Alfred Johansson hails 'outstanding' Ibrahim Said after European double

Motherwell boss Alfred Johansson praised two-goal hero Ibrahim Said for his starring role in a 2-0 win over HJK Helsinki.

Said struck on 47 and 60 minutes to hand the Steelmen a 3-1 aggregate win in their Conference League third qualifying round tie with the Finns, setting up a play-off with German side Freiburg.

A delighted Johansson said: “Outstanding performance from him, I’m so pleased for him.

“He has been really good at the start of the season for us, both in Europe and in the league, and then against Falkirk he dropped a little bit. His effort was so high against Falkirk, defensively so much responsibility, but he was not as good on the ball as he’s shown tonight.

“A few days later, to put the focus back on and try to do better is impressive.”

Johansson feels Thursday’s win ranks highly in his achievements so far in football.

He said: “I think at least it has to rank quite high. It was two really strong legs from Motherwell, in Helsinki and here at Fir Park, and I think the performance today- the effort with these boys, I never have to speak about it because it’s always there.

“I felt today we took another step again in the direction we want, how we want to look on the ball.

“We were not at our best on Sunday [in a 0-0 draw with Falkirk], and it is complicated when you can’t train.

When you gather a new group of people that you need to build relationships and you need to convince them to play in this specific way, and you can’t train because you’re always on recovery but have to prepare for the next game, it’s complicated.

“The guys need to transfer all the talk from video sessions into the game, and they did it, so I’m very pleased with that.”

Johansson says his squad is not built yet at Fir Park, but called for patience from supporters.

He said: “I think we’re not done in this window, we’re not. There’s still things to be done, but for us we’re in that situation where we want to be patient and make the right decisions for the club, that’s why we don’t want to force anything.

“I said early on we need to be patient with this window, it’s a long one, and we will be.”

A crowd of 8,135 packed into Fir Park and Johansson has felt a real connect between the club and town.
Johansson said: “We had 8,100 people at Fir Park tonight which is from what I hear in modern times, if not the best, it’s at least up there in terms of attendance. I’m so pleased, happy and proud to be a part of that.

“When you’re in the dugout, and the players play on the pitch, there’s an energy at Fir Park that transmits down to the pitch. It makes us better, it makes us stronger.”