der Berliner

Well, it took us 35 mins to get going ... up until that, a typical Rugby Park kickabout. Still think Pröpper was fouled before their first, thus Wright had a free header. After Cerny's goal, the second time he ran through he was challenged from behind and the guy was lucky to hit the ball, feet with a straight leg into Cerny's ankles might have been the end of his season.

Brutal hit'n hope by Killie, counting on their plastic pitch and strength. And with themtwo at the back and no support, this might get worse.

Comical defending. What about kicking the ball away?

Don Robertson the ref ... well, expect some funny things. ... oops, Pröpper wasn't fouled. See, didn't take long.

From our homepage ... That means that Jack Butland will start in goal once again, behind a backline of captain James Tavernier, Robin Propper, Clinton Nsiala and Jefte. Nico Raskin partners Mohamed Diomande in midfield and they will be flanked either side by Vaclav Cerny and Ianis Hagi. At the top of the pitch the Light Blues begin with a pair in the frontline, with Cyriel Dessers partnering Hamza Igamane. ... and yes, it is exactly the same disfunctional line-up which we didn't enjoy on Saturday. Maybe they'll click today, maybe not.

Brutal team, even more brutal pitch ... hope no-one gets injured.

... Ferguson's immature behaviour was when? 15 years ago? He's 47 now. Can't say I have heard him much since, nor read much of him since. Likewise, I never heard anything about Warburton's, Beale's, Caixinha's or Clement's bad boy stuff of days gone by ... if there was any. At the end of the day, he'll have to show his worth as a Rangers head coach now, and in that respect, he's a clean sheet. Let's judge him and his fellow coaches for their work at Ibrox ... as with any new manager / head coach / you name it.

The schedule in the coming weeks is dreadful, so I expect the doom-brigade in full hysteria mood soon. No matter the fact that they have little to work with, given the size and status of the squad.

Like I said above, different clubs & players, different demands, different backing, and opposition. I don't advocate for him, but it is not as easy as it seems. As it happens, today's Sir Walter's birthday.

... too bad he didn't do the same as a manager. Then again, the support from the board was sort of lacking, IIRC.

Probably the best options we can get. AFAIK, Kevin Thomson is already there, isn't he? Good luck especially to Neil McCann. These guys - bar the Moroccan - all know what is required, both on and off the pitch. Whether they can work something out with the players we have right now is anyone's guess. We'll have to wait and see what develops on and off the pitch in the summer.

Regarding new managers and coaches. Failure at other clubs, big or small, is no real criteria when it comes to us (or any new club). Every club provides a different challenge, has different resources in money and players, has different demands. Sir Walter would probably never be considered by Barcelona or Dortmund, AC Mian or the like. But he knew how to play the game in Scotland, knew what sort of players were required, where and when. If the 49ers send us a ton of nuggets and we get Guardiola and 10 superstars that wipe the floor with everything in Scotland, fine by me. If we get Vinny Jones* and he gets enough hard guys and Scots in who rip themselves a new one to get the results required, fine by me. The current status quo simply can't continue. *You know what I mean.

True enough. My remark was more about him actually trying to do something, rather than the quality of his play. Others were simply "playing along". One just has to look with one open eye to see why this current team, injury-ravaged or not, is simply not clicking. Hagi is being played on the left. He hardly ever played on the left before, is according to his stats an attacking midfielder (95) or right winger (77, of which were 53 with us). Bajrami is being played on the left. He hardly ever played on the left before, is according to his stats an attacking midiflieder (145), or playing centrally (69). Enter Tom Lawrence, whom we primarily played as an AM (34 out of 60), but hardly ever on the left (3) He is according to his stats a left winger (191), who can play through the middle (110, including our 34). Obviously, the right-winger slot is taken up by Cerny (and McCausland, who can actually play on either side), and our prime left wingers, Cortes and Matondo (now off) were injured for ages. While Hagi is versatile enough to whip in enough crosses, Bajrami is obviously not. Both are better more centrally, preferably behind two attackers. Albeit being injured quite often, Lawrence is hardly ever used in his prime role though. Maybe he's been a touch too slow for some, but given that we camp in the opposition half most of the time anyways, spee is not exactly a factor. I do remember that Hagi was getting slaughtered for not being fast enough to be a right winger ... even though "speed" was not really needed. It's not like we were or are playing fast counter attacking football. Being set up with the wrong players filling wrong positions and poor tactics is asking for trouble. It has been the case for the last 9 years now, and we don't have people at the helm able to understand this. Trying the same thing over and over again hoping for a better outcome is sheer stupidity. PC has limited resources in terms of players, and fair enough. But even with a full squad he's not changing things. ... and on a semi-related note: if there is an order to "play out from the back all the time" (even if we crumble under pressure and players are well covered), whoever gave that order should be excorted to Erskine Bridge ...

On a wee sidenote ... every single one of the Saints' players looked up for it today and knew what they were doing. They needed points badly. Goalie and centre-halfs aside, only Hagi and Cerny looked to run themselves into the ground, Dessers got next to no balls and Igamane, much like Jefte, are a long way from the finished article. Raskin got bullied out of any wish to play early on and Diomande was exactly the bit-part player that in the end didn't do that much. The lack of cohesion oozes out of this side right now. It's like 7 or 8 strangers walk onto that pitch and try to work out what they are doing.

You get a glimmer of hope for the season, but this team manages to roll a tsunami over it. Truly shocking ...

Play out from the back time and again ... this is a pure horror show.

Hagi has every right to walk away from the dross he has top cope with ... ... and he even gets subbed now.

The time Tavernier goes into the AM role gives me the creeps ...

Didn't Mandron hit Nsilia's legs so that he stumbled over his own?

Like it or not, but Gogic would be exactly the type of defender we need for most of our Scottish games ...

Wouldn't be surprised to see Lawrence for Igamane in the 2nd half. We need someone to pick a pass, as we have no-one in midfield to calm play down. Hagi again wasted on the wing.

... which means, we need investment and are easy to deal with?

BTW, I blame you for the US-take-over attempt ... with all your stats-mumbo-jumbo ...

Raskin's taking the brunt of their attention ...

Saints do the usual physical approach and we don't really cope, for obvious reasons. Need to make our chances count.