Moult is ready to reap rich reward for hard graft
IT is easy to believe that these closing months of Louis Moult’s Motherwell contract, upon which a life-changing transfer is likely to be decided, will deliver the moments to define a career.
Spend a little time with his manager Stephen Robinson, though, and you begin to wonder whether it is the first few weeks of the Englishman’s time at Fir Park that should really go down as the most important stage of his progression in Lanarkshire.
Moult, of course, will be one of the players centre-stage at Hampden this afternoon. With 45 goals in 90 appearances in claret and amber, he will be the focal point of Motherwell’s endeavours to pull off a surprise against Rangers in the last four of the Betfred Cup.
He will also be the subject of attention from no shortage of scouts and managers already jostling for position in the inevitable bunfight to secure his services — whether for a hefty sum in January or for free in the summer.
These are the days, of limelight and heroes-in-waiting, on which careers are built and contract offers crystallise.
And yet, for Robinson, it is a quiet conversation in altogether different circumstances way back at the start of Moult’s stay in Lanarkshire that sticks with him when discussing the transformative effect Fir Park has had on the 25-year-old.
Robinson was assistant manager at the time under Ian Baraclough
and Moult had just signed
I took Louis aside and told him he needed to have more belief in himself
from non-league Wrexham in a £50,000 deal with a prolific scoring record and, yet, a distinct lack of presence and self-assurance.
Having kept him on the bench for the first two games of the league campaign, Robinson recalls how he took the striker to one side and spelled out a few home truths.
Moult had to get stronger. He had to get tougher. Nastier, even.
He listened. Learned. And acted upon it. Even now, extra gym work remains a part of his daily routine.
Moult’s reward for all that toil is near. He was on minimum wage and playing part-time at Nuneaton Town four years ago, struggling to pay his mortgage.
As Robinson points out, for all the natural ability he has as a finisher, it is hard graft and a willingness to act upon advice that has brought the onetime Stoke City trainee to this point.
‘I remember when Louis arrived and, after the first four weeks under Ian, he couldn’t get a game,’ recalls Robinson. ‘He wasn’t strong at the time.
‘I took him on his own and said: “You have real potential. You just need to believe in yourself”.
‘He maybe had a bit of doubt in himself, but his confidence has grown and, as he’s got in the team, he’s got stronger and knows how to use his body.
‘He’s not a 6ft 3in target man but he wins a lot of headers and he’s really clever.
‘He has matured in terms of his hold-up play. He’s always been a goalscorer and has continued to do that as his game has evolved.
‘Motherwell has been very good to Louis Moult and, when Louis doesn’t work hard, he’s an average footballer.
‘When he works his socks off, which he does for us, he’s a very good footballer.
‘He’s had injury problems but has tried hard to get over them and has worked extremely hard in the gym.
‘I think you can tell that. He doesn’t get bullied. He has a wee bit of bite to him — that is something he probably didn’t have when he first came up.
‘He has a little nasty streak in him, which we like. That’s the key with some of the top players who maybe have that ruthlessness in them. Louis has very much got that.
‘What he does and where he goes is entirely up to himself and his ability, but he’s a very dedicated boy. You can’t get away with not being physical. It’s a quick, athletic game.’ Rangers will be subject to that collective physicality Robinson believes in this afternoon. In order to let their more talented players shine, they are going to have to win one heck of a battle. Robinson’s rebuild at Motherwell has involved 17 players leaving and 17 coming in. His vision is based on the highoctane style he contributed to as assistant to Michael O’Neill as Northern Ireland qualified for Euro 2016. ‘Like Northern Ireland, we’re trying to make them faster than anyone else, stronger than anyone else and better organised. All that is free,’ he reasoned recently. Hard work and self-confidence turned Moult into a star in the making. Robinson clearly believes those twin ingredients can work wonders on other players as they prepare to face off against a Rangers side that also underwent considerable surgery in the summer.
‘I can assure you that they have made a lot more changes for a lot more money than I have,’ he quipped.
‘Perhaps that has helped us gel a lot quicker, though. We don’t have a lot of money to play with.
‘We have boys whose ability hasn’t quite managed to do what it should have allowed them to do.
‘The biggest thing is character. We have no big-time Charlies here.
‘We have got boys who will run themselves into the ground.
‘Sometimes, they won’t play as well as they want to, but they will never not run as far as the opposition or not work as hard as the opposition.
‘We did sign boys who have something to prove and it has taken a little while for some of them to get up to this level and get used to the pace of the game.
‘But we are not just there to make up the numbers, definitely not.
‘We play aggressively, we have got good tempo to our game and we have got boys who can get the ball down and play at the right time as well.’
Being a family club has helped foster the sense of togetherness at Motherwell, but Robinson (left, with Moult) admits part of his pre-match plan has involved taking his players away from their loved ones.
‘We stayed away because we have players with a lot of young kids,’ he said. ‘We wanted to get them a decent night’s sleep, but there won’t be a whole lot of changes in our preparation.
‘The only time we took the foot off the gas and tried to mollycoddle them a little bit, we actually lost. That won’t be the case here. We will train as hard as we have done since the first day of pre-season.’
Robinson was with O’Neill all the way through the European Championship as Northern Ireland reached the last 16, going out to Wales. He insists, though, Hampden this afternoon will be the biggest game of his coaching career.
‘Being involved in the Euros with Northern Ireland, getting to the last 16 and playing against teams like Germany and Poland in front of 60,000 people is quite similar, but it’s not “on my head be it” when I’m only on the coaching staff,’ he explained.
Likewise, he doesn’t want to see too much pressure on the shoulders of Moult today. He prefers to look at Hampden as a showcase for everyone in his side.
‘This game isn’t just about Louis. It’s every player at the club,’ he said. ‘They’re on a massive stage, with everyone watching against one of the biggest teams in the world.
‘If you have a good game and play well, which we will, it puts you in the shop window.’