Lobey_Dosser

Remember that from the start of last season, we are now counting all season ticket holders. The game in December was far busier. One of the many joys of last season was the stands being busy and the players producing on the park every time Celtic and Rangers came to town. Today was a far cry from that. As wellup83 points out, the rubbish ko time and school holidays will have had an impact but so will the lack of belief in this team.

Haven’t you heard? Olly isn’t good enough for Motherwell just now, according to Alfred.

What is the football philosophy of the board? If it’s exciting, possession based football, Alfred has already demonstrated that he isn’t going to deliver that. Nor has he showing any signs of developing young players either.

I said after the Dundee game that we’ll inevitably part ways with him in the not too distant future. Admittedly, I’ve not fancied him from day 1. Whilst articulate, there is no substance or conviction to what he says and he has the presence of a supply teacher. I understand that we are in transition, albeit with possibly our most expensively assembled squad this century, and I understand that others are far more patient than me. However, the alarm bells should be ringing for everyone today on multiple fronts. Alfred was brought in as a modern day head coach, what he delivered today on the back of three weeks preparation tells you all you need to know about his coaching ability. Secondly, we had two of our most exciting talents and biggest assets, both proven in the league, sitting on the bench at the expense of Willy Vogt. That simply can’t be right for a club our size and suggests that the reported fallouts with senior players at Rosenborg is repeating itself here. Last year we unquestionably had the best manager in the league. Nobody was going to fill the void left by Jens. As things stand however, we have appointed someone that is a strong contender for being the worst manager in the league. With the crowds falling and the feel good factor completely gone, the sooner the Chairman and Board can take responsibility for their poor appointment, the better. Until then, there will be little enjoyment to be had following Motherwell.

I wasn’t at Dundee today but I think it’s inevitable that there will be a parting of the ways within the next couple of months. He labelled himself as the continuity appointment but week by week we are getting further away from last season’s approach. Of course, he had an incredibly tough act to follow but it shouldn’t be forgotten that few Motherwell managers will have been as well backed as Alfred in assembling a squad. Unfortunately though, this does feel similar to the Hammell experiment where he may have a philosophy in his head, but struggles to communicate and implement it. A niggling concern from the outset was that he reportedly fell out with senior players at Rosenborg. Choosing not to recruit any player over 25 and opting not to play SoDs despite Sparrow toiling with a bad back, suggests to me that he may not be too comfortable with having senior players around. That’s in sharp contrast to Jens who took McGinn and SoDs to new levels, and had the unused Halliday singing his praises at every opportunity. i get that any new appointment needs time but this one isn’t going to work out. Once a manager starts floundering in the post match press conferences, as he has done since Ibrox, the writing is on the wall.

I’m intrigued to see how we set up on Saturday. As many have observed, there has been a clear considerable drop off in our principles from last season. No longer do we play with intensity, no longer does the player on the ball have multiple options and no longer do we work our balls off to regain possession. These were traits honed on the training pitch that I doubt can be replicated anytime soon. That being the case, one way of getting results, in the short term at least, would be to be less predictable. It might therefore be worth giving a back three a spin, particularly with how vulnerable we have looked when St Mirren, Rangers and Aberdeen repeatedly ran right through us.

Lowry was under par but he’s the only one that came close to pass marks.

All the chat has been that we need time on the training pitch while also balancing rest and recovery. Well that paid dividends against an Aberdeen team that went into extra time with 10 men 3 days ago. I’ll be pleasantly surprised if a few months from now, we look back on tonight as a rare blip. I’ve seen enough in riding our luck against Hibs, a powderpuff performance against Falkirk, an embarrassment at Ochilview and a 8 minute capitulation in Paisley to signal cause for concern. Of course, there have been a good few positive moments along the way, but we are miles away from implementing the principles that brought great excitement, belief and relative success last season.

I’ve went for Longelo as I’m impressed with the power of work he is getting through. I’ll be pleasantly surprised if he is still with us next weekend. Credit to Paulsen who kept us in the game and Lowry is a lovely footballer, terrific weight of pass.

That was a thoroughly entertaining game courtesy of two teams looking to play open and incisive football with a fair amount of quality. I’m not quite sure what to make of the three goals conceded in nine minutes. We did look lightweight but this time last year I thought we were destined to lose a bundle of goals but went on to achieve a ridiculous number of clean sheets.

It’s been a drag of a weekend without the football but I think the option to postpone was sensibly exercised in the interest of the 5 clubs and the coefficient. Slight annoyance for me is that after Freiburg we have 3 league games in 7 days. I had hoped our midweek game at home to Dundee United could have been shifted to Sat 12th Sept with us both out the cup.

Vogt was a tough watch at Ochilview but there has been enough to suggest that his raw attributes could be developed and used to good effect out wide. I think he may benefit from having the likes of SoDs playing behind him and talking him through the game. More often than not, pace will cause damage in this league and he has it in abundance. The positional sense and knowing when to press will hopefully come over the next few months.

I have no qualms over the starting lineup today. With Williams, Sparrow and now Oscar on the injury list, we need to tread carefully. The bigger concern for me is how far we are away from last season’s approach. The performance against Helsinki was outstanding and everyone played really well. However, i didn’t quite buy into the narrative that we are playing total football. We are pragmatic and often direct. I don’t necessarily mind that, particularly if there is quality in the final third, but the surreal days of us controlling the majority of games were a 2025/26 phenomenon.

While not an expecting us to reproduce the scintillating football of last season, that was a drab affair. Of course, there are multiple factors at play including the European exploits, injuries and being 2 or 3 quality forward thinking players short of where we want to be. However, I am disappointed that many of the principles that allowed us to play such entertaining and successful football, principles that were apparent almost immediately under Jens, are not so evident now. This seemingly more pragmatic approach and lower tempo may return a similar points tally to last season, particularly if we sign a couple of top players, but i don’t think we’ll be on the edge of our seats quite so much.

I think we’ll be looking to make four signings minimum. A couple of which I’d expect to be exciting attacking options with moneyball potential. An experienced head along the lines of Spencer would also be welcome.