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Lampard has been appointed Coventry manager so we're free of that scenario for the time being.

There was a very entertaining goal in one of last night’s matches. A team’s high-scoring winger picked up a clearance midway in his own half, carved his way backwards past some of his own defenders and struck a beautiful pass to his centre half unmarked near the penalty spot who with one touch controlled the ball and guided it it into his own net well beyond the reach of his keeper who for some reason had wandered off in the opposite direction.perhaps to inspect the penalty box line marking. Rewarding viewing.

That tells us everything we need to know about where our club stands right now.

The Diamonde goal was superb ,almost as good as the Carter-Vickers one from last night.

Dessers would've missed...

There is no easy route out of this and to address the underlying issues will take time. Our 'hurry', based on unrealistic short term expectations will only trip us up wrt addressing the underlying issues. Lets see what Patrick Stewart has to say about a way forward in a couple of weeks. Someone tell him not to give out 4 year contracts to managers. I'm not at all optimistic short to medium term. As it stands, our biggest hope is that Celtic hit a cyclical trough.

I understand the rebuild point he is making but 4 months into that including a full pre-season and 6 weeks of international break training time should be yielding more obvious improvement than we're seeing. There are too many flaws for fans to retain confidence in the manager. There are obvious reasons for our continued poor/inconsistent form. Injuries remain a huge problem that he hasn't solved along with the same systemic issues as last season (not taking chances and conceding too easily). He's had 12 months to address these without success. Add in our utterly woeful set-pieces and generic lack of basic ability at times: e.g. passing and shooting then it's hard to defend any the coaching team. All things considered, Clement can ask for more time and I think that's fair to a degree. However, demonstrable progress has to be delivered now. Not next week, not next month but immediately. Can he recover? I doubt it but the festive period is the ideal time to do it as there is now a busy run of games that should allow the manager and players to foster some sort of understanding.

Big cyriel is utter gash. 🤣

I will do on Sunday..

Maybe not 😁

You still need to take them.

This is the same team that can’t beat Aberdeen, Killie and Dundee united? Feel a bit conned, still enjoying tonight but yeah. Do it in the SPFL eh lads.

Just switched ma telly off and stuck on some Punk music..... Stick on a message when Igamane gets hooked.

@CammyF is going to have a heart attack...

No Dessers, no Tav. No excuse to miss the match.

Yes, you would think that's what should be happening but this board seem to chop and change their mind as to who is responsible for what so I have minimal faith in the DoF model we pick up and drop from window to window.

I was meaning Harsh for Compo's bet

We've only knocked down the ruins and cleared the rubble. We've still to build something.

Real Madrid one place above the "relegation" zone, thats too much traffic to get past to Auto qualify although still possible but I would think have the teams above them will win games. This format is good as big teams are being found out a bit rather than having beating boys in the group. Although maybe 36 teams is too much. But Liverpool are impressive under Slot. Its been a dream handover from Klopp. Im not sure how the fixtures work but Leipzig got dealt a terrible hand - Atletico Madrid, Juventus, Liverpool and Inter Milan (cant include Celtic as that was winnable).

I watched the match in my local pub tonight. It's almost all Rangers fans on a night like tonight. Uncontrollable laughter fills the room whenever Dessers is on the pitch.

... as was Jefte, and even Ridvan late on. We need to get Danilo and Igamane on, fit and raring to go. Dessers scores his goals, but he's not exactly a prime centre-forward to drag you out of every game. And like every striker, he has his "downtime". Still, nothing I would sleep about. We have the players, we just need to get them played correctly for every game.

3 points and up the road. Cannae wait for Perth on a cold December afternoon. Igamane, Diomande, Raskin and Barron outstanding.

Dessers is rubbish.

FFS. We're winning 4-0 away from home in Europe. Who cares about the oppositions problems?

Great finish!

Still time for him to be hooked 😀

Igamane ... remember the lad is in his first half-season of big-crowds high-demand football. He doesn't looked phased tonight, though (obviously), I still wouldn't play him as a lone striker. Get Bajrami through the middle and Ridvan on as left-back, Diomande for a HT bath.

Yup, just before I posted 😅

Knock it in earlier, you tit! Jeez...

Right, we need to start a petition to have the SPL games played on a Thursday night and be renamed the Europa League.

Bajrami should have passed to the much more free Cerny ...

To be fair, I'm more annoyed at Bajrami's pass than Igamane not shooting.

Why are our players so stupid?

We dont attack enough to get one anyway, so it wont matter

Understatement right there

The Hibs did all right in the first incarnation of the European Cup going out in the semi-final to Rheims who were top frogs at the time with the famous Raymond Kopa.

With notable clubs in the running

I think we need to move on from the mindset of having to 'rebuild' with every manager. We have a Director of Recruitment (and a Sporting Director, hopefully) and must let him do his job. It is his job - with the manager's input - to build the squad. Any new manager will need to be the best fit for that structure.

Done!

I have some sympathy with the board as I genuinely don't know the best strategy to deliver improvement. What I do know is the number of times we have to make subs at half-time shows the manager can't successfully pick or motivate the team. It's not all on him (some of our players are a disgrace and we've discussed injuries) but without obvious improvement he's ultimately responsible. However it does go deeper than Clement and my sympathy for a failing board only goes so far. I think we give him the next two months. There's no winter break so that's two months of a solid run of fixtures where he can work with every player, get various players back fully fit/contributing whilst hopefully find some momentum and consistency that gives us a platform for the rest of the season and beyond. Recent performances may suggest that's a folly but, like you, I'm unconvinced a new manager is the right call either. The one main flaw of doing this is that it means it's a window where a failing manager and one that could leave any time is doing business (in and out) any new person may not want.

Just posted that in the football thread - I restrained from your bold bit 😀

Instead of a bulldozer, we have a plastic hammer and a pet groundhog.

We are still tripping over the rubble and the dust doesn't allow us to see a way out.

Was PLG not given the bike and told to get on it?

In a 'normal' set of circumstances surrounding the club, Clement would be on the brink. He might be anyway, but given what the board said about patience, circumstances and a look at the accounts. I think we need to try and ride out the storm. I think we'll finish second with or without Clement. So far, we've done ok in Europe and I think we'll do better in the League Cup Final than the scudding that most are talking about. A new manager may bring a bounce but he won't be able to bring in much quality players and we'll still be behind Celtic. To address the challenge of becoming real rivals to Celtic again for more than an occasional season, it is about laying sustainable foundations.

Does anyone know if we've had a rebuild? Is this a new team? Manager hasn't mentioned it.

And Man City are one of their final 3 fixtures. Hopefully there are no seedings in the play off round but either way it will through up some belters as it stands. Another top rule with this format is nobody dropping into the Europa.