Jens Berthel Askou still fostering bravery in possession as Motherwell eye win

Motherwell manager Jens Berthel Askou will continue to foster bravery in possession and commitment to his style as the Steelmen search for their first William Hill Premiership win under the Dane.

Well have been impressive and daring on the ball and remain unbeaten in eight games under Askou.

They found a real cutting edge on top of that at Tynecastle last weekend when they went three goals up but had to settle for a point after a Hearts comeback.

Motherwell now host Kilmarnock, who are similarly unbeaten under new management in the shape of former Fir Park boss Stuart Kettlewell.

Askou will not be sidetracked in his process of improving Motherwell by focusing on winning at all costs.

Askou said: “I don’t think any players will develop if I just talk in cliches and headlines, ‘just go out and win’, I don’t think anyone will improve.

“We have to be specific and concrete, and then we zoom in on what we need to learn specifically, individually and collectively, to get us the win.

“That’s the first step, to get the mindset right for everyone, that we are brave enough to chase the win and that we are willing to fight and to run and to expose ourselves and to dare to do what we want to do. And that’s what we’re pushing every day.

“Then we have to be good enough and smart enough as coaches to set up a way of playing that will make us successful over time. I think we are taking good steps and I’m sure that we will win games soon.”

Askou feels the biggest lessons from Tynecastle were how to deal with the momentum shift after Hearts netted their first goal and remain focused on their style of football.

He added: “There’s a lot of variation in the league, both in terms of quality and in terms of approach. And maybe not that many teams who are as alternative in their approach as we are, which might give us an advantage at certain areas.

“But it also gives us some challenges that we will face in terms of that physical part of the game, that we try as much as we can to least take some of the aerial duels and the second balls out of the game, which is a massive part of Scottish football, and try and get the games on our terms.

“That’s probably the biggest challenge for us and it will be over time. We’re not shying away from it, we know we need to deal with it, but we need to try and create as few phases of that as possible by being really, really good at what we do.

“And that’s what we lacked in the 10, 15, 20 minutes during the second half, where we got under maximum pressure. There were too many phases of the game that were in Hearts’ favour.

“And that was mainly due to the fact that we lost a little bit of the bravery and the composure that we know we have to have.”