MelvinBragg

I bear no ill will to Charles Dunne. Always gave 100% when he played. While not the best defender we've seen at Fir Park, he was far from the worst. I don't know how much he would have played had he stayed given both Lamie and McGinlay can play left centre half so probably a good move for both club and player. With the number of players leaving, it frees up a fair bit of the wage budget for the 7-10 signings that Alexander says we're after. Like others, I'd hope that one is a starting midfielder and one a starting centre half...

As I've said elsewhere on here, Lafferty is 34 this year. Comes into the getting on a bit category...?

Lafferty will be 34 in September and while he has done reasonably well at Kilmarnock, during the recent game at Fir Park he was unable to outpace and get away from Ricki Lamie. It's a no from me on that account alone. Could I warm to him? Tricky but not as tricky if we were to sign Paul McGowan...

So what you're saying is both managers inherited shite squads and that Alexander turned it around and Wright didn't? Was the squad Wright inherited noticeably worse than the one that Alexander did?

Interesting with Martin Foyle away to see how it effects our recruitment this summer. I'm sure we'll still be targeting the English lower leagues and non leagues but although he had a mixed record, Foyle did manage to unearth a few good players...

I'd argue that the 93/94 team were definitely better. Case could be made for 2012/13 team. Thing with cups is that the best teams don't always win them...

The two teams that spring to mind are the 93/94 team and the 2012/13 team. The 93/94 team was better than the 94/95 team despite the fact they finished 3rd rather than 2nd. The 2012/13 team could be breathtaking, beating Celtic comfortably at Fir Park twice in three months. The cup defeats that season were 2-0 at Ibrox in the league cup to a third division Rangers team and losing a third round Scottish cup replay at Fir Park to an Aberdeen team that we then scudded 4-1 a fortnight later in the league with Fraser Kerr and Zaine Francis-Angol at full back. Celtic won the Scottish Cup that year, fair enough but St Mirren won the league cup with Craig Samson in goal...

What is more frustrating is that there have been better Motherwell teams since that have failed to get anywhere close...

Who was released last week?

Have I travelled back in time to October?

Perhaps Gallagher's attitude has been stinking the place up in training. Some players even running a contract down will give their all, others won't. Perhaps Alexander felt Gallagher wasn't in the right frame of mind?

Mugabi wasn't even on the bench last night so I assume he was injured...

Try and look upon it as a positive. The wages freed up by Gallagher, Campbell, Polworth, Seedorf, Chapman and others leaving at least gives us scope for the rebuild required. In the case of Seedorf, Chapman and Polworth (together with Nolan and Harry Smith) you're freeing up wages without really weakening the matchday squad...

It is a sad indictment that simply by looking like he cared that Tony Watt is most people's player of the year. Cole and Kelly have both been good since January, had Kelly played since Auguat or Cole's form been better since then, Watt probably would have had them as competition....

Euan Murray and Dom Thomas losing out in Championship playoff...

Haven't really reacted that well to Kilmarnock's changes. That's a concern..

Granted it's not saying much but playing as well as we have in a while. Given we've been playing shite and winning, we'll probably lose...

There are literally no other attacking options available to put on the bench assuming Seedorf is unavailable or persona non grata...

Can make five subs remember...

Lineup is a strange one, looks like 442 to me.. Kelly O'Donnell Galkagher Lamie McGinlay Lawless Foley Campbell Hastie Cole Long Unless he's going with the wacky Lawless in a midfield three idea again. Frankly the selection of Hastie given the relative unimportance of the game is bizarre...

Start with the 244 formation that finished the game on Saturday. Might lose but might get some entertainment ..

Gave it to Watt as his introduction turned the game around. But was also impressed by O'Donnell. Didn't see the Morton or Accies games but gather he was decent in both. Maybe the shift to 352 helps him or maybe the security of a two year contract has settled him. Probably captain next season...

Maybe it's nonsense, but over 30 years of watching Motherwell tells me that if we had won on Saturday then Rangers would have gone through last night. Could we, in a one off game, have beaten the other teams left in the cup? Sure but we could easily have lost to each of them as well. The thought of losing to St Mirren in a cup final doesn't bear thinking about... To be honest, this is the one season that I'm not too bothered. The main joy in Motherwell winning a trophy would be the collective joy. With no fans being there, it would be a pretty hollow victory. I'd probably enjoy it on the day but there wouldn't be those memories that you'd be talking about years later. But maybe that's just me...

McGinlay was never as bad as some made out. Don't think there's a lot between him and Carroll. Carroll's delivery is slightly better. Can see us keeping both of them as long as they aren't among the higher earners...

We are second best, no doubt. But very noticeable how easily the St Mirren players hit the deck...