Motherwell v Falkirk 04/04/2026

[wellfan]

13 hours ago, stv said:

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.

He’s just doing what JBA tells him. Blame the manager, not the players.

[Spiderpig]

15 minutes ago, Richie said:

Having seen footage and other angles the Maswanhise non-pen is scandalous. Clearly has his standing leg taken away.

Said also at no point grabs the jersey or pulls etc, he just has his arms out Jockeying the Falkirk player.

Nowhere near eonough for a pen.

Sportscene also saying both decisions were wrong.

Tbf they were difficult calls for the referee in real time, but as michael Stewart said on sportscene what are Var looking for, how are they not calling the ref for a review, another shit show from them for both decisions.

[Kmcalpin]

7 hours ago, MJC said:

He is NOT a legend. 

He has been good for us this season but after a very impressive spell from November to February we are falling away badly and are now in serious danger of throwing away 4th place. Our record against the top six is awful, McGlynn and Falkirk have had his/our number all season and unlike us are a pretty solid, competitive side. And they are in the Scottish Cup Semi Final, the same Scottish Cup we whimpered out of partly thanks to Jens needlessly and arrogantly not fielding our strongest team against Aberdeen.

JBA has done absolutely nothing so far either in his time with us or in his coaching career to merit being called a legend. We failed to win a League match until the end of September after chucking away several points from winning positions in the first five games of the season, got our arses handed to us by a woeful St.Mirren side in the LCSF, haven’t won away against any of the sides in the top 9 never mind top 6 and appear be peaked and burst before the split.

JBA? Just Bang Average

You make some good points although your take is a bit harsh. He's been a very good manager for achieving a top six finish and introducing some very exciting and entertaining football. Thats not easy in your first season in charge. I do feel that though some fans have been OTT in their praise especially on P & B. He's not a legend yet and might never be who knows? 

On the debit side, he's seemed unable to fine tune our style to combat and counteract opponents evolving tactics eg Hibs and Falkirk. On the credit side he's had to impose his own style on a squad which, to a large extent, he didn't sign.  Taking yesterday for example, he had to field a weakened first 11 and pick a very thin bench. It will be interesting, in the summer to find out who leaves who he moves on and who he brings in. If we are ambitious i.e. not resting on our laurels after achieving a top 6 finish then the squad needs strengthened in almost all areas of the pitch. 

Any circling vultures will have received a reality check of late.  

[ppower]

Penalty.

[Kmcalpin]

Stonewall penalty.

We should be thankful for small mercies in that he wasn't yellow carded for diving. 

[wellsince75]

Re the potential penalty I do wonder if the recent faux par from VAR (Slattery) has some impact in terms of not overruling the ref.  I thought the ref gave us zero benefit of doubt yesterday and VAR backed him up.

A couple of challenges on Longello as he charged down the flank, TW penalty claim I do wonder if the ref went into to game with the intention of not being conned.  It certainly felt like that from my biassed perspective. 

Add to that we've lost confidence, some players are off the boil, teams have learned how to counter act, we have several injuries etc - it's no way near the same entertainment as earlier in the season.  

The squad lacks depth but I do think a couple of the fringe players deserve a start next week.  

[ppower]

16 hours 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 

 

All I will say is our record away from home against other Top 6 clubs is abysmal. He Managers tactics/selection also saw us wimp out of 2 cup competitions. The only things we can realistically win. Let's not get carried away with JBA. He has achieved nothing apart from pleasant on the eye  tippy tappy football which teams are getting wise to. There is no steel in the team. There is never plan B. He plays the same guys over and over again. Guys like Nicholson, McGee get about 10 to 15 minutes of play when the game is running away from us. Use of substitutes is not good. The only time yesterday we broke their lines was the consolation goal. Apart from that it was the usual slow pass to death build up combined with Kamikaze dithering at the back. There is nothing wrong with getting the ball forward quick but this seems anathema to JBA. So we get a Top 6 finish. The team we played yesterday also have a Top 6 finish and a winnable cup semi after getting promotion from the Championship. I would say John McGlynn has been a more effective manager than JBA. Motherwell fans need to get realistic about what has been achieved instead of drooling over passing drills.

[grizzlyg]

11 hours ago, grizzlyg said:

JBA a legend but a bit annoyed he seems to be deflecting blame onto officials .  Yip referee was shocking but not reason we lost.  Should focus more on our own players

In hindsight Legend maybe not correct word. Certainly doing a very good job  though, lets remember where we were when SK was in charge.     This is where he now needs to show us his ability as other managers have adapted when playing us.

COYW

[wellon]

19 minutes ago, ppower said:

All I will say is our record away from home against other Top 6 clubs is abysmal. He Managers tactics/selection also saw us wimp out of 2 cup competitions. The only things we can realistically win. Let's not get carried away with JBA. He has achieved nothing apart from pleasant on the eye  tippy tappy football which teams are getting wise to. There is no steel in the team. There is never plan B. He plays the same guys over and over again. Guys like Nicholson, McGee get about 10 to 15 minutes of play when the game is running away from us. Use of substitutes is not good. The only time yesterday we broke their lines was the consolation goal. Apart from that it was the usual slow pass to death build up combined with Kamikaze dithering at the back. There is nothing wrong with getting the ball forward quick but this seems anathema to JBA. So we get a Top 6 finish. The team we played yesterday also have a Top 6 finish and a winnable cup semi after getting promotion from the Championship. I would say John McGlynn has been a more effective manager than JBA. Motherwell fans need to get realistic about what has been achieved instead of drooling over passing drills.

John Mcglynn is a good manager as is jens...some merit in what you say but i don't agree with most of what uou say....I doubt the board do either.

He's managed to just about double the home support which I thought was impossible and something I haven't seen in about 50 years even with teams who have won cups. So the majority of punters must like " tippy tappy " football. 

We really missed Slattery which I suspected we would. 

[stv]

1 hour ago, wellfan said:

He’s just doing what JBA tells him. Blame the manager, not the players.

Still his fault its Ward that had the ball at his feet with no safe outball . Punt it .That's nothing to do with manager in that situation. These mistakes are now costing us where as before when we were not that wee bit jaded we were getting away with it.

[Kmcalpin]

Can I ask why it fell to Lukas Fadinger yesterday to mark a 6-3 in form striker at Fakirk's opening goal? 

[mfc88]

We were second best over the piece yesterday, no getting away from that, but that is going to happen when you are motherwell.

Goals change games though, and f**k me we were hard done by from the officials.

Seriously, what is the point in VAR - get involved when they shouldn't and posted missing when needed. Genuinely sick to death of it. Jens has every right to have a pop given what we have been on the end of recently.

I wonder if lissah will get the same retrospective punishment as slattery, because said having his arms out certainly didnt make him fall to the ground.

[Kmcalpin]

7 minutes ago, mfc88 said:

I wonder if lissah will get the same retrospective punishment as slattery, because said having his arms out certainly didnt make him fall to the ground.

Good post. A clear and obvious breach of rule 77. The SFA has now set a precedent. 

[gaz7]

35 minutes ago, ppower said:

All I will say is our record away from home against other Top 6 clubs is abysmal. He Managers tactics/selection also saw us wimp out of 2 cup competitions. The only things we can realistically win. Let's not get carried away with JBA. He has achieved nothing apart from pleasant on the eye  tippy tappy football which teams are getting wise to. There is no steel in the team. There is never plan B. He plays the same guys over and over again. Guys like Nicholson, McGee get about 10 to 15 minutes of play when the game is running away from us. Use of substitutes is not good. The only time yesterday we broke their lines was the consolation goal. Apart from that it was the usual slow pass to death build up combined with Kamikaze dithering at the back. There is nothing wrong with getting the ball forward quick but this seems anathema to JBA. So we get a Top 6 finish. The team we played yesterday also have a Top 6 finish and a winnable cup semi after getting promotion from the Championship. I would say John McGlynn has been a more effective manager than JBA. Motherwell fans need to get realistic about what has been achieved instead of drooling over passing drills.

Cmon you are a wee bit angry for nothing here.

Whilst our record against Top 6 is at a minus we have played them all home and away and giving them all really good games which is certainly a big change from sitting on our own 18 yard line waiting to get beat.

This tippy tappy football that you and some others have mentioned is the same type of football that has played a lot of teams off the park and the same that is played by our European neighbours when pumping our Europe entries every July.

No plan b is another myth. We went to 3 at back against hibs. played with a false 9 against celtic and went longer when byorgolfson was available. 

Yesterday we had no other players available due to injury and suspension as if we did I'm sure maswanhise would have been wide and we would have attempted long balls to give him 1v1 on the left back.

On john McGlynn yes he has done a gd job but he has not done as gd a job as jens as can be seen on the table and if you or anyone who suggests falkirk will finish above us in the table wants a bet with the loser paying to Well Society let's get it on. Put your money where your mouth is as the saying goes.

 

[joewarkfanclub]

2 hours ago, wellfan said:

He’s just doing what JBA tells him. Blame the manager, not the players.

I wouldnt blame Ward, and not necessarily McGinn (although he could have cleared it up the line to Sparrow), but Watt plays the pass back to Ward blind and clearly cant see the Falkirk players behind him. I think its fair to attribute blame there (if blame is to be attributed at all) as Im sure the manager doesnt coach that.

[Welly Machine]

1 hour ago, ppower said:

Penalty.

Can't get much clearer than that.

Would love to hear the VAR audio on this one.

[joewarkfanclub]

1 hour ago, ppower said:

All I will say is our record away from home against other Top 6 clubs is abysmal. He Managers tactics/selection also saw us wimp out of 2 cup competitions. The only things we can realistically win. Let's not get carried away with JBA. He has achieved nothing apart from pleasant on the eye  tippy tappy football which teams are getting wise to. There is no steel in the team. There is never plan B. He plays the same guys over and over again. Guys like Nicholson, McGee get about 10 to 15 minutes of play when the game is running away from us. Use of substitutes is not good. The only time yesterday we broke their lines was the consolation goal. Apart from that it was the usual slow pass to death build up combined with Kamikaze dithering at the back. There is nothing wrong with getting the ball forward quick but this seems anathema to JBA. So we get a Top 6 finish. The team we played yesterday also have a Top 6 finish and a winnable cup semi after getting promotion from the Championship. I would say John McGlynn has been a more effective manager than JBA. Motherwell fans need to get realistic about what has been achieved instead of drooling over passing drills.

There are some good points in there, but the no plan B thing isnt one of them. Jens has made various in game changes and employed the long ball regularly throughout the season when necessary.

I agree with Mcghee and Nicholson, both looked very useful yesterday when they came on and I would like to see both get more minutes as we go into the split.

As for Falkirk. I agree McGlynn is a very good manager. But to suggest he is doing better than Jens because he has got them top 6 and has a winnable cup semi final is pushing it. 

We are above them in the table for a reason, and have also been to a cup semi final. If MGlynn gets them to the final there is a conversation to be had about who has done better, but not yet.

[johnstone]

11 hours ago, MJC said:

I don’t know about the first one but I just gave you a second for calling JBA a legend.

He is NOT a legend. 
 

He has been good for us this season but after a very impressive spell from November to February we are falling away badly and are now in serious danger of throwing away 4th place. Our record against the top six is awful, McGlynn and Falkirk have had his/our number all season and unlike us are a pretty solid, competitive side. And they are in the Scottish Cup Semi Final, the same Scottish Cup we whimpered out of partly thanks to Jens needlessly and arrogantly not fielding our strongest team against Aberdeen.

JBA has done absolutely nothing so far either in his time with us or in his coaching career to merit being called a legend. We failed to win a League match until the end of September after chucking away several points from winning positions in the first five games of the season, got our arses handed to us by a woeful St.Mirren side in the LCSF, haven’t won away against any of the sides in the top 9 never mind top 6 and appear be peaked and burst before the split.

JBA? Just Bang Average

Wow.

You just love getting the boot in. 

I have said it before and will again, we need to stop and remember where this team was last season and judge JBA on that.

Yes we have had a dip in form but to pick apart the season with that statement above is ridiculous. 

I have absolutely loved this season, it’s the best football I have seen at Fir Park and long may it continue.

 

 

[wellon]

3 hours ago, mfc88 said:

We were second best over the piece yesterday, no getting away from that, but that is going to happen when you are motherwell.

Goals change games though, and f**k me we were hard done by from the officials.

Seriously, what is the point in VAR - get involved when they shouldn't and posted missing when needed. Genuinely sick to death of it. Jens has every right to have a pop given what we have been on the end of recently.

I wonder if lissah will get the same retrospective punishment as slattery, because said having his arms out certainly didnt make him fall to the ground.

Falkirk play good stuff and it's good to see them doing well as a smaller team but we have some terrible decisions v them at fp this season ...var again being selective when to get involved. 

[wellon]

11 minutes ago, johnstone said:

Wow.

You just love getting the boot in. 

I have said it before and will again, we need to stop and remember where this team was last season and judge JBA on that.

Yes we have had a dip in form but to pick apart the season with that statement above is ridiculous. 

I have absolutely loved this season, it’s the best football I have seen at Fir Park and long may it continue.

 

 

Matt, this guy lives for reactions , some people need to look up definition of " supporter", we didn't play well yesterday but again would have taken something if officials/ var were on it

I fancy us to get something at Tynecastle 

 

any team that can double crowds is doing a lot right...unprecedented 

[MJC]

26 minutes ago, johnstone said:

Wow.

You just love getting the boot in. 

I have said it before and will again, we need to stop and remember where this team was last season and judge JBA on that.

Yes we have had a dip in form but to pick apart the season with that statement above is ridiculous. 

I have absolutely loved this season, it’s the best football I have seen at Fir Park and long may it continue.

 

 

I haven’t at any point said that we haven’t been very good this season overall. We have clearly surpassed all pre-season expectations and then some and indeed the football we have shown we are capable of playing has been the best in as long as I can remember, possibly since McGhee’s first season back in 07/08.

But nothing is black and white. There was nothing that I said earlier that wasn’t factual. We failed to win a league match until late September, throwing away a bucketload of points early season. We have a very poor record against the top six sides especially away from home. In both Cup competitions we exited in absolutely dismal fashion and the Scottish Cup tie against Aberdeen saw the manager rotate the team for no good reason. And since mid-late February we have fallen away performance and result wise and from being talked about as potential title contenders we now look like we could throw away fourth place. Now, let me be clear, even if that does happen it will still have been a very good season for us but I think while there will be a great deal of fondness for this season, Jens and the way we have played when we are at our best, there will also be a degree of “what might have been” or even possibly “what should have been”.

JBA has been very good for us in his short time and I hope we can hang onto him. But he is not a club ‘legend’ yet as was suggested and he is certainly not the next Pep Guardiola as you would think with the way some both inside and outside our support have been gushing over him. He could very well go on to be a legend of Motherwell FC but he is nowhere near that yet.

Artichoke. Cholmondely. Pedigree CHUM.

[Happy Dosser]

3 hours ago, mfc88 said:

We were second best over the piece yesterday, no getting away from that, but that is going to happen when you are motherwell.

Goals change games though, and f**k me we were hard done by from the officials.

Seriously, what is the point in VAR - get involved when they shouldn't and posted missing when needed. Genuinely sick to death of it. Jens has every right to have a pop given what we have been on the end of recently.

I wonder if lissah will get the same retrospective punishment as slattery, because said having his arms out certainly didnt make him fall to the ground.

Well said: and both penalty decisions were wrong (and  crucial). Even in  the free-kick awarded from which they scored, the Falkirk player looked to me to be pulling McGinn as much as anything but the referee seemed to penalise us disproportionately throughout the game.

I expect little from our referees nowadays, just to avoid disappointment 👹.

[FirParkCornerExile]

18 minutes ago, MJC said:

I haven’t at any point said that we haven’t been very good this season overall. We have clearly surpassed all pre-season expectations and then some and indeed the football we have shown we are capable of playing has been the best in as long as I can remember, possibly since McGhee’s first season back in 07/08.

But nothing is black and white. There was nothing that I said earlier that wasn’t factual. We failed to win a league match until late September, throwing away a bucketload of points early season. We have a very poor record against the top six sides especially away from home. In both Cup competitions we exited in absolutely dismal fashion and the Scottish Cup tie against Aberdeen saw the manager rotate the team for no good reason. And since mid-late February we have fallen away performance and result wise and from being talked about as potential title contenders we now look like we could throw away fourth place. Now, let me be clear, even if that does happen it will still have been a very good season for us but I think while there will be a great deal of fondness for this season, Jens and the way we have played when we are at our best, there will also be a degree of “what might have been” or even possibly “what should have been”.

JBA has been very good for us in his short time and I hope we can hang onto him. But he is not a club ‘legend’ yet as was suggested and he is certainly not the next Pep Guardiola as you would think with the way some both inside and outside our support have been gushing over him. He could very well go on to be a legend of Motherwell FC but he is nowhere near that yet.

Artichoke. Cholmondely. Pedigree CHUM.

A legend is born when we win silverware, that's why Tommy McLean is given that accolade and if truth be told for much of Tommy's 10 year reign we were relegation cannon fodder but where he took us from and to is what puts him in that category for me.