Graham Alexander

[weeyin]

2 hours ago, steelman1991 said:

Yes - and I can't understand why it wasn't adopted more. The perspective between pitch level and even a few rows back is quite marked in my perception of a game.

Very true. I always enjoyed standing quite close to the pitch on the East terracing, but there's no doubt that sitting the Main Stand gives a much better view of the game as a whole.

[grizzlyg]

7 hours ago, Kmcalpin said:

The jury is still out on Graham Alexander for me, but he's beginning to impress. His first piority surely, is to keep us in the Premiership and he's certainly improved results and performances, despite a 1 in 200 year injury list.  With a very few exceptions, he's used the same players as Robbo but has them playing more confidently and has tweaked the system to suit the players we have e.g. Tony Watt, Chris Long, Devante Cole and Robbie Crawford. In other words no square pegs in round holes.  He's also made some behind the scenes improvements.  All to the good. Do we need to ask questions of the players though?

He's still to be tested though in the transfer market and in his influence on the youth development system. Presumably his record with youth is one of the reasons that he and not Tom Wright got the job. These of course are longer term objectives. Time will tell, but so far so good.

 

Good post mate.  I have been impressed with GA so far and it will be interesting once he gets his own players in but as most folk that read my posts (excluding corny jokes) will know i want to see more youths coming through.  Hopefully that will be looked at.  COYW

[Ballso]

Although both the Accies and St Johnstone games were absolute shit shows, there’s a bit of mitigation in each of them that I’m willing to cut GA some slack on. 

Obviously we started poorly against Hamilton but played a large chunk of the game with 10 men. 

I didn’t realise until today that St Johnstone have won 7 out of their last 12, only losing to the OF. Given that run of form and our very much patchwork team, we were always going to struggle. 

Taking both of those games out of the equation we have more than competed in every other game since GA came in and look like a totally different team from the turn of the year. 

[Yorkyred]

44 minutes ago, grizzlyg said:

Good post mate.  I have been impressed with GA so far and it will be interesting once he gets his own players in but as most folk that read my posts (excluding corny jokes) will know i want to see more youths coming through.  Hopefully that will be looked at.  COYW

You keep on with those corny jokes ( and that positive spirit). We all get a bit too serious on here at times when it’s a tough time for all of us.

[ropy]

I was looking for GA to be appointed when the short list emerged but to me he now seems to have a chip on his shoulder, whether it is his treatment from the refs, what he has found in the dressing room or something else, I don’t know.  I hope he sees us safe, brings in 2 or 3 of his own signings and starts next season on a high.

[Spiderpig]

20 minutes ago, ropy said:

I was looking for GA to be appointed when the short list emerged but to me he now seems to have a chip on his shoulder, whether it is his treatment from the refs, what he has found in the dressing room or something else, I don’t know.  I hope he sees us safe, brings in 2 or 3 of his own signings and starts next season on a high.

From the shortlist of potential managers we had GA was my preference as well, and so far he is doing what he was brought in for, to steady the ship and keep us in the premiership.

He had to to work  with the players he inherited so we won't really get to see his full impact until he can clear out the deadwood, dross and loan players and rebuild the team in the summer to his own ideas.

A good few players will stay but we need to see who he brings in so the summer rebuild and the first few games of next season will give us a better idea of how he works and if his appointment was good or not, so far the evidence is positive and another win or two, will see his 1st objective fulfilled.

[steelboy]

When Alexander took over we were joint bottom on 17 points with County after 20 games.

Alexander has taken 18 points from 12 games and has the 4th best record in the league since he took over. He's doing a good job.

 

 

[Yassin]

1 hour ago, steelboy said:

When Alexander took over we were joint bottom on 17 points with County after 20 games.

Alexander has taken 18 points from 12 games and has the 4th best record in the league since he took over. He's doing a good job.

 

 

Yeah I understand folk not wanting to get ahead of themselves but I'm amazed there's debate over the job he's done so far. Both results and performance wise he's massively exceeded reasonable expectations for me. He's probably got a few genuine reasons to be aggrieved about decisions against us or other weird bits of misfortune otherwise we could potentially have been preparing for a shootout for Top Six in a couple of weeks.

[ohwulliewullie]

6 hours ago, Yassin said:

Yeah I understand folk not wanting to get ahead of themselves but I'm amazed there's debate over the job he's done so far.

I agree with you overall (I think Alexander has done a decent job so far) but I think it’s just how abject the Accies and St Johnstone games were (albeit with injuries as a partial excuse) that’s causing people to not get too carried away. 

[Yorkyred]

8 hours ago, Yassin said:

Yeah I understand folk not wanting to get ahead of themselves but I'm amazed there's debate over the job he's done so far. Both results and performance wise he's massively exceeded reasonable expectations for me. He's probably got a few genuine reasons to be aggrieved about decisions against us or other weird bits of misfortune otherwise we could potentially have been preparing for a shootout for Top Six in a couple of weeks.

But it’s that word “ expectations” again. What the club expect seems to differ from the expectations of some of the fanbase. Should we stay up as I expect we will what’s the expectation for next season, survival, a top six finish, a cup final ? I suspect if we are not top half he will come under pressure the same way Robinson did.

[ropy]

1 hour ago, Yorkyred said:

But it’s that word “ expectations” again. What the club expect seems to differ from the expectations of some of the fanbase. Should we stay up as I expect we will what’s the expectation for next season, survival, a top six finish, a cup final ? I suspect if we are not top half he will come under pressure the same way Robinson did.

I expect a good go at the Cup this season, why not?

[joewarkfanclub]

1 hour ago, ropy said:

I expect a good go at the Cup this season, why not?

I would like a right good go at the cup this season, and on current form, I think thats perfectly reasonable. But as a Motherwell fan, I expect nothing. I find it hurts less that way! 

[Kmcalpin]

11 hours ago, Yassin said:

Yeah I understand folk not wanting to get ahead of themselves but I'm amazed there's debate over the job he's done so far.

I wouldn't read too much into the discussion so far.

When the vacancy was being filled, most folk (I think) thought that Tom Wright would be a safe but dull choice. Graham Alexander was a bit of an unknown quantity but had the reputation of having a stronger commitment to youth development and thats possibly why he was chosen. I'd guess he's been given 3 main remits 1) steer us clear of relegation this year 2) helping to generate income from transfers as per our business model and 3) developing the youth system. For reasons way beyond his control he cannot yet be assessed against 2) and 3). He's had little, or probably, no opportunity to bring in his own players. I suspect that the ones brought in during the last window weren't entirely his choice, although he would have had the final say.  So, to that extent his performance is still a bit of an unknown quantity.

His performance on the pitch so far has been good; getting results and lifting us a little above the real relegation dogfight. We're also playing better. As Ohwulliewullie says though, the 2 shocking performances and results against Acccies and St Johnstone has understandably caused fans to not get too carried away. Injuries aside, it seems he has learnt some lessons quickly about playing out from the back (see some interesting non food related discussion on P & B) about that. 

So far so good.

[weeyin]

So far so good in achieving his initial goal of improving performances and moving us towards safety.

Challenge number two (as it is for all recent 'Well managers) will be rebuilding the team in the summer.

[wellwell91]

1 hour ago, Kmcalpin said:

As Ohwulliewullie says though, the 2 shocking performances and results against Acccies and St Johnstone has understandably caused fans to not get too carried away. Injuries aside, it seems he has learnt some lessons quickly about playing out from the back.

Not for one moment am I trying to deflect from these 2 performances everyone is in agreement that they were woefull. 

In each game there were mitigating circumstances 

Hamilton - played over an hour with 10 men but no disputing we were second to every ball 

St Johnsone - they were/are on decent run of form, all 3 goals were avoidable 1) Carroll’s. attempt at a tackle and 9 times out of 10 that shot hits the roof of the stand could have went anywhere. 2) Who knows what would have happened if we go into the break only 1 goal down the defending at that goal was embarrassing. 3) Penalty kick least said of  Polworth’s contribution the better.

[texanwellfan]

4 hours ago, wellwell91 said:

Not for one moment am I trying to deflect from these 2 performances everyone is in agreement that they were woefull. 

In each game there were mitigating circumstances 

Hamilton - played over an hour with 10 men but no disputing we were second to every ball 

St Johnsone - they were/are on decent run of form, all 3 goals were avoidable 1) Carroll’s. attempt at a tackle and 9 times out of 10 that shot hits the roof of the stand could have went anywhere. 2) Who knows what would have happened if we go into the break only 1 goal down the defending at that goal was embarrassing. 3) Penalty kick least said of  Polworth’s contribution the better.

Not forgetting that the second goal was actually offside 

[wellsince75]

4 hours ago, weeyin said:

So far so good in achieving his initial goal of improving performances and moving us towards safety.

Challenge number two (as it is for all recent 'Well managers) will be rebuilding the team in the summer.

agree - see us to safety first please and then sort out the squad for next season.

His credibility increases for simply saying he like round pegs in round holes , eg Cole is a centre forward .   Hurrah for an attitude that has specific people for specific positions.

[davkel]

McInnes away from Aberdeen apparently... Enzo Maresca on his way in ...interesting

[smiddy]

3 minutes ago, davkel said:

McInnes away from Aberdeen apparently... Enzo Maresca on his way in ...interesting

and robinson and ross overtook me on the motorway at perth today 

[smiddy]

did anyone catch GA saying in his post match " theres something missing in there ( dressing room )  cause its not the first time thats happened ( hamilton st johnstone ) or words to that effect

sounds to me that he thinks theres something no right in the home dressing room ,,,, hope he gets to the bottom of it  ,,for our feckin sanitys sake 

[fizoxy]

I didn't read too much into that comment, I think he just means that the players tend to get complacent after good results.   

[smiddy]

5 minutes ago, fizoxy said:

I didn't read too much into that comment, I think he just means that the players tend to get complacent after good results.   

just my opinion, but i thought with the tone of his voice and his head shaking that he sounds a bit scunnered with them 

[Kmcalpin]

7 minutes ago, smiddy said:

just my opinion, but i thought with the tone of his voice and his head shaking that he sounds a bit scunnered with them 

He did indeed. No names mentioned but he's clearly unimpressed with some of the team. He hinted at a lack of character/bottle/attitude whatever you want to call it. 

[smiddy]

Just now, Kmcalpin said:

He did indeed. No names mentioned but he's clearly unimpressed with some of the team. He hinted at a lack of character/bottle/attitude whatever you want to call it. 

just listened to it again and deffo, heez got the hump with something , someone , but just my opionion by his body laungage and tone of voice 

[mfc]

13 minutes ago, smiddy said:

just listened to it again and deffo, heez got the hump with something , someone , but just my opionion by his body laungage and tone of voice 

I wouldn't be surprised if that is indeed the case,both robinson and lasley have alluded to to things not being quite right in the dressing room this season.