Ya Bezzer!

138. How many more supporters there were at New Douglas Park than there were at Fir Park.

McDonald has something like 8 goals in 23 matches this season. He is also joint top on assists, 7. He runs himself into the ground and on days like yesterday is one of the few players that looks up for it. I find some of the views in this place truly baffling these days.

Johnston has pace and decent feet but I think you get very little end product out of him. He's got 2 goals in 35 league appearances, you need more than a goal every 18 games out of a forward player like that. His assist rate isn't good enough either, he has 3 assists this season from 20 starts, while Ainsworth has 7 assists from 12 starts. McDonald also has 7, Moult and Pearson 4. So he's our poorest performer out of all the forward going players by some distance yet seems to start week in, week out. I think he really needs to up his game when it comes to the final third. I would be inclined towards a midfield four of Pearson, Lasley, Gomis and Cadden at the moment.

I don't disagree with what you are saying but there are degrees. Fans are entitled to vocally display their displeasure but today we had supporters screaming personal abuse at players 7 minutes into the game. Last week we had the support singing "You don't know what you're doing" and mocking the manager minutes after we had equalized in a cup match. There is being passionate about the team and there is being a disruptive and negative influence on our results. Right now the poisonous negativity coming from our support is helping no one.

I don't want to get into the whole 'uber fan' debate either but that quote above, to me, totally misunderstands the whole concept of being a supporter. It's kinda ironic that these very people would probably be the first ones to wave banners about football supporters being seen as 'customers' when they behave like customers themselves.

I'd be inclined to simply match up against Dundee Utd and get each player told to win the battles. The players need to step up.

Maybe the fact that you can't recognise McGhee's factual record is telling of a lot of the opinion on here recently. Baraclough lost 4 league matches in August out of 5. McGhee has lost 4 league matches between now and November the 21st.

Ripley.

Lasley has missed 7 matches this season and we have lost 6 of them and the one we did win, we stole the points (1-0 away to Kilmarnock). Must be a coincidence that out of those 7, the 3 worst results of the season - defeat away to Morton, 0-6 v Hearts and then today, are included.

That remains to be seen. What is actually fact though is that Barraclough lost the same number of games in August as McGhee has in three months of league fixtures.

The last two league performances have been very poor but people need to remember where we were last season and even at the beginning of this season. People also need to remember we are 6 points from a Top 6 place and 12 points from bottom. The amount of negativity that comes from our fan base can't be dismissed as one of the big problems at the club. Within 7 minutes of start of the match, fans were screaming abuse at players and for the second week in a row I saw fans screaming at each other. Last week we lost to a world class goal in the last minute and people called the performance a "tactical disaster". This week, when 2 wins on the trot would see us shoot up the league, people are taking about "oblivion" and inevitable relegation. Sadly we live in an era where people are conditioned into extremes. Everything is the best ever or the worst ever when actually it's not. Our fans need to take a long step back and here and look at what is actually going on. Are we in a good position - no, was it a sore one today - yes, but there is a hell of a lot of football still to be played the reaction to what is in effect two poor performances, is totally over the top. This time last season we took 1 point from 24, just remember that before you lay the blame of the world at Mark McGhee.

The transfer policy since Les Hutchinson took over has been abysmal. I think Baraclough brought in 18 players.

Two league games?

Very, very, very poor performance but why McGhee is getting all the blame I can't understand. A lot of those players are dross under their third manager. I didn't agree with the line up or formation but the players just didn't look up for it, Kilmarnock wanted it more and that is inexcusable and not the fault of the manager. Take Lionel Ainsworth, whether you think the way he was singled out for the Partick Thistle result was right or wrong, he had a chance today to show what he could do and make sure he was in the team next week. Instead he was dire and got hooked at half time. And it wasn't only him, most of the team was in the same boat not just performance wise but attitude wise. Also, another abysmal performance where Lasley was missing. There are guys on here who could tell you his age down to the minutes and seconds but we are much worse without him. Much worse.

If this season has taught us anything it's that we should always play 4-4-2.

Well first of all add up the point tally of Inverness and ourselves over the last season and a half and you'll see that there is a bit of a gap there, they have proved themselves a better team than us. There cup anniversary is also a bit smaller than ours. Secondly think back just a few months ago to when they came to Fir Park and beat us fairly easily. Whatever you think of McGhee, and unlike most or any fans, I'd beat he poured over that match and came to some conclusions to give us a better chance of winning the match. Will anyone deny that we were more likely to win, based on the performance, on Saturday than during the previous defeat? As I've said I thought we were marginally the better team, a big improvement on the previous match. It's not a 'tactical disaster' if you'd still have been in the cup if the ref had blown a minute earlier or if you are eliminated by a shot that the lad Roberts will probably never replicate in his career. That's nothing to do with tactics.

Gomis, although I though he tired in the second half.

Just for the record I would start every game with McDonald and Moult up front but that's not what I'm talking about. If Motherwell fans continue to behave like they did today no manager worth his salt will want to touch this job. It will become a poisonous chalice. Instead of supporting the team today when we equalised, all we got was jeering, ironic applause, "you don't know what you're doing" sung from the stand, boos, verbal abuse of the manager etc, etc. It's pathetic, over the top, completely out of order and self defeating. It was 1-1 in a game we were competitive in! Why? Because the manager didn't put on a player who, incidentally, later cost us the match. Or was it about something else, eh? Cause I doubt such a reaction has come about due to his won 4, lost 5, in the league or the fact that he's improved the standard of play immeasurable since coming in. The tactics and formation did not lose us the match today, any reasonable person can see that because its as clear as day, or it should be to anyone not having an apoplectic fit because we got put out the cup for the 24th year in a row. We lost because Law and Moult failed in basic footballing tasks and that is beyond the powers of the manager. Oh and I couldn't care less how many people 'seem to agree'. A thousand people who are wrong are still wrong.

I thought we were marginally the better team today. Certainly wasn't much in it. Except for a worldie 25 yarder of course. McDonald's header goes in instead of hitting the bar and that last minute shot sails over the bar and we would have been through. We are losing by the thinnest of margins right now and we've not had any luck at all. The reaction during the game, to the defeat and to the manager is completely ridiculous. What do people really expect McGhee to do? He's taken over a poor team and his predecessor spent all the money in catastrophically bad summer transfer deals. This season is all about incremental improvements and staying out of the relegation places. The team HAS improved, we are going through a bad spell results wise, but before that there was a good spell and with the exception of Hearts I've yet to see a team out perform us on the day. A few weeks ago Motherwell won at Celtic Park now there are McGhee must go threads. We didn't lose to Albion Rovers today, we didn't lose to a part time Icelandic team squandering a 2 goal lead and we didn't get beaten 5-0 of Accies. We lost narrowly against a team that is basically better than ours. Some people need to take a good hard look at themselves and grow up.

If we are above 2nd bottom in the league, we are.

Has it gone over everyone's head that we played one up front every week until McGhee came in?

What has 15 minutes before he came on got to do with the moment when the winning goal was scored? Also 15 minutes before Moult came on, we were pressing Inverness back and eventually equalised. Inverness were no threat at that point in the game. Taking off Lasley was McGhee's big mistake today.

I know exactly how this thread is going to go now. 1) We were still in the cup when Louis Moult came on the field 2) We didn't improve any when he came on 3) The 90th minute goal was due to Moult not putting a challenge in on the guy that scored and then turning his back on him and jogged up the park while his man blasted in the top corner. The fans got what they wanted today and it blew up in their face, but, hey, let's blame McGhee anyway. Our fans were an absolute disgrace today, screaming, yelling, booing a manager when his team is sitting at 1-1 with half an hour to go. We are going through a period right now where we are having no luck whatsoever, and how do the fans react - like they did today. This rabid dog stuff is an absolute embarrassment.

Gomis can surely play the Grimshaw role.

I like Ainsworth overall but he's been rotten this season which is why he's not in the team while someone like Johnson, not exactly a model of consistency himself, plays ever week. Ainsworth has the talent to play at a higher level than us but basically he needs to pull the finger out because he's not worth the money we spend on him right now. If there are harsh words in the dressing room, fine, as long as they are honest ones. Would love him to get back to form, we need the goals he scored in previous seasons for a start.