MelvinBragg

Having seen the game on t'internet, I thought Keith Lasley looked quite assured. No one was a real stand-out. Everyone seemed to do their job reasonably well...

I'm not overly confident for next week. I think we were probably the better team yesterday but even prior to losing the likes of Porter and Clarkson, as a team we have found it difficult to break down teams intent of defending in depth. We are certainly capable of beating Flamurtari but I think an early goal is key. To be honest, I don't see the reason for over-confidence on the part of ourselves or on the part of the Albanians who have posted on here. I think it's too close to call and could go either way. Can/should we be able to win by two clear goals? Yes. Having watched Motherwell for a while now, do I think we will? Hmmmm...

Is it just me that thought there was a major deflection for their goal?

For the techically inept who have a Wii in the house, but don't know how to use it to watch streaming from the internet, can anyone give me a quick idiot's guide. PM if you like or post in the thread if there are idiots similar to me...

I think it's impossible to say how the game will go given we know so little about our opponents. Given we're the seeded team, you would hope that we might be a slightly stronger team than them but it's all guesswork. I know that the fact we've had two games against Llanelli has given them a chance to see us in action which could be perceived as giving them an advantage. But it also means we've had two competitive games under our belt. I'll settle for the tie still being alive for the home leg. Unless of course it's deid cos we've won 4-0 over there As an aside, I share the disbelief that some have expressed that the club weren't fully aware of the UEFA signing deadlines...

While I'm not his biggest fan, at a time when people are saying we simply don't have enough goals in our team, I'm surprised at how many people are ready to dismiss Darren Smith, second top goalscorer behind John Sutton. With eight goals. Which isn't a lot but is probably as many as McGarry, Murphy and O'Brien combined...

Good job it happened now rather than 3 weeks ago. Can you imagine the local Samaritans switchboard if we had no new players, no kit manufacturer and no manager...?

Thing is, though, unlike Calum Elliot, I'm pretty sure Stephen Hughes wouldn't be daunted by a wee drive to and from Edinburgh every day. Earlier in the summer, there was a short period of time when I thought Hughes might stay. Now I'm certain he's offski...

Thing is, we have to give the team time to gel together. Signing players before the St Johnstone game is all fair and well, but not much use if they don't know the names of half their team mates. So I reckon you're right to be worried at the pace of things. It's ealry yet, but if in another week to ten days we haven't seen at least 4 new faces in the door, I'll be very concerned...

If you listen to MearnsWell, he probably could. Just kidding MW, you know I was a fan of the big man as well...

I remember the link you're talking about, Andy, but it's better PR to say that when bringing a guy in than say "We're bringing him in for a year til Forbes is ready for regular football...". Don't get me wrong, I think it's a sound strategy to bring guys in short term til our young players are ready. Just struck me yesterday when I read Gannon's comments that it might explain why the only guy we've signed so far is on a one year deal...

So what you're saying is that Hughes is no Kristian Vadocz??

I didn't say that we'd be in a relegation dogfight, but with a new manager and 4 or 5 new players needing time to get used to playing with each other, I think we might be in the bottom half this season. And in that situation, you want players who are roll up their sleeves in the trenches types. And Hughes, for all he brings to the table, is not that type of player...

I think the fact that there seems to be a wee bit more stability in the manager's chair there might mean it's not the place to avoid that it was two years ago...

I tend to agree with you on this one. And because we're in a bit of a transitional phase this year, we may find ourselves battling at the bottom (don't think we'll go down but could be in amongst it for a bit) and he's not really the man you want next to you if it's sleeves rolled up time...

Anyone heard anything new about the possibility of a new face before Wednesday? Given we have the possibility of adding someone to the European squad on Wednesday night, I'd have thought we'd have been looking to do at least one deal before then...

Point taken but would you believe a word that comes out of a football agent's mouth?? His public hints that he wasn't keen to move all the way up to Aberdeen won't have done any harm...

According to one of the papers this morning, Stephen Hughes will be signing for Hearts. No real surprise, I suspected that his "my wife and kid are settled" was a hint to Hearts that he wanted to stay in the central belt...

To be fair, Dailly probably would do a job for a few sides in the SPL. But although he's one of the experienced guys who has looked after himself, I still don't think he would come into the category of mobile players that Gannon says he is looking for. Does fit the versatile category though...

The stuff quoted in the Sunday Mail was in the NOTW as well, along with him speaking about how important the fans are at any club. He was basically saying how he feels a responsibility with transfers not to waste the fans' money. The suggestion that any signings will be reasonably short term until he can get our young players ready for regular first team action might explain the fact that Jennings is on a one year deal...

I wasn't necessarily saying that Craigan should be shipped out, just saying that if Gannon is looking at players he can improve, there is only one first team centre back that realistically falls into that category...

I'm sure the quote from the UEFA website has been posted a couple of times on this forum somewhere (I'm sure Wellfan1984 has posted it at least twice) that Friday was the deadline. I would be glad to be wrong. On the subject of Craigan, I tend to agree that he is the stronger of our two centre backs at the moment. But Reynolds will (or certainly should) improve over time whereas it could be argued that Craigan is as good as he will ever be and, at his age, his ability could be about to wane. Just playing devil's advocate. On the subject of applauding the full Motherwell support on Thursday, could it be argued that he was applauding the Motherwell support given the fact that they had made a very long journey to get there and he personally felt they deserved a bit of thanks? Particularly given the previous game? Perhaps he was aware of the support that he personally had had among Motherwell supporters following the previous week's criticism and wanted to say thanks? I just think it's a bad day when applauding the support is seen as ominous. Not like he threw his shirt into the crowd... EDIT On the point about the deadline, I rooted around and found what WF1984 posted on July 6th

I take it no-one came in today then? Have to say, I'm a bit disappointed as I thought we might have got one, maybe two, to bolster the squad for Albania. Looks like it'll be as you were with Jennings and potentially someone's name being added on Wednesday night...

As the day goes on (and I know we have til 11 tonight), it looks like you might be right...

The thought of the SFA closing at 5 had occurred to me as well. I would imagine that we could fax the registration to the SFA even if their offices were closed and UEFA might accept a copy of the fax as evidence...