- Danny Rohl was slammed for not reacting to Motherwell’s first-half dominance
- The former Rangers midfielder watched from the bench as Jens Berthel Askou’s plan “worked to perfection”
- Halliday detailed the plan that Well worked on – with Rohl taking too long to find a response
Motherwell’s Andy Halliday has pinned the blame on Danny Rohl for failing to respond to the damage that his team were inflicting on Rangers on Sunday.
The Steelmen recorded a 3-2 win to dent the Gers’ title hopes in what was a massive blow for the hosts.
Motherwell dominated the game in the first half with Rohl having no answers to Jens Berthel Askou’s system.
The former Rangers midfielder provided insight on the approach that they adopted for the Rangers game.
He went on to blast the German coach for not reacting sooner to allow Rangers to get back into the game before they did.
A genuine masterclass – Andy Halliday
Changes were eventually made at half-time and Rangers rallied to equalise, but further chances were squandered.
This led to Motherwell pouncing to take all three points back along the M74.
Speaking in his irregular role on the Open Goal podcast, Halliday said that Motherwell’s display “was a genuine masterclass.” said Halliday
Why did they (Rangers) not change it sooner, enquired Paul Slane.
“100%, they tried to go man for man, but….I don’t want to go too much into it, but everything the manager worked on that week just worked to perfection, said Halliday.
“If you want to go man for man, then Motherwell players will take you to places…that you’ll get killed.
You’ll never get near the ball
He continued to say that Manny Fernandez and Nasser Djiga were reluctant to follow their players into the middle of the pitch, combined with Rangers ‘ full-backs being pinned by high and wide forwards.
Si Ferry and Halliday then praised the impact of Callum Slattery, who was very impressive in the match.
Halliday continued, “A top footballing team just can’t pay 4-4-2 – you can’t give a team like Motherwell 4 v 2 in the middle of the pitch.
“You will never get near the ball.
Then he was asked why it took so long to make changes. That’s when the focus changed to Rohl.
“I’ve said so many times, Danny Rohl has done an incredible job. The only reason Rangers are in a title race is because of what he’s done.
“For me, that was on him at the weekend. You cannot wait to half-time to change what you were watching.
“He’s very, very lucky it didn’t end up four or five going into half-time.”
Read Rangers analysis
Andy Halliday is on the mark with that assertion, and Rangers were ultimately made to pay.
They left themselves with a mountain to climb, and almost overcame it.
If changes had been made at 0-2, the response could have been made earlier, and as we know now, the two goals weren’t enough to take anything from the game.
Danny Rohl needs to consider the approach for the must-win game at Tynecastle next Monday.
After the Motherwell disappointment, this is a key concern going into the pivotal clash with the league leaders.
