DMAA

Seems to me we were open to Dessers leaving but he wasn't interested.

Just to further my point on aerials, in total there were 17 aerial duels and Celtic won 13 (76%). Nobody other than a centre back won a duel for us, and they tend to have the easy ones against Kyogo. Celtic aren't even good at aerial duels, they complain about it all the time. On ground duels they only won 51%, so there was no real difference there.

That’s not showing you the intangibles like shape, structure, marking etc. but none of that was any better. I think Dio’s numbers will surprise some.

I work with a ref so I'll ask for his take next time I see him. Apparently Willie Collum takes them all through key decisions and says whether they were right or wrong. Doubt I'll get much out of him but I'll see.

A few stats on our midfield: Ground Duels won: Diomande - 16/12 Barron - 4/0 Sterling - 4/2 Aerial Duels won: Diomande - 1/0 Barron - 1/0 Sterling - 1/0 Tackles: Diomande - 5 Sterling - 1 Barron - 0 Interceptions: Sterling - 4 Diomande - 0 Barron - 1 Blocked Shots and Clearances: Sterling - 1 for each Barron and Dio - 0 for both Have to say, Barron in particular isn't doing much defensively off the ball at all? Seems to find a way to avoid duels. Is he not more of an 8 than a 6? Another thing that stands out is not a single aerial duel won by our three midfielders. One thing that has worried me about Clement is that he doesn't seem to value aerial prowess at all, which will cost you in Scotland. Diomande's stats are rock bottom for aerials, like pretty much zero. So are Bahrami's. You almost never see 1st percentile nunbers but that's two signings now, both for midfield. Don't have stats for Barron but he's not much use in the air either. Propper's aerial numbers were poor for a centre back. So even the position that should really have good numbers, Clement doesn't seem to value it. Jefte and Cerny are useless in the air. Kasanwirjo is the one exception.

Was overlooked when we threw it away last year because all anybody wanted to talk about was the “old guard”. Butland’s form fell off a cliff at the same time.

Just to balance this out a wee bit, the Igamane signing was more encouraging. It remains to be seen if we have got our scouting right of course, but those are the kind of signings we need to be making. If the link to the Egyptian boy was true I think that would have been an outstanding signing and it’s another possible good sign in terms of our scouting. His move to Getafe feel through so I hope we revisit it.

Disappointed in the window overall. Big money (for us) spent on someone who has limited upside imo and doesn’t look that good. I know some don’t agree with this but my principle is that we should only be spending big money on very young players who are big prospects. Decent money spent on a centre back who who turns 31 this month and just looks run of the mill. Even with the limited funds we had I just expected a lot more. Diomande was the last window really by after 6 months the jury is still out and there are some red flags. Centre mid looks weak, the wide forward positions look weak and with a real lack of depth. Matondo is very injury prone and Cortes might be too.

Didn't expect it to be close today but I did forget how little I trust Clement against Celtic. The transfer window was very disappointing too and I do wonder now if he'll see through the season. I don't think he is the style of manager to get the results in Europe that we have managed over the years. We probably have a lot of performances like today ahead of us.

That’s the same for most

Raskin much better suited to games against them. Just rarely fit.

This has been coming all season. Clement still hasn’t shown once that he knows how to coach the team to be difficult to play against in these games. It was one thing Gerrard could do with a similar level of squad.

Cheers. Hadn’t caught up with that today. Not surprised with that really. With our injury luck I've no doubt he'll play plenty anyway.

This but I’d have Cortes ahead of Matondo. Granted there isn’t that much to go on to say that yet. The other caveat is that those two CBs have to win the shirt off Souttar. Wouldn't say Propper has shown that yet. Also has to be said that half that team are untried and we don't know much about them yet. Jefte has to show defensive improvement to start ahead of Yilmaz against tougher opposition for me. Very keen to see if Bajrami can do it at CAM in different types of games too because his stats suggest he's not the type to contribute much in those circumstances.

Apparently that’s us done. Got my hopes up on Edozie!

Edozie would be a massive signing. Would be absolutely delighted with that. The Italian too but I have my doubts that is genuine.

Just a very unusual style of number 10 for me.

Not a huge fan of the Bajrami signing, but it's a relief that we are signing people and he does have the potential to make an immediate impact in the starting 11.

Pretty shocking if we are only adding Kasanwirjo 😮

No I think he looks good and will improve us and make us more athletic. All I’m saying is I hope he can nail down a position, which can be sometimes be the challenge for utility players. The challenge for him will be to better than Souttar or Propper at centre back. He might get a chance to go straight in if Propper is still injured.

Just hope he can excel in one position.

The Dutch Dujon Sterling. Better than nothing! Just not sure who he starts ahead of. Would have preferred a dedicated centre back, but maybe a utility player suits Clement at this stage. Can’t make out anything from his stats because he has played in too many different positions. https://1908.nl/artikelen/kasanwirjo-hard-op-weg-naar-rangers-2

Someone enjoying a tour. Pretty sure they would remove the ropes to the pitch if they were taking photos.

Reports that the Egyptian winger has undergone a medical at Getafe. But there are also reports that he had been called back to Egypt because the clubs haven’t reached an agreement.

We need a busy couple of days. Senior outfield players out: Roofe, Jack, Davies, Goldson, Barisic, Lundstram, Cifuentes, Wright, Cantwell (just counting him) (9) Senior players In: Diomande (was already here on loan), Propper, Cerny (€1.5m loan with no option), Jefte, Barron (5) Not yet ready apparently: Nsiala, Igamane (2) Need a few very good players if we are to improve.