Rousseau

11 minutes ago, BlackSocksRedTops said:

This. At no time were their defender on the ball or asked to make decisions. Our set up allowed their best player (Ntcham) to dictate play 

I agree we did allow their deep playmakers to dictate play, but I would much rather -- If we're not going to press them -- we gave them the ball deep and marked their passing options. I felt we did that. Broon and Ntcham had plenty of time of the ball but McGregor, Rogic and that other one were never in the game. 

4 minutes ago, alexscottislegend said:

We knew their weakest point was the defence, yet we opted not to test it! SG must take some blame, surrendering the midfield.

We didn't surrender the midfield; we blocked off the midfield quite effectively.

We did surrender possession to their back-three/four, which was not a bad thing in itself. 

6 minutes ago, BlackSocksRedTops said:

The front players were to isolated too get any quality coming out of defence. Along with the 2nd half with Motherwell, that's 2 games that we've squandered the midfield for long balls. I hope this is not a sign of things to come because we have Lafferty ie. A big guy up front

Agreed. 

Everyone wanted a target-man....  

The only positive I can take is they battered us for an hour and it took a break from a foul for them to score. 

We need to see so much more when we have the ball, though. I didn't expect a high-pressing game after the mid-week exertions, but the long diagonal to Lafferty -- OK in itself -- didn't bear much fruit. 

I thought the contain tactic was OK, it was the out-ball that was atrocious; we couldn't go anywhere when we got the ball and gave it back. 

Just when I thought we had a team of players of the required quality, they come up against them and look like amateurs. 

Really frustrating. 

I get that first image until the tweet embeds properly; i just give it a second or two. 

I don't get the second.

I think Man City could set a better total here than the England top order. 

They look good; Newcastle not so much.

Edit: Maybe not.  

2 minutes ago, ian1964 said:

Eh! January?...……...?

Touche.

I'm reluctant to set any objectives with this group -- some games look winnable, others not. I would have bitten your hand off to just get into the group stages at the start of the season.

I think we should just take each game as it comes. If we can construct a position to perhaps qualify for the KO stages, then great; if not, then no issues. 

When does the January Transfer Thread go up?  

34 minutes ago, Crimson Dynamo said:

Let's hope so.

I would've preferred not to go to Russia...

Group G:

Villareal

Rapid Vienna

Spartak Moscow

RANGERS

We don't half shoot ourselves in the foot. We've finally got a half-decent goalscorer and we're actually contemplating moving him on because he's a wee bit petulant? Mental. 

The only player I can recall who I'd ever serious consider selling because of a disciplinary record would be Luis Suarez; he missed 20-odd games through suspension. Even then I wouldn't because the benefits out-way the negatives.  

That's a bad cough you've got there, BD.

Hopefully we'll see a flurry of activity because of our qualification. 

I was a bag of nerves, but that was f*cking outstanding.

Good preview Pete, but I really can't take it seriously without the proper thread prefix. I've been spoiled.  

The real question is 'how for no is Antti Niemi no called up?'

2 hours ago, Uilleam said:

I think that you typed "Eros" into Google Search, and were surprised when a football player appeared. 

I misspelled Windass...