Behold Askou’s Motherwell, a mightily impressive thing

Dane’s low/high press demands decisive tackling, big engines and true grit… once in possession it’s slaloming offensives and staggeringly accurate distribution

When you come back after the Christmas break and the first thing someone says to you is “Motherwell?”, there’s only one answer. Yeah, she’s fine, thanks for asking.

Now, aye, that joke’s an old one, and if you’re a North Lanarkshire native I’d imagine the eye-roll you’ve just done would have been big enough to have been observable from space, but it’s still not as old as the Well’s wait for a trophy. Thirty-five years, as we speak, since Stevie Kirk’s 94th-minute goal won them the 1991 Scottish Cup Final.

It would be extremely early days to say that record might finally go in 2026, but a Scottish Cup fifth-round tie at Pittodrie shouldn’t have anyone quaking in their boots. They’re unbeaten against Aberdeen three times already this season and are, if you’ll forgive the diplomatic wording, fucking miles better than the Dandies.

But the reason someone so urgently hit me with the M word was because, a few days prior, this Motherwell team had dished out a ritual humiliation to Celtic that people just aren’t prepared for when catching a rare 90 minutes in Big Rob Roy MacGregor’s SPFL.

And what they’d seen was as follows. Jens Berthel Askou has implemented a ‘genuinely rare these days’ 4-3-3 pressing system that is able to both stonewall you out of one half and then smash your teeth through in the other. They jump out of a deep defensive shape on turnovers, carrying the ball up the pitch at speed, but can also camp the shape out on the edge of the opposition box to force high turnover.

It’s not overly common, and requires astounding levels of running and decision making, but case in point some of their best chances against Celtic come from this situation high up.

And then this situation, that starts with every single outfield player within spitting distance of their own box.

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In both situations here, the Celtic player is about to play a pass that’s cut out by some simply stunning game-reading by Elijah Just. For the one above, he reads that one Celtic player is pointing for the pass to skip him out and that the other is playing it with his head down. It all happens in a moment but it’s situational awareness and physical effort of the very highest level. He intercepts the pass, carries the ball right to the edge of the penalty area, and still has his head sufficiently up to make the correct decision in rolling a team-mate in.

The effort is saved and Motherwell are really unlucky not to go 3-0 up here, but it’s an episode beforehand that has ultimately won them the game. Sensing that Kasper Schmeichel is going to play an extremely risky pass to try and get out of the press, Just again reads it and intercepts.

This time, and maybe not surprising given they’ve got a 4v1 around the literal goalmouth, they actually do score.

It’s clever, and it’s incredibly well coached, but it’s one of those footballing philosophies that only works if you can assemble a group who have the engine and the arsehole to physically implement it. The closing down, the jumping out, the physical contests, the quick breaks up the field, even just the energy required to mentally co-ordinate your actions in accordance with the movements of 10 teammates, 11 opponents and one ball is not something most teams can do. Even fewer of which can do it well.

But scan that beady eye over the underlying numbers in the Premiership this season and all becomes clear. Of the 331 players to have laced their boots competitively this term, Motherwell have six of the top 20 when it comes to winning ground duels. Lukas Fadinger, Elliot Watt, Callum Slattery, Ibrahim Said, Tawanda Maswinhise and the aforementioned Just dominating both with and without the ball. Rangers have three players in that list. No other team has more than two. Having six is an insane proportion.

And when they’ve won that ball back, what’s the other demand? To outwork your opponents going forward and, in terms of successful dribbles, Motherwell have five of this season’s top 20. Slattery and Maswanhise are joined by Emmanuel Longelo, with Just and Said actually in the top five. Again, Rangers have three players in that list, and no other team has more than two. Having five is an insane proportion.

But another interesting statistical observation for you, since I’ve got my sleeves up, is that if the above all makes them sound like an incredibly chaotic team who just run, press and scrap… they’re not. They’re third, only marginally behind Rangers, for average possession this season, and actually jump above them into second for the average number of accurate passes made per match with a staggering 472. For context, Liverpool average 475.

So they’re equally as comfortable as being a patient, possession side (bottom of the league for the number of attempted crosses — the ultimate green flag for a team who are happy hanging on to the ball, and I love them for that!) as they are kicking you in the shin and stealing your house keys.

It’s one of the most impressive coaching jobs you’ll see across Europe this season: to take a squad doing an alarming amount of nothing last term, and turn them into one of the most effective system teams going, and all in just the seven brief months you’ve been there. So yes mate, to answer the question we opened with, I have seen Motherwell, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them at Hampden in May as well.