MJC

That’s another sore one in a season of sore ones. Our glaring weaknesses were exposed yet again. We can’t score goals when it really matters and we can’t shut teams down when they are on top of us.

Apart from the one Hearts got at Ibrox in September eh?

If you can’t make your chances count in games like these then it’s always going to come back to bite you.

Been coming. Game over.

That’s true it will be a bonus but at the same time it’s this outlook that has hampered us against both of them in recent years. We’ve basically just shrugged our shoulders and written these games off. I don’t think we will do that under Jens regime but unfortunately I just don’t think we will be clinical or streetwise enough to get anything either today or on Tuesday.

If we’re going to get anything from either of the next two games then I reckon it will be today. It wouldn’t surprise me if Celtic drop points at Livingston today, sack Nancy, bring back O’Neill and they’ll be completely galvanised when they come to Fir Park.

There definitely is some ignorance in that but there is also some truth. We don’t have the depth that Hearts and the Old Firm have and as we saw at the weekend we struggle to create that spark when Maswanhise isn’t in the side. We also aren’t nearly strong enough up front to be considered as in the mix for the title race. Yes we play some good stuff but all too often aren’t able to make it counts at the crucial time. We have a No.9 who needs penalties or else a dozen chances in front of goal before he converts one. We are also far too lightweight and don’t have anyone in the side like a Gogic or a Devlin who can give us that toughness that we would need to seriously be considered as in contention. I do think that 4th place is a realistic target for us this season. Long way to go yet but there is cause for optimism. Ultimately though this season has all the hallmarks of “another good Motherwell team that won nothing, but could have done so much more”. Which isn’t (before the ‘faithers’ start foaming at the mouth) a bad thing.

Absolutely and I will be delighted with 2 points, or 3 or 4 from the next two games. Obviously 6 would be the stuff of dreams but we need to be realistic. The reality is that we will probably get 0.

The fact that Rangers lost today leaves me even less confident of us getting anything. They very rarely lose two league games in a row and we’ve seen this all too often over the years when one of the OF loses or drops points just before they are due to play us and we get the backlash. We will not beat either Rangers at Ibrox or Celtic at Fir Park. We might scrape a 0-0 in one of them but that will be our lot because we are not physical enough or nearly clinical enough to make it count when it will matter. I’ve heard detractors of this current Hearts side making claims that “they are a team of journeymen” or “a typical McInnes side, big and physical” but they are a well drilled team and being big and physical pays off in this league especially if you have that other critical ingredient that successful teams have…forward players who can score goals. And that is why Hearts are top of the league and deservedly so. Because they are well drilled, play as a team, have players who can mix it up and crucially have players who can score goals when it matters. We are a good side and I am really enjoying watching us this season. But we will always fall short when it really matters for the reasons I mentioned above.

1-0 home win. We’re not clinical or aggressive enough to win this.

Absolutely. We’re not a ‘darling club’ of the Scottish media like Celtic, Aberdeen or Dundee Utd so we’re always going to attract negative press from those who see us doing well as being upstarts who are daring to do better than we should be. And the fact that we’ve got an outsider leading us and making it all happen compounds it for them.

Was a tough watch but absolutely delighted with that win. That’s all that matters at the end of the day.

If we had a goalscorer we would be top of the league right now.

TJ is going to be a massive loss the next few weeks. We’re pretty toothless when he’s playing but he’s the one who can produce something.

But therein lies the problem. Too many people in this part of the world can’t handle alcohol but that never causes them to desist.

Perhaps but I would gladly trade all of them for two leave cup triumphs in the last 13 years.

On a serious note I just can’t help but grin with a smug satisfaction about this. I had nothing against Stuart Kettlewell when he was with us but I thought he had well and truly run his course by the time he left. And had he left it at that then there probably wouldn’t even have been half the bad feeling towards him. It was a case of he did his time, did some good things and plenty of bad things but it clearly wasn’t working anymore and we go our separate ways. But he just couldn’t resist engaging victim mode rather than just going quietly and unfortunately it was compounded by his pals in the media, our social media and some of our depressingly gullible fans who helped pedal that narrative. And so he went to Kilmarnock where he failed and had their fans calling him out for the exact same issues that ours did. He has been well and truly found out.

No. It’s aimed at the poster who said that after Kettlewell left us and did his “boo-hoo the Motherwell fans said some hurty words about me” act.

Some Motherwell fans really are deplorable human beings 🤔

It helps when the clearly superior opposition has shot themselves in the foot repeatedly with bad decisions on and off the park relating to managers and player recruitment. We’ve never got that slice of fortune whenever we’ve faced Celtic in cup finals in recent times. Obviously that was outwith our control but as I said I still wouldn’t have backed us to beat this particular Celtic side in a Cup final had it been us playing them today.

I hope a bigger club does take him away from St.Mirren now. I hate St.Mirren with a passion. Robinson is a decent guy who did well with us and unfortunately much better with them.

That’s what guts me. Robinson got us to two cup finals and we never laid a glove on them. Circumstances have obviously worked in St.Mirrens favour this year with Celtic being in turmoil but even if that had been us playing that Celtic team today we would still have ended up losing. We are not nearly clinical and streetwise enough as a team to win games like these. I never ever thought I would be so annoyed to see Celtic lose a cup final but I am honestly fucking pig sick seeing St.Mirren win that.

I am truly sickened about that. I’m giving up football for the foreseeable.

But if Aberdeen sack Thelin then would they come looking at JBA??

Another draw I’m afraid. 1-1