I get they are doing very well but it's still Motherwell not Barcelona. We have to start making it harder for teams to beat us.

Decent pich should help.

redford_must_score wrote:

It's maybe also got to the stage where the players will enjoy being away from Tannadice. That could lead to a much better performance.

Is Fatah suspended for Falkirk but available for this one? Lost track a bit.

 
Yeah he's only suspended for Falkirk

I would do a formation with at least 3 midfielders in Camara, Agyei and Sevelj (ideally sibbald and play sevelj cb but sibbald injured) because if we go into the game with 2 in the midfield which wouldn't surprise me, we are asking to lose the battle in the middle of the pitch and ultimately the game. One of the reasons Motherwell have done so well is because they play a strong midfield which helps advance the play throughout the pitch and plug the gaps to help the defence, imo we have some good midfielders but JG has played 2 in the midfield most of the season which has not worked more than two times and when he plays a 3 he adds luca stephenson into the middle who just hasn't shown anything for me in that position once, but every time he has played him rb he is solid and attackingly much better than strain who killed the game the other night along with watters. Hopefully we can play some better football, there is no excuse for Jim now as we are not playing at tannadice and don't have to hoof the ball every time we get it, hopes aren't high though as we need to be attackingly and defensively strong aswell and no three departments have ever been consistently good at the same time since the start of the season.

United23 wrote:

I would do a formation with at least 3 midfielders in Camara, Agyei and Sevelj (ideally sibbald and play sevelj cb but sibbald injured) because if we go into the game with 2 in the midfield which wouldn't surprise me, we are asking to lose the battle in the middle of the pitch and ultimately the game. One of the reasons Motherwell have done so well is because they play a strong midfield which helps advance the play throughout the pitch and plug the gaps to help the defence, imo we have some good midfielders but JG has played 2 in the midfield most of the season which has not worked more than two times and when he plays a 3 he adds luca stephenson into the middle who just hasn't shown anything for me in that position once, but every time he has played him rb he is solid and attackingly much better than strain who killed the game the other night along with watters. Hopefully we can play some better football, there is no excuse for Jim now as we are not playing at tannadice and don't have to hoof the ball every time we get it, hopes aren't high though as we need to be attackingly and defensively strong aswell and no three departments have ever been consistently good at the same time since the start of the season.

I'm with you on the midfield three of Sevelj~Camara~Agyei.

Those three would help protect the back line.

I'd also bring back Ross Graham. Apart from anything else he's one of our only players who's scoring regularly.

My team would be -

.......................AMB.......................
Stephenson..Iovu...Graham...Ferry
........Sevelj...Camara...Agyei....
......Dolcek....Sapsford...Fatah...

Subs - Richards, Watters, Farrugia, SCH
Kerezstes, Trapanovski, Strain, Eskesen, Naamo


 

Tek wrote:

United23 wrote:

I would do a formation with at least 3 midfielders in Camara, Agyei and Sevelj (ideally sibbald and play sevelj cb but sibbald injured) because if we go into the game with 2 in the midfield which wouldn't surprise me, we are asking to lose the battle in the middle of the pitch and ultimately the game. One of the reasons Motherwell have done so well is because they play a strong midfield which helps advance the play throughout the pitch and plug the gaps to help the defence, imo we have some good midfielders but JG has played 2 in the midfield most of the season which has not worked more than two times and when he plays a 3 he adds luca stephenson into the middle who just hasn't shown anything for me in that position once, but every time he has played him rb he is solid and attackingly much better than strain who killed the game the other night along with watters. Hopefully we can play some better football, there is no excuse for Jim now as we are not playing at tannadice and don't have to hoof the ball every time we get it, hopes aren't high though as we need to be attackingly and defensively strong aswell and no three departments have ever been consistently good at the same time since the start of the season.

I'm with you on the midfield three of Sevelj~Camara~Agyei.

Those three would help protect the back line.

I'd also bring back Ross Graham. Apart from anything else he's one of our only players who's scoring regularly.

My team would be -

.......................AMB.......................
Stephenson..Iovu...Graham...Ferry
........Sevelj...Camara...Agyei....
......Dolcek....Sapsford...Fatah...

Subs - Richards, Watters, Farrugia, SCH
Kerezstes, Trapanovski, Strain, Eskesen, Naamo


 

 
I think that's our strongest line up right now. Would love to see that on Saturday, it's a front 6 that look to get the ball down and play.
I honestly believe if we had been 433 this season we'd probably be 6th.

The only question mark is Zac who has suffered from lack of service but I think Dolcek holds the key to that. Evidence that classy goal at Easter Road.

dufc5 wrote:

It will be madness to flog Camara in these two league games coming up ahead of a season defining game next Friday. Would only play him in one of them given his history this season on pulling up when playing too many games in a short space of time.

Only Rangers have kept Motherwell scoreless in the league since we drew 0-0 with them in December.

We should play our strongest team on Saturday. We'll need to against a very good side if we have any intentions of taking even a point.

Tuesday against St.Mirren (if it goes ahead) should however see wholesale changes. Naamo, Farrugia, SCH, Stirton, Dolcek, Eskesen etc should all get game time.
 

Stillliving wrote:

Tek wrote:

dufc5 wrote:

It will be madness to flog Camara in these two league games coming up ahead of a season defining game next Friday. Would only play him in one of them given his history this season on pulling up when playing too many games in a short space of time.

Only Rangers have kept Motherwell scoreless in the league since we drew 0-0 with them in December.

We should play our strongest team on Saturday. We'll need to against a very good side if we have any intentions of taking even a point.

Tuesday against St.Mirren (if it goes ahead) should however see wholesale changes. Naamo, Farrugia, SCH, Stirton, Dolcek, Eskesen etc should all get game time.
 

 
I think the wholesale changes will take place against Motherwell rather than St Mirren.   I don't think we are getting anything at Motherwell regardless of what 11 we put on the park.

The St Mirren match is winnable and far more important to keep the gap ( hopefully increase it) to the teams below us.

 
Im not accepting us lying down to anyone, fuck sake this is Motherwell not Barcelona.  As good as they've been this season,that kind of chat is fucking embarrassing. The day we roll over and accept we can't win a game against Motherwell is the day the football died.

David_Blunkett wrote:

Arabdownsouth wrote:

Stillliving wrote:

 
I think the wholesale changes will take place against Motherwell rather than St Mirren. I don't think we are getting anything at Motherwell regardless of what 11 we put on the park.

The St Mirren match is winnable and far more important to keep the gap ( hopefully increase it) to the teams below us.

 
Im not accepting us lying down to anyone, fuck sake this is Motherwell not Barcelona. As good as they've been this season,that kind of chat is fucking embarrassing. The day we roll over and accept we can't win a game against Motherwell is the day the football died.

Same here.

We could go there get played off the park, and lose 3-0. Alternatively we could go there not fall into their 'make everyone chase the ball whilst we piss about 50 yards from goal trying to force a gap' tactics and win 1-0.

We're in danger of making them some kind of bogeyman figure, much like Martin Boyle seems to be amongst our support, be patient, let them have the ball in their own half, and boot a couple of the cunts as well.

They play Stephen O'Donnell and McGinn at centre half for fuck sake. 
 

 

It not a case of lying down to anyone. The facts are we have 3 games in 6 days the best 11 can't play in every game.  The Motherwell game is the least winnable of the 3 that's not lying down that's just the facts.

Stillliving wrote:

David_Blunkett wrote:

Arabdownsouth wrote:

 
Im not accepting us lying down to anyone, fuck sake this is Motherwell not Barcelona. As good as they've been this season,that kind of chat is fucking embarrassing. The day we roll over and accept we can't win a game against Motherwell is the day the football died.

Same here.

We could go there get played off the park, and lose 3-0. Alternatively we could go there not fall into their 'make everyone chase the ball whilst we piss about 50 yards from goal trying to force a gap' tactics and win 1-0.

We're in danger of making them some kind of bogeyman figure, much like Martin Boyle seems to be amongst our support, be patient, let them have the ball in their own half, and boot a couple of the cunts as well.

They play Stephen O'Donnell and McGinn at centre half for fuck sake. 
 

 

It not a case of lying down to anyone. The facts are we have 3 games in 6 days the best 11 can't play in every game.  The Motherwell game is the least winnable of the 3 that's not lying down that's just the facts.

 
Its a defeatist attitude if you ask me. Jim Goodwin gets called defeatist and negative but some of our fans are just as bad. I want us to try to win every game and there's no other approach thats acceptable to me.

Stillliving wrote:

redford_must_score wrote:

Stillliving wrote:

 

It not a case of lying down to anyone. The facts are we have 3 games in 6 days the best 11 can't play in every game.  The Motherwell game is the least winnable of the 3 that's not lying down that's just the facts.

I don't accept the principle that the Motherwell game is the least winnable.
Football isn't played based on the form guide.
We could just as easily rest players at Motherwell, lose there, then put them back in on Tuesday and lose again. Then mix it again for the Cup game and lose yet again. There are no guarantees that resting players would work.

However I get that Naamo could alternate games with Strain or Stephenson or even Ferry etc etc but using the squad available via substitutions is the way forward surely. Unfortunately with Goodwin it's impossible to predict what he will do.

 

 

You may not accept that Motherwell is the least winnable but the bookies have UTD at 5/1 to beat Motherwell 2/1 to beat StMirren & 3/1 to beat Falkirk.
I would say they are pretty accurate as they normally are.

 
Good for them. The point we are making is there's no fucking point in bothering at all if your mindset is that we can't beat Motherwell in an 11 v 11 game of football. They've had a decent season and all of a sudden they're unbeatable? Nah just not ready to accept that kind of defeatist attitude ever. We might not win, it might be a draw or we might win. These are all available options, and I'll say it again,it's Motherwell not Barcelona. I'm not saying that we dont need to rotate players a little due to the volume of games, but to just play our weakest 11 against Motherwell is something I'll never ever accept for my club.

Last edited by Arabdownsouth (27/2/2026 1:12 pm)

Agree with ADS.  Anyway, and totally selfishly, I can't make the St Mirren game and won't get a ticket for Falkirk, but will be at Fir Park tomorrow, so Goodwin better not put out a lesser team, or I'll be jumping on the Conway bandwagon...