Motherwell star pushed to be part of Askou revolution at Fir Park

Daily Record

3 days ago

Elijah Just has reconnected to a boss he worked with in Denmark
When Elijah Just heard what Jens Berthel Askou had planned at Motherwell, he pushed for a move to Scotland.
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At 25, the New Zealand international had already moved to Austria and Denmark, and it was at Horsens that Just worked under Askou.
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Just reckons he's made a good move to the Premiership, and wants to help realise Askou's vision of how the Steelmen should play.
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Ahead of Saturday's Premier Sports Cup last-16 tie at Championship leaders St Johnstone, Just said: 'The way the manager has us playing is suited to me, I think, and I've come in at a time when there has been a lot of change, so I haven't had to come into a team that's already settled and try and fight in that way.
'It has been good timing, for me.
'The move was quite fast. I had worked with the manager before, so when he called and explained to me what he was doing, and how he wanted the team to play, I pushed pretty hard to get it done as soon as possible.
'The most important thing is he has a lot of belief in his players, he wants them to feel like they can play with freedom and confidence. Over the first few games, you can see we're trying to play the ball out from the back, to move the ball forward fast and create chances.
'We have a lot of work to do, but I think things are heading in the right direction.'
Having had experience of moving has helped Just, who reckons there are similarities between his native New Zealand and Scotland.
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He said: 'It has been quite easy to settle in, compared to Austria and Denmark, where I was before.
'Scotland feels like I'm coming home, because New Zealand and Scotland are quite similar, so it has been quite easy.
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'The first thing is that everyone's speaking English, so that's a massive help, and off the field, things like the food and supermarkets, it's so easy to integrate into society.
'When I moved to Denmark I had to grow up pretty fast. It was difficult being away from home, but you start to get used to it, and moving to Scotland has been the easiest of my moves, for sure.
'The less you have to worry about off the field, the more you can just focus on the football, so it has been really easy for me, now.
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'There are similarities. I think in the two games I've played in the league you have Rangers, who have more of the ball and St Mirren was a lot of duels and aerials, which you also get in Denmark.'
Just has seen improvement in the team over the Premier Sports Cup group stages and draws against Rangers and St Mirren, and says they're looking forward to getting stuck in to the cup.
He said: 'Since I've been here I've definitely seen improvement through the League Cup and the first two Premiership games.
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'Where we want to go in the league and the cup, we need to be a lot better, especially in the final third, but we're confident that we'll get there.
'Part of my job is creating goals and assists. I'm trying to push and build confidence, as well as everyone else, to create chances, and when they come, we will score goals.
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'From the first two games it has been 'how can we create chances', put ourselves in good positions to really attack.
'We've been very good, building up, but especially in the St Mirren game, I don't think we created enough chances, so that's the focus for this weekend, and going forward.
'St Mirren did a good job to stifle what we are trying to create, and we need to be better in the final third.
'We're confident, going into the cup game. Everybody's really excited. From what I've heard about St Johnstone they have a good squad.
'I know the manager that came in at the back end of last season has them playing quite well, so we know it's going to be tough, but I think we're ready.'