Motherwell plot plan to fix slump after being caught in perfect Celtic storm and facing £25m Hoops ace reborn

Stephen O’Donnell says belief and unity will be key to Motherwell correcting their poor run of form.

Alfred Johansson’s side have lost four Premiership games in succession and disappointed in a 2-0 home defeat to Celtic last time out. They face Kilmarnock at Rugby Park this weekend, seeking improvement amid teething issues with their possession-focused approach in a post-Jens Berthel Askou world.

O’Donnell watched Motherwell descend into the lower reaches of the league last October during a clash at Livingston, turning that game around to win 2-1, before form surged them to fourth under former boss Askou. The defender said: “My whole career, there's been spells where you're under pressure and been in a lot worse positions than this, and then last season was similar.

Stephen O’Donnell on Motherwell form

“You need to stay calm. You need to believe in what you're doing. You need to believe and the players need to stick together. The manager needs to keep relaying the same messages, which is happening, and hopefully that then changes. And we hope that that is on Saturday against Kilmarnock.”

O’Donnell acknowledges that Motherwell ran into a much-improved Celtic, who lost three games in a row prior to Fir Park, with left-back Kieran Tierney showing the type of form that previously won him a £25m Arsenal move. He added: "I think, as a collective, we weren't good enough on Sunday. That was defending as a team, attacking as a team, and I think we also got caught in the perfect storm from Celtic.

“They had a couple of weeks to prepare and they were obviously a bit more wired than what they maybe should have been because of their previous results. We got the brunt of that, and we weren't good enough and ready enough to stand up to that. I think passive is a frustration because he actually wanted us to try and press. But the problem is when they then beat your press, you then find yourself deep.

"I thought Tierney looked like Tierney before he moved to Arsenal. I thought he was very good on Sunday. And again, all these players are fresh. And they had Jota coming back. They're these kind of ones that can allow them to cement their position in the game.

Seb Palmer-Houlden in action against Celtic's Kieran Tierney and Liam Scales during a William Hill Premiership match between Celtic and Motherwell | SNS Group

"We just didn't quite have the quality within the 90 minutes to really challenge them and really threaten them. Albeit, I did think there was a couple of spells where we had them deep, and I thought you felt we could get some chances. I felt like we could have scored. I think the second goal kills it, which is obviously a mistake from me. But on the other hand, I thought Celtic did look dangerous going forward, and it could have been that they could have scored a few more as well."

Meanwhile, Johansson has provided backing for Motherwell attacker Willy Vogt, who’s under-par 60-minute performance against Celtic before being subbed was met negatively from a small section of home fans. The Motherwell manager said: “I always speak to the players. Willy is a professional. He can handle this by himself. Obviously, from me and the staff, we're there for supporting the players, but he takes care of that himself. You'd have to ask them how it's been in the past and so on. I just think that if you play football at this level, if you win games, people will be super happy and praise you a lot.”