Lobey_Dosser

A really good week for Alfred. Players are clearly playing for him and there’s been encouraging signs in each of the last 3 games, culminating in a very dominant performance today. Let’s see if we can carry that into Tannadice.

I really enjoyed that today, possibly the most impressed I’ve been with us this season. We pressed well, we looked more compact and a lot of our football was lovely to watch. Having said that, we looked to have ran out of steam and ideas going into the last 20 mins but our overall play deserved the pen. Fadinger was the standout for me today but I’m really pleased to see the progress in Hodge over the last week.

Fadinger was integral to a very good team performance. The armband suits him well. Mention for Said, great fun to watch as usual.

Sad to see? He’ll be getting paid handsomely for a job he knows he’s not cut out for. No sympathy from me.

I didn’t see the St Johnstone game but it’s no surprise that our defensive frailties have been our undoing in what sounds like an otherwise positive performance. The night Freiburg came to Fir Park we lost some really poor goals. The quality of the opposition prevented criticism but it was apparent that i) our centre halves weren’t very good and/or ii) we weren’t well set up to defend our box. Since then, little has improved defensively with 23 goals conceded in 10 games and 1 clean sheet against 10 men. Those responsible for recruitment have to take a big share of the blame but you would expect any competent coach to have at least made us a little harder to beat by now. Instead, we remain in limbo until it’s deemed acceptable to sack AJ and his replacement will arrive just in time for a tough run of games, starting with Rangers at Fir Park. That’s if the recruiting panel act a little sharper than they did in the summer…

Today was also a strange one for me. I’ve not been keen on Alfred from the outset and I’ve felt a sacking has been inevitable since the Aberdeen capitulation and lack of response at Dens. Today however, I did see signs of encouragement in our play and there was little evidence of the rumoured unrest being reflected on the park. Encouraging signs need to be converted into points though, immediately. If we are 8 losses in a row this time next week, he’ll be gone. Over and above the managers’ suitability for the role, Kyrk and Caldwell must be questioning the summer recruitment. All three centre halves are significant downgrades on what we had before and the centre forward position remains unresolved.

Much to my surprise, I enjoyed elements of our performance today. The combination play of Longelo and Kanga, supported by Hodge looking more comfortable in the middle, was good to watch. If we had a half decent centre forward, we’d have got a least a point today.

I really dislike this period as a football fan. You know your manager isn’t cut out for the job, you possibly suspected it from day one, but you know the Board feel duty bound to give their appointment a little longer - which is arguably, fair. That inevitably leads to more disappointing performances, more points dropped and more ground to make up on those clubs above us. Hopefully, at the very least, the Board have started to think about AJ’s successor and lessons have been learned from the summer. How AJ got through an extensive interview process is beyond me.

Meagre? I would say accurate. The Hibs win was excellent and the winning goal was memorable. We did however ride our luck. Against Helsinki, we were very good for 60 mins but we did require the individual magic of Said to make the breakthrough and clinch the win. Overall, I would say our performances have ranged from outstanding for the first 25 minutes in Paisley and very impressive against United, to alarm bells ringing against Aberdeen and dreadful versus Celtic and Stenhousemuir.

I’ve not seen much of Killie but going by their highlights at Ibrox, Hugil and John Jules will fancy bullying us.

What journos and pundits would you associate with setting an agenda? I’ve admittedly only heard from McGarry and Halliday and both were spot on imo. I think the wider media were actually a little lazy with their narrative at the start of the season, getting a little carried away with a fortunate win against Hibs and a Said inspired win against Helsinki.

Agreed. I was surprised to hear AJ raise concerns about the age profile of the squad at the recent Well society Q&A. Given the volume of incomings, I had assumed that the preference of Daws & AJ was to go exclusively for 25 and under.

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.