der Berliner

Tough pitch and a physical game on the cards, so one might probably think of "tougher" guys than Raskin, Roofe or Tillman to wear them down a little, while not risking any silly injuries ahead of next week. Keep them occupied in their half, get some early goals and take it from there. Perhaps a chance to field Wright and Arfield, but in any case, I wouldn't play Kamara, who brings so little into the game these days.

His final words may give a little insight of how this "buy-option with option to re-buy" looks like. By the looks of it, a fee was agreed if we want to make the deal permanent, and after that, Bayern gets first-option should we decide on selling him later on. What remains the question is whether he would sign for us and whether Bayern are obliged to sell to us if we decide to make the deal permanent. The Rangers have a purchase option for you at the end of the season. Would you rather stay or try again in Munich? I just want to play as much as possible. I care where that will be, but not too much. I feel comfortable here, very much so. I'm deliver performances, which I think they like quite well here at Rangers. But I could also imagine that Bayern do like it too. That's why ... we shall see. These words indicate that Bayern, if they don't want to sell him, don't have to. Obviously, it also remains to be seen whether he wants to stay.

Beale explain the whole Tillman affair quite well and takes much of the blame regarding selection et al. So fair enough (though one hopes he changes things now a bit).

Made heavy weather of that one. A bit too bizarre a midfield-line-up, better after Roofe and Kent came on. I doubt Tillman knew what Thistle was after, they got the ball back and so be it. Tillman got hammered all afternoon, yet dances through their area in the 96th. Raskin looks a fine acquisition too, can play and spray passes, good to have Roofe back too. Now it's up to MB to employ the weaponry he has and stop playing Kamara 97 mins, or any other 2nd DM.

Cantwell on the right wing, and dare I say it Kent on the left. Maybe Morelos too, Hagi and Kamara off.

No cohesion to the midfield whatsoever, hence they were all over the place and confused themselves more than Thistle. Kamara virtually an empty jersey, as he has no real role but to ping-pong the ball to the next player available. Good for the pass-stats, but totally unnecessary. Colak isolated. We brought that penalty up on ourselves again with very poor defending. Playing out from the back should be fined, they had three shots before the referee bend the rules. The ref is just utterly clueless and poor. Decisions are almost just one-way, underdog-way. Truly shocking ... ... first half.

In no way a penalty, clearly natural position ... Championship level refereeing, as i said.

It's a fine 4-2-3-1 McGregor Tavernier - Sands - Davies - Barisic Raskin - Kamara Hagi - Tillman - Cantwell Colak ... only that the middle three are all over the place and there is no cohesion to their and our play as of now. Championship-level refereeing so far.

Alas, Tillman, Hagi, Cantwell are not shy to shoot, but a nominal defensive 4-3-3 at home against Partick, well well.

Sad news indeed, far too early. R.I.P.

Two things, and they are rather obvious: Not dropping points is because Goldson and Davies are now our centre-half pairing, being fit and up to form again. Under Gio, it was makeshift time for long spells and Goldson was hardly looking in any sort of a form that he is capapble off. Not putting teams to the sword is because we play the same tactics over and over again. The things that turn our games now is the introduction of a true attacker on the right wing (he goes by the name of Sakala) and that Tillman is grabbing the ball and heads and shoots at goal in a manner that should see Kent go pale with shame. Cantwell looks really up for it, is clever and shoots as well. If Raskin comes close to that and Hagi gets back into action, we have a solid attacking midfield ready. Yet, I would still prefer two real strikers against teams that put 7+ men into the area.

That's how many shots/headers that Morelos missed today? Alas, he's shooting. IMHO, we can just leave Kent out, play the always running (and shooting) Sakala and Morelos either side of Colak, who will and should stay central. By the looks of it, Tillman and Cantwell are well capable of filling Kent's boots in terms of running and have the bonus of shooting themselves (with a proper chance of hitting the target at that), while Raskin runs the show behind them. We simply need to put games against these teams to bed much much earlier, but have so little to show for all the effort. IMHO, mainly down to people hesitant to take responsinility. While I was impressed by MB's choice of Tillman for Lundstram, I couldn't work out the Kamara sub. Transfer window is closed and we sure didn't need a ball-dancer, but a goal threat. No disrespect to Kamara at all, but he was sure not needed at the time and not thereafter.

Obviously, you will have to take into account that Hearts wanted to play their game at home and show what damage they can do. We never let them, yet they neither tried to get back to the brickwall-tactics other teams use and thus got hammered all night long. It is on us to do a similar "press and in their faces " -style like we did last night, so the game against Ross County might look somewhat different - and that's been the case before. Still, we now have players capable of providing that sort of game, either newly signed or back from injury. So no excuses (as the saying goes).

Very impressive. Always in their faces, always pressure. That's how we play best, this is how we should play. Thankfully, it seems many of our players rose to the challenge and challenges, let's hope we keep it at that level. And to imagine what will come off the bench in due course ...

Too bad he had a player to pass to when being essentially free to shoot himself. But maybe, just maybe he will learn it before Raskin grabs his slot.

That's how we play when the players get the half-time tea before the game. Probably the best first half of the season, just keep it up lads.

If RTV or Hearts TV is not an option tonight, give me a PM closer to KO.

OP updated now. For those interested, here's the list of our players over at TM showing which player can play in each position: Squad by primary and optional position at Transfermarkt

Some twittery whispers that Chelsea goalie Marcus Bettinelli (30, contract till 6/2023) is currently in Glasgow.

Truth be told, he never looked as fit as Colak or most of our other strikers. But he knew - once - where the goal stood and was able to hit it from various angles and positions. These days, he's lost quite a bit of that and thus the rest of his differences to e.g. Colak come to the fore. Maybe we can melt him and Kent into one guy ... But yes, we do need some solid striker who outlasts a season. I doubt it will be Nisbet or Shankland, as both Edinburgh clubs will want silly money.

Had we any interest in Dykes or Stewart, this will be off the table now, as Stewart has ruptured his achilles and Dykes entered hospital for illness. Speedy recovery to both ... yet, just for a split second imagine we had signed them early in January. 😱

Indeed, he played but 64 mins (in three games) under Beale, mainly down to injury. I am still of the opinion that all of our current strikers work better if they have a partner up front, setting one another up or creating spaces. Morelos appearing at the half-way line or on the wing is giving me the creeps ...

Much of this season, IMHO, has been wrecked by injury and poor form from those on the park. The one thing that has happened since Beale is that we have won most of our games - even came close to beating the Scum. Yet, that was mainly - IMHO - down to us getting our defence in order and stopped conceding silly goals. We have not really scored more goals or set up any differently. Goldson found his steady form and Davies is a proper centre-half too. Neither are of the special variety though, and we have had enough scary moments to remind us of that. The one thing that really changed our fortunes of late was - IMHO - the introduction of Sakala on the right. For all the shortcomings attributed to him, he is a thorn in anyone's defence and has contributed to 9 (3 goals, 6 assists) of our 23 goals since Beale took over. He's keeping defenders busy and opens up spaces for others to run into. If only they would ... We need to find a formula to get Hagi and Tillman running the show behind the two strikers. They provide the creative spark and will also try to shoot. Yesterday could have been a fine time to go "3"-5-2 with Lundstram/Jack (hence the "") being the DM in front of the two real centre-halfs, while two strikers and another attacking midfielder should have been put on. Yet, we put on like-for-like and stuck to our game plan. Let's see what the Hearts game brings, but for some reason I doubt that we will change much. Then again, Hearts are on a high and will want to play their own game, so the 2 DMs are a certainty. Morelos is getting back to his fitness levels, yet, in front of goals he's somewhat rusty again. Colak has played but 64 mins under Beale, mainly down to injury, so might need some time to get back to sharpness. And if anything, it is time that we don't have.

Let's see whether Beale goes with Morelos (who looks better now) and Colak against Hearts. I'd also prefer Sakala to whomever is to be played on the right or left wing. These are proper attackers with a will to shoot at the target. Let the others come behind them.

There was no-one left to pass the ball to ...