Leaderboard

How anyone can say that we are going down after two league games is a fucking mystery to me as well... ...that said, there are a few things that are worrying me with regards to the start we have made and the general apathy around our support. I've had a season ticket for the 14 seasons, prior to that I was young, free and single and spent most of my money following us home and away. Of the past 13 pre-seasons I have renewed my season ticket, and that of my son(s) without even thinking about it, even Maurice Malpas never put me off, however this pre-season was the 1st time that I really felt like packing it in. This was partly because my oldest son is now at the age, where he can go himself if he wants to, while my 10 year old, can take it or leave it, as hes more interested in playing the game than watching it...but partly because there were massive swathes of last season where I felt as though I was entertained less, than I have ever been before. At times, in fact the vast majority of the time, it was excrutiating to watch, we had almost no alternative plan to our 'blood and thunder' way of playing nor did we ever venture away from our 5-3-2 formation...the fact that we made two cup finals, through these tactics put a real shine on the season and lifted it from one of complete and utter mediocrity to something that was almost (if we had turned up at either final, or didnt face Celtic twice) special. I was also prepared to put up with the shite fare, that we endured last season as I understood that the manager was helping the club recover from the mess that he has inherited, that he was having to recruit almost a whole new team and that if I were him, the 1st thing I would have done would have been to make us difficult to beat. However, I'd have expected him to build on that, give us something exciting over the course of the transfer window...a marquee signing if you like (rather than umpteen average players being recruited), and while the media team are obviously excellent at their jobs, and while Hartley and Aldred were brilliant for us last season, the thought of getting excited about a big bruising centre-half signing up again (on loan may I add), doesnt really do it for me This pre-season I watched the transfer dealings, with more interest than usual, and I seen nothing from them that encouraged me that we were going to be more pleasing on the eye this season, and only purchased my season books because my son and a few others shamed me into it really. I haven't been to a single friendly, league cup match, never made the Accies game and I'm unlikely to be at Livi or the Rangers game...mainly due to holidays and kids football, so while I haven't witnessed us this season in the flesh as of yet, by reports I'm seeing on here, from friends and in the media, we have been torture to watch, while not managing to take anything from two league matches, that should have given us something...with Hibs amount of games, I'd have expected us to be a lot fresher than they were, while losing at home to Hamilton is a rid neck. The squad is bloated all over the park in my opinion, we have 5 strikers ahead of James Scott, we have at least 6 central midfielders ahead of David Turnbull, we have 6 players ahead of Maguire at centre half, 4 ahead of Livingstone at left wing-back and 2 goalkeepers ahead of Rohan Ferguson...now I'm not suggesting that these 4 players should be playing, as I've not seen enough of any of them to form a real, evaluated opinion but these lads have to have something to aim for, otherwise what is the point of them being there? David Turnbull must be sitting wondering how the hell he will make a career for himself, when he has Grimshaw, Campbell, McHugh, Bigirimana, Rose, Rodriguez and even Cadden in front of him, not to mention Tanner when he is back fit. I know we have tried the quality over quantity in the past and it threw up some issues when we had injuries, but there has to be a happy medium that can be found rather than running with so many players, who are all very much of a muchness in terms of quality, although I'd exempt Campbell from that criticism. With the squad size the way it is, its not a surprise to see no one really knows what the best starting 11 is. The signing of Connor Sammon just screamed out that we were struggling for ideas, and signalled to me that we are in for another season of utter tedium, except that I highly doubt that we will have the excitement of the cup runs (purely because of the laws of probability, would suggest we've had our chance at that for a wee while) to take the edge out of the boredom. At a younger age, I was definitely more loyal to our cause and would sit through seasons of abject shite, like we witnessed under Kampman, McLeish, Butcher and Malpas, knowing full well that I'd be back next week, or next season but as I get older I want to be entertained, I want to come away from a match thinking I got value for money, but the way this is shaping up currently its going to be a long, drawn out pile of pish. I don't think we'll be relegated, as there are teams around the league who will be worse than us over the course of the season, namely Accies and Livingston, but after what was a good financial season for the Club last season, I'd have expected a wee bit more than just pure survival in this one.

Too many knee jerk reactions here. Yes Motherwell were poor on Saturday and lacked any kind of creativity going forward, but for me the main issue throughout the whole game was playing Aldred as a right back. Why? For me one of the best partnerships we have is Tait and Cadden on the right, they work really well together and when we took Tait off we then lost the goal and suddenly had Aldred trying to ping balls into the box, which was of course going to end in tears. Bigi tried hard but need to move the ball quicker and also improve his delivery, but I am happy to have him in there rather than McHugh. Main tried hard and got a good few runs and on another day could have had two, I have no doubt he will get his form back. Sammon for me was just terrible in the air. I have never seen a centre forward time his headers so badly, he should have been sent of for dangerous play for the amount of times he took Accies players out, but as a partnership I'm not conviced. I think until Tanner is back I would have Frear and Main leading the line, or Frear and Sammon. The boy Johnstone is still quite raw and rought around the edges, but could be useful as a sub. I think we need to give it time to click, we have not really changed the squad from last season and Hartley is essentially replacing Kipre, and we know Harley is decent. This same squad last season did pretty good. I'd just put the Accies game down to a bad day at the office. We will eventually click and all this chat about us not scoring or getting any points in the next X amount of games is just heresay. Going forward my 11 (injury free) would be Carson Dunne Hartley Aldred Tait Bigi Rose Campbell Cadden Tanner Main For the time being throw in Sinclair for Dunne and Frear for Tanner, but that team above will not get relegated.

Great post! Exactly the team I’d like to see start in the absence Bowman, Tanner and Dunne. Would deffo give us more ball players but still keep the endeavour of Campbell, Tait and Cadden. I am a fan of Robinson and he still has a lot of credit in the bank in my opinion, but if we start with Main & Sammon on Saturday I think we better start worrying........

Id like to see what Bigi and Gorrin would be like playing together. I think its incredibly unfair to chuck one of them into our current set up and expect them to be able to change things on their own. They need others to find space, run channels and make themselves available to take a pass. I lost count the number of times Bigi got the ball on Saturday and looked up to find nobody in front of him to pass to. Our movement off the ball was very poor and resulted in Bigi having to pass backwards, passes going astray or being dispossessed. Bowman and Tanner being fit would definitely improve this. Meantime Id like to see us set up: Carson Aldred McHugh Hartley Campbell Cadden Bigi Gorrin Tait Main Johnson If we need to chase a game we can bring Frear on for Tait or take Cadden off and put Tait back to the left. Against the better teams in the league we could drop one ball player for Rose or Grimshaw if required. I dont think we need major surgery. But a few tweaks here and there and deploying the right personnel for the tactics would help. Edited to say: I wouldnt discount playing Turnbull in such a set up but figure thats less likely to happen.

I'm just disappointed that, in all that we are set up to be stuffy and hard to beat, we seem to be really easy to beat. Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

Pre-season & League Cup .... indifferent. But we weren't alone in SPFL teams on that front. Hibs away .... in 2013 we would have felt going there was a shoe in to take all three points. With them strengthening and a capital club and the revenue that it brings then it is a tough ask. Lennon also seems to have bought well but they are more attractive and can therefore have access to a larger pool than we do. Accies at home .... yes this is one we would look to take something from and haven't. The issue with all three above hasn't been the way we have set up, its been the manner in which we conducted ourselves. There is no excuse for lack of fitness or organisation and that's down to Robinson and his coaching setup. Injuries do have a factor but not the major one. It also appears we have a few players in a lull in form. That will come back and if it does concurrently then we are a force. The summer recruitment while too early to fully write a report card hasn't built on the datum of last year and enhanced with extra quality. That may come to haunt Robinson. However for me he is still the man to take us through the season. I like him, his press conferences, his ethos and what he's trying to build. I don't know what we would attract in his absence or if Craggs and Las would be the natural successors. If we're adrift come December he has the January window to make things right which he has earned with last summers acquisitions.

...and there are people out there who reckon they will finish above us this season

Accies, Livingston, Dundee and probably St Mirren are all going to be in the bottom half mix. Our early fixtures could have been better, but I still think we'll do enough to keep relegation out of the picutre. I'm more concerned about entertainment value. No point in finishing 6th or 7th if we are unwatchable.

This is true, but he showed enough around that time to warrant some patience. Hearts fan in work was absolutely slating Sammon, I was hoping he’d be like John Sutton (shite at hearts, good for us), but seems optimistic based on the reviews of his performances so far.

The ball at Fir Park now gets more air time than the podcasters...

Cheery podcast online now. http://www.mfc1886.com/mfc-podcast-2018-19-episode-5/

I don't believe he actually gets a medal, so it's probably fine. For anyone who wanted to register a protest vote, there's the Null Vote option.

How do you judge how a manager is doing? I would say for a manager with the 2nd lowest budget in the league to finish 7th after narrowly missing out on top 6 and getting to 2 cup finals in the same season, losing on both occasions to a Champions League level team, has to be considered a resounding success. You can certainly argue that the quality of football hasnt been that easy on the eye. But did we get that success because of the style adopted or in spite of it? I agree we have had a poor start to the season and the performances have been grim. But if you balance that against the injuries, suspensions, trying to bed in new players and get fitness up to speed, then there have been factors at play. My main concern is that Im not quite sure Robbo knows what his best 11 is now or what tactics to use to get the best out of them. There have been some strange starting selections and substitutions made considering the players we have brought in. Far too early to be even considering this topic after last season. If we get to December and things havent improved or we get isolated at the foot of the table then the board have a decision to make in advance of the January window. But at the moment we need to rally behind the team and support the players and the manager and give them every opportunity to turn this around.

Sadly I have now sobered up and yesterday was not a bad dream. I am undergoing a conversion from happy clapper to moaning Minnie. We were comfortable in the game yesterday, but whilst not looking threatening as such we were the better team. But as is the way a team seemingly need only 1 shot on goal to score. Either we are terribly unlucky or we are as bad as it is starting to appear. Outside the cups our league form has been poor and on the evidence of yesterday it is easy to see why. Even our form players of last season have gone into reverse. Hartley and Main in particular look shadows of the players they were. With Hartley that is costing us goals and with Main not scoring any. I admit to being flummoxed by the subs yesterday. Clearly Robbo went for broke and it backfired. Surely one of Main or Sammon had to come off for Johnson and unless he had an injury I would literally never sub Alan Campbell. I don’t know where the goals are going to come from. And that is a worry when it is clear our defence is apparently weaker than last season. We need a performance and result to galvanise and kick start our season. It has to be a win in either of the next two games. Lose the next 2 and the knives will be out more than they even are now. Even this early on I think we need to take a bit of a gamble and spend some money on a goal scorer. Maybe Lawrence Shankland at Ayr. There is absolutely no evidence that Main and Sammon are a working partnership. So far even a couple of games in it looks like it will be a long hard season ahead.

Far too early for anyone to be calling for him to go, St Mirren fans hounded out Danny Lennon because they thought someone else could work wonders with little money and they then endured four years of misery. How many posts were there on here last season stating we were going to get relegated ? Be very careful what you wish for.

After only 15 months as manager, a near complete rebuild of the playing staff last summer which resulted in 2 cup finals, granted league performances have left a lot to be desired but for people to want Stephen Robinson sacked is just indicative of modern football supporters. I wasn't Tommy McLean's biggest fan but he would have been kicked out after a month if some of our current fans had seen the dross that he served up, yet he lasted 10 years. We aren't, to quote 'The African', "down amongst the dregs of the division, already fighting for survival", yes we've played poorly in 2 league and 4 Betfred games this season combined with a shocking league run since last December but fans need to just calm down and stop calling for the managers head. If you're a young Motherwell fan who has experienced top 3 league positions and European participation then this bad run might have you asking for changes but if like me you've been aboard the claret & amber roller coaster for decades this is nothing new. Check our history, this is just Motherwell, yes it hurts but it's just Motherwell and it's not going to be any different unless a billionaire wishes to throw away some of his money in our direction. We are usually the highest finishing league position team of all the clubs outwith a city based club, think about that. Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibs, even St Johnstone at a push and in days past Dundee United are all city based with the potential support that can bring, we are a small town based club with 4,000 die-hard fans. We all want to see our team win. For me winning in any style is more important than playing nice entertaining football but losing football, "hoofball" as some have called our recent style is just a long pass game which I've no problem with and yes it needs to have an end product which at this moment it's not. But we have to be realistic with our expectations of a Motherwell manager who has very limited money and as result a limited ability squad to select from. How many would swap last seasons cup runs for any recent top 6 finishes achieved by any of our previous 3-4 managers? European qualification is great but with our poor record in Europe it can cost the club much needed money, a top 6 finish is good too and brings in extra revenue but if I was offered Europe and top 6 or a repeat of the victories over 7 Premiership teams to reach 2 cup finals like we did last season I know what I'd chose. It may be small minded but the cup wins over Aberdeen, Hearts and particularly Rangers helped heal the painful memories of many sore defeats by these clubs in the years I've followed Motherwell. Every player and manager deserves criticism at some point but we must support whoever wears claret & amber or manages those that do until a clear and obvious time for change presents itself and I may be wrong but I don't think we've reached that stage yet. Apologies for the length of my ramble but just relax folks and enjoy the ride, it's just Motherwell. COYW.

Bad day at the office but for crying out loud it's only 2 games into the season. Yes Sammon poor and substitutions bewildering but some guys need to screw the nut. If after 10 games and we are struggling then we need to review the situation but until then let's get behind the lads....COYW