This is an excerpt from this week's Claret and Amber Alert, a free Motherwell newsletter written by Graeme McGarry that goes out every Thursday at 6pm. To sign up, click here.
When you are a football fan, it can be easy to slip into repeating cliches about your team that don’t actually stand up to any sort of scrutiny.
‘If a team needs a result, just come to Fir Park’, is one. ‘Big crowd, game on the telly? We’ll bottle it,” is another.
I’ve seen the latter of those trotted out a couple of times on social media already this week in the run up to what is a massive game against Dundee United in the League Cup quarter final. A Friday night under the lights with a bumper crowd is something to be savoured though, not feared, as many doomsayers out there would have you believe.
Yes, like all teams, particularly the smaller clubs, Motherwell have gut-punched their fans with their fair share of disappointments on the big occasion over the years. But there have also been times when the team have come through such tests and given the supporters some of their best memories supporting the club.
Encouragingly, some of those in more recent memory have been when similar opportunities have rolled around to the one that lies ahead of the players against United.
Who could forget Carl McHugh’s last-gasp volley against Hearts to take Motherwell into the Scottish Cup semi-final, for instance? Or Louis Moult throwing the Aberdeen defence around like empty jackets and almost retiring Joe Lewis with his performance in the 3-0 trouncing of the Dons in another League Cup quarter final?
Big occasions, big results. It isn’t all Morton away and watching Dougie Imrie doing airplanes on the pitch at the end, you know.
Or, for those of a certain vintage, watching a team containing Andy Goram, Ged Brannan, Simo Valakari, Don Goodman and Lee McCulloch somehow losing 4-3 at home to Ayr United to pass up the opportunity of a Scottish Cup quarter final against Partick Thistle.
The past then will have little bearing on what transpires at Fir Park tonight, even if I can’t help but harbour some fears that another hoary old trope of former players ‘coming back to haunt us’ might play out. Either Declan Gallagher or Moult scoring against Motherwell would be heartbreaking to witness, if for entirely different reasons.
It is by analysing the present though that I have spotted some reasons for real optimism, and an area where Motherwell may well make hay against United in the final third.
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Regular readers may have noticed that in a rare example of largesse, The Herald editor has wrenched open his moth-bitten wallet and ponied up the dough to get me a Statsbomb subscription recently, with the odd bit of selective nerdiness creeping into the newsletter to back up my madcap theories.
Well, this week, one thing I have noticed is that one of Dundee United’s weaknesses lies in their inability to defend set pieces, which, it just so happens, is one of Motherwell’s main attacking strengths.
The Steelmen are in the 97th percentile in the Premiership when it comes to xG (expected goals) created from set plays, with the deliveries of Lennon Miller and the physicality of Liam Gordon and Dan Casey in particular causing mayhem in opposition boxes.
United, on the other hand, despite possessing a fair bit of physicality themselves in their backline, are in the 73rd percentile in the division for xG conceded from set pieces.
If, like me, you are from the generation that knows more about the ZX Spectrum than Statsbomb xG, what that all boils down to is that any opportunities to load the box and get Miller over a free kick or corner may prove critical to the outcome of the game.
So, there are some grounds for optimism based on the data rather than grounds for pessimism based on old superstitions.
Rest assured, though, the lucky Motherwell ‘Bawbag’ boxers and the scarf from the ’91 final will be on, just in case.
AND ANOTHER THING…
It has been great to see the efforts of the ‘Well Society and the club to get as many Motherwell fans along to the game tonight as possible.
I’ve had a flyer through the door from one of the many volunteers out traipsing around the town trying to drum up support, and it has been mentioned by the manager just how much he and his players appreciate the time they are committing to driving up the home numbers.
It was also good to hear that representatives from the ‘Well Society and Block E met with Brian Caldwell this week to hash out the various issues that have crept up between the 'Ultras' group and the club this season, and that the end section of the John Hunter will once again be full for the visit of United.
Not to fall back on another cliché, but togetherness is vital for a club like Motherwell to thrive, and these are two great examples of the ‘Well Society showing its worth.
