MJC

Not a bad draw getting Aberdeen who are no great shakes so far this season. It will be a tough one but no reason we can’t go up there and get the win but we need to address the striker issue between now and the end of the window for that to happen. And as a side issue, as always seems to happen when we draw Aberdeen in a Cup, we are playing them the week after at Fir Park in the league so it becomes a double header against them.

Has he? And are they? Yesterday’s penalty loss to St.Mirren apart they have had a solid start to the season, sailing through the group stages scoring plenty of goals and notched up two strong league wins, one of which they managed by scoring three goals which is one more than we have managed in our first two league fixtures and yesterday combined. They will beat us next week because of this very simple reason…they have players who can score goals and we don’t. 2-0 home win.

Not perfect but getting through is the only thing that matters and I’m absolutely delighted about that. Bring on the Quarter Finals!!!

Finally, a foothold. Not over yet though!

This team isn’t winning this one on penalties. Unless we score within the next 15 minutes we’re out.

ET/HT still 0-0 Penalties looming 🙄

With a Moult or even a 2020/2021 Watt we probably win that game. But we have no focal point to the team and that’s why we are two league games and one league cup tie in to the season and no wins.

Again, not a bad team performance but nothing to show for it. You can see what the manager is trying to do if nothing else, unfortunately it’s totally ineffective with the players he has.

Halliday and Osong on

I said the same when folk were asking the question “where will we finish this season” after a 1-1 draw with a rank rotten Rangers team. Rangers were as bad as they could have been and we played very well but couldn’t make it count to save ourselves until a late bit of magic rescued a point for us. We are literally HOPELESS up front and that is going to cost us more points/Cup ties than it will win us.

This is torture to watch and until we address our frontline issues then it will continue. If you can’t score goals you don’t win football matches. It’s that simple.

What, not in the second half today so we can get through a Cup tie?? 🙄

Looking quite comfortable again but showing nothing in the way of goal threat.

The Hummel kit we had back then looks nice. I’d like to see us go back with them again at some point.

We didn’t win either. And today we can’t really draw as it is a knockout tie which is played to a finish. We don’t have goals in us so I can’t see us winning so as I said another draw is the most likely outcome, with a penalty shootout defeat to follow. And let me be as clear as possible here, if that is what happens and we exit the Cup today then that will be unacceptable. This game is a must win game so if we play well and show promise but ultimately fail to reach the next round then it’s not good enough. It won’t necessarily be an indicator of how the season will pan out but Cup runs are important to us as a club and as a support.

And we all know what that means. Disappointment and defeat.

Scott Howie was largely good for us after a bit of a shaky start. He was even on the verge of a Scotland call up during his final season with us IIRC and deservedly kept Woods out of the team imo. He had a much better command of the box than Woods did and the defenders in front of him seemed to have more confidence in him. Stevie Woods was/is a decent guy and clearly the top goalkeeping coach in the country, but as an actual goalkeeper he was a bombscare. He was hopeless at decision making, his distribution was terrible and he was forever being beaten at his near post. He was good at saving penalties though so perhaps that was an indicator of his ability to read players when he had the time to think about it that has gone on to serve him well in his coaching career.

Esapa Osong, 20 year old forward. Welcome to the club!

I’d disagree about Kettlewell being the worst manager during the time dating back to the McLean era but absolutely can’t overlook or forget his behaviour during and after his departure. As you said he threw the entire fanbase under the bus in order to create a false narrative and preserve his own reputation. Absolute snake behaviour.

In my time it’s obviously Tommy McLean. Took us from the 1st division to the top flight where we have remained ever since and won the Scottish Cup. Terry Butcher would be my second best for the way he took over when we were at our lowest point and gave us some tremendous times. Stuart McCall did well for us, but his Cup record when he had such a good team at his disposal badly tarnished that and that’s before you take into account shitting it from 3rd division Rangers and losing to Albion Rovers a year later. Mark McGhee did an incredible job in the first season of his first stint but treated the club and the support with contempt. He is without doubt my most disliked Motherwell manager. The worst manager during my time is Maurice Malpas. An absolutely awful and lazy appointment and he showed absolutely nothing to suggest he would succeed as a manager. The season he was in charge was absolutely horrible.

Confirmed on Udinese’s Twitter/X account. All the very best Lennon, it’s been an absolute pleasure watching you play for us.

1-1 and a penalty shootout loss.

We’ve got a League Cup last 16 tie against St.Johnstone before this one.

Well we’re two league games in and unbeaten, which when you take into account that the two games were against Rangers at home and then St.Mirren in Paisley then it’s pretty decent. We need to improve in certain areas though otherwise we’ll not be winning many games but there is still time in this window to do something about that.

A good solid point today and I’m pleased with that. Kind of a ‘game of two halves’ in that it was a good first half performance where we completely controlled the midfield and then fell away quite a bit in the second 45. Watt, Fadinger and Slattery were very comfortable throughout even though they looked less effective as the game wore on. A clean sheet too into the bargain so that’s a big positive. On the downside we continue to look ineffective upfront and that will need to be addressed going forward and the potential for yet another ‘speedy recovery’ with Johnny K. But definite grounds for cautious optimism.