DMAA

I predicted a downturn in our European form when GVB came in because I feared he wouldn’t match Gerrard’s ability to set up properly against attacking teams. I was very much proved wrong when GVB showed a tactical flexibility that I didn’t quite expect to get us to the Europa League final. Again, this season he proved me wrong and overcame two genuine challenges to make the Champions League. And yet there is truth in the theory I had. Gerrard never once lost by more than 2 goals, and only lost by two goals 5 times. Gio hasn’t been here a year and has already overseen two Old Firm humiliations. The Ajax loss was different to those, but the system we set up in was so poor and it was not addressed when it was crystal clear that goals were imminent. Gio has been a bit of an enigma, but the one thing that has been consistent is that since an initial 7 game new-manager-bounce, we have been poor domestically and that’s why I think we need to see what our options are.

Dejan Stankovic and Kjetil Knutsen? Stankovic has an incredible record domestically. He seems to know to hammer smaller teams. His European record is good too, though he’s failed to qualify for the CL. Knutsen who I wanted the first time. And he is someone whose merit is purely in his management ability. I was wary with GVB of the nostalgia and reputation as a player getting in the way, and I think it probably did.

I really feel for Barisic. That was an incredible finish and so cruel to be ruled out like that. Kent was lazy to be so far offside there, no excuse for it.

I told you they were rubbish @BlackSocksRedTops

30 seconds left before half time and we won’t just get the ball forward and take a chance, sums it up.

Like February, what really annoys me is why not change the system before you are getting hammered? It was clear as day it wasn’t working and and our luck was about to run out and the goals were going to start going in.

That wasn’t even going in before the deflection.

This is like Celtic park in February. Kent is in no-man’s land when their defence has the ball, there is a free centre mid and a free right back behind him. One pass takes him out of the game and both players can then take advantage.

This is rubbish. The system is not working, they have acres of space all the time, our shape behind the ball needs to change or we will concede more.

And Freiburg are top of the Bundesliga, only 5 games have been played and Napoli have drawn two and are joint 2nd. Obviously they are a very good team I’m just saying they are not in the category of teams who should be thrashing us, we should be holding our own against them, at home especially.

IMO, only Liverpool are at that kind of elite level. Napoli and Ajax are the kind of sides you we could easily meet in the latter stages of the Europa League. We absolutely shouldn’t be getting hammered by them.

Not to Patterson, very little data to go on with Patterson. Tav's defensive stats weren't great last year, when compared to FB/WBs in our league he scored high for interceptions and aerial duel success, very low for everything else (defensive actions per 90, defensive duel success %, sliding tackles, foul differential). Those stats only give part of the picture defensive, a lot of what you do defensively is to do with work rate and positioning. The same is true for Kent actually, his defensive stats are all very poor, but he is regarded as good defensively, and in my opinion it's because of his work rate. Barisic's stats were higher for almost everything defensive though, in some cases far higher. Bassey's defensive duel success was off the scale, as you would expect. I still think it's a strong position and my focus would be elsewhere.

I don't think anyone knows. Last season they sneaked the title with only a 2 point lead. Since then they have sold £195m in talent and spent £95m of that on replacements. After an initial blip with the loss to PSV in the community shield equivalent, they've cruised through their league matches since and look very strong. Only three new players are likely to start against us; Bergwijn, Brobbey and Bassey (£63m of their spend), in part due to an injury to their new £9m left back. On paper, they are probably weaker than last season. They should be a cut above us but our best chance of finishing 3rd is by beating Ajax, it is achievable if we can find our European form again.

Tbh I think right back is our strongest position, it's the least of our worries. The strategy should always be to target your transfer money on your weakest positions. We got good money for Patterson and we'll hopefully receive another wee windfall down the road.

It should be our aspiration. Look at how young Ajax's team are, I don't believe for a second they don't have as much pressure on them as we do. But Scotland does not produce very good players, Holland does, so ambitious recruitment at young ages is the only solution. I don't know why we don't recruit young players directly from South America either. Clubs around Europe are making a fortune from selling on South Americans. It's obviously not that hard to get a work permit considering Celtic got one for their left back.

Yeh that’s very possible. I don’t have much confidence in Gio domestically at all, and yet his European success guarantees his safety for the foreseeable. I’ve resorted to pinning my domestic hopes on Roofe somehow staying fit for a longer period and getting a start in the right forward position, as he did in the 55 season. Emphasis on the word resorted.

Well, one difference is that O’Riley is 21 and will make them a lot of money. The Lawrence signing is one our better ones, but we’ve lazily renewed contracts while Celtic have picked up very good players at bargain prices, implementing a transfer strategy we pay lip service to.

We’ve lost the recruitment battle badly in recent windows and that’s the crux of the matter for me. The fact we are still reliant on Davis and Jack says a lot. They picked up O’Riley for peanuts, why aren’t we finding these players?

I think that’s an oversimplification. They have very good goalscorers in their team. It isn’t a coincidence that Abada always seems to have 5 yards of space at the back post, he is very good off the ball. Sure, poor defending is involved, but good forwards will always make defenders look bad.

The fact is, they have better players in most positions, and that’s a problem. Whose front 3 would rather have? Jota is better than Kent for me, quite comfortably. I’ve said that for a long time. Abada isn’t even that good an all round player but he’s like a second striker, a very reliable goalscorer. And then they have two reliable goalscorers in the middle. That is the biggest difference for me at the moment, they score from half chances. We wouldn’t score from them because we wouldn’t even have a player in those positions at the back post.

A bit of an indictment of the quality of this squad. We’re not good enough, I don’t care what anyone says, we should not be losing 4-0 to our rivals. They have more quality in key positions across the starting 11 and it showed today. This is not going to be easy to turn around.

Undroppable for this game after PSV away

I wasn’t suggesting that the last two games are proof, however they are worth something, they are a good indication that maybe he has learned from previous defeats. Today is the big test of that of course.

Unbeaten in two 🙂 neither at home either

Gio has learned from the disaster in January, he has made tactical changes and those were on display vs PSV. Lawrence is a big loss because he adds a lot offensively vs Kamara, but we have a starting 11 who can get a result tomorrow. I'm not even going to get to watch most of it live tomorrow 😭 hopefully I'll be more gutted about that after the game tomorrow than I am just now.