DMAA

His most notable for me has always been his aggression, which is what Gerrard mentions in that article. As he says, it is unusual in a winger. Aside from that his standout qualities are pace, workrate and the ability to win the ball back (related to aggression). I’ve always said his technical ability is more consistent with an out and out winger who plays on the side of his strong foot than that of an inverted winger, who normally needs to have very close ball control and good vision and passing (Barrie McKay a recent example).

I’m surprised at the shot locations. I find that he takes quite a lot of speculative shots. I guess that would include shots that aren’t necessarily far out but are very unlikely to go in and are comfortably saved. It is notable to me that there aren’tmany passes near the 6 yard box at all, especially centrally (the location with the highest chance of scoring). I’m not seeing his assist for Arfield there in the 8-0 vs Hamilton though which is the closest to that kind of high-scoring-chance assist that I can remember.

I did notice one stat which was different to what Modern Fitba put out. The article said Roofe was leading in non open play xG per 90 with 0.68. The above isn’t non open play in that free kicks are included. However Morelos and Roofe don’t take free kicks so their stats are essentially non open play. It probably a difference in the models being used but it is surprising that there is such a big difference. The amount by which Roofe outperforms his xG is unbelievable though, he can’t keep that up.

I saw that last night, really good article. I was a little bit confused at some of the stats as they seemed to contradict what Modern Fitba put out at first glance but I noticed the difference is that they mostly aren’t “per 90” stats. The latest xA per 90 put out by Modern Fitba still has Hagi top, albeit Kent closing the gap. I’d like to see an update on the metric that shows the number of very good chances created per 90 though, they haven’t put that out in a while and it’s the most valuable one IMO.

If it is true they are planning a massive operations overhaul in the summer, then it will be a very bad season to be starting their European campaign as early as July 20th (if they finish 2nd). This season they hadn’t made a single signing till July 30th (most were far later than that) and they had only played their first pre-season game a few days before that date. It is very hard to make good quality transfers that early in the transfer window at the best of times, never mind when there has been a change in the management personnel at the club. If we win the league, we would be given an extra fortnight before our first qualifier. If the winners of this season UCL win their domestic league then we would get a whole extra month before our first European game (playoffs). See, I’m being good, adding “if” left right and centre.

And yes this is true. I don’t doubt for a minute that Gerrard is keeping the team laser focused and working on the assumption that they won’t drop another point all season. Unfortunately I have fallen into the #badjuju camp because I fully trust Gerrard to bring this one home now.

I would be very surprised if they didn’t attempt to bring in a high profile manager again and give him a good budget.

Had a wee read and there is a reasonable chance that we will be seeded and thus avoid the likes of Salzburg in the playoff. There is also an outside chance that we will only enter at the playoff stage, we just need the Champions League winners of this season to also win their domestic league (come on the Bavarians).

I must be bored so I decided check how much of a difference finishing first makes to who you can draw in the Champions league qualifying rounds by looking at this seasons rounds. You can get an idea from this below. Basically a bad draw and we could easily go out (Salzburg will be there again next season), but a good draw and it’s easy and only two games. League path is clearly harder and one additional tie that could go wrong. Champions Path Best Case 3rd qualifying round - Qarabag/Dynamo Brest Play-off - Molde/Omonia Worst Case 3rd qualifying round - Dinamo Zagreb Play-off - Red Bull Salzburg League Path Best Case 2nd qualifying round - Viktoria Plzeň 3rd qualifying round - Rapid Wien Play-off - Gent Worst Case 2nd qualifying round - PAOK/Besiktas 3rd qualifying round - Benfica Play-off - Dynamo Kiev

Just a repeat of what we’ve known for a long time, if we qualify for my the UCL we will finally overtake them financially. There is a very long way to go to achieve this. People forget it is still possible for Celtic to qualify for it next season and us not to. Sure, it doesn’t seem likely but you’re at the mercy of the draw and they will have a new manager and new team so who knows. Should be noted that we will get an easier draw as Champions though. (sorry @Rousseau)

Yeh, not a good time to play Ross County in that they are on a high at the moment.

If Scott Wright is coming at all, it would be good to get him this month.

He doesn’t deserve more starts because he started against St Mirren?

Well, those dropped points have been coming. Since Dundee United on December 13th we haven’t been playing well but have still managed to get full points every time until now (loss to St Mirren was in the cup of course). We have done very well to take so many points from those games but it is a bit worrying that we have gone 9 domestic games without recovering our form. Incidentally, we lost our form when we lost Jack. We were 4-0 up against Aberdeen when he went off on the 56th minute and that game ended 4-0 and we entered a period where I would say we have had less control. The loss of Roofe and Arfield more recently made dropped points far more likely too, Roofe in particular a player who we have relied on when the other forwards weren’t producing. As for the game itself, some credit has to go to Motherwell. Their new manager has them set up well and they did well to stop us building up attacks. But ultimately we only have ourselves to blame for not being able to beat possibly the worst team in the league at the moment. Balogun was caught out at the goal, bizarrely leaving his man in the 6 yard box to close down a man he didn’t have to close down, and even then he didn’t have the urgency he should have to rush back to cover his man, he seemed to continue watching the ball and didn’t get back in time to stop an easy finish that should never have been allowed to happen. Others should have done better too of course, I’m not discounting that. But I hope Helander is brought back in now because that has been coming from Balogun, there has been a slip up in a good number of games from him that he could have been punished for, despite otherwise good performances. Davis was excellent. His reading of the game/interceptions and passing were big positives. I’m a very big Aribo fan but he’s just struggling to make a impact consistently throughout the game. I still think he’s an important player and he did create a couple of wee chances, but we expect much more. A player who misses Jack I think. As for the front 3, Hagi hadn’t made enough of an impact but he was the most likely to make something happen and was hooked. I don’t know why Gerrard favours Kent and Morelos so much over him. And so much over Itten and Defoe. I just don’t get it. It was no surprise to see Itten do well when he came on yet again, and Defoe to come very close to scoring a very good goal in a short cameo appearance. These guys have earned more minutes on the pitch but they just don’t get them. Morelos didn’t have a bad game. He did have too many misplaced passes for my liking but if anything he came into it in the second half and was making more positive passes. Kent had one of his poorer games, running the ball out of play 3 times I think and his second touch a tackle far too often. Luckily Jack and Roofe are nearing returns but what does Itten need to do to earn an opportunity when the players playing ahead of him just aren’t doing it.

There’s always a case for the player who made or scored the goal but I’ve voted Davis too. Did so much well throughout the game and played with an urgency that many others didn’t.

@Rousseau, time to get your 55 tattoo done?

Scott Wright starts and the dandies are not happy. Hopefully a few bears post some good luck messages under the tweet to really rile them up, “Good luck Scott Wright WATP GSTQ”

The first time was a specific incident though that was well documented. The second time he was fine when he returned and started the game ahead of Kamara and others. He was injured during the game. It could just as easily have been a European game during the week.

He plays a handful of international games a year. It makes little to no difference at all.

I think you have to bear in mind that your stats are going to be a lot lower playing for a team who have only scored a pitiful 28 goals in 21 games, compared to our 59 goals. A couple of encouraging stats in there, a very high number of through passes, and a very high shot on target % despite having a very low number of shots.

Their fans certainly want him away now. They don’t want to see him play for them again, and any move now only benefits them financially. So for that reason part of me is happy to wait until the summer too.

Very unlikely much will happen in this window anyway.

Linked with Gustavo Hamer of Coventry.

He is a number 9 and he is best when he plays as a number 9. The false 9 or number 10 role just doesn’t suit his abilities. His standout ability is goalscoring.

I’ve given it to Morelos. Two goals which actually weren’t clear cut chances, they were the kind of finishes he was coming up with in 2019 and we just didn’t see in 2020. His general play was very good too, massive improvement. Long may it continue. That’s 3 in 3 games so hopefully he is turning a corner.