lenziebud

I think we will get well beaten on Sunday. Really for me just keeping the score down. We have started well in the league and given ourselves a bit of breathing space and allowed the manager a bit of space to build. Rangers should have beaten Hibs and will be well up for getting back on track. A defeat to St Mirren would be out of the question for them. Having said that if we score first the pressure on them would be massive. I think this game will expose Gogic, Fraser through our center of defence. Feel that Fraser in particular is just shading a bit. Gogic a warrior but not quite the player he was either ?

I agree Carr and Nsio look like real finds and backup the data analysis. Carr needs to stop getting yellows though, most are unecessary but he looks a real player. Keeper a bit of bombscare playing out and needs to improve. Looks like a shot stopper but his all round game looks a bit suspect. Think we might struggle with Gogic and Fraser as the center pairing. Sule needs to find goals in his game and Young has to start finishing also but look a better player overall than Sule for me. Not sure about Young over 90 mins though has been effective coming on late in the game but needs to do it over 90 mins. Lack of game time in League Cup means he is catching up. Think we need another striker also, hopefully get somebody in before window shuts that can add regular goals. Not convinced we will hold onto Phillips but if we lose him then hopefully we have a decent replacement.

Good performance yesterday and a step up from the Dunfermline game. Team selection was much stronger and new signings really showed up well. Thought we got away with it a bit in the first half but still had chances. Second half all saints and should have scored 2 or 3 more. McGlynn thought they dominated second half. Really ! Really like Nsio in midfield, adds physicality and looks a box to box player. Sule needs to find a finish but really promising. Not quite sure what the story is with Young but looked decent when he came on, maybe a future at SMFC after all. For all the talk of academy players didn't look a great deal different from previous seasons. Maybe Douglas, McEvoy will be introduced gradually but at some point they will need to grab their opportunity and be difficult to take out the team.

Mooney started more than enough to show that he was not a first choice pick ahead of Ayunga, Mandron, Olysanya etc. Robbo was more than willing to give him the chance but he never quite made it. Off to Arsenal to see if they can develop him, bit like Wilson at Hearts going to Spurs. Not good enough to hold down starting position at Hearts but good potential. Sutherland played one game and was snapped up by Wolves, maybe he would have been good enough to hold down a starting position but we will never know. Wolves hoping to develop potential and paying what are pennies to them for it. Taylor is a nice little player but for me not physical enough for the SPL and will get swallowed up. Robbo persevered to an extent with him even starting him at Parkhead but the game passed him by. Tends to drift out of matches also. Good for the likes of Arbroath but not making it for me. Didn't get a lot of game time at Thistle not sure of the reason. Time will tell. McGinn, McLean, Lavety, Lambert, Hamilton etc etc all hit the ground running. They were better than what we had and showed it in abundance. Motherwell youngsters seem to be of the same ilk Hibs were the same with Miller, Brown, Thomson, O'Connor etc. The new approach by SMFC is a massive gamble and i really hope it works but at the moment I'm very doubtful. For me I'd be dropping 1 or 2 of the best one's in a season and hoping it sticks. Any more than that and i think we could be in trouble. The squad needed serious overhaul even before thinking of blooding youngsters. Having said all that I have a feeling that Falkirk and StJ are 2 of the teams we would want to start against to get points and a bit of confidence. 2 defeats and we are already struggling.

I think Robbo did give youth a chance but they just didn't make the mark for a team going for top six in the SPL. Taylor, Penman, Mooney, Jamieson, Henderson and a few others. None of them came into the team and showed anything consistent over a period to merit a start in a side going for top 6. They were farmed out as they weren't good enough and too much of a risk to keep playing them. Giving youth a pathway is fine but they have to take it. It will be interesting to see how this all pans out. All for it but not at the cost of relegation. Staying in the SPL is priority for the club anything else is a bonus. Don't mind if we are third bottom to get the youngsters through but anything less and its fine margins. Motherwll seem to have managed it over a sustained period of time so maybe we can learn from that but they have to be good enough.

totally overrated and going to get a run out in some bigger games this seaon where he will be found out quickly. The decision on our goal was a shocker as he had a clear view. Also looked like he was borderline losing control in the first half. Likes to play advantage but has a very agressive man management style which i think will cause him a lot of problems at a higher level

Depends on who the manager is. Jack Ross did it because he was quality. Any other time we went down it was for a good spell.

I agree with you. The squad is a mile short. Best we can hope for is we get a few in over the next few weeks but i doubt it. McLeish for me should have proven his worth at a lower level before being given a Premiership job with a team in need of serious repair. All the talk of Robbo not giving youth its chance is nonsense too he did he gave a good few a run and none of them were good enough to hold down a poition in the SPL. Taylor will get swallowed up in the SPL, nowhere near good enough and tends to drift out the game most of the time. When you come into a team at 18 and your going to be good enough then you have to show it from the off like McGinn, McLean. Remeber Weir, McAvennie, Fulton in the old days coming in and being nailed on starters. None of what we have had in recent years have cut it and that is whilst McLeish has been involved also. We have 2 decent fixtures to start with a severly weakened Falkirk and newly promoted StJ, 2 games where we really need to get points from but I have a fear we won't.

That is exactly how i see it too. Motherwell have been successful developing young players and have substantially benefited from it. So far at St Mirren we haven't really cracked it and its not easy in bottom six but hopefully we can start to see that improve. His contract will be caveated with all sorts of release clauses. All appointments are a risk as are all signings. Lots of people thought Stubbs was a great appointment at the time.

Hopefully if McLeish is successful you can come back and be positive about his appointment ?

I think Gavin Miller will play a big part in recruitment. Has a decent record and hopefully finds the quality of player we need because it hasn't been good for quite a while. The fact that we fell apart when we got injuries might be a reason for strengthening the squad with academy players. To be fair to Robbo he did try with a good few but in the end they didn't cut it. Hopefully the one's McLeish is looking to bring through do. For me its the right path to go down instead of constantly bring jobbing pros from League 2/ Non League in England and filling up the squad with others who go through a whole season getting about 5 minutes game time Motherwell have been very successful with this model so hopefully we can emulate.

Fergie for me was our best manager by a country mile. Left the club with some great young players and a great future. Robinson had 3 good seasons and left a mess.

I'd say McLeish needs to go and manage at a lower level for a few season and prove himself. To go from the academy to first team is way to big a jump for me. He has done well and inherited a mess. Been subject to a wee bit to much criticism for me.

Really hoping Nlundalu is fit for Monday as we badly need his ability up front. Problem is he is not match fit. Really like the look of Douglas but Monday is not the time. Can't believe we are struggling against this Thistle side. Bang average and we are making them look decent !

The whole defending throught the match was shocking. Virtually every opportunity they had in the first half was shocking defending. The second half was a disgrace of a performance. The game should have been out of sight of Thistle by half time and now its game on. King is a bombscare at the back, O'Hara, Phillips, Campbell and Mandron need their backsides kicked also.