STEPHEN Robinson is considering sticking with the attack-minded 3-5-2 formation that helped Motherwell plunder five goals against Glentoran in the Europa League this week in the Premiership meeting with Celtic at Parkhead tomorrow.
Robinson’s side had found netting a problem in the 2020/21 campaign - they had scored in just one of their five league outings - before their emphatic triumph at Fir Park on Thursday evening.
The Northern Irishman switched from a 4-3-3 set-up and was rewarded with a vastly improved display up front with Callum Lang, Stephen O’Donnell, Liam Polworth, Chris Long and Tony Watt all hitting the target.
The Motherwell manager knows that taking on the Scottish champions, who will have a point to prove following their humiliating Champions League exit to Ferencvaros on Wednesday night, away from home will be a more difficult test.
But he may decide to field two up front once again in an attempt to pull off an upset and move away from the bottom of the top flight table.
“Those goals we scored on Thursday have been coming,” said Robinson. “We've had loads of possession in games without an end product. But we changed the shape on Thursday.
“I thought Lang and Long looked sharp, I thought Tony looked sharp when he went on. It's taken Tony a while to get to the levels we want fitness-wise, but he's pushing himself.
“We might stick with the same shape. I went 3-5-2 at Ibrox last season, I went 4-4-2 against Celtic last year. We're quite an attack-minded side, we are cavalier at times and you have to be careful when you're playing against the quality of player Celtic have.
“But we'll go with a game plan. We've absolutely nothing to lose. Thursday will give a lot of people confidence in terms of goals. The people at the top end of the pitch win and lose you games and if you can get them firing, then we're a good team.”
He added: “If we hadn't won on Thursday we'd have gone to Celtic with everyone expecting us to lose. People were looking for an upset on Thursday, but we showed our mentality, we showed how steely we can be, in what was a tight game to start with. The win buoys everybody.
“The morale around the club was very good because people knew we weren't far away. I haven't lost belief in any of the players - some are playing better than others but that happens in football, especially at the level we're working. We've got players that can win football matches and we'll go on Sunday with nothing to fear, with an open mind, and a real belief we can get something.”
Robinson was pleased to see Lang, the former Liverpool kid who joined Motherwell in the summer, score his first goal since moving to Scotland and predicted the forward will take self-belief from his strike.
“He'll get better and better,” he said. “That's his third game, but he's not finished a game. He's not played since March . He's been out a long time in terms of playing regular football. He's a finisher, everywhere he's been he's scored goals.
“Chris Long worked his socks off against Glentoran, that was the Longy of old. He got his reward with the goal and Tony Watt gave me a real problem because he's come to the fore now, he's worked hard because he wasn't fit enough when he came here. He didn't push himself hard enough and now he is. He's been rewarded with a goal. There are options but it's up to me to get them right.”
Robinson knows that Neil Lennon’s men will be determined to put their last match firmly behind them with a good display and another Premiership win.
But he added: “I don't think there's a good time to get Celtic or Rangers. They have squads of players that can win a game in a split second, and they've got them all over the pitch. We have to play at our very best, they have to be below-par and our goalkeeper will have to play very well. That's the reality at Celtic Park.
“But we've got energy and pace in the team - the two front boys are getting a little bit of a combination and we've players on the bench that can come on and stretch the game as well. We'll go and be positive.”
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