Rousseau

23 minutes ago, Gaffer said:

I can only assume that we are expecting to lose DJ then.  Otherwise, why would we have 3 players for the one position?  Wallace will be gone, and JF has just arrived.  I like DJ but maybe SG just doesn't think he is good enough defensively, or we've maybe received interest from another club for him.  The only other alternative is that he sees DJ as a winger again.

 

or of course, the story is made up - AGAIN

I think Mohammadi is more a winger type that can play Left-back, rather than being a Left-back.

Technically, Flanagan is a Right-back. At this early stage, I think he is ahead of DJ, though. 

8 minutes ago, cooponthewing said:

We have an extra game now to predict.

 

Belgium v England?

Yes, the Third Place Play-off. 

England should've been 2/3 goals up at Half-time, but then when Croatia changed it they should've scored a couple. 

England couldn't adapt, giving Croatia too much time on the ball. 

They should've went to a back-four, pushing another into midfield which would've helped to press a bit better. 

They lacked creativity, though. 

Belgium 3 - 1 England

France 1 - 0 Croatia

Here are the fixtures for the Third Place Play-off and Final:

Belgium - England

France - Croatia

You have until 15:00 on Saturday 14th July to get in your predictions.

@Malangsob @Franc Ergs @craig @TheUKCrazyhorse @Whosthedado @lenny3k @Crimson Dynamo @johnnyk @Gaffer @forlanssister @onevision @buster. @Sindarin @Bill @der Berliner @BEARGER @Bluedell @compo @Barebear @Tannochsidebear @cooponthewing @Yorkie Bear @ranger_syntax @Gonzo79

Quite a few Correct Scores in this one!

Craig, CD, r_s and BEARGER gained 1 point for the Correct Result.

Rousseau, lenny, gonzo, Yorkie, Johnnyk and Malangsob gained 3 points for the Correct Score.

Change at the top again, with 2 games to go!

Latest Standings:

5 hours ago, cooponthewing said:

The score was 1-1 Gonzo not 2-1 in 90 mins. Just take it easy there.........It’s tight down here at the bottom? It’s a proper dogfight?

53 minutes ago, onevision said:

was it not mentioned way back that extra time will count, no?

45 minutes ago, cooponthewing said:

I hope not??

18 minutes ago, Gonzo79 said:

It definitely was.

Sorry Coop -- as much as I like to "diddle" Gonzo, I do take the scores After Extra Time.

Especially since I predicted 2-1 Croatia!  

Oh no...

Shots fired!

Rousseau, Bill, Whosthedado, Craig, Franc, Gonzo, Yorkie, CD, Barebear, UKCrazyhorse and TB gained 1 point for the Correct Result.

Onevision gained 3 points for the Correct Score.

We have a new leader with 3 games (3rd place play-off) to go!

Latest Standings:

30 minutes ago, craig said:

If going 4-3-3 and one of the midfield 3 is a "10" then you effectively have 8 players for 3 positions, 10 when Dorrans and Rossiter are fit - that is too many IMO.  Options are great, but we need (could still happen admittedly) more striking options.

 

The 3 up front right now would, effectively, be Morelos (or Sadiq), Candeias and Murphy - the only back up would be Middleton (untested at that level) and maybe Ejaria - because Windass is ineffective when playing wide.

 

I think we look much, much stronger in midfield now - but we need forward and creative options.  It does appear that Gerrard/Allen have gone down the route of trying to make us a team whereby the mantra of "if you don't lose goals you don't lose games" and that actually makes sense, particularly when we were the leagues top scorers last season.... if you can continue that whilst being tighter defensively then you have to think you give yourself a good chance.

 

But I just cant help but think that we need more forward options - we badly need a natural scorer - someone like a McCoist or, dare I say it, a Boyd - someone who instinctively knows where the net is and finds it - Morelos, despite his goals, is not that guy.

I'm still not sure it's too many. You can't just have 2 players for each position, each carbon copies of each other in terms of role. We have options now.

Halliday will be on his way, and Dorrans and Rositter will be bit-part players. 

We can agree do disagree there. 

I agree, we most definitely need more options up front; we're very short.

Is Rudden ready? He looked OK on Thursday, a penalty-box striker.

2 hours ago, DMAA said:

According to Whoscored he played 9 full games’ worth of minutes across the whole season and they finished 4 points above the relegation zone. Not very encouraging at all. The two players who started ahead of him have had very non-descript careers. 

 

From youtube he appears fast, strong, aggressive and good at tackling but his technique and end product leaving a lot to be desired. Could be he’s intended only to strengthen the bench as it’s hard to see how he leapfrogs Arfield, McCrorie, Jack etc. 

 

I can't comment on his quality, as I've never seen him play. I should check out some of those videos. 

He was a promising youngster, signed by a newly promoted Ligue 1 side, so I wouldn't have expected him to be playing lots at that level, at that age. 

(They were actually 12th with 10 games to go, so I don't think they were in danger. It's irrelevant anyway, IMO.)

I don't think it's worrying. I think the player profile is encouraging. I doubt he'd be in our league if he was playing every week for a mid-table Ligue 1 side. 

39 minutes ago, Tannochsidebear said:

Is this not starting with the game on Thursday?

 

I thought Europe would be included in the same way as domestic cup games?

 

 

Yes, you're right -- I had somehow thought we had skipped it last season, but then that was probably because we only had one round. 

I'll get it posted now. 

Thanks for reminding me.

1 hour ago, DMAA said:

Coulibaly is an intriguing one. Another one we’d presumably be hoping to sign in 12 months who has high potential, but isn’t it a pretty big worry that he barely featured for a side who very narrowly escaped relegation in Ligue 1 last season?

 

 

He played in 19 league games, which is not bad. I think they were comfortable in the end, finishing 14th. It's arguably better than playing over 30 games for Bastia the season prior, when they finished bottom. It's certainly a step up.

I think he's a Ligue 1 player, albeit around the bottom. I'm not sure how that translates into our league, though.

You can never have too many midfielders.  

I don't think there are too many, when we break it down, assuming it's a 4-3-3.

#6/DM: McCrorie, Rossiter

#8s: Jack, Docherty, Arfield, Coulibaly

#10s: Ejaria, (Windass?) (Both these guys could/will play in the front line too).

Crocked: Dorrans (could play any of the above positions).

Probably Off: Halliday

Rossiter will be injured too, so we have 1 DM, with Jack, Coulibaly coming in when needed. Docherty and Arfield can play #10 too. 

I think we have good options, covering multiple roles. We can go more defensive when needed, using a midfield trio of McCrorie, Jack/Coulibaly, Arfield, or more offensive with McCrorie, Arfield, Docherty/Ejaria.

Just now, Gonzo79 said:

Wouldn't do any harm.  But surely our coaches and his previous coaches will have noticed the problem and tried it.

I don't know. Perhaps. 

1 minute ago, Gonzo79 said:

Timing is instinctive.  I'm not sure how effective training would be.

You think?

I thought crossing a few balls into him repeatedly so he can get the timing right would improve it a bit. 

I think it's his (Morelos) timing: he's either jumping too early or too late, so he never gets a good contact on the ball. 

The goal he scored against Bury was a header, but he didn't actually jump for it. 

That has to be easy enough to correct?

Now we have a battle on!

Whomever comes last, I'm changing their avatar to a Celtic crest.

Sindarin and BD don't count, as they've pretty much pulled out.  

17 minutes ago, pete said:

Everyone thought Ian Wright would be a great player for Celtic and he was flop of the year. And remember how Joey Barton was going to walk the SPL. We have had EPL players before that couldn't kick their own arse. James Beattie and the Everton child star Fanny Jeffers springs to mind. Just because they have played at EPL level doesn't make them great for the SPFL. The SPFL is a different animal. 

Solanke? Good point; he's not even a 'top' player at that level. It's his only redeeming attribute, for me; I don't think he's that great. 

I think Defoe would be good, though. His movement and natural goal-scoring ability could be a good asset for us. I'm not sure how likely that is, with his wages.

I'm not keen on the loan signings of Ings and Solanke -- the former is injury prone, and I doubt he'd take the pay cut at 24/25; and the latter is not a great striker for me -- but Defoe would be a good signing, IMO.

He's an exemplary professional, and a natural goalscorer with a wealth of experience. Wages may be an issue.  

(However, going by the game against Bury, the high energy, pressing game, I can see a Solanke type forward fitting in nicely. And, to be fair, he may do well at this level.)

For me, Belgium are the only side that have been consistently 'good', with good attacking football and tactical flexibility. But they do have a fragility at the back. 

France were superb against Argentina, but Argentina were poor. The other games they scored from a set-piece and were gifted a goal against a Uruguay side set-up to defend; Once they scored Uruguay were screwed, doubly so without Cavani.  

England have been good in spells, but have had a fortunate run. I expect any side that plays well to beat them; the rest have the quality to do so. 

Croatia are a solid side, but they've not played well since the opening games. They are solid in possession, without cutting teams open. They are solid defensively from open-play, but have conceded sloppy goals from set-pieces. (England have been the best at set-pieces.)

53 minutes ago, Scott7 said:

They play quite good football, though, do they not? By that I mean proficient at control of the ball and passing it to a chap in the same side with a philosophy of trying to attack the opposition goal rather than spoiling and waiting for something to turn up.

 

I don’t know about their tactical flexibility, pitch geography awareness, nor the strength of their sports psychology but no team with Modric and Rakitic in it is poor.

Initially, yes, they looked very good.

But the last few games have been poor: 2 penalty shoot-outs! 

France 2 - 1 Belgium

Croatia 2 - 1 England