Rousseau

If that's the same results with players that aren't "coping [...] well", then we should be in for a treat when they do start coping! I don't understand your logic.

I agree with the majority of this, but there is no way McKay, Waghorn and Holt are quicker than Candeias, Windass and Pena. Holt, IMO, was actually quite slow; the acceleration and agility is good, but actually quite slow over any distance. Also, I actually find the transition game much more entertaining than MW's possession-game. Personal preference at the end of the day, though.

Pena keeps getting dogs abuse, but here we see he was the main cause of most of our -- albeit limited -- counter-attacks. Again, a real lack of quality and making wrong decisions. Tactically, we were spot-on; hopefully the results come with repetition.

I've been watching these for a few weeks now -- I love them! The video aspect makes them much easier to digest rather than articles.

Although it was Miller, we did play with two up front without a noticeable increase in goals -- I presume that's what you want it for? I'd like the option of us going to a back-three, but for now I think 4-2-3-1 is the way to go, as it suits the players we have, and we have several options in this formation. However, thinking about it, I would like to see Herrera and Morelos play together. I'm not sure how, though? I don't like 4-4-2 with two out-and-out strikers because we lose midfield control -- pretty much what happened when Pena came off against them. 3-5-2 would be a good option in that situation.

John Fleck has just scored for Utd with a wonderfully worked free-kick. He's only 26?! I always thought he was a talented wee player.

I had the Motherwell-Aberdeen game on for 20 minutes or so today, and my words it's brutal! It's hit and rush football. There may be plenty of 'fight' in it, but that's what's wrong with Scottish football: too much emphasis placed on it; it's meaningless when we come up against any tactically proficient side. Moult's good in the air, and lays the ball off nicely, but I don't know what else he'd bring to our side? Herrera and Morelos can both do that job very well. PC doesn't play with two out-and-out forwards anyway, so I'm not sure Moult would replace Morelos; a bit like Herrera now. McLean is anonymous. And Walker -- to carry on with the golden trio that'll "improve" our squad -- is just a better Billy King; brings nothing to the game -- all his goals were penalties. I'd take them all, to, at the very least, weaken our opponents, but for me they only add squad depth, they do not improve our squad by any great degree. Our football has been terrific at times. It's just that mental toughness that's lacking -- and results...

I don't remember us ever beating "SPL dross" easily with any regularity. Even with Walter (2nd spell) we may have won the majority but the games were not easy; always tight, with performances fluctuating wildly. I often recall being annoyed at performances, but saying to myself 'a win's a win'.

"Where are we at"? I'm sorry, I just can't take that question seriously, grammatically. I agree, we do need a run of good results. Hearts was a poor one, but the Hibs one was almost outwith our control. The only result I've been particularly annoyed with -- outwith the Hearts game -- was the Partick result: we had it, comfortably, but let is slip away. Generally our performances have been good, but results not so much. The table is always strange at this stage of the season; I don't take too much notice. Second place is the target.

1. Yes. 2. Meh... don't think so. 3. Pretty much, but one early on I though was onside. 4. Like I said in my post above: there were no real howlers from the Referee -- apart from the penalty I suppose -- but I was really annoyed at the amount of 50/50's that went their way; even when they clearly looked like ours - I may also be biased in that regard, though.

Short several, I agree, but I thought Windass was excellent today. Hodson just doesn't have the physique or pace, but we were hampered in that position - is he even our back-up LB?

I'm actually quite content with that performance - or as content as I can be with a defeat against them. They cut us open with ease the first 5 minutes, but we composed ourselves and competed well for the majority of the game - the game was lost the last 10 minutes, which explains us losing that tenacity that we'd shown throughout; a few changes too. We lost control of the middle when we went two up top, which is good that we went with a 4-2-3-1 instead of a 4-4-2. The mistake at the goal cost us, but it was very unfortunate: Cardoso should be clearing it, and then Hodson trying to kick it when just blocking would've sufficed was silly. And then, although McCrorie was a tad flat footed, Foderingham should not be getting beat at his near post - his distribution today was poor. McCrorie was otherwise excellent: winning challenges and generally composed on the ball. I especially liked how he tracked down Dembele to crunch him despite it being offside long past. He'll be a good player in the future. We expected them to dominate possession, and we were content to let them have it at the back where they couldn't hurt us. We defended zonally in a mid-block, then we pressed hard when they came around the half-way line. We were dangerous on the break - decision-making again let us down. Pena was OK, positionally, but got pushed off the ball too easily. Morelos was excellent, but too eager to get in behind, straying offside too often. The Referee was poor. There were no bad challenges or howlers from the Referee, but those little 50/50 things seemed to just go their way; even when it was clearly ours. And, we were denied a stonewall penalty. We're still a level below them, but there is definite progress. I thought PC got it spot-on tactically - much better than parking the bus!

Keep the ball? He has to chase his first touch, which is invariably backwards!

You can see how it relates to both defense and attack: in defense, we are not compact enough, which allows teams to play through us; and in attack, the support players are too far away to... support the forwards. I think we'll be a lot more effective when we get this right.

Interesting tweet/video about the ramblings of the "crazy foreigner". [tweet]910507783484788736[/tweet]

I didn't think he was anything special in the game, but he was better than most others. I gave him a 7.

Alnwick 9 Tavernier 6 Cardoso 6 Alves 6 John 7 Candeias 7 Jack 7 Dorrans 6 Windass 5 Pena 8 Morelos 8 Subs : Hodson 5 Holt 5 Herrera 7 McCrorie 8

What a shame. Nothing about their assaults in the other tie? I actually thought we dealt with their physicality better last night. We were ready for it and tended draw the fouls more, which I liked. I think it was that rather than referee's giving us more 50/50 - the majority weren't 50/50's anyway!

I think Jack coming wide is a tactic: to create a situational back-three, which allows better ball circulation -- and cover for Tav! Which I don't mind, but -- as you pointed out -- it needs Dorrans to be more disciplined in taking up a position centrally, to protect the back 4, or situational back-three, then distribute the ball forward with Dorrans' long passing ability.

Anyhow... some good results this round, with a few picking up Correct Scores! Everyone who entered gained 1 point (including Ian!), with Mack, gs, coop, BF, Bill, onevision, t-1000, FS, Uilleam, ranger_syntax and JFK gaining another 1 point for the Correct Number of Rangers Goals. Only Ian gained 2 points for Pena as FGS. Finally, Mack, coop, BF, onevision, T-1000, FS and Uilleam gained 3 points for the Correct Score! Latest Standings: IFRAME Not Available. Direct Link to Spreadsheet.

Well... ran into a little issue: turns out I didn't have Ian on the roster! I had to trawl through every prediction thread this season! I figured out it was merely through a quirk of his scores. It turns out Ian had only entered three times, picking up 0 points each time - generally when we didn't win. When we don't win it's a quick 0 for most on the table, so I failed to add him to the table. I apologise Ian - you have now been added to the table.

We had them sussed out, and they rarely got the ball for the majority of the game. They were content to counter us and Cardoso made it easy standing off Salmon -- however, he was tighter second half and dealt with him well, and he seemed to grow in stature when Alves went off. McCrorie was fantastic; at 19 to pretty much dominate the big hatchet man Salmon is really promising, and he's composed in the pass too. Our decision making in awful: the number of times we get to the byline and cut it back wonderfully only for a player to pull out, or sky it is ridiculous! Candeias is case in point: terrific pressing and pace, rounds the 'keeper and skys it! We missed some sitters. Windass guilty of a few. We completely disintegrated after we made those first forced subs at the back: no organisation at all, and their goal was coming. It was somewhat understandable, as there were a few subs, an untested back four and our vice captain off. I was actually pretty content to see us in two banks of four defending; they really didn't look like scoring. We were a little too deep after we scored and then after those subs, but I think sitting deeper and countering was a decent way to go. A little more composure and it would have been out of sight. Morelos worked his socks off, and was understandably knackered at the end. Herrera did the job when he came on. Pena was excellent. He did indeed play No.10 as we wanted, but I think he was positioned deeper, almost like a 8. It was like a 4-5-1, but with Pena having the license to go forward. His late runs and positioning was fantastic. How many times was he free but not picked out!? When he gets the ball he moves it forward, and then follows it with pace. We failed to link up with him as much as I'd like, but that movement at least had the effect of moving defenders away, creating space. I wouldn't mind seeing Alnwick in goal for Saturday: he's a better shot-stopper than Foderingham, which will perhaps be more important than Fod's distribution?

Yes, the scores will be awarded for the FT result AET, so 1-3. Scores up shortly...

I'm not sure he is a No.10. He's more of an 8, a box-to-box player that likes to ghost in and make late runs; I'm not sure he's ever been the main creator, per se. However, I think in Mexico he was played in a 4-2-3-1, but was one of the 2; deep, but not a DM.