der Berliner

Very worth our lead. The ref made a mockery of his job there time and again. Can't believe you see that week in and week out.

Well taken goals, might/should have been up a couple more.

Typical goal we conceeded. Fullback up the park, DM sort of asleep (Lundstram missed the runner), CHs flat and Tav too late as well. Utterly frustrating ...

2 minutes ago, Malangsob said:

Phil is a cool guy. A really cool guy. Love him.

 

But Wright?

 

I predict many outstanding runs into nowhere.

 

NB: Any word on Roofe? Had expected him on the bench ... 

5 minutes ago, Malangsob said:

 

 

And since Clement is a cool guy, Wright plays on the right flank. 

Referee - David Dickinson

Assistants - David McGeachie und Ross Macleod

Fourth Official - Colin Steven

Video Assistant Referee - Andrew Dallas

Assistant Video Assistant Referee - David Roome

Missing - Zak Lovelace (muscle), Danilo Pereira (knee), Alex Lowry (foot), Óscar Cortéz (muscle), Ryan Jack (muscle), Ridvan Yilmaz (thigh)

Touch and go - Kieran Dowell (foot), Abdallah Sima (foot), Dujon Sterling (thigh), Ross McCausland (leg)

So Wright is ready to play right flank, cool!

I never liked international breaks. Not least as it whips up threads like this ...

15 hours ago, Sutton_blows_goats said:

If this turns out to be another mid to long term muscle injury we need to move him on in the summer. Happening far to often and he’ll never play a consistent run of games.

He's played for months on the trot now. Maybe we just stop them from flying about for too long? We should keep our fingers crossed for Dessers now.

We'll sure look for some LB in the summer, hopefully in addition to Ridvan.

12 minutes ago, ian1964 said:

 

True as this may be, why does he and his allow playing on the plastic trash of Killie and Co.?

We will have time to get some injured players back, going by our luck, we may lose some of our called-up chaps as well ...

36 minutes ago, Blue Moon said:

I agree.  I would keep Wright but not Matondo for his injury record and the money he is on.

And speaking of tomorrow, I'd throw Wright in there again. Sometimes people need quality around them to reach their own next level. We hardly played Ridvan for any longer spell and soon people started to bemoan his lack of quality, height, you name it. Now, having get a hatful of games under his belt, no-one wants Borna back. I am not saying that Wright is another Ridvan, but play him with the quality people we field now, and he may very well deliver more than Lammers, or Matondo. He was working his socks off and had some really good moments while he was on, so send him out there at Dens and see what happens. IMHO, we could easily spare us one CM/DM over there and put one more attacker on and lay the game to rest early on. We have to manage our squad for the next few weeks, given all the injuries, so utilize it according to the opposition.

Seeing that the Scumhut came second, I would assume that this was a poll, and you know who would reply most ...

Four Four Two

1 hour ago, Malangsob said:

Yes...they were shit...but we couldn't best them...so what does that make us?

 

If you are truly better than the other team...you walk the dog on em.

 

All this "they were offsides...VAR...blah blah woof woof"

 

If you go out and stomp ass all that falls by the wayside.

 

We were never any real threat. 

 

Thems the facts. 

 

 

No no ... they weren't shit, and "better" teams don't walk the dog on worse teams. Nor did luck desert them thrice over the two games, so you can mention these VARs if you want to stay on the objective side. The only "fact" that we saw is that they scored on goal more than we did. The rest is opinion.

Benfica ... "never in real danger" 🤪

They got a penalty, after VAR. They got an own goal to level the first game, now they got a offside goal ruled good by VAR.

This lot didn't deserve to go through any more than we did, but given our lack in strength today, we can hold our heads high. This looked every minute a one-error-game and so it proved.

This season is not about Europe, so no real harm done IMHO.

NB ... we need to cut this holding of the ball in our own half and playing essentially "keep ball" amongst our centre-halfs, even when time is ticking away at an alarming rate. Do a Souttar or a Balogun and run on your own!

2 minutes ago, Sutton_blows_goats said:

No complaints lad was onside. Amateur defending.

... no, he was still in his own half, else he would have been off.

Given the rain, this wasn't too bad a watch thus far. We need to put one or two chances into the back of the net though. Right now, we overplay it in the final third. Diomande looks a bit like out of sorts with his passing, then again, Lundstram gave two balls away in a dangerous area too. Let's see what CLement does at HT.

Hard to watch at times, some of the passing and decision-making in critical moments were closer to Hibs' level than ours. Difficult game nontheless now out of the way, let's see who is next.

NB: It's sort of strange that you have some guys who come in and click instantly, McCausland, Silva, Sima, or Ridvan. And then there is Matondo, who was quite good when he received his injury but somehow looks much more like his first days with us now. These looks where your gut feeling somehow tells you that something ain't right for him to click with us. (I know that - by default - from now on, he'll have a super career with Rangers FC, but still ... )

Well, Hibs were willing and had a go for 30odd minutes. The goal took the sting out of them somewhat, and we got going. Some people just need to concentrate a little more to get the pass-angles better, but on the whole not to bad after the goal. A couple of goals to keep the nerve-levels down please.

2 minutes ago, Sutton_blows_goats said:

Michael Stewart’s analysis is a disgrace tbh

I was just going to ask who the co-commentator is. This amount of green-white cope is extraordinary ...

We have a lot of cover in that position, including Diomande, Raskin, and Sterling, with Jack on the same boat as Lundstram. Dowell hasn't played much due to fitness and injury, Lowry being a dark horse due to - of late - commitment and lack of game time. Given that Jack, whom I place as one of our best DMs when fit, is becoming ever more injure prone, I'd suggest giving Lundstram a one-year deal and an option for another. He's been our most reliable DM/CM this season, yet all depends of what he plans for himself in what might be one of his last contracts in the game.

Went for Butland, but Ridvan was close on his heels. The Little Tiger had DiMaria covered for most of the match.

Brutally efficient. What a game.

Referee - Tobias Stieler (GER)

Assistants - Christian Gittelmann (GER) und Robert Kempter (GER)

Fourth Official - Harm Osmers (GER)

Video Assistant Referee - Marco Fritz (GER)

Assistant Video Assistant Referee - Sören Storks (GER)

Missing - Zak Lovelace (muscle), Danilo Pereira (knee OP), Kieran Dowell (foot), Abdallah Sima (foot), Alex Lowry (foot), Todd Cantwell (thigh), Rabbi Matondo (muscle), Óscar Cortés (muscle), Ross McCausland (leg); Leon Balogun (not in EL squad)

That's six of our main attacking players out injured ...

Sort of tricky game. Benfica not in the best form, so probably willing to show that there's some spirit left in them. Go we in there with a defensive mind/line-up, they well probably swarm all over us. We need penetration up front and IMHO, Sterling, for all his ability and strength, lacks some sort of cutting edge. I'd be tempted to play Dessers through the middle, Silva on the inside-left attacking slot, Wright on the right. Lawrence the creative chap in the middle, Lundstram and Diomande/Sterling behind him.

Butland

Tavernier - Goldson - Souttar - Ridvan

Lundstram - Sterling/Diomande

Wright - Lawrence - Silva

Dessers

On 04/03/2024 at 13:27, CammyF said:

 

The saying "you don't realise what you had until its gone' will be more true for Tav than it has been for the vast majority / any player / manager we've had since 2013.  

... a saying we have heard over and over again since everyone slung a Rangers scarf around his/her neck for the first time. And yet, we strode on from one title to another. Latest examples, Morelos and Kent. No-one is denying the impact Tavernier has made over the years. A bit of perspective comes in handy, though.

On 02/03/2024 at 18:37, CammyF said:

So when did penalties not count as goals? Do we take McCoists many penalties away from him when discussing his phenomenal goalscoring record? 

 

Off course we don't- it's not a half-truth, he'll end up out top scorer. How many has he scored this season? 

 

Oh, and if either of our left backs were half as good as Tav, we'd be a far better team. 

Lame arguments. A defender primarily needs to defend. Everything else is a bonus. Tav has accumulated lots of bonuses over his time, no doubt about that. On Saturday, again, he left his defending slot time and again, at times appearing in a central attacking slot, Sterling being elsewhere and the right wing/side being empty. His goal stats would be far more wing-back-like without his penalties. They would probably - adding the assists - be more like that of an average right-winger. He's no doubt having a good season, probably his best after 55 and post-promotion. That's two in how many seasons? I try to stay realistic with every player, so I do not forget those umpteen attempted crosses that don't go past the first defender, the free-kicks blasted high and wide time and again, as almost no-one else bar him is allowed to take free-kicks. He has a knack of producing one or two perfect crosses every other game that end up as assists of others, even if the rest of his performance is mediocre compared to his own standards. 

As for the stats ... 21 goals to his name this season, 14 were penalties, 3 free-kicks, the rest shots and one header. Had Dessers taken all penalties and scored as much, he'd be at (give-or-take) 30 goals, and we'd be raving over him, with no thoughts given on Shankland et al ...

Our result was a timely wake-up call for the manager and the team. Hearts dragged us out this time, let's hope we do not need a repeat.

4 minutes ago, CammyF said:

Our most effective and dangerous player is our right back. He'll end up our top scorer 

.... thanks to his penalties. No half-truths, please.