THIS week our team of sports writers will be providing their assessment of the season so far for all 12 Ladbrokes Premiership clubs.
Keep an eye on the Herald and Evening Times websites for our mid-season reviews throughout the week.
The season so far
It's been the half of two halves for Motherwell this season. Stunningly brilliant in their opening batch of games. Hopelessly rotten in a fair chunk of their latter run. Oh yeah and a cup final thrown in the middle.
Up until the Betfred Cup final with Celtic Motherwell had hardly put a foot wrong. Since they have not won a game and in Louis Moult have lost their best striker by a country mile.
Best player
This is a tricky one for several reasons, the main being that about six contenders for this title have either left the club, have been injured for long spells or have gone off the boil. Moult, Peter Hartley, big Cedric Kipre (bless him...) are all contenders. As is Alex Fisher for holding it together last month when his manager savaged him in a press conference without realising he was standing at the back of the room.
But it really has to be goalkeeper Trevor Carson. The Northern Irishman has been superb in goal, and he was just as important as Moult in Motherwell beating Rangers in the semi final. A tremendous shot stopper and someone who commands his box.
Star signing
See above for the most obvious candidate since he joined from Hartlepool in the summer. Nadir Ciftci may take over if he can pick up the goal scoring slack with Moult now gone.
Biggest disappointment
The way the cup final against Celtic slipped away. James Forrest's opener was a poor goal to lose while the penalty against clumsy Kipre was harsh. Twenty seven years on and the wait for a trophy continues.
What will the second half bring?
God knows.
More report cards
- Aberdeen mid-season report card: Ryan Christie shining in mixed campaign for the Dons
- Celtic mid-season report card: Domestic dominance continues but room for improvement in Europe
- Dundee mid-season report card: Neil McCann's side in high spirits after upturn in form
- Hamilton Accies mid-season report card: Martin Canning charting course to survival despite home woes
- Hearts mid-season report card: Christophe Berra plays starring role in eventful season for Jambos
- Hibernian mid-season report card: Inconsistency the issue for Neil Lennon's entertainers
- Kilmarnock mid-season report card: Steve Clarke arrival inspires top six charge
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here