We were Well under par, says Alexander
DUNDEE................................................3 MOTHERWELL.....................................0 Ben Banks at Dens Park
Motherwell manager Graham Alexander has told his side to look at how they apply themselves against teams beneath them in the Premiership after a sobering defeat to Dundee.
‘Well endured a torrid first half and Dundee were unfortunate not to be more than 2-0 up at the interval after Luke McCowan and Danny Mullen goals. Ryan Sweeney’s header four minutes into the second period put the game beyond Alexander’s side on a freezing afternoon in Tayside.
The Steelmen had played with aggression and swagger in their previous matches - 2-0 wins over Aberdeen and Hearts - but that deserted them at Dens Park.
Alexander says his side can’t afford to fall short of their maximum levels every week – and aren’t turning it on often enough against teams below them.
Motherwell are fifth in the league compared to Dundee in 11th and the ‘Well boss said: “Everything we were last week against Hearts, we weren’t today.
“I thought we were at 80 per cent and hopefully we have learned that isn’t good enough.
“We didn’t approach the game right, from the very start. This shows we aren’t exactly where we want to be as consistency isn’t found over two games.
“We’ve seen the heights this team can reach in the last few weeks. But we have seen the other side of us. We try to use the negative times to take positive action afterwards.
“But we shouldn’t be waiting for something negative to show us the reality of professional football. We have an honest group of players but we have to be harder on ourselves to make sure we start in the right manner.
“We have to ask ourselves whether we approached this game in the right manner. If we didn’t, we let ourselves down. We have lost to a team below us and it’s not the first time it’s happened since I arrived in January.”
Midfielder Sean Goss has created three of Motherwell’s last four goals and was not in the squad at Dens Park. But Alexander isn’t using his absence as an excuse.
He added: “Sean’s a good player but we missed four players last week and won. I won’t let anything detract from the 10 that played the week before.
“I’m not doing him a disservice as he’s a good player but that had nothing to do with the result.”