Gulf in class but Stu has faith in Fir Park pupils to test skills
WELL IN EUROPE
IN SPAIN WITH MOTHERWELL
STUART McCALL has watched European football take an injury toll on Celtic this season, so he knows it would be asking a lot of the far smaller group of players he has under his wing to cope with the additional demands.
The Motherwell manager is without a batch of key first-team players here as they prepare to take on La Liga outfit Levante in their Europa League qualifying round second-leg tie. With a full complement to choose from, overcoming a 2-0 deficit from the first leg would already be a huge ask.
But to do it with a number of teenagers making their European debuts away to the team which finished sixth in the Spanish top flight last term is a completely different proposition.
McCall, however, is remaining optimistic, even though he knows his squad is stretched to the limit, so he would have been glad Omar Daley joined up last night after sorting out visa difficulties.
“You look at the amount of players Celtic have lost to injury with playing in Europe, but they have a far bigger squad than us and more resources,” said McCall. “Even though, it makes it difficult for Neil Lennon and that’s what can happen when you play in Europe.
“For us, this is a great experience though. We worked ever so hard to get here and we’re going to be positive tonight despite the circumstances and the players we will be missing.
“It’ll be our eighth game this month and we go without Steven Saunders, who’s long-term, but Simon Ramsden, Nicky Law, Shaun Hutchinson and Tom Hateley haven’t travelled either. We’ve taken Michael Higdon with us, who is carrying a knock, and we’ll see how he recovers.
“So at least three 19-year-olds will start, with Fraser Kerr, Adam Cummins and Steven Hetherington all playing and Stuart Carswell is only 18. Zaine Francis-Angol is a possibility as well.
“Then add Jonathan Page, who is 22, Jamie Murphy, who is 22, Henrik Ojamaa, who is 21, as is Robert McHugh. But we’ll have Steven Hammell and Keith Lasley and maybe Higgy to keep the batting averages up.
“I’m not whining about it, it’ll be good experience for them, but that plays a part in my thinking. We wanted to have a go against them at home, but we didn’t really have a shot in anger.
“The only way we can put pressure on is by getting the first goal. They’re overwhelming favourites, obviously, and they showed what a good side they are once they got it down and played against us.
“We will try to be the best we can. We were nowhere near our best against them at home, so we can improve on that showing. That’s what we aim to do.”
REgARDLESS of the outcome of tonight’s tie – McCall is naturally wanting to avoid being on the wrong end of a t h r a s h i n g – t h e M o t h e r we l l manager believes the experience will prove invaluable for his players moving forward.
“Especially the youngsters,” he said. “It’s providing them with great experience and it can only help their education and help them improve.
“As I’ve said, we qualified for Europe through a lot of hard work and good results last season and it’s great for a club like us to be playing in the Champions League qualifiers and now in the qualifying round of the Europa League.”
Meantime, McCall is on the verge of signing former Hearts midfielder Ryan Stevenson from Ipswich.