Kmcalpin

All this discussion on physicality and I haven't contributed!

According to the Sunday Post report, the Sheriff hailed the witnesses for coming forward to allow the case to proceed. I wasn't aware of that.

When exactly was that?

A slightly different account from the Sunday Post. https://www.sundaypost.com/news/scottish-news/motherwell-fc-manager-found-not-guilty-of-assaulting-partner/?fbclid=IwAR1uNX-Ats_KrWm***VXf_LPAYdMcTolmh2pTTy8ObBw7D2AotGU9kb9xVg

I would think that Dunne is several weeks away from a first team appearance. Turnbull looks nowhere near being match fit. I don't think either player will a meaningful contribution for a few weeks. Hope I'm wrong.

The game could have been played today, although that would have curtailed our rest. Maybe the club understandably wanted to keep the 8 day break? In any event the SPFL and/or TV companies would have blocked any change.

Yes, time to bring back Grimshaw in some role. A lot will also depend on how serious O'Hara's injury is. Looking forward to seeing a Watt/Long partnership, with Aarons feeding them, but he'll need to up his defensive game considerably. Sorely tempted to rest Campbell if that proves possible; it may not. Ross County will be physical and streetwise and we'll need to be alert to their tendency to score late goals.

First and foremost I'm glad its all over and despite what he's said, its bound to have been a huge strain and distraction for Robbo. Not really like the presenter's case at all. If its who I think you're referring to, the presenter's boyfriend instigated the investigation by dialling 999 himself, then doing a U turn for an unknown reason. The police were involved quickly and took bodycam evidence. According to Robyn Lauchlan, the alleged "victim", the police at no point interviewed her! I find that utterly utterly incredible. I would not have thought it possible that a criminal case could be taken to court without that police input. Anyway time to move on and perhaps its time also to review legal procedures, but thats an issue for another time and place.

December?

Richard Tait says he wants to stay. https://www.motherwelltimes.co.uk/sport/football/motherwell-ace-richard-tait-i-would-love-to-sign-new-deal-to-stay-beyond-summer-1-5095919/amp?__twitter_impression=true&fbclid=IwAR2cuIECj3DZpLPY-8lfkPytv1I7zhbHGp3mZCkJiIjySSRCprC6p02HSD8

Its all very well to say that DT should have played in a few reserve games first but perhaps there's none scheduled for some time? As far as Allan Campbell is concerned, I've a lot of time for his committed all action style of play and he was one of the main reasons for our great early season. However, I've said for some time, going back to the autumn, that he was burnt out having played too much football. Thats not to say he's been poor in every game; he hasn't. He badly needs a rest and I hoped that he'd be rested more in the past week or two. Sometimes you have to take a short term hit for a long term win.

A left sided centre back? Who could he possibly be back up to? Hartley or Dunne? Is it possible he'd be brought in as a first choice?

Robbo still has credit in the bank for me. He was asked to steer us clear of relegation and bring on youngsters, both of which he's done this season included. That said he must take a good share of the responsibility for our meltdown since December. We're still 3rd though at least as of today. Poor recruitment? Yes especially with regard to strikers and defenders. As far as Tait is concerned, I would not award him another deal. He has gone backwards this season losing what little pace he had and is not defending well. Bear in mind though that he'll be very envious of Jim Goodwin and Tom Wright's budgets. We have one of the lowest playing budgets in the league and its now showing.

I didn't expect much last night and so it turned out. There were a number of mitigating factors which influenced our selection and tactics ie injuries, suspensions and a demanding schedule over the past week. So we had to field some players I and others would not normally choose. Over the past week we should have mixed up the personnel more to keep the first 11 as fresh as possible. I would, for example, have expected to see more of Grimshaw especially and perhaps Maguire and Illic. The latter 2 are not my first picks but needs must. Also young Dean Cornelius could have been given some game time, if only from the bench, but not hung out to dry. This would have freshened things up a wee bit more and given some the chance to rest their legs. It didn't happen. So I wasn't in the least surprised to see the team look tired and jaded especially last night. They were also bereft of confidence and fight, not surprisingly. I couldn't quite fathom out the formation last night but it seemed like a 3-5-1-1 in the first half and a 5-4-1 in the second. Others may see it differently. Currently we don't have the players for a back 3 (until Dunne returns) or midfield 5 and it showed. Hartley and Tait had another poor game and Gallagher had to do the work of 2 men covering for Aarons. He and Robbo were screaming at Aarons for not tracking back and covering. St Mirren had us well sussed and their off the ball work was excellent. As with last week they bombarded our right flank and left to a lesser extent. Again our tendency to leave the wings exposed was our achilles heel and we don't seem to have learnt much from last Tuesday when the same thing happened. We had no plan B. Polworth and Campbell once again looked burnt out. Aarons looked the part when attacking but he's no wing back. Can't blame Hylton too much as any time he got the ball he was closed down very quickly by 2/3 defenders. O'Hara had a decent game but took several heavy challenges and was forced off. I thought Watt did ok up front without much support and am looking forward to him being paired with Long. We had a reasonable first half without showing any killer touch and even early doors our defence looked very vulnerable and disorganised at times. That needs sorted urgently. Our set pieces were awful - don't know if we actually practice corners! I thought our substitutions were strange and expected Grimshaw to replace O'Hara to retain some bite and competitiveness in the middle, which we badly needed but instead MacIver came on. A promising young lad but not ready for first team action yet and too lightweight. Good to see David Turnbull come on but he didn't really do much which wasn't surprising given his long lay off. Still it'll boost his recovery. I didn't really get the Seedorf for Hylton change as it only meant that Saints marked him out of the game as well. The bottom line was that the squad looked tired and lacking in confidence. Wrong off the field decisions by management also cost us big time.

Gallagher for me. Provided what little defence we had and had to cover for Aarons. Did the work of 2 players.

We're also 10 points ahead of St Johnstone but they have 18 points to play for prior to the split. They're on a decent run and Its hard to see where our next point is coming from. Agree about Robbo. He's met his objectives so far and so he is safe but he does seem to be running out of ideas. Many mistakes made by management tonight and they were costly.

A reasonable summary but I would not offer Tait a new deal. I think Turnbull and Gallagher will both move on. I'd like to hang onto Long as he's not been given a fair crack of the whip ie being played in a role for which he's not suited.

3 at the back is ok if you have the players to do it successfully but we currently don't as tonight proved. No defensive cover down the flanks......again. Big Declan had to do the job of 2 men and made a reasonable fist of doing it. Had he not played we'd have lost a lot more than 2 goals.

Same defensive problems as last week. Exposed down wings. Need to get this sorted and quick.

There will be a can collection tonight for our Youth Academy. A worthy cause I'd say.

Just wondered if anyone knows why Maurice Ross seems to have "disappeared"? I notice that Diarmuid O'Carroll has been taking interviews for the reserves for a wee while now, whereas Maurice took them before. Is it simply a change in duties?

Yes, I'm sure timing is a factor. Its not the first time that I've seen a shocking tackle put in by an Accies player early doors (we're not totally blameless BTW) and escaping with a yellow card when a red is warranted. I'd take the opposite view to the ref in these circumstances. Let the players know early doors that bad tackles will not be tolerated and that would stamp out most of them later on in the game. I'm 100% not against robust tackles but really horrendous ones like Hunt's no way. Fans pay to watch teams trying to play football not players being wiped out cynically. By letting culprits off lightly the referee encourages niggles and ill feeling to build up and pretty often more trouble follows.

An old chestnut I know, but the inconsistency of referees is really annoying at the moment. Not all poor decisions are game changers admittedly but they do make life harder. A few examples that have been evident recently: * Switching the direction of throw because we were taking too long at Paisley. I've never heard of this before or since. * Yellow carding a player for booting the ball away: Long gets booked at Hamilton but I can't recall the last time I saw a referee taking this action despite this happening in almost every game. * Yellow carding a keeper for time wasting ie Gillespie yesterday. Far worse example have gone unpunished and this happens very rarely. * Pulling up players for stealing yards at throw ins: completely random application by referees. * Foul throws: occur in almost every game but once in a blue moon does the referee take action and then at random. You'd think the SFA would issue strong consistent guidelines to cover these situations, but if they do they're never implemented except completely randomly. Rant over.

I didn't see him yesterday but you're right. Looking forward to seeing him fully fit playing with Long and Turnbull in a 4-4-2 or similar formation..

I would say that its cost them something like £40-45K this season (£20K per game). Many of us would like to see their accounts but thats never going to happen. I believe that is because their turnover is below a certain figure, and as such, like St Johnstone, they are not obliged to pubish their accounts. Maybe some accountants on here could clarify that? As to the game itself, I've just watched the brief highlights and again some of defending was very poor. Fortunately, unlike St Mirren, Accies are toothless up front. I didn't see a lot in Long's 2nd yellow card. A foul yes, but more clumsy that anything else. A yellow card? Maybes yes, maybes no. You'll see similar tackles go uncarded. I think he was fristrated by Accies' aggressive" defending which was a feature of the highlights. On that subject Hunt was extremely fortunate not to be red carded for his far worse effort earlier. These borderline refereeing decisions going against us just now are simply adding to our plentiful self inflicted woes.