Motherwell

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We asked for your views on who has been Motherwell's player of the season.

Here's what some of you said:

Mark: There are so many players who have excelled under Jens Berthel Askou, and I think lots of people are going to say Tawanda Maswanhise, Elliot Watt or Elijah Just as their player of the season. However, I think the player of the season has to be Paul McGinn. He has been stellar at the heart of the defence all season, looking very composed and comfortable on and off the ball while leading the back line of one of the best defences in the league. Therefore, McGinn is the clear choice for me.

Stuart: Where do you start? The team as a whole deserve it because each and every individual has brought something to the forefront. From the goalkeeper Calum Ward going from third choice to first and growing in confidence after a shaky start to the season keeping the most clean sheets in club history. The old guard of McGinn and Stephen O'Donnell playing some of the best football of their careers. New signings of Watt, Just, Ibrahim Said and Oscar Priestman have excelled in coming into a new club and fitting right in as if they've been here for years. But Maswanhise has to edge it, he looks a totally different player from last season, more attacking, stylish and a goal scoring predator, hopefully he can finish with a furry and end up the league's top scorer to sum up a fantastic season.

Derek: Maswanhise will be up there for a lot of fans for player of the year but for me it has to be Just, he is superb and is absolutely vital to how we play, can score goals and create them, he would be a huge void to fill should he ever leave.

Jaime: McGinn for me. Unbelievably consistent. I'd take a guaranteed seven out of 10 player every game over a nine or 10 out of 10 player every three or four games. Maswanhise, Watt and Just are getting the plaudits, and rightfully so, but this style of play is harder to adjust to for defenders at a certain age and McGinn and O'Donnell have been outstanding but most importantly, consistent.

James: Player of the year has to be Stephen Welsh. Motherwell should sign him permanently and build the team around him.

David: In a team of so many outstanding performers, I'd go for Just - others have been outstanding but he's been consistently a stand out.

Jim: I know the forwards will get all the attention, however my player of the year would go to Ward. Not only has he set a new clean sheet record, he is fundamental to the way the team plays from the back.

It's been an impressive first season in charge for Motherwell manager Jens Berthel Askou.

Currently fourth in the table they're still on course for European football and their bold passing style of football has earned plaudits, records and some impressive results - including a dominant 2-0 win over reigning champions Celtic.

There's been plenty of impressive individual performances throughout the campaign, but who has been the standout?

We want to know your choice for Motherwell's player of the year. Tell us here

Jenna Thomson
Fan writer

The past few games have left me dumbfounded.

I don't want to blame our defeats solely on refereeing decisions. However, undeniably VAR has been a contributing factor.

I know if a Hearts player had made contact with a Motherwell player's head in the box I'd want a red card and penalty.

Stephen Welsh conceded a VAR-assisted spot-kick by catching Pierre Landry Kabore while trying to clear after the Hearts striker had headed the ball while on the ground. However, under Ifab rules, Kabore can be classed as endangering himself. Based on this, the penalty should not have been given.

It is beyond frustrating, especially as we have to face Rangers away next while our confidence is in tatters after taking just one point from the last 15 available.

If we can pick up a win at Falkirk in our second post-split match, a victory against Hibs on the last day, and a draw at home to Hearts I will be happy.

I don't want to sound cynical or negative after what has been a phenomenal season. However, we are starting to spiral and if we don't nip it in the bud quickly our efforts will be for nothing if Hibs overtake us.

Motherwell are keen on taking Dunfermline Athletic defender Kieran Ngwenya on a free transfer, but Leyton Orient and Burton Albion are also interested in the 23-year-old. (Peter O'Rourke on X), external

Read more: Tuesday's Scottish football gossip

Sportscene pundit Steven Naismith analyses the clear-cut chances Motherwell passed up before they went on to suffer defeat at Hearts on Saturday.

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Watch all the action from Hearts' 3-1 win against Motherwell.

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Motherwell may have only taken one point from five matches, but they created more than enough chances at Tynecastle to suggest they will pick up points in the split.

Emmanuel Longelo finished off a free-flowing move just after the break but he, Eli Just and Tawanda Maswanhise in particular squandered some excellent chances to take the game away from the hosts

"We have not been that clinical and effective and sharp lately," manager Jens Berthel Akous admitted. "And that is also one of the major reasons why we haven't been able to tip results our way.

"Earlier in the season, we didn't need many chances to score goals, now we need a little bit more. And we're working on that every week, and that's football.

"Sometimes you have spells like that, but I'm really positive that we created these chances in a difficult place to create chances."

However, Askou was again left frustrated by a key decision as he labelled Matthew MacDermid's VAR-assisted penalty award "very soft".

Stephen Welsh was penalised for catching Kabore on the head while trying to clear after the Hearts sub had headed the ball while on the ground.

Askou questioned what Welsh could have done while Kabore was "dribbling with his head".

"It's a shame for the game that it gets decided like that," he said. "You can argue every time there's contact that there's a foul. Then it's about the amount of contact, the speed of contact, the situation."

The Dane added: "But what I want to underline again is that I'm really, really proud of our performance.

"We took control of a very difficult game against a very good team who are really, really good at what they do, who have an atmosphere that really drives them and can get you emotionally unstable if you're not there. We dealt with that extremely well.

"Some of the play we set up in the second half, leading to our chances, also the goal, was absolutely outstanding."

We asked for your views on Motherwell's 3-1 defeat against Hearts.

Here's what some of you said:

Alan: A very frustrating game and result. Having gained the lead we then lose it to a rather dubious penalty. We fight back and then miss three chances to take the lead again.

However, we are still fourth and heading for Europe with Hibs losing. Let's focus on the positives and the goals will come. Who at the beginning of the season would have thought we would be fourth at this point in the season?

Crawford: This was probably the most difficult watch so far, three or four glorious chances in five minutes all squandered. We should have been out of sight. And again, some very frustrating decisions from the officials, sometimes you could swear that they were just guessing.

James: We had so many good chances to be out of sight. I thought the referee had a shocker, but it is our players are missing the chances. We keep going, and hope for some improved results.

Colin: A much better performance, missed great chances to put the game out of sight. However that was one of the worst refereeing performances I have witnessed, and there has been a lot of very bad refereeing this season. I only hope we don't end up with nothing to show for a great season of entertainment.

Adam: Another match where Motherwell failed to win, so many missed chances. Manager who fails to change the tactics when a draw, or even to hold out for a win, would be a result. Poor refereeing didn't help but you must make your own luck.

James: Another defeat, even though the team played brilliantly. How the penalty was given is beyond me. The referee and VAR should take a long hard look at themselves, an embarrassing decision.

Motherwell succumbed to a Hearts comeback for the second time at Tynecastle this season, only this time there was no 3-3 draw but a 3-1 defeat.

The visitors at times outplayed the Scottish Premiership leaders but are left without a win in five games.

Read the match report.

Give us your thoughts.

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Motherwell manager Jens Berthel Askou is disappointed with the penalty decision that allowed Lawrence Shankland to put Hearts in front in their 3-1 defeat at Tynecastle.

He compared it with an incident last week involving his own forward, Tawanda Maswanhise.

"We keep getting strange calls and decisions against us," he tells BBC Scotland. "I think it's a shame when it gets decided on a moment like that.

"I think the incident last week with Maswanihse would give a penalty an endless amount of more times in a normal world than the incident today."

Askou conceded that his Motherwell side fell short in making the best of their chances at Tynecastle.

"The game began lively, a little tactical and Hearts sitting off goalkeeper Calum [Ward] and giving him time on the ball," he said.

"It took us 10-15 minutes to decide how we dealt with that and from there I thought we got more and more control of the game.

"They had their moments, especially on set plays, but in second half we started bright and we took control and created moments when we had to.

"I thought we were on top and the better team and then we didn't take the moments we had.

"That's obviously what separates the best from the second best over a season."

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Hearts centre-half Stuart Findlay returns after six weeks out with a calf injury.

But Birmingham City loanee Marc Leonard is suspended, while fellow midfielder Tomas Magnusson will have a thigh injury assessed to see if he will play any further part this season.

Calem Nieuwenhof, Ageu and Craig Gordon remain out.

Motherwell hope to have forward Eythor Bjorgolfsson and defender Liam Gordon back after minor injuries, while striker Callum Hendry is available after a three-month absence.

But Regan Charles-Cook and Zach Robinson remain out.

David Currie
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Lukas Fadinger says almost every Motherwell player has improved under manager Jens Berthel Askou and hopes the Dane is still at the helm next season.

The 25 year-old Austrian midfielder joined the club days after Askou's predecessor Michael Wimmer left the club. Three weeks after the German's departure, Berthel Askou took over.

This season, Fadinger has made 38 appearances across all competitions and has scored three goals and set up a further two.

"He gives us so much during the week [at training]," Fadinger said.

"So many solutions, technical stuff, but also working against the ball. I think you can see it in almost every player. I think every player has improved during this time."

On their way to a top-six finish, Motherwell and Askou have attracted praise for their style of play, and Askou has attracted attention too.

Fandinger, who has a year left on his contract, says he's not alone in hoping that the Dane is prized away from Fir Park by any potential suitor.

"I think everyone [here] is hoping that," he added.

Despite a four-match winless run, Fadinger remains confident that Motherwell are strong enough to end that streak and finish in the top four.

That would guarantee the Steelmen a place in the Europa Conference League qualifiers for next season.

"I can see the squad in the training sessions every day and we work the same way and with the same quality," he said.

"So I'm very optimistic. We haven't been happy with the results recently. But I'm still very positive that we can turn it around again.

"Maybe we haven't been on the top level in some games recently, I think there have also been some 50-50 situations that haven't gone our way. If you combine these two things, then those results happen.

"But still, we always have good chances in the game to win or to take a draw. So if we change those little things, I think I'm very positive that we'll win again."

Motherwell forward Elijah Just, 25, is on a list of Rangers transfer targets. (Record - subscription required), external

Hearts will go out to attack Motherwell on Saturday. (Edinburgh Evening News - subscription required), external

Friday's Scottish gossip

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• Claudio Braga's 13 Scottish Premiership goals this season have been worth 12 points to Hearts, the most of any player for any side in the division this term. However, only four of those 13 strikes have come at home (30.8%).

• Motherwell have lost three of their last four league games (D1), as many as their first 28 of the season beforehand (W14 D11 L3). They have conceded as many goals in these last four league matches as they did in their prior 21 beforehand (eight).

• Hearts have won each of their last four home league games by the same 1-0 scoreline; it's the first time any Scottish top-flight side has had four successive home league matches end in the exact same score since Aberdeen had four straight 0-0 draws from May to September 2012, while no side has had five consecutive identical home results in the division in the 21st century.

• Motherwell have won just one of their last nine league visits to Hearts (D2 L6), a 1-0 victory in September 2023 under Stuart Kettlewell.

• Hearts are unbeaten in five league meetings with Motherwell (W2 D3), keeping four clean sheets. It's their longest such unbeaten run against the Steelmen since going eight without defeat from April 2005 to September 2007.

David Currie
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Motherwell manager Jens Berthel Askou has been speaking to the media before his side travel to face Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts on Saturday.

Here are the key lines:

• Askou thinks the split is "really cool" and says the format is better than Denmark's top flight, where the split comes after 22 games - he feels that is too early.

• The Dane says the upcoming schedule is a really important phase for the growth of the club. Given the strength of the top six, he doesn't think any team in the top half will win all of their post-split games.

• Askou hasn't set a points target for finishing fourth but says Motherwell will go out to win every game.

• The Motherwell boss says he hasn't spoken to the Scottish FA's head of refereeing Willie Collum about contentious decisions in last weekend's defeat by Falkirk. He says he leaves that to the club's chief executive Brian Caldwell.

• Askou accepts mistakes will happen and there is no point in drawing things out.

• On plans for Motherwell to build their own training facility at Dalziel Park, Askou says he has had a lot of input into the project: "You have to look at what will benefit the club in the long term - investing in infrastructure, facilities, but still making sure we invest in what we need right now to lift the first team."

• Saturday's trip to Hearts presents a "big challenge" and Askou hopes it will be more like the 3-3 draw at Tynecastle in August, rather than the goalless draw at Fir Park in November, which he says was more tactical.

• Team news: Liam Gordon and Callum Hendry are back in full training, while Askou didn't rule out a weekend return for Eythor Bjorgolfsson. Regan Charles-Cook will be back in training next week.

Nick McPheat
BBC Sport Scotland

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Plans for a new Motherwell training facility have emerged on North Lanarkshire Council's website.

Dalziel Park has long served the Fir Park club, but they are now looking to construct their own complex on the site for their first team and academy.

Motherwell currently have use of three pitches on the land but have to travel two miles to their Fir Park stadium to access their own changing facilities and offices.

Files from their planning application, which has been validated and is now at the consultation stage, show drawings of a new two-storey building, including a gym, canteen, and analysis suites.

The Lanarkshire club are also proposing plans to upgrade floodlighting and install a new synthetic surface.

Motherwell are on a sound financial footing after the record sale of Scotland midfielder Lennon Miller to Udinese last summer.

The team are pushing to qualify for European football next season under the guidance of manager Jens Berthel Askou, with key players such as Tawanda Maswanhise attracting transfer attention in recent months.

Danish coach Askou has spoken of his desire to progress the club on and off the pitch as they aim to secure a fourth-placed finish in the Scottish Premiership, and upgraded training facilities would be a step in the right direction.

Motherwell manager Jens Berthel Askou, who has been linked with the vacancy at Celtic, insists he is planning on building on this season's success next term. (Scottish Sun), external

Read Tuesday's Scottish Gossip in full

Watch Sportscene pundit Michael Stewart analyse forward Tawanda Maswanhise's appeal for a penalty in Motherwell's defeat to Falkirk on Saturday.

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Watch all the highlights as Falkirk edge past Motherwell.