der Berliner

And life for free on UEFA TV https://www.uefa.tv

They are still studded to the hilt with talent, usually come off the boil after the winter break. Lost in the cup to BL 2 side St. Pauli, 2-5 yesterday against Leverkusen. They will play far more open than most of the teams in the SPFL, no surprise there, and that will be essentially like yesterday`s game. We need a tight defence and solid midfield, but its tailor made for the speed of Kent, Sakala and the power of Morelos. Let`s see how Ramsey fits in there, as he can be the creative force needed to set up our strikers.

Noted that Sands, Diallo and Ramsey have been added to our EL squad, Itten not yet. The list also still included Patterson and Kelly, for some reason.

His celebration? We have two buffaloes! 🤣 https://twitter.com/fashionjr10/status/1490411883190435840/ SPFL highlights

Glasgow City is still the benchmark in Scotland and if you beat them, you know you have a good chance. Us and the Scum have invested "heavily" into the women teams, City has probably better contacts. They have poached good players from all "lesser" teams for the best part of a decade though, so they better don`t lament any financial disparity.

Neither did stop from Tavernier being here for years and being made captain. Against Ross County, Goldson (again) made a mess of a header, leaving make-shift centre-half Bassey with his fresh air swing - yet who gets the blame? The rest was McGregor`s calamity show. Sure, Bassey made a couple of errors, yet at the end of the half (just ahead of their corner), Tav allowed a chap to run free on the right and we probably have Goldson to thank for his last gasp tackle that it didn`t get worse. If we like to balance Tav´s "contribution to the team" with his assists and overall play, maybe we don`t forget Bassey`s cool pass to Kent for the latter to set up Morelos for our first goal? Bassey`s 22 and will get this out ofhis system. Tavernier is 30 and still prone to errors, some fatal ones at that. Maybe we lay off the players every now and then. Hearts played their game, always pressed us, always tried to get forward too. If the opposition does that, we can hit them hard. We find the space and e.g. Kent the room to run into. These games are not the problem and we have to wait and see how Hibs will approach it. Breaking down the "low-blockers" is the area that we really need to improve.

... BTw, we should play Kamara further forward now every now and then. Tell him how the goal looks like and he`ll become a player 😎

The reaction required. Interesting line up with Arfield in the right attacking slot, but all worked tirelessly and got the result we deserved. Keep up that level of performance and we`ll come good again. BTW, Dortmund lost 2-5 at home against Levrkusen earlier in the day, they tend to have a bad spell after the winter break, let`s hope it continues 😉

Shocking from Collum, but`s been coming.

Let`s ask a soothsayer on game-day noon how Kent will perform later then. Lot of bite in midfield, calmed much of any Hearts' gall. Even by law-of-averages we should be 3 or 4 up, as it stands, it remains tight and Hearts need one lapse to look dangerous. Wherever our captain was in the last minute (when we have enough DMs on the park), it was not where he was meant to be.

At home against Hearts and we pack the midfield for a wrestling session ... ... one striker, one guy who can`t do no wrong and not even a realy right-sided attacker. This will be fun.

Top of the table clash in the Women`s PL, up against Glasgow City today ...

Just took the hook to write my pre-match thoughts 😉

No. We don`t have "wingers" in a 4-3-3 ... we play "wingers" instead of real modern day strikers like Sakala and Roofe and ask them to perform like strikers, which a hardly any of them do. I expect a left-/right-sided attacker to come up 10+ goals a season against Scottish opposition. Kent stays at 2 goals and 5 assists in the league in 15 games (1,229 mins), whereas Sakala has 5 goals and 2 assists in 18 games (805 mins). Roofe is on 6 goals and 1 assists in 798 mins). Our right sided "winger" play more often than not consisted of Hagi or Aribo being played there for long spells under SG and also nowadays. Neither IMHO are right-"wingers" nor right sided attackers. Or should play there ahead of true attacking players like Roofe, Sakala and Morelos, who can play and have played all across the front 3. There is every reason to think that 4-3-3 has its values and should be played with small variations. If you have the players for that (and use them) and if the opposition "allows" it. Against low-blocks you need wingers and strikers ... plus marauding fullbacks though. Under Gio - not least in those last few games - the supply by the fullbacks has been dire (even if one or the other comes up with the odd goal or assist) for long spells so their attacking thread is hardly that of a real winger. Likewise, having to rely far too often on a CH like Goldson to make cross-field long balls and precise passes from the back means we sure lack someone in midfield for that role. So we need anchor men in MF who take the pressure off the defence and also are able to find their own in the attacking areas. We sure need a more lethal attacking threat in the opposition area than we have seen throughout the last few seasons, so I`d always play with at least two strikers, one of which stays central. My greatest point of anger is that we have and have had the players, yet persisted with the same system and usually the same players no matter what. I assume Kent was SG`s darling and Tavernier being captain could simply not be dropped. But I don`t buy this droned mantra of how important either was or is for our current team, not least when both simply don`t come up with the goods. Patterson made me forget that we had Tavernier after a couple of games, Sakala`s attack play and enthusiasm for the game is half if not a level above Kent`s current showings. And here it comes to the manager now, who has to show what he is willing to do. Change the players (if only for tactics) and change the formation according to the game at hand. As I said before, Gio`s seen now how Scottish football works now and has seen all his players in action. It is time to get on the job. That OF firm game fell niecly for the Scum and their in-form team, as opposed to our current troubles, be it a leaky defence or players returning to form/fitness only now. The hysteria levels from Wednesday were quite remarkable, given that you could clearly see beforehand what was to come. While I do not expect the Scum dropping points very often this season, playing us is something different than squaring up against the brickwall brigades - a quick look of their last games will show that. It could well be that we are top of the league again tonight. Should one have reason to believe in a change in fortunes? Well, football fortune is capricious, as they say. We will soon see a world-class player in Ramsey taking control of our CM, will have Jack back in the frame to dominate the MF too. Our strikeforce is back up to full strength, I assume Diallo will show a bit of his trickery soonish too. (IMHO he should not have been send out against the Scum from the off - he`s a ManU u23 kid who has never played in a remotely similar game before.) Zukowski is a good one too, only that he hasn`t played in January due to the Polish winter break. Helander will be back, Balogun now too. It only depends on the manager to make the right decisions now and see how these player fit in and play.

Please add me too.

That is the main question. He chopped underperformers at Feyenoord before, and we have a lot of those. Or let`s say people who play in a comfort zone and with the same style all the time. It will be important to see who is fit too. I`d instantly make that MF a partnership of Ramsey and Jack, Aribo an AM anchor role behind at least two strikers, and two wingers. Since our defense leaks goals at an alarming rate, make that a Balogun - Goldson* - Bassey trio, with Jack cleaning up. Sent Sakala on the left wing, Zukowski to the right, Roofe and Itten (dunno when Morelos comes back) up top. We need players who stop playing the ball inbetween out box and the half-way line, players willing and capable to attack, and players willing to shoot.

Jesus' dead man, Jesus' dead.

To be honest, SG hardly changed much bar some players. Some of them clicked, others less so. That worked once in 3 seasons. I`d give Gio and his team at least a season or two before starting to question his abilities. We had a few good seasons in Europe, mainly the opposition played their own stuff and hardly knew our players and style of play. Then came the likes of Leverkusen and taught us a lesson or two. After half a season, the Scottish sides were clued up though, dug in and we started to toil ... not least when our players failed to keep their own possible standards. Much of the above is correct IMHO. I would go as far as again suggesting a 3-at-the-back for games like yesterday, Balogun - Helander - Bassey (if all are fit), maybe a wingback on each side of a midfield 4 or 5. Tav has run its course now and in the aforementioned setup, throw in Zukowksi, who played both as RB as well as RM. Likewise, put Jack and Ramsey in the engine room, let Aribo have a free role behind the front line of at least two real strikers.

Man, some should really need to a break from over-analyzing last night and looking to blame someone or something.

Don`t take it out of context. We all have witnessed this before, in recent seasons and years gone by. Last season, the Scum fell apart after the turn of the year, the two seasons before that, we did. Likewise, form ebbs and flows over the course of the season and the momentum now is with the Scum, yet as I said, neither do they canter to victory each game, nor can anyone tell how the next weeks will unfold. And that has always been the case. And, BTW, it beggars believe that people lay into Gio and "his tactics" when it is essentially the same formation and personal we had for months and years under SG. It is not the manager`s fault if people crawl into their shell out on the pitch or single-handedly throw games away. He removed those at half-time last night, now it remains to be seen whether he imposes himself on the team sheet and the tactics. You`d hope the return to fitness of Jack and Davis, as well as Ramsey`s arrival well get the engine room back into order - something badly needed for weeks.

What`s all the fuzz about? Had to work today "thanks" to a postponement of our game in January and went there calmy knowing what was to happen. Anyone with a bit of knowledge how OF games at the Scumhut will start at 120 km/h and how recent form levels have been would have forseen that. Our defence has shed 1-2 goals per 3-5 opposition chances against poor poor teams, now the flying strike-force of the Scum was coming our way. What were anyone expecting? A rise to the challenge of our current comfy zone crop? Tavernier and Goldson have been well below their own standard, Bassey does his best but is hardly the best choice. Surprised that Borna had a shocker, but that just adds to our defensive woes. Kamara plays in the/a DM comfort zone right now and hardly against many players that will push him hard like the Scum ones do/did. In games like these, he sure needs a man of steel next to him. I for one would have started with Jack, but I don`t know the latter`s fitness levels. Can`t say much about Kent, Arfield and Aribo, only that Kent is right now no instant starter for me. How often have 30-60 mins of games simply passing him by and when he gets the odd chance, he`s not lethal enough in recent times to valided a starting slot. Arfield will show grit and determination, but usually is someone who feeds of other attackers and runs into spaces. Aribo is doing a lot of things, but most of that he does alone, so is not exactly the creative central hub that will spark your mdifield into action. As I said before, I still haven`t figured out what his best position is. Diallo ... was a gamble and IMHO a big one, as that kid has never experienced the howloing terror of the baying scum hordes before in his life and should probably never had been chosen. Roofe ... or any other one striker is "lost in space". It`s a rubbish waste of players in packed defeneces and if he hasn`t got good support either side of him, also toothless against better defenders. We played our usual staff and tactics and neither were up for it tonight, at least in the first half. It was no rocket science to foresee it end in tears. So what`s all the fuzz about? We`ve been beaten by that score before by them, fare better teams, far worse results. Midseason. Back then much like now no-one knew or knows how fortunes will swing. They`ll have the bragging right and when they come up against another brick-wall team, they`ll most likely shed points again. Remember that they just about beat the Arabs by the odd goal at home last week - while McGregor single-handedly handed a point to the Stags. For me, this game today was essentially the end of the learning curve for Gio and his team. They have seen us toil against the brickwall-teams, been outfought by the Hibs and similar sides, and now been handed their @rses by the Scum. NOW is time to make the right decisions regarding players AND tactics. People have been used and shown what they are capable of and if they don`t deliver, they need to be changed, no matter of name, price or previous accomplishments. That is going to be my benchmark of Gios reign from now till the end of the season. Next stop Ibrox on Sunday.

I`d prefer Jack for Kamara and would play Sakala on the left or right side of attack. Diallo for later or Kent next to Aribo, who might get a more ball-winning role. As for Ramsey, unless he was injured, I reckon he`s trained normally with Juve? Then again, I just saw this and hope he`s over that horror scenario.

Rangers delivered big time yesterday. I doubt we had more excitement in one day in recent history bar the SG appointment, grabbing 55 and securing Gio. What a day! While you hate it as a fan, begging for any info out there, you just have to commend the club for keeping all four new signings essentially totally secret till they actually happened. Be that Sands, Diallo, Zukowski and then Ramsey. Here`s what we got (and best wishe to those who left): SIGNED in Winter 2020/21: IN - James Sands - New York City, 21, CB, USA, ct till 2026 - LINK - TM - DONE DEAL (05 Jan) IN - Cedric Itten - loan to Greuter Fürth cut short - LINK (12 Jan) IN - Amad Diallo - 19, RW, Ivory Coast/Italy, 6-month loan, Manchester United - signed LINK - TM IN - Mateusz Zukowski - Lech Gdansk, 20, RB, Poland, ct till 6/2022 - TM - DONE DEAL IN - Aaron Ramsey - Juventus, 31, AM, Wales, ct till 6/2023 - loaned till 6/2021 - LINK - TM - DONE DEAL Plus IN - Pre-Contract - John Souttar - Heart of Midlothian, 25, CB, Scotland, 4-year deal - LINK (14 Jan) Jon McLaughlin (34) - contract extension till 6/2024 -> LINK