MFCL84

I'm not about to blame Samson for our predicament, but in my view he has many faults in his game that do cause goals and don't help the team. The worst for me are his great reluctant to come off his line to claim any kind of ball, and his unwillingness to catch anything but the simplest of takes. He also doesn't help the team to build an attack, his distribution is very slow and he generally chooses to kick long when there are options to keep the ball. There are other things that bother me about his game, but I'll stop there. It is a team game and if we go down, it won't be just his flaws that cause it.

OK, for what it is worth, my view of pre split position Patrick 41 Killie 36 Dundee 30 Motherwell 29 Accies 28 ICT 27 Just can't see us doing much with such a makeshift defence.

I thought that there were really on 3 players worth considering for this today, though that is much better than recent weeks, McDonald, Moult and McHugh. Gave it to McDonald in the end.

Moult and McDonald worked hard, but Moult gets it because he scored giving us the only bit of joy in that 90 minutes.

Wow this is a real struggle this week. Really no pass marks for anyone, but McDonald for the goal, but he really needs to stop going down so dramatically.

McDonald's first half was very good. Tidy use of the ball. Most of the good things we did went through him. However, he faded in the second half so, Heneghan for me. Solid performance throughout. He is beginning to look as though he could be a right good player.

Some really good performances today. Obviously Moult was very good but it is easy to go for a forward that scored a couple of goals. The team lost 4 today, but I thought Henegen and McManus were on top of their game and I've given my vote to the much maligned Big Mick.

Motherwell and Dundee both with positive results at the weekend. If we play on the offensive and don't give the opposition too much respect, time and space we'll have a chance of taking all 3 points. Same team as Saturday and the same shorter game should see us through. A narrow victory. I'll go for 2-1 to Well, clean sheets are fairly elusive.

Excellent possession in the first half without really looking like scoring. Fell away badly in the second half. A number of outstanding performances McDonald, Caddon, McManus throughout while others had an excellent first 45, Clay for example. The team needs Moult back big time. McDonald has a thankless task and the centre of midfield can't or won't burst forward to support. Certainly one of Johnson's worst performances. On the whole a decent performance that could have been so much more. Early days yet, but we need to start turning possession into chances and goals.

Right through the middle of the team there is a lack of pace. Heneghen and McManus, Lasley and Clay all appared to be very slow compared with their opposite numbers today. We struggled to get Johnson into the game without Hammel as Chalmers just doesn't provide the same attacking support. I thought that McDonald's played reasonably well . He tried to hold the ball up and link up and bring others into the game. The less said about the handball the better.

The pitch invasion on the final home game has become a tradition. It generally doesn't create any trouble, and it is part of a final game party that makes the day all that more enjoyable. The fact that the club have been warned to stop this for a number of seasons is pathetic. It appears that the authorities are hellbent on taking any fun out of football. There really is nothing wrong with going on to the pitch to end the season. It is all part of the party. Today was a total embarrassment for the club and Scottish football. I'm not one that goes on to the pitch, but I felt that the completely over the top security showed a level of disrespect for the majority of the fans. It also killed the enjoyment of the end of season party. It was very noticeable that many people just left. Those that stayed didn't really party. I stayed, but only to thank the players for their efforts, and felt a bit deflated. The players themselves also looked very restrained. SPFL, mission accomplished. You have managed to take a harmless and enjoyable end of season tradition and kill it. Just like you are doing to the game in general.

+2

Good team performance today. McDonald gets it for me, but MacManus and Cadden were also excellent.

I've gone for Ripley, but if anyone else had really shone today I wouldn't have. While his saves kept us in the game, most were routine, and the big mistake ultimately meant we lost the points. His distribution must improve, his concentration must improve and he really must stop pushing the ball into the centre of the box.

I've gone for Kennedy. The centre of defence was a rock today. Also very good performances from Moult and McDonald, and crucial saves from Ripley.

Tough one tonight. Many good performances but Marv just gets it for an strong 2nd half performance.

Some good performances out there today. Scott McDonald takes top position, with Lasley and McManus also dominant.

Play off spot is between Motherwell, Hamilton and Killie. St Johnstone have had a really bad run but are 6pts ahead of us. We won't catch them. ICT are 3pts ahead with 2 games in hand. We won't catch them. Patrick are a point behind, but with 4 games in hand. They'll get enough points to stay clear. Dundee 5pts clear of us with a game in hand. We won't catch them either. So, our realistic aim is to stay ahead of Hamilton or Killie,and hope that Dundee Utd don't perform some kind of miracle.

Scott McDonald for his effort.

For me, there wasn't much between the teams today. I actually feel that Motherwell were the slightly better side. It is worrying that in a Scottish cup tie we seemed to set out to stifle the opposition rather than impose our own game on them. The result was that we didn't have any threat. It seemed like we were playing for a draw for most of the game. Even when we got back to 1-1 there was an opportunity to use the momentum and drive on to try to win it, but it was decided to stick rather than twist. Just a very disappointing day.

So any news on potential signings?

I reckon that if he gets his move to the US we might see him sign a 4th time. It'll still make me smile.

A great early Christmas present. Nothing to lose by giving him 5 or 6 weeks. If he is back to anything like his best he'll be a great asset to have on the pitch, if not it is still great to have him officially part of the club again. I for one will always welcome him back to Fir Park.

Pushing the times and dates of games around for years now to suit TV is finally hurting the game more than the TV money helps. Football is a 3pm Saturday habit. When it is a habit it doesn't matter whether the team is playing badly or not, you turn up on the Saturday. That and the fixture lists where there can be only a single home game in a month followed by 3 homes games the next month is just plain stupid. How do you budget for that?

I've said it before, but I'll say it again, we need a central midfield playmaker. I also think that if the team start to think about supporting the guy on the ball by providing movement, then guys like Chalmers and Grimshaw will look a lot better. Half the problem with these guys is that they don't want to give the ball away, but have few, if any options in front of them. Hence, they invariably go sideways or backwards.