sinjy

Thank goodness the footballs back. Whoever thought that it was a good idea to have internationals seven weeks from the end of the season and cancel league football should be ball whipped. We were on a great run so heres hoping we have not lost momentum. Win on Saturday and we are almost in the top six. Oh and when is the manager of the month for March announced? Hopefully McGhee doesn't get it. We all know what happened the last time he won it.

Yes he's a pain in the arse at times. How many of us actually know the personality and character of our heroes? We might clap, cheer and hero worship certain players but in reality might not want to share a pint with them if we really knew them. How many of us who were doing a good job at our work and knew that there were others out there who would pay more and might employ us would let it be known that we would be interested in changing jobs? That's what he did when he as here before. I even thought that his post match interview today was a load of guff. He said we were second best and were at least a goal worse than Aberdeen in the first half. But he changed things at half time and we went on and won the game. I thought we were unlucky to be a goal down at half time and he was taking the credit for some magical managerial input that change the game. When in fact it was terrible defending from Aberdeen. Having said all that I was pleased to see him return to Fir Park. I thought we needed an experienced manager to manage McManus, Lasley, Hammell, Pearson and McDonald. He has sorted the team out found a winning formula and as someone else has said now that he is older and wiser he might not be so quick to look for a bigger job and with his Scotland gig might be more content with us. Also lots of fans seem to have forgotten how dignified he was during the Phil O'Donnell tragedy which he handled brilliantly. After the Kilmarnock game he was shite. After five wins out of six he is great. The truth is he is neither, He is our manager and every Well fan should get behind him and whatever team he sends out.

While McGhee has made some selection mistakes and strange tactical decisions I don't see the blame being laid at his door. Maybe he has swapped things around to try and get a formula that will work. We have virtually the same squad as finished 11th last season so it should be no surprise where we are. We have swapped one rookie keeper for another and have brought in a seventeen year old at centre half. Moult has replaced Erwin. Gomis has joined but is still to settle. Other than that it is the same group of players except that Hammell, Lasley Pearson McDonald and McManus are a year older. The recruitment in the summer was a disgrace. Four players that we signed then have been moved on with only Grimshaw making any impact. Kennedy, Fletcher and Chalmers are still here but have contributed very little. McGhee seems to have been told to reduce the wage bill so he could not bring in the two or three players we needed. Bringing in McFadden seemed desperation as he was done two seasons ago when we got rid. While McGhee makes all the positive noises about the squad I wonder if deep down he realises just how bad we are. On a side issue did anyone notice in his after match interview what looked like hearing aids in his ears?

Please please not Johnston at left back.

I don't really why people are surprised at our predicament. We have virtually the same squad/team as last season and look where they got us. Ripley for Long, Kennedy for Laing and Moult for Erwin are the only real changes. McManus, Hammell, Pearson, Lasley and McDonald are all a year older. Summer recruits Grimshaw, Taylor, Clarkson and Robinson moved on already. Something is very wrong at our club and I fear we will not survive if we get into the play off which on todays performance is the best we can hope for.

Just watched Gomis interview. He seems shocked that he has been let go by Hearts. Hopefully this fires him up and he feels he has a point to prove.

Dan was not rated by four managers. Brown and Hartley at Dundee did not play him. One of the first things Baraclough did was replace him. McGhee even signed a new back up in Samson. His time was clearly up. Good luck to him but he was not good enough for the SPL.

That's the point I was trying to make K McA

I don't think Reid will play for us again until February if he is still here. If he plays before then he will be playing for his second club and will not be available for loan or transfer until next season. I am sure we want him off the payroll this January

McGhee has always said he needs to assess the squad. Yesterday he played Chalmers I think for the first time. Now he knows about him. I also wonder if he was making a point to the money men at the club. He played Law in midfield where he is not very good. So now he can go to them and say look I need two midfielders because Law is no use there Cadden and Leitch are not ready and we could be in trouble again this season if we do not get people in.

I cant fathom McGhee's thinking today. It is not as if Chalmers is a star who has been injured and deserved to return immediately to the team as soon as he was fit. Yet McGhee makes two positional switches so that he can be brought back. Chalmers is a poorer left back than Hammell. Hammell is poorer than Law at right back and Law is a poor midfielder. If we do not have a centre midfielder who can come into the side in these circumstances then it is vital we get at least one and preferably two in during the window. Las is 35 and Pearson is injury prone. We cant expect them both to play well and fit for the next five months. I hope McGhee was playing it cool in his post match interview when he did not seem enthusiastic when he was asked about any new arrivals before the Ross County game.

100% agree with this,mio

I don't often vote but when a player has such an influence on a result he must be man of the match. McDonald, Hall, Pearson, McManus and Grimshaw were all excellent but the man who won the game was Ripley. His three saves were all different and came at crucial times just before our first goal, just before our second goal and early in the second half when they were coming at us. If either had gone in then the result of the game would have been different.

Watched McGhee's press conference. I thought he looked terrible, red eyed and knackered. He alluded to the treadmill he had been on during the last two weeks and his face showed it. So give the guy a break from all this talk of a day off on Wednesday when he should have been training the players. It seems they did a double session on Thursday which by all accounts seems to be what the players at Aberdeen rebelled against. They did not like his work ethic. Hopefully our lot buy into what he wants. All this negativity gets on my tits. He is our manager and the first time around he gave us some of the best football I have ever seen a Well team play. The second season was not great and yes he did seem to look for a better job on the back of that great season. But how many of us have sought out and left for a job that is better paid? Mourinho and Klupp are out of our reach so lets get behind McGhee.

It seems that Taylor played regularly for Reading up until Christmas last season. When Nigel Adkins was sacked and Steve Clark took over he did not feature and was sent out on loan. Adkins must have rated him and Adkins is a big mate of Barraclough. Conjecture but it seems to add up that Adkins recommended him.

Goodness, when did Ripley make a mistake? On this showing he has everything that Dan does not, presence and command of his box. Can you point out his errors I can't remember any? If you count going up for the corner then he was probably given permission by the coaching staff and you might as well go for it in injury time. Anyway I am still to be convinced that the second goal was not offside. If the goalie is up the park then you need two out field player to play people onside in the counter attack.

I was quite encouraged by todays performance. Thought the defence looked more solid and Laing had an excellent game. The weak link in the defence is Law. I'm not a great Lasley fan but he put himself about and made some great tackles but we need a creative spark in midfield. Leitch did OK but like Lasley he is not going to unlock a defence. I also thought Skippy was very poor. Is his lack of a preseason telling? I thought Fletcher showed some nice touches early on but when he faded from the game after 25 minutes so did we. They had obviously picked out Marvin as a threat and doubled up on him although he became more of a threat in the second half. But until we take our chances we are going to leave ourselves open to the type of defeat we had today. I thought Madden was terrible. Their first goal came from a very soft free kick. As for the second I was convinced it was offside. With no goalie there was only one defender when the United player played the first forward pass. Maybe the receiving player was in his own half or behind the ball when it was played but if not he is offside. If the officials missed this then it is very worrying if they do not know the rules. Onward and upward and lets hope we can burst Hearts bubble on Wednesday. Sportsound having orgasms about them on my way home from the game.

Very impressed with Craigan's interview. Could be a future manager.

Dan gives me the fear. He was third choice at Dundee and only got one game when their goalie was suspended He was not rated by two managers Hartley and Brown. If you watch the Bradford highlights he wad at fault for all three goals. Obviously the first, caught at his near post for the second and dragged so far across his goal at the third that the guy had a huge target to head into. I would like to see Dan out on loan and two new keepers brought in.

Keith was also a better outfield player than Woods. Played quite a few games outfield. I remember him playing right back at Ibrox against Morton in a league cup play off game which we won 1-0

Some of the comments on here amaze me. To pick out Straker for blame is bonkers. He is not great but did nothing wrong. How about pointing the finger at the untouchables. Lasley lost is man for the goals. Pearson totally anonymous till the last minute when he played Erwin in. McDonald did nothing and deserved to be subbed. Erwin clean through three times and missed. When the second goal went in we chucked it and that is the most worrying thing. McManus, Lasley, Pearson and McDonald should have shown some leadership and they were nowhere to be seen. Its the play offs now and our attitude gives me the fear.

I'm usually pretty positive but that performance tonight was typical of a team that will be relegated. We were pretty toothless in attack. Apart from the goal Langfield did not have a save. At the other end we gave away two cheap goals. When you give free headers at corners and have a complete cock up by the goalie for another you know you are in bother. No punch up front and a defence that gives away goals is typical of a team that will go down. Tonight is the first time I have felt we will not get out of it.

Looked Owers up on Wiki. He played at Notts County when Bara was there. He coached at Aldershot when Straker was there and at Plymouth when Thomas was there. It looks like he has had some influence already.

I have watched all of Baraclough's interviews on youtube. I worked for years in the public sector and he reminds me of lots of managers who came into work every day beautifully turned out with an expensive suit, coiffured hair and excellent manners. They talked a good game and told everyone about all their successes in previous jobs. After a few months you realised they were wankers who had talked their way up the greasy pole on the backs of hard working minions. I'm afraid when I saw Baraclough's first interview this is exactly what came into my head. However I was prepared to give him the benefit of time in the job. Yesterday I was convinced he was another corporate nonentity who talked a good game but is not up to the job. I would not condemn his signings just yet. Players need time to settle and adjust to their new surroundings. One of my favourite players of recent years was Steve Jennings. He hardly played during his first six months at the club but went on to be a fine player. Admittedly the left back looked terrible but the others need time. I watched Liverpool during the week and the commentator said that Liverpool had brought in lots of new players over the summer and it has been only since November that they have been playing well. Unfortunately we do not have three months to allow our new players to settle in. However The tactics yesterday were poor. When I heard the team I thought Moore would be played right up front beside Sutton. To play a young striker in midfield in what must have been his third or fourth start was nothing short of criminal. He brought in two wingers and to play Erwin on the wing was strange. There was no fight at all and sometimes when you lose 1-0the opposing goalie has had a great game but I do not remember one shot at goal during the game. I wonder if there is something fundamentally wrong. Do Lasley McManus Ramsden look at the players Baraclough has brought in at training and do they realise that they are not up to it and so they have become disillusioned with the whole set up? If that is the case we are doomed.The manager's credibility with the senior players will be nil and the new players will not settle. We need a win in our next two games preferably 4 points. If we don't then we need a rethink. Sorry for the rant. I don't even post on here very often but I am all over the place after yesterday. The first 45 against St Johnstone and the 90 minutes yesterday were among the worst I have seen in more than 50 years following the Well.

I've listened to Baraclough and his positive interview about how things have gone these last two weeks in training. I've read all the positive comments on here. There is a real sense of optimism surrounding the club and supporters. This game is becoming super important. A victory, confidence will be up and we will all feel that we can kick on and finish well clear of relegation. A defeat and morale in both the players and supporters will take a huge dent. Fingers crossed.