MJC

Stating the obvious but we will need to defend a lot better than we did against Hibs to have any chance of getting anything here. St.J have shown over the past season that they are able to punish sides from set pieces whilst we have looked vulnerable at defending set pieces in that same time. We need to protect our backline and not make any rash challenges in and around our box otherwise I fear we will be undone again.

The problem with the midfield is that we are still extremely short in that area. No arguments about us being overrun and the defence having no protection but who do we put in there that will make much difference?

I don’t think O’Donnell has what it takes to play two positions at the same time tbh.

They beat us 3-0 going on six when we last played them in February at Fir Park. While there clearly were signs of encouragement to take from Sunday it is clear that we still have defensive concerns, something that was evident in the League Cup group games too. We need to learn to concentrate and ‘manage’ games better, otherwise we will continue to ship goals.

Our defensive frailties will cost us again here I reckon. 4-2 home win.

That is what I find unfair here. I’ve been generally supportive of restrictions and the Scottish governments handling of the pandemic but I fail to see how it can be deemed safer, in a Covid-safe sense, to allow people to cram into nightclubs where they will already be or will become drunk and inevitably drop their guard on social distancing than into a football ground which is more or less outside, with no alcohol on sale, sanitisation and cleanliness measures in place and numerous police/stewards in attendance to monitor the situation. I am as desperate as any to see the country get back to normal but I do feel that football fans have been dealt a tough hand on this one.

They are a decent side, not as good a side as their fans and the media would like them to be but they will almost certainly be top six at the very least this season. We showed today that we have the ability to compete with them over the course of 90 minutes but our defensive issues cost us again. As I said, I think Slattery will do extremely well for us once he’s up to speed and there were encouraging signs from Woolery and KvV yet again today.

That’s a sore one to take. By no means was that a poor performance from us, indeed we looked a lot more committed and up for it than we did at 90% of games last season. We matched a decent side well for the majority but unfortunately yet again our defending cost us dearly - their first two goals were down to shocking defending from us and we give away yet another penalty for the winner. We really need to work on defensive concentration. I think there clearly are signs of positivity but there’s still a lot of work, and hopefully transfer business to be done.

Can’t argue with the penalty decision when the arms out like that. We really don’t deserve to lose this game.

Lively stuff so far. Great to see van Veen get off the mark but a shocking goal to concede just minutes later. Either side could be ahead just now but I think we’ve just edged it and deserve our lead. When we actually play the ball on the deck in the middle we actually look like a football team - Slattery is going to be a great signing I reckon.

I’ve always viewed the Captain first and foremost as the player who is the leader on the park, someone who is vocal with the rest of the team and can when needed speak to/with the officials. Craigan, Lasley, Leitch, Phil O’Donnell and Tom Boyd are the type of guys that spring to mind when I think of that type of role, all guys who were able to be focal points of the team and who were the obvious ‘leader’.

Leadership on the field, that’s for starters and I think that is a key requirement for a club captain.

I would have had Kelly or Watt as captain ahead of O’Donnell that’s for sure. Be that just on the park rather than the ‘off the park’ matters, whatever they are, but I would have picked either one of them as leaders on the field before SO’D.

Because that’s how I feel hearing that news. O’Donnell is never a captain in a million years.

Stephen O’Donnell confirmed as club captain.

Hear! Hear! Far too many of our support and indeed some inside the club itself but into the “we’re only a wee club punching way above our weight” guff. You may argue that it doesn’t matter if some have that outlook but I have to disagree. That attitude of “we’re only little Motherwell” rubs off on players, coaches and managers and is why, in my opinion, the likes of Mark McGhee felt so comfortable disrespecting us as a club on both spells he managed us. It’s also why Stuart McCall had such a shocking record in Cup games and big games, because he came to us viewing us as this little tinpot outfit and during his time here no one inside the club seriously attempted to persuade him otherwise. When there is a mindset of “as long as we stay in the league it doesn’t matter if we lose Cup games” then it gives a ready made excuse for failure right from the off. You can also attribute our dreadful record against Rangers over the past twenty years to that mindset as well. It’s why we also have over the past couple of seasons assembled a squad of players whom many of don’t appear to give a fuck about the club and don’t appear to be striving to go the extra mile. It’s just a job to them and one that takes them on coffee outings for social media likes. That’s all of course after the same social media platforms have been full of fans queuing up to welcome them to “our great wee club”.

Very impressed with this signing. This sounds very much like the experienced defender we need and also a leader on the park. Welcome to Motherwell FC.

Yip! and every bit as cringey as the patter that equates following us to riding a rollercoaster.

“Welcome to our great wee club”.

I’m sure it was Terry Butcher that first started the “punching above our weight” line at a time when we were still in administration when, to be fair, we probably were given the circumstances. Alan Burrows when he posted here began parroting it regularly and others latched on to it from there and it’s stuck ever since with some fans. When you have been a top flight side for 36 years, won the Scottish Cup and regularly finished in the top half of the table and qualified for Europe then you have more than earned the right to say that you are at the level you deserve to be at.

I absolutely despise that patter that so many our fans like to hit out with all too often. You see it on social media every time we sign a player “welcome to our great wee club”. It’s pathetic and so small time. For the record I am under no illusions that we are a ‘big’ club or anything like that, but I honestly do not get the obsession so many have with describing us as a “wee club/team” and “punching waaay above our weight. As for this season I don’t think we will be relegated but I don’t think we’re anywhere near good enough for top six either so expect a season similar to the last few. That’s nothing to do with how big or wee a club we are or how big our support or potential support is, it’s simply down to the quality of players we are going to be able to put on the park. As ever we will do nothing of note in either Cup, a Quarter Final in one of them will be our best hope.

I’d feel alot more confident with Donnelly in the middle instead of Crawford.

I can’t see us getting anything from this one as the season just seems to have come too early for us, especially going by GA’s comments last week about having too much work/too many games etc. The only leveller perhaps will be Hibs playing in Europe on Thursday night but I still expect them to take the points. 2-1 away win.

Probably one of the best draws we could have hoped for to be honest. That’s winnable for us!

Did what we needed to do today so can’t complain. Annan were always going to sit in and it was down to us to break them down and we managed it. I like the look of van Veen, he just needs that first goal. Plenty of work rate and looks like a good front player.