Kettlewell: Biereth success will play big role in helping the club to attract new stars
Stuart Kettlewell predicts the impact made by Mika Biereth in Scotland will help Motherwell land more highquality loans in future.
The 20-year-old has been a conspicuous success since moving north on a season-long deal from Arsenal with hopes high he can help steer the Steelmen out of trouble in the weeks and months ahead.
“What Mika’s level will eventually be, no-one knows at this stage,” said the manager.
“Personally, I think it will be high and certainly the better he does here, the better opportunity it will give him in his career.
“What he has done can also help us bring in similar young talents to Mika in the future.
“I think we must be seen as a club that can provide an environment for young players to develop. Across Britain and maybe even further afield.
“We have had a few conversations with some bigger clubs just about players and with people thinking this might be a right good place for them to place a young talented player.
“Why? Because of how we play, the time we spend with them and the time they get on the pitch.
“The environment they get to play in on a Saturday is another positive.
“I believe Scottish football is a brilliant environment for a lot of these young guys to ply their trade.
“I think you get tested on so many different levels, so many different fronts.
“I genuinely feel Scottish football is somewhere for big clubs to look at.
“You look at some of the teams we have got, some of the venues we have got to play in, and you are providing a real test for some of these lads. They can learn a lot from that.”
Kettlewell is hoping his side can turn the sort of gutsy display against Rangers this afternoon that they produced when coming from behind to draw at Celtic Park at the end of November. “You take obvious confidence out of that one,” he said.
“That match was again slightly different in that you do spend extended periods without the ball,
“I think we have had three games against the Old Firm and been very, very good this season.
“The Celtic game where we pick up a point, it was tough 90 minutes for us but Celtic did not create a heap of clear-cut chances
“You always take a lot of confidence from that because it tells you that you have done something right.
“I thought we were excellent against Rangers at Ibrox too, which is very relevant because you will be coming up against several of the same players again.
“I think most coming away from that game would acknowledge we were hard done by not coming away with at least a point.
“The chances we created and the confidence we showed, especially in the second half.”
The Motherwell boss concedes that much has changed since September. He said: “Rangers have a new manager now, the team is playing with a lot of confidence and their tails will be up off the back of winning a trophy. “It is their first under Philippe Clement, who certainly seems to have had an impact in terms of giving them a bounce.
“I think they look a wee bit different as well, even in how they approach it and how they play.
“It does look pretty different from Michael Beale’s time as you might expect.
“Anybody that goes to Seville and beats Real Betis is obviously going to be a decent team with some good players. “We acknowledge that, but we have acquitted ourselves really well against the two top teams in the country and we are going to need more of the same to be competitive in this game on Sunday.”