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Loss of star man Miller leaves visitors short of creative spark

David Gray travelled all the way to Ayrshire to watch Wednesday night’s Scottish Premiership contest between Kilmarnock and Motherwell. Don’t let anyone ever say the Hibs boss doesn’t suffer for his craft.

By the time he left Rugby Park at – or near? – the end of a nil-nil draw dominated by the home side, he probably didn’t learn anything terribly revelatory about this afternoon’s opponents. Motherwell are fairly consistent in what they do.

Direct to the point of repetition at times, they are not overly prone to overplaying the ball in their own third. Sometimes it works, as shown by both goals in their recent 2-0 home win over Aberdeen. Not to mention their 2-2 draw with Rangers.

Against opponents who figure out how to deal with their direct threat, however, Stuart Kettlewell doesn’t have a great many alternatives at his disposal. So what should Hibs fans look out for this afternoon?

Photo 1 from the draw with Killie shows a typical situation where Motherwell simply look to drop a ball in behind the opposition defence and chase it. Not subtle, but it often pays off.

Even when they are invited to play the ball through midfield and build up (see glaring opportunity in Photo 2), without Lennon Miller to act as a playmaker, they’re prone to go long and look for second balls off the front man/men, depending on formation. Against Kilmarnock, they went with a 3-4-2-1.

Like most teams in Scotland’s top flight, they’ll also look to get the ball into wide areas for crosses and cut-backs (Photo 3).

Defensively, they look particularly fragile at set-pieces. And they leave space both in front AND behind the back three/back five (see Photo 4 and Photo 5). Josh Campbell won’t need any excuse to exploit the former, while Martin Boyle should enjoy playing on the shoulder of the last defender.

They’re also prone to being exposed in behind the wingbacks on occasion (Photo 6). Assuming, of course, they can be lured out and caught in transition.

Perhaps of most interest to Hibs, though, will be the gaps in how Motherwell press. Take a look at the space left between the lines in Photo 7.

Now, in normal circumstances, that would be tailor-made for someone like Joe Newell to drop in on the half turn, take the ball and make something happen. Or at least drag a marker with him, opening up space in a more advanced position for a team-mate. With the club captain sidelined, it’ll be up to someone else – Nectar Triantis, most probably – to find those areas.

There are threats to be wary of, obviously. But not many surprise tactics to be deployed in a contest offering plenty of opportunities for Hibs to wreak havoc on the visitors.

Hibs Correspondent John Greechan is a UEFA qualified coach with a Certificate in Advanced Tactical Analysis from Barca Innovation Hub Universitas.

Lowdown on Hibs' opponents - Tactics Zone preview as direct Motherwell head to Easter Road