Kmcalpin

Yes its nothing new. Given that we should have been looking to improve the defence I'd have thought that this would be a position we would have looked to strengthen. Downright baffled by the decision to award him another deal.

Absolutely Andy. We often complain that our midfield disappears when we're under pressure or opposition players can run straight at our central defence or we're too soft. As captain and our holding midfielder thats Keith Lasley's responsibility. Unlike others I don't think he's he's played well this season (I wasn't at Tynecastle or Inverness). He's played well in patches but thats about it. On Saturday he couldn't compete with younger, fitter, more aggressive and physical Saints opponents. After 30 minutes or so yesterday he just disappeared along with others of course. In his defence, it doesn't help that he's partnered with either a young player who is unlikely to make the grade or a new acquisition who has been anonymous.

Very hard to say. I've now watched him in 2 games and am no wiser. On both occasions he was totally anonymous. He's certainly not a hard defensive player but by the same token he's not an energetic box to box player. Just not sure where fits in.

For me the jury is still out ...just. What struck me yesterday at Perth was the number of moderate/usually reasonable/middle of the road fans who mentioned that Ian Baraclough's position was becoming very shaky indeed. For that reason, I think the thread should remain open. Whatever your view, this is a topical issue.

Good post. Jim Gannon thought the same thing and he was right. The problem is though that we don't have the players to play the ball out. You can just envisage the ball being rolled out to Stevie Hammell; he is closed down rapidly by the opposition so he plays quickly it to McManus, who in turn is also closed down and he gets rid of it to Law who is pressed and then gives the ball away. Unless you have quick skillful players at the back its a dangerous game. The opposition quickly learn to press high up the park and close us down. You're also right about our off the ball tendencies. I was very impressed with Saints' off the ball work yesterday especially defensively. At one point in the second half Lasley got rid of the ball quickly to Johnson who then had 3 defenders close him down immediately. They worked hard off the ball to close us down and deny us any space. Aberdeen were the same. At throw ins in both games opponents closed us down irrespective of which half we were in. These sides work hard and quickly when off the ball to smother any threat immediately and thats something we just won't or, more likely, can't do.

In terms of pitch size, New Bayview is slightly larger than Fir Park, which in theory should suit us. I think we can afford to make two or three changes without weakening the team and indeed may even strengthen it on recent evidence! I'd be tempted to give Dom Thomas a start, but he won't find East Fife any physically softer then Premiership sides. I'd also be tempted to switch Clarkson for MacDonald but then again he isn't suited to a deep role either. Kennedy for Law is a good shout and I'd give Chalmers another run on the left. No idea if Taylor is eligible or not.

I agree that we need a new right back and defensive midfielder but for me we need a stronger starting 11 never mind strength in depth.

The problem is though that the current team is not solid and hasn't been so for a year or two. Thats simply not going to improve overnight. Likewise the team isn't capable of grinding a result out. When under pressure we simply crumble. The root cause of many of our problems is an ineffective central midfield that just isn't competing and disappears under pressure and 2 defensively suspect full backs. IB has had opportunities to fix those problems but hasn't. That said, we are missing Pearson but I don't expect to see him return any time soon. Totally baffled by Ian Baraclough's comment that "We were totally in control in the first half" - we weren't. They had 5 shots on target we had 2.

Absolutely. We displayed all our old failings again today. We started off well and deservedly took the lead but by the half hour mark Saints began to dominate midfield and they continued to do that for the remainder of the match. In the second half our midfield simply disappeared and we could not compete with a fired up and aggressive St Johnstone engine room. Taylor was largely anonymous and Lasley simply disappeared in the second half as we defended deeper and deeper. We are missing Pearo badly but need a replacement for Lasley very badly like now. Both full backs were very poor and Hammell struggled badly against O'Halloran. I thought Chalmers played him marginally better. In short we gave Saints far too much room. MacDonald was again played too deep leaving the industrious but ultimately sterile Moult too isolated. The substitutions, apart from Hammell's enforced departure were downright baffling. Leitch added nothing to a totally ineffective midfield and its doubtful if Thomas touched the ball more than twice after coming on. We did look not too bad in sporadic breaks but flattered to deceive with no end product or killer touch in the box. For me though the 2 most worrying aspects were an anonymous central midfield which showed little fight and the amount of time and space we afforded Saints. A word on Taylor - he was anonymous but was harshly treated by inconsistent Craig Thomson. His first card was absurd as the ball was not stationary for the free kick. You see this kind of incident week in and week out with no action being taken and indeed today I counted a further 2 such incidents which went unpunished. His second card was downright poor refereeing. Yes he went down easily but the defender definitely caught him and not accidentally either. A bad day at the office and Ian Baraclough must be running out of excuses. This dismal run cannot be allowed to continue much longer.

Conor Ripley by a country mile for me - let down badly by those in front of him but made a few tremendous saves. No-one else in contention.

Certainly during my time following the Well we've always fared better in the League Cup than in the Scottish Cup. This year is as good as any to reverse that trend.

A bit flummoxed by your post, which in its own way is fascinating. I'm assuming that it was something to do with the ground that made you realise that going on Tuesday wasn't worth the hassle? What exactly was that? Yesterday, I too drove through Lower Methil and past the stadium but came to a different view. I'm looking forward to Tuesday evening, although in my case I will have less hassle admittedly. Incidentally I'm intrigued as to why are you finished with the League Cup? Is it our lack of success or something else entirely? Its your right of course but I'm always curious when someone feels the need to upload a post saying that they don't intend to do something. Each to their own.

I hope so, but for our 2 wingers to run the show they'll need to be given the ball early and not only that but given the passes they like. Very frustrating to watch our full backs or central midfielders faffing about before releasing passes 5 yards behind the wingers who by that time are covered.

Certainly the Ladies team seems to be going from strength to strength.

This is common practice on mainland Europe. More often than not its the buying club that requests that the fee is kept confidential. It cropped up with us when Henri Anier was transferred and some posters were unhappy with our club's attitude. However, a club spokesman said that it had nothing to do with MFC and was a condition demanded by the buying club.

Presumably Cadden then is very much in the Pearson mould ie box to box. What the under 20s lack is what the first team lacks ie a solid defensive midfielder?

St Johnstone will be no pushovers. They'll be physical, hard working, organised, and very streetwise. Not the most talented team in the league but they can grind out results through biting, scratching and clawing their way through 90 minutes. Its hard to know what midfield formation we should deploy. Play 2 wingers and we might be short in the middle and there's no guarantee Johnson and Ainsworth would receive any decent service. If we play 3 in the middle it might bottle things up there but neither Leitch nor Taylor has impressed so far. Would love to see both full backs changed but thats unlikely.

Not at Tannadice. Gauld, Mackay Steven, Robertson, Armstrong all came from other senior clubs.

The worrying thing is these weaknesses were well known last season and we don't appear to have done much about them. Our goals against column has been very poor for a few years now and I cannot see it changing drastically this year if the root causes have not been addressed - thats not rocket science. On a more positive note Pearo will return in the early autumn; we are creating more up front; and central defence seems to be more settled. Fingers crossed thats enough to secure us 8th/9th/10th place.

Would agree with most of that, although maybe a tad harsh. Both Hammell and Lasley have been loyal servants to the club and, in my view, have been reasonable players no more no less. Neither has been good enough to move on successfully to a higher level. They have their weak points. Yes, Stevie has never been great off the ball and the comparison with Graeme Shinnie yesterday really was quite stark. Shinnie did not give Ainsworth an inch and was all over him as any ball was about to arrive. Shinnie was quite happy to all but smother Ainsworth 40-50 yards from his goal. I think it was Wellwell91 who said recently that a defenders first priority should always be to defend and that is 100% correct. You will never stop all crosses from coming into the box but you can reduce them in quantity and quality. If the back is tight up against the crosser then the chances are that if a cross is slung over it will be under pressure and less accurate. Many posters know my views on Keith Lasley so I won't repeat them in full but yes, he has always tended to disappear when we're under sustained attack and were crying out for someone to stick out their chin and lead the midfield out from its tortoise like shell. Neither Hammell nor Lasley should have been offered 2 years by Stuart McCall - maybe one year but there again would they have accepted that? As an interesting aside Derek McInnes saw fit to field a real midfield battler in Willo Flood yesterday, so even Scotland's second best team sees the need for a midfield scrapper.

I can live with Stevie Hammell not playing well on the ball but of more concern to me is his off the ball performance. Like his right hand side counterpart his positional sense is poor and gave his opponent far too much leeway. We defend very narrowly and that causes big problems for the centre backs and keeper. Quite impressed so far with Moult and Fletcher but they are a tad lightweight and will struggle against towering centre backs especially if they are given balls in the air. We need to start playing with 3 men in the centre of midfield against the better sides and only play 2 wingers against the weaker sides. Problem is that we don't have 3 decent central midfielders.

Aberdeen looked a far better side than us and were about a yard faster all round. For me Louis Laing was MOTM. Moult had a reasonable game but suffered from lack of support and decent service - too many aerial balls which he was never going to win. Central midfield struggled, which shouldn't come as a surprise given that we played with 2 wingers. In games against decent teams we need 3 in the middle. Lasley was poor and I can't say that I noticed Taylor as he was anonymous. Both full backs were very poor and showed their lack of positional sense. Time for another right back, maybe Kennedy, and Chalmers to be given a run at left back. Same defensive problems as last year. Felt sorry for Ainsworth as he received shocking service - kept having to back track for short balls - just not his game. We need another defensive central midfielder and quick, and not just for back up.

There were 2 or 3 add ons and its quite possible that a sell on clause was one of these. From press reports however, it seems at least one of the so called add ons was tied to Sheffield United gaining promotion.

As season ticket holders living outwith the area we've had no problems getting tickets for the past few games until today.

Just rang club to purchase tickets. Be warned they are not permitting telephone bookings, which isn't handy for those living away from Motherwell. This is contrary to what we were told earlier in the week. So in our case, instead of time taken to buy all our tickets by single telephone call the office staff will now have to deal with 8 individuals queuing up in person before the game tomorrow.