It’s fair to say that Motherwell have got it tough in the festive fixture schedule after being pencilled in to face Celtic and Rangers within four days of each other.
Celtic convincingly beat Motherwell on Boxing Day after putting up a dogged defensive display before Hyunjun Yang won the penalty at Celtic Park that opened the scoring just before halftime.
The Hoops went on to finish the game strongly after goals from Daizen Maeda, Nicolas Kuhn and Reo Hatate finished off a 4-0 rout that put Celtic 12 points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership table.
Now preparing to face Rangers later today, Motherwell’s Shane Blaney spoke about the defeat at Parkhead and talked up Celtic as ‘the best team in the country’.
Shane Blaney shares how it felt playing against relentless Celtic
When asked about his manager’s comments about expecting Celtic to be relentless in attack, Blaney told Motherwell FC, “I think it’s always the way it’s going to feel.
“You’re playing against the best team in the country so it’s you’re going to be penned in. You’re going to need bits and pieces of luck.
“I felt for a large chunk of it we had done well in the game plan especially, I’d say, in the first hour really up until the second goal things were going well to a certain extent without taking enough risk going forward.
“But defensively and structure-wise it was good. The two games I played at Celtic Park so far they’ve both finished 1-1 and it felt first half and the error probably definitely felt as though it was that kind of game.
“Unfortunately then we go and concede the second one and it becomes tough. It definitely became tough.
“But it’s been parked now. We’ve moved on and we’ll be ready to go Sunday.”
How Celtic’s impressive stats vs Motherwell could damage Rangers today
It seems that from what Blaney has said about facing Celtic, Motherwell is determined to put that right against Rangers.
It’s clear that the Fir Park side is disappointed with their performance at Celtic Park and when you look at the stats from Sky Sports, it is understandable:
- Possession: Celtic 84% – Motherwell 16%
- Total shots: Celtic 23 – Motherwell 2
- Shots on Target: Celtic 7 – Motherwell 0
- Passing Accuracy: Celtic 92.9% – Motherwell 52.2%
- Tackle success: Celtic 76.9% – Motherwell 68%
- Ariel Duels won: Celtic 64.3% – Motherwell 35.7%
- Saves Made: Celtic 0 – Motherwell 4
Celtic dominated in every department as Motherwell failed to muster a shot on target to at least trouble Kasper Schmeichel who could have sat on a deckchair all afternoon.
Stuart Kettlewell will be keen to put that right for his supporters today and have his team fired up to get a result against Rangers at Fir Park.
If that happens then that will put heaps of pressure on the Ibrox club as they prepare to face Celtic in the New Year Glasgow Derby.
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