BlackSocksRedTops

Whit? Do you register a squad of 90 players?

Hagi seems to have become 3 times the player during his time off through injury.

That's why I put Souttar in the middle. Not seen much of Sterling but Souttar is strong at moving the ball out of the back IMO.

As this new season has slowly progressed, much has been made of this current squad of players and what formation we should be playing to ensure we get the best out of them. Despite the influx of new blood, much of the debate has unsurprisingly focused on two senior members of the squad, Tavernier and Barasic, due to their Jekyll and Hyde starts to the season. Further questions about our narrow shape and lack of width have have also been reinforced by Tuesdays events in Geneva. This has got me thinking of how to get the best qualities of Tav and Borna working to our advantage whilst ensuring that we are providing cover for our central defenders. It seems Beale is curious about the possibilities of a playing a back 3 as he has utilised a deep lying midfielder dropping in there on occasions. He has also further teased this idea with Sterling's recent cameos appearances against Livingston and Servette. Does anyone see this as a long term concern? I could see this working for games against Celtic and games in Europe. On the graphic attached players could be swapped like for like (Roofe for Dessers, Ridvan for Borna etc.) IMO it provides cover for our back line and would ask less of Tav and Borna during games. Both are at the stage of their career where they cannot do both jobs to a good enough level. A 3 also gives Souttar more licence to step forward and use the ball. I know they are on a different level but look at what Stones does for Man City. It also allow us to play a higher press which (I feel we will have to do against PSV and Celtic). Thoughts?

Cheers Gonzo. I did think it was strange that a CL game was on a weekend.

Was the game not in Zagreb?

Not too many wholesale changes for me. We need this team playing together as much as possible. Start strong and then make the relevant changes when the game is done.

I am also torn. With regards to potential money earned, I've seen 25 million mention. Is that overall prize money for the tournament or what we could potentially earn? I'll email Gianni Infantino...

Just a wee correction WBD. Zagreb actually lost their 2-1 in the first leg at home so might struggle to qualify.

Cheers Thinker. I thought it was it something like this. With regards to Dinamo Zagreb, they lost 2-1 at home in the 1st league of their CL qualifier and randomly play the 2nd leg in Greece on Saturday.

Brugge are in the Conference League so I'm not sure if you get less points for that?

Just another wee side note regarding the progress of our new signings. It's clear to see Dessers/Danilo are not up to speed yet and I've seen some mention of how they compare to Celtics Japanese signings a few seasons ago. It's worth noting that Kyogo came to Celtic in the middle of a J League season so was already in tip top condition. Hatate came in at the end of a J League season so once again was fully up to speed. From our point of view, you can already see Cifuentes is relatively up to speed as he has came in the middle of a MSL season.

Just a wee side note from our European adventures. It was mentioned recently that we may be eligible for an extended version of the World Club Cup due to our recent European exploits. I recall that our participation was dependent on certain conditions ie. How we fared in Europe this year. Does anyone know the full details of this and what we need to achieve to take part?

OK. Who's gonna start a Morton League Cup thread? The potential line ups should be interesting...

Look out for the sea change in attitudes if the Edinburgh teams can muster up some kind of result tomorrow.I still can't believe there are people still paying a licence fee to that shower.

3 assists in 3 games.

Oh for a player like David Silva. He was a wee magician.

Going back to the point about fitness and the temperature in the stadium last night, Raskins energy levels were amazing.

Didn't see that but I did see the idiot with the Celtic strip on.

I get that but all have scored goals in our opening round of matches (bar Killie). That's what they have been brought in to do. Granted, should they have scored more? Of course but we need to give them time. We just have to keep winning/progressing during that bedding in period.

Not sure it has been mentioned in all the hullabaloo, but the temperature pitch side was approaching 35 degrees apparently. With that in mind, I feel we finished the game looking the fitter team. Hopefully a sign of the conditioning work done in pre season.

The downside of the narrow shape? I can see a potential back 3 against PSV in the works as they use width very effectively. We'll see. Morton first...

I know people are quick to jump on Dessers back but I've seen enough of him to know that there is a player there. His interchange play with Cantwell against Livingston (Lammars goal) and last night when he hit the post shows promise. He just needs to get up to speed. He's nailed on to score against the Tims IMO. Football can be like that.🤣🤣

Thought he was unlucky with the chance of the post. He didn't have much to aim at tbh