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I think it's a mistake to assume that failing to meet expectations at Rosenborg tells us much about how Johansson will do with us. Rosenborg operate in a completely different footballing environment. They play in a 20,000 seat stadium, regularly spend millions of euros on players, have won a record 26 Norwegian league titles, have huge domestic support and have played more European matches than any other Norwegian club. Their expectation isn't simply to be competitive. It's to challenge for titles, qualify for Europe and play a recognisable brand of football while doing it. Our reality is almost the opposite. We work with a fraction of that budget, constantly rebuild squads, develop players, sell them on and try to outperform clubs with greater resources. Success at Motherwell isn't measured by whether you win the league. It's about organising a team properly, improving players, recruiting intelligently, competing consistently and maximising limited resources. That's why I don't think you can simply take Johansson's Rosenborg record and transpose it onto Motherwell. In fact, some of the things Rosenborg themselves credited him with - improving training standards, introducing stronger structure and methodology, developing young players and creating value from them, are potentially much more relevant to the job here than whether he was capable of satisfying the expectations of Norway's biggest club. Of course, there are questions about how his spell ended, particularly around adaptability and leadership when results got away from him. Those are worth discussing. But Rosenborg and Motherwell are two very different jobs, with very different expectations, resources and definitions of success. Another thing worth considering is Jens. Flip his career around for a second. Imagine we'd never had him at Motherwell and he was coming to us now from Toulouse. We'd look at his record there and see a manager sitting near the bottom of Ligue 1 without a win in his first four league games. If we applied the same logic being applied to Johansson, plenty of people would immediately conclude that Askou wasn't good enough. But we know that's bollocks because we've already seen Askou manage Motherwell. We know he was capable of coming into our particular environment, working with our budget and players, and being successful. That's the point. Managers don't operate in a vacuum. The club, expectations, budget, squad, league and the actual job they're being asked to do matter enormously. In the end, Alfred didn't meet Rosenborg's expectations, and they were entitled to sack him. But we're not asking him to do the Rosenborg job. We're asking him to organise and improve players, develop young talent, operate within a restricted budget, create value in the squad and make us competitive against clubs with greater resources. Askou is probably the perfect demonstration of why judging a manager purely on what happened at a completely different type of football club can be completely misleading.

Not as funny though as the person who thought Sparrow was our best player!

It’s blooming hard not to compare to last season - which I’m sure we all agree was simply fabulous . JBA was a level above anything I’ve seen before and some players very hard to replace aka Just . I loved watching pretty much every league game and although not finished article I really felt we’d win or certainly not lose . BUT that’s the past . if I compare to any other season I’d probably be reasonably happy, albeit I don’t like losing any game , particularly being pumped at home. I’ve no clue what to expect this season but probably fair to assume it won’t be 4th and that’s ok . What I do want is to enjoy my footy, be proud of performances and for that to happen we need to improve consistency

Very well said and the support are vital this season. Do all the glory hunters who started coming back suddenly stop attending because heaven forbid we had a bad game? Our style has had many admirers and just look at the attendances. There will be bumps along the way but jeez give me our style ahead of Robbo tactics any day. Aye they won but the play-acting etc would stop folk turning up. Fans need to stay with it, even stand up and sing for Motherwell was flat as a pancake last night. Keep the Faith folks.......grizzly jovi

Robinson was getting absolute pelters before killie cup game, now dons think he's the messiah. Fitba fans of all clubs really have no patience whatsoever

These are dangerous times to be a football manager. David Gray has just been sacked and MJC and wellfan have bumped the manager thread back to the top of the discussion board. So far this season these are the managers whose fans have been sticking the boot in, many calling for sacking: O'Neil at Celtic (he maybe has a little more goodwill in the bank) McIness at Rangers Robinson at Aberdeen McCann at Kilmarnock Goodwin at Utd Gray at Hibs ( now gone) 6 games in. It has been a long hard season!!!

Good post. I was saying as we were leaving the game that, in spite of the result, we know how this plays out for aberdeen under robinson. A few seasons of moderately successful hammer throwing before results dry up, saturdays become a chore and it slowly turns toxic. Then rinse/ repeat with another merry-go-round manager. I know which team i'd rather be following.

He will get a chance and indeed I don’t see anyone saying that he shouldn’t. He is a very young coach and came into a tough job with big shoes to fill and had to contend with the heart of last seasons team being ripped away from under his feet. But there are worrying signs at this early stage, that’s all anyone is saying and from my own post on this thread earlier on today I was simply highlighting that there are some signs of what the Rosenborg supporter posted about him a few months back. It might well come good for him and us though and we all hope it does.

This is fair comment. Jens IS a hard act to follow. But Alfred has been backed heavily in the transfer market. The early signs were all very good, so Im not going to jump on any negative bandwagons. However, despite still "playing nice stuff at times" we havent looked anywhere near as compact or in control of games as we did under Jens. Thats a tough thing to figure out and fix without coaching time on the pitch and whilst assembling a squad. But the window is now closed and we now go into period after the Dundee game where that excuse will no longer be valid. I would expect to see some significant improvements in the next month or so. We will have a better idea by the end of October as to the actual quality of our squad and the coaching ability of our manager.

It is difficult to know where to start with that last night. Is it the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning? How can we place that performance and result in the context of the season to date? Do I fall into the doom merchant or happy clapper category? Was it a freak result or a sign of things to come? Fortunately I can answer all the questions above: I have absolutely no idea!! I don't think last night was entirely surprising. The Rangers game before it was a concern. The difference was that the Rangers game came on the end of a very tight fixture schedule and last nights performance came after a break. I have never really bought the played too many games, played too few argument. It is generally an excuse. Good teams negate these issues more often than not. The only conclusion I can come to is this. We miss Priestman. He was the best player in the team before injury and the lack of continuity in the midfield is because he is not there. We have a very young manager with a youngish squad. Most of the signings are project signings. Some will work, some won't. The model we are working with lends itself to inconsistency. We will not pull a successful rabbit out the hat every time. The big question really is Does the support have the stomach for the experiment? Last year was unique. It was successful in a way that will not be replicated this season or possibly ever again. So what do we want? Win at all costs Robinson style industrial football or a project to develop in the right way with the understanding that it will not always go as planned? I suspect there will be much soul searching within our support trying to answer that question in the coming months.

Anyone reading my posts will know my views here. I am very much in favour of AJ and after 6 league games ( unbeaten in first 4), it is way too early to be judging him. I will break down my points. 1) whoever replaced Jens was going to be judged more harshly as expectation levels increased 10 fold 2) huge personal choice for him as he had an 8 month pregnant wife also to look after as well as moving to a new country. 3) he lost 5 regular and key players last season and has brought in 11 new players plus we had an injury list of 10 players 4) we faced helsinki and freiburg in europe and the performances I felt were great, especially helsinki at home. 5) for those criticising his stenhousemuir line-up, he made a call and it didnt work. Lets not forget that Jens got hammered in league cup semi and for dons away in cup also put out a weakened side when we weren't even dealing with european ties. 6) hopefully he is learning from mistakes and we start getting a settled side. I think squad is actually strong and competition for places is healthy. Of our new signings I have been impressed mainly and also remember a few coming from overseas and adapting to a new league. We shouldn't be happy about last night but jeez lets not forget the style of fitba Robinson.....Alexander and Kettlewell inflicted on us. Give the lad a chance

100%. I always believed the idea was that we wanted to see some more progressive football while trying to achieve the goals that a club like ours should have, which, in case anyone has forgotten, is always to secure safety first and foremost, then push for the top six. Last season was an anomaly in more ways than one. The entire league was crazy, with Hearts almost winning it. We need to accept that along with the way we play will come spells where we don't look great and we don't win. But that doesn't mean we throw out the entire playbook and revert to the traditional Scottish approach, does it?

Spooky!! Exact same xi I woukd go for. RCC and Sparrow need dropped and I become more unconvinced about JT, definitely trying hard but no end product

Ah'll dae the jokes 🤣

I am glad some folk on here aren't my boss as jeez one typo on a document or wrong figure on a spreadsheet and it would be dole queue tomorrow! We were rotten last night, it's one game. AJ taking pelters for team selection ( and rightly so in some cases), but surely Rogers and rest of coaching staff with more of an idea of Robbo's tactics should have been more aware that the forward line wasn't right. Last season at end of September we were away to Livi and defeat would have made us bottom, we won and rest is history. No doubt Jens would have bern getting pelters then also. Also please note Toulouse yet to win a league game yet..........hmmmm maybe because it takes time to bring in new ideas and formation. Healthy debate and constructive criticism is all good but some of the reaction in stands last night and on here is in my opinion is totally over the score. It was always going to take time for new manager....players...formation etc. Too many folk now expecting us to finish 4th every season, that ain't going to happen. Bring on Dundee and please give us any kind of win. COYW

💯 bang on pal

On last nights performance Starting guys like RCC and Sparrow who were bit players last year says all you need to know, the only guy closing properly was Lowry, not convinced with Hodge as a no 6 he is too lightweight and should be further up the pitch IMO. Really missing Fadinger Priestman pairing atm. Not a Vogt fan yet but he did put the best couple of crosses in last night one right on Palmers head which should have been a goal. Cant understand why everything goes down the right when our best outlet is Longelo. Sparrow is not captain material, he slows the game down and constantly passes back. We need to be much braver and quicker on the ball. We need a but more physicallity or our wee guys need to up the skill level considerably aka Just last season.

Thor or PH up front, either one is worth a try although I think PH is a bit more mobile as first line of defense when we loose the ball but if we are going to throw crosses in perhaps Thor is the better choice there? I’d also be fine with Levitt instead of hodge

Similar lines to what I’d pick, possibly Levitt for Hodge and I think I’d go for Thor up top. I think he has something to offer more than PH. I’d maybe also shift SODs and JKL my concern with Alfred is he’s potentially blinkered a bit by Sparrow’s effort v ability

100%! Surely he must know that football players only understand chat like "running their socks off" and ensuring they're a "bunch of good, honest lads" and chat like that? Who does he think he's dealing with? Professionals? Down with that sort of thing!

I always love the analysis that consists of downplaying the wins and positives, but absolutely playing up the losses and negatives. Can't beat it.

I like that team but I’d give Levitt a go in place of Hodge with Lucas as Captain

What do we think starting 11 should be ? Paulson SOD JKL MM Williams Fadinger Hodge Said Lowry Longelo PH

Going to be a tough game and a draw would not be the worst result.

A horrible night where everything fell for Aberdeen. The reaction from certain individuals, i wont call them fans, is bordering on hysterical and ridiculous. 6 games into our league season and everything is doom and gloom. Holly moses! We ask our players to be brave, yet certain supporters chose to take the cowards way out and turned their backs on our players by leaving or abusing them. The players need encouragement and not abuse. Last season the fans got the plaudits for the patience shown in accepting our style of play. This season our support is showing little patience and an entitlement that would make the city club teams fans blush. This season was always going to be difficult. Practically a new team, with a new manager. A manager who is still learning about our players and Scottish football. The club collectively will know they let the fans down last night. But today is a new day. Hopefully lessons were learnt and with hard work, belief and patience we can continue our journey of positivity and entertainment. We need to ignore the external negative noise and trolls. Stop the bickering and trust the process even with the odd blip along the way.