MelvinBragg

No, I just wish he'd done it behind closed doors...

Hughes is a decent player and will probably look better surrounded by the right blend of players. I still have my suspicions that he should be playing right midfield in the SPL because his tackling's not quite tough enough for a centre midfielder. On occasions this season he has been a Brian Kerr clone as others have said. On Saturday, for the first half he played between St Mirren's back four and midfield and was picking up a lot of second ball from their defenders clearances. But when they wised up in the second half, he didn't seem to be able to find the space to make a difference...

I think you'll find I wasn't his biggest fan last season either. But on this occasion, what I simply meant was the fact that he talks tough on a lot of topics instead of just getting on with it. Saturday's mind games. Last summer's Malcolm has to let us know then giving him until the plane was on the tarmac for Austria. His pursuit of Kennedy, Webster and others. Just shut up and get the job done...

How the hell has Stephen Hughes got as many votes when he didn't touch the ball in the second hald until after we were 2-0 down??? First half he did very well picking up the ball in between their midfield and back four. Second half (not for the first time), he was nowhere to be seen...

Key players for next season are Clarkson, Quinn and O'Brien. Clarkson and O'Brien are the only two players with any semblance of pace at the club (I'm excluding Murphy as I think it's laughable to consider him a first teamer yet). And Paul Quinn is the most natural defender we have at the club. What I'd like to see is Saunders get a game at right back for the next games and Quinn get a run at centre back. His distribution and pace is better than Craigan's, and he's tougher than Reynolds. Could do worse than giving him the armband back as well. The other players that are on our books at the moment? There are those I'd like to stay, but I don't think I'd break my heart if any of them left...

Have we not all learned from this weekend one thing. McGhee talks a good game...

Thank you, I didn't have time to type all of that. On the money every word of it, though...

Clarkson. If everyone else had his appetite for a fight...

Kind of similar to what Fatcalf says, I get the impression that McGhee has eleven players he wants to pick and he'll shoehorn them into a formation rather than try and find a balance in the team...

I'm sure there will be a few who sigh wearily when they see my name appear here. But I have a few points to make. McGhee is not a bad manager. But neither is he the font of football knowledge that many profess him to be. He gets cut a lot of slack because he talks a good game. However there are a few areas that could use some work. Team Selection Why for big games does he feel the need to play the team in a shape or positions that are totally alien to them? Four examples. CIS Cup vs Rangers last season. Went with Ross McCormack as a lone target man and played 4-5-1 against a Rangers team in order to combat the threat from their right back. Nancy at home. Stephen Hughes at right wing back and three at the back. St Mirren in the Cup. One up front at home in the cup against a team we should be beating at home. Today. Hammell at left midfield? It's an idea that a few have touted but was today really the day to try it out. Was this all to nullify the threat of Ross and Dorman? And for the second home game in a row, the midfield battle was being lost at the start of the second half yet no noticeable changes were made. Darren Smith and Jamie Murphy have both been used very sparingly this season despite these players having scored crucial goals for us in the last twelve months. McGarry starts despite his last useful contribution being in 2007. Marc Fitzpatrick being benched despite being a key part of our good run. Just questions that need to be answered... Signings Porter - Fantastic signing Hughes - Good s Neilson/Krysiak/Daniels - Not much to say Mensing - Wasn't given a chance Malcolm - Waste of money Grabban - Pointless signing O'Brien - Good signing when eventually used Klimpl - Decent if unspectactular signing. Not as good as some are making out. Sheridan - Better than DL Smith or Murphy? Hasn't shown himself to be. Hammell - Decent signing. Not great reading, is it? I'm not saying he should resign (I maybe was at 20 past two today ), but he needs to take a long hard look at himself. He's getting an easy ride from a lot of people...

I'll carry him. Where do you want me to drop him off...?

I don't know. One off play off, neutral venue, be like a cup tie. That might get the juices going a wee bit...

I'm assuming you're basing this on the theory that whoever is in the bottom 6 will have easier games? Never going to happen. Whoever is seventh on Sunday night will be lucky to win one more game this season. A team with nothing to play for against five teams under threat of relegation? I know you can argue that whoever gets the sixth spot in the top six will be playing against five other teams with things to play for but at least that team will have their own motivation...

I don't have a problem necessarily with what he said, but it should have been said behind closed doors to the players, not bandied about to give St Mirren any more motivation. My other concern is that other than a couple of occasions, when he builds these games up, the team tends to come out a bit flat...

Speedie was the one who spotted it during the Aberdeen game when he noticed my lacklustre celebration after our goal. As for pushing a pram, you haven't seen the size of my boy recently. Trying to get him into a pram would be like trying to get an alsation into a poly bag...

Therein lies the problem, big man. I've rarely felt mistreated or hard done to by the club off the field. I know others have, but it's never affected me directly. I know that sounds selfish, but that's not what's spoiling my enjoyment of the games. I don't know what is causing me to feel this way about it. If I knew that, I could talk myself out of this frame of mind. Cos, quite frankly, not bothering my arse whether I go to Fir Park or not is a scary state of mind for me to be in...

It's with a degree of sadness that I answer no. There are no financial reasons behind my decision. I had a conversation with someone during the Aberdeen game and the phrase I used was "it's just kind of lost its appeal". My friend interrogated me as to whether it was the cost, the quality of fare on show, my obvious dislike for McGhee or even the paint on the steps (he actually asked this tongue in cheek, I assume). I could give him no reasons. Having thought about it since, I would have to say that part of me has kind of fallen out of love with the Well. Or perhaps, more accurately, I've fallen out of love with the experience of watching the Well. This alarms and saddens me as for as long as I can remember, going to Fir Park was an experience I looked forward to and enjoyed. Now? Saturday against St Mirren is being touted as a masssive game for Motherwell, but right now I could take it or leave it. I'm kind of hoping that something will spark the flame again soon...

I think this probably hits the nail on the head for me. I'm seen (rightly, I confess) as a very harsh critic of McGhee. Possibly his harshest on this forum. That's not to say that I can't see the various good things he has done while in charge of the club. Possibly I overstate a lot of my criticisms of him (valid as they may be) in order to be heard over the sycophancy that prevails. I've said on this forum before that I've never known a Motherwell manager to be so exempt from scrutiny from a vast majority of the support never mind criticism. Had a previous manager decided to try Paul Quinn in centre midfield, decided in the club's first European game for some years to suddenly try a formation the team hadn't played in years or, to go back to his first season, chosen a winnable league cup tie against Rangers to try Ross McCormack leading the line with Clarkson on the wing and Porter on the bench, then questions would have been asked. The decision to award Bob Malcolm a contract has barely raised an eyebrow, strange given the value for money he represents. Hindsight is great, I know, but other managers have been judged on such decisions. Even our most recent game, despite what Flow says, Neil was correct in pointing out that the game was drifting away from us thanks to Aberdeen changing their shape. We didn't adapt and I believe that had Considine not been sent off, a defeat could have been on the cards. No one asks why McGhee struggles to change the shape of the team to a postive effect in a game in the way that Calderwood can. McGhee brought Clarkson off the bench against Dundee United recently and Clarkson duly won us the game. Bringing on your best striker against a tiring defence is hardly tactical genius. I struggle to think of an occasion where McGhee's thinking out of the box has won us the game. I realise this has turned into what seems like a litany of criticism once again from me and for that I apologise. McGhee has us playing good football and his record at Motherwell is a good one. I just don't feel he should be exempt from criticism as many on this forum seem to. As I've said, perhaps that's why I feel the need to voice my criticism so loudly. So at least some (reasoned and semi-thought out) dissenting opinions are heard. As Big Stall says, and on this I agree with him, it's all about opinions...

Not if it calls into question any decision by McGhee. You not know that, Bob...?

Without wishing to go against the grain, I know that Peat tends to talk a lot of rubbish but on this occasion he might have a point (though as usual he overstated it). On several occasions this season, I've come out of Fir Park lamenting the fact that neither goalkeeper has had much to do. For what it's worth, I think there are a couple of reasons for this. Teams in the SPL are much of a muchness and often cancel each other out. And there is a climate of fear in football where the main aim seems to be to avoid defeat. Let's look at the Co-op Cup Final where both Rangers and Celtic started with one up front. McGhee can quote statistics about goals scored all he likes, but the quality of the product on offer in the SPL is not great. Whether the head bummer at the SFA should be admitting this, or talking up Scottish football is another matter. But don't let the facts get in the way of another opportunity to kiss McGhee's arse...

For what it's worth, I think the momentum was lost even before Aberdeen were reduced to ten men. When Aluko was brought on and Aberdeen changed their shape, they suddenly had control of the game. A case could have been made at that point for bringing on Fitzpatrick for McGarry in order to try and shut off some of the space in midfield. But nothing was done. Like or loathe Calderwood, one thing he is capable of doing is changing the shape of his team if things aren't working. McGhee has his qualities, but he seems to lack the ability to change the shape or emphasis of his team during a game. That failing cost us two points today, and quite frankly had Aberdeen not been reduced to ten men, it could have cost us three. Top six is pretty much gone for us, and Europe is a pipe dream. We now have to concentrate on planning for next season. Maybe time to see more of Jamie Murphy and others, in order to see if they have what it takes to cut it in the first team or try some different formations. We won't go down so what do we have to lose...?

No matter how often he seems to play, McGarry seems unwilling or unable to find the fitness levels he had at the start of season 2007/2008. Yet he seems to be the only player cut a degree of slack by some supporters regarding his fitness. I can only imagine what suppositions would be made about his lifestyle should Quinn be blowing out of his arse after 50 minutes of football... EDIT I'd have to say that O'Brien, McLean and Clarkson were the pick of the bunch today. A bit worrying that when Clarkson isn't there, none of the forward line seem to want the ball...

While I would agree that Clarkson isn't an international class footballer, he has an international goal to his name unlike McCormack, Fletcher and Iwelumo. Two caps and one goal suggest that it might be more worth having him on the bench than any of those three. In an ideal world, none of these players would be in the Scotland team (yet, maybe in the case of Fletcher and McCormack), but we don't live in an ideal world, do we...?

Not in the slightest. Just trying to dampen down the Klimpl bandwagon...

Without wishing to be controversial (as if?), if people have got such a hard on for us qualifying for Europe through the fair play place surely they should be lobbying for McGhee to drop Maros "Mr Yellow" Klimpl?? Just a thought...