Match Thread [FT] Rangers 0 - 1 Celtic

[Dragosani 69]

I think it's more about us not losing site of the bigger picture by just focusing on the disallowed goal/penalty.  The football has been rotten. The team selection/formation bewildering. 

We have players that should of put Celtic to the sword, they didn't. Why is this?

Now we can say that if the goal stood, What's to say, they wouldn't of exploited our lack of game plan and just scored another. After all let's be honest, would we have had confidence that the team would hold onto the lead and indeed scored more.?

I honestly think their is a malaise running through the whole football operation.

We need either for Mb to find some steel or someone else who does.

[ranger_syntax 4,339]

15 minutes ago, Dragosani said:

I think it's more about us not losing site of the bigger picture by just focusing on the disallowed goal/penalty.  The football has been rotten. The team selection/formation bewildering. 

We have players that should of put Celtic to the sword, they didn't. Why is this?

Now we can say that if the goal stood, What's to say, they wouldn't of exploited our lack of game plan and just scored another. After all let's be honest, would we have had confidence that the team would hold onto the lead and indeed scored more.?

I honestly think their is a malaise running through the whole football operation.

We need either for Mb to find some steel or someone else who does.

We're not exactly lacking criticism of either the manager or the players. So there is little need to worry about that.

[JohnMc 2,768]

I was speaking with friends earlier about the Amazon documentary on Manchester City that came out a couple of years ago. I watched it as I curious to know more about Guardiola. I'd expected lots of talk about overlapping, inverted false 9s and venn diagrams of spacial awareness and xG. In actual fact you discovered that 'Pep' is actually a bundle enthusiasm and energy who, when speaking with players, spends most of his time psyching them up and getting the side wound up to go out and play. It was a slightly more sophisticated version of 'get stuck right into them from the first whistle, lads'. Now I'm sure there's a lot of false 9s and inverted overlaps and all that stuff going on in training but the sheer simplicity of what Guardiola does was a surprise but afterwards I realised that's what all successful managers do, they fill their players with belief and desire. It's a room of young men full of testosterone, there's no need to make it complicated. 

 

I've been thinking about it this week. I wonder if we underestimated how important Gerrard's simple communication was. Everyone said Beale was the brain, and that might be so, but when Gerrard said "let's go" on his unveiling as our manager we all responded positively. Gerrard is passion and desire, as a player someone other players admired and listened too. Beale seems a much more considered and thoughtful person, but does he instil passion in our players? I suspect Gerrard's final words in the dressing room carried more weight than Beale's do now.

The great Brian Clough, who won titles with Derby and Nottingham Forest as well as two European Cups had a well documented poor spell at Leeds Utd in between those two jobs. What's often overlooked in his time at Leeds is his long time assistant, Peter Taylor, didn't go to Leeds with him. Clough's 'magic' didn't work at Leeds. He didn't win over the dressing room and he left after only a few months. At Forest he was once again joined by Taylor and the rest is history. Clough famously rarely visited the training ground, he'd watch training but never took part. His thinking was if his players heard his voice too much they would stop hearing what he said. Yet for all his genius, without Taylor, Clough's style didn't work. When him and Taylor fell out and Taylor left Forest they went into a terminal decline that ended with relegation. 

 

Having watched us this season, not just Wednesday and yesterday, I worry we've given Peter Taylor our manager's job. Our performances have lacked cohesion and style, i've no idea what formation and type of football we're meant to be playing. Yesterday we seemed to be playing a long ball to the big lad up front, I've not seen that tactic for over 20 years, I certainly didn't expect to see it yesterday. We had a speed merchant in decent form on one wing and never gave him the ball. They'd two rookie centre halves and we never thought of putting Matondo through the middle to see if that might make them drop deeper and create more space for our midfield who were being overrun for most of the first half. When we did make changes we took off the two forwards who both scored, albeit chalked off, and left on the one who looks short of fitness, sharpness and possibly confidence to the disbelief of almost the entire support. 

 

I'm not one who turns on managers easily. A search of my posts will show I was in favour of persevering with GvB until close to the very end. I was very disappointed when Le Guen left, I felt he should have been backed. But I lost faith in Pedro after the second Old Firm hammering, months before the Progres fiasco. Unfortunately I've lost faith in Beale. I could just about accept the new players struggling to settle and adapt. But both Cantwell and Raskin are shadows of the players we saw last season, what's happened to them? 

 

I know it's early in the season, but I feel I've watched this film before and I know how it ends. It's just a question of when and for all concerned it should be sooner rather than later. 

 

 

[Rousseau 10,679]

I didn't see Barisic hugging Beale after an Old Firm win...

[Scott7 6,030]

2 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

I didn't see Barisic hugging Beale after an Old Firm win...

That’s like saying you didn’t see a polar bear flying over the Congo.

[weebluedevil 1,239]

1 hour ago, ian1964 said:

 

We've been Cinched. Park is to blame for this. 

[Scott7 6,030]

I assume Beale had most his expensive signings on the bench at the start because they’re not good enough. Bear in mind that Sterling would not have been picked if Barisic had been available.

 

It can’t have been because they weren’t mentally ready for a game against celtic. They’ve got to play against them sooner or later. What better occasion than a tim-free home game? I suppose cp at New Year might be a less critical venue.

[Bill 13,717]

1 hour ago, Bluedell said:

We did convert one of our chances, and nobody can say if we would have lost or not if the goal had been allowed. so it's incorrect to say that's not why we lost. It's one of the reasons.

 

It's a bit arrogant to tell people what people should and should not be focussing on. It's not an either/or. We can debate more than one aspect of the game.

I say! It's a bit arrogant to tell me not to point out the futility of whining about a decision that can't be changed by whining about it.

 

Why are you being so sensitive about what I say? I'm probably not worth getting so triggered about. 

 

And with or without the disallowed Roofe goal, we had no need to lose that game.

[PoohBear 1,148]

Unfortunately I think most can see that it will be very difficult, if not impossible for Beale to turn this around. It's damning when you can't trust your most expensive signings to play in your most difficult games. However, I dont think there is enough evidence of failure for the board to do something about it yet. For sure they should question Beale about the financial outlay on players who aren't getting time, but I think a sacking is a little way down the road yet. We are in a very strong position to win the League Cup, I think the board will at least wait to see how that plays out first. 
 

It's a worrying time though, for sure.

[Gonzo79 15,294]

2 minutes ago, PoohBear said:

We are in a very strong position to win the League Cup, I think the board will at least wait to see how that plays out first. 

I'd be a bit worried if the League Cup has much bearing on the board's thinking process.