Motherwell V Hibs 21/03/2026

[twistandshout1983]

Not the greatest of games of course , but happy enough overall

Most positive things is another clean sheet and keeps the unbeaten record at home going 

[Happy Dosser]

Quite dull and prosaic today and the usual microscopic  VAR decision   not clarified much by the BBC Sportscene footage. Thought we looked a bit jaded and in need of a rethink about how we deploy our forwards.

While waiting for the inevitable overturning of the goal,  my  neighbour in the POD mentioned this New York Times article about The Mighty 'Well,  which I  thought some of the soffisticates on here might like: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7116264/2026/03/15/motherwell-askou-scotland-tactics-celtic/

Seems our fame is spreading. 

[grizzlyg]

29 minutes ago, texanwellfan said:

Longello back next game? Getting Johnny K back would help too. 

Yup...only a one game suspension 

[GrahamH]

1 hour ago, Kmcalpin said:

Top 3 is way beyond us but in fairness it was never on.  I'd say 4th spot is now 50/50. We'll go into the break maybe 2 points above Hibs.  

You’re entitled to your opinion but 6 points and 13 goals ahead of 5th place suggests that it’s a bit more than 50/50. Anything is possible but 50/50 is ridiculous.

[Stuwell2]

14 minutes ago, GrahamH said:

You’re entitled to your opinion but 6 points and 13 goals ahead of 5th place suggests that it’s a bit more than 50/50. Anything is possible but 50/50 is ridiculous.

Looking at both teams next two fixtures where we have Falkirk at home - who beat us at home - and Hearts away - a very hard fixture, while Hibs have Killie home and Aberdeen away, so possibly we could go into the split ahead on gd, so 50/50 isn’t that ridiculous. 
Having said that I’m hopeful that we can get at least 1 point. 

[dennyc]

1 hour ago, Kmcalpin said:

We were weak in both full back positions today with no surging runs. Longelo was a huge miss. Likewise, Sparrow doesn't convince me at FB.  

Tough for our full backs to be confident pushing forward when almost every time they ventured up the park Watt passed the ball straight to the opposition deep in our own half.  Lost count of the number of times we could have been punished. Neither are automatic first choices all players being fit,  but both Sparrow and SOD played their part defensively. Hibs most creative player (the other Cadden) never got a kick and, one shot aside, Boyle hardly featured.  Sparrow stopped a certain goal early on as well. So not all bad. Maybe our wide players being more cautious was part of the game plan to counter Hibs only attacking threat.

We had an off day but still kept a clean sheet and did not lose ground to any of our closest rivals. If that's as bad as it gets we will be fine. It's just a pity that off day came when we had probably our best home turnout of the season.

[star sail]

22 minutes ago, Stuwell2 said:

Looking at both teams next two fixtures where we have Falkirk at home - who beat us at home - and Hearts away - a very hard fixture, while Hibs have Killie home and Aberdeen away, so possibly we could go into the split ahead on gd, so 50/50 isn’t that ridiculous. 
Having said that I’m hopeful that we can get at least 1 point. 

Rangers and Hearts were able to get the job done again today. It would appear that they have just that little bit more about them than we do. The table does not lie although I thought up untill 2 weeks ago that just maybe it did.

50/50 is pessimistic in the extreme. We are 6 points ahead of Hibs with a superior goal difference. Taking the subjectivity out of it, that in no way relates to a 50/50 chance. 

In the same way that the table does not lie in favour of Hearts/ Rangers/ Celtic, it does not lie in relation to our position either. Falkirk next week is a game we should have some hope of winning. The facts speak for themself in that regard.

[stv]

We have been sussed out how to stop is playing Dundee did it and hibs done it today restricted to passing backwards a lot and jt up front himself is nae use.

Need to mix things up a bit more. But a point was fine think we were happy we didn't loose.

[thewelllfan]

3 hours ago, FirParkCornerExile said:

With them to face at Easter Road I think we need 8/9 ahead at the split to be sure. They've got Kilmarnock and Aberdeen and we have Falkirk and Hearts. I suspect the gap will be less than 6  going into the split. 

We have to beat Falkirk at home after the break. I think after that if we pick up 7 points in the last 6 games that will be enough to get us 4th.

[thewelllfan]

9 minutes ago, stv said:

We have been sussed out how to stop is playing Dundee did it and hibs done it today restricted to passing backwards a lot and jt up front himself is nae use.

Need to mix things up a bit more. But a point was fine think we were happy we didn't loose.

That's exactly what's happened. Other than Just we are devoid of creativity. The fact it's took till March to feel the lack of Lennon Miller in our midfield probably speaks volumes about how good Watt and Fadinger have been but today our midfield were poor. We also need someone who can shoot from range, we're overplaying on the edge of the box at times and Preistman and Fadinger both lack the shot power to score from outside the box.

[Lobey_Dosser]

We’ve set such a high standard but today was disappointing, possibly the least enthralling game at Fir Park under Jens. Tiredness may be playing a part and the opposition are far better prepared now, but the absence of both Longelo and Said made us much easier to play against.
 

Hopefully we can rediscover our zip in the final third or it is going to be an underwhelming end to the season. Our record against the top 6 so far is P13 W2 D7 L4 so there is plenty room for improvement. 

[joewarkfanclub]

Thought we were decent enough first half without being exceptional. The offside goal.was hard to take but the right decision and we didnt carve out any other clear cut chances.

Second half, the drop off.was considerable and probably the poorest half since Falkirk at home.

Thought Fadinger looked outnof sorts today, not sure if it was the mask/sun giving him problems but he wasnt his usual self. 

I thought subbing Priestman was a mistake as he was having a much better game and we looked worse after he went off.

Too many stray passes, although Hibs press caused us problems and closed off a lot of space, which slowed us down and caused us to go backwards.

Nice to get the clean sheet and maintain our unbeaten run at home, but it feels like 2 points dropped and Jens is gonna have to think up a new plan as teams have started to get organised around what we do.

We may not lose many more games, but at the moment its hard to see where we win one.

[Spit_It_Out]

I felt the team looked so out of sync with each other this season players have sort of known where each was going to be pass after pass today by far was the poorest in positioning from us I have seen.

Tj needs to be moved back to the right think he is far better cutting in and a wee change up front.

Good turn out aswell which is fantastic to see.

[Big Stall]

Point v hibs isnt thevworst result. While we were better than them, we were short of our best. Huffed & puffed a fair bit too with no penetration up top. For me first half we seemed determined to go down the right side. Very rarely did we switch it over to sparrow on the left. Hibs doubled up down their left(our right) and we were boxed in tight.

2nd half we swapped Tawanda left & concentrated efforts down there. When Said came on he mustv been 10 mins before anyone sent the ball his way.

Not our best day at the office but no real damage

[Kmcalpin]

10 hours ago, GrahamH said:

You’re entitled to your opinion but 6 points and 13 goals ahead of 5th place suggests that it’s a bit more than 50/50. Anything is possible but 50/50 is ridiculous.

We're currently 6 points above Hibs with a 13 goal advantage. That seems a fairly safe cushion. However, before the break we face Falkirk at home and Hearts away. I reckon we'll take 1 point from those games. Hibs have Killie at home and Aberdeen away. They should be good for 4 points from those games. IF, and it is an if, it pans out like that, then our lead is cut to 3 points. That then takes us post split and we'll be due Hearts and Celtic at home. Maybe one point from those games? We'll play Hibs at Easter Road and they'll fancy their chances. On top of that, our record against current top 6 sides isn't great nor is our away form. We might well secure 4th spot, but it will be very tight and the game at Easter Road will be crucial. Yesterday, was defintiely 2 points dropped. In short, a 50/50 chance is realistic.  

[Kmcalpin]

8 hours ago, joewarkfanclub said:

Thought we were decent enough first half without being exceptional. The offside goal.was hard to take but the right decision and we didnt carve out any other clear cut chances.

Second half, the drop off.was considerable and probably the poorest half since Falkirk at home.

Thought Fadinger looked outnof sorts today, not sure if it was the mask/sun giving him problems but he wasnt his usual self. 

I thought subbing Priestman was a mistake as he was having a much better game and we looked worse after he went off.

Too many stray passes, although Hibs press caused us problems and closed off a lot of space, which slowed us down and caused us to go backwards.

Nice to get the clean sheet and maintain our unbeaten run at home, but it feels like 2 points dropped and Jens is gonna have to think up a new plan as teams have started to get organised around what we do.

We may not lose many more games, but at the moment its hard to see where we win one.

A fair summing up Joe. I thought JBA made some mistakes today with his line up and appraoch. It looked to be an overly cautious approach designed to ensure we didn't lose. Longelo was a huge loss, the midfield looked congested and we lacked venom up front. The early plan of shelling long balls over the top for JT to run onto was fine in theory but the execution was very poor and was rightly stopped. For most of the game we lacked any penetration up front and Hibs were happy to soak it up and their keeper was larlely unemployed. Ward was slightly busier but again didn't have much to do. Not sure why Priestman was taken off as he was our most industrious midfielder. I thought we were too late in making changes. Our chalked off goal was very tight and certainly not clear or obvious. 

Thought David Dickinson had a poor game. Both Cadden and Suto were very lucky to escape 2 yellow cards each with the latter being substituted to save him. In my view, if you lift your hands to someone. Not quite sure how the 4 minus additional time was calculated.   7 second half subs  @ 30 seconds each; blatant timewasting and several 2 protracted injuries. 

Overall, 2 points dropped. A slight blip is now gradually turning into a bit of slump. Other teams seem to have sussed us out. A change in plan now required for remaining games? Some positives though: another shut out and a 9,300 attendance.   

2 asides. The media now needs to starts to start calling out cynical thuggery when teams target Eli Just (but it won't for fear of offending old boys) and the POD was an accident waiting to happen at half time (queues down the stairs for the kiosk, those wanting to visit hospitlaity and those wanting the toilet). 

 

 

[joewarkfanclub]

15 minutes ago, Kmcalpin said:

A fair summing up Joe. I thought JBA made some mistakes today with his line up and appraoch. It looked to be an overly cautious approach designed to ensure we didn't lose. Longelo was a huge loss, the midfield looked congested and we lacked venom up front. The early plan of shelling long balls over the top for JT to run onto was fine in theory but the execution was very poor and was rightly stopped. For most of the game we lacked any penetration up front and Hibs were happy to soak it up and their keeper was larlely unemployed. Ward was slightly busier but again didn't have much to do. Not sure why Priestman was taken off as he was our most industrious midfielder. I thought we were too late in making changes. Our chalked off goal was very tight and certainly not clear or obvious. 

Thought David Dickinson had a poor game. Both Cadden and Suto were very lucky to escape 2 yellow cards each with the latter being substituted to save him. In my view, if you lift your hands to someone. Not quite sure how the 4 minus additional time was calculated.   7 second half subs  @ 30 seconds each; blatant timewasting and several 2 protracted injuries. 

Overall, 2 points dropped. A slight blip is now gradually turning into a bit of slump. Other teams seem to have sussed us out. A change in plan now required for remaining games? Some positives though: another shut out and a 9,300 attendance.   

2 asides. The media now needs to starts to start calling out cynical thuggery when teams target Eli Just (but it won't for fear of offending old boys) and the POD was an accident waiting to happen at half time (queues down the stairs for the kiosk, those wanting to visit hospitlaity and those wanting the toilet). 

 

 

Just certainly does appear to being singled out for "special treatment" the referees should be doing more to protect him. If they dont, guys like Said will end up getting booked or sent off trying defend their team mate.

Dickinson is a really poor referee which, given the pool he swims in, is really saying something.....

[Spiderpig]

8 hours ago, joewarkfanclub said:

Thought we were decent enough first half without being exceptional. The offside goal.was hard to take but the right decision and we didnt carve out any other clear cut chances.

Second half, the drop off.was considerable and probably the poorest half since Falkirk at home.

Thought Fadinger looked outnof sorts today, not sure if it was the mask/sun giving him problems but he wasnt his usual self. 

I thought subbing Priestman was a mistake as he was having a much better game and we looked worse after he went off.

Too many stray passes, although Hibs press caused us problems and closed off a lot of space, which slowed us down and caused us to go backwards.

Nice to get the clean sheet and maintain our unbeaten run at home, but it feels like 2 points dropped and Jens is gonna have to think up a new plan as teams have started to get organised around what we do.

We may not lose many more games, but at the moment its hard to see where we win one.

Hibs were well organised yesterday, they stopped us playing through midfield, two lines in front of us all the time. It forced us to try to go round them down the sides to get in behind and thats not our game.

And i though  VAR  had done away with the big toe or half a boot being offside, that decision was a joke.