Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard

[Bruno55 0]

One wonders what Davie Weir says to our centre backs during training, None of them have ever looked secure - and they never seem to improve.

 

I'm not really sure but I think last season's defence lost a lot more goals in the first 16 games...

[RANGERRAB 3,654]

I'm not really sure but I think last season's defence lost a lot more goals in the first 16 games...

 

I think it's ridiculous to compare this season's team to last season's car crash under McCoist.

Despite our disappointing form at the moment I believe it can be sorted out next month by bringing in 2 or 3 players to strengthen the positions which need strengthening i.e. up front.

I also believe both us & hibz will both be promoted this season. Whoever is in the play-offs will coast it IMO.

[pete 2,499]

Actually, could a Mod change the thread title to above?

 

Please excuse me if I am wrong. I have changed titles on numerous occasions for people but I believe you can do it yourself. If you go to edit post and then Go Advanced you can change the title yourself. I may be wrong so please give me feedback. I could change it but I prefer that people know they can do it themselves.

[ian1964 10,721]

Please excuse me if I am wrong. I have changed titles on numerous occasions for people but I believe you can do it yourself. If you go to edit post and then Go Advanced you can change the title yourself. I may be wrong so please give me feedback. I could change it but I prefer that people know they can do it themselves.

 

The last time I tried to change the title it didn't work!,that was a wee while ago mind you

[pete 2,499]

The last time I tried to change the title it didn't work!,that was a wee while ago mind you

 

Thanks Ian for the feedback. I will change it.

[pete 2,499]

By the way Rousseau thank you for the fantastic after match analysis. The fact that it brought so much discussion is a massive feather in your cap.

[Anchorman 0]

Don't ask a player with vision in one eye only to be your edge of the box marker at a corner. Trying to watch the ball and the man behind you is hard enough for a player with full peripheral vision. Its doubly difficult when the player also switches off. Common sense and basics I'm afraid.

[der Berliner 3,744]

Nowhere else in the world would a hard-working side be able to beat a side of a much higher tactical ability.

 

I would be rather hesitant with such claims, as you see exactly the opposite quite often. It's not like Real, Barca, Bayern et al never get beaten. Or, indeed Chelsea and ManU. They all usually deploy better tactics and technical ability than their opponents.

 

That said, what actually is "tactical superiority"? We play an attacking 4-3-3 tactic, the opposition usually a 1-1-4-4 or the like, mainly to play up to their own strengths and the ability of their players. Whether our strengths and abilities are best suited with 4-3-3 is up for debate too, at the end of the day it is a game of tactics where the best one on the day wins. I wouldn't go as far as saying 4-3-3 is superior to other Scottish teams tactics "just because" we play it or some world-class, star-studded team can afford it. We reached Manchester being tactical aware of our opponents and our strengths and weaknesses. By logic, we employed a tactically "superior" system against our opponents, whatever system they played.

 

By the looks of it, just to keep this in mind as well, our supposedly "superior system" is rather weak in certain aspects, as it leaves us open to quick counter attacks. And it matters not a jot who actually plays as centre-half, for e.g. the Irish beat the Germans to bury Scotland's dreams of a international summer with the exact hit-and-hope stuff that we endure week in and week out. It is hard to play against brick walls at one end and cope with these counter attacks at the other - week in and week out. You would hope that people adapt, but people are still human beings and football players of a certain ability.

 

What does cost us is our inability to score more goals from the chances that we create. And that, IMHO, is no real marker whether our system is tactically "superior" either. It would be testimony that our current players are good enough to play our system to its best effect.

Edited December 20, 2015 by der Berliner

[buster. 5,185]

Think where we were May 2015

 

Look at the league table

 

Look at the bigger picture

 

No surprise that things aren't perfect

 

Promotion, Patience and Realism required

[Rousseau 10,603]

We are not tactically superior to Falkirk.

 

What were Falkirk's tactics? Sit back, defend and use a long pass. The first half I would suggest they used a long pass, but it was rare and apart from the non-penalty we managed to deal with it. Second-half it wasn't even a long pass, but a long aimless punt. Again, omitting that 10-15 minutes period when we were absolutely abysmal, with any and every ball causing trouble, we did OK with it. That aberration was down to a lack of confidence and the fact that we were trying to force ourselves back into the game; a psychological issue that needs to be rectified. And, defensively we need to improve. We're still going to be open, because that's how we play, but we need to deal with it better.

 

If you're saying that the long aimless ball means they were tactically superior, then I don't get that at all. I'd admit they were more effective, but looking back, we got in behind much more than them, but didn't have the quality on the final ball: how many times was a through-ball over-hit, when a better weight would've seen us create a goal-scoring chance?