mother well f.c. report

8/3/2019 Mother Well F.C. Report

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Motherwell Football Club

Team and Player Analysis

Max Rogers

[email protected]


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Contents

1. Introduction2. Motherwell F.C. Statistics3. General Playing Style4. Formation

5-6. Crossing against Celtic (A)7-9. Weaknesses10.Set-Pieces Defending Corners11.Conclusion


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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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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

Away Form

Won Drawn Lost

2 1 1

Home Form

Won Drawn Lost

2 0 1

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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 Motherwells 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 Motherwells 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

opponents goal.Motherwells 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 doesnt 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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Formation

o A triangle in midfield is a key factor in their ability to maintain possession of the ballas many teams in the league play 4-4-2 which allows Motherwells central midfield

to have an extra man.

o Two holding midfielders allow the fullbacks to have the freedom they need to chargeforward and create width across the pitch.

o Every player is aware of the system of play and when substitutions are made thestyle remains the same.

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2.50%

97.50

%

Total Crosses 1st Half

Successful

Unsuccessful

Crossing Against Celtic (Away)

First Half

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%

Origin of Crosses

1 2

3 4

Blue Highest Success

Yellow Most Crosses

Orange Both

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17.00

%

83.00

%

Total Crosses 2nd Half

Successful

Unsuccessful

Second Half

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.

Origin of Crosses

1 2

3 4

Blue Highest Success

Yellow Most Crosses

Orange - Both

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Weaknesses

The following weaknesses have been picked up from Motherwells games against Hearts,

Rangers and Celtic.

Centre Backs against Hearts

In the games against

Rangers and Celtic,

Motherwells 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

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.

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into one of the defensive channels.This tactic isolated Motherwells 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 Motherwells defence

through the middle. As mentioned earlier Motherwells 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 didnt get a mid-fielder to drop back.

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Lack of Creativity in Mid-Field

With reference to their game against Celtic, Motherwell had a lot of possession in front of

Celtics 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 Motherwells 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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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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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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