Motherwell boss needs players to rise to the challenge as injuries hit again
Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell admits he’s looking for players to put their hands up, as he navigates through another injury crisis.
Lennon Miller was added to a lengthy crock list, with the young midfielder ruled out for between six and eight weeks with a hairline fracture on an ankle.
That leaves Kettlewell’s squad threadbare as he prepares for the visit by Aberdeen on Sunday, and a bounce game against Rangers, which was intended to give injured players game-time, has been postponed due to winter weather.
Kettlewell said: “It looks like a bounce game we were due to take today will be cancelled, which is a real disappointment to me.
“We wanted to take that game to try and get some players up to speed as much as we can, but we can’t control the weather.
“The next couple of hours will be pretty vital for us to make sure we know where we are, exactly, as a squad, who is available and how much time players can play etc etc.
“There’s quite clearly going to be fatigue, there’s going to be that idea of playing in a game, and sometimes you take a bang or a knock, so what I’m going to be looking for is as many people to put their hands up and step forward to be able to start the game, not just to be there or to be part of a group, but to be able to be in a position where you’re fresh to play.
“It’s a huge blow, the game not being on, because I thought we would have been in a better position to take that. It’s nobody’s fault, it was due to be a bounce game with Rangers, who have been brilliant with us this season.
“We’ve had a couple of bounce games with them to try and benefit from their side, but also for us.
“That has worked out well to this point, that’s what we were trying to do again, so that’s not going to be a thing.”
READ MORE: Lennon Milller is a major doubt for Motherwell's trip to Hearts
On Miller’s absence, Kettlewell said: “It’s huge. It’s this idea of how you actually play, not discussing what you think somebody will do, not discussing the theory of how you think somebody will contribute.
“Lennon has been a pillar of our team, he has been a mainstay, a stand-out. I would pitch him in that stand-out category in the division as a whole. I’ve even got myself to a point where he deals with all of that so well I’ve handed him the captain’s armband at the age of 18 for the last couple of months.
“There’s absolutely no doubt he’s going to be a huge loss for us, he’s going to be missed over that period of time, but we’re going to need to have players who are going to step forward and show that level of responsibility.”
Kettlewell is looking for more from his players after a 1-0 defeat against Hearts at Tynecastle on Thursday.
He said: “We’re going to need players to come and take part in a game of football.
“For the first half, the first 20 minutes yesterday [it was completely unacceptable and it didn’t get much better in the second half.
“But it was completely unacceptable from the point of view of how we handled the ball, how we tried to pass the ball, tried to get it back, our energy and intensity, and it’s not taking part in a game of football.
“You can have your worst day in possession, you can mis-control it, misplace passes, but the one thing you have to do is you have to be flat out.
“Yesterday I have to question that.”
Striker Apostolos Stamatelopoulos and Steve Seddon are major doubts for Sunday's squad.
