BrahimHemdani 1 Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 I see a smart chap with a skip cap near the Police van at the head of the march 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete 2,499 Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 Our one and only shot at goal in the 90 minutes was a weak effort from Waghorn in the 72 minute which was met with derisory cheering from the Rangers end. If you want to be totally accurate Toral scored a goal so he must have had a shot. Personally I thought Windass was just offside but It was so close it could be called either way and he may have been given the benefit of the doubt of being in line. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
der Berliner 3,808 Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 (edited) While we sure not excelled in the final third, we did have two rather close encounters, with Leipzig defenders just tip-toed the ball away from our attackers in the last moment. That was desperate for them, but on the whole - and despite the luck with their first two strikes - they more than deserved their win. It actually shows signs of a rather German illness what I read here at times. For "we" (German footballers and reporters) tend to just look on us and tend to leave the opposition out of much of the debate. Which, on the German part, is quite derisory at times, and when it comes to us, it is simply lacking a bit of objetivity. Finally, which seems to have been missed in the debate thus far: while they also have a rather thin squad, the RBL one is a highly competitive one. Everyone is eager for a BL starting slot and - added to them being more fit due to two friendlies in Portugal - it showed how they approached the whole 90 mins in terms of power football and eagerness. You would want to see that from our side too, of course, but where is the actual "competition" coming from? The one who managed to put a mark down was O'Halloran, but it has to be said that for the last month or so, you could actually pick the starters and subs from a very limited group of players, and MOH was not amongst them. You do wonder a) how Hyndman (who looked more eager than Halliday) and Toral (do we know where he shall play) will be utilized and who will be "dropped". Maybe it is just me, but Windass and Tavernier have been rather average of late and how they get a starting slot is a somewhat beyond me. Perhaps it is time to give Halliday a rest too. And all this is not based on yesterday, but the whole month of December. And you would hope the board agrees that a few things will have to be adjusted now, so that we'll start next season in Ready mode. For the summer break will be rathers short, should we actually manage a European slot. Edited January 16, 2017 by der Berliner 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveC 150 Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 (edited) It will be so short it will not be like a "summer break" at all and will store up huge problems for next season. As usual we are in a Catch 22 situation. We need to make the Europa League for financial reasons but the qualifiers will impact badly on next season, successfully negotiated or not. If we get through them then we will get some more money to compensate for having the Thursday night nonsense, which will cost league points, to contend with as the season progresses. It is also good for potential recruits to offer European football. If we don't qualify it'll be an unmitigated disaster and have disrupted preparations for next season for nothing except embarrassment and putting potential buys off coming. We belong/need to be in Europe but it's an onerous undertaking. Life doesn't look like getting easier any time soon. Edited January 16, 2017 by SteveC 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveC 150 Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 Kenny Miller: "but I think the lessons to be learned are if we are a bit loose and sloppy on the ball as we were, we are going to be punished at this level." At any level. A lesson you would think has been very well learnt by now, since we've been taught it so many times. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluedell 5,679 Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 I see a smart chap with a skip cap near the Police van at the head of the march Obviously a Union Bears capo. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
der Berliner 3,808 Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 Has there been any info on Wallace and Dodoo? Did they actually travel? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
calscot 0 Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 I think we all expected defeat from a top German team, but I think the problem some are having is that it was all too predictable - we were just any old wee team against a big one. We not only showed nothing special, we made basic mistake after basic mistake, giving the ball away cheaply, and in defence looked like we just didn't have a clue, combined with a touch of couldn't be bothered. Even John Grieg gave us the odd thing to be excited about in proper European games and Raith Rovers once gave Bayern a tougher test. I can't see anything positive to take from it, we are just a very, very ordinary side in a shite league and the magic hat has been lost in the wash. I'm not sure what our wage bill is at the moment but I'm presuming it's over 10m. What we need right now is a manager who can make us look like a 15m side on that budget and a 30m side on a 20m budget. What we've got is a 10+m team that looks like a 4m one. We seem more concerned about meaningless and inappropriate short balls on the floor, than actual getting the ball out of defence and then creating attacks - and we're just not good enough at it to keep the ball for long. Sometimes you need a dose of reality and realise the strengths and weaknesses of your team and adjust your play to suit your level skill and optimise your effectiveness. It seems some were highly embarrassed when Walter did that to take us to the UEFA final, and they are probably happier with this kind of defeat considering the "style" we attempted. I'd rather at least give European sides a bit of a game. We took a punt on an upcoming rookie manager, and seem to have ended up with a rookie manager. I know if we had Walter now, the first thing he'd do is go out and bring in a couple of defenders - within a budget. Last time he got Weir for free, Webster was on loan, Ehiogu was free, Broadfoot was free, Dailly was free, and then his big spend was on the fantastic Cuellar for about the price of Garner and MoH. He also spent 2m on Whittaker, as we did have a wee bit more of a budget then. The point is he found guys in budget that were better than what their headline costs suggested. But even then you have to coach the defenders into a system that works and that's something we just don't seem to be doing very well right now - despite having Weir as the assistant manager. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrahimHemdani 1 Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 If you want to be totally accurate Toral scored a goal so he must have had a shot. Personally I thought Windass was just offside but It was so close it could be called either way and he may have been given the benefit of the doubt of being in line. I deliberately excluded that one. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrahimHemdani 1 Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 Obviously a Union Bears capo. I suspect an honorary membership is on the way. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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