"You could beat Nancy", McGhee tells players

MARK McGhee hopes Motherwell can make the most of having home advantage in the second leg of their UEFA Cup first-round tie after being paired with AS Nancy in this afternoon's draw.

The Fir Park club avoided 2004 winners Valencia in section three of this afternoon's draw, and the manager believes that his side have a chance of reaching the group stages if they perform at the top of their game against the side who finished fourth in Ligue 1 last season.

McGhee said: "It's a difficult draw as any seeded team is going to be a good side, but the fact that we're away from home first is really important.

"The match that would have been the glamour tie and would have given us little chance was Valencia.

"But I think this one, like the three other teams we could have had, gives us a chance.

"We have to be prepared to win 1-0 over the two legs, which isn't the the way we normally play, but you have to be very strict and disciplined in your defending and you have to take your chances.

"Being drawn away first gives us a little opportunity to go there, keep it tight and maybe not be too ambitious; and then to come back here and really play the sort of expansive football we're used to playing to try and beat them.

"I think that if we play the way we did against Dundee United last Saturday then we will beat Nancy because we played as well then, particularly in the second half, as we played at any time last season.
"Our form is there so we have to take that into this tie."

Assistant manager Scott Leitch will watch Nancy host Le Havre in league action tomorrow while McGhee leads his team in their Easter Road match against Hibernian in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.

McGhee has already begun swotting up on Motherwell's European opponents, who are currently fourth-bottom of the French league.

And the former striker, who lifted the European Cup Winners' Cup with Aberdeen in 1983, will also pass on his experience to his current crop of players.

He said: "I don't know a tremendous amount about Nancy; I know a little bit about French football generally, but I've already made calls already to acquire some DVDs from our satellite television friend.

"By the time we play them, we'll have watched two of their matches and we'll have plenty of knowledge of them.

"I had 10 years of playing in European football every season and I have to make that count because the players will come up against things in the first game and it can pass you by so quickly.

"The best way I can put it is that we have to play in the present, not thinking about anything else like what happens in the next leg or what happens if we win, lose, we score, they score – we just have to play in the moment.

"You have to be really disciplined and focused, and you also have to go the distance because it's no use playing well for 85 minutes and then losing a goal, so they're really difficult games which require high concentration and that's what I'll have to instil in the players."

First McGhee and his players must return their attention to tomorrow's trip to Easter Road, where they are hoping to record their first win of the season after collecting their first point at home last weekend.

The Motherwell manager said: "We played well there last year and if we take the form of our last game into this match then we should give Hibs all sorts of problems.

"They're a decent team and can beat anyone in this division, and we're going to expect Mixu Paatelainen and his players to turn up with their A game, and then we want to take them by surprise."