Hibs rivals in focus: Just how good ARE Motherwell team branded 'best football side in UK' by pundit Sutton?
Hipsters’ favourites marry style with substance - but David Gray’s men have chance to peg them back in race for Euro qualification
Every manager under pressure. Every board member who has to put up with sideways glances, muttered complaints or cries of derision about value for money. Every frontline Scottish Premiership footballer who provokes howls of frustration by doing the safe thing and hitting a channel ball for the striker to face.
They all know who to blame. Jens Berthel Askou. The man who made Motherwell sexy. A miracle guaranteed to bestow messiah status on this saviour of the Steelmen.
The transformation of perennial top-flight middleweights into even putative title contenders was always going to leave Motherwell’s rivals – especially clubs with bigger budgets – open to criticism. If they can do it, and do it in such style, what’s your excuse … etc.
Former Celtic star is a fan of Fir Park side
Hibs have suffered by comparison, certainly. Despite being ahead of schedule in terms of points accumulated, compared to last season, they’re definitely among those entitled to feel a little overshadowed by little things like, just for instance, former Celtic star turned Sky Sports pundit Chris Sutton branding Motherwell the “best football side” in the entire UK.
But just how good are they, really? Already shown to be a team of substance as well as style, how deep do their footballing foundations go?
All change
That Motherwell are a different team under new management is beyond doubt. If you doubt that, just cast your mind back to Kofi Balmer’s famed long throw-in threat of not so very long ago.
That was a Motherwell threat we could all recognise and accept. A guy yeeting the ball into the penalty box with the force of a thousand suns, hoping that someone got on the end of it.
Under the new regime, it’s all about possession. They’ve been averaging a smidgen under 60 per game in the league, which puts them second only to Celtic when it comes to dominating the ball.
They also average around 475 passes per game, again second only to Celtic, with a pass completion rate of 86 per cent. Which is mightily impressive, in its own right.
Hibs are fourth in the Scottish Premiership on the same metric, for comparison. Gray’s men complete an average of around 340 passes per game, with a hit rate of just over 81 per cent, suggesting at least a minor variation in style between the sides.
Having said that, Motherwell actually play more accurate long balls per game than Hibs. So it’s not all fancy patterns and dazzling off-the ball running.
Pundit praise
There is a narrative about Motherwell, though. A caterpillar-to-butterfly storyline that captures the imagination.
So being easy on the eye comes with rewards, in terms of plaudits, with nary a pundit in the land able to resist the undoubtedly enjoyable fare being served up at Fir Park these days. It’s definitely been a hoot.
And the words of praise have followed, with Sutton telling The Monday Night Club: “Motherwell have been the best football team I’ve seen this season, north or south fo the border. They play an incredible brand of football.
“It’s all about using the extra man and picking the right pass. They are so good and so aware. It’s a brilliant story and a real testament to their manager that he’s got them playing this style.”
Former Hibs striker Tam McManus, now a regular on screen and in print, warned: “Nobody will relish playing Motherwell at all, because you know the way they’re going to play. They’re going to get on the front foot and try to win games. Credit to Jens Berthel Askou because Motherwell have been different class at times.”
Even among rival managers, there has been plenty of admiration for Motherwell, with Dundee boss Steven Pressley – speaking just before his team defeated the Steelmen, admittedly – pointing out: “For me, the most impressive thing is how they have evolved as a team throughout the season. Everyone has changed the way they play against them to try to stop them but they have found ways to win matches while still sticking to their principles.
“At first teams pressed them, which meant you were out of position quicker so they could play through you. Now teams aren’t pressing them so aggressively, so they are moving the opposition around more.
“Because they’re not being pressed as much, they have more time on the ball and to take up positions. So they have shown how adaptable they are with key principles running through it.
“I find it remarkable what they’ve done in what really is a short space of time. It’s refreshing for Scottish football to have coaches like Jens come here with new, fresh ideas and challenge the norm.”
What about when it doesn’t work?
Motherwell have just lost two games on the bounce, falling to a 3-1 defeat at Celtic Park and then losing 2-1 at Dens Park. Hibs, for the record, picked up their first away win over Celtic in 16 years last month – although they have just dropped points in draws with Dundee and Livingston.
They are vulnerable, then. Despite compiling more clean sheets, and conceding fewer goals, than any other team in the Scottish Premiership, they’ve suffered the odd wobble.
The Hibs plan will be to test the home side’s confidence early at Fir Park. Give them a reason to doubt themselves.
An away win puts Gray’s men hot on the heels of Motherwell in the race for fourth, with all its European ramifications. And the teams meet again after the split.
A home win effectively ends the Hibs challenge. And, depending on results elsewhere, puts the Steelmen back on the fringes of the title race. Plenty to play for, then.
Learning from experience
There are reasons why a lot of Hibs fans – and maybe one or two in the first team dressing room out at East Mains – aren’t entirely convinced that Motherwell represent the newest incarnation of total football. They’ve yet to see their brilliance tested, properly, in a head-to-head.
True, Hibs were played off the park in Lanarkshire back in November. As good as Motherwell before Grant Hanley’s first-half red card, however, the visitors going down to ten men meant you couldn’t judge that game on its merits.
Back at Easter Road in January, meanwhile, the teams were very evenly matched in a 1-1 draw. Motherwell shaded possession, Hibs generated more chances according to the expected goals (xG) numbers – and it felt like two teams of similar quality trying to find a marginal gain.
Now, the home side may well turn on the old razzle dazzle this weekend. In which case, caps will be doffed and respect afforded to the victors.
But Hibs have tended to raise their performance levels, up to a point, against opponents who want to get the ball down and play. After the drudgery of trying to play through Livingston’s low block last weekend, they might even welcome facing a little swashbuckling swagger.