ohwulliewullie

A thought occurred to me on the financials of the window. If it’s true that clubs get £8K per day for players that are in Euro 2020 squads, then assuming Gallagher and O’Donnell make the squad, then that’s worth roughly £160K to us. Those players staying with us has possibly therefore funded (say) 5 players on 5 month contracts to the end of the season on £1k per week or whatever. Time will tell if those 5 players represent value for money...

Curtis Main spotted outside the Rex?

Decent from Maguire and Mugabi, but has to go to Tony Watt for me. Yet again. Can we just rename this the ‘Tony Watt man of the match’ award from here on in?

Seemed to me to be a visible increase in effort levels tonight across the team versus some of the games, even when things were not going our way in the latter part of the first half.

May I add leadership, character and resilience.... with a bit of concentration to cut out the daft mistakes

I appreciate you talking me down from my current state of being highly pissed off.

I admire your optimism, and I'm normally glass half full too... but our continual ability to self-destruct in a variety of different but recurring ways has just totally pissed me off, again. The fact that we have never equalised once all season sums it up.

I'm totally scunnered with this season. Polworth sold the jerseys today after an OK first half where the difference was just a decent cross and defending for it that could have been better. And the width of a post. Polworth's petulance in the handbags with Wright... then diving to try to win a foul, and rolling about... which I think the ref allowed us an advantage for... then (presumably) saying something stupid when you're on a yellow card. Total stupidity.

With Chris Cadden coming back to Scotland, he presumably has in his mind that if he does alright, he could give himself a shout of getting into the Scotland squad for the Euros. I wonder then if that makes it more likely that O’Donnell signs on with us until the end of the season? I.e. make sure he gets first team football, and gives himself the best chance of staying front of mind with Steve Clarke.

Just googled him... born on 18th May... it’s a sign!

My reaction live was, ‘he’s dived in a bit when he didn’t need to, with a player back to goal and unlikely to get a shot away, but still not a penalty’... I’ve since seen it back and it’s really really harsh... but I still think a bit more caution is needed with any kind of challenge in the box... everybody knows that players will hit the deck at the slightest opportunity.

Mugabi would have been mine... and as much as it wasn’t a penalty, I don’t think he needs to make the challenge

I'm in the 'a bit of bad luck' and 'low confidence' camp much more than I'm in the 'bad players' one (although certainly many of the existing and new players have underperformed as well). I think back to the start of the season and remember thinking that the squad looked good and I was feeling confident, and on paper at least (from their pedigree) the new signings looked promising. I even remember thinking that for the first time in a while we potentially had decent cover in all positions. Then reality kicked in. Right from the start though a combination of bad luck and individual errors seemed to evaporate the confidence: poor penalty conceded and penalty and a sitter missed at Ross County; Lamie's brain fart to let Livi back into the game at Fir Park after taking the lead; White's goal disallowed at Easter Road that could easily have stood. Other games we lost could / should have been at least draws on the balance of play (Dundee Utd and Accies at Fir Park). Key players were injured that give us a solid foundation: Carson, Donnelly. Even more recently I think we've been unlucky... which could have turned the confidence round and Robinson might still have been in place: questionable disallowed goal v Hibs after being the better team in the first half at Fir Park; injury time equaliser at Tannadice after being the better team for the whole game. There are such narrow margins in the league that poor form / confidence and couple of injuries can have a dramatic effect for most teams... but it can also work the other way... see what's happened to Livi. One thing that does need to be addressed is the team's lack of resilience... the fact that we haven't equalised for ages is really poor. In a nutshell though, I agree with the new manager that major surgery isn't (yet) required... the return of a wee bit of confidence from digging out a result or two should hopefully mean that a number of under-performing players show what they can do. A couple of ins and outs during January may also change the picture significantly. Hopefully onwards and upwards...

Hope someone from the ‘media team’ is reading this... a wee motherwell bridge background would be ideal

Having been fuming with anger at some of the performances in the last couple of months, I’m afraid to say that my instinctive reaction when the first goal went in today was to laugh. That’s how low things have become

Irrespective of his managerial credentials, the “Celtic daft” pish would get right on your tits

That was a hard watch. Passive is the word that springs to mind. Strung three passes together once the whole game, and scored from it. Poor goal to concede after getting ourselves in front, O'Hara too slow with the ball at the edge of the box, and a clumsy challenge from Mugabi, albeit May made the most of it. It was still a penalty though. Not a lot of link up play from middle to front in particular. Windy conditions probably didn't help, but St Johnstone coped better, and looked far more likely to win it. The only bright spot for me was Crawford, especially in the first half - tidy, assured, and comfortable taking the ball under pressure. Looks like a good addition.

Presumably PPV for the league cup tie isn’t included in our season ticket? If that’s the case, is there any value in the clubs getting together and doing a deal for the double header? Could encourage motherwell fans and at Johnstone fans without a season ticket to buy both?

My recollection is that Cooper would have been in the squad but got injured in the run up

I almost agree with you... Gallagher was great but I’d have had Dykes above O’Donnell

There is that!! Thanks for keeping me right

Oh aye, cheers. So with Killie unlikely to progress, there’s an opportunity to schedule that one without any other impact on the calendar. Assuming we’re not going to get the three points, surely that’s the sensible option.

Looking ahead... why are there no fixtures scheduled for Saturday 28/11 - am I missing something? Might that date be used for the St Mirren or Kilmarnock games?

Was just thinking that... if I was Devante Cole I’d be licking my lips at the prospect of running at Shane Duffy

I like having O’Hara in our team in general, but he’s doing a great job at the moment of adding calmness and a bit of quality at the back