Ya Bezzer!

Cummins is just back from Ayr Utd is he not? If Ojamaa can only play for us or Legia then surely the same applies to Cummins, he can only play for Ayr Utd or Motherwell. I don't think O'Brien is earth shattering by any means but unlike you I don't have confidence in Ramsden, Kerr or Reid to play at centre back. I would bring O'Brien back.

Also we only have a 24 man squad as it is, with something like 15 out of contract players. Even if we paid a quarter of them off that would cost a fair bit of money and we'd have to bring in replacements which would be a further cost.

Honestly I'd be surprised if we have anyone comes in other than O'Brien/Ojamaa extending their loans or replacements if they don't. Not one of the players that are out of the picture that are going to go on to a better club or contract so they will sit tight and pick up the last 6 months of their contract here. The ones that might do and we want to keep, will hold tight until the summer looking for a better deal as out of contract players. To be honest, I don't think we should be throwing money at the squad anyway, as far as I'm concerned we have more than enough already to survive in the league and shouldn't even be in this position. Getting the team to perform to previous standards will add much more than bringing in January window players who will more than likely not have been playing this season either having been sidelined by their clubs or being free agents.

Walk and burn off some of that Christmas excess! That's what I'm doing.

Or use deflated rugby balls to master the 'bounce'.

Good examples in McCulloch and McDonald although I think McCulloch is the better one in regard to Erwin. I remember writing somewhere, perhaps here if it existed back then, that McDonald was a very good player but he'd never score goals! As regards Ojamaa, I thought he was poor yesterday and I wouldn't let 6 or 7 minutes of highlights change that opinion. Of course he has something extra in him that most of the rest don't have and that will show but he needs to work harder and have a better attitude than he did yesterday. I don't know if he had an off day as players do or if he was upset at playing on the left but if it was the latter then the manager has to have a word with him because I think he should be playing there regularly for the benefit of the team. He's quick, has skill and has a left foot so for me its a no brainer that he plays wide left with our lack of options in the squad. Ojamaa - Vigurs - Ainsworth behind Sutton is surely our most effective attacking line up. There's no reason that I can see why Ojamaa can't do what Jamie Murphy used to do on the right wing, play wide but come inside and get 10 goals a season.

I don't think anyone is saying any more than he will need to improve in front of goal if he wants to make it as a striker. No one is running him out of town on a rail. The last player I remember being in a similar position to Erwin today was McFadden against Celtic and he missed too. It happens but when you are trying to make your name as a young striker then I think you need to be more composed than Erwin has been so far. I'm sure Erwin will be sitting at home tonight kicking himself regardless of any supporter chat because he'll know as well as anyone.

Didn't exactly set the heather on fire at QoS. In fact they have a young striker, Gavin Reilly, coming through who they clearly though were better than our guy. I've always felt a bit sorry for McHugh because he never really got a chance but all that time on the sidelines has not been good for his career in terms of progressing as a footballer.

When a striker misses a glaring chance it's going to be commented on so if Erwin has a future in the game he better get used to it because football isn't a game for the psychologically weak, especially the striker position where it is all about goals. He also missed a sitter against Celtic and has made a fool of himself diving around in the box so he needs to pull his socks up and try and live up to his potential. I'm all for youngsters getting their chance but when you are in with the big boys you have to take it on the chin just like everyone else. Also we weren't poor for the previous 75 minutes, we played very well for 45 of them.

A few candidates. Ainsworth was good on the ball but we didn't get it to him enough in the second half. Hammell came back and did well. I thought O'Brien had a pretty good match and made some important challenges. However I'd give it to Lasley. Excellent first half, back to his best, second half mucked in with everyone else.

We only lost on penalties last time.

A win would put us right back in there with Partick, Dundee and Kilmarnock. St. Mirren play Kilmarnock so someone, or both, drop points in that one and Partick have Celtic. Ross County have Inverness and Dundee have Dundee Utd. Next week is a big opportunity for us.

We were definitely pressing the opposition much higher up the pitch which was pretty successful for us. Contrast with the Celtic match where time and time again we allowed Ambrose and van Dijk to bring the ball out from the back. Unfortunately in the second half we just stopped doing that. I'm sure the manager will have pointed that out. Law has been a lot better in recent matches but for me he lacks the level of technique you need to play at a higher level. Erwin has been poor lately. With striker sometimes they just need a goal and they find their confidence again but he's not going to get many better chances than he had today.

Partick fans on P&B were complaining because he didn't start today.

I think it's Higginbotham we hate. On the second half, we've hardly had any possession but at the end of the day its two clean sheets and hardly any dangerous moments. Not brilliant football by any means but right now we need points and that's what we've got.

Every points a prisoner for us this season. Wouldn't be too disappointed with a point because Thistle are no push overs, especially on recent form. Another win would be great. What we don't want to do is lose this because a 10 point gap* is going to take a pretty major change in form, one way or the other, to claw back. *effectively with goal difference.

We filled the Spice of Life stand last time for a midweek League Cup tie so I wouldn't risk it. I reckon we will sell out the tickets.

I think this is pretty much the sensible thing to do here. Should benefit all parties.

Everybody played everywhere under Gannon. He did play in front of the defence and played very well there but he also played at right back under Gannon. In fact I'm pretty sure his debut was at right back after Steven Saunders got injured close to kick off.

Getting to the byline! It frustrates the life out of me when players, wingers even, cross the ball from the 18 - 20 yards out. I'm absolutely certain we could get at least 10 extra goals a season if the manager banned crosses from these areas and made the players take another couple of strides down the park. When you hit a cross as an attacker you need to hit it away from the defenders not straight into them. It's so easy for them to defend when you hit a straight ball into the box. Get to the byline! It's not just a Motherwell thing either, it's across the game. People keep going on about the technical standard being higher than ever but for me the standard of crossing is much, much poorer. The other thing we should do is ban kick outs from the goalkeeper. Everything should get played out from the back. Two simple things that would make us a hell of a lot better than we have been this season.

Goal difference rather than goals for. They have score 11 more and conceded 7 less. Also noticed that Partick have only conceded more than 1 goal once in the last 9 matches so they are obviously pretty tight at the back.

Think it's 1 defeat in 7 for Partick, pretty good going considering they don't have many 'star' players, it's a journey man squad really. They are also 18 goals better off than us this season. Another 6 pointer for us. A Partick win would put them 9 points clear of us and that would isolate us when I think we should be trying to pull away from the bottom spots. Just look at St. Johnstone, a couple of weeks ago they looked in trouble, now they are Top 6 with a gap. That's what a good run of 5 or 6 games can do in this league. A win for us would put us in the nice position of having 3 wins and 1 draw from our last 6, with a narrow defeat against Celtic in there as well. Surely confidence would start to blossom again.

Didn't think anyone really stood out on performance and I can't give it to Josh Law because he was completely ineffective all first half. I'm giving it to Sutton for putting the ball in the net. Might be a very important goal come May.

On the whole John Sutton debate it's worth noting John Sutton is 2 goals away from breaking Tommy Coyne's 59 league goals in the top flight record and becoming our 2nd highest scorer since our promotion back in the mid eighties. Stevie Kirk is our top league scorer in that time with 63 goals, so Sutton needs another 6 league goals this season to break a long standing record. Certainly doable.

Hateley was up and down and he finished his career at Motherwell as the poorest first pick player in a very good team. How do you judge someone in those circumstances? Perhaps people were harsh to judge him against other very good players. Perhaps it was right to pinpoint the weakest area of the side that could be improved. A difficult one but I'm sure a problem we would all like to have had this season. Sutton, I mentioned in my 'match report'. I think most of what you said is true but I still have concerns about our mobility up front and you have to remember that he did go 8 matches without a goal. Sutton is a good striker if we are creating lots of chances but we haven't been doing that this season so, harsh as it may seem, it's easier to replace one player than alter the whole style of the team. However he has two goals in two weeks now and that with his past record should see people get off his back a bit. Hopefully things turn round now across the board, John Sutton included.