Alfred Johansson says Motherwell will have to "find an edge elsewhere" in their game as opponents catch up with their passing style.

Well are second only to Celtic in attempted passes and passing accuracy in the Premiership this season as they continue the brand of football introduced by Johansson's predecessor, Jens Berthel Askou, last summer.

But Johansson cited recent statistics that showed passes per Premiership game had increased by more than 100 to close to 900 from four seasons ago to this campaign, while passing accuracy was up from 74% to more than 80% and long passes had reduced by around a quarter.

"I saw some statistics a couple of weeks ago, how much higher the amount of passes in the Scottish football games are this season, compared only with last season," said the Fir Park manager.

"There was also a comparison over a five-year period, and the amount of passes has increased a lot. And it was also a big step from last season to how this season has started.

"The game is moving in that direction, which I guess is natural. I mean, that's how the trend has been in the rest of European football for quite some time."

Dundee United, who host Johansson's side on Saturday, have adopted a more attack-minded passing brand of football this season and are unbeaten in six since losing at Fir Park.

Motherwell's 1-0 win over St Mirren last weekend was their first victory in eight games and Johansson says Motherwell's style of play will not give them an inherent advantage.

"It was very different from many of the other teams (last season) and that then gave Motherwell an edge because they were very early," the Swede said.

"Whereas this season, it's more teams trying to, maybe not play in the exact same way, but at least have more passes than they had in the past.

"So if that is the case, that's not going to be the one thing that's going to be the difference between the teams.

"So I guess that style of play will not be the thing that separates the winner from loser. I think you're going to have to be finding an edge elsewhere for how good you are with and without the ball.

"You need to be good on your basics. Making minor adaptations to an opponent is always going to be there, but it's going to be minor changes."