Rousseau

Superior host...

Solskjaer remains Molde boss -- while the Norwegian season has ended, it starts in April, so I wonder how they'll resolve that? He brings Mike Phelan with him; I can see them steadying the ship, and bringing an upturn in results, but they're not getting top 4.

I dread these fixtures. I hate that.

There is something wrong at board level. Mourinho comes off the rails after 2-3 seasons. This was the time they gave him another 3 year deal. Mental. The board are supposedly very good commercially, but when it comes to football they're clueless. Which perhaps explains why they are looking to appoint a Director of Football, before appointing another manager. I thought they should have stuck with LVG a little more, to implement their DoF structure. Laurent Blanc looks favourite to be appointed caretaker until the end of the season.

That's an oversimplification of what a 4-3-3 needs. 90% of teams play it; not every one of those has superbly technical players. We're nothing like Man City (most obvious example of a 4-3-3), but the principle is similar: wing play to get crosses into the box. Like I said, it's failure of execution. Yes, our crosses are too deep; we should be hitting the byline more. I think you're seeing how we're playing and trying to fit a system to suit; which is valid. But, I think it's a poor way of playing. I'm seeing that way of playing as a pale imitation of how it should be; we should be doing it much, much better -- I don't want to see us take advantage of a poor way of playing. I think he's more flexible than you give him credit. We've had 4-3-3, 4-1-4-1, 4-5-1 (variants of the same, granted, but there is a difference), 4-2-3-1, 4-4-2, and even 3 at the back a couple of times. That's dependant on the players we have: loads of central midfielders, loads of wingers, and very few strikers.

Just because we don't have Messi is not a reason not to play it -- tell that to every other team that plays a 4-3-3, which is 90% of them. Arguably, we do have the players for it: loads of central midfielders, loads of wingers, and 1 striker. Our style is wing-play. This suits a 4-3-3. Man City cross it into the box all the time, and they're playing with either one of Aguero or Jesus, who are tiny! It's a failure of execution, not a failure of system.

I feel you're implying that the "madness of playing 1 striker" is a failure of the system. It's not. I agree there should be more players in the box, but there should be more in the 4-3-3. If the winger's crossing, the other winger, the striker and at least 1 midfielder should be in the box. From what I recall, there were those players in the box for us on Sunday, but only at the start of the game. The longer we went without getting that second they seemed to lose confidence and seemed to stay back, exacerbating the problem. Moreover, the "centre mids" help add control, and provides a more offensive threat.

Meh.. yellows were fair. It was the only way to stop his mazy runs and through-balls...

Anyone see the ball boys in the Olympiakos-Milan game? Olympiakos needed the win, and to run down the clock and stop attacks they were throwing balls onto the pitch. It might have been the fans -- like Feyenoord.

That's fine by me!

We can play worse and smash a team. We're lacking something up front. Some creative options in January are a must.

Made hard work of it, but I'll take the 3 points every time. Jack my MotM...

We've been dominant, but the longer it's went without that second, our confidence has just dissipated. We're retreating and giving away free-kicks out wide.

We're utterly dominant, but we need that second goal.

MacKinnon was; he had to drag Jack to the ground after being done one-on-one. And again just there.

Middleton comes on, McCrorie off.

Jack dragged to the ground earlier. Surprised he wasn't red-carded: could've hurt the boy's elbow...

15 corners for us -- there's still a few minutes left.

Or, the BBC are looking at the Rangers TV scoreline.

The Gersnet scoreline is the only one that matters... ?

I think it's just 1-0.

Yes, I think he hit the post? Typical BBC. It's 1-0, I believe.

Errrmmm... WHAT!?