Hope Springs

Happy with this line up. Cole is a good player imo and I think he is due a goal or two for the hard work he puts in. Glad to see a good combination of pace and strength at the back and an unchanged midfield. COYW

I’d like to see Mugabe keep his place if only to match him against Ikpeazu. I hope we are fielding the fittest p oh Ayers in the middle of the park - we don’t need players weakened by a bug in the key place where the game is won or lost today. And I think if all that applies and our attackers maintain their aggressive running at the Hearts defence we should see a win by at least two goals. 4-1 for the Steelmen.

A good all round showing. Scott has the skill and confidence to run at a defence and is starting to show a calmness that will see him score more goals. 3-0 against a characteristically stuffy St Mirren is not at all shabby but I think we will need to be harder in the middle against Hearts. Our pace up front and willingness to take on a man will cause them problems too and going a goal in front early will see their confidence(the little the have left) evaporate.

St Mirren will defend stubbornly but they are relatively toothless in attack. Happy to see Scott getting a place as his skill and the forwards‘ pace in general represent our best chance of an early breakthrough. Here’s hoping we can be as ruthless as we were against St Johnstone and, if we do score early, we can give the Paisley boys a cuffing. 3-0 the Steelmen.

Lazio 1 - Celtic 2. Time to take this lot down a peg just when they are all puffed up with pride and pasta. 2-0 the Steelmen!!

Sadly, if Hearts do in truth want Robinson (and that is far from certain) then he would be fulfilling his ambitions to move to bigger and more lucrative challenges. That being the case, it would be sincere thanks for the great deal you have done for us and best wishes in your new post. Who would I want to succeed him? I’d be happy to give Stephen Craigan a go.

Hoping for a win, expecting a low scoring draw. If we get our noses in front, however, we might open the game up and could score a few. I wouldn’t want to see us try to defend a single goal lead. I like Long and Cole up front so we seem to want to take the game to them. COYW!!

I’d like to think that the confidence which comes from a high league place and a run of victories added to the strong incentive to consolidate our league position should take us over the line. Our players are growing with every game and for the first time in quite a while there is serious competition for places in the team. I’d like to see Long and and Scott start and stretch Aberdeen’s centre back pairing. I hope Cole and Seedirf contribute too to get at the full backs. The most interesting, however, is as mentioned above, how Gallagher v Cosgrove pans out. Win that and we should win the game. So, to be optimistic, I fancy 2-0 to the Steelmen. COYW!

Despite Robinson’s declaration that we need to be patient I think if we blitz them early and get a goal in the first 20 minutes we can beat a poor team by at least 2 goals. If not, a 1-0 will do me. COYW⭐️⭐️

A strong line up against a team that hasn’t been scoring much and has leaked goals rather badly. However not the happiest of hunting grounds for us either. It’s a hard one to call but I think we’ll bounce back from last week with a narrow win: 1-0 the Well!!⚽️

Good momentum at the moment and competition for every position means we should keep our focus. We have certainly got goals in us and I think that should prove too much for Ross County. 2-0 to the Well!

Within 5 minutes Casper Sloth (remember him?) scores against Accies Reserves. Our midfield options just keep improving...

Tynecastle is not an easy place to go and although Hearts have not had the best of starts they have only lost to Celtic and Aberdeen, the latter narrowly. So it will be tough even if we do improve on our last game against them. It would be nice to keep our momentum going as we move into a run of “easier” fixtures. I don’t think we want to introduce too many new faces, therefore, and expect minimal changes and those due to injury (I e Dunne). A cautious 2-1 to the Steelmen prediction...

Karma

Cluj sustained for the duration of the match what we were only able to sustain for the first half hour. Throughout that half hour we were by far the better team. We were let down by fitness not ability. Cluj are no Champions League team either , but Petrescu was a determined wee bugger and has clearly imparted that to his team. If we could even have reached half time ahead (and been given a penalty for 2-0) I would have been surprised if Celtic would have beaten us. Balances are tipped by small decisions or incidents. In our case by four poor defensive lapses - as seems to have been the case tonight for Celtic.

Agree that last Saturday for either team is not a great predictor if this fixture. We do need to be right on our game and I believe our own pitch’s slick surface gives us a chance to attack quickly from wide areas where I think Celtic are suspect. I’d play Cole up front in the hope that his pace will get him in behind a fairly ponderous central defence and I agree that we should put Grimshaw in not for Tait but to match up against Brown and give him a hard time: Grimmy’s energy and stamina could run Brown ragged (his legs are done anyway and he gets far too much respect from most teams). 1-1 would be about right but 2-1 is still very achievable.

As always at the start of a new season, it’s a little bit more exciting than an ordinary match day. I am more optimistic about how we will fare this season than for many a year. I believe the signs are as good as they could be and I expect us to have more than enough skill and grit to beat Livi by two clear goals. 3-1 for the Steelmen. COYW⚽️⚽️!

I am pleased that Norwich exceeded Celtic’s bid and, if David agrees terms with them it puts him in a better position to move on to a bigger EPL club given the coverage they get. Better development through playing better teams than Celtic ever will, better chance of a bigger move and thereby a bigger sell on cut for us and (maybe importantly) a metaphorical punch on the nose to Celtic who systematically have bullied other Scottish teams in so many ways and arrogantly tried to use a supine and submissive Scottish media to twist David’s arm when clearly Celtic , A’s is their won’t, failed to show enough respect to Motherwell and in particular a young man with a very big future that most football minded (but not Celtic minded) people could easily recognise.

While I am not happy at the prospect of David playing for Celtic (having sadly watched the Old Firm scoop up Dixie Deans, Joe McBride, Peter McCloy, Tom Forsyth all the way to Brian McClair, Phil O’Donnell, even Jake Hastie) I think it may be a long term good option : he will be playing in a league he is already pre-eminent in, will surely gain Scotland caps, will score even more goals and provide more assists, will be seen across Europe (ie a bigger shop window) and will just as likely outgrow Celtic and move on for a fee the percentage of which coming to us will be another big financial boost. He has behaved impeccably and should not be grudged his promotion and also has earned a choice he has yet to make. If he goes elsewhere it will be for more. More to us. If he goes to Celtic I doubt it will be for long and then a bigger move. More to us. So you have every best wish from me, David, whatever way it goes. Thank you.

I would say it’s perfectly excusable. They have signed Turnbull and as far as Hastie is concerned they played it by the book. They identified his potential, loaned him out to give him first team football and to see if he would hold his own in the rough and tumble of championship football. He did okay - nothing to suggest the huge surge in improvement when he got back and was given the opportunity to play in our own first team. They kept playing him and offered the best deal they could. It is down to the lad myself now and, if he is listening, a lot of experienced and respected people in the game are suggesting a move away from Motherwell might not be the best thing for the development of what is a very promising career. And to be fair, he seems to be taking his time to think it all through - nor has he signed any pre-contract deal either. So I for one remain cautiously optimistic we could have his signature yet

I like to think our momentum, the potency of our attack and the solidity of our defence and serious work ethic might be just a shade too much for Hibs today. COYW

a good win. If we can beat Dundee next we can certainly aim to move higher in the second half of the season. and maybe do so with a bit of style and football...

Glad to hear we are showing a willingness to take the game to Hibs. Hope the width now offered by Ariyib means a bit more football.

Big pitch, highly motivated Celtic - likely we will try to keep it tight but I would look for more width so change of formation and press their shaky back four. With a bit of effort a draw isn’t beyond us - they’re far from invincible.

Celtic are not experienced in dealing with pressure and that is why they are poor in Europe so I would agree - don’t give them an inch, press hard and get an early goal (or two!)