Motherwell boss Alfred Johansson admitted his aspect ‘discovered the exhausting manner’ as they went down 3-1 to Freiburg within the Europa Convention League play-off first leg – however insisted he felt nothing however pleasure for his gamers.
Regan Charles-Prepare dinner gave the Steelman a shocking lead inside two minutes towards the Bundesliga heavyweights to spark hope of an almighty upset at a raucous Fir Park.
However a Matthias Ginter double both aspect of the interval – the second from the penalty spot after Martin Moorman noticed pink for the hosts – put Freiburg in entrance earlier than substitute Keisuke Goto headed dwelling with seconds remaining to ascertain a commanding two-goal benefit forward of the return leg on the Europa-Park Stadion subsequent Thursday.
Johansson mentioned: ‘I’m very pleased with them for the way in which they performed. The mentality they confirmed all through the sport.
‘We discovered the exhausting manner in conceding set-pieces. We spoke about that but additionally the very fact we aren’t giving freely a number of massive possibilities on this sport in open play being a person down from minute 60.
‘Along with the very fact we’ve got the objective within the first half and extra sequences like that all through the sport the place we stick with our rules – which was one thing I requested for earlier than the sport.
Motherwell boss Alfred Johansson was pleased with his aspect’s endeavour towards Freiburg
‘All these items make me very proud to be concerned with them.
‘They will be taught a lot [against elite opposition]. Whenever you prepare for one thing, no matter it’s, then sooner or later you face a brand new stage.
‘Whenever you try this it’s important to do every little thing a bit higher. Whether or not that’s guitar, chess or taking part in soccer.
‘It’s essential assume quicker, resolve and execute technically quicker with extra high quality. Whenever you put the physique into that you’ll adapt.
‘That depth and stage of problem and stage of actions which the gamers have achieved tonight, when you go on and do what we did then that depth and high quality sticks in your nervous system and can keep there.
‘So long as you understand how that works then we are going to revenue from it within the coming months.’
Though Johansson conceded that his aspect have been in the end overwhelmed by the higher crew on the night time, he was inspired by the way in which the participant refused to desert their rules and stick with the fashion which has delivered so many optimistic ends in the early a part of the brand new season.
‘These gamers are recruited and made for enjoying the way in which we’re taking part in,’ he mentioned. ‘If we have a look at the primary objective we rating, we are able to agree when Motherwell look their finest it’s after we play like that.
Regan Charles-Prepare dinner celebrates as he opened the scoring for Motherwell within the 3-1 loss
‘The center a part of the primary half after we scored is the place we weren’t doing that and that’s when Freiburg gained momentum.
‘They did that as a result of they’re so good but additionally as a result of we grew to become protecting and didn’t press as a lot previous to our objective.
‘We must be ourselves to have the very best probability to get outcomes. That’s the identification of this membership and this crew.’
Freiburg boss Julian Schuster mentioned: ‘Our objective was to start out significantly better. We gave Motherwell the idea to earn one thing right this moment.
‘It doesn’t matter if they’ve little expertise, it’s optimistic to see how they wish to play with the ball, with a number of confidence.
‘This is likely one of the qualities this crew have. It was powerful for us to vary the outcome nevertheless it was very optimistic for us going into the second sport.’
