2. Contents
1. Introduction
2. Motherwell F.C. Statistics
3. General Playing Style
4. Formation
5-6. Crossing against Celtic (A)
7-9. Weaknesses
10. Set-Pieces – Defending Corners
11. Conclusion
3. Introduction
The purpose of this report is to highlight Motherwell F.C.’s strengths and weaknesses in
both attacking and defensive situations. The three games that have been analysed will look
at how Motherwell conceded and scored goals, their set piece set-up and general system of
play.
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4. Motherwell F.C. Statistics
o After 7 games they are 3rd in the table having taken 13 points from a possible 21.
o Their last five games are as followed (most recent first): LWWLW. The two defeats
coming against Celtic and Rangers respectively.
o 66.7% win rate at home. 58.3% win rate away.
o Most common result is 1-0.
o Average goals scored: 1.286 per match. Average goals concede: 1.286 per match.
o Average time they score their first goal: 26th minute.
o Average time they concede their first goal: 14th minute.
Team Played Points
Rangers 6 16
Celtic 6 15
Motherwell 7 13
Home Form Away Form
Won Drawn Lost Won Drawn Lost
2 0 1 2 1 1
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5. General Playing Style
Motherwell like to use patient build-up play transferring the ball through defence and
midfield, even though they possess a strong and physical striker who can win the ball in the
air (Higdon No. 9.) and bring their midfield players into the game. Their defenders are brave
on the ball and both centre backs (Craigon No. 5 & Hutchison No. 15) are willing to receive
passes and initiate attacks or indeed retain possession if there are no opportunities to play
the ball forward.
The fullbacks (Hammell No. 3 & Clancy No. 33) are very important in their system as
they provide all the width and often overlap Motherwell’s wide midfielders to cross the ball
from advanced positions.
In midfield they play with two players in the middle of the pitch (Law No. 4 & Lasley
No. 14) and one supporting the striker (Jennings No. 8) although they can interchange roles.
They all contribute to Motherwell’s patient build-up by offering to take the ball from the
defence and link up in midfield. Often they receive the ball with their back to the
opponent’s goal. Motherwell’s lone striker requires support to be quite close if they want to
win any balls he flicks on. Both wide players (Hateley No. 6 & Murphy No. 11) are more
inclined to move inwards and act as inside forwards.
The lone striker (Higdon No. 9.) is strong but doesn’t have much pace. He makes up
for this however with good technical skills and is able to flick the ball on with his head or
chest should Motherwell need to play a long pass. He is the main target in the box.
Their goalkeeper (Randolph No. 1) is also involved in this patient build-up play
although they defenders prefer not to pass the ball back to him if they are under pressure.
He will quite readily take goal kicks short to either fullback.
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6. Formation
o A triangle in midfield is a key factor in their ability to maintain possession of the ball
as many teams in the league play 4-4-2 which allows Motherwell’s central midfield
to have an extra man.
o Two holding midfielders allow the fullbacks to have the freedom they need to charge
forward and create width across the pitch.
o Every player is aware of the system of play and when substitutions are made the
style remains the same.
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7. Crossing Against Celtic (Away)
First Half
Origin of Crosses
Total Crosses 1st Half
2.50%
Successful
3 4
Unsuccessful
97.50
%
1 2
Blue – Highest Success
Yellow – Most Crosses
Orange – Both
Zone Crosses Successful Unsuccessful % Successful
1 0 0 0 0%
2 1 0 1 0%
3 2 1 1 50%
4 5 0 5 0%
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8. Second Half
Origin of Crosses
Total Crosses 2nd Half
17.00
% Successful
Unsuccessful
3 4 83.00
%
1 2
Blue – Highest Success
Yellow – Most Crosses
Orange - Both
Zone Crosses Successful Unsuccessful % Successful
1 0 0 0 0%
2 0 0 1 0%
3 2 2 0 0%
4 4 1 3 25%
Against Celtic Motherwell were pinned back for long periods but refused to play long balls
from deep. They instead stuck to their system of passing patiently and moving the ball
forward to advanced positions before crossing. Even against Celtic they continued to push
their fullbacks forward and into positions were they could cross.
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9. Weaknesses
The following weaknesses have been picked up from Motherwell’s games against Hearts,
Rangers and Celtic.
Centre Backs against Hearts
From a long ball played out of the
Hearts box by their goalkeeper,
both centre backs show different
weakness. In the first image,
Saunders firstly uses the wrong
foot to try and clear the ball –
should use his left – which
secondly results in him missing his
interception.
In the second picture, the ball is
already past Craigan before he
can turn and accelerate fully.
In the games against
Rangers and Celtic,
Motherwell’s defensive
frailties were highlighted
once again. Both teams
created chances and
scored goals by playing quick link up passes on the edge of their box before passing the ball
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10. into one of the defensive channels. This tactic isolated Motherwell’s slower defenders and
because of their poor reaction time exposed the goal.
Counter Attack
Celtic used their wide players and strikers to swiftly counter attack Motherwell’s defence
through the middle. As mentioned earlier Motherwell’s fullbacks like to attack which means
there is a huge responsibility on the two holding midfielders to provide cover. They just
could not do this against a counter attack. The situation below came from a Motherwell
throw-in on the left hand side of the pitch. Hooper is able to receive the ball and turn
between the lines of midfield and defence. He is supported by Ledley and Kai – the scorer –
who both sprint up the pitch as Hooper turns on the ball.
They seem to struggle to adapt to a ‘False 9’ who will drop deep into the space between
defence and midfield. On occasions against Celtic when this happened neither defender felt
comfortable stepping forward, but also didn’t get a mid-fielder to drop back.
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11. Lack of Creativity in Mid-Field
With reference to their game against Celtic, Motherwell had a lot of possession in front of
Celtic’s defence but could not find a way through. This resulted in them playing a lot of
passes sideways. Although this ensured they kept the ball this distinct lack of penetration
meant they were unable to create any significant chances.
Celtic nullified Motherwell’s passing game by playing with two very disciplined banks of four
who rarely ventured from their position to close the ball down.
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12. Set Pieces – Defending Corners
Against Hearts at home Motherwell defended corner kicks as shown below. They preferred
not to station defenders on
each post but rather
protect the area in front of
the goalkeeper. Three man
markers are used on the
edge of the six-yard box.
This offers very little
protection at the back post
and with so many bodies
around the goalkeeper he
may find it difficult to come and collect the ball.
Their set-up was similar against
Rangers (below) and Celtic
although sometimes they placed
a player on the back post. The
defenders always mark man to
man and never zonally.
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13. Conclusion
o Possession orientated style.
o Patient build, happy to play the ball backwards if there are no options further up the
pitch.
o Fullbacks are very attack minded and provide the width.
o Strong target man who has good technique.
o Defence can be exposed through counter attacking.
o Slow defenders, the team in general have a poor defensive transition.
o May find it difficult to break a well organised defence.
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