Motherwell v Rangers: Well aren't favourites, but we'll relish challenge, says boss

Daily Record

18 hours ago

Jens Berthel Askou is looking forward to going head-to-head with Rangers
Jens Berthel Askou hopes to upset Rangers' favourites tag, and get his reign as Motherwell boss off to a flying start.
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Askou goes toe-to-toe with former Norwich City team-mate Russell Martin at Fir Park for the tea-time kick-off, and says going up against one of Scottish football's giants is a great way to kick off their Premiership campaign.
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But having watched them overcome Greek side Panathinaikos in Champions League qualifiers, Askou knows that won't be easy.
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He said: 'It's always good to start against a top side and really get on your toes from the beginning and get that big test that you're always looking for.
'You want to compete at the highest level and against the best teams possible, and that's what we get the chance to do.
'It's about getting a good start. A good start is a good performance where we see there is potential in what we're doing.
'If we can top that off with a great result, even a win, that will make us even happier, and that is what we will try to do.
'I think we're adding quality in what we do every week, and for every game, and we know it's going to be a very big test on Saturday, against a top side that has just performed very well against a really good opponent over two legs.
'We know we're not the favourites, but it doesn't mean we can't make a result and a good performance, which is what I'm looking to do.
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'I wouldn't say it's an easy job to come up against Glasgow Rangers, no matter what. I know Russell more than I know some of the other coaches, but I haven't played against him before.'
Askou added: 'I expect us to try and do what we want to do, and not let the level of Rangers, or difficulty in playing against a top side, stress us and take away our courage, instead of trying to do it very basically, with fear, and stepping away from our principles.
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'I expect us to do that in a very good way, through many phases of the game, and also for it to be very difficult to do what we want to do on and off the ball, at times.
'That's when we have to be really good, when we feel the game is getting tough and we're making more mistakes, while Rangers are showing their abilities.
'That's when we have to help each other, and I hope and expect that everyone around us and behind us will help us through these periods.
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'But we've shown to ourselves and whoever has been here to watch us, follow us and support us, that we're in a better place than when we started.'
Askou has set his side the target of finishing in the Premiership top six, but certainly to improve on last season's eighth place.
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He said: 'My expectations are that we do better than last season, that we improve on the areas that we want to improve on, because that's the key to making better results at the end.
'We aim to go as high as possible in the league. Like everybody else, we want to reach out for things, we want to be brave while we're doing that, and not protected and defensive.
'We'll see how far that takes us, but we want to get back into the best part of Scottish football, and obviously that's the line drawn after 33 rounds. We hope to get on the front part of that line.
'The most important goal for us is how we perform every week, because that's where the basis is for getting the long-term goals.
'For now, I'm just really excited to get started and get more knowledge about Scottish football and especially ourselves.'