Ya Bezzer!

Just got round to looking at the highlights. I was expecting more controversy about the two Rangers penalties. I thought they were both stick on penalties. Don't think either was deliberate but you can't have high hands any more and that's that. I'm all for changing the rule back to deliberate hand ball but the rules are different now. Our two penalty shouts I thought the Campbell could definitely have been given, which if we'd scored it would have made it 1-1 and might have given us a bit more energy and confidence. I thought Lang went down too easy though even though Helander had his arm up, didn't see any downwards force. 2nd Rangers goal, I think people have been a bit harsh on Lamie to be honest. Sure he gets done by Jones for pace but if someone is faster than you there isn't much you can do about it and if you actually look at it Jones has done the entire back 4 for pace. Lamie is in the full back position but the entire 18 yard box is exposed cos no one else is matching the run either so it's easy for Jones to come inside and score. In fact Lamie is a good yard or two further back than any one else in the back line and Mugabi is miles off. Not saying for a minute that Lamie hasn't been poor this season but it's too easy to pin the blame on him for that one. 4th Rangers goal kinda falls into the same category. Lamie has two Rangers attackers to pick up which obviously he can't. He has a decision to make and I think he should close Itten and doesn't and gets his position wrong but for me that goal is down the midfield getting caught out and not picking up and sticking to runners. Also Mugabi is pulled out of position again for this goal. It's a great finish but Itten should not have the space he has more or less in our D. 5th one is just one of those ones where it falls to the wrong or the right person in the 6 yard box. Don't think you can really do much about that. Overall with out seeing the full game it looks like we've been done for pace all over the pitch. Full backs, centre backs, midfielders. Not sure if that is tiredness, laziness or just lack of pace in general but you'd maybe expect the manager to factor that in to our tactics which doesn't seem to have been done.

Didn't see any of the game today but looking at the league table there are 5 teams that are as bad as one another with 1 point splitting them. You can bang on about individual players or individual coaches but everything points to our season so far just being the level for non city Premiership teams. I've been saying for some time that the level is garbage and something has to be done about it but when watch you Motherwell these days the stink is much stronger than just our club. The source of the smell comes from Scottish football in general and until some thing serious is done to improve the standard of the game watching clubs like ours is going to be mostly a deflating experience.

When I got a notification we'd scored I actually wondered if one of our strikers scored it. Then I clicked on it, saw, and realised what ridiculous things go through your head.

Just popping in. I'm on holiday and asked the GF if she wanted to to watch the Motherwell match in the pub and she gave me a 'no fucking chance' look. So glad she did! If we still pay appearance money we should stop paying it for matches against Rangers.

Exactly. Part of our problem is thinking we have played OK when we haven't. It's like a fundamental misunderstanding of the sport. It's a game of small margins. Most of the time winning or losing, no matter how 'good' or 'bad' you are in general play, comes down to a handful of incidents. Being good is ultimately judged on how you deal with those incidents and all season we've been found lacking in our decision making, our concentration and so forth. That's how the game is. There is no point saying 'Oh we were in the game and then this happened'. The whole point of the game is making sure 'that' didn't happen for them and that 'did' happen for us. In the end we lost 0-3 and that's a pumping. Harsh? Maybe but that's football. It's a merciless sport.

I think they were better than us tonight but they weren't unsurpassable if we'd even had a wee bit of quality about us and we'd been professional in defending. Better Motherwell teams would have beaten that Hapoel team and at this stage you'll be lucky to get drawn against a more beatable side than the one we played tonight. I agree with you about our rating in the great European scheme of things.

They say football's a funny game but we battered Aberdeen at the weekend but I bet you anything Aberdeen would have beaten Beer Sheva tonight.

Don't think you can say it's a decent performance when we've not put in a single decent ball against a fairly average team, gifted goals and ended up getting gubbed. We've been exposed as not being good enough against modest European opposition.

Should be the new club motto.

Lets face it Plzen are going to beat this mob so what would they have done to us?

Pumping delivered.

If you narrow your eyes a bit this could be an Accies defeat at Fir Park.

That'll be that then. How many penalties have we given away this season? 6?

Was just about to say the same thing. We aren't a million miles away from this team but at the end of the day they seem to be able to do something once in the match that we can't......put in a quality ball.

That ball we just put in is symptomatic of everything.

Just a lack of quality when and where it matters.

Missed the first 7 minute or so. Hapoel look technically better than us but hadn't shown a lot of cutting edge before they scored. Great delivery into the box but our defending is really terrible. Hapoel player gets a free run. Two or three times when we've been in a good advanced position we've either put in really poor crosses or set pieces. Our final ball is still a problem. Looked like we were acquitting ourselves reasonably well and were at least competitive but it's a poor goal at a poor time to give away and since this team can keep possession quite well I think it's going to be a struggle in the second half. Even at 0-0 I was always a bit worried we'd run out of gas in the, presumably, high temps.

The problem with these types of games is you always feel Scottish players can't press and play at pace when the temperature is scorching. The forecast for Thursday night is over 28C. If we are going to win in Israel it won't be the same way we did today.

Really good attitude today. At 2-0 we could have stood off but we didn't and got that third goal. Second half it was all about getting the clean sheet and we've closed Aberdeen right down and made sure there was no prospect of a come back. We've caught a wee bit of luck today cos Aberdeen have put in a shambolic first 10 minutes but we took advantage of that and did everything you'd want us to do. The question is - can we do that without getting a big helping hand? Time will tell I guess. Still got to prove we have another gear but today was encouraging.

Let's face it Aberdeen are having a disaster but I was really pleased about getting that third goal. Too many times we've had teams on toast and then backed off. There has been blood in the water today and we've looked hungry. Aberdeen will organise at HT so now it's about defending it and looking for goals on the break.

Excellent. Aberdeen have been there for the taking from almost the first minute. Was a bit worried me might go 2-0 up and sit on it but we've been ruthless. More goals please. If we are sharp there is a cricket score here.

When I heard McKenna was off I thought it would unsettle them but Aberdeen are all over the place. We should be pumping this team. Get a third before half time and it's over Johnny.

Aberdeen struggle for goals and McInnes is a defensive manager by nature. If we can get the first goal we can cause them a problem cos you don't see them scoring 2 or 3 very often. However I don't see us winning the midfield battle tomorrow. McCrorie has done well since joining and they have Lewis Ferguson and Dylan McGeouch. Meanwhile Campbell is struggling to make the game and he basically is our midfield. You'd probably be happy with a point but I would expect Aberdeen to grind out a result as they tend to have done this term.

I'd love it if Robbie Crawford proved me wrong but we need a wee bit extra quality and as I see it we've brought in a player who is around the same level as players we already have. It seems a bit random and a bit....desperate. I'd imagine he'll play wide right rather than through the middle but who knows.

I agree he did not pull him down but he defended the situation poorly and everyone knows if you are wrong side and a striker feels any contact they go down....and usually get the penalty. Having said that I think Mugabi has been the best of a bad bunch this season. Declan Gallagher's drop off has been enormous. Is he doing a Morelos?