Jens Berthel Askou: Motherwell have to be at their best against 'desperate' Aberdeen in Premiership match

Jens Berthel Askou says Motherwell will have to be at their best to get another win against an Aberdeen side “desperate” for three points.

The Fir Park boss insists his team can’t afford to give their opponents “a sniff” in Saturday evening’s Premiership match.

Jimmy Thelin’s men are badly toiling this season and anchored to the bottom of the table after no wins and no goals from their first five league games.

The Steelmen added to the misery at Pittodrie by knocking them out of the Premier Sports cup last weekend.

But Askou still believes they have a lot more quality at their disposal than their league position suggests, and will be a dangerous opponent in North Lanarkshire.

Speaking to the media on Friday, the Dane said: “I expect us to have to perform well in many of the same areas that we did away to Aberdeen, especially defensively, because they still have top players up front.

“They have a lot of quality. They haven’t been able to get it out in terms of goals yet, but eventually they will and it’s up to us to be just as sharp.

“I expect us to actually have to play better to get a similar outcome.

“It’s obviously a team that’s under a little bit of pressure, but a team that’s extremely desperate can also be really, really difficult to play.

“We have to be really, really mindful that we don’t give them a sniff of there’s something to go for, and give them any easy chances or make it too easy for them to defend.

“We have to step up and no matter who we’re going to play, we’re aiming to improve week by week.

“I think it was clear for everyone that we could have used the ball better at times against them and that we also needed a little bit of luck to make sure the ball didn’t go over the line.”

Askou admits it can be difficult to prepare for such a quick return fixture.

“You always get a little bit of knowledge from the first game that you know you can use,” he said.

“I’ve tried it several times when you’re playing in European qualification or in semi-finals where it’s two legs.

“You know that a lot of things might be similar and you have to do some of the things again and you have to do it well. But you also know that the opposition will try to improve and maybe twist a few things, so you also have to prepare and guess a little bit.

“How would they analyse the game and what phases would they be happy with, and what phases and moments would they be unhappy about? And say, okay, we need to change or improve a little bit so you’re one step ahead, which makes it sometimes a little bit complicated and tricky.

“But in general, we try not to prepare too differently from game to game because we focus a lot on us and our style of play, which is also made in a way that we can deal with different types of teams.”