Lobey_Dosser

That felt like a proper New Year Derby, a rare occurance in my time. Big Motherwell support, good atmosphere, plenty niggle between two committed teams, a poor ref, plenty goals and good entertaining football at times. Most of the team played really well in spells, good to see Moult back to his usual self and Skippy was motm yet again. Credit to McGhee for the turnaround, the games can't come quick enough at the moment. However I think he will regret showing faith in Theo Robinson today. Subbing a workhorse like Moult for a sand dancer like Robinson unhinged our ability to keep possession high up the park and aided Accies onslaught. All in all a really good dayout despite the huge disappointment of dropping two points. Hopefully the fans turn up in similar numbers next week.

How has Moore being doing at Ayr? If he could return to the player pre-injury, then there is something there for McGhee to work on. Expect the likes of Theo to be out the door but wouldn't give up on Fletcher if he is fit. Definitely capable of making an impact at this level.

That was a fascinating watch.

Think Kennedy's absence from the squad must be down to more than form. Strangely, I thought he was establishing himself as one of McGhee's favourites.

Skippy but Marvin and Ripley deserve special praise.

Enjoyed that tonight, a hard thought victory against an unfortunate St Johnstone. Thought we played some really good stuff at times without hitting Parkhead levels. Great to see Marvin in full flow and Ripley proving me wrong, his first save changed the course of the game. Special mention for Skippy who has been back to his best in recent weeks. We are very fortunate to have a player of his quality.

This better be on as I'm missing my festive fix of football. For all those who want summer football, the Christmas holidays would drag on forever without football.

The niggling concern with Erwin was whether he'd manage to keep his feet on the ground and going by Evans comments, he has failed to so. Hopefully he gets himself sorted out. More than good enough to have an impact in English championship. As it happens, McGhee would have been excellent for his development,

Also a competent keeper with a work permit. On the plus side, we now go into two difficult but winnable games at Fir Park with fresh legs that could propel us up the table, weather permitting.

Wiuld like to think our sponsorship from next season will reflect our community ethos.

Sore one. I don't doubt the rain has been heavy up there but less and less effort seems to be made across the country to get games on. The first weekend in December the perfect example with early call-offs at Tynecastle and Psrkhead. Reckon we'd have taken a good crowd up today but will now probably take up a couple of hundred miles midweek. At least there is plenty of other good sport on today.

If we can play like we did yesterday, then there is potential to destroy them on the counter attack. However Tannadice is never an easy place to go and the game is absolutely massive for them, they'll get tore in about us. A point wouldn't be a disaster but the important thing is that we continue to put in and organised and energetic performance like we have in recent weeks. Looking forward to heading up there.

Said it many times but Motherwell moaning about the expense of Europe, making losses, asking the fans to dig deeper made you wonder what's the point in success and escalated the slide in home attendances. This was compounded by an increase in ST price in conjunction with £25 tickets to play Starjnan, a game we failed to prepare professional for. If crowds are going to increase, it will be due to the young players making an impact and generating excitement. I think we may be on the right track there...

Hall looked comfortable yesterday, well led by McManus and Hammell. He'll have far tougher assignments though as Celtic never got going.

Moult and Johnson will grab the headlines but I thought McManus and Skippy were outstanding. Skippy the top man for me, he ran himself into the ground and Celtic couldn't handle him at all:

Feel exceptionally fortunate to have been at both Ibrox and Parkhead this year. For all the relative 'success' we've had in recent years these two experiences during a difficult spell have generated unparalleled joy. I thought we were very comfortable for much of that match and still fancied us at one down. Celtic were horrific at the back and our forward players knew they could get the better of them. Had we been a little more clinical, we could have battered them 4 or 5. Thank you Motherwell for rounding off a fantastic week personally in terrific style.

Maybe I'm blinded by my love for Faddy but I don't consider this a strange signing in the slightest. It's a very astute low risk piece of business in my opinion that sends out the right signals to the young ones. I doubt he'll feature tomorrow but the news has spurred me into getting a ticket for Parkhead.

6-4-4 is a ridiculous idea. I'm probably one of the few that isn't in favour of extending the top flight. If there were to be change I'd rather we had 2 competitive top leagues of 10 with playoffs and a fair distribution of cash. Increased excitement, less meaningless games, increased variety in flow between leagues. Ideally we only want to play each team twice a season but a 16/18 team league would kill any sense of competition for a number of clubs mid-season. Fair distribution of cash would kill the argument that 10/10 is too cut-throat to breed youngsters. Looking at the current predicament, Motherwell competing for a 2nd tier title with the likes of Hibs, Dundee Utd and Falkik wouldn't be the end of the world.

The powers at be surely have an obligation to support not hinder the finance and performance of their key stakeholders?

Agree that some decisions should be taken out the clubs hands to prevent the self preservation that has ruined the game. However you would think all clubs would be consulted regarding impact of winter shutdown and reduced summer break.

I'd have thought we could allocate European spots across all 3 competitions if we wish. Don't know what the current script is in England but pretty sure Birmingham got into Europe on the back of the league cup. Will be interesting to hear the views of managers and players. I can't think of the Group stage being anything other than a replacement for friendlies. I certainly wouldn't expect Motherell to curtail their break in order to get fully up to speed prior to such games. It will be interesting to see how the pricing goes. If groups are regionalised, a packaged price under £40 to cover 2 home games and 2 away games could be enticing.

Not a fan of groups but it will be better than friendlies I guess. Are the groups regionalised? In my opinion, for the league cup to return to its former glory it requires an Autumn final and European spot. Neither of which are likely to happen anytime soon.

From the glimpses I've seen we have the best batch of youngsters we've had for some time. Thomas, Cadden, Watt, McLean and one or two others look capable. Hopefully they can continue their cup run this season and be ready to step up next season. This follows on from the recent success of Erwin and I think Moore would have been in the same bracket if it wasn't for injury.

Seems strange to me if we are considering closing the Cooper. If the team is in any sort of form and tickets are reasonably priced we should be able to muster a decent crowd. It is the Scottish cup after all and McCall isn't in charge. Gone are the days when the East Stand was crammed for the visit of Stirling Albion.

From memory, the home end was empty for the United game last year. Hopefully the return to January makes a difference.