star sail

I find it difficult to know where to start when reading the comments of the last 24 hours. One thing is for certain, all the good will that has been built up over the last 6 months seems to have been tested very quickly. We can talk about a special bond between manager, players and supporters all we like but when all it takes is an accidental slip on a slick Pittodrie surface to show the cracks in the supports patience then it is clear that there is no special bond. We are not any different from any other support in the country. Nobody knows if the team selection would have worked last night. Going down to 10 men after 3 minutes changes the game completely. We played with a man short for 3/4 of the game and probably still looked like the better team. The attitude of the players was fantastic. We cannot expect that the same starting 11 play ever game. Watt is coming back from injury. Slattery has looked tired in recent games. I find the energy that Just manages to put in game after game quite remarkable . The modern game requires some squad rotation. JBA has always been clear about that. Anybody expecting that we just turn up to a Scottish Cup tie away to Aberdeen and walk away with a simple victory are displaying OF levels of delusion. We can talk all we like about building a platform for the future, building a playing style and identity, a new way of looking at the game in Scotland. What the last 24 hours has shown however, is all that really matters is the result and that even an exceptional manager like JBA has very little wriggle room to manoeuvre. It is disappointing but not surprising. The result will dictate if it is all sunshine or all shite after Saturday night. It's the way it always was and the way it always will be.

Two posts tonight Johnstone and the only person that is speaking any sense.

Every player that started for Motherwell tonight is a Premier League full time professional. Every player that started has made a contribution to a very successful season to date. The gameplan was thrown out the window after 3 minutes. It is very easy with the benefit of hindsight to say that the starting 11 would not have won that game tonight. We will never know because of the way the game started.

What? For a start, this is Aberdeen away not Albion Rovers. The day any Motherwell fan thinks we can simply turn up to these games and walk away with a victory is the day we have turned to OF levels of entitlement. Secondly, ever player that started tonight should have been capable of putting in a decent performance. Gordon was the natural replacement for Welsh. The club have just invested in Connelly as a long term goalkeeping option. But for an unfortunate 3rd minute incident we could and probably would have been more than competitive this evening. It is very interesting how quickly it all turns sour. If JBA were to read these boards this evening he would have every right to think WTF!!!

Agreed. It is amazing just how quickly the angst comes back and the blaming starts.

He did not intervene on VAR when Tarvenier wiped out the last man a few weeks back v Kilmarnock. So Beaton loves that rule.......sometimes!

Thanks for checking that. I must have been mixing seasons but I knew that Dundee Utd game was important. Was a huge anti climax.

I think we were at one point. My memory was that had we won against Dundee Utd and Rangers lost ( as they did at Easter Road) the gap would have been two points coming into the final 6/7 games. As it was Dundee Utd won, we stayed 5 points adrift and had a terrible end to the season finishing 15 points behind. Our form thereafter dropped off a cliff with McLeish. I think he had been benefitting from the afterglow of Tommy McLean's success. I am relying purely on memory so I can't remember the details but it was close up until mid March, early April.

I have a memory of heading to Firpark one midweek in Spring when Alex McLeish was manager for a Dundee Utd game when we were on the coat tails of Rangers. My memory was being disappointed by the attendance for what seemed like a very important game. It was a very flat performance that I think we lost 1-0. Rangers were at Hibs and also lost but it effectively ending the title challenge. I am not sure if that was the same season.

We have Celtic away and Hearts away before the split. Is that a mountain to climb or an opportunity? Many would call it a mountain. JBA would call it an opportunity.

Fadinger will be a contender for player of the season. Slattery probably won't make it into the top 3 midfielders of the season which shows the high standards in the middle of the park.

I don't think this can be right. If we win the game in hand v Dundee we go seven points behind Hearts. Beat them twice takes us to one behind. If they win all their other games and we win all our other games, they beat us by one point (my calculations may also be wrong) Crazy to think we could win the next 12 games, having lost only 3 games the ENTIRE season and still not win the league. It will not work out like this of course. Hearts will not win all their other games. 😛

I am finding it interesting just how quickly I am becoming greedy for success At 1-0 HT today, I was dissatisfied that it was not a more comfortable 2-0, 3-0 so that we could start resting players for midweek. As the weeks pass, 4th place is becoming slightly mundane with the dream of top three within touching distance. I suppose it is that kind of inability to be truly satisfied that took man to the moon. I fear that I am developing the mentality of an OF fan. A severe dose of entitlement. They must have medicine for that type of horrendous affliction? It really is dreamland at the moment.

Crazily even that might not be enough. If we do win every game and Hearts win every game (except the 6 points they drop off us) they would still win the league. It is a totally hypothetical situation but it does illustrate the incredible consistency required to win a championship.

Firstly, I don't think Motherwell were under par. Rangers had to fight very very hard to keep us under control. I thought Rangers played very well to contain us. They were killing the game from 10 minutes in. We deserved to win the match. No complaints with the sending off. Best team in the league, no question.

I think we have to dream now. I don't think it is looking at things with a Motherwell bias to say that we have been at least as good as the teams ahead of us. There has been nothing between Motherwell and Rangers this season in head to head encounters and but for a contentious penalty decision it could easily have been two draws between the sides. A win on Wednesday would be a massive statement of intent and it would pile pressure onto Rangers. Win and it is a huge result in the history of the club and provides the platform for what could be a very special season. Defeat would represent a significant anticlimax. I can't remember being as fired up for a game for some considerable time.

Well if Stephen Welsh runs across the goal line to slap a certain goal bound ball away with the palm of his hand, let's hope John Beaton makes the same honest mistake he made at Ibrox against Livingston. These things swing in roundabouts after all. 😉

From memory, in all three the referee David Dickinson had no hesitation in giving all three decisions, to give Rangers the penalty on two occasions and to dismiss Motherwell's claim for a penalty.I don't think VAR was involved in any of the three. Interestingly in last night's Tarvenier decision, VAR did not get involved whereas it did get involved to upgrade Trusty's yellow card to a red. There are huge discrepancies in that system regardless of which team you support.

I think we are all frustrated by the inconsistencies but there have been some really crucial decisions that have favoured Rangers this season and a good few of them involved this same referee. As an example, three penalty incidents involving Rangers, all with very similar degrees of contact in the box. One v Aberdeen: penalty given for Rangers. Two v Dundee Utd: penalty given for Rangers. Three v Motherwell: penalty not given to Motherwell. The consistency comes from the fact that the incidents are all very similar, that Rangers get the benefit of the decision in all three cases and that the same referee is involved in each decision. The inconsistency is that the referee has used different criteria to arrive at a decision. Is this proof of conspiracy? No. Is it worth considering the environment that brings about these inconsistencies? Yes. That is free thinking.

Massive moment in the game when Killie are only 1-0 down. Funny how Trusty is a red card and in an almost identical incident last night the ref gives nothing. What about the Fernandez hand ball against Livingston? Again critical moment in the game. Massive decisions that are really difficult to explain. You talk about thinking for ourselves. I think it is very reasonable to ask the questions. They are strange decisions and deserve some further consideration.

Couple of questions for you MJC: Should Tarvenier have been given a second yellow last night? Was Trusty's at Hearts a yellow or red card?

We have to dream. Can you imagine what it would feel like going into the split with a shot at the title. Something that seemed impossible 12 months ago. Still a very long shot but the fact the opportunity exists at all is miracle enough. The next two games could either kill the dream or keep it very much alive.

Have you given up on a title race this season? I don't think it is quite over yet. I still believe that Hearts will fall back into the pack a little. IF we get a win against Dundee, the Rangers game becomes huge and could potentially drag us right back into the fight. I know it is a long shot but this season still holds much excitement. We still have to play Rangers, Celtic and Hearts twice. I am making an assumption now that top six is secured. Unbelievable to be making that statement in January.

I really enjoyed that interview. 👍 Seemed to have a little more depth than a standard pre match player interview.

Things are really hotting up at the top of the table. Motherwell are now in a group of 4. Interesting article on the BBC Sport page today about points v performance, the takeaway being that Hearts and Rangers have more points than their underlying stats (performance) would suggest and Motherwell are roughly where we should be on points. I think most of us would instinctively agree that was the case. Rangers have benefited from a good few 50/50 decisions (have not seen today's penalty decision v Dundee). Hearts as Orinoco says above have been resilient and clinical with set plays. Motherwell have been as good as the teams above. We have Rangers looming on the horizon at Firpark. If (big if) we can go into that game with another couple of wins under our belt, then it becomes a massive game for us. Given a level playing field in that game (and I am not talking about the condition of the pitch) we should have nothing to fear. Very interesting times.