Rousseau

Looks like we're dovetailing between a 4-4-2 when defensing and a 4-3-3 when in possession. Niko is LM in the 4-4-2, but drifts in to make a 3 in midfield, with Miller and Candeias pushing wide. Nice to see.

Good pressing, compact line-up.

Niko playing Left-Midfield, which I'm nervous about!

I've seen a foul from Alves and Dorrans, and both have won headers!

Simply the Best!

I have heard of Evra (assuming its the ex-Man U full back) but none of the others.

 

Now when we played them in '92 you knew every one of their players as they were all top class. French league footy isnt all that is it? They did finish 33 points behind monaco in 5th last year did they not?

It's a good competitive league: Lyon reached the semi-final of the Europa and Monaco reached the semi-final of the Champions League, and that's omitting PSG.

We're not winning this game; I'm just looking to see improvements and a decent performance.

Have you not heard of Payet, Rami, Thauvin, Sanson?

[tweet]888755638179946497[/tweet]

Seeing that Marseille team like...

Or maybe 4-2-3-1, with Dorrans beside Jack, Niko No.10 and Miller wide?

Flat 4-4-2, with Dorrans LM?

Looks like two up front, but why is Miller there...?

Is Rossiter injured again?

[tweet]888746181442011137[/tweet]

I think dB is pointing out that Proges seem to be a tough outfit to break down, which seems fair.

We still should've beaten them, though.

I think Foderingham is under-appreciated, but he still has things to improve upon; he's still young so I'm confident he'll develop well over the next few years.

A compilation of his best saves (after a certain date, I think, which I don't recall):

[tweet]819635196689584128[/tweet]

For reasons I can't quite understand it seems 'we're' dividing into camps and these camps are becoming ever more intransigent. As someone who has firmly nailed his colours to the 'Doubting Pedro' camp let me be clear on a few things. I don't want him to fail, nothing would make me happier than for PC to prove to be a managerial visionary who transforms our club, indeed I'd accept him being simply really lucky and fluking the league next season. I'd happily eat lashings of humble pie and greedily accept Uiliem's accusations of effete, lady-boy, panic merchant status, Berliner's lectures on loyalty and Gaffer's sermon on the mount regarding my lack of faith, indeed I'd make them my posting signature for the coming season if they prove to be true. Be clear, I want Rangers to win, I want success, I want our new signings to settle and perform to a high standard. But also be clear, I, and I imagine all my fellow travellers in the Doubting Pedro camp, didn't welcome a 1-0 defeat to a Perthshire 11 yesterday and I don't want to see us get turned over by Gene Hackman's boys on Saturday. I'd love to see a glimmer of promise, something that helps me restore my faith. My growing scepticism of our current manager is not based on anything but his record as a manager both with us and before us. But I want to be wrong.

 

At the same time, the 'Believe in Pedro' camp need to open their eyes to glaring evidence staring them in the face. Don't dismiss every defeat as unavoidable as we don't have the players yet, (Walter Smith took over from PLG and transformed the side in a matter of weeks by signing two ageing centre halves and an injury prone Kevin Thomson), don't dismiss every rumour of player unrest as 'last year's duds having a moan', experienced players know the difference between good and bad tactics and good and bad management and it's wilful self-harm to dismiss these stories as irrelevant.

 

When the team takes to the pitch they get my full support. I assume they get Tannochside Bear's too, and Gribz and Craig's. My scepticism of Pedro is not the cause of our defeat to Progres or our loss to St Johnstone, rather these defeats, and others, are the reason for my scepticism. Don't make this a simple 'for or against' thing, it's not as black and white as that. At some point very soon PC needs to prove he can create a Rangers side that can compete with Celtic and Aberdeen and Hearts and beat the rest regularly, that's the minimum that's required. Let me know when you see that please.

Your plea to 'PC believers' works both ways.

There is certainly a division, with both sides at either end of the spectrum; the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

I would say we have the right centre backs for it. There is two ways of playing a back 3. You have the 3 central defenders just doing what they know or you play a 2 like a normal system then the sweeper inbetween who goes behind and infront. Almost the opposite of a free role striker. But the 3 definitely must know what their roles are. Im sure Alves, Wilson and Cardoso could play as a 3.

 

I dont even think Wallace and Tav need to be the wing backs, maybe just one and when defending he makes up a 4th defender plus we would have a holding midfielder back there. Wallace for me has been poor of late and he wouldnt make my starting XI at the moment.

Could work, but I do think you need the wide CBs to be comfortable playing wide, almost as full-backs, with a bit of pace; Cardoso is the only one I see being able to do that, and that's only with a few games played. I think Wallace played LCB at one stage: that could be better, for me, than Bates or WIlson?

This game has really brought out the divisions within the support, and fairly got the juices going!

I love Rangers.

it is telling: telling you what you want to hear.

 

Stay calm and stop acting like an amateur thesp.

 

If everybody runs to one side of the boat, it is likely to capsize.

So show some balls, and independence of mind, and try to avoid fits of the vapours.

Can't be 5 surely as we won 1-0 at home to the European powerhouse, Progres whatstheirname.

5 out of the last 6 then?

I quite like the idea of 4 real midfielders in the same team also but we need to work out a system where we still get a bit of width or creativity in the final third. I just think a back 4 is going out of fashion at the moment. Ive always been a 3-5-2 fan even when it was unpopular but it just seems the way to go at the moment.

You need the players in defence to play a 3-5-2 and, indeed, a proper holding midfielder.

 

Who would we play as the 3 at the back ? We aren't blessed for speed there and I could see us getting ripped apart down the flanks.

 

I like the 3-5-2 as well, but only if you have the personnel for it.

I agree with Craig: I don't think we have the centre-backs for a back-three. I like the formation too, but perhaps not for us at this time.

I think the width has to come from the full-backs, which is not that unusual. I loved the AC Milan side that played a 4-4-2 diamond, with midfielders that didn't play with; the width coming from their full-backs. My only worry is that Wallace and Tavernier have been rather poor with their crossing thus far - might be better with 2 up front, as it was today?

You have absolutely no idea if that is the incident being spoken about though.

Fair enough, I'll apologise if not, but it just sounds/looks like the 'PC arguing with fans' debacle, when in fact he was just talking and apologising.

I usually don't care about the results of these games, and although the result doesn't concern, the fact that we've now gone 5 games (?) without scoring is really annoying me. I like the intensity, the defensive organisation, but it doesn't matter if we can't score goals.

Kranjcar wasn't screaming at PC, he was screaming at the ref after a pretty bad challenge on him by one of the opposition players; studs up kind of thing.

I wish people would stop making pish up to suite their agenda. FFS. (Not having a go at FS.)

Pena and Dorrans right and left!! Have absolutely no time for a manager who does that

 

Not concerned by the score but the formation and shoe horning of centre mids into wide positions tells me he doesn't have a clue and has no real transfer strategy.

 

Just have this horrible feeling Mcleish or someone similar is in our immediate future.

 

The future just got all dark again.

They're not playing "wide" though, are they? It's a 4-3-1-2 or 4-4-2 diamond: there is no wide player.

I like the idea; it gets the bet players in the team.

I see Whittaker is in the paper this morning mouthing off about Hibs target this year.

 

Since when did any team "aim" for second?!

Since us last year?

Not happy with the quality, but they were fine with Windass, Crooks, Gilks, Senderos, Hodson and Garner?

FFS.

We'll most likely lose, but hopefully we can keep it respectable, and see our side line up against a top side that won't sit ten men behind the ball!

Ah... if only this was two years ago, we would've seen the genius that is Marcelo Bielsa.