joewarkfanclub

Are folks really judging Hammell on todays performance? What choices did he have? What options did he have from the bench? Personally I think we have shown enough so far to suggest we will be fine. January will be important as today has shown how light we are up front when we have a few injuries. I like how he has us playing and Im willing to give him time to get it right. We are mid table right now after a tough run of fixtures. Lets see where we are in January after half the calendar and with Hammell having had the chance to try and get a few more in. As much as I wasnt getting carried away after Ross County, Im not gonna get suicidal after defeats feom Celtic and Rangers.

Sean Goss by a country mile. The only one of our players who retained any sort of composure on the ball. Fast becoming our most important player.

Was surprised by the starting line up today. Unless I missed it, Hammell didnt give away anything about how many players we would be missing. I also missed the start of the game so didnt see the list of available subs until halftime. Given the dearth of available forwards Hammell didnt really have any options in selection in the forward areas. For a club like ours to be missing Shields, Efford, Spittal and Moult at the same time really does leace us down to the bare bones and filling the bench with youth players. With that in mind it was always going to be difficult even against what was a poor Rangers side. I thought our workrate and shape was good in the first half and we had good territorial position at times, however, our quality in possession of the ball was very poor and we never really laid a glove on them first half. The first goal was always going to be crucial and our defending for it was awful. Tierney and McKinstry bith had chances to take him down outside the box and then Penney and Lamie contrive to show him the direct route to goal. Really poor stuff. The game felt over at that point and you could see the difference in body language from both sides as a result. Second goal again is poorly defended. Couldnt believe when we got back into the game with McKinstrys goal and really pleased for the boy. Had plenty of opportunities to put Rangers under pressure in the last 10 minutes, but again lack of quality in the important moments ensured the game fizzled out. Very disappointing result even in light of the circumstances. Can only hope that our injuries are just niggles, otherwise we will be similarly exposed on Wednesday.

I certainly recall them having an "offside line" between the halfway line and the penalty box, but not sure how that was used.......

Good shout. Barisic also isnt great at tracking clever movement as he switches off all the time so hopefully we have a plan for that as well.....

Why wouldnt we play the 2 guys in our team most likely to retain possession of the football? The longer we have it, the less damage they can do with it. Formation wise, Im up for whatever works and with Shields out it makes sense to find a way of getting KVV and Moult into the same starting 11. They are both big game players with lots of experience. I also think they would compliment one another as KVV likes to come short, hold the ball up and play knock ons, and Moult likes to play on the shoulder and run in behind. For me its 4-2-3-1 Kelly McGinn Sol Lamie Penney Goss Slattery Efford KVV Spittal Moult There is always room in behind their fullbacks which we should be looking to exploit.

Maybe so. But the guy was brought in by a manager who knew him, proceeded to play him out of position, only for that manager to be sacked and for the new manager to come in with a view to playing an entirely different style with a focus on promoting youth. The fact that he hasnt exactly shone in the first team maybe isnt that surprising. Maybe a few reserve games will do him good. I wouldnt be letting him hit free kicks off the bench right now, but thats a different argument.

If it is only used to correct "clear and obvious" errors, then I think we should be ok. If we start measuring offside decisions by the bawhair and penalties by interperetaion, then it could quickly turn into a farce. Hopefully it will enhance the game. Fingers crossed.

He also scored the second goal......

Well done Motherwell FC. More than a club......

Not really sure what you are on about. Cadden was going to sign for Oxford who were due us a compensation fee. He then signed for an MLS club who werent part of that process who immediately loaned him out to Oxford. Oxford and the MLS club were owned by the same individual. No one is saying Cadden wasnt a good player for Motherwell, or that he didnt make a valuable contribution to the club, in fact quite the opposite. But Motherwell were pivotal in his development and should have been rewarded for that. Its totally up to him how he wanted to leave the club and be remembered. But if thats the path you choose its guaranteed to make you unpopular. Fans dont forget these things.

I dont recall reading anything about us getting paid before he signed for Hibs, but regardless, it still doesnt make up for the conduct. I dont doubt for one minute that it was more lilely to be Caddens agent and the clubs that came up with the wheeze, but the player could have easily instructed them to play fair by the club. Its not as if it was a ransom they were being asked to pay. Unfortunately for Mr Cadden, he will never again be revered at Fir Park in the way that Turnbull and Campbell are. Motherwell FC were a huge part of his development as a young player and, in those circumstances, there is a way to conduct yourself when you leave. He failed to do the right thing.

I think you CAN point these things out. You just cant call him a cheat. I back Goodwin 100% for doing so ( although given his playing career he has a bit of a cheek) but he should have been smarter with the language he used. If he had said that Porteous "influenced the referees decision using the dark arts of the game" he would probably have got away with it. But everyone would have known exactly what he meant.......

Precisely why it was my highlight of the match!

Some good defensive performances yesterday. Thought McGinn was solid and Lamie and Sol look like they are starting to form a good partnership at the back. However, Ive gone for Penney again. Another solid showing capped by taking the utter piss in the 2nd half out of Cadden who had to pay him a tenner to get back in. Highlight of the match for me! PS another shout out for Efford who continues to impress going forward

Tight game yesterday and it felt like the big moments all went Hibs way. Didnt think we played particularly well first half but even so we were far from outplayed. A mixture of poor decision making from Hibs and very good defending from us kept us in it to half time. I thought the takle on Spittal which caused his injury was a shocker and certainly felt it merited a yellow at the time. Having seen it back on the highlights there is a case for a red card. Second half I felt we started brighter and with more purpose but the red card scuppered any chance we had of gaining any superiority. Re Sheilds red. Porteous goes down like a bag of spuds, but he would have been clean through on goal so no complaints there. Personally, I would have let him go and trusted Kelly 1 v 1. Felt we defended really well with 10 men and were always in the game. The goal is unfortunate with the deflection, but you cant argue with the finish from Porteous. Its a great header. Thought we looked better after the substitutions and continued to cause problems right up until the end. Frustrated to leave with nothing, but pleased that despite a poor first half and playing for so long with 10 men, we remained competitive.

I fancy quite a decent away support will be through today. Not too far to go and off the back of a good result and a 2 week break for most. Hopefully we put in a good performance, score a few goals and come away with a positve result. We need to keep the "feelgood" factor going into this next run of fixtures.

Apparently there are lots of roadworks through town so I plan to drive all the way around the city bypass and come in the back way and park at Meadowbank Shopping Centre......

I agree that it is going to be difficult for them to compete at Champions League level, but Rangers showed last year they can absolutely compete at Europa League level. Their big problem is that they sold their 2 best players close season in Bassey and Aribo and despite the rather large transfer fees and Europa League money, didnt replace them with players of anywhere near the same quality. Add in that the directors were probably looking to recover some of their soft loans and its not hard to see why they have gone backwards. I think Celtic are a different matter. They seem to have recruited well and should have been in a position to compete better in the Champions League, however, they have picked up injuries to key players which has prevented them from doing so. Im thinking Starfeld, Carter Vickers and now McGregor. Its going to be tough for them now and Europa League is probably best they can hope for. Given the number of games both have played in Europe over the past few seasons, Im not sure exposure to more competitive football is the biggest issue for them. If it was of course, both could help to create a more competitive environment in their domestic league by agreeing to a fairer share of the wealth in our game. But thats a whole different argument and one they would never agree to. For me the problem they have is mostly financial. Scotland doesnt have a good enough tv contract to generate the revenue they would need to attract the level of player necessary to compete at Champions League level, which is why the big 5 leagues dominate proceedings the way that they do.

Shame the trains are on strike as I like a wee away day in Edinburgh. However, after last night and given how shit the weather looks all weekend, I may still drive through for this one. Not something I would have said under Alexander. The confidence should be high in the squad now after seeing some tangible results for all the hard work they have put in and we have yet to see McKinstry and Moult up to speed. But when they and Tierney are your options from the bench, there is a lot to be happy about. Hopefully we have a full squad to choose from and we can go give another good account of ourselves. Keep wee Boyle quiet and we have a chance.

I dont think they were in the main stand though. They were in the very corner of the away stand behind the goal. The worst possible view. The main stand would actually be better. Likewise when we have put fans in the POD. I get stewarding heating costs etc, but if the stand is already open, what does it matter if they are sat in one section in the corner or one section behind the goal? If you are gonna give fans a poorer experience, at least drop the price to reflect that.

That doesnt really justify it though does it? Not as if they would be coming into contact with any of the home fans. They could have cordoned off half the stand from the goals to the corner and achieved the same objective with the same numbers of stewards. That would have allowed fans to at least get a half decent view of the game. As it was fans have made that journey in bad weather, paid £28 to get a shite view of their team. What happened to football being "entertainment"?

Great to have Slattery back. Really showed his worth and what a great partnership he and Goss are in midfield.

Lots of worthy candidates tonight. Efford, KVV and Goss were all excellent. For me Slattery was my MOTM. Given the couple of weeks he has had, he came back in, showed why he is our best midfielder and capped it all with a great goal. Well done Slatts!

Great result. First half performance was solid, but unspectacular. I thought we were marginally the better team but there wasnt much in it. 2nd half we just took control of the game and thoroughly deserved the margin of victory. Lovely hat trick from KVV and King Louis deprived once more! Hopefully when his goal comes it will be meaningful! Well done Stevie Hammell. Your team is worth following.