colinstein 294 Posted July 9, 2016 Share Posted July 9, 2016 Phoney war is over....now it's the real thing what's the line up ?.......apparently it's too early for some of our new signings and I was thinking Barry McKay might be a week behind as well. Then it's east Stirling and Stranrar. will everyone have played a competitive game before the league opener .........it's Hamilton is it not ? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
buster. 5,186 Posted July 9, 2016 Share Posted July 9, 2016 There will be a few who won't be ready and you'd imagine we'll be undercooked regards match sharpness. Motherwell have played several friendlies, are at home and I'd make them favourites for this one-off match but am more interested in us being ready for the start of the league in terms of fitness, sharpness and organised/drilled. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RANGERRAB 3,657 Posted July 9, 2016 Share Posted July 9, 2016 I'd be extremely disappointed indeed if we lost to Motherwell next week. Every competitive game should be a 'must-win' for us regardless if it's the LC or whatever. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
buster. 5,186 Posted July 9, 2016 Share Posted July 9, 2016 I'd be extremely disappointed indeed if we lost to Motherwell next week. Every competitive game should be a 'must-win' for us regardless if it's the LC or whatever. It's not so much because it's the LC, it's about organising what is still a pre-season with an eye to being properly up and running for the Hamilton game. Because of the July dates and that we play 4 games in 9 days, the League Cup becomes preperation rather than competitive fixtures. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFK-1 1,693 Posted July 9, 2016 Share Posted July 9, 2016 (edited) Naturally we want to win all competitive matches but the manager is still going through the process of preparing the squad for the opening league match which is far more important. I would rather have 3 points from that opening league match than a league cup win at Motherwell and in addition it's common for teams in England as well to field a team that isn't the first 11 in early league cup rounds. The league cup is silverware but aside from that it's nothing else in comparison to the league itself and the Scottish cup both of which offer a European spot. I would also expect us to still qualify even if we lost at Motherwell and still believe that whatever he fields will give a good account of themselves and have every chance of winning the game. In fact a win with a side that isn't the first 11 would send out an impressive message of intent to the rest of the SPL. Edited July 9, 2016 by JFK-1 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RANGERRAB 3,657 Posted July 9, 2016 Share Posted July 9, 2016 It's not so much because it's the LC, it's about organising what is still a pre-season with an eye to being properly up and running for the Hamilton game. Because of the July dates and that we play 4 games in 9 days, the League Cup becomes preperation rather than competitive fixtures. That may be so but we should still want to win this one regardless. I want some sort of revenge on Motherwell following the play-off a year ago. I suspect many of our supoort do too. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFK-1 1,693 Posted July 9, 2016 Share Posted July 9, 2016 That may be so but we should still want to win this one regardless. I want some sort of revenge on Motherwell following the play-off a year ago. I suspect many of our supoort do too. I would absolutely love to give Motherwell a good hiding for the events of last year but still happy to accept the manager is still preparing the squad. I would rather thrash them in the league than this if it came to a choice. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacK1950 2,376 Posted July 9, 2016 Share Posted July 9, 2016 Not too much interested in these games in fact it has already caused me to use up one of my ccc mandate refusals(bummer),who wants to travel to Ochilview on a Tuesday night when game on telly. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tannochsidebear 2,406 Posted July 9, 2016 Share Posted July 9, 2016 What makes anyone think Motherwell will be at a more advanced stage of pre-season than us? They may have played a couple more friendlies but MW has stated several times he doesn't care much for friendlies and doesn't place much emphasis on them, preferring to work with his squad at training and get the work/rest balance right without matches. We hadn't had hardly any build up this time last year and didn't do too badly in our first match. MW will go as strong as he can next week, and it should be enough to get a good result, or a draw at worst. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
limeburner 0 Posted July 9, 2016 Share Posted July 9, 2016 That may be so but we should still want to win this one regardless. I want some sort of revenge on Motherwell following the play-off a year ago. I suspect many of our supoort do too. Agree,you cant build confidence on the back of defeats.Lets hit the ground running. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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