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Wow. You just love getting the boot in. I have said it before and will again, we need to stop and remember where this team was last season and judge JBA on that. Yes we have had a dip in form but to pick apart the season with that statement above is ridiculous. I have absolutely loved this season, it’s the best football I have seen at Fir Park and long may it continue.

Nuance & perspective are wonderful things! Clearly JBA isnt a Motherwell legend (yet), but he deserves a little more credit than he is being afforded in some quarters. The number of draws we got in the first quarter of the season were a little disappointing given how well we played at times, but they were achieved by a manager and team trying to bed in new players and a totally new system. Mistakes were made and a few wins slipped out of our grasp. Disapppointing but understable. However, we did slowly improve and after the League Cup semi final exit (reaching Hampden seems to have been turned into a negative) we seemed to have unlocked the secret to a water tight defence and results improved. Our record against the top 6 is held up as a weakness this season. Yet we are undefeated against Hearts, have drawn twice against Rangers at home, lost narrowly at Ibrox after a hotly disputed penalty claim. Beaten Celtic resoundingly at Fir Park, lost twice narrowly at Parkhead in keenly contested matches, unbeaten against Hibs home & away. Only Falkirk have got the better of us. So our poor record is actually a myth if you turn it around and ask what the top 6 teams record against Motherwell is. The Aberdeen Cup game was a sore one and Jens has to hold his hands up a little for the starting selection, but the the state of the pitch, weather and 2 red cards are at least mitigating factors. We have broken all sorts of records this season with least goals conceded at home, clean sheets records, longest home run without a defeat, attendances etc etc. Of course the wheels have come off a little bit and you could argue that the pressure of being involved in a potential title race got to us, but you have to factor in the recent injuries, suspensions and some really chronic refereeing decisions. Has Jens been perfect? No. Have the team been perfect? No. But whilst our deficiencies have been shown up in recent weeks, its still the best season I can remember for quality of football and entertainment, and we are still sitting with a GD of +25 in April. Picking holes in an otherwise fantastic season is easy to do and if you ignore the circumstances, you can make a compelling case, but just as circumstances can fall for you, they can also conspire against you, despite you having control over neither.

It's just amazing how quickly some have forgotten the absolute dross we've watched under previous managers compared to this season. I'm not getting hyped I'm just happy to see the team play football the way it should be played and to great effect most weeks. Christ, we've earned it.

We sold out our allocation today because we were quietly confident of a result. That's testament to how well the team has done this season. Unfortunately it didn't materialise due to multiple factors but not for lack of trying. We're brave on the ball and the quality is there for all to see. It's got it's results that sees us sitting pretty in the top six with a realistic chance of European football come the summer. Yes, we're out two cups and that's disappointing but we're still very much a work in progress. The whole fur coat no knickers narrative is simply pish.

4 defeats in the league all season, the first in nearly 3 months and all of a sudden the players are full of themselves or we need X, Y and Z. Sometimes it'll just be an off day or luck won't quite be in your favour. If people can't just accept that without the character assassinations in this season of all seasons then I honestly don't know how you manage to go about your daily life.

If the ref had decided on the day that it was simulation - just like diving in the box - the result would have been a yellow. The 4-match suspension is punishment for making the ref and VAR officials look a bunch of twats, not for the offence itself.

I'll add that, the attractive football on display has increased the home attendance by over 50%. This is something that I didn't think would ever happen. This alone, must be of great benefit to the club.

If the team can have a collective off-day and still not lose, we're doing not too bad. I think everyone needs a wee break, not just the players. There seemed to be a collective anxiety around the place on Saturday, with the prospect of losing a third consecutive game at the end of a fortnight that kicked-off with such high hopes and expectations. Maybe a mental reset is needed before the run-in, just as much as a physical rest.

There are 2 counter arguments going on here that can be true at the same time. It is clearly very difficult for a club like ours to hold onto a good manager and good players, because as many have stated, money talks. Players and managers are ambitious so they will always want to test themselves at a higher level (and be remunerated for that). However, just because the manager and our better players will move on, doesnt mean we cant still try and build on that success. If we are smart, we move the players on when it suits us, for fees that allow us to re-invest in the squad and strengthen as a club. We also trust in the process that led us to Jens and try to find someone else who fits the same mould. Obviously, there is an element if luck attached to these things, but just as there is a cost to bad decision making (as we have seen in the past) there can be a benefit to good decision making. With the Well Society now pulling the strings at the club, we have discovered our identity, and we now have a model in place, that if done correctly, can be sustainable. Being the best version of ourselves that we can be is the ambition the club needs to show, and so far its going pretty well.....

I don't know why everyone dislikes Wimmer so much.

I dont think thats fair. The only big game I dont think we turned up in was the League Cup semi-final, and even that game was down to "moments". Performance wise, we have been excellent against Hearts twice, Celtic three times and Rangers three times. Results wise you could make an argument for it, but given all 3 teams have significantly bigger budgets than us and are above us in the league, they might just be better/luckier than us. The fact that we have been able to go toe to toe with them is a significant improvement on mindset and performance levels from years gone past. Of course, if we want to develop and get better, Jens will have to find a way to bridge the gap and turn those performances into results.

Honestly think perspective is being lost by some. We're well on track to be 4th. We got beat today by a better team who played well and have the depth, strength, quality of players to hurt us and they did. It's not because we were poor , or have poor players or have a ref who caused it. Today we came off second best, albeit still competed well with them until the penalty. I do wonder if all the hype and suggestion of winning the league has skewed many perspectives. I don't agree that a bubble has burst - we're too many games into the season to refer to bubbles/lucky streaks. We're a damn good team and on course to be 4th.

I cant believe some of the stuff I am reading seems to me folk cant see progress just want to piss and moan about anything christ we could win the league and Scottish Cup folk would still wet the bed we didn't win the treble. We might not have won anything but give me this season over any season we have had recently that's for sure.

Ifs buts and maybes, sentimental pish, we are having a great season and its not over yet, so lets all get behind the team ans see where we end up.

MJC is a troll, posting negative shite about Motherwell or rousing defences of his or her big team to extract a reaction, its a public forum so everyone is entitled to their opinions, but in my experience its best to ignore these posts as there is nothing to be gained in starting a debate, dont feed the trolls..

You’ve done it again! In your previous message you claimed our manager is bang average and in this one you are doing the exact same thing in pulling out stats to suit a narrative. We are clearly not going to win every game so beyond that you look at the performances and most have been very good even when we have drawn or lost. Stop trying to make this something it’s not. We have had an excellent season, have a great team and a very good manager.

We're back to not being able to hold more than one opinion at a time here. Slattery was wrong. The Ref and Referee's assistant were both wrong to send off King. VAR was wrong to not review the red card (like they had already done for Gogic) The SFA was wrong for waiting 4 weeks and choosing to re-referee 3 different individuals' decisions. Do you think they'll go back now and give us our penalty at Ibrox or give Oxlade-Chamberlain a red? If a player dives to get a penalty, will they now be subject to a 4 week suspension? If not, why not? That has a direct impact games. What about feigning head injuries to waste time with stoppages?

Im suprised anyone outwith his favourites turn up. Clarke is everything that is wrong with the Scottish game.

Maybe now we can start looking at the fact that O'Donnell will be 34 next season, McGinn will be 36 and Welsh will be somewhere else earning much more money.

A look at your posts over some time re the uglies clearly shows an attempt to minimise the awfulness of RFC. Walk like a duck comes to mind!! Yesterday's aftermath is a case in point in that you blame Celtic supporters when even the dogs in the street can see the Rangers fans where in attack mode . Celtic fans although they shouldn't have invaded the park were largely celebratory. And of course I don't recall Celtic supporters attacking Rangers players!!! I suggest you fully brief yourself on RFC as even the most basic analysis shows that it remains a cornerstone of bigotry in the 21st century. For example this is seen by them continuing to play in orange strips when this colour is nowhere to be found in their official colours. RFC clearly knows its support base . And aside from their ' values' we can't forget their liquidation resulting from their evidenced cheating of HMRC and indeed other clubs ( including us) from points, trophies and European places. Any other club would have been put out of existence. Yup, Celtic and many of its supporters are distasteful but they are manifestly not as disagreeable as the blue lot no matter how much you might want to disagree. Finally, when posting in the future you might want to remember the great journalist Ian Archer's description of RFC and its support " As the permanent embarrassment and the occasional disgrace". Never a truer word.

John Mcglynn is a good manager as is jens...some merit in what you say but i don't agree with most of what uou say....I doubt the board do either. He's managed to just about double the home support which I thought was impossible and something I haven't seen in about 50 years even with teams who have won cups. So the majority of punters must like " tippy tappy " football. We really missed Slattery which I suspected we would.

Very sorry to learn of the passing of Willie Watson at the age of 76. Condolences to his friends and family. He was a real stalwart in the best Well side that I've seen. My abiding memory of him was in that famous 1977 cup game at Fir Park when we defeated St Mirren 2-1. He moved in to tackle Bobby Torrance, who under instruction from Alex Ferguson leapt 7 feet into the air and landed in a heap rolling about in mock agony. The only problem was that Willie was wise to this tactic and stopped short without actually making the challenge. RIP Willie.

I am finding this one a little difficult to stomach I have to admit. Yes, Slattery made a fool of himself and yes it took a little bit of a shine off of what was otherwise the perfect performance. This kind of behaviour needs stamped out of football and in a world where all things are equal the punishment probably fits the crime but all things are not equal and the organisation doing the finger wagging in Slattery''s direction oversee a tiny shitty world where they are more than happy to turn a blind eye to some of the bigger vagueries of Scottish Football. We have not heard a single word of condemnation from the SFA on the scenes at Ibrox a few weeks ago. The bigotry, the sectarian singing that could be heard both on radio and TV. The pitch invasions, the aggression, the on field violence. No word, no punishment, no finger wagging. This is an organisation that oversees one of the most toxic environments in World football and is happy to continue doing so because of the money it generates. Hatred sells! It sticks in my throat when that same organisation decides to randomly take the moral high ground on one single isolated incident when similar incidents are happening every single weekend in every single game in the country. The decision making is haphazard, incoherent and hugely subjective. Ultimately we have to suck it up because Slattery was in the wrong and brought this trouble upon himself and the club but I hate being lectured to, (with the verbose language they hide behind), by an organisation that has very little interest in actually creating the level playing field that would actually make the game in Scotland one we could all buy into.

Also, great how they can make this decision but have said and done nothing about the rioting and nonsense by the Old Firm eejits after their game at Ibrox recently.

If I was a hibee I'd be hacked off with that, they have to claw back 6 points and settled for a draw , time wasting also...wtf is that about ?

We look up when the ball is in the air We look down when the ball is on the ground brilliant 😂

You need to have arrived in the UK on an inflatable boat under cover of darkness to stay there these days, its free though.

The JBA pre match interview on a Thursday is becoming one of my favourite things to watch, it’s like waiting for your favourite tv programmes next episode. The man is class.

This thread is getting nauseating, which is what tends to happen once the Rangers/Celtic fans pile in.

JBA and our stock is high, building on it would put it stratospheric, fingers crossed we show some ambition

We've gone from winning title chat to struggling to finish 4th. I mean we're still just 5 pts behind Champions League qualification. Long way to go for chat, in both directions.

Spot on , my thoughts as well its been a joy to come to Fir Park this season and watch the football we have been playing, long may it continue.

See you next season, enjoy your extended break. What an absurd take on things.

Garbage is what we watched last season, ok we’ve been poor the last couple of games - mainly due to not adapting to teams pushing up on us and some slack passing - but garbage? Think you need to get a bit of perspective mate.

We were second best over the piece yesterday, no getting away from that, but that is going to happen when you are motherwell. Goals change games though, and f**k me we were hard done by from the officials. Seriously, what is the point in VAR - get involved when they shouldn't and posted missing when needed. Genuinely sick to death of it. Jens has every right to have a pop given what we have been on the end of recently. I wonder if lissah will get the same retrospective punishment as slattery, because said having his arms out certainly didnt make him fall to the ground.

What about crucial games hibs and falkirk have lost when chips are down. Must have been more than us as they are still behind. A lot of crap on here tonight

I get that you are trying to beat the drum for impartiality and fairness and I commend you for it. But we dont live in an ideal world. We all know this. So until we do, I think its fair enough to be annoyed.....

In fairness, Joe is 74 now.

Deliberately feigning injury to get a player sent off should be a red card offence. Referees might be incompetent and VAR might be a shambles but I doubt they are actively cheating like Slattery was. Trying to twist the incident so that the SFA is at fault is ridiculous. Our player cheated, got caught and is now being rightly punished. Let it be a lesson to others, Motherwell players or otherwise that that kind of blatant cheating is totally unacceptable. And BTW the sort of pathetic paranoia that 'it wouldn't happen to this team or that team ' is exactly the same justification the Old Firm use all the time. Take some ownership.

How many games are the VAR officials banned for?

Im going for a strong finish to the season 7 games left, so why not 7 wins and a 75 point total, and see what that gets us. No Alcohol was consumed before posting, coyw.

I think you need to look beyond the points in the league and the cup games. Jens arrived at a club that let’s be honest was playing terrible football and had essentially become a bottom six team that might just survive if we get a decent run. Within a summer he totally transformed our style of play, exciting to watch, hard to beat and holding onto the ball for long periods of games. Comfortably into the top six and have an outstanding chance of Europe. You have to look at where we have come from to judge how good he has been.

As time goes on with him in charge of Scotland the less arsed I am about the national team. He’s not stepped foot in fir park in years and continues to pick guys like Hanley and Ralston. His comments basically saying our individuals aren’t as good as the collective team must have p1ssed off a few of our players. I hope we go out and destroy Hibs and highlight “again” Hanley as a weak link.

League cup only matters if you win it, maybe that's just my 'historically we've been fish to bicycles' mentality , but even landing the final in the 00's it was still 'only' the league cup, shit to lose but do you think there would be 7k+ turning up this late in the season, the feel good factor, the plaudits IF we had St Mirren's season? And you think folk just want a trophy. Delusional.

I was always against VAR because, as I said at the time, it was madness to think the same people making bad decisions on the pitch would somehow start making good decisions when they looked at video. It has turned out worse than I thought, because now they are intervening far more than the original claim of overruling "clear and obvious errors" and are practively refereeing games. When you add the ability to make decisions that change games in favour of big teams then the game, as they say, is gone.

Longelo gave the officials a decision to make. Very soft but the sort of challenge that the old firm get awarded penalties for week in week out. The issue like the game at Fir Park is that questions need asking on why the officials failed to send Celtic players off for obvious offences. Tho it is a recurring theme for all teams against them. Then you have the officials turn a blind eye to shoves in their box or over zealous challenges. The shove was soft but a foul everytime outside box. Just was targetted yesterday and was kicked constantly with no protection from the officials. Given how tight the title chase is these officials and the decisions they make are only going to be more biased and outrageous. Hearts have no chance. As for the media and Authorities they ignore the big issues and as a result our game is still in the dark ages and struggles to modernise. All we can do is play our football and try to grow as a club.

Surely the only available option. And I know you're not Shirley......

I have no interest in you pro rangers agenda, your opinion doesn't matter either tbh, Motherwell are at Celtic on Saturday, stick to predicting defeats.

You really are trying too hard to ignore the facts to suit your narrative. Firstly you don't comment on the fact that Rangers fans invaded the park when they thought they had scored and indulged in goading of the Celtic fans. Did you forget this? More importantly the Celtic fans didn't react. Furthermore you overlook the fact that once the Rangers fans attempted to attack the Celtic fans after the penalties the latter resisted the goading. Lets be thankful they didn't. As for the Celtic fans having the form you refer to which ofc is not inaccurate, you dont note the facts that Rangers fans have on many more occasions over the years invaded pitches. The list is endless, examples of which include a League Cup final in mid 60's, Scottish Cup final in 1969, Newcastle in 1969/70, Scottish Cup final in 1980 and in more recent times when Rangers fans brought a halt to a game at Fir Park when playing Jock Wallace's Motherwell. In all instances Rangers had either lost or were losing. Spot the pattern? Could of course add Manchester when they caused untold damage to that city but what's the point. Let me repeat the Celtic fans who surged the gates, caused damage and left disgraceful graffiti deserve every condemnation. But when it comes to the aftermath on Saturday it is patently wrong to say the Celtic fans are the main culprits. Finally, you might want to ask yourself why in a much more important game the Celtic fans didn't charge the Aberdeen fans after penalties following last season's Scottish Cup final. In short he contrast with Rangers fans last Sunday is stark. No more comments from me on this subject. Anyway let's get back to this coming Saturday when I'm sure whatever our differences we will be rooting for a Motherwell win.