steelboy

bit of a pish draw, this is our fifth cup game in paisley in the past ten years. doubly annoying as we're there on the saturday as well. it's a good chance to make a semi though and it'd be good to win twice against them in 4 days to shut up the st mirren P&B mongos.

i think clubs get to pick their own midweek dates. i'm sure i read about it on P&B about how particular clubs have preferences.

that's a ridiculous statement. it was only a year ago that he first broke into the team and we were all getting excited about him. since then his appearances have been limited and he has mostly played on the wing which imo doesn't suit him. he did well in europe in the summer and the times he has played through the centre this season are when we have looked most like scoring (2nd half St J, 1st half killie). he played quite well against aberdeen as well. i can't understand why gannon didn't bring him on sooner last night. mchugh was toiling after an hour and murphy looked bright when he came and caused ICT problems.

a very strange game. mchugh scored but after half time he wasn't involved at all yet yet managed to stay on for another 50 mins and murphy only got on because he mchugh got injured. lukas looked bright but suffered from playing out wide for large parts of the game. o'brien got their right back sent off then got subbed straight away. typical unpredictable game from gannon. i thought foran deserved his round of applause as well. he was a free transfer and we got 150k for him. he had a great goal scoring record. there was a debate about this fitness but here was never anywhere near the most unfit player at the club (fagan, paterson, mcgarry). he scored in two semi finals and most importantly for me he burst his arse in a lot of great away performances where we ended up with results through sheer hard work. he put in a great shift in every one of his last six games (killie, dunfermline, celtic, rangers, airdire, hibs) there is nothing for motherwell fans to be bitter about.

i don't think levien went out his way to nulify any of our players. big giles struggled a bit because he was being played out of position. united played their usual style it was us that pulled a bit of a flanker by playing 4 central midfielders.

permanent. they're going to play for free but they need digs. got a sofa bed?

not the best performance today but you can't turn your nose up at three points away from home. we were murder for the first half hour until jennings got booked (harshly) and gannon pulled him for lukas. after that we dominated the rest of the first half but after halftime we slipped again. that's the third away game in a row we've had to change the system in 45 minutes or less, let's hope we can start getting things right from the start soon. one bit of skill from o'brien and one amazing save from ruddy got us the points today. united fans probably walked away gutted but fuck them, i think we'll keep improving i'm not sure if they will. another poster commented on coke's performance and although i didn't think he matched his other performances he was played out of position today and that should be taken into account. the defence was superb today. yassin had a harder game than last week but did well. hammell had a couple of bad passes but had a good game and was involved in the build up to the pen. saunders was immense again and reynolds stuck a stake in the heart of the people who think he isn't a centreback.

the same thing could be said about arsenal, man u, chelsea and liverpool in the past five years. the moral of the story is young players are better off at smaller clubs.

aye but we're signing kaka and frank ribery in january so it should be a skoosh. hotd for this pish

this interview?

i think i'd be up for that but you'd have to put up with a lot of moaning from old firm fans (including the ones in the media) and the more miserable 'well fans due to their season tickets being devalued.

i was too busy intimidating celtic fans for any of that. when the second went we jumped into the row in front and grabbed the undercover tim in front of us and let him join right in our celebrations

i don't get the intimidation thing at all. how often do you see bother outside fir park, almost never. even going away to ibrox and parkhead i've never seen 'well fans having any bother in the areas around the ground. after the lappin game at parkhead we walked all the way up london road to brigdeton with me on the phone telling anyone who would answer about how we pumped celtic and there was no bother at all. i think any intimidation is more in the mind of the beholder than based in reality.

ruddy yassin saunders reynolds hammell hateley jennings coke o'brien murphy lukas i agree that forbes needs a rest so i'd bring in jennings who was superb in the second half against der h*n. i'd give murphy a shot up front as well as we've looked most likely to score (second 45 against st j and first 55 against killie) when he was up front. for all our good play against rangers and aberdeen we didn't make many chances so for me it's got to be two up top to maximise our chances of scoring. sutton was back to his tin man worst on saturday so i'd give lukas another go from the start as well. i'll predict a 1-0 'well with murphy getting the goal.

so we've got 2500 season ticket holders and only 700 odd people bought tickets for saturday. bit suprised by that i thought both figures would be higher. if 3000 people could get themselves to nancy a year ago it's a bit disapointing we can only get slightly more than that for a normal home game on a saturday. i think it shows our lack of appeal in the town as i've been suprised on my extensive european travels with the well over the last year how many people who travelled to those games aren't from motherwell.

the highest attendances are generally boxing day and new year. probably more guys allowed out the house then. i'm not sure how much more scope there is for improving attendance. scotland already has one of the best per capita attendance rates for top flight football matches.

there are 90 million people in germany. there are 5 million in scotland.

i thought he did well, davis is probably the best player in scotland and we kept him fairly quiet. novo also usually causes us problems and a shot from 18 yards at an angle isn't too much to worry about. if everyone was that critical of fullbacks rangers would be sacking steven whittaker due to the raping o'brien gave him. there are going to be chances in every game and there's always going to be something that we could have done better.

it's looking good at the back now. hutchison was outstanding in the killie game, craigan was superb against killie and particularly aberdeen and saunders put in the probably the best two performances of any of them in the past two games. reynolds also looked back on form on saturday and i think he proved that is his best position. i'd stick with reynolds and saunders for saturday but i think we'll be benefit from the rotation for the rest of the season. i thought hammell was good on saturday as well, he was solid at the back and got forwards loads. if him and o'brien strike up a good partnership down the left it'll be a huge asset for us. the two of them on one side with yassin and slane/humphrey rampaging down the other would have fullback all over scotland shiting it.

january when we went our unbeaten run? mcghee's way worked the first season, small squad with quality and we lucked out having no injuries all season. that was one of the best seasons ever. the second season the luck with injuries changed and so did our fortunes, the period from the middle of october to xmas ruined us but apart from that we did really well. for us the result of success is we get weaker. that's the cycle we're doomed to.

after pires and henry i don't think we'll be seeing that ever again.

i was never confident when we got it. mcgregor has a great record of saving pens and we had no one on the pitch who had scored one for us before. coke and jennings both looked they wanted to take it and i have been happy with either of them but o'brien has been great so you can't blame him for wanting it. it was a decent pen but a great save. mcgregor must have saved 7 or 8 pens in the last couple of years now.

delighted with the performance today. not actually that bothered that we didn't win because i think the benefits we'll get from that display over the course of the season will be far greater than 2 points. ruddy was excellent, the save from bougherra just before half time was superb. yassin was great he looks a total athlete and it'll be fun watching him galloping up to outside right over the next few months. saunders was my motm, he was totally assured and dominant in the air just as he was up at aberdeen. i thought hammell was good today as well, final ball could have been better but he got forward a lot and him and o'brien look like they could be a potent combo. also good to see reynolds back at centrehalf, great showing and definitely his best position. in midfield big giles and hateley were superb. how could hateley not have a club? he's a good athlete and a good passer of the ball and has a very smart head on him, what a signing. big giles is total class and it's actually sad watching him because you know if he keeps it up he'll be heading elsewhere at the end of the season. jennings looked like a different player when he came on and i think he'll contribute. good to see wee keith as well, totally commited as always and he'll be there when we need him this season. forbes had probably his most testing game and i thought he did well, he didn't get the chance to impose himself but he competed well. o'brien was electric and it might not be long until we see trapatoni at fir park. he was probably the only person in fir park who wanted him to take the pen but that's only small a blemish on an amazing start to the season. jamie murphy struggled against the big rangers defenders and the wing isn't his best position but he still did ok. sutton did the best he could but he clearly isn't cut out to play up front on his own, top marks for tracking back though. lukas showed more in ten minutes than he did in an hour at pittodrie last week. i was a bit critical of gannon's choices in the last few matches during the week but he got it spot on today. good to see hammell and lasley featuring, i think lasley getting on might have had something to do with gannon watching dvds of our last couple of home games versus the h**s during the week. gannon's next job is to figure out how to give us a bit more goal scoring threat, that looks like it could be our achilles heel this season and we could end up regretting not investing in a striker during the summer. the crowd was poor in general and in the cooper especially, if there are more well fans in the main then they should maybe consider putting OF fans back in the cooper for segergation. rangers were dire, stutgarrt will murder them. can't wait til dundee.

he was apparently on 2 or 3 times the money meldrum is getting at aberdeen. if/when we bring in a goal keeping coach it'll be someone gannon knows from dow south. he hasn't signed anyone from scotland yet so i don't think he'll start with leighton.

i don't think that's true. there always seems to be riots at basketball matches and europe and although there aren't many away fans in american sports there have been fights at ice hockey games recently and there are definitely a few baseball and gridiron stadiums where you'd get hassle for supporting the wrong team.