Motherwell manager Alfred Johansson has confirmed that several key players are available for Thursday's Conference League play-off second leg against Freiburg. Dylan Williams, Tom Sparrow, Eythor Bjorgolfsson and Apostolos Stamatelopoulos have all travelled to Germany, while first-leg scorer Regan Charles-Cook has also overcome a knock.
Selection boost for German trip
Speaking ahead of the match at the Europa Park Stadium, Johansson said: “Dylan, Tom Sparrow, Eythor Bjorgolfsson, Apostolos and Regan Charles-Cook are all here and in contention to play. Let's see.”
He added: “We tried to push the decision-making to as late as possible and there are some individual differences but they are getting real close to being able to contribute at least.”
Focus on performance over result
Motherwell trail 3-1 from last week's home leg, but Johansson stressed the importance of playing their own game. “The mindset is when we play a game of football we want to try to do our best to perform with our style of play top of mind,” he said.
“Sometimes I think people tend to put more emphasis on the result than what we do ourselves. We want to do well, we want to have great results but we know we can control our performances and our behaviours on the pitch.”
He added: “The message has been that this week we are going to try to do our thing. We have learned things from the last game and we try to improve some bits and pieces going into this game and we are going to try to apply ourselves as well as we can.”
Lessons learned and fresh legs
Johansson said the main lesson from the first leg was that his side can compete at this level. “It is mainly that we actually can do quite well and that we should reach out for that as much as possible. Not try to be protective in periods or sit deep,” he explained.
“When we do our thing, that is when we are the best. Then there are some clarifications in how we want to press. It is always details tactically but I would say the main thing is we need to stay true to ourselves as much as possible.”
Stephen O'Donnell has revealed 'believe' is the word within the squad. Motherwell go into the match fresh after having the weekend clear, which Johansson felt was beneficial. “I think it was very much needed now after a very thick period of training, games, travel, and so on. That was good but let's see how good it was,” he said.
Motherwell have also urged their fans not to land the club any more fines while in Germany.
