Ya Bezzer!

Damn. Was hoping there wouldn't be. That's me wasting my afternoon then!

I've said it before but this idea that we can take players from the lower English leagues and sell them back I just don't believe in. We couldn't sell Darren Randolph, what chance do we have of selling Marvin Johnson, who's not even worth a starting XI this season? If we sell anyone in this squad it will be Dom Thomas. Clubs will buy potential but they aren't going to spend money on players that are in their early 20s, are so so bottom half of the English leagues quality and can be picked up at the end of a contract for nothing. Experience shows that our best bet of selling players on is through our youth development, then it's from buying international players from smaller nations and then selling them on, bringing up players from England has been a total failure as a money making venture. Out of all the players we've brought up from England over the last 10 years or so is Chris Porter the only one we sold back?

The Tommy McLean era was completely different from now. The city clubs dominated the league and provincial clubs hardly got a look in. It was an achievment to keep Motherwell in the Premier League at that time and remember we had been a yo-yo club up until then. Now we are an established Premier level club, playing in a larger league, where the many of the city clubs aren't even in the top league or have lost their dominance. As for now Baraclough has signed or re-signed the vast majority of our squad. He's getting close to a year in the job, had a pre season and a couple of transfer windows and we should be seeing something more than he have been. I'm not even looking for a Top Six position I just want to see something on a Saturday that points to us going in the right direction. I'm not seeing it.

McCall, to be fair to him, had to work in very limited circumstances. Baraclough has been given everything he could possibly want and ultimately the costs of all that will be passed on to you and me. This season is not last season and should not be compared. There has to be a different set of standards and right now those aren't being met.

Away to Dundee and.....

Luke Watt is clearly out the picture. Has had less game time this season than any player that hasn't been loaned out. Not a single minute of league football and only came on as a sub in extra time in the league cup. And Josh Law is the competition for right back. Yeah, don't hold your breath waiting for Luke Watt coming into the team.

I'm absolutely serious about this - he couldn't be any worse than Jake Taylor in midfield.

Samson is potentially the best goalkeeper at the club but it's also true he had a poor season last season and Kilmarnock fans were glad to see him move on and they have a better goalkeeper now (MacDonald) who was free during the summer and surely someone we could have brought to Fir Park if we'd been interested. As for the 'wisdom' of bringing in a third senior goalkeeper, unless there is something we don't know about, I don't see how it can be justified. I suspect Baraclough just doesn't see Twardzik as competition to Ripley, as he's said he wants competition in every area.

Problems are far greater than switching a few players around. Yesterday was a rival for any of the mind numbingly bad football we were producing in the latter days of McCall. How much money spent since then? How many players come and gone? How many staff brought in? All for what we saw yesterday? It used to be in the old days the fans bayed for the managers head both from the terraces and on occasion in front of the main stand. Nowadays they just stop coming to the matches, so the attendance yesterday kinda neatly sums up where we are.

I don't think many people are looking for that. Personally, I'd like us to go out on to the pitch and look like we have some kind of game plan that we are at least working towards. There is a total absence of game plan, tactics, instruction. What happens is the goalkeeper boots the ball 80 yards down the pitch, opposition defenders or their goalkeeper take possession and then it's repeat, repeat, repeat. You don't have to be some managerial genius to say to the players - "OK the goalkeeper rolls it out every time, make yourself available. If you don't make yourself available, you don't fit into the style of football I want to play and you won't be in the side." Likewise you don't have to be managerial genius to instruct players to take certain positions or make certain movements at a throw in. These absolutely basics elements of football are happening week after week after week and nothing happens to improve the situation. In both these situations we give away possession about 80% of the time.

0-0 last game of the season v Partick, I think.

What the hell do we do all week? Zero coaching in evidence. Even basic things aren't being remedied week after week. It's one thing to try and fail but I don't see any game plan whatsoever. There is nothing there.

Moult, even without the goal.

Don't think I've ever been so apathetic to a last gasp equalizer. I thought we were absolutely atrocious. The standard of play today was no where near acceptable and resembled pub level football at times. Ross County thought they could coast to a victory and must be absolutely kicking themselves not to have won because I have no doubts they had a goal or two more in them if they hadn't gone into a 2nd half torpor. We have no system, no style of play, no attacking instinct, no energy, no confidence. We look like a team where no one knows what they are doing. There is no cohesiveness, no team spirit, no unifying strategy, we look like 11 players who don't know each other or what their manager wants them to do. There's no skill on display, no excitement, no chances created, no pace, no runs, no killer passes, not even basic passes. We can't defend, we can't attack, our midfield is posted missing.... And I've said it after every match I've seen this season - too many long balls, no one looking for touches from throw ins. But then nothing ever chances, there is no development, no improvement, not even a glimpse of anything better on the horizon. Today was just utterly, utterly rotten stuff. Pure guff. Garbage. Sub 4,000 attendance today and it might well be sub 3,000 soon if that's what we have to watch.

We keep a clean sheet and Kennedy is the stand out player and he gets dropped? Likewise Taylor plays in three successive loses, Leitch comes in, we win, and then Taylor comes back in. Taylor needs to justify his selection today.

With the standard of ref you'd probably get away with it. Back 3 is a bad idea. Every pro defender says its harder to defend with 3 at the back than 2. Since we can't defend with 2, then I don't fancy our chances if we complicate it. 3 at the back is like zonal marking, if you don't do it properly everyone gets in a muddle and the opposition scores. And I don't think we have a sweeper type player.

When I watched players warming up and going through their pre match I always got the impression that Adam Cummins didn't have a professional attitude to it. Regardless of his ability, I don't think he had a pro footballers mentality.

On the face of it Ross County have been a better team than us for a year or so, have decent form going into this match and have built up a decent record against us in recent matches. We should be looking to win our home games but I think a point from this one wouldn't be too bad a result. Honestly I'd say that I'd expect us to toil in this one if it wasn't for the wildcard element of Liam Grimshaw. It remains unknown how he'll influence the play so it will be interesting to see how he does. Looked tidy enough in the Lasley testimonial but you'd hope he'd push on and show more in a competitive match. I hope Kieran Kennedy and Dom Thomas keep their place from the last league match as I thought they were our two best players and we'll need to keep an eye on Liam Boyce. I like the look of this guy, little bit of Michael Higdon about him.

Given that we are only turning out just over 3,000 fans for league home games I thought the turn out was decent and reflected well on Lasley's standing with supporters. Say what you like about Clarkson but he put in our only decent cross of the match.....

I even said "probably" so I didn't state it as fact. Just my opinion based on a few general criteria. If you disagree fine but I'd like to see this team of players and while we are at it Davie Cooper's heading stats!

In terms of performance, consistency and length of service?

Great club servant. Probably our best post Admin player. Will be there tomorrow.

Ha ha. I did. It was more a reference to his accent.

If you concentrate fans in a smaller area rather than disperse them around a stadium you are likely to get more noise. Also I think there tends to be less families go to away matches and its more, let's say, the traditional football fan.

I have a feeling he'll be playing at right back. Lasley is a stick on, Pearson is on the mend and Bara has brought in Jake Taylor.