pingu

Key for me is to try something completely alien to McCall and pack the midfield. Hopefully be able to stick with our first choice back 4, stick carswell and lasley directly in front of them as rigid defensive midfielders protecting the back 4. Stick law marginally in front of those 2 as the creative outlet. We need to look at something a wee bit different up front too. Stick in ojamaa from the right, higdon up front and higginbotham on the left but constantly switch the wide two round and pop up in the areas between their defence and midfield. That means no place for humphrey because I think izaguirre is too good to fall for the knock it and run approach and Humphrey would become ineffective. I think he would be a good option from the bench though. We need a bit of a shift here and that's why I went for the two to support higdon. I don't think this is a game for a half-fit faddy to start. Essentially im going for a 4-2-1-2-1 formation, keeping it tight and using the mobility of ojamma and Higginbotham and creativity of law to break forward. Without the ball this should turn into a 4-5-1. this approach might stifle creativity slightly but its a fairly similar way to how Dundee united played against us last week and it worked very well. Last time I posted tactical suggestions before the game we lined up exactly as I suggested, more than likely by sheer coincidence, we got beat! I really think though if we are to get something against Celtic then this is the ideal approach to take!

Because we are that fucked we are essentially sitting top of a very close 10/11 team contest? Right.

Yes getting beat is getting beat, but there are different ways of getting beat, or winning for that matter. A lot of it is to do with a little thing in football called goal difference. Can be quite important, ask Alex Ferguson. If the world was set to your logic then it doesn't matter how the 3 possible outcomes of a match are reached. So we might just be as well not going and sitting in to play football manager instead. Maybe if that happened you would give us all peace from the ill informed nonsense you sprout

well you might find ojamma joint top of the spl assist table alongside Aaron Doran. No Gary glen in sight. Not every player in a team has to bring goals you know.

I'll stick a few points down in no particular order - GMS should have been brought down on the halfway line. Was it Law? I actually thought it was Higginbotham but I didn't get the best view. We are constantly too nice as a team. - Dundee Utd played a perfect game tactically and I was very impressed by them. They had a makeshift defence but well very well organised, kept shape and their front 3 are very very good. They doubled up on Humphrey (surely that must be a given, he ran riot when ICT chose not to), they sat deep, put the tackles in and looked comfortable in possession. Like McCall said on the radio, no shame in losing to them - they are a good team. - I was one of the faddy pessimists, and I was a Higginbotham pessimist too. While they are both good players, and now faddy is actually here it is exciting as fuck, I feel that we are overstocked at one end and not well stocked enough at the other. Offensively you now have plenty of options - what other options have we got at the back? Not convinced ZFA isna defender really, so that leaves one out and out defender in Cummins as fit back up, who is young and mistake prone. Ramsden is injury prone. I appreciate we are still in 2nd but all season we have struggled to keep goals out. Why have we not brought anyone in? - what it it about Ramsden? Is it me or does he feel like a player on loan to us? People call him a bombscare but is he that bad? Same with Hutchinson who apart from two misplaced passes had a pretty decent game. The weaknesses this season have mainly come from the flanks. - the defence isn't good enough to play in front of a one man midfield in Carswell or lasley. Against a good enough team this leaves you woefully exposed like tonight - Hopefully faddy or Higginbotham take the free kicks and corners off hateley

you don't really know too much about football do you? What did Randolph do that let the team down? Did his alleged flapping lead to goals? No. Did his good saves and awareness save us from getting beat 4-0? Yes. Simples

How many assists goes Gary Glen have?

agreed apart from the last bit. Lasley will come straight back in and Cardwell will eventually end up at Partick thistle. I hope not though.

Higdons second was an absolute peach, sweet volley from outside the box Law MoTM with a shout out to Carswell who was very good also. I think the guy has a good future at motherwell, and was a very good foil for law. Seemed to bring more balance to the team.

Ref got both straight reds spot on. Two ridiculous, petulant, dangerous challenges.

What a dick

His imagination

for those of us not up on our technology business history, care to explain?

As much as I like the big man that would be good business if true

reverting back to the original post, there were at least 5 options open tatically after Murphy goes. I would go for Option A although I have always been a fan of a 4-3-3 and Cardwell has shown enough to me.to suggest he merits a run in the team. However, take Law out of the equation and to be honest I am more worried than losing Murphy. Murphy has replacements within the squad, Law does not...at least Carswell and Hetherington do not appear to be the same type of player

source?

Granted its a little predictable at times but that second paragraph is nonsense. He won just about every corner we had and put in several great balls. Not his fault we are terrible at corners or players don't gamble and make the run across the 6 yard box.

Humphrey for me, a constant threat and the source of almost all our corners as well as setting up the first. If we could only take advantage of corner situations...! Might be a good time halfway through the season for the admins to release the current MoM standings?

interesting that a loan is mentioned. I would be quite disappointed with that to be honest despite our small squad. Scottish football is in a state where the more time and investment you put into young players then the more reward you should ultimately reap. Also, bob McHugh at left mid?! Really?! If youre bringing him in then how do you line up the team?

I think its safe to say that was Murphys last game for Motherwell judging by his farewell waves etc. Question is, how do we line up post-Murphy? What would you like to see and what do you think McCall will actually do? assume that no one else leaves and Murphy is the one player McCall has mentioned. Quite a few options for me.. A - Bring in ZFA in front of Hammell and keep everything the same, having Humphrey and ZFA giving width. Pros - offers natural left footed width. Cons - still have the same lack of shielding for the defence B - play 3 at the back (if fit!) with ZFA and Hateley wingbacks and a midfield 3 of law, lasley and AN Other (who?) with 2 up front. Pros - worked against Aberdeen. Cons - assumes Hammell at left centre back, teams can expose the lack of height down the left. No room for Humphrey? C - bring Omar in and see what he can do. Pros - looked lively against St Mirren and some might say hasn't had a decent chance. Cons - unpopular, short termist and not providing development for ZFA D - play a 4-3-3 with Carswell in a holding role with law and lasley, and an attacking 3 of Humphrey, Higdon and Ojamaa. pros - might give more balance whilst retaining width. Cons - is Carswell a holding midfielder? Woupd Higdon be isolated? E - stick Law back out wide to link up with Hammell, and play Carswell or Hetherington from the start in a 2 man centre mid pair with Lasley. Pros - law is more then capable out left. Cons - he is also very capable in the middle and maybe can be more creative. Would a young midfielder and lasley in the middle be better than we currently have?

To be honest it did seem like trying to shoehorn the best/favourite 11 into a formation, much like I think has been done all season. however, credit due for changing it. Its pretty bold to go for a 3-2-5. You might ask, legitimately, why it gets to that stage and that for me is a lack ofna holding midfielder and an inexperienced and underperforming defence. McCall does have a Plan B though. Need to assess plan A depending on who comes and goes in January

Few random thoughts on the way home.. Higdon had a great game and played the target man excellently, bringing players into play. Law is a fantastic footballer and makes everything good about us tick. MoM had to be Humphrey though who had mckeown and Dayton for breakfast lunch and dinner. I know its predictable and against a better team it doesn't work but Humphrey put in a fantastic shift and no wonder he was fucked at the end. What is worrying however is our lack of defence and especially with Hutchinson going off. Felt bad for Cummins being subbed off as the sub and if we hadn't equalised I think the knives would have been back out for McCall. As an attacking force we can be very good, but there is very little defensive cover and experience, and on the pitch lasley and law have to effectively act as a 2 man midfield, exposing the defence and pretty much accounting for most goals we lose

Im going for a 3-1 win.

Best wishes to all on this thread. On the broad subject, there is an excellent article in todays Record from Tam Cowan. Sydney, if youre reading this then great article, cheers.

I was in the same area and my initial reaction was that it was lucky to be only yellow. On the fans thing I think there are some amount of greetin faced pricks in the east who will go absolutely bat shit mental if a 50 50 throw in call isn't given the way they want. I would hazard a guess that a sizeable proportion know fuck all about football. Anyway an excellent game of football which could have had about 10 goals in it. Not enough of that for the paying season ticket holder in my opinion, more against killie please!