Well 4 Europe

Yes and remind me how many Motherwell fans turned up for this? Put a lot of extra bums on seats did it? Erm, no.

Couple of points I'd like to pick up. Firstly McFadden won't put many if any on to the gate for this game if he did sign. The only folk that care about him would be the core Motherwell support who'll all be there regardless on Thursday. I can't think of a Motherwell fan I know that wouldn't go to a Motherwell Levante Europa League game but would turn up just to see McFadden maybe make a cameo appearance off the bench at some point. Secondly how fucking retarted do you think some people are? They may be simple enough to believe this 'Faddy coming home' nonsense but why would they rush out and buy a ticket? They have up until the day of the game to buy one and if they're that desperate just to see McFadden then they can wait and see if he signs. McCall did say in the next day or so, why not wait till Monday? The idea that there's people out there who don't care about going to see Motherwell in a massive European game but will suddenly jump at the chance to go and see Faddy possibly play a small part is ridiculous. It was, in my opinion of course a throwaway line. A 10 minute odd interview in which at some point McCall was asked a harmless question by a journalist if McFadden was a possibility. McCall didn't even bring it up as some on here seem to think and even said it was unlikely but he'd ask. He even said it in a ''the cheeky scamp is still kicking about I'll try and twist his arm and get him to pull the boots on again lol'' type way. It has been taken out of context and with social media being what it is today it spread quickly. I don't think there's much chance he's going to sign but I think people are reading too much into it what was said. It was a nothing line.

Could someone explain how the supposed signing of McFadden will sell us more tickets for Thursday's game? Thanks in advance. x

From Raman Bhardwaj twitter. Fuck knows how reliable it is and despite the fact it's been done to death it's still more interesting than talking about Dazzer and Jennoe*. *© Dazzer

1). Calm down love. 2). We were just as shite if not worse against County with yer boy Humphrey starting. 3). I never slagged Humphrey, I was merely pointing out your flawed logic. Which you didn't even try and defend instead you just threw the toys straight out the pram. 4). I actually like Humphrey for what he is but unlike you who's clearly his agent/relative/mate I can see his obvious flaws and limitations. 5). I've seen you dish out plenty of stick on here to the likes of Higdon & Murphy so stop taking the moral high ground when folk have a go at your boy(although no one really has). Give it rest, if you have an emotional attachment to a player a fans fourm is not the place for you. Last thing I'm going to say on the matter to stop this thread from being derailed even further.

Yer boy Humphrey wasn't good enough to even hold down a regular starting place in an SPL team last season, what does that make him? An average league 2 player?

Although he's played well in Centre Mid so far this season he gets caught up doing the donkey work far too much for my liking and seems to be doing the Jennings role of dropping deep to get the ball and thus taking him out of the areas he's most effective(essentially the final third). One of the reasons for our lack of goals/chances so far is our most creative and probably best attacking player is sitting far too deep and we're limiting his creativity. No coincidence that our goal on Saturday came from Law getting forward into the final third and getting into the box to set up the goal. Something he can't do as often as last season beacuse of his defensive responsibilties in the middle of the park. Remember he got something like 7 goals and 10 assists last season from a more advanced position but we're sacrificing his creativity by playing him in an area of the park where he won't be able to influence the attack as much, in my opinion. A lot of our best work last season went through him and I'd like to see him further forward on Saturday. If I were McCall on Saturday I would move him back to the left with another ball winner next to Lasley be that Ramsden/Carswell etc. Humphrey back at right wing as we badly miss him the width he offers us. Then you can pick from either Higdon/Murphy/Ojamaa/McHugh for the front two.

Yes. Hammell's wrong side and puts him arm over Miller's shoulder and appears to drag him back. Looked a pen to me. Not sure about the red card as it's up for debate whether Miller would have got to the ball before Randolph but if Brines feels there was a chance he was going to get there first then Hammell had to go.

Davidson was Hutchinson's man. MFC TV showed it from a different angle and Hutchinson is picking him up and ends up a good 3 or 4 yards away from him when he scores. Switched off and has take a large amount of responsiblity for the goal. Should never have been allowed such an easy free run to the front post.

I actually thought Ojamaa done more than Murphy today, even allowing for the fact he played 40 mins less. Coudln't believe McCall took him off and left on Murphy. Then again I couldn't believe McCall waited for so long after the red card to put a left back on..

No offence to the lad but I hope this isn't Fraser Kerr. We've already got decent defensive cover even with Saunders out and hopefully McCall can see we're lacking more in other areas.

Can only really say I'm honestly proud to tell people I've seen my wee team play in the Champions League. Something I never thought I'd see and something we probably will never see again. As for the result, dissapointing but what do you expect? They had French International who could list off Newcastle, Juventus & Lyon amongst his former clubs marshalling their defence. We had an teenagaer playing his 2nd competitive game & a free transfer from Bradford in our defence. Their budget outsrtips us tenfold and we were never going to really compete, we really needed to take our chances(the few we did have) and we didn't. Don't think 5-0 really reflects the players efforts over two legs but that's football. I've seen us pumped out the cup by lower league dross, finish bottom of the SPL, nearly go out of business & sadly lose a few good men over the years. So forgive me if I'm not going to lose any sleep abouts us getting put out the Champions League by a club the size of Panathinaikos. Actually quite shocked by a few of the comments in the shoutbox earlier which were hopefully just heat of the moment. Well done Motherwell, no shame in admitting you gave it your all but were just beaten by the better team. I'll look back at this experience with fondness, particulalry the buzz about the place before the first game and the atmosphere throughout. Probably the best I've ever heard at Fir Park, my only gripe is that we never managed to score but never mind. On to St.Johnstone on Saturday and hopefully we find our shooting boots for that.

Been saying that for ages myself mate.

I agree that County set out to nullify us however I don't entirely agree about your last sentence. He wasn't particularly good but our best spell came when he and latterly McHugh came on in the last 15 or so mins. County had done ther homwork and rather than hunting down the ball from our defence they were more than happy to let us have possesion and sit in their two banks of 4. We had to nowhere to go as the ball would go out Humphrey who was doubled up on, he would play it back to Hateley who put it in the box where it was Higdon against their entire defence most of whom were 6''2 plus and happy to be dealing with crosses into the box. Then it would go out to Daley on the other side and he would come inside into traffic and play it back to Hammell who would then play it back to the defence who would just lump it forward again playing into County's hands as Munro & Boyd were dominating in the air all day. This was the way of it till Ojamaa and McHugh came on in the last 15 mins. They were trying to stretch the defence and drag the big centre halfs into areas they didn't want to go. The last wee spell of the game was the only time I thought the County defence looked a bit suspect as Ojamaa and later McHugh were starting to stretch them and this was creating space for others like Hateley, Law & Lasley who were all popping up closer to the County goal than they had for the previous 70 odd minutes. I know the game naturally starts to get stretched around this time but I thought we looked most dangerous when Ojamaa and latterly McHugh came on to give more support to Higdon and were causing the big centre halfs problems, they hate playing against these small hard working forwards who are going to nip at their heals and drag them about the pitch and get in behind them. However yesterday I think McCall played right into their hands by making it a slog between Higdon and their centre halfs and I wish he'd changed it sooner as I feel despite how poor we were we could have gotten all three points. Had Ojamaa or McHugh even started next to Higdon I think it could have made a difference. Higdon isn't mobile we know that and their centre halfs would have been happy he was playing and Murphy for me doesn't offer the same support as the other two as he prefers to drop a bit deeper and pick up the ball and run at players, how many times yesterday did he make a run beyond the defence? I can't remember one all game even Daley when he switched to up top seemed to be trying to get in behind more. We needed in my opinion someone like Ojamaa who could have dragged the centre halfs out of position or spun in behind to get them running towards their own goal. Some more movement and urgency was needed to try and break through and I don't think that Ojamaa's movement on Tuesday that created a lot of the space that players like Law & Lasley were running into got the credit it deserved. Folk were more concerned with giving him pelters(some justified some not im my opinion) for giving the ball away and not squaring that chance to Murphy than giving him any sort of credit for the hard work he done for the team. He creates space with his hard work and movement and yesterday for me we had nobody moving or showing for the ball or trying to create space and we kept running into the big Ross County shaped brick wall for most of the game. * I would like to point out at this stage I'm a big fan of McCall and what he's done for us however I think at times he can wait too long to make his subs when it's clear the game needs changing. Not always but sometimes he can be a bit too cautious in changing things and that yesterday he got it wrong in my opnion. I STRESS just my opinion and this will be the last I say on the matter as it's starting to turn into a bit of a rant even though I don't intend it to be. EDIT- I'm glad you can see where I'm coming from, reading back it looks like I'm going mental and ranting a bit but I'm just a bit frustrated with yesterday's performance.

I wouldn't believe anything said on here in all honesty, probably a load of shite. Yes however.. In any case the sentence " thought that either through inexperience or greed, Henrik messed up a few of our scoring opportunities" kind of proves my point, he may have messed up a few chances but he creates a lot of chances through his own work. He does need to improve on his end product which is not at it's best at the minute but we look much more dangerous with him in the team on Tuesday and the last twenty on Saturday than we did without him in my opinion. Just to step away from becoming a 'Steelboy' type Daley basher I thought he done alright in the last 15 or so mins against Panathiaikos. However Murphy had ran the full back ragged for most of the game and Daley's pace caused him a few problems due to his tiredness. However again I could back to how well Murphy played on the left on Tuesday and I still don't know why McCall shifted him from there on Saturday but I fear I may be repeating myself.

Okay but you didn't really answer my question, in what way was removing Ojamaa and putting in Daley going to increase our chances of beating Ross County? It isolated Higdon, Murphy was lost wandering the ptich in several positions and Daley was just Daley and added little to the team. We looked disjointed and lacking in creativty or any sort of fluency. For me it was nothing to do with the oppostion and more to do with McCall dropping Ojamaa for Daley. He didn't change the shape of the team or the way we tried to play it was basically a like for like swap in terms of switching one forward for another and thus forcing McCall to tinker the team further to accommodate Daley. He was out on the left and fairly innefective and Murphy who I thought was very promising on the left on Tuesday was shunted inside and got lost amongst the land of giants in the County defence. In my opnion for one reason or another McCall dropped Ojamaa and in doing so messed with the balance of the team that looked good against Panathinaikos as I tried to explain in my previous post.

I think we suffered from McCall pissing about with the tactics. Why after the way we played aganist Panathinaikos would you want to tinker with the team? I know a few folk were having a go at Ojamaa but he did cause their defence a few problems on Tuesday and much like the Everton game you could see his intelligence in the way he's still finding space in the right areas he's just not being as productive as he was. Whether that's down to sharpness as Weeyin suggests or just short of a bit of confidence I don't know but he didn't deserve to be dropped in my opinion. For Me Humphrey---------------- Murphy ---------------Ojamaa ---------------Higdon Is our best front 4 with Lasley and Law in the centre. Yesterday he had Murphy starting up front, moving to the left wing and finishing on the right wing. He had Daley on the left and up front. He had Humphrey on for too long as he was probably the poorest of the front 4 yesterday and all this pissing about left Higdon isolated with no support. Until Ojamaa came on and although he didn't set the game alight he caused problems and it was no coincidence our best spell of pressure came when Ojamaa came on. He got close to Higdon, he made runs off him and he got the ball down and run at the County defence. We were far better when Ojamaa came on and he MUST start for me next week as even though he's not firing on all cylinders he still brings a lot to the team. He acts as a link between the midfield and Higdon which we missed badly for spells yesterday and he is an intelligent player who's constant running may not always benifit himself but it does create more space for others. Hopefully he can get a few goals soon and get back to his best.

Hutchinson? He obviously didn't learn his lesson from Tuesday night as he gave away at least 3 or 4 identical free kicks again today by battering through his opponent trying to get the ball. He needs to learn he can't win the ball every time and when to stand his ground. That's not mentioning his crazy hacked clearance across the face of his own goal. Thought Lasley had a shocker after his game on Tuesday and to be honest no one stood out.

Poor performance, poor game.

Seen on twitter that Saunders is waiting on a knee op so it would make sense.

Ojamaa reminds me very much of Skippy when he first at Fir Park. A bit of a rough diamond but you can see a good player there. He was also selfish and often ignored his teamates at times and often went for the glory himself. He was however a far better player when he left Fir Park than the one that joined. He's a young lad Henrik but he's got so much potential. He has as mentioned above fantastic movement and you can see him become frustrated when he makes good runs and is not picked out. He can beat a man, he's quick, he's strong and can score goals from nothing. Above that he's also aggresive, good workrate and seems to have a real hunger to succeed. He can be selfish, he can make the wrong choice and try a be the hero too often but folk weren't complaining when it came off.. When he first game in he was lauded for taking games by the scruff of the neck. At a time when we were going backwards and were desperate for someone to take charge and change things he came in and did it. Most people agree that him turning the match at Tannadice in our favour and rescuing a point was a turning point in our season and from then an Ojamaa inspired period saw wins against Dunfermline(home & away), Hibs, Hearts & St.Johnstone. That went along way to securing third spot. He then hit a wall as most young players too and tailed off slightly but sill managed another three goals before the end of the season and a number of decent performances. He's only just turned 21 and has only played 50 odd games in his profesional career. I would ask the fans to stick with him as for me he has the potential to be a cracking young player when irons out a few flaws in his game. He's young he'll only learn and improve with experience. Success can be a double edged sword. People begin to expect too much and to me he seems to be trying too hard as if he needs to live up to expectations and be the hero again. Whether he just wants to be or thinks he needs to be I'm not too sure. However he needs to learn to improve his decision making, where to go alone and when to pass but as I say that'll come with experience. I think Ojamaa has the potential to be a cracking player and I look forward to him continuing his development at Fir Park.

Law for me just edging out Las.

Nicky Law for me, him and Lasley were the best two on the park for us. Signs of a very good balanced partnership.

Yeh the club have played a blinder here. Folk were moaning at the price of tickets but we should rake in more than £200,000 from tonight's game. Which could be vital for us. Can't wait for tonight, going to be a brilliant atmosphere.

I believe any Scottish club signing him would need to pay compensation, hence why nobody seems willing to take a punt on him.