Motherwell manager Alfred Johansson has urged his players to be themselves and play to their strengths when they take on Freiburg in the Conference League play-offs.
The draw pitted Well against the Europa League runners-up and one of the highest-ranked teams in the tournament.
Ahead of the first leg at Fir Park, Johansson said: “You have to be yourself. You have to be fearless, do the things that you’re always doing.
“Some tweaks you always do going into every game; it doesn’t matter the opponent or the competition. But the most important thing is you have the confidence and the bravery to do the things you normally do.
“And you have to be very demanding with yourself physically and mentally to be able to push yourself over limits. That’s how you can punch above weight class. And I back my players to do that once again.
“I think the mentality is already in the group of players, so I don’t think it’s anything I need to instil. As a manager, you can make a mistake by making this something bigger or more different than any of the other games that you are playing.
“If you start to focus on other things, you will then lose track of what is important and what helps you in all the other games.
“Many of the things that we will do are things that we always do. So we just need to do that and try to maybe up the speed a little bit on some occasions.”
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Motherwell have been the unseeded team in the previous two rounds but comfortably saw off HB Torshavn and HJK Helsinki. While this game is a major step-up, Johansson feels his players have grown during their European journey.
“They’ve realised how good they are and that, ‘I can do this and I can do this too’,” he said. “That’s a very important feeling in terms of self-confidence, motivation and so on.”
Motherwell hope to include Seb Palmer-Houlden after the striker signed from Gillingham on a two-year contract for an undisclosed fee.
The former Bristol City player netted nine goals during a season-long loan at Dundee before hitting five goals for Gillingham last season.
The 22-year-old’s arrival helps ease a worsening injury situation which had left Johansson without all of his centre-forwards: Callum Hendry, Apostolos Stamatelopoulos and Eythor Bjorgolfsson.
He will also be without Oscar Priestman, Johnny Koutroumbis, Paul McGinn, Jordan McGhee and Tom Sparrow while Dylan Williams and Stephen O’Donnell will be assessed.
“Oscar Priestman and Johnny Koutroumbis have been added to the to the list of load-related injury problems,” Johansson said. “So they will be out for some time. We don’t know exactly the extent of it, but both are probably out for at least a month.”
Sparrow remains out with a back injury, and Johansson said: “There’s no big issue; it’s just a matter of him being able to cope, and right now it’s too sore.”
