Kmcalpin

If we go with one striker up front then Long must drop out. He cannot play with his back to goal and doesn't have the physicality to play as a lone striker. Its just not his game. The only options would be to play the untried Ndjoli or the raw Manzinga in that role. Personally I'd go with 2 strikers up front. I think we'll try to pack the midfield and therefore we could see O'Hara come back in. But I'm not the manager.

Rest Allan Campbell to ensure he's fit and ready for Saturday. We'll need his zeal and energy in Paisley. According to Robbo, our 2 new loan signings may be involved.

I hadn't heard that Iain but it doesn't surprise me in the least. I had assumed, maybe wrongly, that he wouldn't play for us this season, or indeed again. Does that update mean that he may appear in the final game as a sub? Time will tell.

I don't agree about Main but yes Dykes is the kind of player we should have signed last summer. Maybe we were in for him but he didn't want to join us or we couldn't meet his demands I don't know. We had months to source a traditional No 9 but didn't do so for whatever reason.

Absolutely Gordon. We seem to have a plethora of struggling wingers but very few strikers.

From highlights, published reports and posters comments, Gillespie apart, the whole team seemed to be lack lustre, jaded, and disorganised. I don't think James Scott's departure had anything to do with the performance though. The players obviously had a bad day but off the field decisions no doubt also played a part in our downfall. As I wrote earlier I'm curious as to why Tait was preferred to Grimshaw unless the latter is not fit. I can understand why Aarons wasn't in the squad but we haven't seen much of NdJoli since he signed. These are only loan signings and so have a limited period to make an impact. Our problems up fronty are fairly widely known but thats now several times this season that our central midfield has gone completely AWOL. There could be several reasons for that. To an extent you have to feel sorry for the defence if they have no protection in front of them, which did seem to be the case yesterday. That said they didn't cover themselves in glory at Livi's goal - ATS was completely unmarked at the back post. We're discussing this loss with incomplete information but I'm sure the management will have a far better understanding of the root cause of the defeat. Like OTF above I think there's potential for freefall if we're not careful.

Really? The first 20 minutes excepted, I thought that was the worst performance from a Well team for several years. If so thats scary.

Agree 100% but we just don't have the players to do this.

Not at the game today....fortunately. Ok we can all have a one off bad day at the office but this seemed to a continuation of the last 70 minutes of the Accies game a month ago. By all accounts only Gillespie emerged with any credit, though I presume Long also cannot really be blamed due to his lack of support. More questions need to be asked of our midfield as they were again flattened and dominated by a team below us in the league. I don't know what questions need to be asked though. Curious as to why an off form Tait was preferred to Grimshaw today although thats a relatively minor issue in the great scheme of things. Should we rest Allan Campbell on Wednesday night?

Unless Aarons is fit enough to replace Illic. Livi will deploy every means possible to get and keep the ball in our box for as long as possible. That said they'll favour route 1.

On reflection I'm comfortable with Scott's transfer. Whilst he is an emerging talent I wouldn't say he's been a mainstay of the team. The upfront cash, which added to fees received for Stuart McKinstry, Jake Hastie, Reece MacAlear and Kyle Semple will amount to about £2m this financial year. A nice sum and in line with our business model. That will allow us to pay off the modest residual debt of £80K (meaning we are now 100% debt free), invest some more cash in the war chest, pay for other projects like the youth academy, and keep more for a rainy day. It might help to underwrite improved offers for the likes of Polworth, Campbell and Long. Could we have received more? Probably yes. However we are not Dundee United and most Scots players from provincial clubs are undervalued by bigger English outfits. I hope that our reputation grows to match that of United to the extent that a Motherwell "label" is automatically worth a few hundred grand extra, irrespective of the player's individual talent. I hope it won't impact negatively on the playing side. The Hibs game proved beyond all doubt that we are/were very lightweight up front. Hopefully Ndjoli can fill that role along with Long. I suspect that Mazinga is a longer term project. Aarons will provide us with a threat on the right to counterbalance Hylton. Sloth's departure will free up a place in central midfield for a youngster like Jamie Semple or more likely Dean Cornelius to progress. Its impossible to predict how the transfer window will impact on results as business done by other clubs will no doubt have an impact. Mid sized rivals have almost all been busy bringing in players as we knew they would. They may have picked up some gems but also some dross. Quality V Quantity as the old saying goes.

Probably Livingston will be saturating the pitch, Accies style, to ensure the ball is hard to control on the deck. Robbo has said that Hylton and Long are both fit.

I hope that we have 2 strikers lined up if Scott goes south. As things stand we are a striker down. Hopefully we know what we're doing if Scott departs as we're pushing for 3rd and have a cup tie coming up.

We do the Centenary Suite once a year and it's been excellent. That's all I can say.

Man of many clubs, Alan Martin signs for Edinburgh City.

Its interesting to sit back and watch the usual suspects who are "underperforming" ( Kilmarnock, St Mirren, Ross County, St Johnstone, Hibs, Hearts etc) panicking in the transfer window and desperately signing bodies. Reminscent of the Ian Baraclough era.

Entertaining unless you're involved.

I notice that although the tickets have seat numbers printed on them that strict seating arrangements will not be enforced. In other words, "sit where you want". This is on our official website. For once common sense has broken out! I'm normally a stickler for sitting in your allocated seat as fans do tend to buy tickets to sit beside family and friends (very late arrivals excepted) but I've no problem with this change. I don't like the attitude "I'm bigger than you are/there are more of us than there are of you" so I'm not shifting. The bottom line is that it doesn't matter what the arrangements are so as long as they are made quite clear beforehand and its made clear if they'll be consistently enforced or not as the case may be .

Now down to the last 50 tickets. Very unlikely there will be a general sale.

Hamilton Accies earlier this season? I appreciate it wasn't as big as last season but that was down to Accies controversial price hike.

Tam doesn't hide the fact that he's a Well fan but doesn't let that colour his views in the way that Stuart Cosgrove does for example. Stuart manages to mention St Johnstone positively in nearly every topic he discusses. Tam's not in the same league as messrs Miller and Gordon when it comes to bias. I'm biased of course!

Is he being paid by the BBC? Is it as a pundit and employee or as an Aberdeen fan. If its the latter hopefully Aberdeen FC is chipping in with his wages. If he's the best it really doesn't say much for the rest.

Agree about the OF obsession but not about Richard Gordon. I won't forget his bitterness when we beat his team 1 0 at Pittodrie to nick the runners up spot. Also his continual moaning along with his sidekick Willie Miller that we wouldn't sell Louis Moult to the Dons grated with me. Was fed up with him last Saturday babbling on about Neil Lennon's tv preferences when we wanted to hear about that day's football.

According to Alan Burrows we've sold just over a third of our allocation as of an hour ago. I had to wait a wee while on the phone to get through to the ticket office. Tickets obviously moving fast.

Probably the fee would be equivalent to buying out the remainder of his contract i.e. £100K - £200K