Lasley content under the radar
Motherwell captain Keith Lasley is happy to continue in relative anonymity this season as the Lanarkshire side take their three-match winning run to Tannadice on Sunday.
Motherwell sit third in the Scottish Premiership with 12 points from six games - the exact same total as they had at this stage last year.
But league leaders Inverness have taken more of the plaudits while there has also been a lot of recent focus on the likes of an improving Aberdeen and Dundee United, who have twice hit four goals.
And Lasley is happy to keep winning under the radar as a much-changed Motherwell bid to emulate their consecutive top-three finishes.
Speaking ahead of the clash against the Terrors, Lasley said: "I think expectations have certainly risen at this club in previous seasons.
"People maybe expect us to be up there, which is great. You want to be at a club that's aiming as high as possible.
"Aberdeen have certainly signed some really good players and Inverness, what a start for them, it's great.
"But we just want to go about our business. We are certainly not going to shout from the rooftops that we are doing this or that. We are just happy to try to keep steadily improving.
"We said it was a little bit of a bigger transition in terms of players coming or going than previous years.
"It has maybe just taken a bit of time but on the first game of the season we went to Hibs and won 1-0, so it was hardly a terrible start."
Motherwell have taken 10 points from their last four trips to face United but Lasley stressed they had to be at their best on each occasion and expects Sunday's contest to be a different encounter given the turnaround in personnel at both clubs.
"There have been a lot of comings and goings at both clubs," he said. "We have felt it has taken some time to get used to but there have been encouraging signs for us in the past few weeks and we're looking to continue that.
"Dundee United have been the same, maybe moving players around and trying to get the right system and flow in their team.
"They certainly seemed to get that against Ross County. We have got to be on our guard but we are hopefully on the right track ourselves with three good wins in a row and we want to keep that momentum going on Sunday.
"I thought we played really well for long spells at St Mirren on Saturday so hopefully we can carry that into Sunday."
Well defender Simon Ramsden returns from suspension but Fraser Kerr and Euan Murray remain unavailable.
Gavin Gunning and Mark Millar are both suspended for Dundee United while winger Chris Erskine is also ruled out after picking up a knock in the club's 4-2 win over Ross County last Sunday, but Calum Butcher could feature after illness.
Misfiring United striker David Goodwillie needs to relax if he wants to rediscover his scoring touch, team-mate John Rankin has claimed.
The on-loan Blackburn frontman has scored just once since returning to Tannadice in the summer and was dropped for last week's win over Ross County.
But midfielder Rankin believes the Scotland international - who made just six starts at Ewood Park after his B#2million move south - is trying too hard to impress the Tangerine support that grew to idolise him in his first goal-laden spell with the club.
"Goodie will work hard no matter what," Rankin told Press Association Sport. "He knows himself what he needs to do to get back in the team and I don't see him dropping his standards.
"When he was dropped last Sunday, he was the first to wish the lads luck and the sort of person Goodie is, he will just roll his sleeves up and work to get back in the side.
"I don't think he has got a confidence issue. It is always hard when you have not played games for so long to come back and try to find your sharpness. But we see in training every day how good he is.
"I don't honestly know what is going on with him but I'd like to see him back to the Goodie of old. Maybe he's trying a bit too hard. When that happens it doesn't come off for you. That's something that's good though. It shows he's not willing to accept how things are. Maybe if he just relaxes a bit things will comer easier to him.
"Form is temporary and class if forever. Goodie has certainly got a bit of class about him. He'll be back."
Source: PA
Source: PA