Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell admits Lennon Miller’s injury has been a huge blow to the team, but he challenged other players to take responsibility in his absence.
Miller has been a key player for the Steelmen this season and the teenage midfielder is one of Scottish football’s rising stars, but he has now been sidelined for six to eight weeks with an ankle injury.
Kettlewell made no attempt to hide how disappointed he was without a key part of his squad and said the 18-year-old would be missed.
“Lennon has been a pillar of our team,” he said. “For us a mainstay and a standout.
“I would put him in the standout category of the division as a whole.
“I’ve gotten to the point where he’s handling it so well that I’ve given him the captaincy in recent months at the age of 18, and that includes a semi-final. .
“There is absolutely no doubt that he will be a great loss for us. He will be missed during that period, but we will need players to step up and show that kind of responsibility.”
Miller’s first game was Thursday’s 1-0 defeat to Hearts at Tynecastle and Kettlewell did not see the level of commitment he expects from his team without the captain.
“We will need players to come and join in,” the manager said. “Yesterday it was completely unacceptable for the first 20 minutes and it didn’t get much better in the second half.
“It was unacceptable from the point of view of how we handle the ball, try to pass the ball, how we try to get the ball back, our energy, our intensity and I’ll say it again, not taking part in a match. of football.
“You can have your worse game when it comes to ball possession, miscontrol or misplaced passes, but all you have to do is be all out. Yesterday I had to question that.
“I said that to the group and it wasn’t really something for us here at Motherwell. We have had bad results or bad days, but yesterday I had the feeling that there were too many people who did not participate in the competition.”
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