DMAA

2 minutes ago, Craigy1881 said:

Jim white reporting on twitter that kent in the permanent deal could be happening for £7 million

He's been linked with a permanent move to Brugge today. Don't think there's anything in the link to us.

33 minutes ago, RANGERRAB said:

Or how about giving  Grezda another chance?

Gerrard has already made it clear Grezda isn’t in his plans

14 minutes ago, pete said:

I think he is out for a while anyway. He left Ibrox on crutches and rumours are he will be out for a while.

With Jones and Barker injured and Hastie loaned out maybe Gerrard has been handed an excuse to make a last minute loan signing...

6 minutes ago, Bill said:

Wise words. I'm not sure about this but didn't we show a similar loss of form after we qualified for the Europa League last season.

We stuttered from the off last season really with draws at Aberdeen and Motherwell before qualifying. The loss to Celtic was a few days after qualifying just like this season. So far the difference between this season and last season in the league is that this season we found the winner twice whereas last season we had already dropped 4 before the Celtic game. I felt in those early games it showed that we didn't have many possession players in the team and couldn't keep the ball, that is certaily in stark contrast to this season.

Still reason to be hopeful but I'm starting to wonder if come December the moaners among us will be screaming for a number 10 to be signed in January like we were last season. Ojo looks lightweight and not up for the physical side of the game and a bit raw in general, Jones is best on the counter rather than unlocking defences, Arfield is a player I really like but he is maybe struggling with playing every game, Barker is injury prone and a bit of a counter attack player like Jones and Stewart doesn't seem to be fancied by the manager. That's a cup half empty assessment of course but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't hoping Allen pulls a rabbit out of the hat today.

The Phil Foden link was crazy. Reports that we had a loan offer turned down. An audacious move if true but I highly doubt it. A Phil Foden type player would be amazing but I'm expecting a quiet day and frustration that we haven't shifted more wages than we have ?

I found the celebrations when Lennon was appointed strange. He's not flashy but he does have a decent track record of getting the job done and showed himself to be far more pragmatic than Rodgers in Europe. He's the only Celtic manager I remember since Martin O'Neill who gets results in tough games away from home for Celtic. We can still do this though and get a result at Parkhead, I just think people were naiive to celebrate and gloat when he was appointed.

16 hours ago, ranger_syntax said:

When we drop Morelos we trade off the ability to retain possession up the pitch

Sorry to nitpick but this is clearly not true. Defoe is far better than Morelos at retaining possession, whatever else you say about him. Sure Morelos is strong and has the ability to hold off defenders sometimes but overall Defoe's technical advantage shows and he rarely gives away possession compared to Morelos and the stats would back that up. I don't think starting Defoe was the problem yesterday at all. I think Barisic and Jones starting would have made a difference.

11 minutes ago, der Berliner said:

Strap yourself in for action from the Compliance Officer ...

 

https://streamable.com/vv68t

 

... and it wasn't Madden who looked straight on that, just a guy with SPECSAVERS ads on his jersey.

The free kick was given, what annoys me is the failure to follow the rules from there. It's not the ref's prerogative to overrule the rules.

Quote

"attempts to deceive the referee by feigning injury or pretending to have been fouled (simulation)", must be sanctioned as unsporting behaviour which is misconduct punishable by a yellow card

When has a free kick been given for a dive before and the player not been carded? His earlier foul was also as clear a yellow as you'll ever see too. A ref can't just decide that he's only going to issue a card for leg breakers today.

All in all the first half was pretty even but the first goal is absolutely huge in those games. It's tempting to go overboard in the post match analysis but you have to view the rest of the game through the lens of having lost that first goal. It was an unforced error. So it's not the case that they were superior at that stage and it was coming. We gifted it to them and from then it's an uphill battle because the game suits the team defending a lead and playing on the counter. Having said that, we are still clearly weaker than them in the attacking midfield areas and it's very surprising we haven't bought a player good enough to start in an old firm match in that position.

I think Aribo will keep his place. After thursdays performance I like the idea of Barisic playing but I probably prefer the idea of Forrest running at Flanagan than Barisic. I’d actually like Defoe to start but I don’t think it will happen and Arfield has to start alongside Jone surely. I think Jones is more suited to this one than Ojo. 

I checked out the Bauer thread on the stoke forum and the recurring theme is that he is good going forward but can’t defend. With most of their defence carrying knocks this game must be seen as a must win if we’re serious. 

I’ll take Livingston

5 hours ago, craig said:

Yeah, I lost the feed right before we scored....

I just had to refresh mine a number of times.

4 minutes ago, alexscottislegend said:

Might come down to who can take the most points off Porto.

Maybe but I don't think so. I think they'll cruise it and it'll be scrap for 2nd place between the rest of us.

5 minutes ago, Gribz said:

Young Boys stadium is always rocking, but the Switz league isnt exactly in Europes elite so Id say SG will be targeting 4 points off them.

Checked the coefficient and actually your right, Swiss teams haven't been up to much in Europe. Even though we've only contributed to the coefficient 1 of the past 5 seasons we're still only 3 spots behind them (20th). Even the Danish league are ahead of them in 16th.

3 minutes ago, 917 said:

Didn’t they beat Man U in the CL last year?

They got annihilated in the groups bar one home 2-1 win over Juventus and a home draw vs Valencia. Beat Dinamo Zagreb to get to groups last season.

Quick summary of Young Boys

• Thrashed the league last season with 91 points and GD of 63, finishing 20 points ahead of Basel
• Knocked out of UCL by Red Star after drawing 2-2 at home and 1-1 away
• 5 games into league season with 4 wins and a draw
• Sold two players for £10m and spent circa £7m on replacement

A very tough game this one, we're underdogs here but you'd like to think this is a team we might just scrape through ahead of

Quick summary of Porto

• Finished two points behind Benfica last season scoring and conceding far less than them
• Knocked out of UCL by Krasnador after beating them 1-0 away but losing 3-2 at home
  • Krasnador went on to get hammered 4-0 away and 2-1 at home by Olympiakos
• Started league campaign by losing 2-1 away against a newly promoted side but have since won all games including 2-0 away win against champions Benfica
• As you'd expect huge incomings and outgoings
  • Incomings - €100m
  • Outgoings - €70m

Clearly massive underdogs for this one but they also seem to have come down a peg or two

A very quick summary of Feyenoord:

• Finished 20 points behind PSV and Ajax in 3rd last season
• 3 draws from 3 league games this season
• Beat Tiblisi 4-0 at home and drew 1-1 away 
• Beat Hapoel Beer Sheeva 3-0 home and away to get to groups
• This season they've sold two players for £9m each and only spent 300k according to Transfermarkt

From that I think they are favourites but we can finish ahead of them

Ooft that's tough. Young Boys are like Switzerland, always overperform and are far better than anyone expect. Time to do some research.

2 minutes ago, Bill said:

Surprisingly perhaps, I don’t think about MOTM in terms of “fault”. 

I didn't say he was MOTM I just said he put in a very strong performance, I responded to your point about us have problems relying on him. 

7 minutes ago, Bill said:

He’s slowly getting there but we have problems relying on him as our principal attacking outlet.

That isn't exactly his fault. I don't think people realise the amount of ground he is covering in this new formation, without a winger in front of him he is hitting the byline one minute and back in our box the next. We do need to vary our play but like it or not we do still rely on him and you might not notice him when he's there sometimes but you'd certainly notice it if he wasn't, a lot of what we do goes through him.

I think Jack, Davis and even Tavernier (who is bizarrely becoming underrated again) put in very strong performances but Katic deserves this one.

7 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

What!?

I actually think large fonts make Gersnet a more welcoming place for old people. Everyone Anyone. 

6 hours ago, JFK-1 said:

I'm trying not get carried away but I can't remember the last time we had such a long unbeaten run. And i'm hoping there are no meltdowns if/when a defeat comes. 

Celtic will be a different challenge to anyone we’ve faced so far though, I think they are far stronger than Legia. Consistency against lesser teams isn’t easy though as we saw even last season and what we’ve seen so far bodes very well for the season.