Players 'responding' to 'the right man' Kettlewell

Leanne Crichton reckons Stuart Kettlewell is “absolutely the right man” to be at Motherwell as their flying start to the season continues.

The Fir Park side have won five of their last six games in all competitions and have a League Cup semi-final against Rangers to look forward to at the start of next month.

Crichton thinks that Kettlewell’s is now seeing the players respond to his footballing message, as they currently sit fourth in the Scottish Premiership.

"I think there’s a huge amount of clarity in the way that he wants his players to play, how he expects them to perform, defensively what’s expected of them," she said on BBC Scotland’s Scottish Football Podcast.

"The areas of the pitch that he needs them to be at different points and that all sounds really simple, and like every manager should be able to deliver that, but at times, you can understand in football, players and their interpretation of that.

"I think Stuart Kettlewell has managed to deliver that message, along with his staff and he’s now getting the response.

"He’s having to juggle and fight fires at times as well, which for any manager, it’s never that straightforward forward but the likes of Zach Robinson to have come in as well, he now to me looks like he’s starting to get up to speed and understand what it is and the expectation of being a Motherwell player.

"Andy Halliday, I’ve watched a number of the games, now that he’s had a run in the team, you can start to see his influence and I don’t think you can get away from how good Lennon Miller has been the entire season and he continued that form into the international stage for the under 21s midweek as well. He’s just such a joy to watch.

"When you’ve got that at the heart of your team, it must just make everybody else around you better, and a notable mention to Aston Oxborough in goal who has been outstanding this season, and signed an extension to his contract.

"There’s a number of key players and key individuals and Stuart Kettlewell just now is absolutely the right man to be in that job at Motherwell."