Jim Gannon wants his side to be more inventive in attack so has turn the training programme up a notch or two

Motherwell players are having to up the tempo to keep up with manager Jim Gannon's new training regime as he hones his team's cutting edge for the visit of Falkirk tomorrow. Well were on the wrong end of a 3-1 result in last week's game against Hibs - Gannon's first league loss - despite dominating first-half possession. Motherwell never really looked like coming back after Hibs completed the scoring with a quickfire double early in the second half, so Gannon is looking for more pace and invention up front from his players.

The former Stockport manager said: "I feel there were signs of good football but we just lacked that cutting edge. The speed of thought, the speed of pass and the speed of movement up front hasn't been what I want. If I haven't got the right players for it then I need to change it. We've got good talented young players like Bob McHugh, Jamie Murphy, Chris Humphrey and Paul Slane to come back who have all got that little bit more incisiveness about them in terms of passing and running. I think that's all we needed to improve, the speed of thought and movement in the attacking half and trust the quality players we can unleash to provide the goalscoring opportunities. We have worked really hard on that. We have freshened training up to meet the players' needs, they wanted something snappier and quicker. Training has been really intense and sharp and we are looking forward to having a bit more about us come Saturday."

Much of Motherwell's attacking play in recent games has generated from full-backs Yassin Moutaouakil and Stevie Hammell, who have both been given licence to get forward at every opportunity. Gannon said: "I've always wanted my team to rely on the principle of progressive overload where we use players down the lines to bring the ball up the pitch. We've done that really well, we're getting into the opposition half with comfortable possession and it's all about the penetration. The wing-backs give you a valuable outlet on both sides. That's my philosophy, I think it creates a good brand of exciting, attacking football but also gives you a different dimension to the way you attack that most teams don't do. Obviously some teams are going to figure out how we play and are going to find different solutions, which is going to be a challenge for myself and our players. But I'm really looking forward to evolving it further, because I think the roles we have asked for Yassin and Stevie Hammell have certainly brought out the best in them as attacking full-backs. With further improvements to the tempo of training and further improvements in the players who come into the team, we'll see a much more influential attacking force, and therefore we won't have as many midfielders and full-backs having to do as much attacking."
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