Alex Paulsen (Motherwell FC | Scotland [On loan from AFC Bournemouth])

Friday

UEFA Conference League playoffs, 2nd leg Motherwell (2-0 up) travel to HB Torshavn in the Faroes.
https://us.soccerway.com/game/hb-torshavn-CUC7tw3r/motherwell-YuW7ZfMM/?mid=lGU7C2BO

A great result for Motherwell and for Alex.
A 3-0 win
A clean sheet and sounds like the coach  praised him for keeping clean sheets. Hopefully the confidence boost he needs to get his career back on track and start climbing back up into higher leagues. With more European football still to come could be his chance to shine.

Play HJK Helsinki in the next round

Happy for him. This is exactly what he needed, a league 2 level competition to slow him into European football. 

He is going to be great. Just take some deep breathes now and again, lad.

Monday

Motherwell travel to Hibs in the SPL
https://us.soccerway.com/game/hibernian-f5Fnxcx4/motherwell-YuW7ZfMM/?mid=hOXeICZg

Motherwell, with its new Kiwi keeper, beat Martin Boyle’s Hibs 2-1. Not a clean sheet, but a win for Paulsen’s side. 

Highlights. Good tough road win for Motherwell with a late 2nd goal.

Mixed performance from AP. 3 good saves in this package.

But he twice drops crosses/high balls in crowded situations, and twice his team mates then have to save him with a goal line clearance.

That will put some some nagging doubts in his head about when to come & when to stay on his line. Hopefully he & his team mates can sort that out.

Girwood-Reich off at 66 mins (1-1).

It's clear that Motherwell are going to try continue with last season's possession based game. The goal they concede (a pen) Martin Boyle darts in to win the ball whilst Paulsen & Co pass it around the back, Boyle getting tripped in the box, and converts the pen past AP. Paulsen guesses the right way and may have got a fingertip to the ball.

Early days but needs to quickly sort out that coming for a cross stuff. Otherwise yes his shortish stature will become a talked about issue for sure just like Poland.

Paulsens technique to clear the goal is all wrong. He should be punching the ball away, superman style. This technique will give him more reach and hit the ball further away.

The only time you go with two hands is to catch it. Which I would not advise him to do in a crowded box. On a positive note, his timing to get the ball is spot on, just don't use two hands to flap the ball away again.

It’s a little strange as I seem to remember him as a great puncher of the ball.

Tells you a little about his confidence. 

Maybe it’s because Motherwell play to recycle it from the back, with trying to retain possession as much as possible. So he’s subconsciously trying to win the ball for his team. That’s his first thought perhaps, rather than give it away by punching 

Low XG 2023/24 Nix, and even Corica’s AFC didn’t play that way.

But yes he probably should have punched with both instances against Hibs. Especially the 2nd one, it was very crowded when he tried to catch that one. 

Lots of positives in those highlights for me. 

First, I think he’s come to catch it twice and not got it either time. Butterflies or nerves or whatever, but that seems unusual. And he’s got himself in a good position each time. Perhaps as you say confidence lacking from a previous lack of protection. I don’t recall that ever being an issue in either New Zealand team and the A league isn’t a shrinking violet league exactly. 

Second that turf looks mint. Unlike some of the mudbaths he was playing in. 

Thirdly, peno was unlucky. That defender could have shepherded the attacker away from goal and he had nowhere to go. He panicked a bit as a mistake had been made. He does it later  too and he gets away with a quick grapple after another slight mistake. It’s a bad instinct in the VAR era. 

I think that’ll go away with drilling and with Alex commanding his defense. It was a very good sign to see him make some confident saves and then see him telling the defense what he wanted from them. 

It’s good to see him back in goal at a good level and hopefully the boss backs him to continue. 

That last Motherwell goal was gorgeous. Think Alex fits what they’re trying to do really well. 

Hopefully it gives him some confidence regardless, Easter road is a great away day and can be a proper cauldron. A good tough test in a tough league. 

https://twitter.com/thenichecache/status/2084753788334952552

https://twitter.com/thenichecache/status/2084753788334952552

Friday

Motherwell travel to Finland to play HJK in the UEFA Conference League playoffs
https://us.soccerway.com/game/hjk-nmjJVR7B/motherwell-YuW7ZfMM/?mid=2LiP6p0m

AP in goal for a 1-1 draw.

Aussies Johnny Koutroumbis (ex Jets, and off the pine), Girdwood-Reich and Oscar Priestman (ex WSW) also featuring for Motherwell.

Some vintage Paulsen saves in the first half to keep the tie alive. Looking more confident by the game, that Poland season will be a distant memory soon.

Yeah had an absolute cracker of a game. Fans loving him already

Yeah from those first half highlights especially, he was very good. 
Motherwell fans getting progressively boozed in the long Finnish mid summer sun.

just wasn't sure if the commentary was in Finnish or Scottish, couldn't understand it anyway

Motherwell host Falkirk

Full game and a clean sheet for AP, not really any huge saves, probably a pretty boring game from his perspective. Motherwell probably should've taken the 3 points, but it was a pretty meh game with the refs whistle being heard a lot.

Motherwell at home on Friday morning in the second leg of the Conference League qualifiers against HJK before going just up the road to Stenhousemuir for League Cup round of 16 tie early Monday

So 0-0. Girdwood-Reich on at 65 mins

In the 4 mins of 'highlights', AP doesn't need to make a save.

If Motherwell can't beat lowly Falkirk at home it's hard to see them repeating last season's excitement sans Just, Slattery and some others who have moved on.

They have for the moment managed, to keep last season's goal scoring machine Maswanhise (him in the protective face mask)

Falkirk were a top 6 team last year, so to call them lowly is pretty rough. 

Last season Falkirk beat Motherwell 3 times and drew once, so this doesn't necessarily indicate a drop in from last season. Of course, early days.

Yeah fair enough, should have looked at last season's table. 

Though I see there was a significant divide between the top 5 teams, (all a healthy GD of +14 or better) and the bottom 7 (a GD of -11 or worse).

Also pays to remember that Motherwell came in having played just 1 match against Scottish opposition vs Falkirk having played 5 thanks to the League Cup group stage. Yes, Falkirk's League Cup games were against tier 2-4 teams, but it's still going to prepare them better for league football vs Motherwell who have been preparing for and playing European teams. Speaking of, this was Motherwell's fourth match in the last 11 days, and they had flown 3.5 hours to Helsinki midweek, whereas this was Falkirk's second match in that period, with the extent of their travel being the half hour drive to Fir Park.

I think Motherwell's aims this season are likely to be 1) qualify for Conference League group stage (never made it beyond qualifying/playoff rounds, this would be first time playing group stage in Europe), and 2) get top half in the split.

Qualifying for Europe for next season is harder as Scotland has dropped in the coefficient rankings meaning only 3 teams qualify for Europe competition (qualifying rounds). They either have to displace Celtic, Rangers, and Hearts in the top 3 (those 3 are pretty much the expected top 3 in the league once again), win the Scottish Cup, win Conference League, or finish fourth and hope that one of the top 3 in the league win the Scottish Cup and/or a European competition.

If they can consolidate their position as one of the top 6 clubs and not show much drop off after losing JBA then I think the club will start to look really attractive to both players and coaches.

Honestly it's early days and Celtic are already 5 points clear of Rangers. Barring last season, it's mostly Celtic and rangers top 2. You could literally chuck teams at a dart board in this league to decide 3-12

Really encouraging performance by Paulsen, especially his numerous saves early in the game to keep Motherwell in the tie.
He couldn't do much about the goal by Finnish legend Teemu Pukki in the second half, which, lets face it, was class.
Interesting fact: Pukki was signed by Celtic in 2013 to replace future Nix striker Gary Hooper. He wsn't a hit there, but went on to become a club legend at Norwich City where his 88 goals in 210 matches made him the fourth-best goalscorer in the club's entire history.
Scored a Premier League hat-trick vs. Newcastle in 2019.
He was a team mate of Michael Boxall at Minnesota United in the MLS for one and a half seasons in 2023-24 before returning to end his career back home at HJK Helsinki. 
Pukki scored four goals in a game for Minnesota vs. LA Galaxy in 2023.
Pukki is truly the Chris Wood of Finnish football, their all time greatest goal-scorer and their greatest star of the last decade.
But also like with the All Whites and Wynton Rufer, is not their greatest player, who was Jari Litmanen of Ajax and Champions League fame.

Friday

2nd leg UEFA Conference League tie. Motherwell host HJK. 1-1 after Leg 1.
https://us.soccerway.com/game/hjk-nmjJVR7B/motherwell-YuW7ZfMM/?mid=zm5W4OUa

2-0 win vs HJK Helsinki

Tough next round vs last season's Europa League finalists Freiburg for a place in the Conference League proper.

Paulsen in goal. Full game also Girdwood-Reich who seems to have established himself as a starter

League Cup R16. Motherwell host Stenhousemuir

Motherwell lose 1-0 and out of the League Cup.

Probably good news for Paulsen, as his now likely all season understudy Matty Connelly played in goal.