Hearts v Motherwell 11/04/2026

[Happy Dosser]

17 minutes ago, star sail said:

The subjective nature of decision making is killing the game in Scotland.

Despite Motherwell having the best team in recent memory, I have lost interest in the game in recent months. The Slattery punishment is bizarre. The process is incoherent and it's seems that we are still paying the price for Slattery's stupidity. 

The playing field is not even. I feel sorry for the Motherwell manager and the Motherwell players who have created a new vision in Scottish football this season and to some extent the project has been detailed by really poor refereeing standards. 

 

 

 

I quite agree but I hope you don't give up. A sense of apathy or helplessness only helps the authorities perpetuate the status quo and, when push comes to shove, Hearts might well end up  biting the carpet like us over refereeing decisions before this season is decided.

Having said that, my attendance at games is the only resistance I can think of, unless clubs unite to   mount some kind of  challenge to the obviously unfair decision-making by the authorities. 

[smiddy]

6 hours ago, MJC said:

It was a stonewall penalty. Anyone saying otherwise is kidding themselves on.

Overall we just weren’t good enough and were well beaten by a better team who are more clinical and more equipped to deal with how football works in this league. 
 

We are now ending this season with a whimper because we have been well and truly sussed out.

Fur coat, no knickers.

On the ground 

flicks his head back 

yip stonewaller 🙈🙈🙈🙈

[sinjy]

I just wonder if Jens is getting as pissed off as the rest of us with the downright incompetence of our officials both on and off the field. It is quite possible that he will feel he can't continue here and look for a move to the English Championship or nearer home in Europe. If that happens I hope the powers in the game are ashamed that they have driven away one of the most innovative managers this country has seen in years.

[smiddy]

28 minutes ago, sinjy said:

I just wonder if Jens is getting as pissed off as the rest of us with the downright incompetence of our officials both on and off the field. It is quite possible that he will feel he can't continue here and look for a move to the English Championship or nearer home in Europe. If that happens I hope the powers in the game are ashamed that they have driven away one of the most innovative managers this country has seen in years.

Powers that be couldnt give a flying fcuk for jens

as long as the erse cheacks are ok 

 

 

[joewarkfanclub]

6 hours ago, Ya Bezzer! said:

15 matches against Top 6 and we have 2 wins.

That's not referees.  Especially when we have been ahead or level in so many of those matches.

There's those damn statistics again.

15 matches.

Only 2 wins.

But also 7 draws and only 6 defeats.

So while our record could be better, we have been more than competitive against the top 6.

[joewarkfanclub]

Double post.

[joewarkfanclub]

3 hours ago, wellfan said:

Putting aside our recent inability to take our chances and the blatantly poor officiating, my other big concern is the complete lack of aggression. It showed again today against an aggressive Hearts side.

We can’t defend set pieces into our own box, and at the other end our set pieces and most of our crosses are basically pointless because we’ve no real presence or aggression in the box, with defenders often winning everything.

Also. For all the decent football we play in the middle of the park, we’re far too powderpuff across the pitch. We need to be stronger and more aggressive if we want to be winners, and it’s a glaring issue that has to be addressed in the summer.

I agree with you, but we dont really have a big physical team. So its no real surprise we are shite at set pieces. 

Jens isnt obviously sign any hammer throwers, but it would be nice if we could get a couple of signings in close season that could play football, but were 6 foot plus and/or had a bit of bite about them.

[joewarkfanclub]

I thought today was a much improved performance from the last few weeks, with most of the starting 11 raising their levels.

It was telling that McInnes sounded relieved at the end of the game and gave us some plaudits, albeit that doesnt really help us any in terms of points.

We can talk about the refereeing (unless the rules have changed, I dont see how Kabore isnt enndangering himself by trying to head itnon the ground) but if we put any if the 4 chances away before that, then its less of a problem for us and may not even occcur.

Overall, JT much better off the right side. Just fantastic thru the middle. I liked the 4-2-4, was a twist on our usual set up and played to our strengths. Fadinger much better without the mask.

We will play worse and win before the end of the season.

[texanwellfan]

1 hour ago, joewarkfanclub said:

I thought today was a much improved performance from the last few weeks, with most of the starting 11 raising their levels.

It was telling that McInnes sounded relieved at the end of the game and gave us some plaudits, albeit that doesnt really help us any in terms of points.

We can talk about the refereeing (unless the rules have changed, I dont see how Kabore isnt enndangering himself by trying to head itnon the ground) but if we put any if the 4 chances away before that, then its less of a problem for us and may not even occcur.

Overall, JT much better off the right side. Just fantastic thru the middle. I liked the 4-2-4, was a twist on our usual set up and played to our strengths. Fadinger much better without the mask.

We will play worse and win before the end of the season.

Good post.
Although JT can shoulder some responsibility for missed chances I agree with your comment on JT, that was his best game for quite a while. Ward was a bit shaky and errant in his distribution but wasn’t at fault for Any of the goals. 
  We are in a ropy spell at the moment but still never been dominated or Outclassed in any game. 

[texanwellfan]

Jut watched pk incident in highlights again. The player is laying on the ground and head the ball as Welsh goes to clear. Gets kicked in the head. Applying FIFA rules it’s dangerous play against the player on the ground. 

[FirParkCornerExile]

2 hours ago, joewarkfanclub said:

I agree with you, but we dont really have a big physical team. So its no real surprise we are shite at set pieces. 

Jens isnt obviously sign any hammer throwers, but it would be nice if we could get a couple of signings in close season that could play football, but were 6 foot plus and/or had a bit of bite about them.

Commented at the game today when was the last time we scored from a corner. Our set pieces are very poor. However that is still a hard one to take. We were never in any real danger until the penalty and oh my fuck Maswanhise !! what a fuckin shocker

[FirParkCornerExile]

9 hours ago, MJC said:

There is a ‘ceiling’ which shows how good we actually are. And we have shown time and time again this season that we aren’t capable of going above that ceiling.

When it has come down to the crunch we have consistently fell short of showing that we can compete with and beat the stronger sides. Obviously that can be countered by pointing to the Celtic game at FP in December, and understandably given the way we dominated them that night. But to counter that Celtic were at their worst point in decades with a manager who was clearly miles out of his depth and who was sacked less than a week after that game. I don’t mean to take anything away from how we played that night but that was clearly a factor.

As it stands heading into the split we are in a good position. We are in the top six and that is something that would have been seen as laughable if anyone had predicted that before the season started. But we can’t just go on what would have been “acceptable” or seen as “beyond our reach back in July/August”. The season develops and perspectives change and we have gone from getting ourselves into a great position in mid February to utterly whimpering our way to 6th place come the end of the season.

And…that does not mean that we have had a bad season or anything of the sort. It’s just that we have had a season which had the potential to be so much better than it has ended up.

It’s more frustrating that disappointing.

I agree with some of that but I do not accept that today Hearts were the better team. Up until the penalty we were in no danger Hearts were creating fuck all while we squandered several decent chances. Over a season any team that ends up above you has been a better team over the season but that doesn't always mean in the head to heads they've performed better than you. People will argue til the cows come home whether it was a penalty or not but had that not been given Hearts were not winning that game today.

[SteelmaninOZ]

8 hours ago, Happy Dosser said:

A good question for Wullie Collum at the next pointless VAR review video with Gordon Duncan. It's pretty much a waste of time even pursuing these howlers because the authorities' incompetence/bias have no consequences for them. More word salad and twisting than a Philadelphia lawyer will doubtless ensue from WC etc. and nothing will change for the better.

The Slattery incident seems to have been a possible catalyst for the slew of inexplicably harsh decisions against us in the past two months but I'm not exactly sure why. Slattery's feigning was embarrassing but a) the referee missed it  originally and  b) VAR decided to send King off for the slightest of contact, which was later rescinded. Yet eventually Slattery is banned for two games for what is normally a yellow card offence, plus a two-match suspended sentence, which is a Sword of Damocles hanging over him for an indeterminate period (has this ever happened to an OF player?). Was this  simply because yet again  the authorities were shown to be incompetent (and I also  still think Longelo was probably offside from the angles on the BBC coverage) and thus  they have  "doubled down" (but only against a "diddy team", of course) like a frustrated  sad-sack gambler in Las Vegas?

Posters above who say it's hardly worthwhile attending 'Well matches because of refereeing "inconsistencies" have my sympathy and our next game is, of course, at the worse venue possible for such things,  yet we still have the some   concern troll posters on here ignoring the blinking obvious and putting the boot in to the team when we have well and truly been stitched up by unfair decisions recently.

This has still been for me one of the  best seasons ever supporting MFC since 1962 and I am  proud of our style of play, not something I have said often in my time. Our big increase in attendances shows I'm not the only one who thinks so either.

'Mon The Dossers!

 

 

 

 

 Well said jeez I miss the debates on that bus with Blyth and the others.

[star sail]

12 hours ago, Kmcalpin said:

 

Have other sides sussed us? Up to a point, but I wouldn't overegg that. 

 

Agreed. Other sides have certainly had to adapt to our style and Falkirk in particular have countered it really well but Hearts knew they were in a game yesterday and if we are more clinical in front of goal then nobody is talking about them sussing us out.

There has not been a top 6 team this season that has dominated Motherwell. It has been decisive moments in games that have made the difference.

V Hearts D,D,L The penalty decision was decisive yesterday. 

Celtic L,W,L. Two defeats at Celtic Park but very competitive in both and a couple of key moments again decisive Ox- Chamberlain and penalty (red card). 

Rangers D, L, D. The non penalty at Ibrox was again decisive.

Hibs W, D, D. Hibs have improved at neutralising the threat but we remain unbeaten against them 

Falkirk L, D, L. This is the only team that it could potentially be argued have sussed us but it was two penalty decision (both going against Well) that decided the last of the three games. 

It has been very small margins between what has been a very good season and what could have been a great season.

 

[MJC]

4 hours ago, FirParkCornerExile said:

I agree with some of that but I do not accept that today Hearts were the better team. Up until the penalty we were in no danger Hearts were creating fuck all while we squandered several decent chances. Over a season any team that ends up above you has been a better team over the season but that doesn't always mean in the head to heads they've performed better than you. People will argue til the cows come home whether it was a penalty or not but had that not been given Hearts were not winning that game today.

Agreed and that’s always likely to happen when you can’t make it count when you are on top. And on far too many occasions this season we have played some nice stuff but have undone it all by being utterly powderpuff when it really matters. I personally think it was the correct decision to award the penalty yesterday but if we take even one of the chances before that it would have been irrelevant so we have only got ourselves to blame. 

[star sail]

5 minutes ago, MJC said:

Agreed and that’s always likely to happen when you can’t make it count when you are on top. And on far too many occasions this season we have played some nice stuff but have undone it all by being utterly powderpuff when it really matters. I personally think it was the correct decision to award the penalty yesterday but if we take even one of the chances before that it would have been irrelevant so we have only got ourselves to blame. 

What your reasoning for the penalty MJC?

The actual rule says that if the player on the ground moves his head towards the ball thereby causing a dangerous situation the foul goes against him for dangerous play 

What are you seeing that negates that? 

 

[Richie]

I fully expect Collum to say that the Hearts boy playing the ball with his head was involuntary and that its incumbent on Welsh to watch what he's doing.

Collum is coming out with loads of phrases like 'Normal footballing contact' and 'defender needs to keep out of the way', but the application of this is haphazard at best.

You could say that Welsh getting a 'glancing brush' (remember that one) to the boys head is normal footballing contact, given the context of the play.

 

[Happy Dosser]

4 hours ago, SteelmaninOZ said:

 Well said jeez I miss the debates on that bus with Blyth and the others.

Blyth debates: "Shut it  Pizza, ya silly big c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-clot!"

Also the driver of the only Motherwell supporters' coach to enter Aberdeen from the north on one occasion 😱 (allegedly).

[wellon]

1 hour ago, star sail said:

What your reasoning for the penalty MJC?

The actual rule says that if the player on the ground moves his head towards the ball thereby causing a dangerous situation the foul goes against him for dangerous play 

What are you seeing that negates that? 

 

His reasoning is he doesn't know the rules, not alone in that.

[wellfan]

Collum will, of course, contort to defend the penalty decision, which only serves to perpetuate the problem and normalise poor officiating. That’s to be expected when you’ve got a renowned incompetent as the chief clown.

[Kmcalpin]

1 hour ago, MJC said:

Agreed and that’s always likely to happen when you can’t make it count when you are on top. And on far too many occasions this season we have played some nice stuff but have undone it all by being utterly powderpuff when it really matters. I personally think it was the correct decision to award the penalty yesterday but if we take even one of the chances before that it would have been irrelevant so we have only got ourselves to blame. 

Yes, although we've scored a fair few goals this season, all too often we've been powderpuff in front of goals and yet again its cost us. We also have defensive frailties that Wellfan pointed out above. 

If officials are going to be pernickety they could have looked more closely at Hearts' opener. It seems to me that Findlay (No 19) was holding/pulling our defender when he headed the ball back across goal. 

As for the penalty, I'd say it was 55/45 not a penalty. A very close call which, once again, went against us. You could argue that the lad's heading of the ball of the ball was involuntary, but I'd say that according to the laws of the  game it shouldn't have ben awarded. 

[Kmcalpin]

12 hours ago, wellfan said:

Putting aside our recent inability to take our chances and the blatantly poor officiating, my other big concern is the complete lack of aggression. It showed again today against an aggressive Hearts side.

We can’t defend set pieces into our own box, and at the other end our set pieces and most of our crosses are basically pointless because we’ve no real presence or aggression in the box, with defenders often winning everything.

Also. For all the decent football we play in the middle of the park, we’re far too powderpuff across the pitch. We need to be stronger and more aggressive if we want to be winners, and it’s a glaring issue that has to be addressed in the summer.

Good post.

Its a definite weakness in the squad, which has cost us. We are soft as a team both mentally and physically. I suppose JBA could go one of two ways for next season. Stick with his principles and try to sign more/better pure footballers or become more pragmatic and sign some stronger/more aggressive individuals.  Maybe the two aren't mutually exclusive. .  

[wellfan]

4 minutes ago, Kmcalpin said:

Good post.

Its a definite weakness in the squad, which has cost us. We are soft as a team both mentally and physically. I suppose JBA could go one of two ways for next season. Stick with his principles and try to sign more/better pure footballers or become more pragmatic and sign some stronger/more aggressive individuals.  Maybe the two aren't mutually exclusive. .  

We should 100% stick with the footballing principles we’ve developed this season, but it’s now clear we need to introduce a bit more pragmatism to that approach in order to improve our overall performance and results against stronger opposition.