A clip featuring action from the French top flight piqued the interest of Motherwell supporters last weekend after doing the rounds on social media.
Captioned ‘Askou-ball’, it showed the build-up to Toulouse’s second goal in a 3-0 rout of Le Mans, with Aron Donnum finishing off a slick passing move which began on the edge of the visitors’ box just 20 seconds earlier.
The look on the home players’ faces as they tried to work out what the hell had just happened was the exact same one that so many of the Steelmen’s Premiership opponents donned regularly throughout last season.
As the saying goes, absence makes the heart grow fonder. That’s certainly the case when it comes to the way Motherwell fans feel about Jens Berthel Askou.
It’s fair to say that Alfred Johansson’s team has yet to capture the imagination in quite the same way as his predecessor did.
Indeed, after an encouraging start to life in Lanarkshire which included a couple of impressive European triumphs and wins over Hibernian and Dundee United, patience already appears to be running out for the Swede in some quarters.
Alfred Johansson is enduring a tough spell after making an impressive start to life at Fir Park
A five-game losing streak has seen his side plummet to third from bottom ahead of tomorrow’s clash against Hearts at Fir Park, whilst their Premier Sports Cup exit at the hands of Stenhousemuir continues to rankle two months on.
The growing discontent is understandable. But it’s far too early to be hitting the panic button.
Let’s not forget, Askou’s side were only three points better off with nine games in the bank 12 months ago, and things didn’t pan out too badly for him, did they?
It’s also worth noting that Johansson is still picking up the pieces to an extent after the spine of last term’s team was ripped out over the summer.
Keeper Calum Ward broke the club record for clean sheets in a single season with 20 back in March before earning a move to Queens Park Rangers.
Celtic loanee Stephen Welsh joined him in the English Championship at Swansea alongside talisman Elijah Just, whilst Elliot Watt is now on the books of Turkish top-tier outfit Samsunspor.
Replacing that lot was always going to be a near-impossible task.
Tawanda Maswahise’s form — or, rather, the lack of it — hasn’t helped matters either. It wasn’t too long ago that the Zimbabwean seemingly had his pick of clubs to choose from.
Talisman Tawanda Maswanhise hasn’t yet found his shooting boots this season
He’s scored just once in the Premiership this season, and that was from the penalty spot. You suspect the list of suitors is thinning by the week.
Creating chances isn’t proving to be much of a concern for Motherwell at the moment. It’s the inability to put them away that is killing them.
Yet the biggest problem Johansson must solve is at the other end of the pitch. For all the swashbuckling football played under Askou, it was their defensive solidity which allowed it all to happen so seamlessly.
This team are a pale imitation in that regard. Eleven goals have been shipped in the league since their last victory on September 2, with more than half of them coming in defeats to Aberdeen and Kilmarnock, both of whom have been brutal in the final third for the most part. The goals conceded against the latter last Saturday were particularly shambolic.
Motherwell are giving themselves a mountain to climb each week. Having to score three times in order to pick up three points is not acceptable. But you won’t see the 36-year-old abandoning his philosophy any time soon in an effort to find a quick fix.
Speaking on Friday, Johansson said: ‘I stick to my principles, we stick to our principles. We will try to improve rather than change anything.
‘I think we definitely could have three, at least three, points more than what we’ve got, so the team is on the right path.
‘We are not solid enough — for instance, at Killie — in how we defended their long balls, and that’s something we need to improve.
The Motherwell supporters are understandably becoming frustrated with their side’s form
‘We are not 100 per cent aligned when we go into a pressing moment, and that needs to be improved.’
Much to work on, then. But he can’t be accused of being naive and trying to pull the wool over the fans’ eyes. He knows what’s going wrong and should be afforded the time to get things trending in the right direction.
The manager is no stranger to adversity having gone through his fair share during his time in charge at Rosenborg, when his former side were flirting with the prospect of relegation before eventually finding their feet.
He said: ‘We were just above the relegation zone and newspapers all over were like, “Rosenborg is going to go down, this is the biggest crisis ever”, and we ended fourth that season.
‘All of a sudden, things that we had been working on clicked.’
A win over Hearts — who aren’t exactly humming either after suffering back-to-back defeats this past week — on Sunday afternoon could provide the spark required to repeat the same trick at Fir Park.
