Motherwell star admits frustrations over red tape that delayed summer transfer as Fir Park switch detailed

The former Wolves midfielder has arrived at Fir Park and made his home debut against Bundesliga opposition in a play-off first leg on Thursday. Alfred Johansson’s side put up a good fight but were eventually overwhelmed and trail 3-1 ahead of leg two away from home, with one of Scottish football’s greatest-ever away days in Europe now needed if they are to reach the lucrative league phase.

Hodge says the disappointment of defeat is still rife despite putting up a good fight against last term’s Europa League finalists. They now head for the Black Forest region with the aim of trying to show their possession-based style’s plus points across 90 minutes rather than in flashes.

Can Motherwell beat Freiburg in Germany?

“I think we had good moments in the game, but we didn't show it for 90 minutes, I don't think,” said Hodge. “Obviously they were a good side, but we've given ourselves a mountain to climb next week. So now our task is to reset and go and show what we can do next week. I think we left everything out there, but you can't take away from the disappointment. Playing to lose a game, it's never what you want to do. Like I said, we'll look to build from it and we'll go and give our best next week.

“I think where we are as a team, we need to be going and looking to win these games. We didn't go into the game with any fear. We knew they were a good side, but this team is used to playing good sides when we go to Celtic, when we go to Rangers. We're never going to be happy with a 3-1 loss at home, and that's something we've got to... obviously we worked really hard, we showed some good stuff, but there's definitely more to come.

“We've just got to go there and win. We showed at moments what we could do, especially the first 10 minutes, the first 20 minutes even, was really good. We've got to go and replicate that. We showed good moments where we can get on top of them. We can definitely show our style of play and impose that on them, and we're going to have to look to go and do that even more next week in Germany."

Why has former Wolves player signed for Motherwell?

Hodge arrives in North Lanarkshire with good pedigree from time amongst the Manchester City academy set-up alongside Premier League experience at Wolves. His exit from Portuguese side Tondela was complicated due to red tape but he’s happy to finally have made his way to Motherwell after a prolonged wait.

"It's been great,” Hodge added. “As soon I spoke to the gaffer, I was desperate to come here but things got delayed for whatever reason, all sorts of stuff. I had to go and get papers done at the embassy in London, stupid stuff like that, it made me have to wait a bit longer, but I'm just happy to finally get it done. I was over in Portugal, so they made it real difficult to get out of there, but with the work of the club and everyone pushing really hard to make it happen, I'm just glad I'm here."