Musings on last evening's ephemera.

[26th of foot 6,084]

Firstly, the match referee, Kevin Clancy! The only consistency was his inconsistency. A succession of pulls, tugs, arm wrap rounds, arms across, .................etc. All dealt with differently, and decidedly, not on their merits.

 

Secondly, during the tenth minute those charming Saintees sprung a chorus of, 'your just a bunch of foreigners'. A bit harsh on O'Halloran, Wallace, McKay, Halliday, Holt, Miller, ..... etc. I remember reading that somewhere in Perthshire you are as far from the sea as is possible to be in craggy Caledonia. Thirty seven miles I believe. Maybe the lack of expansive stimulation explains the xenophobia? But then, they decide to boo Scots born'n'bred, Michael O'Halloran throughout the game. I am sure big Sadie Cosgrove will utilise another twenty minutes of license fee payers monies to explain it on Saturday's, 'On the Ball'?

 

Thirdly, BBC Radio Scotland assembled the objective panel of Pat Bonner, Richard Gordon, Wullie Miller, and Alan Preston to portray Joey Barton as a victim. Yep, months of happily fashioning Joey as a stick to beat Rangers have ended. Remember, he was a BillyBigBaws with an even bigger mouth, disrespectful to Broonie and Brendan? He is up in front of his Bosses today and we cannot sack him. Preston was unequivocal, training/dressing room bust-ups are not sackable offenses. Betting is a no-no too, because we did not sack either Black or Simonsen. Rangers will have to pay the price of a costly mistake, Joey has a contract and should hold out for every penny. None of the four objectives mentioned Joey appearing on a national broadcaster, hours after being told to maintain club discipline. Well, that would be awkward to the Joey is a victim theme.

 

Finally, the Joey Barton discussion ran for several minutes, even after Big Rheinhart opened with, "I don't think there's much mose to add to this matter,................". Coverage of the game itself after the usual rider, "due to the ongoing situation between the club and BBC Scotland", amounted to the result and scorers. Did you know that BBC Scotland's Chief Football reporter, Chris McLaughlin has NEVER appeared on Sadie and Tam's 22 year running Off/On the Ball? He has been invited but has constantly refused, thus the gruesome twosome do not even refer to him. I have concluded that Chris and Sadie should do the gig, decide once and for all who really, really hates Rangers and Rangers supporters the most, then ordinary Bluenose license fee payers will receive the coverage they deserve.

Edited October 27, 2016 by 26th of foot

[forlanssister 3,114]

To me one of the most bizarre things was that our own keeper wasted more time than theirs, had several opportunities to have a quick throw out only to change his mind and hold on to the ball for what seemed like an eternity then eventually punt it up the park.

[gisabeer 409]

I dont think there is one outfield player playing to his full potential at the moment. its time they got their finger out their arses and upped their game.

[Frankie 8,582]

To me one of the most bizarre things was that our own keeper wasted more time than theirs, had several opportunities to have a quick throw out only to change his mind and hold on to the ball for what seemed like an eternity then eventually punt it up the park.

 

I sit right behind the Broomloan goal and whilst there were one or two times he could have thrown the ball out quicker, the opposition's high press made this difficult.

 

As such, what Fod was waiting for was one of Holt or Windass (and latterly McKay or Forrester) to come deep, drawing a man and creating space (usually on the right) in the wide channel. This took a few secs to play out and was frustrating but was our best outlet for keeping the ball.

 

The issue was because of all the unnecessary jeering the players all did this at walking pace as they seemed uncertain to continue the tactic.

 

Whenever the 'keeper did play it long, invariably we lost possession to the more physical and aerially competent St Johnstone.

[calscot 0]

As I alluded to after the Celtic game last year, our competence at sending and receiving long, high balls is well below the standard it should be, probably due to being badly neglected on the training ground. Football is a three dimensional game, and the opposition are not always going to let you play it exclusively in two dimensions.

 

People seem to think you have to either play it exclusively on the ground or continually hoof it up the park at a target man, with nothing in between. I think we have to be adept at all aspects of the game and use them appropriately, and judiciously.

 

As I've said before, good use of accurate long balls forces the opposition back as they end up having too many players in front of the ball when they press, thereby allowing you the space to subsequently play it out from the back. It also stops you being predictable, and therefore easily contained.

 

Either that or spend five to ten times as much on players who can run rings round the opposition and take the piss out of them.

[Frankie 8,582]

The balls from the 'keeper to the wide man are often around 50 yards in distance and certainly not on the ground so we do have that dimension in our play relatively speaking.

 

Yes, sometimes we'll need to play long balls in more offensive areas but in the absence of a big target man, these really should be kept to a minimum.

 

What people were effectively asking for was a long punt from the goalie to a team set up much better than us to deal with such stuff. That doesn't seem ideal...

[onevision 1,571]

The balls from the 'keeper to the wide man are often around 50 yards in distance and certainly not on the ground so we do have that dimension in our play relatively speaking.

 

Yes, sometimes we'll need to play long balls in more offensive areas but in the absence of a big target man, these really should be kept to a minimum.

 

What people were effectively asking for was a long punt from the goalie to a team set up much better than us to deal with such stuff. That doesn't seem ideal...

 

Sometimes playing the long ball and giving away possession in the opposition final third is tactical, it's all down to how you attack, win and then use the second ball.

The team at the top of our league use this tactic well.

[Frankie 8,582]

Sometimes playing the long ball and giving away possession in the opposition final third is tactical, it's all down to how you attack, win and then use the second ball.

The team at the top of our league use this tactic well.

 

Yeah, the second ball is something we've not been winning for ages.

 

In fact we almost lost a goal the other night from our corner after it was left to Barrie McKay to contest a high bouncing clearance on the edge of the Saints box.

[Rousseau 10,664]

Not winning second balls is a consequence of not getting players around the ball. Which, for me, is the same problem in our build-up: too many players isolated.