Life after Stuart McCall begun on Friday night as Motherwell, despite being outplayed for whole of the first half, by a Dundee Untied side showing six changes from their last outing, a 3-0 win over St Mirren, recorded their first win since September.
It was the third Friday in a row Motherwell had been on BT Sport on Friday evening, and the game drew similarities to Motherwell’ 2-1 defeat at St Johnstone which prompted much soul searching from McCall, resulting in his resignation.
Under the guidance of Kenny Black, Motherwell moved away from the back three to a more orthodox and almost quintessentially British 4-4-2. Craig Reid came in at left-back, with Fraser Kerr dropping to full-back as Simon Ramsden pushed into the centre of midfield. Lionel Ainsworth gave the team width on the right, while Iain Vigurs played a very narrow role on the left. John Sutton and Henrik Ojamaa were partnered up front.
The Arabs were much changed. Callum Morris, Sean Dillon, Nadir Ciftci, Charlie Telfer and Gary Mackay-Steven all found themselves on the bench. John Souttar was in the centre of defence with Paul Paton slotting in at right-full-back. Stuart Armstrong dropped deeper to play alongside John Rankin in the midfield pivot with Chris Erskine and Blair Spittal flanking Aidan Connolly who supported Ryan Dow.
A Return to the United of old
Despite the absence of Cifcti it was a very enjoyable first half performance from Untied. Taking gauge from the times which this writer has watched the Arabs and judging by Jackie McNamara’s post-match interviews this season, it was the first time in which they resembled the exciting United team of last season.
There was the notion of anarchy in their attacks which has been missing this season. Conor Townsend was haring forward from left-back, while their was a real fluidity about the front four with the addition of a more direct and attacking figure from the centre of midfield in Armstrong.
Motherwell’s flat midfield four was the perfect opponent for United and specifically Connolly who offered reminders of Ryan Gauld in a United shirt. The diminutive playmaker was the best player on the pitch – you could make a case for Armstrong – as he drifted laterally between the Motherwell midfield and defence. While he offered the through balls which Gauld was best known for, he was also enthusiastic in running at and beyond the defence to score as well. He drops the shoulder very well and has a burst of pace that can take him away from defenders who get too close.
The space in front of the defence meant Stephen McManus and Mark O’Brien were at times tempted out by the play of United’s attackers opening up space for runs in behind the defence. There was a real directness about United when space did open, no doubt helped by the surging Armstrong, who, in time, could see a deeper midfield role become the norm. In the seventh minute Armstrong’s advanced position saw McManus attempt to close him down but the United man quickly turned and slipped a pass beyond O’Brien for Connolly to chase; the move ended with a United free-kick in a dangerous area.
As well as playing intricately through the centre, the away side were happy to knock balls in behind the full-backs, arguably Motherwell’s weakest players: Kerr and Reid. Both Erksine and Spittal were ably supported by the full-backs to out number them.
All the best components about United came together in the 35th minute when Souttar stepped out of defence with the ball before the ball was worked to Armstrong just across the half-way line. The 22-year-old found Connolly in a large gap between the two centre-midfielders and two centre-backs. O’Brien was unsure whether to close him down, giving him enough time to slide an exquisite through ball into the path of Spittal who fired agonisingly wide.
Motherwell’s ruthlessness
These missed chances would come back to haunt United as Motherwell did to them what St Johnstone did to Motherwell the previous Friday.
With Lionel Ainsworth and Henrik Ojamaa both in the side there is a real counter-attacking threat with both having chances either side of the half to open the scoring from breakaways. On 30 minutes the duo combined twice as they broke from a United corner. The Estonian forward shuffled into a great position 14 yards out in the centre of the goal but could not get his shot away under pressure from Rankin.
Then after half-time Motherwell moved the ball quickly in a tight area with United caught high up the pitch on their left side. Ainsworth drove forward, fed an advancing Criag Reid and continued his run, getting on the end of a Radoslaw Cierzniak fumble to hit the post.
However, the goal would come from a long ball, which, like the counter-attacking had caused United some problems. John Sutton made sure to position himself on Souttar who struggles with the aerial threat, even from the likes of Sutton. United counteracted by putting Rankin in front of Sutton from long balls to make it harder for him. In this instance no one won the ball. It fell to the feet of Souttar who was taken by surprise and ended up losing the ball to Keith Lasely who had ran past Armstrong who was still waiting for the pass from Souttar.
From there were all kind of mistakes. Because Souttar had moved upfield to win the header, Paton had to cover inside as Lasley advanced. The ball was passed to Vigurs who had space and time after Jaroslaw Fojut had 1) ran back in a straight line rather than out to Vigurs and 2) stopped to look over at the linesman. By the time he had decided to try and close Vigurs down the former Ross County man had fired past him and Cierzniak who should have saved it.
Armstrong’s weakness in that position where seen as early as the sixth minute when McManus played a pass into Vigurs who had drifted off the line and behind the United man who was caught too far up the pitch. Rankin had to come over and cover but Vigurs’s touch took him out the game and the ball was shifted to Ainsworth whose cross was eventually scrambled away.
From the goal it was a case of Motherwell defending and then attempting to attack through Ainsworth and Ojamaa. McNamara brought on Ciftci and Gary Mackay-Steven but the more they probed and put the ball in the box the more they were left frustrated. Rather than create chances they created scrambles in the box, while the Steelmen were the team creating the clearer openings as space opened up. Ainsworth was unlikely to see an effort ruled out for offside despite replays showing he was clearly on side.
As McNamara said after the game, United have played worse and won. It was good to see a side brimming with creativity and with a fit and firing Ciftci they could be on course to give a side a going-over if they play like they did on Friday. As for Motherwell the result was a week too late for McCall but the last two Friday nights have shown the importance of Ojamaa and Ainsworth to a side which has only scored eight league goals. Two less than St Mirren.
WRITTEN BY JOEL SKED
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