Tweed

What the manager says and what the manager does are not always the same.

Was speaking to one of 'them' this morning and he said he thought McDonald was a class above anything else on the pitch and his hold up pay, niggling them on the ball was the catalyst to all that was good about us and with Johnson and Ainsworth supplementing we looked like a very good team. However he said we had problems because Clay and Lasley were too deep off the ball inviting them on and too far forward when we had the ball giving them too much room behind and in the second half when Rangers had more ball we eventually ran out of legs. However he reckoned we were well better than Hamilton or Dundee and should be a top half team.

Not seen the last two games but against Celtic and Kilmarnock we gave the ball away quite a lot. In turn that means you end up chasing the ball and that takes more energy. McGhee said in his interview the two problems we had with energy were we didn't have options on the bench and we kept giving the ball away. First one is a matter of opinion but the second one is what we have seen so often. Watching the u20s spray the ball around on Tuesday was a joy - the first team don't seem to have that same consistency with passing. It's all a bit chicken and egg. Get the ball retention better, I think a lot of the other problems would be on their way to being healed.

Very probably. He gave St Johnstone three penalties in a half against Falkirk for shirt pulling and then gave Dundee one at Dingwall for the same.

Need our defensive players on it. Against Celtic they made far too many wrong decisions which caused us to become encamped. However Celtic are miles better than Rangers so I don't imagine the pressure will be as relentless. The other thing against Celtic was when we got the ball, we gave it away so cheaply - must do better there. The U20s looked so much more accomplished than the first team at ball retention it was scary. Also given how whistle happy Bobby Madden has been at set pieces this season, McGhee better have them warned within an inch of their lives about tugging at corners.

I think we made loads of mistakes last night BUT my point was the players made them - even if we had a different shape at least eight of the players would have been the same and likely been unable to pass, tackle etc. Sinclair v Tait was just an absolute mis-match that put a tonne of pressure on our whole defence and I can't imagine a shape we were ever likely to start with that didn't include that battle. McGhee could have made different decisions but the players either didn't perform or aren't good enough to play in a scenario where the pressure is relentless.

I thought Celtic were excellent tonight. Rogic and Sinclair were just about unplayable - they sprayed it wide and we were all over the place. I thought our team shape was trying to be robust but have an attacking threat but they put so much pressure on us and we made so many mistakes on the ball we ended up hemmed in and far too deep. For us to do anything there we need to keep the ball and utilise our pace better - I think another body in midfield would have made a huge difference to us breaking the play down. Clay and Lasley may have done it but thew found it so easy v Tait and Hammell they didn't have any barriers wide so just ran at them. Heneghan falling back in at the first one was criminal. The penalty was not a stonewaller but Tait tackled with the wrong foot and bundled him with his shoulder which made it look like a penalty. The third was an absolute beaut but Tait needs to try and force him down the wing - far too easy to curl home. Not being too upset - I don't think we were great but I think Celtic being excellent was more of a bearing on the score than us being rancid. Suspect if we'd played McHugh we'd have had a smarter shape.

The claim for a foul by Samson was hopeful. There was an incident near the end where I thought Heneghan was fouled and got one and they seemed unhappy. There was an incident right at the death which looked like a blatant foul to them that we got though that one looked yards outside the box from down the other end. Not sure which ones Clark was unhappy about...

Good win. I think McHugh is going to be one of these players you don't realise how effective he is until he isn't there. Nothinh showy, won the ball lots, barely wasted a pass. Taken off injured - midfield completely surrendered. Clay almost got lucky with a chance, Johnson maybe should have done better with his chance immediately after Ainsworth scored and Ainsworth's miss from three yards out was chronic - we really should have been home and hosed before it got nervy. Thought Clay was fine defensively, bit lacking offensively but overall I liked the balance of our first 11. Good to see McLean on, thought he was the stand out on Tuesday and deserved his wee chance though I'm not sure throwing him on when we were hanging on was actually the smartest move but Ainsworth did seem that his race was run so can understand it. Samson had a couple of crazy moments and almost cost himself his place in the game by injuring himself with one of them. Thing that pleased me most was McManus and Heneghan kept a great shape even when we were struggling a bit and Kilmarnock struggled to get in behind other than that once. Very good day all told, hope McHugh is back next week. PS - we had a 3.5 minute stop for McHugh and 3 minutes for Samson plus a couple of other stops and subs so as well as not having a clue what a foul is, Craig Thomson can't count either. We got the benefit of some shocking decisions but likewise we got a raw deal with some as well. Booking Johnson for leaving the pitch to celebrate when it was clear the only thing that took him over the hoarding was his momentum was just petty nonsense. Kilmarnock were very poor for an hour, improved slightly but they'll need to do much better not to come in the bottom two.

I would scrap the penalties in the league cup. Other than that, I think it was very good.

Turnbull was no 8.

I thought the performers who did best were Turnbull and McLean, they never wasted a ball and McLean in particular had a bit of zip about him. Campbell and Mackin did a good job too but from what I'd seen before and read I felt they didn't quite hit the levels I expected. We defended a bit naively last twenty minutes and at times through too many bodies forward. I think we had better players, both sets tired but they were maybe a bit more streetwise latterly. I'm not sure we should be involved in this either but playing league teams of men will only bring these players on a bit and can only be good for us long term.

Suspect the Thursday could be there as a back up because Hearts, Celtic, St Johnstone and Aberdeen all play on Sunday next weekend which would preclude them from playing on the Tuesday. If they pick games on footballing merit rather than pandering to the bigots they'll pick St Johnstone v Hearts and our game, neither of which can be played on the Tuesday.

We were seeded, it was impossible not to the first time and just about impossible not to the second time. If you want to make a few bob this is a good draw. If you want to win it, it is a rotten draw. Unless you think Celtic in the midst of a Champions League qualifying campaign will see this as being well down their priority list may just rest a few, it could be the right time to get them. Some daemons from May 15th to be got rid of!

I'm trying to remember the last time but my issues with remembering it are beer related.

Chalmers is a perfectly capable footballer - he rarely wastes a ball but his positional sense really lets him down. That wasn't tested on Tuesday.

Was thinking about going to Airdrie but really can't justify the time and effort to go to Falkirk.

I think there is something fundamentally wrong with the premise that feasibly a team with 1 win and 3 draws could go through as a highest runner up ahead of a team with 3 wins. However I doubt it will actually shaft us but the fact it could happen is a fundamental flaw in the format. I still think if we win, we will qualify.

According to the SFA website the game is at 1945 at the Excelsior.

Thought it was a strange appointment when I first heard yesterday and was initially underwhelmed. However over the course of the day I think it is a pretty cheap gamble. As others have said, McGhee is a very experienced manager whose requirement of an assistant will be to be a good coach, someone to bounce ideas off etc. Thinking back to when we beat Celtic 2-1 just after he came back first time, he ran the length of the pitch to tell Randy where to put a goal kick - within twenty seconds the ball was in their net. The boy can read the game and can show the players a tonne of stuff. It is also a great opportunity for him to work with a manager who really knows his stuff. Only Rodgers in the current top flight has more experiences behind him, so he has every chance to develop as a coach too. So after some thought I think this is a clever win win that I can only see being beneficial for the current squad as individuals, Motherwell as a club and McFadden as a person.

You could make a case for Cadden, Ainsworth and Johnson but for me Johnson was just slightly above the other two.

We started off like a train but after a couple of minutes it just seemed to peter out to fairly long passing sequences without any inclination of end product. It was one of these games where most of them had decent games without anyone being outstanding however a couple of sources for concern in the 1st half were Dom Thomas's continual desire to give away possession and throw in that when he looked like the ball that was on he seemed to run behind players and effectively hide. I really want him to do well but he was making so many clearly wrong decisions he was getting right on my wick. Other issue was Ben Heneghan's distribution. Absolutely fine winning the ball but two or three really careless passes in the first half that if we were playing someone a bit better we'd have been in all sorts of bother. Bringing on Ainsworth broadened the pitch and turned it from a game we were plodding through to one that we played through and Clay and Cadden in particular should have done better with chances that were cleared from the line in the second half. The goal Cadden scored was by far the toughest of the three chances he had. He looked like a real player in the second half, driving, crossing, making good runs and he looks like he has beefed out again. Thing about Ainsworth coming on was that it suddenly meant that they couldn't double up on Johnson and he was in the game much more too. I liked the look of Clay in midfield - he seems to have that all too rare gift of keeping the ball and a good tackle in him. I don't think Heneghan will be a stranger to a yellow card the way he played that game! However winning 3-0 is a good result, other than a freak result at Dunfermline most top flight teams struggled to get anything last night and it was the same on Saturday so we should be seeing the positive that we have done a professional job on these two. Stranraer was always going to be the toughest of the non-seeded teams and it is beginning to look like a winner takes all shoot out (except a shoot out will probably see us both out!)

Think we would be unlucky not to go through with nine.

On the Samson one, Heneghan was playing Waghorn on - the other three moved out but he was a yard behind. On the Heneghan one, the ball took a deflection but his hand was high and moved towards the ball - that one was open to interpretation but I think most referees would have given it and I would have struggled to argue.

I thought we looked not too bad, all the new guys gave some encouragement. Looked decidedly not sharp up top though after creating great chances. Ainsworth should have squared that at the start and Cadden must score that chance too. All ran to Waghorn for the first goal and as we pushed forward 2-0 looked more likely than 1-1.