In recent seasons I'd have been quite hopeful of taking a point out of this fixture. Motherwell have always had a slightly better squad than us, but we have always been capable of holding our own against them. However, this season they are absolutely flying and are heading for Europe. A point would be a terrific result as they will be expected to win so we cannot let them settle for a moment. We need to get in their faces, fly into tackles and roll up our sleeves. The time for pretty football that causes us nightmares at the back is long gone - especially on the infamous Fir Park pitch.
We are in a difficult run of fixtures now, with games against Rangers and Dundee United coming up before the end of the year. It's highly possible we could take nothing from our next three games but we have to stop helping teams take points off us due to mistakes and silly team selections. We also have to cut out the early goals - which admittedly are slightly more preferable to late goals as you still have plenty of time to respond.
That's exactly what we did against Aberdeen last week, although a slightly bigger response was required as were two goals down rather than the solitary one we trailed Caley Thistle to the week before. It is becoming a worrying trend and with the way Motherwell are playing we could be destroyed if they get a goal early and their tails up.
A good way to stop the stupid mistakes would be to go with a sensible team and system. It is surely no coincidence that the last three line-ups have left Saints fans scratching their heads and saw us concede early goals. Hopefully whatever issue ruled Lee Mair out of the trip to Pittodrie - injury, bust-up or alien abduction - will have been resolved and he can take his place in a back four, although it seems he could be missing again. Considering the recent form of Marc McAusland and Illias Haddad, it surely has to be David van Zanten, Jeroen Tesselaar and David Barron that complete the defence if Mair is fit.
Aside from the backline, last week's team wasn't too bad. Mirren Mad said a few days before the game that we needed Graham Carey in the team and perhaps Danny Lennon was reading as the Irishman started and scored. Given previous events this season it wouldn't be a surprise to see him dropped after that! However, he will surely keep his place. So too will Gary Teale seeing as he seems undroppable, although I'd rather see Nigel Hasselbaink in there - not that he's in great form at the moment either. This all assumes Steven Thomson and Hugh Murray are still missing through injury, with Darren McGregor still a long-term absentee.
Motherwell have really been the surprise package of this season's SPL. I thought they took a huge gamble when they chose Stuart McCall to replace Craig Brown as he'd hardly done brilliantly when in charge of Bradford. However, he certainly has done a fine job at Fir Park to have the Steelmen in a comfortable third place - and for a time they were enjoying second. If no one - players or manager - decide to leave in January then they should cruise into third spot and a European place. It will be well deserved as they've been playing some decent football and racking up plenty of wins.
Worryingly for us, they do have a couple of players with bags of pace. Chris Humphrey has been causing Scottish defences problems for a few years now and was even linked with Liverpool in the summer, which was perhaps a bit fanciful. The end product isn't always there but it doesn't always need to be as he leaves defenders trailing in his wake. This season he has been joined by Omar Daley, who apparently makes Humphrey look slow! If both of them start tomorrow we are in deep trouble as our defence hasn't exactly been competent at dealing with slower players in recent weeks.
And speaking of slower players, you can almost guarantee Michael Higdon will score against us tomorrow. He decided to leave us for Motherwell in the summer despite having the chance to move down to England, which was a bit of an odd move. He's managed eight goals so far and quickly endeared himself to his new fans, who started booing him after just a few games. In fairness he acknowledged he was poor and would have booed himself! He replaced another former Saint in the shape of John Sutton, who also scored against us in the past, so it wouldn't be a surprise to see Higdon carry on that trick tomorrow.
Not that he is the only player we need to worry about. I've ready mentioned Humphrey and Daley, while Jamie Murphy is a pretty handy striker too and has been linked with a move down south. Veteran midfielder Keith Lasley has been in the goals this season while Tom Hateley scored a rather good free-kick against us in Paisley back in August. McCall recently brought Stephen Hughes back to the club so he'll have to be watched, with veteran defender and TV pundit Stephen Craigan a threat when attacking set pieces.
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