Ya Bezzer!

Too many mistakes from too many players today. Hammell was the best outfield player. Law did OK but only in spells. Randolph didn't let anyone down, had no chance with goals 2 or 3 and made a stunning save in the first half. Went for Hammell.

Tactically we got it all wrong. We should have been playing like Rangers did - on the counter attack. A draw is fine for us let us draw Rangers forward and expose themselves at the back. I thought we were so naive today falling for the same trick over and over. We need to be more much pragmatic in our aims. Let's be honest about this, virtually all those Old Firm wins were about defending like devils and taking the odd chance when it came. We can't go out and play that open against Rangers or Celtic because if you do, as admirably as it is to try and take the game to them, it's going to work once in a blue moon. There should have been five across the middle, full backs just sitting defending their areas. We didn't press, we didn't try to physically intimidate them and I thought that was garbage considering that Rangers today was so small and light in stature and fairly inexperienced. We should have bossed it but we didn't. We just can't set up against Rangers like its just another league game. We need one off tactics, a new formation, a different mindset in these matches and I hope to god we finally learn our lesson.

It works if you score early like in that match. If you don't though they tend to weather the 10 - 15 minute storm, we die off and they give us a thrashing. Can think of a few matches like that.

McCall said implicitly that he was looking 2 players. Someone to cover for Saunders and a wide player to give them an option off the bench. He said nothing about a striker.

Heard the Motherwell tickets have sold poorly but the Rangers ones are more or less sold out. So much for home advantage!

Everything you could want to know about David Kelly! Motherwell debut - Jul 28 2001 (A) Dunfermline Final appearance - Jan 05 2002 (A) Dunfermline League - 19+0 (6) Scottish Cup - 1+0 (0) League Cup - 1+0 (1) League Goals - Jul 28 v Dunfermline (A), Aug 18 v Aberdeen (A), Sep 8 v Hibernian (H), Sep 22 v Hearts (H), Oct 27 v Dundee Utd (A), Dec 15 v Rangers (H) Cup Goals - 25th Sep v Airdrieonians (A) TOTAL APPEARANCES: 21+0 (7)

Signed for Droylsden in the Blue Square North.

People need to be patient, the end of the transfer deadline is still two weeks away. With the numbers of players looking for a club these days it won't be difficult to "get bodies in" but we will be trying to get the best possible quality players for the squad and to do that you have to play a waiting game. As the deadline gets closer clubs and players hands will be forced and I'm sure we'll get guys in but it will probably be in the last week and more likely in the last few days.

If we were to beat Rangers on Sunday we would be 5 weeks at the top of the league and 6 points clear of our visitors. That would be a magnificent weekend.

It was 1 goal in 9 games (or 2 in 11). We went 5 in a row without conceding, drew 1-1 with Rangers, then went another another 3 before conceding again. John Ruddy was the goalkeeper.

Was meant to be going today but couldn't at the last minute....

Yeah you are right. That 3-3 draw at Raith, it was a free kick equalizer in the last couple of minutes....I think that was the only time Raith took points off us when they were in the Premier league! Greetin' now.

There is a time and place for passing. I felt we played a few too many balls across our box in the second half that were pretty dangerous. Passing is fine, nothing wrong with it, but if you keeping passing across the back four, inevitably the opposition will press you higher up the field and if you lose possession you can be in a lot of trouble, very quickly, with not much space or time to fix it. However I don't have any problems passing the ball into the opposition half or in the opposition half and I think overall the original poster has a point. I remember there was one occasion when we were one nil up and just trying to see the game out and we were passing it around nicely around the half way line and Hearts half with most of the Hearts team behind the ball and the crowd started grumbling and inevitable someone played a daft ball forward and we lost possession and Hearts attacked. Clever teams don't go all out attack all the time and fans need to be a bit more understanding sometimes.

I remember that happening but we should have won the league! (H) 0-1 Dundee Utd. (A) 3-3 Raith, (H) 0-1 St. Johnstone. Two wins out of that lot and we would have been Premier League champions if I remember correctly! 3rd would be a major achievement this season but I do think we should be aiming for Top 6 as a minimum. Next week will be a big match. We will be missing Lasley, an important player for us, and up against a team we don't have a particularly good record against, away from home, who are also going well. If we get through that test we will be in a good position but there is a long, long way to go. Holding on to Randolph and Murphy will be crucial.

Mistakes are made, I used to always call John Sutton, Chris! You'd think someone would check it before it went up though.

Would bring back Hutchy, keep Hateley at right back and bring Forbes into the midfield. Points gathered suggests St. Mirren are an improved team on last season but they have only scored 2 goals in 3 games and I think maybe people are getting a bit carried away with the 'free flowing attacking football' chat. In fact there has only been 3 goals scored in St. Mirren's 3 matches so far (0-0, 1-0, 1-1) so I think it will be a tight match but we should go there with no fears, a win is great but happy enough with a point. Hasselbaink will be a big miss for them.

Curse of the programme cover.

Well there might be an element of truth to that but I think when a game is on a knife edge you are less inclined to make changes and that's been the case in the last two weeks. The English season starts proper next week and I think you'll see quite a few loan deals right across the SPL in the next 7 - 14 days.

Thought the two full backs were the pick of the bunch today but I'd give the award to Hateley. I've been a bit concerned about him recently, he didn't have a great season last term and I didn't think he'd started this season well either but he was excellent today and hopefully he can keep that level of performance going. It's actually a shame that you would imagine he'll move into midfield next week. Perhaps on the strength of the performance today McCall will keep him at right back. I think that's what I would do.

First half was fairly tepid. We looked a bit more incisive than Hearts but they had most of the possession and we looked a bit laboured in terms of closing them down and winning the ball. Second half was much better and burst into life after Black burst Lasley. Should have scored more than one goal as we totally dominated. Then it started getting a bit nervy in the closing stages and Las can't have any complaints about his red card. When Las is on a yellow you are always a bit worried he'll get a bit carried away and that's what happened. Tense at the end but overall deserving of the victory. Thought Hateley had his best game in ages but I'll be a bit worried about our midfield with Lasley suspended because to me Jennings still isn't at the races this season.

Hutchy would put him in an arm lock rub the top of his head till he cried. And he's 18 actually.

Just heard there is a heavy rain/flood warning for the West Scotland/Northern Ireland area from tonight until 6am tomorrow. There has already been heavy flooding in the North of England. Ah! Summer football!

You must have missed McHugh making Cammy Bell pull off the save of the match last week.

The Foran Table can be for people that don't like to dance - loads of sitters.

For me Gunning wasn't a first eleven player. He had some good games (notably the Celtic win) but he also had some shockers. He wasn't any better than Hutchinson, Craigan or Hammell and although McCall seemed to rate him higher than I did I couldn't really see him being any more than back up. Right now we have Saunders on the bench and I liked the look of Halsman when he came on against Leeds so I'm not too bothered about missing out on Gunning. I thought Mehmet was a much better player than a lot of people gave him credit for, especially in his last couple of seasons at St. Mirren. I think he'd be a good player to have in the squad but he was quite a similar player to Higdon in some ways, although I think Mehmet is technically stronger while perhaps Higdon is a more natural poacher. Still, I'm not sure that's two players I'd match as a strike force. I'd take Mehmet but with Murphy at the club I could only see one of Higdon and Mehmet playing at the same time.