Alfred Johansson takes key Motherwell lessons from Freiburg clash as boss welcomes needed breather

Motherwell manager Alfred Johansson says his players will learn valuable lessons after their 3-1 first leg defeat to Freiburg in a Conference League play-off.

The Bundesliga club came into the game at Fir Park as heavy favourites after reaching the Europa League final last May but it was the Premiership hosts who netted first through Regan Charles-Cook. 2014 World Cup winner Matthias Ginter scored a brace and Martin Moormann’s red card prior to the 51-time capped German international’s second made things increasingly difficult for Johansson and co.

Kaisuke Goto then scored in second half stoppage time as the tie started to slip away from Motherwell ahead of the return leg in Freiburg next Thursday. An almighty shock will be needed if they are to reach the league phase but Johansson insists the lessons they take from the two-legged affair will be vital for development.

Alfred Johansson on Motherwell 1-3 Freiburg

“They can learn so much,” said the Motherwell manager. “When you train something, whatever it is then at some point you face a new level. When you do that you have to do everything a bit better. Whether that’s guitar, chess or playing football. You need to think faster, decide and execute technically faster with more quality. When you put the body into that you will adapt.

“That intensity and level of difficulty and level of actions which the players have done tonight, if you go and do what we did then that intensity and quality sticks in your nervous system and will stay there. As long as you know how that works then we will profit from it in the coming months. I’m very proud of them for the way they played. The mentality they showed throughout the game.

“We learned the hard way in conceding set-pieces. We spoke about that but also the fact we are not giving away a lot of big chances in this game in open play being a man down from minute sixty. Together with the fact we have the goal in the first half and more sequences like that throughout the game where we stick to our principles which was something I asked for before the game. All these things make me very proud to be involved with them.”

Referee Radu Marian Petrescu checks the VAR monitor before sending off Motherwell's Martin Moormann | SNS Group

Motherwell injury latest

Johansson welcomes a free weekend from domestic duties due to their involvement in Europe amid a bulging injury list. Moormann will miss next week’s clash after his sending off and goalscorer Charles-Cook was subbed for new signing Seb Palmer-Houlden after feeling a problem in the first half. Stephen O’Donnell made his first appearance of the season in a boost at right-back amid injuries to Tom Sparrow, Johnny Koutroumbis and Paul McGinn in that department.

“He felt something and he wanted to continue which is positive but I didn’t want to take that risk and took him off knowing we had a good replacement,” added Johansson. “I’m not too worried but we’ll have to assess it. For 44 days we’ve been playing every three and a half days. At some point you need a rest, to go and see your families and enjoy it. We can breathe then go again.”