Match Thread [FT] Motherwell 2 - 2 Rangers (Igamane 50, 68)

[CammyF 8,544]

7 hours ago, Franc Ergs said:

See Tottenham game for that.

Great movement and passing ,great shape ,won pretty much every loose ball, ..and competed.

 

Didn't play quite as well , but should've won the cup final too , though VAR put paid to that one.

 

Thursdays game is a complete dead rubber, so i've no doubt we'll win it .

But unfortunately, those are the exceptions to the rule. 

 

I think most of us got over excited after beating Killie 6-0, drawing with Spurs and ultimately losing (for various reasons) the league Cup final.

 

It appears we have now reverted to type. 

[Sutton_blows_goats 5,573]

We look at the results in Europe as if they mean anything, they don’t. As long as we get to a group stage competition we should be focused on domestic matters, anything in Europe should be a bonus. Unfortunately we seem to look at Europe as our priority and where we are as a club is the result.

[BlackSocksRedTops 3,864]

10 hours ago, RANGERRAB said:

Until the CB situation is resolved everything else is irrelevant. How did we get into this mess again ( like GvB did) missing our main CB’s ? The ones we’ve got are injury prone & the back-ups not good enough.

 

I get that but I think there's too much emphasis on the CBs. Our shape doesn't help IMO. If we are playing a higher tempo with a more fluid front 4, we are essentially defending from the front. This was demonstrated in the Killie, Spurs and Celtic games. Even Propper looked more secure. After a year (plus), I don't understand how PC cannot see that we need to swarm these teams from the first whistle and put the game to bed early. That will allow for his planned rotations and will help with injuries/strains. The fact that we play so many games right up until the last minute must have an impact on the players bodies. Big Ange worked this league out early. I just wish PC could have done the same. 

[Sutton_blows_goats 5,573]

49 minutes ago, BlackSocksRedTops said:

Big Ange worked this league out early

He also knew to go out and get some big strong centre backs than won their battles. Carter Vickers is massive and no one in the SPFL is pushing him off the ball. They went though a few other guys who were not as good but ultimately worked out, all big strong guys. Starfelt wasn't great but he could win headers.

 

Gerrard knew it with Goldson and Katic, Smith knew it with Wier and Ugo. McLeish knew it with Boumsong, Andrews and Kyriakos. The clues are all there, if PC and Koppen cant figure it out then they are beyond help.

52 minutes ago, BlackSocksRedTops said:

I get that but I think there's too much emphasis on the CBs.

100%, we rely on our CB's being man for man and winning duels too much for a team with wet paper bags at CB.

[Sutton_blows_goats 5,573]

All the talk in the MSM post game is the Motherwell disallowed goal. Nothing about the Lennon Miller challenge that should have been a red. 

[Rousseau 10,896]

I don't doubt there is an element of truth to the need for signing big b*st*rds at CB, but it's quite depressing. It's an indictment of Scottish football as a whole, for me. 

 

I did suggest going for McKenna in the summer as he was a free agent but I've just read about a former teammate at Copenhagen suggesting he's the worst player he's ever seen! 

[Graeme Ro55 842]

5 minutes ago, Sutton_blows_goats said:

All the talk in the MSM post game is the Motherwell disallowed goal. Nothing about the Lennon Miller challenge that should have been a red. 

If Butland showed the strength of a man of his size, Miller gets the red he deserved and the handball decision goes the right way it is a different game. That is not to say we were not pish.

[Sutton_blows_goats 5,573]

Just now, Rousseau said:

I don't doubt there is an element of truth to the need for signing big b*st*rds at CB, but it's quite depressing. It's an indictment of Scottish football as a whole, for me. 

I don't know, who are the best CB's in the world that are small and cant win a header? Cannavaro was famously 'small' for a CB but was great in the air. I don't think its an SPFL thing. I think its maybe magnified here, true. And that part is depressing.

[Rousseau 10,896]

3 minutes ago, Sutton_blows_goats said:

I don't know, who are the best CB's in the world that are small and cant win a header? Cannavaro was famously 'small' for a CB but was great in the air. I don't think its an SPFL thing. I think its maybe magnified here, true. And that part is depressing.

But they also have to be able to pass and press, etc. 

 

Saliba, Rudiger, Bastoni, Van Dijk wouldn't be playing if they were just 'big b*st*rds'. 

[Sutton_blows_goats 5,573]

4 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

But they also have to be able to pass and press, etc. 

 

Saliba, Rudiger, Bastoni, Van Dijk wouldn't be playing if they were just 'big b*st*rds'. 

No I agree, There is more too it that a measuring stick but my point is I don't see many wee or skinny wimps who can pass, press etc playing CB at the top.