SM
Watford vs. Oxford Utd: 9 hrs 21 mins
Upcoming predictions and previews
Collect News Data

Graham Alexander tips "intelligent" Motherwell to adapt to rotation

:Headline: Graham Alexander tips 'intelligent' Motherwell to adapt to rotation:
Absences have forced Graham Alexander's hand ahead of the Scottish Cup quarter-final against Hibernian.
Sports Mole

Motherwell manager Graham Alexander backed his players to be adaptable after ruling Jordan Roberts out for the season ahead of their Scottish Cup quarter-final with Hibernian.

Roberts scored one and set up the other as Motherwell won 2-0 on their previous visit to Easter Road but a knee injury has prematurely ended his loan spell from Hearts.

The man who set up Roberts' goal, Tony Watt, is also out along with fellow forwards Harry Smith and Sherwin Seedorf, so Alexander may have to tweak his tactics as he bids to guide his team into the semi-finals.

On the previous win over Hibs, Alexander said: "It's all about feeling good about yourself, and we felt good about ourselves after that game because we went to an extremely hard venue against a very good team and won there for the first time in a lot of attempts and years.

"It does build confidence, but we always balance that out with what won us the game there doesn't win us the game tomorrow. There will be different players playing. Tony Watt and Jordan Roberts played that day and we haven't got them at the moment.

"Jordan won't be back for us, his injury has taken him out for the foreseeable. I don't know the full extent of his injury, it isn't a major one but he is certainly going to miss the rest of the season unfortunately.

"I am really gutted for the lad because he is a brilliant man, he did an exceptional job for us in his short period here and we are going to miss him because he's a top guy."

Amid the shortage of forwards, Alexander switched from a 4-3-3 formation to a 3-5-2 for Wednesday's Lanarkshire derby victory.

"We have to change the team, we have to find different ways of winning," he said. "We changed the other day to beat Hamilton and we have to look at what we do to win this particular game.

"We had to look at our previous results against Hamilton, we have let ourselves down against teams below us and took heavy slaps and couldn't afford that to happen again. We had a couple of players missing and felt we had to do something different to win that game, which we did.

"The players adapted to it really well in a short period of time because we didn't work on it too much, but I trust my players. I trust them to be intelligent enough to understand what we want from them. We keep it quite simple and clear for them and they took it on board and won the game.

"Saturday will be the same, we have to look at how we can beat Hibs and if we have to change something we will. Players have to be adaptable because you might change the shape after half an hour or at half-time.

"What we have found in the last couple of months is different ways to win games of football and that's a great skill to have as a group of players.

"We have been on a really good run, we have had to fight really hard. We haven't played as well as we would have liked in some games but we have got the result and football is about winning."

body check tags ::

amp_article__444466 : Collect and Make Data not in DataBase  : 
last updated article - 2021-04-23 12:41:18:
html db last update - 2021-04-23 12:41:18 :

ex - 7200 : read : write cache and make html

Click here for more stories about Graham Alexander

Click here for more stories about Motherwell

Share this article now:
HA
Read Next:
Brian Rice: 'We can still avoid relegation'
>


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
AL
Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!
Read more about Graham Alexander Jordan Roberts Tony Watt Sherwin Seedorf Harry Smith Football
Follow @SportsMole for the latest breaking news stories, and follow @sm_headlines to get every headline from Sports Mole
Recommended Next on SM
Brian Rice: 'We can still avoid relegation'
Major transfer boost: Man United 'given encouragement' in pursuit of Gyokeres

Page options

Premier League Table
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Celtic109102932628
2Aberdeen109102091128
3RangersRangers10613158719
4Dundee UnitedDundee Utd114431513216
5Motherwell105141313016
6Dundee113351720-312
7St Mirren123361521-612
8Kilmarnock113351523-812
9Ross County122641018-812
10St Johnstone123181525-1010
11Hearts122371419-59
12Hibernian111551016-68
Scroll for more - Tap for full version


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
AL
Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!

Loading ...

Failed to load data.

history www

Eleven changes, will Palmer be one of them? Chelsea predicted XI against Arsenal

1

EC

Preview: Chelsea vs. Arsenal - prediction, team news, lineups

2

PC

Chelsea vs. Arsenal: Head-to-head record and past meetings

NEW

3

CV

Felix, Nkunku net brace as Chelsea run rampant in demolition of FC Noah

4

FN

Have Palmer, Rice made the cut? Lee Carsley's final England squad revealed!

5

HP

Messi MVP quest continues, but will Busquets play? Inter Miami predicted XI vs. Atlanta

6

MM

Preview: Crystal Palace vs. Fulham - prediction, team news, lineups

7

PC

Preview: Angers vs. PSG - prediction, team news, lineups

8

PA

Preview: Strasbourg vs. Monaco - prediction, team news, lineups

9

PS

Preview: Middlesbrough vs. Luton - prediction, team news, lineups

10

PM


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .