Stephen O'Donnell has urged Motherwell's under-fire players to believe in themselves, drawing on his own experience of being written off before enjoying one of the best seasons of his career.
The defender was told to retire last summer after suffering cramp during a match against Clyde, yet went on to feature prominently in a successful campaign at Fir Park. Now he hopes the club's struggling players can follow the same path.
Support for New Signings
New arrivals Willy Vogt and Alex Paulsen are among those who have faced criticism as Motherwell lost their last five matches, sliding down the table after a positive start under Alfred Johansson.
O'Donnell said: "Yeah, I mean again, worth taking individuals out of it. That's going to come, like the noise is going to come from fans, criticism. I was told to retire last summer before the Clyde game when I got cramp! It was about 500 degrees, no wonder I cramped up. It was in the 90th minute and I'm getting told to retire, not that I'm still remembering that! And then you go on to six months later, folk are talking about how good me and Paul McGinn are. Football's fickle, people's opinions change and what you need to know is believe in yourself."
Message to the Squad
The former Scotland international has told the players to keep doing the right things and the tide will turn. He added: "You need to believe that you're good enough and believe that you've still got stuff to offer. If that's older, or if you're younger like Willy. He's a good player and he's been signed. And just to kind of bounce back and work hard, the best way to get through any situation to any of the boys that have found themselves out of the team now is work hard. Give managers no excuses and you'll get in. And then when you get in, then it's up to you to kind of show the fans and the manager what quality you've got."
Fitness and Form
O'Donnell himself has faced criticism over goals conceded in recent games and is still working towards full fitness after a pre-season injury. He said: "Probably the fittest I've felt this season, certainly. I'm nowhere near where I can be, but that's just sadly some setbacks and me not maybe feeling exactly where I can be. But I'll get there and at the very worst I'll be working hard in the team or out of the team to make sure I'm as fit as possible to be selected. I want to be part of a team that has the success of last season."
Looking Ahead to Hearts
Motherwell have struggled at both ends of the pitch, and O'Donnell acknowledged the team's frustration. He said: "Yes, look again, that's the thing that's kind of been frustrating is that we've been kind of poor on both ends, to be honest. I think we've not hit the form we believe we can and in some of the early games as well. We looked like that in the St Mirren game. The first 30 minutes against St Mirren in Paisley, I thought we were outstanding. Then we've kind of just fell away and when it comes down to it, it's about getting that kind of confidence back. Scoring goals is all about confidence and that's where we just need to kind of get the attacking players playing with that freedom and confidence. But equally, whenever we're shipping goals, the forwards are going to be less confident because they're worried we're going to concede goals. It's just a double-edged sword. So we need to make sure as defenders, we need to do our job and encourage the forward players as much as we can. Help us defensively if they need to, but then also giving them that platform to maybe sustain attacks. We can then back them up better in a defensive position."
Motherwell will look to return to winning ways when Hearts visit Fir Park.
