Motherwell

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Motherwell are more than capable of ending Aberdeen's perfect start to the season on Saturday, according to former captain Stephen Craigan.

The Dons have won nine from nine in all competitions under manager Jimmy Thelin, but Motherwell have also made a decent start to the season and sit fifth in the Premiership after four games.

Stuart Kettlewell's side have won their last three games, and Craigan says that can only breed confidence for their trip to Pittodrie.

"Motherwell have to go into that game full of belief," Craigan told the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast.

"If you've won three games in a row, you have to look around your dressing room and think 'We can cause an upset. We can be the ones everyone is talking about Saturday night', because everyone has been talking about Aberdeen.

"Aberdeen will be favourites, but Motherwell will be going there with a gameplan. Under Kettlewell, they have been up and down at times, but it looks as if the players are more settled on how they want to play. It should be a good game."

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Motherwell midfielder Lennon Miller has been ranked as one of the top 30 teenage footballers in the world by a leading sports research body.

The Switzerland-based International Centre for Sports Studies listed the 18-year-old as 29th in its top 100 teenagers , externallist.

The Football Observatory ranking, which is calculated based on the level of experience accrued by the players - based on how much they've played, and weighted by the competition level.

And the ranking, which is topped by Barcelona pair Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsi, puts Miller ahead of the likes of Manchester City's Rico Lewis and Brighton and Northern Ireland forward Evan Ferguson.

Miller is not the only Scot on the list, with Kilmarnock midfielder David Watson ranked at 87th.

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Ewan Wilson's rapid rise from Scottish football's sixth tier to international recognition is a "brilliant story" that highlights the "different pathways" players can take in successful careers, says manager Stuart Kettlewell.

The 19-year-old left-back was rewarded for his first-team breakthrough at club level with a late call-up to the Scotland Under-21s last week.

Wilson went on to make his debut off the bench against Spain before starting against Malta and creating the opening goal in a 5-0 qualifying win.

Last season, the defender's loan to lower-league Stirling Albion was terminated in March after only six starts and he finished the season with Beith Juniors in the sixth tier.

"It's just a brilliant story," said Kettlewell, whose Motherwell side travel to face Aberdeen on Saturday.

"Getting sent back from a loan with Stirling, going to Beith Juniors... then ultimately winding up starting a game for Scotland Under-21s and performing the way he did.

"There are different pathways. We had to build his confidence back up. That's exactly what we managed to do with Ewan and credit to the guys at Beith, they handled him really, really well.

"All of that's culminated in where he finds himself at this minute. A lot of that is confidence and just a better education, how you prepare as a pro to play in a game of football or even to train day to day."

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Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell has been speaking to the media prior to his side's Premiership trip to Aberdeen on Saturday.

Here are the key lines:

• Kettlewell confirmed Shane Blaney, Apostolos Stamatelopoulos and Johnny Koutroumbis are "out on the grass running" but will not be back this weekend.

• He said it was "really positive" to see young duo Ewan Wilson and Lennon Miller play and contribute for Scotland Under-21s.

• Kettlewell added that wing-back Wilson's rise is a "brilliant story" given he was on loan at Beith Juniors in the Scottish sixth tier last season.

• He says players being involved with their national teams "disrupts our preparation" but he will always be happy to see his squad get international recognition.

• Jimmy Thelin is "getting more out of" Aberdeen players and has "made shrewd signings" as well, Kettlewell adds.

• And the Well boss feels refereeing has been "really good" this season, praising the "excellent transparency" and "level of common sense" on show.

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• Aberdeen are unbeaten in their last six meetings with Motherwell in the Scottish Premiership (W5 D1), last going longer without defeat against the Steelmen between April 2000 and November 2001 (P7 W5 D2).

• Motherwell are winless on their last three away league trips to Aberdeen (D1 L2), since a 3-2 comeback victory in August 2022 in the Scottish Premiership.

• Aberdeen have won all four of their league games under Jimmy Thelin; the last manager to win each of their first five Scottish Premiership games was Giovanni van Bronckhorst with Rangers in December 2021 (first seven), while the last to do so with a non-Old Firm club was David Martindale with Livingston in January 2021 (first six).

• Motherwell have won both of their last two league games, last winning three in a row in September 2023.

• Aberdeen's Jamie McGrath has created more chances (17) and assisted more goals (three) than any player in the 2024-25 Scottish Premiership so far.

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Lennon Miller "wants to add goals and assists" to his game after a standout performance in Scotland Under-21s' 5-0 trouncing of Malta.

The Motherwell midfielder scored one and provided two assists on his competitive debut for Scot Gemmill's side in their Euro qualifier.

Dane Murray, Josh Mulligan and Lewis Neilson were also on target, while Miller's Motherwell team-mate, Ewan Wilson, helped force an own goal on his debut.

"We knew coming here with the heat, and with them not winning the game [the reverse match] that they'd want to try and beat us," Miller said.

"We started the game very well and we kicked on. We were excellent attacking wise and disciplined behind the ball. We won the ball back within seconds when we lost it."

On his goal, which was assisted by Daniel Kelly who has just moved from Celtic to Millwall, Miller said: "I saw the ball go out wide, I arrived in the box and thankfully Daniel found me so I stuck it in the back of the net.

"As a midfielder you need to add goals to your game, it's partly what you are measured on and getting assists as well is what I want to do coming into this season, so I'm thankful to get a few tonight."

Scotland face Belgium next month and Miller said: "We've got to relish it, we've got to challenge ourselves against teams like that."

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Former Scotland manager and Motherwell player George Burley is undergoing cancer treatment, Ipswich Town have announced.

The ex-Scotland international, who managed the national team from January 2008 to November 2009, was diagnosed after feeling unwell earlier this year.

Full-back Burley joined Motherwell in 1989 and made 62 appearances in a two-year spell. He briefly returned as player-coach in 1993.

Burley, 68, played for Ipswich from 1973 to 1985 and completed 500 appearances for the club. He was manager at Ipswich from 1994 to 2002.

"It has been a difficult time, but I am feeling much brighter now," Burley said. "In fact, I am able to get to matches at Portman Road and I am enjoying watching the team playing back in the Premier League.

"We are grateful to the club for the support they have shown me and my family and I would ask that everyone is respectful of our privacy at this time."

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Andy Halliday insists Motherwell have still been working hard despite the international break.

Stuart Kettlewell's side travel to Pittodrie next weekend to take on an undefeated Aberdeen.

"We're really happy with where we are," the midfielder told club media, external.

"That's now three wins in a row, we're sitting well in the league, we're through to the quarter-finals of the cup.

"You've always got to look forward and we're just trying to kick on after the international break.

"There's enough work going on on the training pitch to try and pick a result in every game we go to.

"The trip to Pittodrie will be a difficult test but we're going there looking for points."

BBC Sport Scotland chief sportswriter Tom English has been answering your questions.

Col asked: Tom, last season showed an alarming lack of emerging young Scottish talent. Do you think we need an enforceable quota of young Scottish players involved in a matchday squad in the Premiership? Or would an U21/23 reserve league be the answer?

Tom answered: Yes, Col, I do think an enforceable quota system should come in. Or, perhaps, a carrot approach rather than a stick approach. I'm not sure that the SFA telling clubs they must play young Scots will work, but incentivising them might work.

A sliding scale of payments for clubs who give the most minutes to young Scots. Dundee were top of that table last season. Themselves and Motherwell are right up there again this season. Encouraging clubs - giving them something to gain from it - is the only way I see this changing.

There's a load of work that needs done in this area. Every club has their own reason for not playing young Scots in bigger numbers and the SFA needs to find out why and try to address some of the problems.

Experience tells me that this won't happen and that people will still be talking about this in 10 and 20 years' time.

BBC Sport Scotland chief sportswriter Tom English has been answering your questions.

Andrew asked: What is your opinion on the job the manager has done since his appointment? In consideration that Motherwell are a provincial selling club, with a wage structure that in many ways is capped, how far can the club progress under these constraints, and what do you make of the signings thus far?

Tom answered: Hi Andrew, I have a pile of respect for Stuart Kettlewell. The strength and dignity he showed when his team was going through a horrific run between September and December last season was really impressive.

I love the fact he has two Scottish teenagers at the heart of the team. And that's how Motherwell, and every other provincial club, can progress. Nurture your own players, take joy in what they're doing and then sell them on for, hopefully, the kind of money that makes a real difference to the club. Lennon Miller is such a class act.

Motherwell are in a better place now than they were this time last season. It was a shame to lose the big Aussie, Apostolos Stamatelopoulos, up front so soon. I'd just nailed the pronunciation of his name as well. He could be a very good signing yet.

Anon asked: Given the success of developing players - Theo Bair being the example last season, with Lennon Miller a star already and Tawanda Maswanhise showing real promise - and the performances of Hearts, Hibs and Rangers so far, could this be a season for Motherwell to look at top four and a cup run?

Tom answered: You're right about some of Motherwell's young players. They have a core of excellent players there, Miller being the shining light. He’s absolutely terrific. A cup run? Yes, why not.

Top four? I can't see it. The squad isn't deep enough and you are going up against clubs with far greater resources. Top six will be a stretch, I think, but it's doable. It's been a really encouraging start for Kettlewell, a manager who I like a lot.

Nick McPheat
BBC Sport Scotland

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After starting the campaign with a draw against Ross County and a narrow loss to Rangers, Motherwell have kicked their season into life with three straight wins.

An extra-time victory over Kilmarnock in the League Cup was followed by back-to-back Premiership successes against Hearts and St Johnstone.

The seven points Stuart Kettlewell's side have accumulated plants them in fifth spot heading into the international break, with a quarter-final against Dundee United on the way.

But what do the underlying numbers say about their promising start?

Across the first four Premiership matchdays, only Kilmarnock have a lower average possession than Motherwell's 38%.

However, Kettlewell's men are making their time on the ball count, particularly from set-pieces.

Four of the Fir Park side's last five league goals have come from dead-ball situations, including Moses Ebiye's stoppage-time winner in Perth on Saturday.

The Nigerian striker's extra-time goal against Kilmarnock also came from a cross-ball scenario, although that was from open play.

The worry for Well fans will be how sustainable that is, given their side have only scored two open-play goals in the league this season - one of which was netted for them by Rangers defender Robin Propper.

But late attacking additions at the end of the transfer window, plus injury returns of key forwards, should help address that.

Get your questions ready.

Tom English, BBC Sport Scotland's chief sportswriter, is in the hotseat and ready to offer his insight and opinion on your club.

Four games into the Premiership campaign, what would you like to ask?

Put your questions to our man here, external.

Jane Lewis
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

Motherwell go into the international break with a spring in their step after two good, and very different, league wins.

Manager Stuart Kettlewell says he's welcoming the Premiership pause, but there will be no let-up. His squad will still train, and he even has a bounce game organised against another Scottish top-flight club to give some players game time.

With the break comes a warning, though, and it seems it’s not lost on the squad or at least on one player.

This time last year Motherwell were in a good place. They had started the season well enough, and despite the disappointment of a League Cup exit, they recovered with two strong wins in the league prior to the pause in action.

Not many would have seen the crisis that would follow. Fifteen matches without a win, nine defeats and six draws. It was bleak times at Fir Park.

Of course, Motherwell battled out of the miserable run, but it has clearly not been forgotten.

After their last-gasp victory over St Johnstone on Saturday, I interviewed Motherwell defender Dan Casey, and although he said they were entering the break in good spirits due to back-to-back wins, he brought up the similarity of their position a year ago.

He referred to "going on a tough run" and how the squad "need to ensure it doesn’t happen this year".

The fact it's even entering his thoughts suggests there’s a determination to guard against it.

Kettlewell, while wanting his players to look forward, will also want them to heed Casey's warning. He’s big on learning from past experiences.

Motherwell's first game back after the break is a trip to Pittodrie and a meeting with in-form Aberdeen.

A tough test against a team who've won nine from nine matches so far this season.

Jenna Thomson
Fan writer

A last-minute winner and a viral video - quite the weekend for the Well.

It was nice of the club to confirm no microphones were hurt or damaged during the course of the post-match content.

Hopefully the same can be said for the poor commentator, who was subjected to abuse from the home fans after the last-gasp goal.

Jokes and that video aside, Moses Ebiye and his last-minute winners are some of the most joyous yet stressful things to experience.

The striker keeps on popping up with big moments and it is now three wins on the bounce.

His ability has definitely developed and now I'd like to see him get a chance in the starting XI, especially for the League Cup quarter-final against Dundee United since Tony Watt won't be available.

Motherwell fans, we asked for your views after Saturday's 2-1 win over St Johnstone.

Here's what some of you had to say:

James: Another away victory. Will take it any week, no matter the opposition. Superb.

Edward: Why do we always leave it so late? We commanded the majority of the game yet let them back in. Why not press for more goals after going ahead instead of sitting back and trying to do the opposition on the break?

Dimitar Mitov (Aberdeen): Outstanding penalty save was as invaluable to Aberdeen continuing their perfect start to the season.

Alistair Johnston (Celtic): Standout performer every week. Brings so much energy, power and invention to this Celtic side in defence and attack.

Liam Scales (Celtic): Outstanding at the back. Shames the doubters continually by never putting a foot wrong.

Dan Casey (Motherwell): Constant menace in the St Johnstone box, always committed. Plays with fire in his belly.

Ross Graham (Dundee United): Slotting in as a square peg in a round hole at left-back, the centre-back has become one of United's most solid performers in recent weeks and scored the winner at Hearts.

Topi Keskinen (Aberdeen): Direct and impactful performance against Ross County. Looks to have really exciting potential.

Callum McGregor (Celtic): Could have pencilled him in before the match even started. The commander-in-chief of a team in full command of every match they play right now. Another superb performance and another great goal.

Lyall Cameron (Dundee): Plenty of life after Luke McCowan with this young man in the Dundee midfield. An assist and always full of guile.

Daizen Maeda (Celtic): Gave Rangers captain James Tavernier another torrid time. His energy and pace on the left gives Celtic such an advantage over Rangers.

Kyogo Furuhashi (Celtic): Have run out of superlatives for his movement. Phenomenal to have a player like this in Scottish football. Lighting up the game for Celtic in the final third.

Kevin Nisbet (Aberdeen): What a way to win over the Dons fans. Felt like a statement moment when he struck home the winner deep in injury time in Dingwall. Bojan who?

Celtic brought in £10.59m more in the summer transfer market than they spent, Aberdeen made a profit of £2.67m, Motherwell were up £1.34m and Heart of Midlothian £1.01m, but Hibernian spent £438,460 more than they brought in, while Rangers' net spend was £11.71m. (Edinburgh Evening News), external

Read Monday's Scottish Gossip in full here.

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Dan Casey says a positive training environment is behind Motherwell's strong start to the league season after his late goal secured a 2-1 win away to St Johnstone.

Stuart Kettlewell's side came from behind to clinch all three points in Perth, taking them to seven points from four Premiership games.

"I just want to help the team," Casey said. "I think anyone will take a goal or an assist, it doesn't really matter as long as we get the results, and working our way up the table, we'll just go from there.

"We're a tight-knit group, training is very good. I think everyone's fighting for a place, the standard is very high and I think everyone wants the best for each other and it's one that I'm enjoying being in.

"I think everyone enjoys coming in every day and we work hard and we just want to go one games at a time and see where that takes us."

Watch highlights as Motherwell earn a dramatic late win against St Johnstone in the Scottish Premiership.

Available to UK users only.

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Paul McGinn thinks Motherwell midfielder Lennon Miller is the "best player he has ever played with" - according to brother Stephen - despite having featured alongside another McGinn in Scotland star John.

Miller, who turned 18 last weekend, has already made 46 senior appearances for the North Lanarkshire club and has clearly impressed his club captain since making his debut at 16 years old in August 2022.

The midfielder was limited to 20 league appearances last season after picking up an injury in November that ruled him out for three months, yet Miller was still nominated for both the SFWA and PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year awards.

"Paul describes him as the best player he's ever played with," Stephen McGinn told Sportsound.

"I did remind him he's played with John.

"What he says about Lennon Miller, everyone's aware of the quality, is he's a good team player.

"He'll buy you a free-kick, take the sting out of the game - he ticks every single box.

"Motherwell last year had a difficult spell and lots of it was them missing a 17-year-old. That's how good he is."

Motherwell snatched a late, dramatic victory over St Johnstone in Perth to win their third match in a row across all competitions.

Moses Ebiye bundled home in the 94th minute, before the hosts' defender Jack Sanders was sent off in a frenetic finale.

Motherwell had dominated much of the opening hour, Dan Casey heading them in front and Andy Halliday's terrific bending effort rule out for offside.

St Johnstone, aided by a Craig Levein triple substitution, levelled through Benjamin Kimpioka, and it looked like ending honours even before Ebiye pounced.

St Johnstone drop to eighth place, and face a trip to struggling Hibernian after the international break, while Motherwell clamber up to fourth with an enticing visit to Pittodrie next on their agenda.

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