mfc88

Lets see how we get on tomorrow, but if the board and players think lasley is up to it then I'd be happy with that appointment. He is his own man and we shouldn't hold the fact he has been assistant to robbo against him. Robbo was assistant to mcghee and baraclough and that appointment turned out alright - and drastic changes were made once he took over. I know he had only been back a month or so under mcghee though. Las was a great captain for us and knows the club inside out.

A lapse cost us the goal but what cost us all 3 points was our failure to convert chances. We should have been out of sight long before injury time but when we don't take clear chances and end up protecting a 1 goal lead we're going to find ourselves in this position often. Lang squandered everything that came his way, could have had a hatrick and cant believe he didnt slip polwarth in, before missing the target entirely. Said I'd accept a 0-0 shitfest so looking at it objectively I'm happy, just disappointed in the nature of it. Favourite moment was seeing carson go mental at one of our midfielders - that type of character is what we've been missing from the starting 11 recently, someone who's standards drive up standards of the rest. Great to see him back. Jim mclean is before my era but always sad to hear of the passing of such characters from the game! RIP Jim!

It was a poor poor watch but a point against one of the top sides in the league is something to build on. More concerned about the results at this time than the performance . As they say - build from the back, and if we can keep things tight, we won't lose many games. Surely o'hara must stay there now. The midfield and attack are severely lacking in confidence though, with the exception of watt. I love Campbell but it was the quietest I've seen him in a long time. All in all, given recent form, I'll take it and will take the same again on boxing day if i'm honest - not pretty but something to build on and will let us go into the killie and accies games with a bit more belief.

On our radar and in our budget? Its going to be tough. Then again we plucked aldred from nowhere so what do I know. I'd rather not find out, put it that way. Unless we get offered silly money, I'd much rather we focus on strengthening rather than chasing our tails for a few quid. But i suspect at least gallagher will be away.

Yes. Very worried at the prospect of losing campbell and/or gallagher. Don't know how we'd replace either, nor manage without.

Yeah I think the loss of both tait and hartley was a mistake for this reason, even their influence in training and in the changing room will have a positive impact on the rest. That said think they'd both be in our starting 11 right now if fit.

In addition, it often feels like every season we sign players without much thought to how they are going to fit into any system. Seems like we sign and hope we can shape a team around whats there rather than targeting players to fit "our" system. A real bugbear of mine last few years. No doubt we've had successful signings in that time, but surely we can be more shrewd about how we go about things.

Not so sure - its a bit harsh blaming him for the first. Boyle was his man, but he went to put pressure on Nisbet (i think it was?) who looked like he was about to have a free header. 3rd goal, yeah, brutal but like you say game was done. Personally I believe there's a player in there. Have never been a fan of robbo's back 3 lineups, but I think its needed right now - O'hara, dec and mugabi.

Thought we played well first half and could have well been ahead at half time. Had that been the case i suspect a different outcome. However not excusing a completely inadequate performance in the second half. Pathetic, frankly. A few players need to take a good look at themselves.

Declan was immense. Amazing considering he has spent little over 2 years at the top level in Scotland and had their star man, a 20 odd million pound striker, in his pocket.... whilst on the softest yellow card ever. Stephen o donnell was also absolutely solid. His best performance for Scotland. Not a failure in the team tbf, but these are OUR boys, and two of the top performers for me. Hardly slept a wink, but still wide awake off the adrenaline of last night

Mcginley or watt for me, went for mcginley. Looking to be a good addition.

Great performance, after a month off wasn't expecting a 4-0! Probably watts best game this season and I thought Barry maguire did well - he just needs to do what he does a bit more assertively, hopefully comes with confidence and game time.

What constitutes close contact is probably subjective and a bit of a minefield. It is just a bit suspect that the two positive cases midweek only resulted in one additional precautionary isolation, yet the third guy that tested positive resulted in their remaining squad size reducing to 12. So taking out 10+ players or so? Doesn't sit right. There may well be an explanation but I doubt we'll get it either way.

Good one. What's a discussion forum for like? If you actually read any of my posts you'd see I'm not saying "no one need to isolate". Anyway, its an opinion. You don't need to get personal.

If one person is coming into close enough contact with 20 odd on a daily basis something is wrong. Clubs should be doing everything to mitigate the spread - avoiding indoor contact, distancing/ limiting numbers in the gym, training in smaller groups, blah blah blah. We don't know the full details of the situation, but 3 cases equalling a call off smells like shite to me tbh. It took 6 positive cases at killie to force the game off.

Exactly. If 3 positive cases is enough to require umpteen players go into isolation then the protocols in place at st mirren to prevent the spread of the virus and protect their staff are not sufficient, and they should be held accountable for that.

Yeah sounding dodgey if you ask me... If you assume an r-value of 2-3 (as it was at the start of the pandemic, before social distancing) then 3 cases should mean around an additional 6-9 players (9-12 total) need to isolate. 30 players listed on their website so should easily be able to get a squad of 13. Unless, as suggested, they are at it or have insufficient distancing processes internally. Not exactly leakproof theory there, but the killie game was going ahead with 3 +ve cases. Maybe I'm just gutted the game is off but pretty sure I smell shite...

I thought they were for the taking last night. Second half felt like a case of one team is going to get someone sent off and unfortunately it was us. Other than that I dont think we've a lot to be ashamed of, 3-0 doesn't paint a pretty picture, but that wasn't at all the picture for most of the game. Easy to forget the heat they were playing in too. Ref was very whistle happy which was annoying but consistent both ways tbf. However I thought their boy should have been off for his tackle on Watt early on. High, studs up, and through the back of watt to get nowhere near the ball. Had that not been so early on I suspect it might have been. But these things never go in our favour!

We must be due decent compensation for campbell? 500k minimum? No idea how this stuff is worked out, perhaps someone can enlighten me, but based on hastie/ erwin fees and the fact campbell has played more games, domestically and internationally. Factor in a couple league positions and a cup run he is absolutely worth holding out for the right price. So IMO we shouldnt be accepting anything less than 1.5-2M plus add ons for campbell. His influence on the team is absolutely worth that to us right now. Made up transfer scenarios aside, I cannot speak highly enough of this boy. His application and attitude is second to none and could have a very good career ahead of him.

Still a lot to learn then - there is no such thing as a normal start to the season for us!! Remember - the Motherwell rollercoaster is for life not just a season

This is a fair point and Barry maguire is a good example - he's 22 and been around the first team for 4 or 5 years. If he's not good enough (and I'm not saying that's the case), then the management should have been looking to move him on by now, for the sake of his own career, let alone the club. If he is good enough then he's waited long enough for a chance and now is it. As it happens I suspect Barry will start at the weekend and Crawford is brought in for back up to allow semple to stay out on loan and perhaps cornelius out on loan too - regular competitive games for half a season will do these lads more good than sitting on our bench.

A few freezes in the first half using player 1, but i changed to player 3 at half time and was perfect second half. No complaints from me. Always going to be teething problems - I'd say we should have been trialling the system more with a few friendlies so that these were ironed out for the league games though. A bit worrying that we couldn't see off livi at home on the footballing front though, ahead of a flying hibs team on sat.

I think the bbc commentators are at the game. For what its worth my stream has been fine, but no sound for the first half. Now got sound but 10 or so seconds behind. Would expect better going forwards, but tolerable.

I changed to player 3 for the second half and now have sound. Don't know if that's coincidental or not.

I was about to say the same thing about no sound yet. Glad its not just me. Players coming out though...