Motherwell

Scott Mullen
BBC Sport Scotland

"This is the best football I've ever seen a Motherwell team play."

Read any message board, tune in to any football phone-in, eavesdrop into frenzied chats of the masses spewing out on to Knowetop Avenue and Firpark Street on a Saturday night and this is what you will hear.

Granted there won't be many still about who remember the Ancell Babes or the Motherwell team from the 1930s who put three by Argentina, but still. It's fair praise.

Jens Berthel Askou has only been in post for six months, but it's not an exaggeration to say his influence has been transformational.

Bizarrely, the Steelmen are only four points better off than this date last year as they sat fourth, but there is precious little similar to that side, whose form then fell off a cliff.

After the 1-0 win over Dundee on Saturday, the statistics behind Askou's team are remarkable. Well have gone 581 minutes - or six full games - without conceding a goal, that's one shutout away from equalling a club record, set in 1996.

Motherwell are also on a 10-game unbeaten run in the league.

As impressive as that is, Askou and his team are about to enter a defining hat-trick of matches.

Rangers at Ibrox, then Celtic at Fir Park, then the visit of League Cup holders St Mirren. A tough trio to topple.

However, if Motherwell's mesmeric football and marathon unbeaten run continues, fans will be daring to dream of something so special.

Watch highlights as Motherwell win 1-0 against Dundee in the Scottish Premiership.

We asked for your views on Motherwell's 1-0 win against Dundee.

Here's what some of you said:

Mark: A brilliant Christmas gift to all Motherwell fans. To have 30 points at this point in the season is incredible!

Solid and comfortable performance but maybe we could have been more clinical. If I was being greedy I would ask for a £1m striker for Christmas. Jens Berthel Askou's men roll onto the Old Firm. Merry Christmas Steelmen!

Pauline: What a job Askou is doing at Motherwell. He's fantastic.

Alexander: Another clean sheet but once more very wasteful in front of goal. Are we being spoilt by our play as we should be scoring more?

Alan: The feel good factor continues for Motherwell, they have been a joy to watch this season. The crowds have been increasing along with our ambitions.

Marcus: A win is something to never complain about, however as I said to the older gentleman I sit next to in the Phil O'Donnell Stand, we'll be drawing games or scraping wins like this all season if we continue to not have a functioning striker in the team.

How much more time, effort and patience is going to be given to Callum Hendry and Apostolos Stamatelopoulos? I have run out of patience with them and I know that I can't possibly be the only one. I sincerely hope the club loosen the purse strings and let Askou bring in a capable striker next month.

Alistair: Not one of our best performances, with too many overhit passes and an excessive desire to score the perfect goal by walking it into the net instead of having a shot from further out.

However, a deserved three points, another clean sheet and a great display by Eli Just. What an engine this guy has, allied to a tremendous touch, great attitude and no little skill. A joy to watch.

Jane Lewis
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

Image source, SNS

Callum Slattery says nobody at Motherwell is getting "carried away" despite their late winner against Dundee moving them up to third in the Scottish Premiership table.

The win moved the midfielder's side on to 30 points after 18 games and extended their unbeaten run to 10 league matches.

"I think we definitely don't get too ahead of ourselves and carried away," the 26-year-old told BBC Scotland.

"The club's in a fantastic place at the moment. There's plenty of talk about the club and the style of play we're playing, but we're not going to let it get to us.

"And it doesn't mean anything until the season's done. So we're going into each game as it comes and we want to perform to our highest level."

Despite Well earning many plaudits this season, Slattery says he's "not sure" if they deserve to be spoken about as being part of a title race.

"We're playing good football and we're winning games and we're keeping clean sheets," he said. "We're just going in to each game with that mentality, which is to keep going each game and trying to tick off the games with points and winning games and not conceding goals.

"So, I think maybe to speak about that, we wouldn't like to, but other people maybe can. But, for us, it's just going into each game with good performances and creating chances and scoring goals."

Slattery is hoping the side can continue their run of form when they meet both sides of the Old Firm in their next two games.

They face Rangers at Ibrox on Saturday followed by Celtic at Fir Park on Tuesday, 30 December.

"We've played both of them before and we've given them a good game and could have actually walked away with three points in both of them," Slattery added.

"We go into games with a positive attitude of how we want to play our game. And I don't think that changes for these games."

Motherwell moved up to third in the Scottish Premiership after Callum Slattery's late goal edged them to victory against a struggling Dundee.

Read the full match report here.

Have your say on the game via this link

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Motherwell manager Jens Berthel Askou: "We never gave into the frustration that might sneak in and that everyone could feel from the stands.

"That's something we have been addressing throughout the season. There will be many games where we have to make a lot of mistakes before we get the ball over the line so we have to sort that frustration out and fill it up with positivity, optimism and good positive body language and know there will be a chance if we keep going.

"We got the goal at the end, another clean sheet and winning a game after a few games that have been difficult is fantastic.

"Any win in this league is extremely important and extremely significant. We've had so many draws this season where we've been extremely competitive and felt we could have taken the win, sometimes should have. Today was another one of these games against a good team who forced a lot of mistakes out of us.

"A massive win, it's important for us to change some of the draws we've had into wins and we're getting better at that. Not good enough yet but today I think we were able to produce more and more quality as the game went froward and that was important.

"At the beginning of the season it's [winning the league] not what's top of the list but anyone who participates in a league they play to win and for us it's about playing every game to win, finding a style and a level to be competitive against any opponent and then we want to see how far we can take it. The big first goal is to try and make it into the top six and then from there we're going to reach out and grab hold of anything and try and see how far we can climb up the tree.

"I think we've tried to signal that to our players that they shouldn't fear anyone, we should be brave no matter who we play."

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Motherwell defender Stephen Welsh has recovered from a facial knock. Andy Halliday is working towards fitness while Aston Oxborough is close to returning to training after a broken bone in his hand.

Well remain without long-term absentees Filip Stuparevic (knee), Sam Nicholson (knee), Zach Robinson (Achilles), Jordan McGhee and Eseosa Sule (both thigh).

Dundee defender Ryan Astley (concussion) joins Clark Robertson (thigh) and Joe Westley (ankle) on the sidelines.

Cam Congreve, Tony Yogane and Yan Dhanda have all been hindered by injuries this week but manager Steven Pressley is hopeful they will be available.

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Emmanuel Longelo isn't surprised to be thriving at Motherwell - because Jens Berthel Askou predicted it would happen.

The 24-year-old left-back was sold on the Dane's vision for the club in the summer to join from Birmingham, and has already scored five goals and helped Motherwell become one of the surprise packages of the season.

The Steelmen are on a nine-match unbeaten league run, have kept five consecutive clean sheets, and will jump back above Rangers into third place in the Premiership if they beat Dundee at Fir Park on Saturday.

Longelo said: "The expectations were high. When I spoke to the manager before joining, he said it would pan out like this. So I had that trust and belief.

"He's a man-to-man coach who will let you know what you need to improve on, what you're doing well. So he just gives you that correct balance. You have that respect for him, he has that respect for you.

"I'm pretty sure he has a good relationship with all the players, so everyone wants to work for him.

"If I just continue to listen to him and keep working every day, I believe I'll be able to go to the next level with his help.

"I feel like we have a good group here. Everybody's humble and everyone just wants to work hard and do well for themselves and for the team as well."

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• Motherwell have only lost one of their past nine Scottish Premiership home games against Dundee (W5 D3), a 1-0 defeat in October 2024.

• Both sides have scored in eight of the past nine league meetings between Motherwell and Dundee, the exception being that 1-0 Dark Blues win in October last year.

• Motherwell have kept a clean sheet in five successive league games; the last side to keep a clean sheet in 6+ Premiership matches in a row was Celtic in December 2024 (six), while the last non-Old Firm club to do so was St Johnstone in November 2018.

• Dundee have earned fewer away points (three) this season than any other top-flight side, winning none of their nine league games on the road (D3 L6).

• The two players who have been directly involved in the highest proportion of their side's goals in the Premiership this season are Dundee's Cameron Congreve with 47% (7/15) and Motherwell's Tawanda Maswanhise with 36% (9/25). Congreve has one goal and six assists in the league, while Maswanhise has eight goals and one assist.

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Jens Berthel Askou is relishing the challenge of dealing with tricks from Premiership rivals, saying it keeps his Motherwell side "on their toes".

The Steelmen are unbeaten in nine league matches and occupy fourth in the Premiership before Saturday's visit of Dundee.

When asked if he felt like they now had a target on their backs, Askou said: "I think we felt that quite early, actually.

"Was it the second game in the league where we went to, actually a very nice pitch at St Mirren, but they decided not to water it because that was probably in their favour. Or they at least felt that was in their favour.

"So we've experienced that from more or less day one that clubs are doing whatever they can. Moving the balls behind the goals further out towards the corner flag so we can't start fast from goal-kicks, stuff like that.

"That's just something for us to see if we can up our level. So it doesn't really matter what they do and what they try to do to compete with us.

"We also try to see what little details are important against any opposition, where we can find a little idea or a little trick where we can get an advantage against the opposition.

"I think it's only fair and expected that everyone will try and do that against us.

"Not many teams have the approach that we have, which means that often when we play teams, they change up their normal approach a little bit, either formation-wise or in terms of their basic ideas and how they want to attack the game.

"And I welcome that, I think it's good. It keeps us and everyone on their toes. There's been some thoughts put into how to be competitive against each other. So I think that's a good thing for the league in general."

Motherwell have kept five consecutive clean sheets but have drawn three of those matches and the Dane is working to ensure they can break teams down.

"We are working hard to make sure that no matter what plan they come up with, A, B, C, D, E, F and so on, we have a better one," he said.

"Sometimes we have. Sometimes we haven't quite been able to be as dominant as we would like and create as many open chances. That is something we are constantly working on improving."

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With 13,050 touches in the league so far this season, Motherwell top the Premiership charts.

The team closest to them, Celtic, have taken 12,810 touches, with Hearts and Rangers behind them on 11,122 and 11,735 respectively.

Motherwell - who have impressed as a possession-based team under Jens Berthel Askou - are also top for forward passes (3,079) in the Premiership.

Celtic are next on 2,844, then it's Hearts with 2,687 and Falkirk on 2,646.

In fact, Motherwell midfielder Elliot Watt has played the most passes into the final third (227) of any Premiership player this term.

And he is fourth for forward passes (442) behind Celtic's Liam Scales, St Mirren goalkeeper Shamal George and Dundee goalkeeper Jon McCracken.

Dundee manager Steven Pressley believes Motherwell as well as Hearts are the Scottish Premiership's shining lights this term. (Record), external

Read Wednesday's Scottish gossip

Jenna Thomson
Fan writer

St Mirren's triumph over Celtic in the Premier Sports Cup final should act as inspiration for Motherwell.

There is no reason to think it can't be us lifting the Scottish Cup in the summer and potentially finishing in the top three.

It is almost Christmas and yet here we are in fourth, only two points behind Rangers and five adrift of Celtic.

I know we can't get too far ahead of ourselves, but this is the most interesting the top end of the table has been for years.

If things stay the same and Hearts win the league, St Mirren have already won the League Cup, and if a non-Glasgow team is able to clinch the Scottish Cup it'll be a season for the history books.

As much as I am a Motherwell fan first and Scottish football supporter second, if we give the Old Firm a run for their money it can only be good for the game.

Watch Sportscene pundit Stephen Craigan discuss Motherwell's season so far following a goalless draw at Tannadice on Saturday.

Watch the highlights from Dundee United's goalless draw at home to Motherwell in the Scottish Premiership.

Available to UK users only

Dundee United's winless run stretched to seven, while Motherwell made it seven games unbeaten, in a largely forgetful Scottish Premiership draw at Tannadice.

Read the full match report here.

Have your say here.

Motherwell manager Jens Berthel Askou: "We never really peaked today in our performance. Defensively, solid again.

"We didn't really find our speed in the game enough. We didn't have enough moments in the game where we accelerated the game that we wanted.

"It got better in the second half. We tried to push up the tempo a little bit but we just lacked the quality in the final third in the decisive moments. There were a few, not enough and not big ones.

"It's a clean sheet away and we'll take another point."

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Calum Ward has signed a contract extension until summer 2027 after showing "fantastic progression" as Motherwell's first-choice goalkeeper this season.

The 25-year-old joined in February on a short-term deal amid an injury crisis but did not make an appearance last term.

He then signed a one-year contract in the summer and, with Aston Oxborough out injured, has overcome a rocky start to keep 10 clean sheets in 21 outings.

"Calum has really taken his chance this season and shown fantastic progression since the summer," manager Jens Berthel Askou said.

"He has all the qualities we are looking for in a goalkeeper. His quality and composure in the build-up have been of massive importance to us.

"Seven clean sheets in the league so far this season indicate a very strong relationship between the goalkeeper and the players in front of him, and I'm really happy that we can now build on that going forward."

Ward's new contract comes with a club-held option for a further year.

"Results have been going well and performances have been strong," said Ward.

"The future is exciting. The manager and all the coaching staff have worked so hard to get us to this point and we're improving as people every day. It's a pleasure to be involved."

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Dundee United welcome back Max Watters and Julius Eskesen but Krisztian Keresztes is suspended and Dario Naamo, Pan Camara (hamstring), Isaac Pappoe (knee) and Yevhen Kucherenko (calf) are out injured.

Motherwell midfielder Andy Halliday is still working his way back to fitness while Filip Stuparevic (knee), Aston Oxborough (hand), Sam Nicholson (knee), Zach Robinson (Achilles), Jordan McGhee and Eseosa Sule (both thigh) remain out.

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Elijah Just has been taken aback by Motherwell's success - even though he was already well versed in Jens Berthel Askou's methods.

The Steelmen sit third after an eight-match unbeaten league run and will move three points behind Celtic if they beat Dundee United on Saturday.

New Zealand attacking midfielder Just was signed by Askou at both Danish side Horsens - where they fought relegation - and Motherwell.

Just said: "The situation I was in with the manager last time I worked with him was very different from now.

"Obviously I spoke to him a lot before I signed. But everything he spoke to me about has come true.

"I've been pleasantly surprised and I think exceeded my own expectations of what the season was going to be like.

"But there's a long way to go and I think the true test will be how we fare over the next few months to really see what the table will end up looking like.

"Of course, you always look at the table. But the teams are so close together at the moment that, it might look nice now where we are, but in two or three weeks, it can change drastically.

"So we are just focusing on each game and then by the end of the season, I think you'll get a fair representation of where we belong."

Just has an added incentive to maintain his and his team's form with the World Cup looming next summer.

The 25-year-old has scored eight goals in 40 internationals and is on course to face Belgium, Egypt and Iran in North America.

"I didn't enjoy watching the actual draw, but when they finally pulled the names out of the hat, it was exciting," he said.

"We were the last team drawn out, so we had to wait a while.

"But after the draw, things have started to feel a little bit more real. We only have one more window in March before the actual World Cup so there's a lot of incentive to play well."

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• Dundee United have won four of their past six home league games against Motherwell (L2), as many as their previous 12 beforehand (W4 D4 L4).

• Motherwell have won five of their past seven games against Dundee United in the Scottish Premiership (L2), as many as their previous 19 prior (W5 D4 L10).

• Dundee United are winless in six Scottish Premiership games (D3 L3), their longest run within a single season in the competition since April 2023 (11).

• Motherwell are unbeaten in eight league games (W5 D3), their longest run within a single season since April 2013 (also 8).

• The Steelmen last enjoyed a longer unbeaten run within a single league campaign in March 2010 (12).

• Motherwell haven't conceded in four successive league games, last going on a longer run of clean sheets in February 2010 (5).