der Berliner

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

... 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.

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.

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

You were saying something different, which sounds a wee bit ridiculous. He's been bright every time he's on the park, just Tav doesn't want him to score from the spot. He was tremendous vs Hearts ... and still has to learn how to play against top not Scottish fridge-throwers and iron-men every week.

You can't be serious ...

We didn't play better or worse than throughout the season. Missed tons of chances, played far too complicated in front of goals and left ourselves open a few times at the back. Only today the opposition managed to score more often. Their first came from a freekick as laughable as the full refereeing performance. The second was opportunism pure. Motherwell, like most others in the league, just parks the bus, tackles hard and lives of scraps and pieces. By now, you would think that some manager and a few players wake up to that. As I said, not much different a performance than most others - bar a hatful of wasted passes from unexpected origins. Would have hooked Sterling after 60,at the latest after 75 mins, his countable contribution from the right was not really there. Silva should keep his place alongside whoever is considered centre-forward. We look more dangerous with two real strikers up top, despite them not clicking today.

Yes, Toilet Team.

Motherwell sit in, play a luvly 5-4 and only get two people up the field if they have the ball. Typical brick-wall stuff by a well-drilled team. Nothing to be proud of. We put out a, well, conservative line-up, and only got playing after 30odd minutes. Diomande, Ridvan, Desser and Silva look the most likely, not sure that Sterling works on the right flank too often. Lawrence -> Raskin at HT.

The most inept piece of refereeing I have seen in very a long day ...

Let him do the penalties and freekicks then.

Three points, two good goals, not much more to write home about. Let's hope Cortes' injury isn't that bad.

I, for one, wouldn't have used Lawrence from the start, he's sort of a Rolls-Royce of a player, but on this pitch his talents are wasted (and in danger). This is made for Sterling and Wright, not so much fancy footwork.

I have never seen Beale playing out there? We play the same style as before, under Clement, Beale, Gio, SG, MW ... That said, Clement wasn't here before, was he? Neither Cortes or Diomande.

Shocking pitch, shocking style by McInnes, dire dire display from us ...

Commendable knowledge in niche-history. BTW, looks like no Roofe tonight, as he did not travel along. No rehab on plastic turf is probably a wise choice.

Rugby Park usually invokes memories of a blistering start, being 3-0 up in 15odd minutes. 😎

Clement has got the lads together, washed some heads, brought in new faces, and they are clicking right now. Today was certainly the icing on the cake so far. We have the momentum, let's keep it going over at Rugby Park.

What a game. Stunning goals, and Ridvan sensational.

Maybe if we play two strikers and don't hope that every attacker who is not the "lone striker" is a Sima, we might get more goals. We have always created enough chances, but rarely played and play more than one finisher. Even if we had them in the squad.

When at his peak. His last year was 1 goal in 5 chances, if not more. He will remain our European top goalscorer, but "let's keep the church in the village". Dessers gets really good assists and scores some fine goals now. Colak would have loved this environment too. Same as Roofe. Maybe we leave the "better than" debate on strikers, as it is all about opinions and preferences.

43-5 shots 23-1 on target 20-3 corners ... unbelievable, truly unbelievable.

21-3 shots at goal, 10-1 on target. The rot in terms of chance-conversion continues, even though luck is with the Stags tonight. Typical Tavernier game. Two perfect crosses, one decent shot, but then fills spaces that should be used by attackers. Maybe he just stays near the HW-line and doesn't occupy spaces near the box where we seem to have too many players, and they hinder one another. We'll probably score four or five more, but sometimes you wonder ...