DMAA

Truth is I don’t have time to keep up with football outside of Rangers these days because I have a young family so I don't really know of anyone outside the box. Knutsen looks good on paper and I've been keen on him since pre-Gio. There's talk that Muscat is similar to Ange in his style of play? A quick look at stats and he has a better win ratio than Ange at the two clubs they've both managed at (there are slight sample size issues). You could argue Muscat benefited from the foundations being laid in both cases. Without being closer to it, I've no idea. He flopped badly in Belgium. Dejan Stankovic looked a good option pre-Beale, I was keen on him. He had experience of managing a team in an identical situation to us, at the top of a rubbish league with one strong rival. His record there was absurdly good, 78% win record. The best Red Star have ever had if you exclude small sample sizes. He subsequently got relegated with Sampdoria, apparently at least in part due to financial issues at the club though. He was appointed Ferencvaros manager 2 days ago. I'm going to follow him very closely there because that's a very comparable situation again, they are going for six in a row.

There have to be great options out there but I have no trust in the board to find them. Celtic found Ange because of the city group link. It just feels like any appointment we make will be very risky because we don’t know how to look for managers.

Should PLG have been given two full seasons? Caixinha joined in March, and before the end of the season he'd managed to get hammered 5-1 to Celtic at Ibrox and lost 2-1 to Aberdeen at Ibrox. In 10 league games he managed to drop points in 4. In other words, the writing was on the wall from the very beginning. Should we not have sacked him? And saved him the hassle of explaining himself from a bush a few months later?

Unfortunately we’ll almost certainly miss out on that.

Rookie defending has made this embarrassing when it should have been tight. But it has to be said they are clearly a better all round team and players and it’s simplistic to completely blame the defence.

Yes

Couple of guys on FF got the same message. Time will tell. Would be an outstanding signing, even on loan.

A Jack replacement should have been a priority this summer. It’s a weak position.

It’s good to still be in the tie. I think PSV are clearly the better team and we’ve done well to get a draw last night, as disappointing as it was not to be able to hold a lead. We’re up against it at their own ground, but we were last year too. Huge game for Beale.

Loyal to his signings unfortunately. There's no excuse for this.

And we have no confidence whatsoever in our ability to play on the ground. We're just giving the ball back to them.

It’s chronic. He looks totally out of his depth. Ruining our attacks.

He’s gone for a bit of balance and solidity with Jack, Cifuentes and Raskin. Downside, as it was against Servette, is a lack of width and dynamism. Understandable at this level. Big game for Sima, who gets on the ball a lot more than Dessers but just lacks a bit of quality. Cantwell will be central to anything we do creatively.

The Lammers signing never made much sense to me, and it was just more worrying when Beale talked about how he’s known about him for years. Just seems like our transfer policy is driven by players he already knows about, rather than proper scouting.

Problem is he isn’t a very good striker. Even in his first few games here he’s shown why he’s struggled in front of goal in his career. At this early stage, I think we've spent a lot of money on someone who is a backup striker. Cantwell should be our number 10 and shouldn't be pushed back to accommodate for Lammers.

Another long season ahead by the looks of things. We need a miracle to get past PSV.

Not dissimilar to how we turned Sakala into a wide forward when he had previously been a 9, even though his technique was badly lacking for it (compare to a Jota for example). At least he could run at defenders and beat a man though. Sima doesn’t have that.

That’s what I’ve been saying. I don’t like him as a wide forward at all. Fast yes but doesn’t have the required technique and dribbling ability. I don't like him much as a 9 either tbh but his attributes are a better fit in there.

Dessers absolutely anonymous. 13 touches and Lammers managed 30.

He’s been very weak on and off the ball so far tbh. Just checked the stats and they back that up. 5 ground duels and 3 aerial duels and won none. Dispossessed twice. He looks strong to look at but not in the game.

There are positives. Cifuentes looks an instant upgrade in midfield. Provides more balance than Dowell too. I thought there were signs that we can play good football too, we had some very good exchanges. More minutes minutes in the strikers legs too, who both seem to need it. We’ll be in a better place next week than we were tonight or last week.

Yeh and then their left back buys one no bother. No consistency whatsoever.

Lammers has struggled

Our new strikers need to be putting these away

Cifeuentes' xA on the other hand is looking great. That's all that matters at the end of the day.