Brown gets involved with the U19s

With the first-team enjoying a much-deserved week off, manager Craig Brown was hard at it on the training pitch this morning putting the youth team through their paces.

The experienced boss is using the free week at Fir Park to tie up loose ends but took some time out today to pass on some of his vast knowledge to Motherwell’s up-and-coming stars.

And Brown insists there’s a sound reasoning behind his methods and hopes being involved with the youth players will make it easier for the stars of tomorrow to make the jump to the first-team.

Speaking exclusively to motherwellfc.co.uk, Brown said, “Firstly I should say that Gordon Young is doing a magnificent job here at Motherwell.

“I went to watch the U17s against Celtic at Barrowfield two Sunday’s ago and I’ve managed to catch the last few U19 games, including great wins against Hamilton and Kilmarnock, and the standard Gordon is producing is exceptional.

“It’s my job, as manager of the club, to keep tabs on what is happening in terms of players coming through. We are in the final stages of identifying those players currently at U19 level who we would like to keep on professional contracts.

“Gordon has allowed me the privilege of training them this week. When you’re working with these players you get closer identification with them and you get to know them better. If and when they come to work with me, they’ll have heard me and won’t be as nervous or overawed in that first-team dressing room which can be a daunting place when you first go in there. Therefore, the relationship you build when them before they get there is very important.”

The manager also spoke in-depth about recent events at Fir Park and his delighted at securing seven points from the last three games.

Motherwell faced a tough schedule of three games in seven days, with away trips to Perth and Paisley the scene-setter for last Saturday’s vital clash with Hearts.

Thankfully, ‘Well maintained their fabulous unbeaten run with two wins and a draw but Brown admits he still looks at the St Mirren game as an opportunity missed.

“With the benefit of hindsight, maybe I looked a wee bit far ahead when I picked the team for St Mirren last Tuesday night,” he admitted.

“I can now admit that I picked that eleven with Hearts in mind, leaving out regular players and not risking the likes of Lukas Jutkiewicz who is a brave boy and wanted to play. I spoke to him and told him that I wanted him to start against Hearts. Keith Lasley was the same, he had a heavy cold the previous Saturday up at McDiarmid Park and I didn’t even bring him off the bench.

“We may have got three points if these players had played, who knows, but the priority, I felt, was winning the game against Hearts. The idea was that a fresh Jamie Murphy, Keith Lasley, Lukas Jutkiewicz and Jim O’Brien would give us a much better chance at the weekend and it proved to be the case.

“So we changed the personnel and changed the shape and as I said after that match, it didn’t quite work out because we didn’t have enough time to prepare on the training pitch. We also wanted to use the personnel we had and get an extra man into midfield but I like that shape (3-5-2), Martin O’Neil had great success in the SPL playing that way.

“But it was totally unfair on the players. I also asked Chris Humphrey to play up through the middle. Looking at him, I thought this guy has all the potential required to be a striker and I still think he has. But he needs experience of playing there although St Mirren probably wasn’t the ideal time.

“In terms of team selection though, I thought Steven Saunders was excellent. Chris Humphery was unlucky was not to be involved against Hearts and Ross Forbes, although we introduced him as substitute, was unlucky not to get a starting nod.

“It’s great to have a strong bench. I looked on Saturday and we have Giles Coke, Chris Humphrey, Ross Forbes, Michael McGlinchey, Steven Saunders and Robert McHugh. These are first-team players and I was a bit embarrassed at having to say to them that at most other clubs, you guys would be in the team, but we’re doing so well and I’ve asked them to be patient.”

“But an away point at any ground in the SPL is a good point. We played the two Saints and came away with four points which is good. Now, we didn’t play particularly well in either game but I do think there were mitigating circumstances.

“At Perth, I’d say that it was because they are a very good side. They had not long beaten Hibs 5-1 so we knew we were the next home game so to even get a point would’ve been satisfactory but to get three was exceptional, although we weren’t at our best.

“What those three points did do is allow us to be that little bit more experimental at St Mirren. If we had been beat against St Johnstone we would’ve had no other option but to field our strongest team in Paisley. However, even with an experimental team, I still thought we would’ve been in with a shout at the three points but that wasn’t the case even although a point was a decent return.”