Lobey_Dosser

Regardless of how poor Arbroath may have been this season, they’ll see us as soft touch with a donkey at the back and go for the throat. This could be horrible.

Max for me. Carried a threat going forward and showed a bit of character. Didn’t look the most assured defending though. McKinstry did fairly well too although the interplay with KVV that led to the goal has to be happening far more frequently.

That was the third insipid performance of an utterly uninspiring week. Whilst acknowledging the unavailability of a few players, I’ve been unimpressed with how we’ve approached each match. We’ve stuck with the same 4231 formation but putting shape aside, teams are strolling through the middle of us with ease and we look physically weak. Furthermore, the free flowing football that seen us batter Dundee United 0-0 has quickly disappeared. Today we were resorting to long throws into the box. With the crowds dropping the initial feel good factor has worn off now. Couple of wins required before the World Cup or we could find ourselves in real trouble.

Aberdeen overdue a 3-0 against us.

This was always going to be an incredibly difficult week but I hoped we’d come out of it with a degree of positivity and a sense that we are heading in the right direction. Instead, the alarm bells are starting to ring. Our primary issue is the lack of quality in the squad, particularly from middle to front where we’ve been largely powderpuff since the night Sligo came to Fir Park. This will take some time to address and the gambles we took in the transfer market towards the end of August have evidently not paid off. That aside though, our approach to these last two games has been a cause for concern. I like Hammell a lot but I struggle to buy into his belief that we can look to impose a similar style of play against all levels of opposition, the consequences of which have seen us barely lay a glove on Celtic or an under-par Rangers. There has been little aggression and physicality in our play and we continue to fail to do the basics like tracking runners. The standard of goals we are losing is embarrassing. Big response needed against Aberdeen or much of the positivity from a month or so ago will be quickly forgotten.

Really meek performance, albeit we could have maybe worked towards a boring 0-0 against an under par Rangers. It says a lot for our squad depth when Efford and Spittal are significant absentees. Hammell will need to change it up a bit for Wednesday, we need far more aggression in our play to make up for the lack of quality.

O’Donnell for me, he played his part in driving us forward in the 2nd half and was solid defensively. Good subs from Hammell, that’s the most promising performance I’ve witnessed from Efford so far.

I enjoyed that. Today was all about digging in and we did. Kelly had two outstanding saves, Lamie was very solid up until the sending off and KVV was looking more like his old self. Clearly we are short of a couple of quality players and the lack of minutes during pre-season constrained Hammell’s selection. Credit to him, Kerr and the players for gaining an important three points and lifting the gloom a little. Despite starting a bit shaky, it was nice to see Kian Speirs handed his debut and rather fitting with Hammell at the helm.

The vacancy has arisen when there are no obvious candidates available. It’ll be interesting to see if the Board look for experience or are willing to give a young upcoming coach a chance. Big Dunc would probably go terribly wrong but he’s the one exciting name that springs to mind. Maloney and Thomson may express an interest. Lambert probably doesn’t fancy a return to Scotland.

Time will tell on that one. Alexander dictated that we went to Austria, I’m pretty sure he’ll have influenced the number of friendlies we scheduled. It’s obviously not straightforward with the new pitch and the league cup congestion but I expect the club could have organised an away trip or two if the manager wanted it. The absence of a game between both legs needs explaining.

Lamie was the only one that had a bit of presence about him, whilst Goss did show a bit of composure when he came on. The rest were powderpuff at best.

Having watched the Salford documentary at the time, I was pretty lukewarm to Alexander’s arrival. However, he came and dug us out of some serious trouble and he’s had my support since. The football maybe hasn’t been pleasing on the eye but in the first half of last season we had a bit of physicality, pace and character about us. We’ve been devoid of all that in the two Sligo games. The lack of preparation for our European adventure has been unforgivable. The one bounce game and friendly before the first leg smacked of arrogance, no friendly between legs is beyond belief. Embarrassment aside, this has cost us a helluva lot of money. Compounding the performances on the park, something just feels completely off at Fir Park. Selling Tony Watt to a competitor mid-Jan with 4 or 5 games before the end of the window made no sense, particularly when we still haven’t found a replacement. Our transfer business this summer has been uninspiring and frugal. The turnover of staff feels a little extreme and the apparent treatment of O’Donnell uncomfortable. I called for the sacking of Malpas, McCall, Baraclough and McGhee long before they were dismissed. This hasn’t been the case with Alexander but I can’t see him and his staff lasting much longer. The Board need to step in and try and make amends for a shambles of a summer so that the embarrassment of Sligo is a turning point and not a sign of things to come (ala Stjarnan).

A really disappointing, but largely unsurprising return to Fir Park last night. Going into the game, I had reservations about our lack of preseason friendlies but hoped we had learned from our mistakes in the league cup last summer. Clearly that wasn’t the case however and our lack of sharpness and speed of thought proved to be the difference in the game. That aside, I don’t think we were terrible - we do however lack quality in at least three key areas and unless KVV is firing on all cylinders, we don’t look like scoring from open play. Which brings me onto our signing policy this summer. I welcome us bringing in three steady pros but I did expect some additional quality or potential to arrival. Last summer, we brought in Kelly, KVV and Slattery amongst others - we have fallen way short of that standard so far this summer. Maybe it’s the case that we are holding out for players of a higher standard? Alternatively, has the budget been spent or, have the Board lost faith in Alexander’s signing policy? Off the park, things were no better. I was one of the ones caught up the main stand farce. It was particularly frustrating as the club emailed me on Wednesday to say I had bought a ticket in a cordoned off area, unfortunately the new ticket they allocated me was in another cordoned off area. As more fans in a similar position arrived, this took the shine off the pre-match countdown, which was a shame as Fir Park was looking tremendous with the new pitch and the colour oozing from the packed out home stands. The club have acknowledged the mixup today which is fine, however it points towards the office staff being spread a little thin as such mistakes shouldn’t be happening. Across the other side of the pitch, the ‘singing in the chapel’ was a real low point of the night. I admire the atmosphere the bois bring to Fir Park, they had the East Stand looking great but such chanting undermines the positives. It was weak of the club not to call it out for what it was in their statement earlier today. Here’s hoping the Sligo fans are a little more welcoming.

And it looks like the home end tickets can be bought in person only. Sligo looks like a nice wee place though, I’ll take my chances.

Have you looked at flights to Knock on the west coast? I hadn’t heard of this airport until the draw was made. My time away is curtailed due to work so I’ve just took a punt on cheap Ryanair flights from Edinburgh that will get me into Knock at 11.50 on the Thursday and I’ll come home the Saturday afternoon. Sligo is less than an hour drive from the airport. I am wary though that any flight cancellation would leave me screwed.

I immediately booked a hotel in Wrexham so that would be handy. I now need to get my head round the options for Sligo.

Brilliant for wee Al, thoroughly deserved. I hope he’s managed to shake the injury he was carrying in the last few weeks of the season. Fingers crossed we get the opportunity to see him in Cardiff.

One of my all time favourites. I’ve never been one for collecting stuff but I strangely kept a hold of my match ticket after his debut at Ibrox and still have it now. Good luck to him, he’s been outstanding for Motherwell on and off the park.

I’m pleased for Alexander more than anyone. Folk seem to forget that we were spiralling towards relegation under Robinson. We’ve now achieved a key objective for the season and right in the hunt for a European place. That’s exciting, regardless of our style of play.

I really enjoyed that game last night. Dunfermline were very good in the first half in particular, playing at a high tempo with some lovely patterns of play. Dom Thomas was excellent and offered an end product.

The lineup threw me, as it often does under Alexander, but the tactics were far from bizarre. The game plan appeared to be to match up with Maloney’s 343, which has been powderpuff until today, and overpower them. There was enough evidence to suggest it may have worked with 11 on the park. Having said that, I’d question both the starting personnel and the decision not to substitute Ojala for O’Donnell early in the first half.

Hard lines. Who knows how it would have panned out if wasn’t for the red card which was the right decision. We rightly went out with a plan to be aggressive but Mugabi, and Roberts by the looks of it, went too far. Nevertheless, there was enough about hat performance to give me confidence that we can still finish the season well. I was pleased to see Donnelly respond so well to the recent criticism. At the other end of he scale though, McGinley was weak and Ojala looks more and more a liability each week.

I’ve always liked Donnelly despite never been convinced he is a proper midfielder. Today, I actually felt sorry for him when the boos rung out as O’Hara was subbed but it baffles me that he is starting week in week out. Slattery playing as the pivot was integral to to our early season success, I’m equally as baffled as to why he’s been on the fringes since Christmas.

What a result. Well done Motherwell. Well done Alexander.

Superb news regarding Bevis, I wasn’t expecting that. His development, particularly under Alexander, has been a real highlight.