Celtic defender Stephen Welsh convinced to join Motherwell by their style and philosophy

Stephen Welsh was attracted to Motherwell by the manager’s style and philosophy – but knows it is now up to him and his team-mates to show the bravery to make it work.

The Celtic defender joined Well on a season-long loan on transfer deadline day and helped them set up a Premier Sports Cup semi-final against St Mirren during last weekend’s 1-0 win at Aberdeen.

Jens Berthel Askou’s side now host the Dons on Saturday looking to continue their unbeaten start to the campaign but add their first William Hill Premiership win.

The former IFK Gothenburg boss has quickly instilled a bold style of playing out from the back and looking to build attacks.

Welsh said: “The style was a massive thing. When I spoke to the manager before I arrived, he was big on the way they played. I obviously watched a couple of games before I came anyway.

“The coaches and the manager can only do so much. It’s about the players that are on the pitch being brave enough to play and listen to what the manager is trying to get us to do.

“We believe if we stick to that philosophy, good things will come and we’ll start picking up wins. Hopefully that starts on Saturday in the league.”

Welsh has been reared on playing the ball out from the back as a Celtic player and played 30 games under Ange Postecoglou, who had a similar philosophy of being committed to building from the back.

“It definitely helps, coming through the Celtic academy, that’s the way we played every week, every age group,” the 25-year-old said.

“Playing first-team football with Celtic for the last couple of seasons, you’re used to playing that way.

“Coming in here, you just need to trust everyone that’s on the ball, trust the goalkeeper. We know that they’re good with their feet, so we just need to trust that they listen to what the gaffer says and how we play.

“As I said, it’s about being brave when we’re on the ball because it’s us that make the decisions on the pitch. It’s about finding the solutions. I think over the last couple of games, since I’ve been here definitely, we’ve been really good at that.”

Welsh only played twice for Celtic last season before moving to Mechelen for the second half of the campaign and sought another loan move when the transfer deadline approached.

“At the moment it’s just about coming to playing games again,” the centre-back said. “I knew that I wasn’t going to be playing many games at Celtic, that was made clear. My priority was to go out and play as many games as I can.

“The gaffer made it very open that he wanted me here, he wanted me to come and play. Obviously, the style helps. The boys have been great the last few weeks, very welcoming.”