Kmcalpin

I think we can make the top 6 this season, but we need to get the central defence sorted to do so. Lack of pace there could be critical.

Yes he is what he is and we have to work with that. The way he's playing just now he should be the first name on the midfield teamsheet and that will dictate who plays alongside him. To balance out his weaknesses we need a strong defensive midfielder to shield the central defenders and act as his minder. Set pieces are his thing but he does need to improve his conssitencies at corners. He could be an important part of the team this year.

What exactly happened? From my vantage point in the POD I saw a melee in the goalmouth and a Well player (Hartley?) on the ground. It seemed to me that a Rangers player then stamped on him or kicked him. A bit of a scuffle then ensued.

Don't know about being dishonest but he certainly seems to be biased. Totally inconsistent today. He only spoke to one player today for time wasting (Carson in the first half) but let MacGregor off with far worse in the second. There certainly seemed to be 2 different sets of rules in operation. Penalised Main for dipping his head slightly and getting a kick in the head from a player whose boot was at least chest height. Just couldn't fathom out many of his decisions today.

An entertaining game and we more than deserved our point. Hopefully a springboard to move up the table. In the first half both sides lost goals to poor defending. Bigi's free kick for McHugh's goal was sublime. We looked good going forward and could have scored more. The midfield supplied the strikers with ammunition for once and we looked good. In defence however the midfield sat far too deep and gave Rangers too much space and time; especially to sling in crosses. The central defence and wing backs didn't cover themsleves in glory and looked a bit disorganised. We badly missed the pace and presence of Dunne and Kipre. The central defensive partnership of McHugh, Aldred and Hartley should only be an emergency stop gap. In the second half we dominated, sorry Sportsound, and took the game to Rangers, who defended shakily at times. We showed a never say die attitude against a big Rangers side who certainly did not allow us to bully them, as Gerrard promised pre match. Thanks to Bigi and co we showed more creativity and the equalising goal in the final seconds was no less than we deserved. Its ironic it was Hartley who scored. Bigi had decent game overall and was my MOTM but his corner kick taking was bit erratic and he needs muscle around him. Overall though our best performance of the season. Yes, there are still some weaknesses, especially in midfield and defence that need to be rectified but we are improving. Curtis Main is starting to show some form and the likes of Campbell and Johnson are gradually getting fitter, although both looked knackered today. Still not convinved of Chris Cadden at RWB though. Craig Thomson had an absolute shocker from start to finish and his officiating was riddled with inconsistency. As others have said Morelos and Lafferty ought to have been yellow carded for persistent diving; the Rangers player who launched the ball out of the ground after they scored should have joined them. A couple of their players lifted their hands and got off with it. Most ludicrous decision though was penalising Elliot Frear after he had skinned the defender, who tried to pull him back, and was racing into the box. I could go on but think thats sufficient. His performance shouldn't overshadow ours. Well done to the management and players. Good, but its work in progress. Still the team has spirit and character about it and that will be important.

I thought Bigi had a mixed game. As he did last week he looked great going forward but suspect in defence. However he did enough to earn my MOTM vote today.

It depends on whether the media want to highlight it or not. Its their call.

Really? Shocking performance and I don't know where to start.

Those Well fans who like their football tough and meaty will have relished Steven Gerrard's pre match comments. He's used terms and phrases like "warriors", "battles", and "Motherwell won't won't bully us this season". If he can bring those qualities from the EPL then we're in for a real encounter.

Entertain visiting journalists with champagne and smoked salmon sandwiches. That should do the trick.

It wasn't foul play, let alone serious foul play. Don't believe all you read in the media. As an aside how do we know the Compliance Officer is investigating? Has she issued a note of complaint? If not, has there been some kind of leak to the media or indeed has someone from the media raised the issue with her? All said and done though, Peter Hartley should not have made these comments.

I agree with most of what you say Weeyin, but not this. A foul is a foul and if Johnson is deliberately elbowed in the face I will most certainly be complaining. Its a ref's job to remain impartial but we all know they aren't when it comes to Celtic & Sevco. Bowman's elbow on the Rangers' player wasn't a foul, although it was reckless. Hartley's comment, inadvisable though it was, almost came as result of a loaded question, as Andy P says. As it is, Hartley has given Craig Thomson more leeway to make poor decisions, although he won't require it.

Absolutely. If we play both Gorrin & Bigi the defence will take a roasting. Of the two, Gorrin looks to be slightly more of an all rounder. I agree that Main & Johnson should start.

Like many others, I got a bit of a shock when it turned out that he hadn't retired after all. As far as I know our club made polite noises through the proper channels last season about his performances, unlike Celtic and Sevco who use their pet redtops to blast their complaints to all who all who want to hear and those who don't. This appointment in a relatively high profile game seems to me to be a clear and blunt GIRFUY message from the SFA to us to put us firmly in our place.

Final score 2-0. Maybe being pedantic but was this not our reserves playing today, although it was a young team. Do we still have an under 20s side?

I agree about Sammon but Main, although powerfully built, is "only" 5-10 or so, not especially tall for a striker.

All our strikers are a bit different but only time will tell if they're different enough. In the end it'll all be about the right combination. Bowman is an out and out target man. Johnson is more of a goalscorer in the Louis Moult or maybe even Dougie Arnott style. They're poles apart in terms of style. Main is somewhere in between. Sammon - I haven't quite got to grips with yet but he certainly isn't a target man despite his build - give him time.

Just shows how we see things differently. I thought he had a very good game on Saturday ably assisted by Aldred and McHugh. Not back to his best yet though. The fact that Carson, in goal, had little to do for much of the game was largely down to Hartley and his colleagues, not our midfield screen, which left them somewhat exposed.

I was referring to the midfield Andy. Yes, we were far more creative and tried to play football which was encouraging and delighted those around me. So that was a clear positive. We created far more chances than of late and our ball retention was vastly better than it has been. Up to about the 60 minute mark they also supported the strikers very well. On the debit side we lacked a bit of muscle and defensive capability and lost a few more 50/50s than I was comfortable with. Also defensively the midfield as a unit gave Livingston far too much room; didn't work hard enough off the ball and left the back 3 exposed. Fortunately, Livingston were pretty toothless up front and Hartley and co. were in fine form. In the second half Bigi and Gorrin disappeared a bit as they unsurprisingly ran out of steam. When Allan Campbell came on he brought with him fresh legs and a much needed competitve edge. I doubt very much if the manager would have played that midfield combination had he had fewer injuries. Unlikely that he'd play Gorrin and Bigi together. To be fair to both lads they didn't look fully fit or match fit but they'll come on and they both have far more to give. Overall the midfield was what it was - creative and effective on the ball but lightweight and defensively suspect. I think Bigi and Gorrin showed they have what it takes to retain one starting place between them and I look forward to them both being fully fit. I haven't mentioned Andy Rose much but there was a lot resting on his shoulders yesterday and he had a reasonable game doing a lot of dirty spade work.

Encouraging to see Hartley coming back to form despite having a difficult afternoon.

Johnson was rightly taken off as he was knackered.

Main followed by Hartley for me. Main was one of the few players who kept going for the 90 minutes.

Absolutely. First and foremost job done and we progress to the next round. Overall we deserved the win and registered a clean sheet too. First half we started off very shakily and almost lost a goal or two but gradually we imposed ourselves and created a few chances and ultimately scored what proved to be the winning goal. Livi maybe outmusceld us but we played what little football was on display. We looked far better on the ball than off it. The midfield created chances, which it hasn't been doing and tried to play football on an horrific pitch. Not blistering stuff but they tried. Defensively though they left the defence exposed and a better side would have punished us. Still we played to our strengths. The second half was a non event. We sat back and parked the bus and Livi imposed themselves on the game but we stayed the course and the rearguard protected Carson pretty well as Livi looked toothless. They had plenty of pressure; they outcompeted us, but ultimately had a lack of quality up front. Although the midfield was somewhat unbalanced, the likes of Gorrin and Bigi proved they can play football on the deck and will improve with more game time. Johnson played well and Main looks to be regaining his sharpness. The pitch was awful as illustrated by a glorious pass from Rose to Main. The latter anticipated it and ran on only to find the ball had hit the surface behind him and stopped stone dead, making him look silly. Willie Collum gave us nothing all day but thankfully didn't make any major howlers. Finally a class gesture by Richard Tait for coming into the stand in front of us and checking on the youngster who was hit by the ball.

Exactly Iain.

A word of warning to everyone going along to the game today. Don't expect a classic football match as you'll be disappointed. Given our direct style of play and the plastic pitch it won't be a classic. I'm going along to see us progress by almost any means possible.......great goals, refereeing errors, deflections, good luck whatever.