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Hearts actually played quite well in spells during the first half yesterday according to the radio commentary but were undone by comically bad defending and Celtic being utterly ruthless in punishing them. We’re not Celtic and we have nothing up front to punish them with and if we defend as we have been in our last three or four games then Hearts really couldn’t have asked for a better opponent to bounce back against on Sunday.

Poor AJ got no luck at all. Suddenly we will be expected to beat Hearts 🤣🤣

I won't be there on Sunday as Mrs grizzly and i off on holiday. However I really hope the fans can get right behind the team. The last thing they need is negativity from the stands as that doesn't solve anything To the young team get the STAND UP AND SING FOR MOTHERWELL belting out from the start and lets make this the start of the revival. I am sure a few will think I have lost my mind but positive vibes only way forward though I also acknowledge the players need to perform on the pitch. COYW

making a point on team selection & general set up. I know this isn't the only issues, work-rate, pressing as a team, making self available, confidence etc are part of the problem but thought worth articulating where I see issues in the set up. Point 1) Team selection - there's an international player not being used + despite having 5 wingbacks a midfielder is annoying Grizzly at RB. Point 2) System - I don't remember any real variance of the 4-2-3-1 and certainly don't see any attacking option on the left to support Longelo. Team Selection/ decisions We have 10 defenders. From the 5 who have played wingback we opt for none of these at RB. In the Centre Jamie Knight Lebel has had +60 pro games in UK and a Canadian International but isn't getting game time. Knowing that Priestman was injured we loaned out Whyte who had played+50 pro appearances in last 2 seasons. Both McGhee & Girdwood-Reich are described as players who could go into defensive midfield but never used to cover. System 4 -2 -3 -1 or 4 -3 -3 or 4-2-1 -2 depending on game. Looking back to last Nov - March during our fabulous run we pivoted between 3 systems. If we're following this principles either Kanga or Said should be an auto start (where Just was last season). If Lowry is the just role then I can't see anyone covering the role Slattery played. Irrespective of who we pick we should have 3 attacking players through the left, middle and right of the park - I only ever see support on right wing and through the middle we get snuffed out.

U r right 👍 or if you prefer you are right 👍

Connelly isn't the answer either unfortunately, was a total bomb scare at Aberdeen last season in the Scottish and was hopeless (among others) against Stenny this year. For as bad as Paulsen's mistakes have been he's saved us from a few scuddings already and the defence in front of him are all over the place which is why he's being called upon so frequently. Alfred needs to rectify the defence and rectify fast

If he hadn’t fucked up that LCSF against St.Mirren and got to have a crack at a Wilfried Nancy led Celtic in the final chances are he would be a legend and forever written into Motherwell FC folklore.

Still hopeful he can turn things round but always a hard act to follow...I mean......Jens was a legend! 🤪🤪

No you could not. None of us could . I think this is where the majority of my arguments stem from . We completely underestimate as fans how difficult it is to be a football manager, particularly with a team like Motherwell where expectations are high and the budget in relative terms is low. Let's just look at one single variable from last season. The players that AJ has had available to him. Away Ward, Welsh, Slattery, Just, Watt, In other words, the top performing players last season..That is 5 players for a start. Injured McGinn, Koutrombous, Priestman, SOD. Mainstays in last year's team That is 9 players so far. Then we have our friend Maswanhise who has hardly kicked a ball since February.. Remember he was not performing well under JBA either towards the end. Then there is Fadinger who has not been allowed to play in the same way as last season because he does not have the players around him to do so. The names mentioned bring you close Motherwell's best starting 11 last season Longelo and Said apart. This is one single factor of many that Alfred has to manage. To say play SOD at right back and play central defenders in central defence and all will be fixed is simplistic in the extreme. The manager is suffering a perfect storm just now. An inflated expectation of where Motherwell should be in the food chain, players that think they are better than they are because of reasonably brief purple patches last season, significant injuries and on and on and on.......... Look at Dundee..The Dundee fans wanted Presley out this time last season. Look where they are now. We have to be capable of looking beyond the very small timescale of a one month window. I hope the Board have a little more patience than the supports.

Alfred says post match that we started the game well? We were a goal down within two minutes with another howler ffs! We are in serious trouble if we persist with this guy.

Ba dum tsssssss

Team! Connolly Koutroumbis Knight Lebel Moorman Longelo McGhee Hodge Fadinger Lowry Said Palmer Houlden A little bit more dig in that team, with further defensive midfield cover, a little bit more height as well. I've put Connolly in goals to present the team with a bit more of a Ward like figure, to replicate what we were doing last year.