DMAA

To be more positive, we really are good at the controlling the game side. Jack was excellent and a number of others were good too.

Spartak Moscow haven't spent as much as some have suggested (net spend of minus £10m this season), but have spent a good 55m Euros over 3 seasons. They had much better players than us on paper but hardly got a sniff last night. It was quite remarkable and I bet they got a bit of a shock. 

Gerrard has built solid foundations and it's a great position to be in to be dominating teams like that and just lacking one or two players with more quality in the final third.

We are very good at "controlling" games at home by playing with a high intensity and pressing the game with the crowd behind us.

But my word we are poor at turning that into chances and goals. For all the praise Kent etc get, our final ball is consistently poor and we almost never manage an attempt on goal from a set piece. These are very concerning things.

In my opinion in January we still need a player who offers us genuine aerial threat. Like I highlighted in the transfer window, we have a team full of crossers but almost no-one who is very strong in the air.

We also need an attacking winger with more finesse and technique. Ejaria offers this is in the middle, he looked very threatening last night. Kent and Candeias's hustle and bustle are fine but only go so far, against stronger opposition they just lack the quality and finesse necessary to put something on a plate for Morelos. The cross always seems to hit the first man or go over everyone.

This side have so much promise but Gerrard was right to play down the hype and stress we've still got some way to go.

How frustrating was that. After so much endeavour the game pretty much petered out. Couldn’t string two passes together in the last ten minutes. 

Great chance at the end was the exception from a fantastic Middleton pass and it should have been a goal. 

Missed opportunity tonight!

Well there’s one thing all our European opponents have had in common, bunch of blimmin divers!

4 minutes ago, Frankie said:

Lots to be happy about in that first half but our final ball and set-pieces have been atrocious: Tav and Candeias in particular.

 

This game is there to be won so we have to offer more of a threat.

Spot on. Such a strong performance in general but my word that final ball is so frustrating every time. Our intensity is rattling them like it has all our European opponents at Ibrox. 

I think it’s largely a style thing, I think he wants a winger who comes inside. Kent basically has a free role half the time. 

45 minutes ago, pete said:

No problem mate we can still get it up.

I sent it to Frankie and Rousseau. On holiday just now hence why I wrote it a few days ago and hence why I forgot to send till now!

Argh, wrote my Hamilton one days ago and didn’t send it in time. Will send it to someone now anyway 

On 10/10/2018 at 19:49, Big Jaws said:

I've seen people in forums talking about such things but I've never seen anything like that in print anywhere.

 

The main point was that Katic is carrying an injury and apparently so is Barisic. 

Bristol City were basically fined 500k by Liverpool for not playing Ryan Kent. Liverpool had a clause in the contract. 

It's actually very common for the loaning club to insert game time clauses these days. Gerrard also didn't say that Worrall was a cover player. He say Katic was a baby and strongly suggested he'd be a rotation player when he first signed him. I think he's earned a starting place but I think Worrall is a coup and we should rotate them.

I can take Hamilton as it looks open?

I think Ejaria will be far too expensive for us but I don’t think Kent will be. 

I thought we were very good at one side of the game and not good at another but a bit of magic from Ejaria was the difference. It's frustrating to be rebuked for mentioning any negatives, told to cheer up and reminded yet again of the League 2 days when you've only made some pretty balanced comments about how you saw the game.  

Some of us come on here to analyse the game a little bit afterwards and I think others come on primarily to celebrate and that's what causes a bit of friction.

58 minutes ago, Frankie said:

Interesting to see freelancer broadcaster Rob Maclean cross the BBC Scotland picket line last night to commentate for BT Sport at Ibrox. I wonder how many of his Pacific Quay colleagues will fancy writing Maclean's regular BBC SPFL Team of the Week column this Monday?

 

 

I was wondering about that! I thought he was pretty fair and very quick to point out that Rapid’s goal shouldn’t have stood. 

4 minutes ago, Walterbear said:

I thought we were very good in the second half but not with so much craft when we basically ran them off their feet. 

Exactly. Keeper was pretty much untested until the penalty. And Rapid were without their two best centre backs. So I think there’s a lot of exaggeration there but hopefully it’s deliberate and aimed at boosting morale. 

22 minutes ago, rbr said:

apart from his Morelos nonsense , I can't disagree with much of what he said written

I’m the same actually. However I think there’s normally an unwritten agreement that newspaper match reports needn’t focus overly on the negatives and dampen the mood when the game ended so well. 

I’m definitely outnumbered on here on Kent. He flatters to deceive. Skins 5 players and dinks it straight into the keepers hands, that sums him up. Until I see consistent end product from him he is raw as far as I’m concerned. A lot of potential but our most overrated player in my opinion. 

Whilst Arfield was guilty of giving the ball away too often, he showed some real quality with some of his flicks which very nearly created some openings.

4 minutes ago, Frankie said:

Flanagan and Worrall were interesting choices but both were excellent

Agree with that, neither put a foot wrong and were very impressive. 

When we’re desperate for a goal I’d personally prefer at least one left footed on the left to get down the line and get crosses in, but hey ho we got the 3 points and as you say some important players are fresh for Hearts. 

I thought we were very good at one side of the game and poor at another side. 

We did dominate the play, were good at winning the ball back and generally being in control. Some top performances across the back line and a few others. 

But we really toiled in the final third, we couldn’t turn possession into chances. A moment of brilliance from Ejaria ultimately was the difference and he was doing it all night in other areas. 

At the end of the day it’s a fantastic result and another morale boost with some really good performances throughout the team. 

Just now, Frankie said:

He was excellent - strong defensively but good on the ball as well.

 

We're lucky to have him, Goldson and Katic.

Yep, every bit as good as his reputation suggested. 

Love Candeias as well. That third goal was all Candeias, fitness and work rate are outstanding. Credit to Morelos for keeping his cool and slotting it in too, important to remember he’s been criticised for not scoring these often enough. 

Have to say I love Ejaria. He has that quality in the final third that a few of our players don’t have. 

Middleton warming up. Far too late, for all his endeavour Kent just consistently lacks quality end product. 

Far too slow to make subs this is ridiculous. We’re not even creating chances!!