Ya Bezzer!

I'd be 'happy' with a similar season to last, bottom six but no real relegation anxiety. I honestly don't see how any of the provincial clubs are going to break into the Top Six this season as most of them have more or less been strip mined of their playing staffs (Us, Hamilton, Falkirk, Kilmarnock etc) are newly promoted (St Johnstone) or weren't very good in the first place (St. Mirren). The Top 6 will almost certainly be the 6 city clubs and it will be left to the others to scrap it out in the bottom six. I also have my doubts about the ability of lower league players from England to cut it in the SPL. Since it looks like we might have a team full of them next season that could be a problem. We'll see what happens but right now I'd rather have lower expectations and hopefully be surprised than expect too much and be disappointed but I can see the bottom six being a really tough, dog eat dog mini division with hardly anything between the teams.

We should be able to defeat Flamurtari anyway, as far as I am concerned the lack of signings won't be an excuse if we don't manage it. As for the transfer market, you need to look at the bigger picture rather than rushing people in. We don't have a lot of money so we should make every penny count by making sure we get the best possible players available and if that means waiting another week or three then fine. However we DO need to bring them in, we won't get by on what we've got over a season.

Been to a few reserve/U-19 matches but didn't make to one for two seasons I think. I think I'm right in saying they don't play them at Fir Park anymore which is one of the reasons I've not seen one lately. I remember once against Dunfermline, Sean Fagan went in pretty hard on the then unknown Nicky Phinn. Phinn's parents were sitting just behind me and his mum went mental at the tackle. "Who was that!?" she said and consulted the team sheet "I'll Sean Fagan him!". She then proceeded down to the front of the stand screaming "Don't you hit my wee boy, you listening Fagan!" style patter down on to the pitch. Must have been a beamer for the guy!

My coke was £1.50. Must have seen you coming!

Pretty much agree with this.

In my opinion if a penalty has to be retaken a different player than the one that took the original penalty should take it. How often does it happen that the retake is missed?

I don't think Fraser was to blame for the goal but he is far from 'fine'.

Maybe that's because we didn't know what kind of side we were playing and then when we saw they were lower league pish we realised, 'We should be beating this team'.

0-1 is a bad score. Better in my opinion to lose 1-3. Flamurtari weren't very good. Not SPL quality and more like a bottom half of the first division team. We should be able to win the tie but if we don't then questions have to be asked because we should be putting teams like that to bed.

Not going to say much at this point because its over two legs but if we go out to this team we went out to mince.

I'm sitting here watching a football game in which I can't see the ball about 75% of the time.

It's not an art grant we are getting from the council. It's not philanthropy. It's a TV deal from television companies that survive on advertising revenue. It's all about the number of eyes on the screen and if you add up the average attendances of the Championship more than 10 million fans go through the turnstiles every season compared with 3.5 million in the SPL. The Championship provides a different level of exposure than the SPL can provide even with Rangers and Celtic included.

I think too much focus is put on formations. What you should really be looking at are how many instinctively attacking players do you have? How many instinctive goal scorers do you have on the field? How many runners or hard workers do you have? How many instinctive ball winners? If you play with only one player in the side that can score then you are always going to be in trouble, no matter what formation you play whether its a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-4-2 or a 4-3-3 and that is the situation we are in at the moment. Sutton might not be the best player in the world but he will score 10 - 15 goals a season but right now there is nothing to suggest any other player in the squad will get 5 unless they more than double their personal best tally. We need more offensive threat in the side, that could come from an attacking midfielder like Andy Dorman or a goal scoring wide player like Ross McCormack or from another centre forward but its a must that we get it from somewhere.

I'm not writing off Flamurtari by any means, only saying that you can't judge Flamurtari by the quality of the Albanian national team which is of a much higher standard.

Hardly any Albanian internationals play at home in Albania and Vlore have no current international players. Also this idea that Mediterranean people can run around playing football in 90 degrees is a myth, its hot for them too which is why 'only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun'! The game will probably be played at a slow pace. One other point, I hope Motherwell have learned the lesson that in European football an away goal is invaluable. Too many Scottish teams have gone out on away goals because they have sat back and tried to get a 0-1 or a 0-0 and thought that was a good result, its not. When playing an away tie, first and foremost, you should be looking to get that away goal, then you worry about winning, drawing or losing.

Again its hard to judge because we don't know much about the opposition, however Albania football is a decent standard and the heat is likely to effect us more than them. Flamurtari finished down the league and only qualified by winning the cup so they aren't one of the strongest sides in their league you have to imagine so I'd hopeful we can get some kind of result that keeps the tie alive. I'd be disappointed if we didn't make the next round because although they won't be easy meat I'd be surprised if they were better than say a St. Mirren or a Kilmarnock and although those teams can beat us, if we play to our ability we should be winning over two legs. We need to be professional, focused and play well to progress but if we do those things I'd expect us to get through.

I think Fletcher is a slightly more developed player than Clarkson but there isn't 2 million pounds of a difference. The difference is that Hibs can keep players on better contracts (higher wages/longer contracts) which makes them less likely to be lured away and gives them the option of refusing advances. They are also financially secure from having secured good deals previously. We operate on slim margins and can't negotiate as hard with buyers and we can't offer players contracts of a similar level which means more clubs can lure our players away. In the end any product is only worth its market value, a can of Coke doesn't sell for the same price in London than it does in Mexico City, even if its essentially the same thing.

What's the implications of this for the team? What about the away strip?

We don't want to give them the free publicity. Let them wallow in the obscurity of the Second Division!

This is what it they are saying on the site. Some of it may be lost in translation! 11-07-09 16:29 Flamurtari: motherwell club has terheque statements fans not to come in Vlore after consultation was held with the foreign ministry of Scotland. Motherwell will receive 400 tickets, but only 50-100 Scotswoman fans will come to vl according to those forecasts. 10-07-09 19:27 colitis: where you lose nothing .... hahaha Flamurtari-matherwell a game that was .. and a must win game that will play with spirit and blood to be released some time and appear (will mean a footballer with fellow) ... only two things marim will be safe from this game ....1-journey-2-Euro and experience .. as big or small we will be .. this game will look as the leather value Flamurtari ... will satisfy or please us to finish the match as soon as possible to be?? and how I wish every fan sdo nothing other than victory or a presentation or as worthy because the disqualification is not ashamed ... disqualification with degeneracy would be ashamed, first for themselves and for the fans ... Flamurtari FORCE 10-07-09 14:13 vlonjat: nothing is impossible. Away from shopping. 10-07-09 10:42 tonivl: hardest would have to these Scotswoman. Vlore probably at least achieve a good result! 09-07-09 18:07 tonorikumi: At what time of the match played Llanellit? even with a victory today to Llanellit for them to leave garbage Scotland 06-07-09 17:14 vlonjat: The paskemi remove brain motherwell those fans, what is not writing from their forum 06-07-09 17:11 vlonjat: we can continue to believe in the training easy, this should not make no Flamurtari staff and players that will go down in the area, they should play this game as a team to play with and provide maksimumim. Do not fear from the opponents, but to evaluate their forces. Flamurtari these teams is likely to transcend but do not forget the tour in as fans and players Flamurtari staff also said that in 96 when it lozëm Slovak team, humene, and then lost two matches. Should be very carefully and should take professional matches, despite opponent, especially should not happen that often happens to Flamurtari, after making a touchdown to countenance the game, we are not in the Albanian championship, so if you behave with a team of foreign ske expectations fitosh 06-07-09 15:12 crises: chicken team motherwell 06-07-09 14:58 Flamurtari: motherwell's striker Hiding Behind llanelli number 4's belly

"The Foreign Office....says crime and violence still represent a serious problem in some areas, with gun ownership widespread." So would they advise against traveling to Florida?

They didn't mention anything in the after match interviews. If Sutton is injured we are in trouble because no one else scores. OK, Murphy scored last night but we are still heavily over reliant on Sutton.

Terrible, some real scumbags about. Those cowardly thugs are probably too stupid to realise what could have happened as a result of their actions, although what did happen was bad enough! Hopefully the old guy is back at Fir Park next season and the scumbags aren't.

Maybe Paul Slane can take Jim O'Brien under his wing can teach him about quality delivery.

He was in front of me in the queue at the pie stall at the first leg. Obviously couldn't wait for the complimentaries at half time. Oh and I'm watching my figure, I only bought a coke.