Alfred Johansson has urged his Motherwell side to focus on the things they can control as they look to overturn a 3-1 deficit and reach the UEFA Conference League group stage.
“The message has been that this week we’re going to try to do our thing,” said the Swede.
“When we do our thing, that’s when we are at our best. The main thing is that we need to stay true to ourselves as much as possible.
“The mindset is that whenever we play a game of football, we want to perform to the best of our ability, with our style of play at the forefront of our minds. That’s what we’re here to do, to be as good as we can.”
The Steelmen made a dream start in the first leg, with Regan Charles-Cook sending the home support into raptures after converting Emmanuel Longelo’s cross. However, a double from World Cup winner Matthias Ginter, a header from Keisuke Goto, and a red card for Martin Moormann left Johansson’s side with a mountain to climb heading into the return leg in Germany.
But after giving last season’s Europa League finalists a serious scare, Johansson has called on his players to show bravery at the Europa-Park Stadion.
“Sometimes I think people tend to put more emphasis on the result than on what we do ourselves,” he said.
“Obviously, we want to do well and achieve great results, but we know that what we can control are our performances and behaviours on the pitch.
“It’s about recognising that we can perform at a very high level and striving to reach that standard as often as possible. We don’t want to become overly cautious, sit deep, or try to protect ourselves during periods of the game.
“We want to be brave.”
Johansson was also asked about LASK’s miraculous five-goal comeback against Scottish champions Celtic on Tuesday. While he acknowledged that such stories could provide inspiration, his focus remains firmly on his own team.
“There are millions of stories throughout football history that you can draw inspiration from if you want to, absolutely,” he added.
“But I think we’re better off focusing on what we have to do.
“The players and staff all believe we have a lot of quality, and we believe we have the capacity to do well. That’s where our focus is.”