Kmcalpin

100% agree. He was my MOTM despite quite some competition.

I agree that we should make as few changes as possible from Saturday's team but would replace Tait with Frear, if fit. Frear would add some much needed pace and take the heat off Cadden. Unless Robbo knows something we don't I'd be tempted to put in Plummer ahead of Hammell. If Hammell doesn't have to rely on his pace what does he have to rely on? He doesn't have pace now; doesn't have height or positional sense; and isn't great defensively. Yes, he can cross a ball but I'd say in years gone by his pace was one of his biggest assets. He does have experience though. We have a reasonable chance tomorrow evening as we now have a decent team with character. However our cup record against Aberdeen is nothing short of abysmal and they will be very streetwise, which we are not. Taking everything into account I'll predict a narrow win for the Dons over 90 minutes. We may have a better chance on Sunday. I really hope though that the fans are patient with the team and don't lose heart if we fail to progress in the League Cup. COYW.

Tackles from behind now seem to be perfectly legitimate.

Just to complicate matters we can all recall incidents where a player has fallen in the box accidentally, not claimed a penalty, then walked off innocently only to be yellow carded by the referee. In the interests of consistency and fairness, the SFA has to haul up divers, like Boyle, retrospectively and hand them bans. If clubs were also serious about stamping out this cheating, for thats what it is, then they'd punish the culprits themselves. However I'm convinced that clubs tolerate this abuse and indeed in some cases encourage and coach it. Neil Lennon should have blasted Boyle publicly and banned him from Hibs' next game but instead all we've had is complete silence from him. He'll be the first though to blast an opposition player who dives to win a penalty aginst Hibs. In that respect he's no different to most other managers.

Whilst I think Tait is weak defensively, and Dunne is still finding his feet in a new team after months out of the game, you're right. The 3-5-2 formation does leave gaps on the wings when we're defending and you can see teams trying to exploit this ie Kilmarnock and Hibs. However if we're getting results......

Did he not leave the fray on Saturday due to concussion? Hope I"m wrong.

Presumably Carl McHugh will need to sit this one out?

It doesn't matter he'll make them anyway.

100% agree. One of my pet hates at away grounds. Why do some clubs insist on taping off a very restricted or tight and inflexible area for visitors in stands with plenty of capacity? Often I've seen our fans struggle to pick out the odd empty seat while common sense dictates that stewards simply move the tape a few metres. I'm not talking about seats being left empty for security cordons. I'm not suggesting they open up thousands of seats in an otherwise empty stand but come on opening up a few more rows wouldn't take monumental planning or organisation. Thats one thing at Fir Park we are usually fairly generous to away supports in this regard.

No he didn't. I think it was euphemistically "accepted" by the powers that be that he did all he could to stay upright but simply caught his studs in the turf. That doesn't explain though why he did not plead Dunne's case with Craig Thomson and failed to hold his hands up to say it wasn't a penalty. The last player cited for simulation I think was Alex Schalk of Ross County against Celtic late last season. I would expect us to contest Tait's yellow card and will be disappointed if we don't.

Absolutley Andy. I don't care if we win through daylight robbery we're more than due it. I am concerned though by our first half performances and by our defence. It may just be taking time to settle down though. Looking forward to a Kipre/May clash - not for the faint hearted. Both very physical players.

How do you justify that after 25 minutes of the game, or so? Defensively we were weaker down our right side yesterday and of the 2 sides thats where mosre of the danger originated. A high tempo game which we would have lost last season. A much improved and stronger midfield meant that we could match Hibs toe to toe. Overall we deserved our share of the spoils although we still need to tighten up our defence. Moult again proved his worth with 2 well taken goals. A good all round energetic team performance though. The lads showed grerat character and attitude to fight back from 2-0 down. Well done to Robbo and Keef. The referee was very poor and inconsistent. He got all 3 penalty calls wrong. Anyway a good day at the office and we keep our momentum going.

He must have his reasons. The line up looks a tad cautious and defensive but we'll see. Again, the pressure will be on Cadden to provide the outball. Maybe the gameplan is to hold out until half time and if we're still in contention open up a bit?

A difficult game to call. Hibs look good but are still finding their feet in the top league. We've done well so far but haven't been fully convincing against the better sides. We certainly won't be any pushovers today but need to play for 90+ minutes. We're a lot stronger than last term, but still have a bit to prove at away venues as our implosion at Perth proved. I think we're still vulnerable down the flanks. If pushed I'd go for a narrow defeat. Hope I'm proved wrong, in the best possible way.

Seems we are right about Robbo liking players with good character. http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/teams/motherwell/motherwell-are-twitter-snoopers-admits-stephen-robinson-1-4560692

You can put your mortgage on it, if you have one. He yellow carded Cedric for that, even although it wasnrt even a foul, but failed to punish a Killie player for cynically hauling back Bowman by the shoulder when he was breaking into the box.

Good post, first one or not. To pick up on one or two points, Tait is a good squad player but for me Frear has to return on the left flank to give us some much needed pace and take the heat off Cadden. I liked Grimshaw's energy when he came on too. One thing I'm not sure about in the current set up though is that Bowman seems to be playing off Moult. I'd rather that Moult was told to stay up front and in the centre. Too often on Saturday he was the one who was playing balls into the box for others to use. Thats not his game and not the best use of his talents. We have a much better squad this year and it may well be that Robbo uses more players in a squad rotation system. I've no problems with that. Yes, Madden was poor on Saturday. At one point he got in the way of McHugh who was trying to getm off a shot on goal. His booking of Kipre was downright wrong, and he missed a lot of fouls on Moult. He also failed to stamp out a bit of play acting and diving from Killie especially, young Taylor (genuinely out of character for Killie I have to say), Fortunately he got no major decisions wrong but had a poor game overall.

Problem is that he isn't. Media commentators and pundits may ignore him but scouts of other clubs use their own eyes and don't miss much.

No harm to either lad but they didn't really do much yetserday. I had no intention of booing either of them but Dom did upset a few fans with his petulant actions at a free kick in the first half. I don't recall that being part of his game at Fir Park.

I wasn't wholly convinced when we first appointed him, but I've now been won over. He seems to be a good man manager and that comes through from the players he's signed. In the past we've signed most players ostensibly on ability alone but now we're signing players for their character too. I think Robbo is asking questions of their competitiveness, attitude, team spirit etc. Just like Tom Wright at Perth has been doing.

Maybe some truth in that. More than any other area of the team, midfield is a combination of types of player and irrespective of how well they are playing individually, the overall mix or balance is crucial. I can't remember such a strong and diverse midfield for a good number of years. Its certainly been our achilles heel in recent times. I thought that Killie were a pretty combative and streetwise bunch yesterday but we more than matched them.

Robinson has done a good job so far but its still early doors. He kept us in the Premiership with players he inherited and didn't fancy. Over the summer he's had a much needed clear out and brought in his own players. He can make selection/tactic mistakes like yesterday but unlike many other managers he's quick to change things if they don't work. Football tactics are very complicated, lets not forget. Don't be too quick to judge Rose, Dunne and Tanner. Tanner probably hasn't been playing in his best position; Rose does a lot of unglamorous spade work. I like Dunne but we simply can't judge him on yesterday's performance as he plainly wasn't well and shouldn't have started - although he's not as flamboyant as Hammell, he's a better defender. In general I like the same attributes in a team that Robbo does; big, physical (but not dirty), athletic and quick. We've missed these qualities for years now and its good to see a manager bring those qualities back. Early days but so far so good.

A good win today and that'll give us all a boost. It was very much a game of two halves. It was nip and tuck in the first 45 and both sides could have scored although we had the bulk of the chances. Robbo perhaps put the wrong team out. The midfield was strong and combative but lacking in creativity and that showed. In short it was the wrong combination. Dunne clearly wasn't well and shouldn't have started, but robbo held his hands up to that. Still it shows that Dunne has commitment. The team seemed lop sided with Frear being badly missed. Moult too was playing out of position; on the wing or behind his midfielders. I felt a bit sorry for Cadden as he was our only real outball and boy did Killie know it. Our play was characterised by numerous stray passes. To his credit, Robbo recognised our weaknesses and made cruciaI game changing substitutions with the appearance of Hammell, and Bigi. That gave us more creativity and ultimately our 2 goals. We played some decent football spurred on by an excellent Campbell who fought terrier like for 90 minutes. Bowman played well and took his goal well; Hartley looked the part and was plainly organising the defence. He may yet prove to be a crucial signing. Carson was impressive in goals; and Kipper had another great game. I thought he was unlucky to be yellow carded for what looked like a good tackle to me. We ran out good winners but did worryingly sat back a bit in the latter staqes. A good performance but there are lessons to be learned. We were a bit exposed down the wings at times and we need to get the balance between caution and creativity right in the middle of the park. Still we look a far better team than we were last season and thinmgs are definitely looking up. There is more fight and determination in the team now and its showing. Stephen Robinson is proving to be a good manager.

Allan Campbell for me.

We'll see at 3pm. We've all heard these rumours before.