Lobey_Dosser

Reserve/youth players would not have been tested in time for the game. There’s no way it could have gone ahead.

Both of them impressive. That was an enjoyable watch in the 2nd half.

Interesting watching the Scotland u21s against Czech Republic. Gemmill has always liked playing Campbell in an advanced midfield role so he can lead the press. Tonight is the first time I’ve seen us for a while though and Campbell was playing like a 2nd striker alongside the impressive Hornby. He done a job for the team in what was a great result but I’m sure he’d rather be in the heart of midfield. As for his next move. He’s not the model professional bursting his balls every day to get a move to Aberdeen or Hibs. No disrespect to those clubs but to develop further as a player, he needs to move to a better league. I don’t think he’ll be short of offers.

I don’t particularly rate McBurnie as a striker but I wouldn’t question his commitment to Scotland. There’s been the odd mishap but he’s clearly proud to be Scottish and wants to do well for his country. His parents wouldn’t be travelling to friendlies in Mexico and Peru if he was half arsed.

Well played Gallagher, solid throughout. Looked far more comfortable in the middle of the three and showed that he can be a leader. Buzzing! Roll on Serbia.

Good luck to them both. Huge opportunity.

Declan must be in with a shout of starting tonight. With Tierney and McKenna out, the other centre half options tonight are Cooper, Porteous and er, McTominay... Not much competition for O’Donnell either with Palmer and Forrest out.

If I remember right, Campbell originally signed a contract to 2021 a good few years ago. He then signed on improved terms in 2019 but there was no extension to the term. The plan would always have been to leave in 2021 at the latest and while the world is very different since he last signed, there is no reason to think the plan has changed. The new contract offer will simply ensure compensation.

Is it not the case that league games take priority over cup games in the fixture calendar? We’ve already had at least one cup game in England forfeited due to Covid while league games have been rescheduled. It looks like we are doing the same in Scotland. It puts the cup competitions on shaky ground heading into the winter, while the fixtures are likely to pile up in the league. Ideally, at least one of the cups would have been scrapped this season but nobody is willing to concede ground. I can therefore understand why it’s one rule for the cups, and another for the league. In my mind, the only way a league game should be forfeited is if there has been a severe breach in Covid protocol.

That doesn’t sound great at all for Moult unfortunately. Watching the Celtic highlights there, Turnbull looks to have slotted in seamlessly.

I don’t think today is a day to be overly critical. Yes, the level of performance was pathetic but it wasn’t entirely surprising given the trip to Israel. Looking at the bigger picture though, there is little to get excited about. We are most likely to lose Campbell soon which will mark the end of an era where we excelled in the youth development department. We are then left with a mixed bag of players, few of whom we have any real affection for. The team may do well enough but one thing for sure is that we’ll rarely cause an upset against one of the big two. For whatever reason, the days of us raising our game against them seem to be long gone unfortunately.

No wonder we aren’t pushing for the return of fans...

There was always a risk of a hangover today and so it’s proved. No complaints over the Rangers penalties but Campbell should have had one too. Tactically, a back 3 was always asking for trouble against 3 forwards but whatever the shape, we’re having to rely on an out of sorts Gallagher and O’Donnell alongside a dumpling who was presumably brought in as cover. Keep it respectable Motherwell.

Soundbites from the likes of Lennon and the Aberdeen owner aside, I don’t get the impression top flight clubs in Scotland aren’t genuinely pushing for fans to return. Our own club has been relatively quiet. Acknowledging that capacity could never be above 20-25% until the virus is fully under control, there’s little to be gained from the bigger clubs pushing this. Yes, 2,500 in Fir Park or 10,000 in Ibrox would be good for the welfare of the fans that got to see their team but it’s not great financially. Maybe if the clubs sit tight and toe the line, the UK and Scottish Government may be more open to providing financial support.

There could be a variety of reasons for Gallagher’s loss of form but the absence of Hartley’s influence can’t be underestimated. While Hartley was far from flawless, he did a good job of talking those around him through the game. As for O’Donnell, he’s been terribly disappointing after his impressive debut at Easter Road. He’s always looked a wee bit out his depth for Scotland but I expected him to be a standout for us. Oneils40yarder was right all along.

It was refreshing to see fans at the super cup last night. 15,500 tickets were sold for a 67,000 seater in Budapest although I don’t think it went down well with local authorities. In isolation, 20% capacity at stadiums should be viable and does lessen the argument around transportation etc. However, it’s not going to be contemplated at a time when cases are rising significantly. In hindsight, Jul/Aug was the time to make a significant move on this. Also, it’s not worth comparing with pubs and restaurants. Think it’s pretty clear that if Scotland had the fiscal power to provide dedicated support to hospitality, we’d have introduced far more stringent measures this week.

If we had any depth to our defensive options, I’d be dropping Declan. Instead, I’ll settle for his pal being displaced. I’m not expecting much from this game as we’ll likely be low on energy but I have a faint hope that Watt, Long and Lang can give them a hard time,

So frustrating. They were there for the taking but you can’t afford to make the stupid mistakes we did. Gallagher deserves an absolute rollicking, he’s been below par all season and that was unacceptable from our captain. Hopefully this team get pumped in the next round, horrible cunts.

I’m not one to moan about refs but that should have been red with the reaction. Big fan of Long but what a stupid foul to concede. Then O’Donnell shouldn’t be losing his man, hopefully he can make amends in the 2nd half. Intae them Motherwell, nothing to fear here.

I’m not sure what the official line is on travel but when Scotland were playing in Czech Rep, it was a quick in and out with no trip to the stadium prior to the match.

That was beautiful to watch today. A clinical first 25 mins, fully capitalising on Aberdeen’s inept defending, followed by a thoroughly professional and hard working performance for the remainder of the 90. Campbell was immense while Mugabi, Long and Watt all impressed. Most pleasing though is the work ethic and togetherness of the team, we’ve responded very well to the criticism and given Aberdeen a bloody nose in the process. Thoughts go out to Willie Miller who was waxing lyrical about Aberdeen’s resolute defence pre-match. The trip to Israel is going to be incredibly challenging for a variety of reasons but hopefully we can do ourselves proud.

Campbell really is at the top of his game just now, head and shoulders above everyone in that Aberdeen midfield today. Mentions for Watt and Long, the latter looking the part again while Watt has put in a power of work between Thursday and today.

Just on Jamie Semple, I struggle to recall the last time I seen him play after QotS away but is he definitely the no8 we seemingly transformed him into? Or could he return to a forward role at Cove?

So the issue there is with compliance rather than the system. No doubt those individuals and businesses that disregard the rules will be the first to grumble if lockdown is tightened and/or the death rate shoots up. The only way we get out of this any time soon, and contemplate a return to sport stadiums, is with widespread compliance. As for digital accessibility, the app is one piece of the jigsaw that will have 1,000,000 downloads by tomorrow. That’s not bad in a week. The bread and butter for now though remains the telephone calls, something Scotland appears to have worked better than England, with a localised in-house service.

Quarantine aside, is Track and Trace not working in Scotland? I think it’ll take time to prove but if you are suggesting France have a better system, they are approaching 10k cases a day and reported 46 deaths in the last 24 hours.