Murphy signs on loan - official

[Gonzo79 15,293]

It's all ifs and buts at the moment.  Potentially, we have a decent side who are well capable of finishing 2nd comfortably.  But the 1st half of the season suggests we'll struggle to do that.

[JFK-1 1,693]

1 hour ago, craig said:

It’s nothing to do with faith mate, it’s based on the statistics of the last 5 months.

 

The only consistency we have shown is that we are inconsistent.

 

can we go on a prolonged run of victories ?  Sure, the positivist in me says yes.  But the facts before us say no.  Hopefully “the past is no indication of the future” holds true for us !

Well it's a funny old thing that overall i'm a hard core statistics based type of person who has 'faith' in nothing but rather tends to accept statistical findings as indisputable fact.

 

But in an instance like this I see statistics as less reliable than in most other fields or circumstances. And admittedly that's in part but not entirely because it's Rangers and an outcome going against the most recent stats is what I want.

 

I believe the statistics are erroneous in the sense that we're already good enough to beat anybody in this league but for some unknown reason have been failing to do so consistently while the current window may may make us even more potent. This season has often been a mirror image of last as in last season we often struggled against the top 6 while beating the bottom 6 and now we're beating the top sides while blowing it against the bottom half.

 

Surely that particular and peculiar inconsistency has to be ironed out at some point. A single player or two can make a huge difference to such inconsistencies.  Hopefully this window will be the turning point for us in that respect. 

[craig 5,199]

51 minutes ago, JFK-1 said:

Well it's a funny old thing that overall i'm a hard core statistics based type of person who has 'faith' in nothing but rather tends to accept statistical findings as indisputable fact.

 

But in an instance like this I see statistics as less reliable than in most other fields or circumstances. And admittedly that's in part but not entirely because it's Rangers and an outcome going against the most recent stats is what I want.

 

I believe the statistics are erroneous in the sense that we're already good enough to beat anybody in this league but for some unknown reason have been failing to do so consistently while the current window may may make us even more potent. This season has often been a mirror image of last as in last season we often struggled against the top 6 while beating the bottom 6 and now we're beating the top sides while blowing it against the bottom half.

 

Surely that particular and peculiar inconsistency has to be ironed out at some point. A single player or two can make a huge difference to such inconsistencies.  Hopefully this window will be the turning point for us in that respect. 

All of that to basically admit that the statistics suggest we aren't consistent enough to go on the run of results we would all like to see.

 

The statistics suggest we cannot go on that extended run.  The personnel within our squad would suggest that, playing Celtic aside, we could indeed go on an extended run.  And therein lies the problem - successive managers have clearly failed to get the best out of the players at their disposal.  Needs to change.

[Gonzo79 15,293]

The Tims have brought in what look like decent additions, so they may improve after the window.  

[JFK-1 1,693]

1 hour ago, craig said:

All of that to basically admit that the statistics suggest we aren't consistent enough to go on the run of results we would all like to see.

 

The statistics suggest we cannot go on that extended run.  The personnel within our squad would suggest that, playing Celtic aside, we could indeed go on an extended run.  And therein lies the problem - successive managers have clearly failed to get the best out of the players at their disposal.  Needs to change.

Most would agree that it looks as if consistency is elusive but my main argument was "Surely that particular and peculiar inconsistency has to be ironed out at some point."

 

With January additions i'm looking for that point to be reached. The Winter break has come at a good time for us.  We have an expansive injury list and perhaps Murty just like any other incoming manager needs time to get his philosophies into their heads.

 

I hadn't actually considered that in much detail before because Murty had always been there.  But I suppose I and everyone else have to accept that yes he was always there but he didn't have the power to dictate team selection and strategy.

 

And just a single player can make a massive difference to the overall performance of a team and we have already made a couple of useful additions with the prospect of more to come.  I find the Cummings possibility to be hugely interesting.  Paired with Morelos could be a game changer.

[craig 5,199]

13 minutes ago, JFK-1 said:

Most would agree that it looks as if consistency is elusive but my main argument was "Surely that particular and peculiar inconsistency has to be ironed out at some point."

 

With January additions i'm looking for that point to be reached. The Winter break has come at a good time for us.  We have an expansive injury list and perhaps Murty just like any other incoming manager needs time to get his philosophies into their heads.

 

I hadn't actually considered that in much detail before because Murty had always been there.  But I suppose I and everyone else have to accept that yes he was always there but he didn't have the power to dictate team selection and strategy.

 

And just a single player can make a massive difference to the overall performance of a team and we have already made a couple of useful additions with the prospect of more to come.  I find the Cummings possibility to be hugely interesting.  Paired with Morelos could be a game changer.

I'm not disagreeing with any of the above because I agree on the whole - but your initial assertion was that we are capable of putting an extended run of positive results together.  Nothing prior to that suggested that your assertion was based on anything but a desire for it to be so.

 

If we get Cummings, to go along with Murphy, then I think we will be in pretty good shape.  We need someone to start taking some of the pressure from Morelos because he is being expected to provide all of our goalscoring, which is unfair of a 21 yr old who has played consistently for a year with zero break.  Cummings could be that person and has proven himself in Scotland previously..... but then again, so too had Nicky Clark (albeit at Championship level) and look how he turned out....  I don't particularly like Cummings personal attributes but I think he is a very decent player.

[Gribz 850]

7 hours ago, Gonzo79 said:

It's all ifs and buts at the moment.  Potentially, we have a decent side who are well capable of finishing 2nd comfortably.  But the 1st half of the season suggests we'll struggle to do that.

 

Murtys reign alone we have had some silly results (Hamilton, Dundee, Kilmarnock, St Johnstone). Just 2 wins there and we would actually be in with a shout of winning the league from absolute nowhere.

[JFK-1 1,693]

The Winter break couldn't have been timed better for us with the injuries piling up and with this window conveniently thrown in to strengthen key areas i'm encouraged. No disrespect to Fraserburgh but that too could hardly have been hand picked better as a first post break competitive match.

 

Following that we then have the chance to inflict a third consecutive defeat on the sheep to retake second place. Get that done possibly even with Cummings taking some of the pressure off young Morelos and we could slip into cruise drive.

 

I find the prospect of a Cummings/Morelos spearhead to be mouthwatering.  A 21 and 22 year old with unlimited energy spearheading the attack could bring an avalanche of goals. As has been mentioned it's been unfair to burden a young guy like Morelos with the entire striking load. And given that opposition defences have had him marked out as the danger man leading to heavy marking two such danger men spreading out the markers opens up all manner of possibilities.