bobbybingo

Honest question: in what way have folk on here allowed their dislike of Rangers to override their support of Motherwell?

Maybe he doesn't show any more in training than he does on the pitch. Managers can be stubborn buggers, but given the run we're on, you'd imagine he isn't digging his heels in just for the sake of it. Jens persevered with Maswanhise too, presumably because he'd shown he could deliver, while others hadn't.

McGinn, Priestman & Hendry possibly available for the bench tomorrow.

👍

Hynd, Wallace and Watson being notable exceptions.

Players being brave is the only way we'll get back to anything approaching last season's style/success, but that's clearly not the natural instinct when you're on a run of results like this, for players or fans. Plenty of 'just hoof it' and 'stop fucking about with it' shouts to be heard last night.

I'm no speculating he gets sent off, I'm pointing out it wasn't just because he'd been booked. And yeah, we chucked 2 points away, points we fully deserved. No team can press constantly, so we were always going to be under pressure from long balls or crosses at the end. The players on the park need to take responsibilty for defending properly when that happens.

Because he got booked, was getting involved and they were at the wind up.

No, we didn't, and I take your point. The two Falkirk games, Dundee at Dens and Hibs at Fir Park were pretty poor performances, though, and there was a marked drop off from the middle third of the season, when we were flying in the league. There's a strong whiff of the morning after the night before around Fir Park just now (even the announcer sounds scunnered). Maybe this is the inevitable comedown, maybe Alfred and/or the new guys just don't have it. I'd prefer him to pull us out of this run, rather than having to look elsewhere again, but it surely has to happen in the next 3 games, if it's going to happen at all.

Our stats yesterday were better than the last time Hearts visited in every respect, other than goals, obviously. If you measure the stats from our first 10 league games this season against those from our final 10 under Jens, they almost mirror each other. During both runs, we took 8 points from a possible 30 and lost 18 goals. We've scored 1 less goal this time around. There's clearly more too it than just the numbers, but maybe this was coming, and we chose not to see it.

Any kind of win and any kind of goals, flukey or brilliant, needed in this one. If we kick on from there, fair enough.

Patience with who?

You're hoping for a defeat, then.

Would've been handy if Killie had scored 2 goals for us, as they have for Falkirk today.

Welsh & Just hooked at half-time, with Swansea 4-0 down.

Upgraded to an amber weather warning. We're halfway there.

The beauty of this league is, your next win can come from just about anywhere, same as your next defeat. We were flying before our last visit to Dens Park, picked up 1 point from the next 15, then won at Ibrox. Plenty of time to, hopefully, get back on track. Right now, an upturn in performance will be more important than the 3 points against Celtic. We'll see if that happens.

If there are other issues, I don't suppose it'll help. But surely respect should be earned by how he coaches, not how he played.

I suspect, more than expect, we won't replicate last season, because experience shows how hard that is, even with the same group of players. Our one victory at this stage last year came courtesy of the Aberdeen keeper having an injury time brain fart. Yeah, we'd undoubtedly been showing signs of being a very good side, but I recall a few folk on here questioning how long JBA would last without a win, and bemoaning our Tynecastle meltdown at 3 nil up. Things can change helluva fast. We need something to go for us again, because the team looks bereft of confidence, and that's a killer for our style of play.

They're a good bet for 3rd, which is the least their fans expect. I suppose success will be measured by how far behind they finish this year. As for Europe, good luck to them. They took a couple of real hammerings on the way, but credit where it's due for getting there in the end.

We'll see how they get on once the Thursday night games kick in. On the evidence so far, including tonight, they won't be replicating last season's league performance.

I don't see enough of Hearts to know how they're playing compared to last season, but statistically, they're 6 points behind where they were after 7 games.

If our players don't understand such a basic concept, we have a real problem.

You're not, but some are.

Suicide awareness.