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They can have the full points. The league is gone. I’ll settle for a Hearts victory in the SC. I’m open to a Mephistophelean pact to bring that about.

It's a sad state of affairs when our main hope is stopping another yahoo treble.

It's more that he took so long to correct his mistake(s) when it was clear to everyone else that certain things weren't working and needed changed urgently.

This seems to me to raise questions about our recruitment and indeed the DoF role at the club.

It's not all bad. Remember that brilliant win against Partick Thistle. Maybe later in the season Morelos will grab a hat trick against some jobbers in the league and give us another tweet about hard work and success.

I don't even get the debate here. We have a squad of players who have continually failed to deliver trophies. The new manager brings in new players but didn't pick them for a cup final. Celtc aren't very good but by doing things like not picking our best players we are helping them to keep winning. Beale has done okay, so far but today he had a chance to win a trophy and made an arse of it.

Pick the best players for a cup final. Beale didn't do that.

What, the DoF that was given a resounding endorsement at AGM by his boss? Both as guilty as each other IMO.

The other mobs advantage of a better squad and starting eleven is not exactly true imo. Yes they have a better squad depth due to fewer of their players suffering from long term injury. But after forcing myself to pick an eleven from both squads chosen for yesterdays debacle, I think we should be doing a lot better. Our main problem imo is sticking with players who consistantly let us down. Second to that our tactics and team selection sucked. We spent a large portion of that game soaking up preasure and leaving our forwards feeding on scraps. We were playing septic not Madrid. Still gutted !

Yep, Aribo's ability to take a ball in and get his head up was missed yesterday. Whether he was laying it off or, keeping it in a winning a foul to take the team up the field. In the first half, we missed an Aribo type contribution. We could not retain possession in the first half for more than a couple of passes. Interestingly, we had 40% possession in the first half but won 7 corners to Sellik's one. I thought we isolated Tillman yesterday during the first period, he was way to far right. The spine of Ange's side is Carter Vickers, Calum McGregor and, Kyogo. Moving Tillman more centre would place him on top of deep lying McGregor and, he starts everything for ra Sellik. By the time the first half hour had passed, I was watching the clock as much as the game. I was hoping we could reach half time without conceding. Thirty seconds to go and we allowed Sellik to have possession on the wide edge of our box, a situation achieved from two simple passes. Truthfully, we were blowing out our collective arses after a sustained 45 minute run around. Both Lundstram and Kamara have been good signings, their contributions in last years Euro run are acknowledged. However, yesterday in the first forty-five they were missing. The last 15 of the first period, we were hitting long balls from our own penalty box.

MB is disadvantaged at the moment by our two poor transfer windows in 2022. It’s vital we improve our summer ins/outs this time.

This one will take a little while to get over. A missed opportunity to lay down a marker for the rest of the season, put them under a little bit of pressure and see if any cracks develop. Their upcoming fixtures are: St Boo (A) Hearts (H) Hearts (A) (Scottish Cup) Hibs (H) Ours are: Killie (H) Hibs (A) Raith (H) (SC) Motherwell (A) We really need them to drop some points in the coming weeks if we are to stand any chance of clawing things back. #KeepBelieving

I agree that the debate here is not understandable. Either we signed players in the winter break to improve the 1st team or we bought filler for the squad. If Raskin was fit then why wouldn't we play him for our most important game of the season, particularly given the incredibly poor form of Kamara? This seems to have been Beale's first big misstep, relying on the same old players, we won't get anywhere like that because we all know the same old players have generally come off worse to Celtic. It's not something I'm going to castigate Beale for, he's going to need a couple more windows to change the team, but if we keep playing the same old regulars despite signing new players then there is absolutely no point.

And the last line, eg Finances dictate the quality of players, squad management and recruitment

Every manager has days when it doesn't work out the way he planned but this was such an obvious mistake that I think we're all feeling the first pangs of doubt about Mr Beale ... and maybe that's the biggest disappointment of all today.

7 of our players who started yesterday also started the 2019 League Cup Final defeat - only 1 Celtic player started both.

Without new / fresh / significant investment we'll fall further and further behind Celtic. That is the stark reality we need to face and the board need to address. The board got / get credit for getting us out of the spivs clutches (and rightly so) and for delivering 55. But in hindsight 55 merely papered over the cracks and domestically 2 trophies since returning to top flight makes us as successful as St Johnstone. We should have won the treble but think the vast majority of us were just happy to stop 10. Another aspect that takes the focus of the board was that whilst mostly failing domestically, SG reestablished our European credibility and generated some much needed finances. This lay the platform for last season amazing run to EL final. When Gio eventually replaced SG we were leading in the league but missed out on CL qualification losing to a very mediocre Malmo. Would things have been different if the board had backed SG? Would he have stayed? All ifs, buts and maybes. What is certain is the under Go we crumbled in the league and handed them the title. We did secure the Scottish Cup. I have argued long and hard that Park and Robertson (also King) are not what we need to take us forward but where does the investment come from? There needs to be investment and it needs to be soon - but I fear Park and Robertson are asleep at the wheel (as they have been for some years). Depressing times ahead.

We just looked a bit powderpuff all over the park. Which is why Raskin was needed.

I also think it’s too easily forgotten we sold Bassey, Aribo & Paterson last year. Whilst I the transfer fees were much needed it has weakened our squad in my opinion. Especially Aribo.

Yup, we remain in their shadow and the evidence shows we're effectively as far behind them as we were when Gerrard arrived. Albeit our perilous financial history cannot be corrected overnight, when so little progress is achieved over what's now a 5 year period, I'm afraid it suggests a leadership deficit at the highest level within the club. Everyone realises the risks involved but it's hard to see things improving significantly without a change of ownership bringing major new investment and a whole different level of ambition.

Yeah, but look what happened to Dr Faustus....

I think my mortal soul knows where it’s headed.

Disappointed but relieved. Disappointed because every Rangers defeat especially a cup final is a disappointment. Relieved because I feared a thrashing by 4-0 or worse. celtic managed to flood the midfield, have plenty back in defence yet get three or four up in attack. That speaks of better fitness and better coaching. Their manager is no mug and he’s had time to get his players to know and conform to his pattern. Their ability to defend in numbers was greatly aided by the length of time it took Rangers to get from the half line to the penalty box. Their players are better than ours. Raskin should be fine. Cantwell at least was willing to go forward quickly. Tillman was really poor. Auld McGregor did fine. The backs can’t defend. The centre backs were not bad apart from failing to prevent two classic centre forward’s goals. Morelos had no support. How about the rest of the attack? What attack? The Scottish Cup must be won. The League title is beyond this team. Time to relax, play a bit of football and perhaps develop a consistent style of play.

Lots of teeth-gnashing it seems. Alas, yesterday, work called, and I answered - luckily so on both accounts. You see, I could repeat the mantra of the last weeks, months, even years. Our tactics and team selection has become far too stale, simple, and easy to counter. Choosing players no longer up for the task (if they ever were in certain games) and tactics inadequate for the Scottish game has seen us winning what, 2 trophies in 5 or more seasons? All the affectation about Europe simply papered over the small facts that in Europe, most teams don't know how we play or about our players, don't care, and every now and paid the price. Yet, in Scotland, after half a season under MB till SG, everyone knew how we play, set up, and how to counter players. We papered that over with better quality players ... and for a time, that helped. But soon it fell flat again and we just soldiered / toiled on. It has been very obvious that our "defensive 4-3-3" (no matter how people want to call it, it is exactly that) with but one striker and people who might hit the target every now and then is a blunt weapon, yet we didn't adjust. Once we do get into our rhythm (I can count our league performances regarding that on one hand) and press teams, we look the part and can easily take on the Hooped Horrors too. Yet, this season, it takes us 30 to 45 mins to even start playing any sort of cohesive football. Selecting folk who have shown time and again that they can't hack it any longer or on a consistent basis has to be put on the doorstep of the manager. And sorry, Beale has been around long enough and seen everyone (bar Raskin and Cantwell) to know that. Sure, the Scum had a monetary advantage over us for quite a while now, but likewise, the Aussie has signed players willing to give their all nigh every time they step onto the pitch. Whether they come from Europe or the Far East. And that application of work ethos and quality see them running away with it - no matter how we want to portray our performances as bad or they being poor. It is long overdue that people need to remind themselves that former glories or super-goal stats for e.g. a fullback do not count in the here and now. We had it all to win yesterday, but chose that safe-comfort non-attacking cozy line-up which fully enabled the Scum to play their game. We've seen it before and unless some radical change of thinking happens - and MB selecting players up for the game of the day - it will be another toil till the final day of the season. EDIT: We have enough players at the club to compete for players, quality players at that. IF anyone was disadvantaged as a manager, it was Gio and his injury list which made up a full first team line up for long spells of his reign this season.

A comedy that doesn't even get a laugh. It is sad and pathetic but still a large shareholder in the club. They have a nerve to complain of the board on behalf of their members when DK has been pulling their strings.

I don't care if a manager tells us he can turn water into wine, as long as we win trophies. Not picking Raskin was just plain stupid.

So it wasn't down to fitness? Not picking Raskin was stupid. I'm more concerned about Beale's managerial skills than I was before I read this.

Someone who can hit a ball accurately from outside the box. Seems so unusual!

wbd should be banned from entering now... boo! only kidding

He can make his excuses. The board backed him with 2 players he chose not to play them in the defining game of the season so far. Can’t pin that on a lack of backing. Can you?

The coach is not the problem, at least not the current one.

I thought Jack was excellent when he came on today and made a huge difference.

Skippy the Celtic manager has won something like just 3 out of 18 games in Europe. That tells me they’re not that good. Tactics, game plans & formations play a massive part in football nowadays. Doesn’t seem to matter who we play we get the same product on the park. That needs to change

They win 'every game' because other sides in Scotland are useless and we're not much better. Bodo Gimp hammered them.

It's ridiculous and strangely petulant thing to say. If they're not a good side then what does that make us?

Jesus wept. This shambles is beyond parody now, there's more life in Monty Python's Norwegian Blue.