Motherwell v Falkirk 04/04/2026

[Ya Bezzer!]

Deservedly pumped.

The goals we conceded today were all absolutely pathetic.

Falkirk just looked faster and sharper than us.

Not at the races these days and if you exclude the win away to St. Mirren we really haven't been since the Scottish Cup defeat.

Given our remaining fixtures, not been good away from home or against Top 6, you'd have to worry about getting that European place which even a couple of weeks ago I'd have been extremely confident about.

It'd be a shame if we ended the season on a damp squib but that's how it's looking.

Up to the manager and players to rally but they've lost the confidence they had and there is no x factor there right now.

[FirParkCornerExile]

1 hour ago, mio said:

I’ll make a prediction here…. We won’t win the league 

Ill make another we wont get into Europe.

Absolutely collapsing at the wrong time. How many warnings did we get with the ball from keeper to Ward before we finally gave them what had been coming all first half. How the fuck Said stayed on is beyond me , he was beyond pish but to be fair there were many to choose from. Falkirk took the absolute piss out of us and deserved everything they got.

Maswanhise couldn't trap a bag of cement, another Theo Bair. Take the money and run in the summer. . (I had left before he scored but doesn't change my view) A season of stunning football and we will end up with fuck all to show for it. I go to Tynecastle in real trepidation. 

To think 6 weeks ago I was worried about going on holiday and missing the last two games and the Scottish Cup final. Be quite glad I'm away the way its going right now. European place is advantage Hibs as we need to go there and frankly its now not beyond the realms of possibility Falkirk could catch us with us going there too.

 

 

[stv]

To many short passes with one upfront is poor. These last 4 games now prove we have been sussed by the opposition. The manager is not using a plan b ,whatever it may be . Going forward today then passing it back gives organised teams time to get back behind the ball. It only takes a backward pass and then a sideways one for opposition to get back into place to stop us going forward. Priestman should have been on earlier. TJ is shite up front on his own when we don't play long balls to him.

Shocking from Ward for their second no other way to describe that .

[wellsince75]

I think the lads have ran out of steam . For those as old as me it reminds me of when you used up too much energy too soon on Daley Thomson’s decathlon game on Commodore 64.
 

until March we’d played with a certain tempo and can’t help but think we’re spent . 

Squad depth has been depleted through injury .  
 

all teams go through bad spells and like @Ya Bezzer! mentions it’s been downhill since the stmirren game .  
 

March was pretty poor and today was dross .  
 

it may need us to play a few more of the guys who have been in the fringes and change formation to try an kick on and get a few results 

[FirParkCornerExile]

Just now, stv said:

To many short passes with one upfront is poor. These last 4 games now prove we have been sussed by the opposition. The manager is not using a plan b ,whatever it may be . Going forward today then passing it back gives organised teams time to get back behind the ball. It only takes a backward pass and then a sideways one for opposition to get back into place to stop us going forward. Priestman should have been on earlier. TJ is shite up front on his own when we don't play long balls to him.

Shocking from Ward for their second no other way to describe that .

Compare and contrast, every time Falkirk got to the edge of or 18 yard box there were either 3 or 4 Falkirk players in and around the box. Every time we did likewise we had Manwanhise in the box and every other Motherwell player a mile behind him. 

[Spiderpig]

10 minutes ago, FirParkCornerExile said:

Ill make another we wont get into Europe.

 

Nonsense we are finishing no lower than 5th, 8 in front of Falkirk, they are not going to win 3 games more than us, they play Rangers next week then its the top 6 teams. 

We are on a poor run last 4 games but we will get over the line in 4th. Today we gifted Falkirk a goal, and both Sparrow and Maswhanise should have scored so it was not as bad as it looks.

4th place is still ours to lose, lets see how we deal with it

[Richie]

5th doesn't guarantee Europe.

It requires a Celtic Cup win.

[FirParkCornerExile]

14 minutes ago, Spiderpig said:

Nonsense we are finishing no lower than 5th, 8 in front of Falkirk, they are not going to win 3 games more than us, they play Rangers next week then its the top 6 teams. 

We are on a poor run last 4 games but we will get over the line in 4th. Today we gifted Falkirk a goal, and both Sparrow and Maswhanise should have scored so it was not as bad as it looks.

4th place is still ours to lose, lets see how we deal with it

Apologies I thought Falkirk were 5 behind. As you say 4th is ours to lose and that's exactly what we will do. Happy for others to disagree but when the chips have been down in crucial games this season we've blown it at the business end of the season.  

It was every bit as bad as it looked today, we were awful all over the park, our passing was poor our decision making even worse, our first touch was shocking. How many times did the Keeper / Watt passing play signal we were going to fuck it up before we did. We should have seen that Falkirk had us rumbled and their high press was excellent giving up no room. There were 5 occasions that I counted where we got away with that play by Keeper/ Watt  by a baw hair, the signals were there  but yet we kept doing it until the inevitable fuck up. happened

[gaz7]

6 minutes ago, FirParkCornerExile said:

Apologies I thought Falkirk were 5 behind. However 4th is our to lose as you say and that's exactly what we will do. Happy for others to disagree but when the chips have been down in crucial games we've blown it.  

What about crucial games hibs and falkirk have lost when chips are down. Must have been more than us as they are still behind.

A lot of crap on here tonight

[Mad Dog]

1 hour ago, stv said:

Shocking from Ward for their second no other way to describe that .

No way their second goal is Ward's fault. McGinn ought have passed out to Sparrow, but didn't. We were under pressure from then on, Watt's pass to Ward was inaccurate and gave him no chance.

[FirParkCornerExile]

2 minutes ago, gaz7 said:

What about crucial games hibs and falkirk have lost when chips are down. Must have been more than us as they are still behind.

A lot of crap on here tonight

All about opinions , ours just differ and the seasons end will see who was right. 

[FirParkCornerExile]

2 minutes ago, Mad Dog said:

No way their second goal is Ward's fault. McGinn out ought have passed to Sparrow, but didn't. We were under pressure from then on, Watt's pass to Ward was inaccurate and gave him no chance.

The second goal was on Watt for me. 

[grizzlyg]

Were always going to hit a bad run, just picked wrong time of season to do it. In pub so full review later 

[Orinoco]

The only suprise is that we have not given away more goals like the 2nd. Its the way we play. Its disappointing but it is what it is. Suppose we need to keep the faith.

Our passing today was not good enough. When we did break their press our movement upfront was very poor and resulted either giving the ball away or going backwards.

We missed Slattery today and Just was lost. Just's energy was not upto his usual standards.

We failed to get players into their box. The link up play in the last third was tippy tappy to nowhere. 

Midfield failed badly today in all aspects. 

 

 

[thewelllfan]

If Jens is still here next season we have to become a more physically imposing side it's all well and good having the ball but we're hamstrung at dead balls from having no real height or pace in the team. We've massively been found out in recent games we're getting slaughtered in transitions and can't unpick the low blocks. Hopefully we finish 4th and get into Europe and can move onto next season. Only positive from today is there is a genuine chance Aberdeen end up in a play off.

[stv]

34 minutes ago, Mad Dog said:

No way their second goal is Ward's fault. McGinn out ought have passed to Sparrow, but didn't. We were under pressure from then on, Watt's pass to Ward was inaccurate and gave him no chance.

When the ball was passed back to Ward initially in the middle of six yard box he should have punted it up the park. Instead he passed it to one of three Motherwell players inside the 18yard box with Falkirk players directly behind them. That's what caused the mayhem that led to loosing the goal. He was at it all game and lucky to get away with the same thing a few times . He has to be able to vary things and clear the ball when required not stick ridgedly to passing it out within the box.

[wellon]

1 hour ago, gaz7 said:

A wee bit disrespectful imo.

Falkirk won today but still behind us in league.

I agree we look a bit lightweight but injuries and suspension to our best players has cost us.

The slattery situation and jens saying about sfa has put a target on our back. That penalty today was a nothing thing in the box.

We have been good all year and need everyone back for run in to secure Europe.

All the moaning tonight so far is disappointing as we are down to bare bones and having to play accordingly 

 

Fans are always shit or sugar

It was poor today tbf , we are still in box seats for Europe,  hibs aren't anything special and it's between us and them....thought falkirk looked far better than hibs

[wellon]

29 minutes ago, Orinoco said:

The only suprise is that we have not given away more goals like the 2nd. Its the way we play. Its disappointing but it is what it is. Suppose we need to keep the faith.

Our passing today was not good enough. When we did break their press our movement upfront was very poor and resulted either giving the ball away or going backwards.

We missed Slattery today and Just was lost. Just's energy was not upto his usual standards.

We failed to get players into their box. The link up play in the last third was tippy tappy to nowhere. 

Midfield failed badly today in all aspects. 

 

 

Where was big thor today.?

[FirParkCornerExile]

4 minutes ago, wellon said:

Fans are always shit or sugar

It was poor today tbf , we are still in box seats for Europe,  hibs aren't anything special and it's between us and them....thought falkirk looked far better than hibs

I think Falkirk are the best team we've faced over 3 games , anyone hear how many fans Falkirk brought to day. Looked a healthy support again. 

[wellon]

1 hour ago, Spiderpig said:

Nonsense we are finishing no lower than 5th, 8 in front of Falkirk, they are not going to win 3 games more than us, they play Rangers next week then its the top 6 teams. 

We are on a poor run last 4 games but we will get over the line in 4th. Today we gifted Falkirk a goal, and both Sparrow and Maswhanise should have scored so it was not as bad as it looks.

4th place is still ours to lose, lets see how we deal with it

Sparrow is full of running but lacks something. 

[Spiderpig]

1 hour ago, Richie said:

5th doesn't guarantee Europe.

It requires a Celtic Cup win.

I know, they will win it.

[Spiderpig]

10 minutes ago, wellon said:

Where was big thor today.?

Not in the squad so i presume he is injured.

[Kmcalpin]

1 hour ago, Richie said:

5th doesn't guarantee Europe.

It requires a Celtic Cup win.

I think we'll make Europe as I'm confident Celtic will win the cup. 

[Kmcalpin]

I said before today that it was 50/50 we'd finish 4th and I'd now say its 20/80. To be confident of achieving that we had to beat Hibs and Falkirk and we mustered one solitary point. Our season is fizzling out sadly. It will still be a good season though.

[Kmcalpin]

When I saw the team beforehand I was a bit worried as we had no Thor and Sparrow was preferred to Priestman. Lightweight up front. 

Then we were back to our old habit of offering up early chances which Falkirk thanked us for. The ref had a poor game and missed his chance of stamping his authority on the game when Just was the victim of a shocking late tackle within the 1st two minutes. 

Overall Falkirk had done their homework and I was sorry for JT given the scant service he was given. He had no support against a big physical defence. Once again, our long ball tactic simply didn't work. 

The second goal was no surprise given identical earlier blunders. I can't comment on the penalty. Overall, we were too lightweight al over the pitch and hardly won a header all day. 

Falkirk deserved to win, but some of their tactics were questionable under rule 77. 

JBA needs to do some serious thinking in the next few weeks.