Motherwell 2 Celtic 0

When asked post-match about how Motherwell were able to stop Celtic, Sky Sports pundit Neil McCann hit the nail on the head when pointing out that Motherwell had successfully nullified the threat from Celtic’s full-backs, especially the in-form Emilio Izaguirre.  Even with ten men against Rangers, Celtic were able to push the Honduran and Mark Wilson forward, effectively making them wingers, and feel confident that Daniel Majstorovic and Charlie Mulgrew would deal with a 2 v 1 situation at the back.  Against Motherwell it was a different story.  Chris Humphrey and Jamie Murphy both possess a lot of pace and both played wide and high up the pitch, meaning that, given their threat on the counter attack, they caused Wilson and Izaguirre to think twice before their forays into the Motherwell half.  Despite this, there were certain times in the match - towards the end of each half, for instance - where the Motherwell wingers focused on getting behind the ball with the rest of their teammates.

Motherwell started the match in a 4-5-1/4-3-3 formation with John Sutton leading the line.  Stephen Craigen was injured so on-loan Blackburn defender Gavin Gunning was moved into the centre of defence with Steven Hammell returning at left-back.  Francis Jeffers was left on the substitutes’ bench with Ross Forbes coming in to form a central midfield three with Keith Lasley and Steve Jennings.

With Beram Kayal suspended, Celtic lined up as expected.  Lennon opted for his favoured 4-4-2 formation although he altered the shape slightly.  Against Rangers and Dundee United recently, Kris Commons played as an out-and-out winger, whereas Scott Brown took up a more tucked in and less advanced role.  This time Commons started slightly more infield and Brown more advanced than usual.

Celtic surrendered a soft goal within two minutes but their frailties had been exposed prior to this when a Mulgrew error let Humphrey in.   Mulgrew was at fault again for the goal, this time waiting for Fraser Forster to come and collect the ball, allowing Sutton to sneak in between them and touch the ball past the Celtic goalkeeper before rolling the ball into an open goal.

Celtic’s response was to remain patient and to try to force openings but, by their own standards, they rarely threatened the Motherwell goal.  Motherwell’s midfield three of Lasley, Jennings and Forbes were excellent throughout and got behind the ball at every opportunity.  They offered terrific protection to the defence and never gave the Celtic midfield a moment’s peace, pressing high before returning into position.  Moreover, when the home side did hit on the counter attack, they moved the ball quickly and precisely and always seemed the more likely of the sides to score.

When it became clear that the initial game plan wasn’t working Lennon changed his side’s shape to a 4-3-1-2, moving Commons into the hole just behind the strikers and Brown into central midfield with Sung-Yeung Ki and Joe Ledley.  Admirably, Lennon is not afraid to make changes early in matches rather than stubbornly sticking to his pre-match tactics -see the recent Old Firm Scottish Cup clash for another example of this - but on this occasion Plan B was just as ineffective.  With 4-3-1-2 possessing such a narrow midfield, to be successful it requires the full-backs to provide width and, as noted, Motherwell successfully prevented this.

The second half took a similar pattern to that of the first.  Motherwell doubled their lead from the penalty spot through John Sutton then sat back and attempted to catch Celtic on the break.  Yet again, when Motherwell did get forward they put together some excellent passing moves and looked the more dangerous of the two sides.

Lennon had switched back to his original formation at half time but brought on Georgios Samaras and Efrain Juarez for Anthony Stokes and Mark Wilson within minutes of conceding the second goal.  The change at full-back was enforced due to injury although the change in attack was a tactical decision.  Celtic had started the match with two out-and-out strikers, both of whom were reluctant to drop deep and link with the midfield.  Samaras provided this option but with the Motherwell midfield now sitting deep and protecting their lead, he struggled to find the space to have an effect on the game.

As well as the midfield offering plenty of protection, Motherwell’s young centre-back pairing of Shaun Hutchinson and Gavin Gunning marked the Celtic strikers out of the game and won the physical battle when they faced up to long direct passes.  The pair only started together due to the absence of captain Stephen Craigen and have given their manager Stuart McCall a big decision to make when he names his side for Saturday’s trip to Inverness.

Celtic came close from a Mulgrew header and through a curling shot from Commons, which was saved superbly saved by Randolph in the Motherwell goal, but by this stage in the match Motherwell had almost everyone behind the ball and were restricting Celtic to very few chances.

In conclusion, Motherwell stopped the Celtic full-backs from having an impact on the match by fielding two pacey wingers high up the pitch against them.  Humphrey and Murphey not only kept Wilson and Izaguirre pinned back but they also defended from the front, pressing at every opportunity.  This is a luxury not afforded by many sides in the SPL, including Celtic’s next opponents Rangers.  Nevertheless, this was not the only reason for a Motherwell victory here.  They harassed the Celtic midfieldfrom start to finish and rarely afforded them time and space in dangerous areas.

Motherwell 1 Hamilton 0

A poor match on a poor surface at Fir Park was decided by a contentious penalty decision.  Motherwell dominated for large parts but were poor in front of goal.  Hamilton failed to trouble Darren Randolph in the Motherwell goal despite enjoying some spells of possession.

Motherwell kept the same personnel and shape that brought back three points from Pittodrie in midweek.  This meant a 4-4-2 diamond formation with Francis Jeffers and John Sutton in attack.  Keith Lasley and Ross Forbes were deployed as carilleros, with Steven Jennings the holding midfielder and Jamie Murphy in the hole behind the strikers.

Hamilton stuck with a back three in a 3-1-5-1 which became 3-1-3-3 when attacking.  Gavin Skelton sat in front of the back three and was tasked with man marking Murphy, a job he successfully carried out as Murphy failed to make an impact until later on in the match when he was pushed up front and Skelton moved to left-back.  Flavio Paixao and Jim McAlister started deep on either side of midfield but were quick to support Mickael Antoine-Curier and form a three-pronged attack when in possession.

 

Hamilton’s tactics were to get ten men behind the ball when Motherwell had possession and to hit on the break.  McAlister and Paixao were the obvious outlets but were let down by Antoine-Curier who failed to hold the ball up effectively.  They started reasonably well with most of their play focused down the left and with Paixao making diagonal runs to join in on that side.  However, they failed to create any clear cut chances and their early pressure was short lived.

With a diamond midfield inevitably being narrow, Gavin Gunning and Tom Hateley were expected to get forward and provide width for the home side.  Young central defender Shaun Hutchinson was comfortable coming out of the defence with the ball to start off attacks and had an excellent game defensively.

On twelve minutes Motherwell came close to opening the scoring.  Forbes cut inside Paixao on the wing and his excellent low cross across the face of goal was narrowly missed by Sutton.  Motherwell then began to dominate and managed to pass the ball around well, something manager Stuart McCall has instilled since taking charge, despite the poor surface.

Another chance on half an hour, this time a Jeffers header from a Forbes free-kick, was saved well by Tomas Cerny and it wasn’t long until Motherwell broke the deadlock.

Sutton let a Lasley cross run across him and, in a way that his brother would have been proud of, fell to the ground all too easily.  Martin Canning, who has a bad habit of conceding penalties, seemed fairly innocent on this occasion.  He did have his hands on Sutton without actually holding him and it was surprising to see Crawford Allan point to the spot.  The same player stepped up to send Cerny the wrong way.

A Forbes free-kick from the edge of the box was saved well by the Czech goalkeeper as the first half drew to a close.

Hamilton began the second half in much the same way as they did the first, applying pressure on the Motherwell defence.  They should have equalised when Jon Routledge crossed for an unmarked McAlister who headed over the bar.

The game then entered a rather disjointed period in which Motherwell seemed happy to soak up pressure and hit on the counter attack.  Billy Reid then made three changes to his side in the space of ten minutes.  Gary McDonald and Ali Crawford were straight swaps for the ineffectual midfield pair of James Chambers and Mark Carrington and Nigel Hasselbaink replaced an increasingly frustrated Flavio Paixao, joining Antoine-Curier in attack in a 3-1-4-2 formation.

Two of the substitutes combined almost instantly when Crawford fed Hasselbaink but his shot was well above the target.

Motherwell then made two changes of their own, moving to more of an orthodox 4-4-2, with Forbes and Jeffers leaving the field to be replaced by Steven Hammell and Chris Humphrey.  The reason for this was largely defensive for two reasons.  Firstly, to neutralise the potential threat of McAlister who had now moved to the right hand side.  Having Hammell and Gunning on the pitch meant that they could double up on him whenever he ventured forward.  Secondly, because Motherwell now had some natural width in midfield their full-backs were not required to move up the pitch as often.

This forced Hamilton to change their own shape although their actual formation was difficult to pin down for the rest of the match.  At first it seemed that they had maintained their back three with Skelton and McAlister as wing-backs, however, Canning would often cover the right back area and allow McAlister to attack.  They continued to switch between four and five at the back for the remainder of the match.  Skelton was most likely intended to be more attacking yet was unable to due to the threat of Humphrey.

The change in shape from Motherwell brought about all it was intended to apart from the goal that would have ended the match as a contest.  In the final twenty minutes they reduced Hamilton to one chance from a set-piece, which Mark McLaughlin blasted high and wide, and created four decent chances of their own.  Each one came through Humphrey, whose pace was causing Skelton all sorts of problems, and each one should probably have ended up in the back of the net.  The Motherwell winger crossed for Sutton who headed straight at the keeper and Murphy did no better from his two chances.  Humphrey then decided to do it all himself after being sent down the line by Hutchinson but his own effort was too high.

Overall this was not the most interesting match tactically.  Hamilton can feel slightly aggrieved with the manner in which they conceded.  Motherwell deserved the win on chances created, most of which came about after their tactical switch, but were awful in front of goal.  Hamilton defended well until they were chasing the game when they inevitably left themselves exposed defensively but will be disappointed at not working Randolph in the Motherwell goal.  If Billy Reid can take anything from this match then it is that this formation could potentially be effective in future matches.