Lobey_Dosser

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.

My ST is in the bucket seats in the O’Donnell stand. I gather I have the option to buy a ticket for my ST seat just now and be randomly allocated a seat by the club closer to the game. Or hold off until Monday afternoon, when any remaining seats in the middle of the O’Donnell should be made available for purchase. I’m hoping to avoid the farce of the Sligo game where I was sold my ST season seat and upon arriving found the section cordoned off, leaving myself and others scrambling for a seat. The start of a very dismal night.

As someone who doesn’t mind a centralised badge and prefers white shorts, this strip should be my cup of tea. Sadly, there’s too much going on with it. I’m very surprised we didn’t go with a cleaner looking home kit after last year’s muddle. Talking of surprises, how have we ended up with lucky tiger? Even if due diligence has been upped after recent experiences, surely we have the financial security and morals to limit sponsorship to organisations that are aligned to our community and family values?

I try not to be swayed by the club social media content but I’ve had the exact same first impressions with AJ and Wimmer. Jens meanwhile had me under his spell instantly with his clarity and authority.

Good luck to the new manager. He obviously has an incredibly hard act to follow but the foundations and budget should be there to give him the best possible chance of succeeding. interesting that discussions only commenced 10 days or so ago and the appointment was in the balance until earlier this week. I had hoped that behind the scenes we knew who our preferred choice was a few weeks ago. Maybe we did and that appointment didn’t come to fruition. Sounds like Alfred hasn’t watched videos of us until this week so he’s going to do well to hit the ground running. Hopefully there are two or three signings for him to rubber stamp before we head to Denmark.