ALL IS NOT WELL AS STEELMEN SHOW A LACK OF METTLE

MOTHERWELL have now played five matches this season. Three of those have been at home — against Hamilton, Livingston and newly-promoted Dundee United. Their two away games have been against Ross County and Hibs. Clearly, that’s a very favourable run of fixtures to start the new season. They haven’t even played either of the Old Firm yet. However, despite a kind fixture list, the Steelmen have failed to win a game so far. It’s easy to view it as just a slow start to the new season — but the truth is they’ve been on a horrendous run for months now. This goes back to the turn of the year. They have won just once in their last 15 matches in all competitions. Purely in terms of their league form, they have won two games since January. It’s two wins in 14 league games in the calendar year of 2020. That’s not far off relegation form and given the financial implications of the Covid crisis, Motherwell can’t afford to flirt with the drop this season. They got a lot of plaudits for finishing third last season but, in the end, they limped over the line. They almost got it by default; it was as much to do with how poor everyone else was.

Aberdeen could hardly string two results together, Hearts were busy having the season from hell at the bottom of the league. Look at the points-per-game ratio. On that basis, Kilmarnock’s third-placed finish the year before last would have seen them a full nine points ahead of Motherwell last season. The warning signs have been there for a while now — and Fir Park manager Stephen Robinson has spent the majority of this season slaughtering his players. That’s a dangerous game to play when you’re doing it on an almost weekly basis as the players will eventually just switch off. He’s also accused them of believing their own hype and having their heads turned by agents. Robinson hinted after Saturday’s loss to Hamilton that, if he can’t turn this around, the club will need to find someone else who can. That’s an alarming thing for a manager to say. It plants a seed of doubt in the minds of everyone involved at the club. It seems like the end may be nigh. If they should lose to Glentoran in Europe this week, it could well be the final nail in the coffin.