weeyin

It's an interesting argument. There is a school of thought that says kids shouldn't be anywhere near organised football at the age of 5 and, in fact, should be playing (with the emphasis on "play') as many different sports and games as they can - as long as they enjoy them. I think it was the Dutch clubs that used to avoid competitive football matches for their kids until they were about 12 or 13, although I have no idea if that's still the case. There are so many variables, it must be difficult to quantify the most successful approach. Not just from the luck talent and mental strength you mention but also just the rate of development. Some kids that look world beaters at 14 that fade away and others that don't flourish until years later. I'll be honest and say that the young players I have seen at Fir Park that have come through the English system haven't looked any better than our home grown talent (guys like Zane Francis-Angol, Zac Jules spring to mind), but of course that is a pretty small sample to judge. Even now we have the Man U Academy Captain being kept out of our team by players like Cadden and Campbell. Having said all that, there is no doubt our system needs an overhaul from top to bottom. I just don't know if the English model is the one we should follow when the French and, more recently, the Belgians have shown the way forward.

If we lose, I'll also be blaming the players. Like most poorly performing teams, it's about more than just the manager.

The question is, do the English teams have a higher percentage of players coming through the youth ranks into the first team? From what I have seen across the leagues, the answer to that is no.

Main has been terrible for a while and looks like he'd benefit from a rest (or a few games on the bench). If our recruitment was to bring in backups, time to give Johnson a couple of starts. Same with Cadden, who looks like he needs a break. If both of those guys can get some form back, we'd be a lot healthier, If it's crosses we are lacking, then let Frear play as a winger instead of a wingback. With Dunne back in the team, he has the pace to help cover any defensive lapses.

That's reasonable. The next 2 games are definitely going to shape our season.

To be fair - in his first summer Robinson had to rebuild a team from scratch, find a way to ditch some of the older player while shoring up a leaky defence and avoid relegation. We finished 7th and got to 2 cup finals with that completely rebuilt team. So he deserves huge credit for that as it's a rarity at any level of the game. And I say that as someone who was quick to critcize the lack of entertainment of offer some weeks. It's difficult to tell how effective some of the new signings have been as the manager is wedded to his "have to earn the right to play football" approach and seems reluctant to change things too much. I understand a number of the new guys were intended to be backups, but if we ever needed to change things up and bring in backups, it's now. It's a little ironic that someone who is quite happy to change a formation 25 minutes into game when things aren't working still persists week to week with a general tactics that aren't working.

Exactly. It's just standard media management these days. The journos ask the predictable questions and the players trot out the well rehearsed answer. Thanks to the outrage levels in the Scottish media - and even moreso in social media these days - few are allowed to say what they actually think. That's why I used to enjoy McGhee (and Big Mick's) press conferences. They were used to dealing with the Glasgow journalists and quite adept at keeping them in their place while saying something worth listening to. Not always sensible in McGhee's case, but a change from the usual presser.

Same conversation any time a new manager is mentioned. Same result any time we hire a new manager - nobody that was mention in above conversation.

I read somewhere that Bohemians might not be able to play their quarter final until early 2019, so even if we win ours, Turnbull could establish himself as a first team regular before the next tie.

Robinson doesn't like us playing passes.

Exactly. And to be fair, it's pretty standard for most clubs. The number of youngsters who play well in the youth teams but fail to make the grade at senior level s very high. For example, we have the team captain from Manchester Utd's academy sitting on the bench most weeks.

Main has been rank rotten all season. He hides for portions of the games, his timing of jumps is miles off (just watch him), and he hits the easiest of chances into the crowd. He doesn't need a partner - he needs a run in the Reserves to get his confidence back. Johnson looks much more of a natural goal scorer than Main, and more likely to score at the moment - or at least more likely to score when we actually create chances. It's telling that Robinson has stopped quoting his favourite "crosses into the box" stat recently, because we are creating next to nothing.

Dunne is fine at left back if we decide to go that way.

I said at the time we shouldn't have signed Aldred. Great back up for Hartley, but didn't seem to be a good partner for the reasons you mentioned. I had hoped w'ed either give Maguire (or Mbulu) a run or at least bring in someone with a bit of pace to replace Kipre. We have given away far too many soft goals this season and don't look like scoring many - especially when Main is playing. Defending and scoring - two fundamental parts of the game.

Don't want to keep banging on about a particular player, but Main needs to be benched for a while. He hasn't looked confident since the League Cup groups and any chance he does get puts the fans in danger.

Be careful what you wish for. Dundee just tried that and their "new manager bounce" saw them hammered at Livi.

We're still useless in front of goal, unfortunately. 1 shot on target is never going to get it done.

Who saw that one coming?

Main misses again - Johnson would have scored that one (or at least have hit the target).

Not much. Stoppage for a bloody nose. St Johnstone parking the bus and relying on Watt for the counter.

Main contributed nothing against Livi. He hid for 90 minutes, so we didn't have an out ball and his timing of jumps was so poor he'd be back on the ground as the ball passed over him. So apart from doing nothing off the ball and nothing on the ball, aye - let's keep him in.

Is that a back 4? Or is ATS playing in midfield? Dunne, Hartley, Aldred, ATS might be OK. Wouldn't have Main near a starting position right now - he's miles off the pace.

I think a couple of factors were in play. First, we ended up with decent players, but that took a number of years to happen. There did seem to be quite a gap in quality between the SPL and the First Division in those days, and the team that won us promotion was a fair bit short of SPL standards. So you are probably correct that the league was also stronger in general. Secondly, the cup final win defintely helped erase a lot of the bad memories from earlier in McLean's Motherwell career. The first few years were definitely pretty poor. I remember those in particular as I was a student during the first half of McLean's tenure and bought a season ticket for the East Terrace with the proceeds from a summer job. The second half of McLean's tenure, I had moved down south for work, so didn't get to enjoy the improvements as much first hand - although I did, of course, make it home for the Cup Final.

Hope he didn't show his face at the Cup Final.