Alexander insists he takes no sides lightly ahead of Sligo clash
MOTHERWELL will never disrespect an opponent, no matter what league they play in, insists Graham Alexander.
The Steelmen face Sligo Rovers at Fir Park tonight in the first league of their Europa Conference League second-round qualifier.
Their Irish foes progressed to this stage after defeating Bala Town on penalties in the first qualifying round.
It’s often said that Scottish sides should progress through the very early stages of UEFA competitions due to the lesser leagues their opponents play in.
However, you only need to rewind three years to see what happened to Kilmarnock at home to Welsh minnows Connah’s Quay Nomads for a reminder of how precarious these ties can be. Alexander is relishing the opportunity to manage Motherwell at this level. And he insists they’ll not be taking Sligo lightly.
He said: “I think sometimes in football people can be incredibly disrespectful to professional football teams or even parttime football teams. People take their own club and their own job and their own lives really seriously. Just because others are at different levels doesn’t mean you should look down on someone.
“Just because we might not have heard of a team – and everyone has heard of Sligo Rovers – doesn’t mean anything. I remember this when playing for Scotland. Sometimes you hadn’t heard of players but they were good players and they played at that level for a reason. I am sure there were lots of players who played against me who had never heard of me either.
“I always fully respect every opponent we come up against because it’s a hard sport, especially at the professional level. Everyone has good analysis and good organisation and motivated people and talent. We won’t be taking anybody we play lightly, I can assure everyone of that.”
Another common theme which has surrounded Scottish football for years is that teams who enter European competition in July tend to struggle due to games landing during pre-season, as well as rivals often being mid-way through their campaigns – much like Sligo who sit fifth in the League Of Ireland after 23 games so far.
However, Alexander is satisfied with his side’s preparations
for the two-legged tie. He said: “I think in life you can control your destiny and make and impact on outcomes and that’s what you have to focus on. We never talk about luck, you’ll never hear me talk about that after a game.
“We know Sligo have some good threats and they are here in this round because they are a good team. You’re not in Europe if you’re not a competitive team that can get results. But we feel we deserve to be on this stage as well for what we did last season. The players are excited about it and that’s important. We’re not blase, we see it as a real challenge but an exciting one.
“It’s not really in my mind because I don’t know how we can counteract that apart from being as mentally and physically prepared as we can be. We have to go into every game expecting the hardest challenge we can face. That’s not to say we overegg any opponent or feel bowed
against them, we never go into any game feeling like that. I don’t want us to, anyway.
“But there is nothing we can do to affect their side of it. Whoever we played in our first game, whether it was the League Cup, the league or Europe we had to be as best prepared as possible. As soon as we knew the date that’s what we aimed towards. We could have been playing other opponents whose league wasn’t up and running so for me it didn’t change anything we have done so far. It won’t change how we go into the game tomorrow. Whether it gives them in their own minds and advantage I don’t l know because I can’t speak for them.
“It’s obviously strange, playing in the same competition when the two teams are at different stages of their seasons. But the opposition always have some sort of quality or advantage in some aspect and you have to balance that out by being at them in other things.”