The Alfred Johansson Thread

[Prestwickwell]

31 minutes ago, numpty said:

A team and a manager that gel as well as ours did last year is always a fluke to some extent. That's why we all knew we just had to enjoy it while it lasted.

Hearts have managed to replicate a fluke despite losing the core of their set up…..

 

very early days but don’t get the impression this manager will last 

 

hopefully wrong obviously 

[wunderwell]

27 minutes ago, MJC said:

I’m very much at the same stage as the above posters saying “too early to be thinking about sacking the manager but at the same time getting increasingly concerned about him”.

Sometimes you get that gut feeling about something and for me this is one of them.

Absolutely, this is what I said on the Dundee thread.

[wellfan]

He’ll be back in Scandinavia coaching schoolboys soon enough. 

[bobbybingo]

51 minutes ago, Prestwickwell said:

Hearts have managed to replicate a fluke despite losing the core of their set up…..

 

very early days but don’t get the impression this manager will last 

 

hopefully wrong obviously 

I don't see enough of Hearts to know how they're playing compared to last season, but statistically, they're 6 points behind where they were after 7 games.

[Prestwickwell]

6 minutes ago, bobbybingo said:

I don't see enough of Hearts to know how they're playing compared to last season, but statistically, they're 6 points behind where they were after 7 games.

Celtic will romp the league despite being shit 

 

hearts are 2nd ( I think ) & in the group stages of Europe where they’ll make million despite losing there manager, captain & centre mid 

 

I’d very much back hearts top 3 despite losing the spine of their team ( & seem to have recruited well manager & player wise )

[joewarkfanclub]

3 hours ago, Great Balls of Shire said:

In spite of a poor performance,  I dont think Dundee were better... time to give Paulsen a rest, hes costing us games

He cost the second goal, but he made at least 3 great saves to stop us being even further behind.

Do we really think Matty Connolly will do better?

[bobbybingo]

2 minutes ago, Prestwickwell said:

Celtic will romp the league despite being shit 

 

hearts are 2nd ( I think ) & in the group stages of Europe where they’ll make million despite losing there manager, captain & centre mid 

 

I’d very much back hearts top 3 despite losing the spine of their team ( & seem to have recruited well manager & player wise )

We'll see how they get on once the Thursday night games kick in. On the evidence so far, including tonight, they won't be replicating last season's league performance.

[David]

1 hour ago, Kmcalpin said:

Just listened to his comments and they seem to be very much at odds with what folk are saying. 

Might just be me, but I'll probably pay more attention to the guy who's actually being paid to do the job over the people who need to pay to watch him do said job.

[joewarkfanclub]

Way to early to be making any judgements on Alfred.

However, its not unreasonable to be concerned.

We started the season very well and the new players looked up to the task. However, the last 3 games havent gone well.

We just dont have the same control over games like we did last year and our rotations have disappeared.

I dont expect us to play exactly the same way. But I keep hearing our priciples havent changed.

If that IS the case then the players arent wirking hard enough and arent following the gameplan.

If they are, then the coaching is rhe problem.

Either way Alfred has a problem to fix. He has 3 weeks to fix it (albeit he seems to have given them a week off if Fadinger is to be believed).

Celtic up next. No hiding place. We need to look more compact as a team. Less open on the transition and be visibly running harder for each other.

No excuses.

[Prestwickwell]

15 minutes ago, bobbybingo said:

We'll see how they get on once the Thursday night games kick in. On the evidence so far, including tonight, they won't be replicating last season's league performance.

Point is unlike us ( despite the fact we’re celebrating a great European run ) there in the group stages & will make millions to strengthen there club 

 

top 3 easy this year regardless of Thursday nights 

 

[star sail]

Part of the problem has to be our own interpretation of where and what this team is.

Remember it is only 14 days ago that as a support we thought we were going to Ibrox to beat Rangers.

I suspect that was an overly inflated view as to where the team was, tonight we have an overly pessimistic view of where we now are. 14 days does not turn a good team into a bad one. 

The warning signs were there v Falkirk and Stenhousemuir in particular, we were just not prepared to accept it at that moment in time because we were still riding on the emotion of a positive Euro campaign. I suspect as well that going down to 10 men against Frieberg muddied the waters as to the thumping that actually was.

I suppose the point I am making is that we should not look at today in isolation as to where we actually are. We have had good performances against Utd, Hibs and Helsinki in particular. I am sure that level of performance is still in the team somewhere.

The true Motherwell is probably somewhere in the middle and we have have to accept that our league position will settle somewhere in the middle. Not what we were hoping a few short weeks ago but maybe some realism will reset the expectation somewhat.

 

.

 

[bobbybingo]

20 minutes ago, Prestwickwell said:

Point is unlike us ( despite the fact we’re celebrating a great European run ) there in the group stages & will make millions to strengthen there club 

 

top 3 easy this year regardless of Thursday nights 

 

They're a good bet for 3rd, which is the least their fans expect. I suppose success will be measured by how far behind they finish this year.

As for Europe, good luck to them. They took a couple of real hammerings on the way, but credit where it's due for getting there in the end. 

[Prestwickwell]

4 minutes ago, bobbybingo said:

They're a good bet for 3rd, which is the least their fans expect. I suppose success will be measured by how far behind they finish this year.

As for Europe, good luck to them. They took a couple of real hammerings on the way, but credit where it's due for getting there in the end. 

Think the point I’m trying to make is there’s an expectation that this season shouldn’t be as good as last 

 

why is that though??

 

we’ve shown it can be done, the next step is the processes to continue that on whether we lose a manager, centre mid, 20 goal a season striker 

 

felt we were on the road to that but signs aren’t there for me 

 

early but as others have said manager needs to learn quick 

[David]

3 minutes ago, Prestwickwell said:

Think the point I’m trying to make is there’s an expectation that this season shouldn’t be as good as last 

why is that though??

Because we're one of the smaller clubs in the league? Last season was amazing, but I think it was very much catching lightning in a bottle, especially when it came to our signings. 

I mean, if you think we should be starting each season expecting to finish 4th then fair enough, that's your choice. But you're probably setting yourself up for disappointment. 

We start every season in the same position for me. We look to ensure we're not fighting at the bottom of the table, then look to push for top six, and anything beyond that is a bonus. We certainly hope we can finish top six and even push for fourth, but we're not Hearts, we don't have their resources. 

 

[grizzlyg]

Hope it isn't even being considered but if AJ got punted you can kiss goodbye to our new model as no decent manager would come anywhere near us.

" ye come to Motherwell but please note if within 2 months we have some bad results then its cheerio".  Look at killie.....dons.....dun utd......hearts.  all had bad runs but bounced back

[Prestwickwell]

2 minutes ago, David said:

Because we're one of the smaller clubs in the league? Last season was amazing, but I think it was very much catching lightning in a bottle, especially when it came to our signings. 

I mean, if you think we should be starting each season expecting to finish 4th then fair enough, that's your choice. But you're probably setting yourself up for disappointment. 

We start every season in the same position for me. We look to ensure we're not fighting at the bottom of the table, then look to push for top six, and anything beyond that is a bonus. We certainly hope we can finish top six and even push for fourth, but we're not Hearts, we don't have their resources. 

 

Crowds have been decent 

 

away crowds 1 of the best in the league

 

bigger clubs than us have been a shambles for years so money can’t be the main denominator 

 

we’re not a small club & we’re a club that should expect to be pushing top 6, entertaining & having decent cup runs 

[Prestwickwell]

4 minutes ago, grizzlyg said:

Hope it isn't even being considered but if AJ got punted you can kiss goodbye to our new model as no decent manager would come anywhere near us.

" ye come to Motherwell but please note if within 2 months we have some bad results then its cheerio".  Look at killie.....dons.....dun utd......hearts.  all had bad runs but bounced back

Sure if the manager ends up going no one decent will want the Motherwell job 🥴

[MJC]

3 minutes ago, grizzlyg said:

Hope it isn't even being considered but if AJ got punted you can kiss goodbye to our new model as no decent manager would come anywhere near us.

" ye come to Motherwell but please note if within 2 months we have some bad results then its cheerio".  Look at killie.....dons.....dun utd......hearts.  all had bad runs but bounced back

Yes that’s correct, which is why I don’t think anyone seriously wants to see him fail or us to say “cheerio” at this point. 
 

Any Motherwell fan worth their salt wants the manager and the team to do well but at the same time we can’t ignore some glaring concerns about the way we are playing and the results. And those come back to the manager I’m afraid.

[grizzlyg]

4 minutes ago, Prestwickwell said:

Sure if the manager ends up going no one decent will want the Motherwell job 🥴

I just mean its not a good look fir the club if we don't give him a fair chance.  We have had 2 honking results which of course no-one is happy about but he needs a fair chance to rectify it and also the players need to look at themselves. 

I feel we have the players.  We just need the right formation. We are missing priestman big time but we need to get SOD, williams, Levitt, thor in and I think Kanga will come good ( been here less than a month)

COYW 

[David]

4 minutes ago, Prestwickwell said:

Crowds have been decent 

away crowds 1 of the best in the league

bigger clubs than us have been a shambles for years so money can’t be the main denominator 

we’re not a small club & we’re a club that should expect to be pushing top 6, entertaining & having decent cup runs 

Crowds have been very decent, but there's a marked difference between 7,000 or so average attendance and 18,000 or so, isn't there? So there is that.

We're one of the smaller clubs in the league. We're not Rangers, Celtic, Aberdeen, Hearts or Hibs. Doesn't mean we can't be ambitious, which we certainly are, and we are absolutely entertaining. 

Teams like ourselves, Dundee, Falkirk, St Mirren, St Johnstone, Kilmarnock are always looking to secure safety as a priority. Once we do that, we should be looking to push for top six for sure. 

But as has been said elsewhere, it seems that there's been a bit of a feeling that we'd come into this season, and despite losing our manager, and our best players, that we'd be winning at Ibrox and making a charge for fourth as a continuation of last season. That was never likely. 

I still think we'll do okay. AJ will get things moving, and we'll see a challenge for top six and one or two players will stand out and hopefully bring us some good offers in the summer. 

[Prestwickwell]

7 minutes ago, David said:

Crowds have been very decent, but there's a marked difference between 7,000 or so average attendance and 18,000 or so, isn't there? So there is that.

We're one of the smaller clubs in the league. We're not Rangers, Celtic, Aberdeen, Hearts or Hibs. Doesn't mean we can't be ambitious, which we certainly are, and we are absolutely entertaining. 

Teams like ourselves, Dundee, Falkirk, St Mirren, St Johnstone, Kilmarnock are always looking to secure safety as a priority. Once we do that, we should be looking to push for top six for sure. 

But as has been said elsewhere, it seems that there's been a bit of a feeling that we'd come into this season, and despite losing our manager, and our best players, that we'd be winning at Ibrox and making a charge for fourth as a continuation of last season. That was never likely. 

I still think we'll do okay. AJ will get things moving, and we'll see a challenge for top six and one or two players will stand out and hopefully bring us some good offers in the summer. 

We’ve brought in millions from sales which is the business model ( to me that should negate clubs having more money in crowds coz there’s money there  )

 

as I said we’ve consistently outperformed bigger teams for years on the whole….its how you spend the money 

 

hopefully works out but I’d take 8th & a cup run just now 

 

hopefully the break sees us get it together, don’t buy into this small club mentality though 🤞

[bobbybingo]

2 minutes ago, Prestwickwell said:

Think the point I’m trying to make is there’s an expectation that this season shouldn’t be as good as last 

 

why is that though??

 

we’ve shown it can be done, the next step is the processes to continue that on whether we lose a manager, centre mid, 20 goal a season striker 

 

felt we were on the road to that but signs aren’t there for me 

 

early but as others have said manager needs to learn quick 

I suspect, more than expect, we won't replicate last season, because experience shows how hard that is, even with the same group of players.

Our one victory at this stage last year came courtesy of the Aberdeen keeper having an injury time brain fart. Yeah, we'd undoubtedly been showing signs of being a very good side, but I recall a few folk on here questioning how long JBA would last without a win, and bemoaning our Tynecastle meltdown at 3 nil up. Things can change helluva fast.

We need something to go for us again, because the team looks bereft of confidence, and that's a killer for our style of play.

[mfc]

The drop of from the dundee Utd game until now is pretty staggering,we have looked a really poorly coached team the last couple of games to the point were seeing none of the basics being done.i get the manager is under the spotlight but there's to many players that have switched off all of a sudden that need to buck there ideas up, cut out the idiotic mistakes and give the manager a fighting chance.ive questioned his team selection a couple of times this season but at the same time,it was the players on the park that couldn't put a dent in stenhousmuir over 120 minutes and to lose heavily to that aberdeen side was embarrassing.im not saying alfred isn't blameless,it's his job to find the answers to the current problems and get the best out his players.the lack of experience in the team is a concern for me but it's been a hectic start to the season and hopefully things will settle and we will soon be out of this sticky patch were in. 

[texanwellfan]

We’ve gifted a goal in 3 games that has contributed significantly to us loosing the last 3 games. We strolled thru first half at Ibrox but Ramgers had much better secomd half. Neither Aberdeen or Dundee are a better footballing side than us. So first thing is to cut out the stupid mistakes which falls on the players. 
AJ Needs to get them motivated amd up their energy levels and sharpen up the tactics 

[smiddy]

2 hours ago, joewarkfanclub said:

He cost the second goal, but he made at least 3 great saves to stop us being even further behind.

Do we really think Matty Connolly will do better?

Nope