Ya Bezzer!

Is say, Chris Humphrey, a much better player than Darren Smith? Not having a go at Chris Humphrey but I would have liked to have seen Smith get at least a chance this season but I reckon he's fallen foul of Broon's well established habit of working with a small group of players and sticking with them. Some one said he will probably only get a part time gig but I disagree, I think he can go down to the first division and get a club. He's quite a physically strong player with a big frame, has great pace, works his socks off and has a decent scoring record considering the limited opportunities he had so I think he can easily go to first division level and prosper. Good luck to the guy.

Not really anything to do with JOB doing anything solely. More that combination's involving O'Brien have worked considerably better than combination's without him.

If Kaka or Messi had scored the goal at St. Johnstone it would be all over You Tube as 'Greatest Goal Ever'.

Looked like a nasty injury for Given. Luke Daniels got 2 matches and Artur Krysiak got 1 but Nielsen didn't get a run out.

An exaggeration but O'Brien is an important player for us. We all saw what happened when Ross McCormack left and wasn't replaced like for like. Our record his season when O'Brien didn't start the match is Won 2 Drawn 3 Lost 4. Our goal average when O'Brien hasn't been on the field is 0.88 goals per game. Our goal average over the season is 1.22 goals per game. We lose more matches and score less goals when O'Brien doesn't play.

If Dundee Utd beat Celtic tomorrow it would be Celtic on 69 points and Dundee Utd on 65 points. If Motherwell then won against Celtic in the next fixture and Dundee Utd also won it would be down to 69/68 with a Celtic v Rangers match then coming up and Dundee Utd at home to Hibs. Now bearing in mind that we are virtually guaranteed to finish 5th now and that we won't qualify for Europe by finishing 5th if Dundee Utd finish 2nd (I believe that's the case!) should we then 'not try too hard' against Celtic to make it harder for Dundee Utd to finish second? Having done that we could try for 4th place by beating Hibs at Fir Park but having eliminated a possible scenario were we wouldn't qualify for Europe by finishing 5th. I can guess this wouldn't be popular with an element of our support but depending on results it might be the 'sensible' thing to do.

I make it that if we get a point at Celtic and Hearts didn't win we would be guaranteed 5th but we don't want that because Hearts are playing Hibs and we'd rather Hearts won to damage Hibs!

Would have taken a draw before the match and Hearts had won four out of their last five at Tynecastle (only losing to Rangers) so that is a great result. Looking very good for a guaranteed fifth spot, a win against Hibs would do that and maybe go a long way to getting a fourth spot. Hopefully Rangers can give Hibs a drubbing tomorrow and do some damage to their goal difference.

Why am I more nervous 2-0 up than I was 1-0 up! That's Motherwell for you, logic goes out the window!

Assuming those player went we would have to replace each of them plus a wide midfield player which is really the only glaring weakness in the side currently when we have a full squad to pick from. GK - New Signing RB - Hateley/Saunders DC - Craigan DC - Hutchinson/New Signing LB - Hammell RW - New Signing MC - Jennings MC - Lasley LW - New Signing AC - Sutton AC - New Signing Bringing in a quality goalkeeper, central defender and striker are the main priorities.

A draw at Hearts, a win at home to Hibs and Dundee Utd beat Ross County and it's time to get the passports out again, well not me I'm skint, but its still an exciting end to the season. As for the Hibs match it should never, ever, ever have been scheduled for election night - that was just idiotic.

You do know that the reason that Livingston went to the shitters and Kilmarnock might well follow them is because they invested hugely in extra facilities to generate income that never actually materialized and left them with huge debts. People think that if you build, say a hotel or a conference centre or an office complex on to a nice new stadium somehow it just magics money out of thin air. It doesn't, in fact a lot of the time it costs more money than can every be recouped in anything other than small amounts over the very long term and often is just a complete failure and money pit. And I've said it before and I'll say it again, there is absolutely no precedent in Scottish football for good new stadium design (except maybe Falkirk who redeveloped their existing ground over a long period of time) and almost all clubs that have moved away from their established stadium regret the day they left since the moves have completely failed to regenerate their club - (St. Mirren, Airdrie, Clyde, Hamilton, St. Johnstone, Livingston - all spent long periods in the lower division or are headed that way). Since, with all due respect to the club I love, Motherwell aren't exactly trailblazers in progressive thinking and innovative practice I don't see much evidence for thinking a new stadium and move would be any different for us than any of the above. By all means rebuild parts of Fir Park if it makes financial sense in the long term as regards maintenance costs but as regards a move, well there is a lot of truth to the saying 'better the devil you know'.

Imagine Michael Fraser had been the first choice all season and got injured and John Ruddy came in and gave exactly the same performance he did against Dundee Utd at Tannadice. Would our support have started a 'get Ruddy to fuck' campaign to get Ruddy out since he was obviously, on the evidence of one game, completely shite and error prone? One performance does not make the man. Fraser's performance was terrible at the weekend but much of that could be put down to a collapse in confidence after an unfortunate slip. I've seen Fraser play four times for Motherwell and only on one occassion has he let the side down, last weekend. In fact, how quickly some forget, if Fraser hadn't pulled off a couple of excellent saves against Falkirk the 0-1 defeat would have been much harsher. Obviously he's not as good as Ruddy, as someone who keeps an eye on SPL football away from Fir Park, I've never especially rated Fraser while he was at Inverness and I don't think he is a 'Top Six goalkeeper' and if we want to finish in the Top Six next season we will have to bring someone in, but putting that all aside no one deserves the level of abuse that's been directed at him in this thread. He's our goalkeeper until Ruddy returns to fitness and I'm sure he will go out and give it his best even if that's not to the standard we've been used to for most of the season. Give the guy some support, give the team some support because if you hadn't noticed there are some important matches coming up.

Yeah let's build an out of town lego bullshit stadium with no emotional attachments for the support and even worse atmosphere than present that will be falling down within 25 years and need rebuilding again. That way we can maybe get down to 2,000 supporters. Too many people on here watch telly.

Fraser was woeful today but I do think some people are using him as a scapegoat and blaming EVERYTHING on him. If you want to blame people for the second goal look at Giles Coke who was dreaming, woke up and then fell over instead of, say, actually marking his man at the corner. The third goal Fraser might have done better but it was down to Humphrey trying to make a defensive tackle on the half way line and completely selling himself. If Conway had felt like it he could probably have got a penalty if he'd gone down without shooting. Really Fraser was only really to blame for the first goal but overall his performance was awful.

3,544 One of our worst league attendances in recent times. Only a midweek match against Kilmarnock and an end of season match against Inverness have been poorer in the last 5 years.

Still not sure about Steven Saunders, sometimes he's great and sometimes he's pretty ropey but I thought he did well today in both positions he played. Gets my man of the match.

I think we if beat Hibs and don't lose to Hearts then we will at least finish 5th and that gives us an excellent chance of European football next season.

Overall it wasn't the worse performances but without our first 11 we aren't going to be able to compete with the top teams in the country. Excluding Fraser's slip there wasn't much in the first half, second half Dundee Utd dominated after scoring early and it wasn't until about 70 minutes we started to get back into the match. Couldn't believe Brown didn't put Hateley to right back when Craigan went off because Humphrey is no defender. Coke's miss in the first half..... Fraser [4] If it was just the slip, fine that can happen to anyone but his overall performance was dismal. Saunders [7] Excellent performance both at right back and centre half. Craigan [5] Was doing fine hopefully he isn't going to miss too many matches in the run in. Reynolds [7] Looked comfortable throughout the match. Hammell [6] Usual steady eddie performance O'Brien [7] Maybe not his best technical performance but showed lots of passion to win. Jennings [7] Competed in the latter stages. Coke [5] Not much in evidence and missed a sitter which could have changed the game. Hateley [5] Has dipped in form recently Sutton [7] Two good headed goals, worked hard. Murphy [6] Excellent first half display but faded out of things in the second half. Jutkiewicz [4] You can see he's not fully fit. Humphreys [3] OK going forward, murder defending.

Some stats. Dundee Utd have only lost two away matches this season, joint best in the league with Rangers, and have scored more goals away from home than any other team.

I don't think a home match with Celtic would have attracted a huge crowd but even so it would have probably brought in £100,000 - £130,000. Enough for a couple of players contracts.

With Ruddy, Craigan and Lasley missing I think a draw would be a decent result.

When I started coming regularly to Motherwell games in the mid eighties I went home happy if we scored a goal! The idea of qualifying for Europe or even finishing in the top half of the table was pie in the sky and it seemed most seasons were a relegation battle. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the last 10 years, when taken as a whole, has probably been the clubs most successful period since the 1950's/early 60's. So I think older fans will probably have a bit more perspective than the younger fans. In a way you can't really blame them if having only seen Motherwell as a reasonably successful club they have higher expectations because they never really known a sustained bad period. Hopefully they'll never have to!

I'd agree with this. Remember we are playing the best team in Scotland right now. The only problem is 'if Hearts lose' because Rangers are no great shakes at the moment.

If you are a supporter and you can afford a season ticket you should get one. It's important for the club to have income during the summer so that we can invest in the team by bringing in new players. If a significant number of season ticket holders don't renew then it will affect what the club can do during the close season in terms of re-signing players and bringing in transfer targets. That said I didn't have a season ticket this season because I couldn't afford to pay the lump sum although I have been to every home game this season (including Euros). My financial circumstances haven't changed and unless they do I won't be getting one again next season but if I had the money I'd definitely get one.