Liam Gordon relishing Motherwell’s new philosophy under Jens Berthel Askou

Motherwell defender Liam Gordon is enjoying the added responsibility in possession as the Steelmen bid to transfer new manager Jens Berthel Askou’s philosophy into results.

The Dane encourages his goalkeeper and centre-backs to build play from the back and made a marked difference to Motherwell’s tactics during their Premier Sports Cup group campaign.

Speaking ahead of Saturday’s William Hill Premiership opener against Rangers, central defender Gordon said: “There’s obviously different methods, but I’ve always backed myself to do that side of the game.

“You sometimes play in formations and under managers that don’t want it, so then you obviously just need to look at the other side and do what they want.

“But this manager has obviously come in and expressed himself to us, what he wants from us and how he wants us to do it.

“I think we’ve got a good squad here that can take that on board and can go and produce on the pitch.

“For me it’s obviously a bit different in terms of maybe a bit more possession-based stuff in the build-up and the defending side of things, but that’s something that we’re all relishing and something that I’m enjoying to be part of and something a wee bit different than what we’ve been doing recently.”

The arrival of talented ball players such as Elijah Just, Lukas Fadinger and Ibrahim Said has also given Motherwell’s build-up play a different dimension in the opposition half.

“You can see some of the passages of play as we’ve had in the games, especially in the forward areas, it’s been really good to watch,” Gordon said.

“It’s been great to be a part of seeing that happening in the attacking third. Probably an area that we kind of just fell a bit short last year.

“So obviously having AP (Apostolos Stamatelopoulos) back fit, (Callum) Slattery in the form he’s in and JT (Tawanda Maswanhise) as well, and then obviously new guys coming and adding to that, it’s been really good.

“It’s been really enjoyable but obviously the games are now coming so you need to get the results on the board as well because we all know how that goes, so hopefully it’s the best of both worlds.”

Askou’s early progress will be tested against a Rangers side who began life under Russell Martin with a 3-1 aggregate win over Panathinaikos in the Champions League qualifiers.

Former St Johnstone captain Gordon said: “It’s a good game for us to test ourselves against the best players in the league, that’s what you want. It’s on the TV, you couldn’t ask for much more from a player’s point of view.

“But we know what Rangers are going to turn up and we know how good they are. They just came through two legs with Panathinaikos and we all know how good a team they are so it just shows you the task at hand.

“But it’s one that we’re not going to shy away from, it’s one that we’re going to step forward and we’re going to really look to embrace.”