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Johansson on sticking to principles, Rosenborg lessons & duo's return
Updated Fri, October 23, 2026 at 4:13 PM UTC

Alfred Johansson has been speaking to the media before Motherwell host Hearts in the Premiership on Sunday (14:00 GMT).

Here are the key points:

  • Johansson will "stick to my principles" following a run of five successive defeats. He says: "There are some big positives we need to continue with and reinforce and then there are some issues we need to fix."

  • The Swede is drawing on experiences from his spell at Rosenborg to help him get through this difficult period: "We were just above the relegation zone and newspapers all over were like, 'Rosenberg is going to go down, this is the biggest crisis ever' - and we ended fourth that season. All of a sudden things that we had been working on clicked. We just stuck to what we had been working on and got the hang of it with a young squad. I don't believe in changing things completely."

  • Johansson credited Motherwell's players for staying "professional" throughout the tough run of form, adding: "You see it every day in training. They have a fantastic attitude and fantastic effort. Everyone is just committed and works really hard. They make my job easy."

  • The return of Oscar Priestman and Regan Charles-Cook this weekend is a "big positive" for the Steelmen. Callum Hendry and Paul McGinn are "progressing well" but aren't quite ready for their return.

  • On Hearts, the Motherwell boss says: "I expect to come up against a good team that are aggressive in their high pressing. You can see they've got a coach from abroad that focuses on these things. I think they've been doing really well. They've been quite solid defensively in the league apart from the Celtic game. I think we'll come up against a good team that will try and be themselves at Fir Park."

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