Tweed

Got to say we have improved defensively this season. We have put in real good defensive performances at both Parkhead and Tannadice now and have been undone by a worldy and a soft penalty. In seven games we have lost three goals inside the box (St Johnstone, Ross C and today) whereas last season we were being undone at corners and set plays all the time. By doing that we have maybe lost a bit of a threat and we need to strike that balance.

http://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/2014/09/19/celtic-tickets-on-sale-3/

Given he turned Sheff Utd down because he obviously had concerns about stability, I see there being no way he'd end up there.

We needed a win and got it, I don't give a damn about any other aspect of that match as now some of the belief will be back. Next week will be a freebie but hopefully Europe will have tired them out and we can exploit it and we go to the Accies double header believing.

What I meant was that the ST was still value compared to PATG which at the time of purchase was the only two options. However, yes that would have saved me £43 you are quite right, however, going to FP each time would be a right royal pain in the chops. I imagine they are going with a favourable deal to gauge demand this season and the prices will be slightly less favourable for the flexiticket next year if it is continued.

As a Season Ticket holder who has already missed two games this season and was one bowl away from making a final that would have meant missing all three, it is something I would consider however as I mostly work 9-5 Monday to Friday, going to get the vouchers could be a pain. Also looking at the remaining home games, unless through illness or something unexpected, the only one I think I would miss is if we are at home on the Saturday immediately after the split so should still attend 16 games of the 19 minimum meaning the season ticket should remain as value. I would like to think if this is a success the club would modify it to make it more practical in future seasons. For example, make the vouchers any game unreserved seat vouchers that could be handed in at the turnstyle except for all ticket games where the ticket would need to be exchanged in advance for one with a seat number. But I can understand why they want to manage demand in the ticket office to start with.

I agree with all that. We were no worse than St Johnstone except when they got their free header in the box it went in, when we did it, it ricocheted off their keeper's leg. If ever a game deserved to peter out to a 0-0 it was that one.

The two guys I thought it was between were given them by the sponsors, which doesn't happen often. Thought Lawson just shaded it from O'Brien.

Yes, I think being involved with better players and better managers will improve him. He'll be here for a couple of days this week and be back on Monday next week. We agreed to this and encouraged it to renege because we've had a sticky start would be wrong. Also, a few days away may freshen him up.

I certainly think the first two subs (Erwin and McHugh for Law and Ojamaa) took the impetus out our team. But we were tiring before the changes so he had to do something. Did it cost us a point? Maybe, Was I unhappy when he made the changes? Certainly not.

Just watched McCall's MFC TV interview and agree with everything he said. We didn't create the chances our territory deserved because we took a lot of wrong choices. Lawson, Lasley, Ainsworth, Ojamaa, Sutton and Law were all guilty of it. Defending was well organised, he explained the sub of Angol as well and we had a good shape throughout. Still looks like we run out of steam in last ten minutes but not as early as some other games. Obviously we were still not brilliant but when I was at work when we played Inverness, the attempts stat at half time was 1-17 so if you think back to what happened that day at least we are making inroads. Confidence is the big thing just now and I think we have to work on building it back. Slightly concerned Carswell rushed to hospital, hope he gets better soon.

Just about every clip on the Sportscene package started with us in possession, then making a hash of a straightforward pass and then random passage of passing from Killie and then them getting a shot in on our goalkeeper. Abysmal stuff, if you can't pass it 5 yards you've no chance.

My opinion is more seasoned pros are more able to adapt. Not saying it is ideal, of course it isn't but if you are putting someone in for their first start at least have them only adjusting to a new level and not a new position as well.

Was speaking to someone today who said Inverness were absolutely magnificent yesterday and they felt part of the reason we were shown up so badly was that their ball retention and pressurising was so good. Having only read the posts on the web about the game which have all been very down about us but just wondered if the thought of Inverness being excellent was a parallel?

This is true, momentum in this league is everything. However, we won one out of three at the start of last season too.

I wasn't there but if you are throwing in a kid, surely you play them in their natural position and get the more experienced guy (i.e. Reid) to try and play out of position. Like he did at Paisley in September last year by playing Hammell right back and letting Angol play left back. Also to say Carswell isn't up to it is just nonsense. Like others maybe hasn't got going yet this season, from what I have seen and heard he is not alone.

Think Ojamaa is exactly the kind of player we need but to be as effective as he was before he is going to have to be better than he was then. Whilst the current squad is good, it isn't as good as the one he left. However he will have given the place a lift and hopefully he will be the spark we need.

Thought Ferguson was a bit rabbit in the headlights to begin with but to be fair to him after ten minutes he settled down and did a decent job. On MoTM, I thought Carswell, Angol and Reid did a fine job marking out their danger men but over the piece the job Erwin did was excellent but I think young Leitch just edges it. Rarely wasted the ball and some good touches.

Shots on Target is a false stat - how many were good chances? I'd say one which they blazed over. Most were tame efforts or skied high and wide because we defended well and forced them to shoot from distance. We hit the bar and we had a goal disallowed for a paper thin (but correct looking) offside decision. Stats can argue any point but to argue we had no chance of winning that game is just nonsense in my opinion.

All in I think we did pretty well. We had enough territory in the first half and really seemed to be matching them toe to toe. Playing Carswell between the centre halves and the midfield worked well for the most part and it meant between him, Reid and Angol they were basically sticking to their three main playmakers. They swapped around a few times to try and mix it up and apart from one error by Angol we kept them quiet. In the second half I thought we were excellent without the ball but we didn't do well enough with it. The result of this was the ball spent far too much time in our penalty area. Also Ferguson did well after a torrid first ten minutes. Perhaps the first Motherwell player to get booked on his debut before he touched the ball? For me Erwin looks like a really exciting player. He has height, he has pace, he has touch and he has quick feet. Bit more experience and I could see him being a money spinner for us. Leitch had a dynamic game in the middle. Disagree with people about Lasley. He intercepted and tackled well and was quietly a pain in the neck. Did give the ball away cheaply a few times but to say he contributed nothing is unfair. Sutton was quiet but he was a bit isolated. I also disagree with those saying we should have made changes earlier. I accept United had most of the ball and the territory. However how often did they get in behind our defence and force a good save out of Twardzik. Apart from a sitter they blazed over, I wouldn't say they missed a good chance. I felt that unless it was a worldy or a cock up we had a point there. When we had a corner after the changes were made they tore through us like a knife through butter, changing it earlier was just an open invitation for them to do that more and with a greater intensity. Finally the referee was an absolute balloon. Ciftci seemed to lead with the arm on Carswell - decision advantage to United; Lasley chests the ball down - free kick to United; and to show I'm not biased Blatant handball by McManus in the box - play on. Really poor and overly fussy throughout, in saying that his fussiness slowed it down and when it was 0-0 I daresay we weren't gutted. Much better discipline defensively than last year though. Big steps forward in that regard and all in an encouraging but slightly disappointing night.

Dundee United at their best were undoubtedly the 2nd best team in Scotland last year but they finished down the league because they were incredibly inconsistent and didn't show their best as often as us or Aberdeen. Sadly they had a knack of turning it on against us and we had a knack of turning up with a few injured when we played them. Sadly it looks like the same could happen again on Wednesday night. If we can keep them quiet for 20 minutes though their fans might get restless because expectation undoubtedly went up a notch down Tannadice Street the moment the full time whistle went at Aberdeen. Agree with previous poster though, a similar shape to Aberdeen at Boxing Day is our best chance of success if we can shoehorn our fit guys into something resembling it.

Good competition this! http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/28583996

I don't think we have a right of veto!

Getting put out of cups by rubbish opposition is frustrating and you'd have thought by now we'd have learned. My opinion on the latest debacle is: 1) We haven't played enough pre-season games. 2) We haven't replaced Hutchinson, Anier or McFadden. Result - no pace in defence, no pace or creativity up top. 3) Ainsworth is the only player in the team with any pace and he can't last ninety minutes against anyone which in turn means we need to put someone on who can't carry us up the pitch which in turn puts too much pressure on our defence. 4) Hammell and Lasley have started the last two seasons slowly, same appears to be happening again this year. 5) We are too one dimensional 6) Our goalkeeping problem hasn't been resolved by Twardzik I'm sure in time we will be absolutely fine this year but we need to knock some belief into these guys in cup games. It is fast becoming a monkey on our back. Our last two attempts at knock out competition have probably been the worst two I can remember in 24 years watching Motherwell.

1 Celtic 2 Aberdeen 3 Dundee Utd 4 St Johnstone 5 Inverness 6 Motherwell 7 Dundee 8 Hamilton Acc 9 Ross C 10 Partick 11 St Mirren 12 Kilmarnock