9.40pm

7.50pm

Woods, Lasley, Corrigan, Partridge, Hammell, Cowan, Adams, Leitch, Pearson, Lehmann, Khaled
Subs: Dubourdeau, Ramsey, Ferguson, McDonald, Kinniburgh.

James McFadden misses out due to a hamstring injury.

The Wishaw Press reports that Scott Leitch could be suspended until the end of November following his red card against Partick on Saturday.  After tonight's match he will automatically sit out the Killie game, and having gone over the points limit for the season he could also miss the following matches against Dundee Utd and Hibs.

Meanwhile, Terry Butcher has urged his players to stop feeling sorry for themselves and refused to offer any excuses for the recent poor run of results:
"If we are to get off the bottom of the table then we must find the spirit we had earlier in the season and I’ve told the players that.  We had a long chat on Monday morning and everyone is still remaining positive and optimistic that we can get out of this.  There’s no point hanging our heads and hiding away. The only way is up from now on and the sooner the players realise that the better.  Everyone now has to get on with it and work together to get off the bottom.  I really hate being bottom of the league and I’ve told the players that. It’s now time to roll our sleeves up and get back to the way we were playing earlier in the season.

 "After losing to Thistle and going bottom reality has now set in, but I’d rather be bottom of the league in November rather than May next year.  Of course it’s still tight down at the bottom of the table and if you get a couple of wins then it could push you back up it, but we’ve been saying that for the last seven games and we simply haven’t done it.  We’ve played well in patches and I think that’s been our problem as we haven’t managed a solid ninety minutes since the Celtic game.  Every game for us now becomes vital, especially the home games coming up against Kilmarnock and Dundee Utd as we need to get out confidence back.  We must make Fir Park an intimidating place for teams to come and play, but more importantly, the players must rediscover the form which made them so difficult to beat in the early part of the season.

“Our support was fantastic on Saturday and I was gobsmacked that they stayed and got behind the team right till the end.  It’s unbelievable that we had that against Thistle given our recent run and we need to reward them with some good displays and positive results.  Obviously, we’re fully aware of the situation we now find ourselves in, but everyone has to stick together and our fans will have a big part to play when Kilmarnock come to Fir Park on Saturday.

:"We changed our system around and tried to match them up man for man at the back in a bid to try and play in their half and that’s why I left out Dougie Ramsay and Keith Lasley.  I also left out Dirk Lehmann as I wanted the midfield to try and play it into the feet of our strikers James McFadden and Khaled Kemas, but we didn’t find them often enough to give Partick problems.  Certainly, I’m disappointed with the result, although we didn’t play to the standards we have set ourselves this season.  It was never going to be a game of free-flowing football, but Thistle created the better chances and took them, and we didn’t do that.  The first goal was always going to be crucial and it gave them a big lift, although our performance was poor."

Fir Park director Stewart Robertson (?) has again empasised that there is no need to sell James McFadden, despite the club slumping to the bottom of the Premier League:
"When it comes to Motherwell's debts it is correct to say that the creditors would have to be taken into consideration if a bid was made for James when the transfer window opens again in January.  But who's to say that if we held off from accepting the bid James' worth on the transfer market might not increase before the end of the season?  It's a commercial decision we'll take when the time comes because to date there have been no bids for him.  We are working to a budget at the club and the budget has been used up in full.  We have got to rely on the players who are at the club until January at the earliest and even then it might be we need to soldier on without going into the transfer market.  There are no crisis meetings planned between the interim administrator Bryan Jackson and the club chairman, John Boyle.  And who's to say our situation can't be turned round on the field?

However, reports today suggest that Serie A side Chievo are determined to sign McFadden in January.  Leeds United, Tottenham, Parma, Bayer Leverkusen, Celtic and Rangers have also been credited with an interest in the 19-year-old.

Today's Herald contains an interesting interview with Pat Nevin...

Time for a new opinion poll!

Who do you blame for the club's current predicament?