Motherwell v Dundee 20/12/2025

[grizzlyg]

1 hour ago, Faddyisgod said:

Why are people worried about what Ian McCall thinks? He’s a nobody 🤣

Exactly,  grizzlyg says......'ignore the prick'

[grizzlyg]

24 minutes ago, grizzlyg said:

Exactly,  grizzlyg says......'ignore the prick'

Though to be honest on some nights oot Mrs Grizzly says the same 🤣🤣

[The African]

I am finding it ironic in the extreme to hear of Ian McCall, of all people, complaining of anyone being "disrespectful" in any context whatsoever. I just ask myself how respectful was he being when he shat in Simon Stainrod's shoe?

[grizzlyg]

35 minutes ago, The African said:

I am finding it ironic in the extreme to hear of Ian McCall, of all people, complaining of anyone being "disrespectful" in any context whatsoever. I just ask myself how respectful was he being when he shat in Simon Stainrod's shoe?

Game....set.......and match 🤣🤣

[purestate]

Still buzzing after today’s result.  Ok the performance maybe wasn’t as good as some games but having watched  FB/insta clips from media team it reinforces JBA comments about not getting frustrated - its obvious that players are totally bought into his system and approach and got the rewards for perseverance. 

In summary, it’s just a great time to be a Well fan  

 

[texanwellfan]

Any word on why no Gordon today? Perhaps complete rest since, I assume, he will be playing against Celtic? 
 

[wellfan]

Our final ball and finishing were crap for large spells, but that’s nothing new. Overall though, it was a professional performance and we got the job done. If we can hold onto our key players and sign a striker who knows where the goal is in January, we’re winning the league.

[FirParkCornerExile]

17 minutes ago, wellfan said:

Our final ball and finishing were crap for large spells today, but that’s nothing new. Overall though, it was a professional performance and we got the job done. If we can hold onto our key players and sign a striker who knows where the goal is in January, we’re winning the league.

Correct, I'm surprised to hear some Motherwell fans saying we were poor yesterday. I think it's just our expectations have risen so much. We played well today but Dundee set out to frustrate, not to match us and yeah the final ball was poor at times however had we played like that last season we'd all be saying how good we were. 

[joewarkfanclub]

46 minutes ago, FirParkCornerExile said:

Correct, I'm surprised to hear some Motherwell fans saying we were poor yesterday. I think it's just our expectations have risen so much. We played well today but Dundee set out to frustrate, not to match us and yeah the final ball was poor at times however had we played like that last season we'd all be saying how good we were. 

Like you say its about expectations.

Only the first 20 minutes were poor, with too many misplaced passes or bad touches. After that we were generally fine. Big chances from Hendry (x3) and Fadinger could have had the game dead and buried much earlier.

Its a bit of a compliment that teams are setting up to try and stop us play rather than have a go at us. However, some of the interplay in tight areas to try and unlock the low block was a delight to watch, second half in particular.

Be interesting to see what happens in the next 2 games with teams whose fans will demand they come out and play against us.

 

[grumpy]

I thought part of Dundee's approach was a bit strange. They lined up three across the edge of our 18 yard box (well, two with one inside) every goal kick we took but they just stayed there without doing any press. It was as if they had been told them where to stand but not told what to do next.

[Kmcalpin]

1 hour ago, FirParkCornerExile said:

Correct, I'm surprised to hear some Motherwell fans saying we were poor yesterday. I think it's just our expectations have risen so much. We played well today but Dundee set out to frustrate, not to match us and yeah the final ball was poor at times however had we played like that last season we'd all be saying how good we were. 

Thats a fair summary. The game turned out pretty much how I expected. Had it finished 0-0, it wouldn't have surprised me. Dundee learnt a lot from Falkirk and Dundee United and were prepared to change their normal game to nullify us. In the process they sterilised themselves. Unfortunately for them, and fortunately for us, they had no control over the ballboys or groundsmen.  

We were always going to struggle against a team sitting in and without TJ's spark it was no surprise that we were toothless. Good leading up play but final passes going astray and a defence benefitting from good luck - far from a perfect combination. The story of our season so far. That said, we did win and deservedly so. It could easily have been 3 or 4 zero. Patience won the day though and Slatts notched the vital winner. 

Individually, I thought that McGinn, Welsh Fadinger and Just caught the eye. RCC just didn't cut it and perhaps Said could have been introduced earlier.  A bit concerning that Gordon was nowhere to be seen - hopfully just rotation. No Balmer either.  What does impress me about JBA's reign is his ability to rotate the squad wthout disrupting our gameplan. Thats quite something. 

We desperately need a more lethal finisher and I'm sure that'll be in JBA's shopping list in the January sales. 

A final word on yesterday's referee. Not a dirty game. No major errors or VAR interventions fortunately but a string of overly fussy decisions and a bit easily conned by the likes of Yogane. He didn't like his linesmen telling him what to do either - a shame really because on 3 occasions they were right and he was wrong.  

[joewarkfanclub]

3 minutes ago, Kmcalpin said:

A final word on yesterday's referee. Not a dirty game. No major errors or VAR interventions fortunately but a string of overly fussy decisions and a bit easily conned by the likes of Yogane. He didn't like his linesmen telling him what to do either - a shame really because on 3 occasions they were right and he was wrong.  

Matthew McDermid annoys me more than pretty much any other referee in Scotland and thats quite a feat! I always groan when I see his name against ours. Is he the new Willie Collum?

[Ya Bezzer!]

1 hour ago, joewarkfanclub said:

Matthew McDermid annoys me more than pretty much any other referee in Scotland and thats quite a feat! I always groan when I see his name against ours. Is he the new Willie Collum?

The referees are fucking horrific.  

They literally can't even walk or run about properly.  I've never seen referees get in the way, block off passes, bump into players, get hit with the ball and all that sort of stuff more than this season.  

Never mind making decisions.  

There was one game earlier in the season when the absolute dumpling in the middle got hit with the ball about 5 times and had to restart the game every time. I don't know what sort of training they do on positioning, by the looks of it none.  

It's like the first thing on the application form you need to tick is 'Are you a bumbling lummox.'  They used to say Gerald Ford couldn't chew gum and walk at the same time, our refs are right up there.

And then every week there are absolutely abysmal VAR decisions.  I mean look at St Mirren's disallowed goal yesterday or the Ranger hand ball incidents.  Who looks at those on a video loop and makes those decisions?

 

 

[Ya Bezzer!]

OK, everyone knows we are 6 clean sheets in a row.

But I was looking at our home record and we've only conceded against Falkirk in the last seven home matches going back all the way to September.

Aberdeen 2-0

Falkirk 1-2

Dundee United 2-0

Hibernian 2-0

Hearts 0-0

Livingston 3-0

Dundee 1-0.

 

 

[Ya Bezzer!]

Just on the misplaced passes yesterday.

It'll be interesting to see how we deal with winter pitches with this style of football.

Its inevitable passes are going to go astray.

I mean Fir Park has a great surface but winter means it will inevitably degrade even if it's not that obvious to the eye.

[joewarkfanclub]

8 minutes ago, Ya Bezzer! said:

Just on the misplaced passes yesterday.

It'll be interesting to see how we deal with winter pitches with this style of football.

Its inevitable passes are going to go astray.

I mean Fir Park has a great surface but winter means it will inevitably degrade even if it's not that obvious to the eye.

Its a fair point.

Our pitch yesterday looked bumpy for the first time this season. Not really surprising given how much rain there has been and the lack of daylight/warmth at this time if year.

Still light years ahead of where it used to be at this time of year right enough.

Obviously we dont have St Johnstones to worry about this season and looking at the fixtures we have a lot of home games coming up. 

Most pitches have improved, but still something we need to be aware of.

 

[santheman]

3 hours ago, Kmcalpin said:

Thats a fair summary. The game turned out pretty much how I expected. Had it finished 0-0, it wouldn't have surprised me. Dundee learnt a lot from Falkirk and Dundee United and were prepared to change their normal game to nullify us. In the process they sterilised themselves. Unfortunately for them, and fortunately for us, they had no control over the ballboys or groundsmen.  

We were always going to struggle against a team sitting in and without TJ's spark it was no surprise that we were toothless. Good leading up play but final passes going astray and a defence benefitting from good luck - far from a perfect combination. The story of our season so far. That said, we did win and deservedly so. It could easily have been 3 or 4 zero. Patience won the day though and Slatts notched the vital winner. 

Individually, I thought that McGinn, Welsh Fadinger and Just caught the eye. RCC just didn't cut it and perhaps Said could have been introduced earlier.  A bit concerning that Gordon was nowhere to be seen - hopfully just rotation. No Balmer either.  What does impress me about JBA's reign is his ability to rotate the squad wthout disrupting our gameplan. Thats quite something. 

We desperately need a more lethal finisher and I'm sure that'll be in JBA's shopping list in the January sales. 

A final word on yesterday's referee. Not a dirty game. No major errors or VAR interventions fortunately but a string of overly fussy decisions and a bit easily conned by the likes of Yogane. He didn't like his linesmen telling him what to do either - a shame really because on 3 occasions they were right and he was wrong.  

Thought it was interesting thst Douglas Ross was running the line on the main stand side as I'm sure he's been on the other side anytime I've seen him.

Maybe shielding him from the baying mob in the East stand.

He did have a bit of banter with the guys in the wheelchair shelter though and a shake of his head when the Dundee guy (17?) literally threw himself against Koutroumbis and got the foul.

[mio]

10 minutes ago, santheman said:

Thought it was interesting thst Douglas Ross was running the line on the main stand side as I'm sure he's been on the other side anytime I've seen him.

Maybe shielding him from the baying mob in the East stand.

He did have a bit of banter with the guys in the wheelchair shelter though and a shake of his head when the Dundee guy (17?) literally threw himself against Koutroumbis and got the foul.

As much as I detest Ross, his political views, his party and his weird hatred of seagulls.

He’s actually not a bad linesman 

[texanwellfan]

3 hours ago, joewarkfanclub said:

Like you say its about expectations.

Only the first 20 minutes were poor, with too many misplaced passes or bad touches. After that we were generally fine. Big chances from Hendry (x3) and Fadinger could have had the game dead and buried much earlier.

Its a bit of a compliment that teams are setting up to try and stop us play rather than have a go at us. However, some of the interplay in tight areas to try and unlock the low block was a delight to watch, second half in particular.

Be interesting to see what happens in the next 2 games with teams whose fans will demand they come out and play against us.

 

Poor is a bit harsh, we didnt play as well as we can but still dominated the game. 

[Mccus28]

11 minutes ago, texanwellfan said:

Poor is a bit harsh, we didnt play as well as we can but still dominated the game. 

I agree.

Its very very difficult to play against a team who are set up to keep 10 men behind the ball and be so negative.

They were literally time wasting (i believe one of the players got booked for it) the entire 2nd half

 

Just horrid to watch

[FirParkCornerExile]

3 hours ago, Ya Bezzer! said:

OK, everyone knows we are 6 clean sheets in a row.

But I was looking at our home record and we've only conceded against Falkirk in the last seven home matches going back all the way to September.

Aberdeen 2-0

Falkirk 1-2

Dundee United 2-0

Hibernian 2-0

Hearts 0-0

Livingston 3-0

Dundee 1-0.

 

 

The defence tightening at the right time for our league challenge 😉