fizoxy

I think having the likes of McLean, fisher, Plummer and bowman available off the bench is such an improvement over last year. Particularly since we're still a couple of signings light and Frear is injured. Great result, this is the kind of game that can really get a new team going.

Maybe Tait kipre Ben dunne Cadden McHugh Bigi Rose Tanner Moult

Motherwell: Carson, Tait, Heneghan, Bigirimana, Cadden, McHugh, Moult, Rose, Dunne, Kipré, Tanner Not sure how that lines up

At some point st Johnstone will go the same way as the other smaller teams who have a good run of seasons, they will lose form, get a couple of injuries, lose their manager, and normal service will be resumed. They are probably due some regression.

I would like this, from the highlights I can only ever see who's good. I need to see the full games to know who's shite. Unless they're Zack Jules. We already record the whole games and provide commentary, so my guess is the hosting platform would be the stumbling block.

The system benefits clubs selling young Scottish players, but not Scottish clubs buying them. So instead of signing Scottish players in their early 20s to develop, we're loooking cross-border. It does look like we are putting more into developing our own, but they need to earn their place too. I'm pretty sure the manager and club would prefer to not have to sign external players, as it costs more. As said above, it is rare for more than a couple of guys to make the leap from u20 to being solid first team players, and when they do the clock starts ticking until we sell them.

I said that if we changed system (i.e. to 442) we could see Plummer in cos he is a left back, but that would mean one of the 3 main defenders missing out, so maybe dunne moving over would be more likely. Im assuming we will set up more defensively away from home. These go to penalties if necessary, right?

It's nice to think that one of our players is good enough that the opposition would pull shenanigans to keep him from playing against them. But he's not and they didn't.

I can see bigi for Rose (if fit) and fisher for moult (not sure if he's quite ready for two games in quick succession. I am assuming we will go with the same system, otherwise Plummer could be in for Rose.

Had him down as a C myself.

Don't think tait was asked to play right back, or has been this season.

Forgot to mention dunne. Now, I thought he was going to be total shite, but he was not bad today. Got a chance to show his world record pace a couple of times, and looked steady. Thought Ben was ok too. I'd agree with above, we need more of a threat up front, and the "pacy striker" would add something we don't have. Fisher and bowman were decent when they came on, and both made chances for themselves, but neither convince me as a starting XI option.

Ours was a penalty, there's was soft. After the close calls we had in the first half we were lucky to go in even, but made a decent number of half chances in the second. Bowman's effort was about as good as he could do from that angle, and I thought it was creeping in. I am not a fan of the million crosses theory though, half he time there was no one in there to attack them. We needed some kind of threat through the middle and we had nothing. Don't think anyone had a particularly bad game, tait had an almost impossible task and did relatively ok, and I'm a big fan of frear hugging that touchline. He was able to get to the byline a couple of times - but I'd agree that he needs another dimension. Moult is essentially getting to do his preseason work in competitive games, never looked like doing anything and could have been sent off. I'm not too discouraged by that game, didn't think rangers were particularly good, but they'll probably stroll 3rd. I do enjoy kipre walking through people like the kool-aid man.

I didn't know St. John's stats until I pulled my list together for this, ridiculous. Pat Quinn was also handy.

handing out paper forms at the games is a great way to get the older folk involved, as there are players who have played hundreds of games for us, and probably of a quality we couldn't even dream of having at the club these days, who could fall behind guys who had the bulk of their career away from us. Will be cool to see how it turns out either way. There used to be a good website done by a well fan that had a great player database, but I don't know what came of it. We also had a long drawn out hall of fame thing on here, but I think that was pre-regeneration. I think i could have an easier time listing the ten worst players.

I'd be interested in the opinions of some of our older fans, or those who have a better grasp of our history, as I'm sure most of the best players I have seen in person (from 1990 onwards) couldn't lace the boots of some of the guys I haven't. I'm going to research this one, maybe even read a couple of books. Or I'll just put in 10 of the cup winning side.

Really disappointed Marvin hasn't been sold yet, maybe he's the player we're trying to move on

Hard to judge with only the mixlr commentary to go by, but it sounded like we had most of the game and couldn't create any decent chances, instead went for hitting as many crosses as we could. Newell seemed to do well when he came on, and sounded like the persistent kind of forward we all like. Also good to see rose get the full game, and moult stretched out to 60 minutes. Not sure why we put mchugh at the back, hopefully just a way to get rose into a game. Really want Fisher to score soon, it seems that his timing/anticipation isn't up to scratch yet, which is disappointing as I thought he'd be the guy to hit the ground running after his finish to last season. Oh, and I feel that Frear and Tait could be our top assist providers this year, and I fancy them both to get a few goals each too.

Can we sign him just for the rangers game?

I thought it was cos of the wrestler too, but wrestling is my thing.

That's the best we're going to get, if he performs to the level we expect he prob won't even be here next season. However, depending on the situation we have an opportunity to offer him another deal next summer while he still has a year to go.

The only people I can think we may be talking to are moult, heneghan, and maybe Cadden. Everyone else is either new or hammell and McManus.

New 2-year deal for mchugh http://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/2017/07/26/mchugh-pens-contract-extension/

From the highlights so far this season it looks like the inter play between Cadden, tanner and Bigi could be fun to watch this year. Especially since their understanding is still developing. It is also encouraging that we have decent options on the bench, both as cover and for tactical switches. There is a definite change in the style of play from last year, in that we seem to have one, and from what I've seen it is more patient and focused on keeping the ball down. Some of the play is reminiscent of how I've seen the u20s play in the last couple of years. Now, there's the usual caveat of lower opposition, etc. but I'm more positive than I was this time last year, so that must count for something? Realistically fighting for 6th is probably the best we'll do, but I'll take hat for now.

Robinson raving about tanner in his post match interview