Three things we spotted from Motherwell vs Celtic: Wolves loanee injury concern, firepower and reset button

Motherwell lost 3-1 against Celtic in their latest Premiership match.

It was the end of a dramatic week in ML1 where manager Stuart Kettlewell resigned off the back of abuse directed towards him that had started to impact his family. This game couldn’t have started much worse with Daizen Maeda heading Celtic into an early lead.

To their credit, the players rallied and managed to hold their own in the game despite green and white dominance on the ball. Luke Armstrong was making his first start up front since signing on loan from Carlisle United, burying past Kasper Schmeichel after a Dom Thompson cross into the box.

Adam Idah ensured that parity didn’t last for long with a tap-in as any thoughts of a lingering Celtic hangover from their Champions League efforts vs Aston Villa were squashed. Injuries have been a theme of Motherwell’s season and another cropped up here in the form of Marvin Kaleta, the Wolves loanee trudging off in the first half.

Idah looked to have made his tally a double but VAR drew up the lines and chopped off what may have been a decisive goal in proceedings. Then Nicolas Kuhn had a strike axed with his acrobatic overhead kick not allowed to stand.

Not much else happened after that but they didn’t suffer a brutal defeat like some have had against Celtic, and the Jota goal near the end was mere adding numbers to the scoreline from a Motherwell perspective. All attention now turns to the managerial hunt. Here are three things we learned from the game.

Reset mode

This game was an afterthought for many home fans. Kettlewell’s exit had turned into an ugly mud-slinging social media match. Facing Celtic couldn’t have been a much worse fixture but in some ways, perhaps it wasn’t, as the pressure on a result at least externally was off. They could have folded after the early blow but rallied, however, poor defending cost them. Now a major reset button needs hit and with it will come a new boss.

The cavalry arrives

For all their injury woes, Motherwell have depth up front, perhaps now top heavy. Armstrong started this with Crystal Palace’s Luke Plange and Man City’s Will Dickson making the bench after signing on Saturday. Tony Watt was also on the bench while Moses Ebiye and the injured Apostolos Stamatelopoulos and Zach Robinson weren’t stripped. They tend to play two up top including Tawanda Maswanhise as an option and the new boss will have plenty to choose from.

Wolves loanee concern

It seems like every time Motherwell look to be getting one player back they lose another. Kaleta came off injured in the first half and it sparked a tactical reshuffle with midfielder Tom Sparrow in at right-wing-back. He offers a physical and pacey threat down the wing and the Wolves talent will not be another they want to lose long haul.