The African

A win is a win, especially in a cup tie, so I will take that. Drawing Aberdeen is tough, but you have to play these teams at some point, and as someone else said, they will be more annoyed at the draw than us. We do seem to have lost our way a bit, since the good run of results before the break. I think we will miss the contribution of Watt and will find him difficult to replace. If someone is available to come into the squad and add to our attacking options, then we should go for it, but if a better option than what we already have is not available then we should just go with what we have got. Signing someone just for the sack of it shouldn’t be an option. Any word on what is happening with Lamie? Injured? Or just out of favour because of transfer talk?

I know it, and not the worst pub in New Plymouth. Just been sold for over $2million NZ. I am fairly sure that their Celtic affiliation is with the race rather than the football club. The previous owner was a Scot who didn’t want it to be seen as an Irish themed pub.

Same to you in Oz. I have to admit I was in bed an hour before the bells. Life is very quiet in rural Taranaki.

Tony Watt has turned out to be a really good signing for us, and we will undoubtedly miss his performances once he has gone. However, as others have said, better players than Tony Watt have left Motherwell, and we have survived. He leaves Motherwell a better player than he arrives, which in the great scheme of things , is a pretty good look for the club. How many of the other dozen or so clubs that Tony Watt has left would have said that they will miss him? I do think his time with us is up though, and best for all parties if we can agree a deal which is not taking the piss in terms of a fee, and move on

Honest question, do Dundee United have the money to put in an acceptable bid for Watt right now? I am firmly of the opinion that if we could something for him now, we should take it. The chances of him maintaining the standards he has set over the previous months after this distraction seem limited, and we could end up paying wages to a guy who is not going to feature in our squad on a weekly basis. The fact that this situation has alienated a proportion of the support only increases the likelihood of this, if he does stay until the end of the season. It is probably in the best interests of the club if we can move him on sooner rather than later,

Cannot help but feel that this fixture grows in importance with the fact that it now becomes the last game before the winter break. We are on a decent run so the three weeks off is coming at an unfortunate time for us. We looked to have three games where we could pick up points, now we just have this one. Stay focused and play as we have been and we can go into hibernation with over thirty points. Come untuck, put in a poor performance, and have plenty of time to dwell on our shortcomings. Which is the more likely outcome? One of the joys of being a ‘well fan for near enough fifty years is that, even now, I haven’t got a clue.

RIP to a player who was part of a group that have attained legendary status at our club. I am too young to have seen the Ancell Babes, but my late father spoke of them with such reverence that they must have been something to behold when in full flight and Willie McSeveney’s name was mentioned often. My respects and sincere thoughts are with his friends and family for their loss.

An interesting piece. He seems a very pleasant and well grounded individual. Hope things go well with him during his time at Fir Park.

I think there is a danger of clubs at our level not taking fixtures against the old firm seriously. We know they have a huge financial advantage, consequently can afford better players and therefore are better teams than us. Just take your medicine and move on to the fixtures that we are capable of getting something out of and which will define our season. As such, it becomes a bit of a self fulfilling prophecy that you have no chance against the big boys. Pragmatically it does make sense. Why risk guys who might not be fully fit in a virtually meaningless fixture? Fortunately, football is not only a pragmatic entity. They have no respect and a complete disregard for us, so I am all for making life as difficult for them as is possible. Let's make them work for their win bonuses. Set ourselves up to be hard to break down. Fight for everything, and see if they are really up for a scrap. Knock them off their stride and we do have players with pace who can trouble them on the break. As Lance Corperal Jones used to say " They don't like it up 'em!". Chances are we will still get studded, but I can accept that, just about, if I see a gameplan that has merit and a team giving their all for the cause.

Ah, Subbuteo. Brings back many happy memories of a simpler time.

Just fat fingers on an iPad, and typing while I watch the cricket on TV. Stone cold sober, so not an excuse I can claim!

Important game for us. If the supposedly second string players who put in a performance against Hearts can reproduce that form, it would auger well for the rest of the season. They are considered squad players because they have not been able to prove themselves consistent in the past ( or haven't been given the opportunity to do so). I hope the manager gives them the chance tomorrow. Another decent performance and result will go a long way to creating the competition for laces which is a key to success for aby successful team. Oyr performances against Dundee in the fixtures earlier this season should be enough for us to not take them lightly.

Seems fair enough. He has probably done as much for the club, in a key role, as anyone in the forty p,us years I have been a 'Well fan. With regard to some of the current criticism of the style of football being played, it should be noted that some of his teams were less than attractive on the eye for us football purists. They were obviously different times, where a manager was given time to develop a squad and build for the longer term. Not sure if that s possible in the here and now.

I am broadly in favour of anything to help officials get the correct decision. Having said that, the examples of video officiating and technology aiding umpires/ referees tend to suggest that they don't do away with controversial decisions, they simply change the dynamic of the game. As an example I would say that when VAR was brought into the Bundesliga, I was surprised by the number of soft penalties that were given. Also, the existence of the TMO in rugby still hasn't stopped a fair few awful decisions. Tries given when players are obviously and visibly in touch have still happened. The human element is still there and, as such, mistakes will still be made.

Get the major things right - tactics, formation, attitude - and we have a chance of taking something from the game. Get them wrong and we will get nothing. In that sense it really isn't much different from any other game we play. Concentrate on the things we can control and influence and, if we give it our best shot and it still doesn't go our way then that is football and we move on to the next game. It is only when we have done all we can to achieve a positive outcome that the piece of misfortune or a dodgy refereeing decision or two cease to be an "excuse" and become a " reason".

Hope the two points dropped doesn't come back to haunt us. As others have said, two nil up and twenty minutes to go at home, you should be taking all three points from there. Hopefully the manager can see that we need to change things or we could find ourselves in the relegation scrap.

The last three results now make this a very important fixture. A couple of weeks ago we were in the fortunate position of having discovered a winning habit. Three loses and we suddenly are staring down the barrel of a damaging losing streak. In a league where almost any team is capable of taking points in any fixture, a run of consistent bad results can very quickly land anybody in the mire. We had a fair amount of positive momentum but that is now gone. This fixture represents our best opportunity to address this situation and the manager has to realise this. I somehow doubt that he will have the inclination to change too much at this stage. As such, we are left hoping that we can take a couple of chances while hoping that we have fewer self inflicted wounds at the back. If not, the " same old same old" will result in the continuation of our bad run and with Rangers and then a trip to Aberdeen, I can easily see three defeats on the bounce becoming six and a major cause for concern.

Probably needed at least a brace against Celtic to have any chance of making the Scotland squad. He can now settle down and return to doing what he was doing so well for us before the last couple of games.

Will be interesting to see if O'Donnell starts in Moldova. He is a better defender than Patterson and we certainly don't want to find ourselves chasing the game there. The bigger issue might be who replaces the suspended Dykes. Also not convinced we know our best central defender combination.

Obvious to say it, but Bobby Ferrier is a most worthy addition to the Hall of Fame. I am just a little surprised that he was not inducted at the same time as George Stevenson, seeing as the pair were famed as a combination as much as for their individual abilities, but that obviously isn't how these things work and his inclusion is no less deserving because of that. The piece on the official website is excellent and well worth a read, but if you get the chance, look out for the obituary written by Bobby Ferrier's son which was included in the book written for our centenary by John Swinburne.

I think we have a decent chance of getting something from this game. They are nowhere near as good as they have been and we have certainly got a bit more about us then the last couple of years. A lot of it will come down to ounr attitude and whether we can limit them as an attacking threat. Hopefully we realise that playing for a draw will be a fool's errand. We need to put pressure on them and hope for a clinical day in attack. We will probably need a couple of goals to get a result. As for David Turnbull, I am a little old for pantomime so giving him abuse for simply being an ex Motherwell player seems unwarranted. However the idea of any sort of orchestrated outpouring of thanks and appreciation is not necessary. He has shown a certain amount of class in the past and was an excellent player for us, but he is no longer our player and, as such, doesn't require any special treatment.

Hopefully just a bump on the lad to better things. Our good run was bound to end sometime and throw in the fact that Tynecastle has, in my experience,never been a happy hunting ground for us together with the curse of manager of the month, and this result isn't too much of a surprise. Still, our performance wasn't completely awful so hopefully it doesn't result in a downward spiral in terms of results. Hopefully we get a positive reaction in our next fixtures.

I appreciate that I may not be the normal audience for this sort of thing. As such, can someone please explain what it is that someone in Lawless's position gains from something like this? Are young players not advised as to the dangers of engaging in social media without engaging their brains? Lots to lose and nothing to gain.

This game has potential disaster written all over it. I hope I am wrong but throughout my years of supporting Motherwell, we have too often ended a good run with a poor performance and result in a fixture we should have expected better. I know all good runs come to an end eventually. I just hope we can keep this going a bit longer. As it is, I officially have the fear.

I'm guessing he made their Hall of Fame on the back of being part of the squad which won the Premier League. They only used something like thirteen players in thirty six games. As I get older, I think I tend to be less critical. It could not have been easy trying to play up front for some of those Tommy Mc Lean sides of the mid to late eighties. He certainly believed in the principal of building a side from the back, and trying to be hard to beat, rather than exciting to watch.