/fitness concerns. Given our style of play, we will need both going forward. I thought Hendry did well yesterday in the first half. Lots of energy, put himself about a bit, held the ball up well. Not sure he was absoluteley done by HT, but it was certaianly no surprise when he was subbed on the hour mark. I would tend to agree that his movement in the box wasnt as good as Stama's but its early days and that might improve. I thought Stama was again generally fine when he came on. A little bit unlucky with the handball although, as other have said, a little more awareness of the situation might have allowed him to pass it for someone else to knock in, albeit the rule in that regard still hasnt been cleared up. Comparing the 2, I think both are pretty similalr players, and I think their work rate and hold up play is potentially more important than their goals, albeit, as strikers, that cannot be ignored. However, Maswanhise has already scored 8 this season, Longelo has good numbers and we have others chipping in as well, so goalscoring really hasnt been the issue (self inflicted goals and poor defending have). Clearly it would be nice to have a lone striker who was the complete package, and we emught be able to get one in January, but until then, Im reasonably happy to give Stama & Hendry the time to improve. Re the defence, in hindsight, I think not playing Gordon yesterday was a mistake when you see what Falkirk had at their disposal, and although McGinn gives you more on the ball, there needs to be some balance in not being too soft at the back. Big decisions for JBA next week.

I thought Falkirks gaffer nailed it when he said we gave them a doing first half but with only one goal in it there’s always a way back . It’s stating the obvious but if we play that well we need to go 2-3 goals up and then can play more possession football and nullify the opposition 2nd half . i know we’re not a Liverpool level team but when Klopp first came in they had similar issues for first season or so . I suspect we’ll get there and pick up wins . Not saying we’ll be top 6 but I do believe we’re moving forward in the right direction .

This is where I am also. We had as many chances as Falkirk 2nd half and looked as dangerous so all this Falkirk were better i honestly didnt see it. They scored 2 to our none and obviously that is most important part and highlights our defencive weaknesses. Our problems are when we lose ball teams attack at will. I think we are sometimes too desperate to attack when we just need to slow game down a bit especially when other team are on a bit of a roll like at start of 2nd half.

There seems to be a couple of points of view here that folk are debating, when in fact both have merit and neither are wrong. There is no doubt that our crowds are up because of the entertaining style of football we are playing. Id probably add in the general feel good factor around the club into that as well. Our support is engaged because they feel represented and listened to. We have had plenty managers over the years that have put winning teams on the park and the attendances didnt move. During Alexanders period of success Id suggest the crowds even went down slightly as season ticket holders couldnt motivate themselves to go every week due to how painful it was to watch at times. So the current upturn is no coincidence. That said, there is a pretty big BUT in the equation. The entertainment factor will probably keep folk coming along in the hope that we can strike a better balance and convert our play into points. Where it becomes a problem is if we continue to slip down the table, the players lose confidence in what they are being asked to do, and before you know it performances also drop off. We are not there yet, and the manager isnt stupid. You can tell by his comments and reactions that he is as frustrated as we are. Hopefully he can find the right balance in the weeks ahead. Having a fully fit squad to chose from would be a help.

Outstanding 1st half as most have said. Just watched the Said goal on TV, how they have decided that’s a foul is ridiculous, VAR has to stay out of the game unless it’s a clear and obvious error, the ref is standing about 5 yards from the challenge in real time and doesn’t give a foul. If that goal stands I have no doubt we go on and win the game. I still have huge faith in JBA and our style of play, but Individual errors really cost us in the 2nd half. Welsh for the 1st goal, Said & Fadinger for the 2nd and then Stama missing 2 really good chances. Deffo think we need to stick with the team and hope we can put 90 mins together like the first 45 mins.

Spot on Dave, the main criteria for any team is winning games, you get no prizes for playing entertaining total football, and losing, if we had shitfest our way to a 1-0 win yesterday the vast majority of our fans would have went home happy. The new style JBA introduced is a welcome change from what weve had in recent seasons, its good to watch, creating chances etc, but unless we take those chances and then know how to protect a lead effectively etc etc, its all for nothing. At the moment we are not getting the balance right, the midfield is doing its job but defensive errors and limited firepower up front are starting to cost us, so I hope JBA can get it sorted, if he can we can then enjoy the great football and a winning team.

You may be right about future crowds, but why did near enough 2000 extra people turn up yesterday? Because we're sitting top of the table? Because we're on a run of 3 or 5 wins? They turned up yesterday because everyone is talking about us. Go read the match report on BBC or full highlights and analysis on Sportscene. We're getting praised. And rightly so. Someone mentioned on here that attendances had barely shifted in the past 10-15 years. During that time, we've put together decent runs and league finishes. But still, folk weren't turning up regularly. The extended supporter base don't need (they might want it) top 6. They need to turn up and know they'll see a show, even if we lose(i.e. yesterday). And I put myself in that boat as well.

This is a concern I have and is one of the reasons I remain unconvinced by him. Don’t get me wrong I like JBA and like what he’s trying to do with the playing style, but he needs to show more awareness with his use of substitutes and game management particularly when we’re ahead in games. I fully accept that we are never going to have the ‘perfect manager’ but just little things like that and as you say tweaking lineups and tactics here and there could make all the difference. If we play like we did yesterday we will lose again, or at the very least we won’t win. We also won’t beat Dundee Utd with that approach and St.Mirren will nullify us, boot us about the park and knock us out the cup again. This is a potentially season defining run of games we are now entering I think.

I sincerely hope they do, but don't think they will. If we see more performances and results like yesterday crowds will inevitably fall. I spoke to a few punters post match and commented, tongue in cheek, that both sets of fans would leave the ground happy. Our lot for having been thoroughly entertained even if only for 45 minutes, and the other lot for have taken the 3 points. That was met by a few choice remarks, which I won't repeat. Not happy campers! To attract larger crowds and retain them we need a balance of entertaining football and good results on the park. We're not doing that presently but can we achieve it? I don't honestly know - time will tell.

Just because Falkirk did get all 3 points yesterday doesn't automatically mean they 'deserved' them.

Agree 100% about needlessly taking off players playing well. Could say taking Just off yesterday was due to returning from injury, but he did it earlier in the season as well.

My tuppenceworth on yesterday's game. More than anything else, I think we were a bit unlucky, poor finishing and, maybe most importantly, poor individual defending at the back. First half, as many have already said, was about as well as you can expect a Mothwrwell team to perform. I'm not buying this narrative that we were terrible second half. Said and Stama x 2 had great chances to score. Falkirk's first goal came from a big hopeful punt into the box and poor defending. Credit where it's due though, they played well enough second half generally to take something from the game. The decision to disallow our first was a real shocker. We do have a big problem up top - Stama again looked poor when he came on. Hendry looked OK but still early days from him so I'm hopeful he can improve. I do think he looks a beter option than Stama. Worrying though that he was never in the right place first half when all those crosses were coming into the 6 yard box. RE boo boys - as annoying as they are, they are in the minority. About 6000 home supporters yesterday. When was the last time we had that for a random league match? Will those extra fans come back based on that performance? Absolutely. I was entertained, and I'm already looking forward to Livingston next week. Small margins missing for this team but the fundamentals are there. This may well turn out to be more of a building season than a high performing one in terms of points, but based on the joy I'm getting from following our team at the moment, I have absolutely no issue with that.

Yesterday was the first I've really been annoyed this season. I think it was mostly down to the players thinking it was all too easy and all they had to do was turn up for the season half and skoosh it. Even at the end of the first half rather than pushing for more they started to fuck about a bit too much and play some daft aimless passes that weren't going anywhere. I said then it would bite us on the arse and it did. Hendry just isn't good enough, and he doesn't even fit into this system either. 3 or 4 times yesterday there was a good ball into the box and he was hiding behind a defender at the back post. On another occasion Just had knocked the ball over a defender and had a clear shot at a volley and Hendry got right in his road. I'm not convinced Charles-Cook is up to much either so far. The only thing that's annoying me about Askou so far is constantly going on about load management. It's something Alexander used to do and he'd needlessly make 1 or 2 daft changes every week because of it. I could understand if we were playing Saturday, Tuesday and flying across Europe but we play 1 game a wee for fuck sake. Pick your best 11 and stick to it. We'll be absolutely fine this year and it's still a million miles better than what we've been made to sit through in recent years but if it carries on it'll become more than just a slight annoyance.

A disappointing outcome yesterday but in fairness Falkirk deserved all 3 points. I didn't like their tactics however and at risk of annoying the MSM, thought they were overly physical and relied on the long ball. They played a weak ref like a fiddle. In the first 45, we looked world beaters with some excellent expansive and fast football. The best I've seen for some time. However we were totally powder puff in and around the box and hardly troubled Bain for all our possession. One solitary goal was never going to be enough. If we'd gone in 4-0 up and break few would have argued and I include John McGlynn in that. We were never going to keep that level up but I was surprised that the game turned as early as it did. McGlynn made some tactical and personnel changes and JBA was outthought. On the park our midfield crumbled and we had to endure mishit passes, unenforced errors and a drop in work rate. When Falkirk pressed our defence, we looked totally uncomfortable with panicky passing. Falkirk's first goal was late in coming but come it did and the second was inevitable. Thankfully we managed to avoid losing a third. For our part I echo much of what has already been said. We're conceding too many cheap goals and I just wonder if McGinn's best days are behind him. It was noticeable that Falkirk targeted our left wing before, but especially after, Longelo retired. We sat too deep and just didn't have the midfielders to cope. We are very vulnerable under pressure. Up front our troubles continue and have now emerged as a very serious issue that threaten our season. I'm not an Ap Stam fan but presume he wasn't fit enough to start. Callum Hendry, even when match fit is not the kind of striker we need. He's not a natural chance converter. We're making too many wrong decisons in the final third. I only hope lessons were learned yesterday.

Can't fault your assessment. Martindale will have us well sussed out and will draw sustenance from the manner of our loss yesterday. Give us the ball to knock about with aplomb for 60 minutes or so, occasionally testing our defence, then make changes and go for it in the last half hour and capitalise on our errors. We simply can't go with the same approach and expect to win. Now by that I don't mean ripping our entire gameplan up; but rather introducing tweaks here and there some some personnel changes i.e. swap McGinn for Gordon. Hopefully Longelo is fit but, given our injury record, I'm not holding my breath. JBA also needs to learn tactical lessons.

We need to start winning football matches. It’s no use playing nice tippy tapping stuff in the middle of the park where the tippy’s very tappy and the tappy’s very tippy and Tam Cowan and the like can bill and coo about “fantaaaaastic fitbaaw such a joy to watch” etc if it ultimately amounts to nothing because we are hopeless at both ends. It’ll be very tough again and of course we have that abomination of a park to contend with next Saturday but hopefully we can get the result we badly need.

I think we are going to win this.

Will we be brilliant first half only to be asleep second half? Or brilliant the whole game and win? Will we get a big travelling support? COYW

Probably missed something, but are you supposed to receive the bus tickets by email or pick them up from the office?

I agree about McGinn. He has his strengths but does tend to come off second best against big physical strikers. You're being a tad harsh about Hendry but overall I agree about your assessment. I thought at the time he was an odd signing. He's never been a prolific scorer which is what our system needs, to be effective. He's more of a secondary striker to support the main man. I wouldn't be too hard on him today due to lack of match fitness, but didn't really see him contribute much. A decent scorer needs to be top of our shopping list come January. That could make or break our season. Finally why don't we have a back up left back???

Soon as I saw the starting 11 today I was a little shocked . Wasn’t a fan of Liam Gordon last season but he has been much improved this season . He also is really the only aerial threat we have defensively and attacking wise. Both goals came about today through defensive mistakes. Brian Graham bullied McGinn today as well physically when he came on. Starting Callum Hendry today was also strange . Read a few posts on here saying people thought he played well . Positionally he was extremely poor and on 4 occasions in the 1st half a striker with any goalscoring instinct has 3 tap ins. Yes he hasn’t had much game time but I’ve seen nothing so far to suggest he is any form of upgrade on Moses never mind anything else . His performance today very similar to when I watched him play for St Johnstone - no real end product and ran about rather aimlessly. Our manager has taken plenty plaudits so far for his style of football and rightly so but at the end of the day we still need to win our share of football games and so far he has only managed 1 out of 8 which no matter how it is glossed if this continues will see us slide closer to the foot of the table . Yes we have some cracking players , yes we have played some great stuff and at times have been great to watch but we don’t seem to be learning any lessons week on week on how to kill teams off and win games . The manager needs to sort this out quickly as this is on him. We have a distinct lack of fire power and we also seem to ship very soft goals - the manager has signed plenty players but looks to have wasted a fair bit of wages on players who are no where near as good as the starting 11 and he hasn’t managed to improve our weaker positions - January window is really important . Our squad and style is Miles better than last season but I’m not sure our points tally or league position is or will be if we don’t learn any lessons week on week and don’t have a striker - it’s actually scary the lack of options - heaven forbid AP gets injured it will be a long few months to the window

Absolutely 💯, I sit in the Hunter and there is certain individuals who like to slag everyone for years Understand everyone being frustrated but not helpful at all some people Heard much worse than anything today of course 🤣

I disagree and you have your opinion and I have mine. As ever it's what makes football greatest game in the world

A well constructed and thought out post Joe. I agree. We're playing very entertaining football but our tendency to lose leads is not a one off but is is now a serious weakness, which must be addressed. I'm not sure we can do that though until January. I hope we do. If this unfortunate trend continues, our crowds will drop off significantly. That's a fact. As a respected poster wrote elsewhere we don't seem to know how to defend when on the backfoot. Maybe, that indicates a weakness in our system.