A manic week for Motherwell
There is something wonderfully unpredictable about the early weeks of any new football season.
One minute you are watching a Scottish Premiership club dismantle an experienced European opponent under the lights, dreaming about what might be possible. A few days later, that same club can be reminded rather brutally that football does not always respect reputations, budgets or momentum.
That was the story of Motherwell this week.
I was at Fir Park on Thursday evening for World Football Index as Alfred Johansson’s side produced one of their most impressive performances of the new season, beating HJK Helsinki 2-0 to complete a 3-1 aggregate victory and reach the UEFA Conference League play-off round.
I have been mightily impressed by Johansson since he arrived in Scotland. He is an excellent speaker, but more importantly, there is a clarity to the way Motherwell play. They have been one of the most entertaining sides to watch in the early weeks of the campaign and their European performances have suggested that they are capable of making a genuine impression beyond Scotland.
Bundesliga heavyweights Freiburg now await in the play-offs, with the first leg at Fir Park on Thursday.
It is a wonderful reward for Motherwell to be able to go face to face with a club who reached the Europa League final against Aston Villa last season.
Yet football has a habit of providing the punchline just when you think you have worked out the story.
On Sunday, Motherwell were brought crashing back to earth when Stenhousemuir, a part-time Championship side eliminated them from the League Cup by defeating them by a goal to nil after extra time.
The end result was not just a surprise, rather a monumental shock.
Johansson had actually warned beforehand that Stenhousemuir would provide a difficult test, pointing to the challenges Motherwell experienced in the competition last season.
His warning proved somewhat prophetic.
Defeat in a cup tie that they were widely expected to win is no reason for Motherwell supporters to be frustrated Johansson even if it feels like yet another missed opportunity in a domestic cup. If anything, this is part of the fascination of the club’s season.
They can compete impressively against HJK under their new manager and prepare to welcome a Bundesliga opponent to Fir Park, yet simultaneously discover that there are no easy games in Scottish football.
The challenge for Johansson is now managing that contradiction.
European football may bring the glamour that fans crave but domestic football remains the foundation to progression.
Motherwell fans will want to strike the balance in both aspects of the game.
Celtic move up another gear
If Motherwell’s week has demonstrated the unpredictability of football, Celtic’s has been rather more predictable.
They look like a team gathering momentum.
The recruitment of new players has continued with Mika Baur and Haissem Hassan arriving, while Arne Engels has departed for West Ham in a reported £22 million deal. Baur arrived from Paderborn after helping them win promotion to the Bundesliga, while Hassan has joined from Real Oviedo.
That is significant business, but it is what is happening on the pitch currently that has really caught my attention.
Celtic followed up their 5-1 success of last weekend at Rugby Park by sweeping aside Dundee United 4-0 at Tannadice, with Camilo Durán scoring his first competitive goals for the club.
Nine goals scored and one conceded across their last two matches tells its own story.
The supporters certainly seem to have noticed and appreciated the progression of performances in comparison to what was the norm last season.
The away end at Tannadice was in full voice, with the names of Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney being sung as Celtic produced the kind of football that supporters have been crying out to see.
But this is where the tone changes because the real examination of Celtic’s quality begins now.
The Scottish champions face Austrian Champions LASK across two legs for a place in the Champions League, with the first leg at Celtic Park on Wednesday.
Confidence is high while the atmosphere around the club is once again positive and the football in the early stages of the season has so far been encouraging.
But European qualification is where confidence has to become composure.
Celtic spent last season in the Europa League. They now have an opportunity to return to football’s top table.
For O’Neill, Maloney and this group of players, that makes the next fortnight hugely significant.
Winning at Tannadice is one thing but winning the tie that puts Celtic back among Europe’s elite is another altogether.
Kettlewell’s Ross County redemption story gathers pace
There were plenty of questions when Stuart Kettlewell remained at Ross County following their relegation.
In football, managers rarely get much credit for sticking around after a relegation. They become associated with the failure rather than the rebuilding process that follows it.
Kettlewell has quietly started to change that narrative.
Ross County have made an excellent start to life in League One by winning their first two games and continued their progress by beating Dunfermline Athletic 2-1 in the League Cup on Saturday.
That victory was particularly interesting because it came against a Championship side and required County to show the resilience expected of a team with ambitions of an immediate return to the second tier.
The decision to keep Kettlewell was not universally obvious.
Yet Ross County’s board clearly believed he was the right person to oversee a reset, formally appointing him on a permanent basis in May after his return to the club.
There is a lot to admire about that.
Kettlewell knows the club, knows the environment and knows what promotion requires. More importantly, he appears to have built a squad that is better balanced than the one which suffered relegation.
It is far too early to start talking about promotion as a certainty.
However, Ross County look like a club that has learned from the relegation woes of last season rather than still dwelling on it.
That could prove important over the course of the season.
Spurs finally look like a team again
I was at Tottenham’s pre-season meeting with Hoffenheim on Saturday and there was plenty to like about Roberto De Zerbi’s side.
Pre-season results should never be treated as definitive evidence. They can, however, offer clues.
The most obvious clue at Spurs was intensity.
The ball was moved forward with purpose. There was aggression in the press and a desire to attack space quickly.
It was a noticeable contrast to the ponderous football that had become increasingly familiar last season.
De Zerbi has also been backed in the transfer market.
Sandro Tonali and Andy Robertson are among the headline arrivals, with Tottenham making a significant investment in rebuilding a squad that finished 17th in the Premier League last season.
But the player who really caught my eye against Hoffenheim was one Spurs already owned.
Mikey Moore scored twice in a 3-0 victory and looked like a player determined not to simply become another name on the list of talented youngsters sent away on loan.
I watched Moore closely during his loan spell at Rangers last season and there were more than enough flashes to suggest he had something.
Now he has a manager who appears willing to look at that potential and ask whether it can be developed at Tottenham.
There have been rumours of another loan move, with the Bundesliga mentioned as a possible destination, but Moore may have given De Zerbi something to think about.
Spurs are short of natural width.
Moore can provide it and if he continues to perform like this, perhaps the smartest move for Tottenham is not to send him somewhere else to develop.
For Rangers, meanwhile, watching him score twice for Spurs will only reinforce what they already know.
A player of that ability would be extremely useful at Ibrox right now.
NEC Nijmegen and the romance of European football
One of the stories I am enjoying most in European football right now is NEC Nijmegen.
Dick Schreuder has done an outstanding job.
NEC finished third in the Eredivisie last season, the best league finish in the club’s history, and earned a place in Champions League qualifying.
That alone was remarkable, however, what has followed has been even better.
NEC came out on top in a dramatic third qualifying round tie against Olympiacos to reach the Champions League play-off round, where they will face Bodø/Glimt.
Now, if Schreuder can find two more big performances from his players, Nijmegen could soon be preparing for Champions League nights that, not long ago, would have sounded like fantasy.
Callum McFadden 