Rousseau

Stop creaming yourself, man! It was a tap-in. He's a good player, but...

As good as Zlatan has been for United, they look a more dangerous proposition with Martial, Rashford and Lingard up front; it also looks more like a Mourinho front line.

Windass had an OK cameo. Too little too late, but a positive's a positive!

I thought it was that Halliday has more energy to press, but he didn't bring any so we would've been better with Toral.

We didn't lay a glove on them. Piss poor. We only turned up for the last 10 minutes, if that.

I thought Tavernier was our best player, today. I don't mind slating our players, because they deserve it today; they didn't turn up. We all know we need an upgrade all over the park. However, these players are better than what they've shown today.

I thought PC showed them too much respect tactically, but the players have not helped matters; useless and unable to string a simple pass together. We can do much better than this. They've not done much with the dominance. If we were capable to hitting the target, we could've had a couple towards the end.

That's not a penalty for me. He shouldn't have needed to make the tackle if Foderingham had come out.

Dodoo on for Garner, and McKay on for Halliday. Garner was unlucky; he wasn't given a chance. We've now got more running power.

He watches him run in, then puts his hand up to complain when he scores!? What's he doing?

I expected us to let them have the ball, but we've not laid a glove on them. I don't care that we're giving their defenders and broon the ball, but we need to be tighter when their forward players have the ball. The goal was mickey-mouse: good ball over the top but no one tracked McGregor; silly. I see Tierney has learned the Celtic way early: fall to the floor at the least little touch.

It's fair to say PC doesn't trust McKay in these big games; probably correctly.

I don't think it's attacking at all - although, it can be. Three 'forwards' is deceptive, but Miller will play deep making it 4 in midfield; Waghorn will probably play deep on one flank too. I reckon we'll let them have the ball, our overload in midfield will hopefully close the space and then we break with pace; the midfield has a lot of energy in it.

4-3-1-2 formation... interesting. Dominate the centre, usher them out wide then hopefully deal with any high balls which Bates has been good with; and get runners up to support the front-two. Halliday will bring more energy than Toral, but I do prefer Toral's passing ability -- will we get to use it though? Probably not. I expect them to dominate possession.

Both these sides are brutal; neither have any clue what they're doing.

I think I'm seeing things: I thought I saw Rossiter. Can't be true; he's not due back for 7-10 days.

I enjoy watching Juventus defend; I can't say that for any other side. I thought the referee was fantastic too, letting those 50/50 challenges go.

According to that graph he has actually not been involved in too many chances created for us, but, as you say, that doesn't include his movement creating space for others. I think he's best when making late, darting runs into the box; which may suit that deeper role? I just think he's been a revelation in a deeper role: the physical duels, pressure he puts on attackers, the energy he brings, the number of interceptions etc. have all seen the team benefit greatly, IMO.

If there is one position in the Rangers side that has been in desperate need of an upgrade over the last few transfer windows, it is Defensive-midfield (DM). While the role has changed over the years, in most sides there is that one player tasked with screening the back-four. As fans we've often thought who of our current players can play the role, even going so far as to say Kiernan should be given a shot! But, perhaps the answer has been staring us in the face all along: Jason Holt. The most successful teams will generally have a world class player who screens the defense. The likes of Roy Keane, Patrick Vieira, and Edgar Davids excelled in the position in their heyday. Makelele brought a renewed focus to the role, being praised for his understated contribution to his teams. As we do not have the financial muscle to acquire world-class DMs, we've had to look at more modest options. Invariably, that role has went to Halliday. Throughout his career he has tended to play further forward, therefore his skill-set is not best suited to the role: his first-touch is awful; his reading of the game leaves a lot to be desired; he tends to want to burst forward, leaving the defense exposed; and, most importantly, he doesn't win his share of physical duels. These issues are compounded by the fact we tended to use a lone pivot, which often left our defense exposed when opponents counter-attacked in numbers. Quite frankly, we do not have any one player that is entirely suited to the role. However, we've seen a move away from the more destroyer-types to more deep lying playmakers -- although they are still needed to defend, they do so as a collective instead of team's relying on that one individual to make that tackle etc. Busquets, Alonso, Toni Kroos or Marco Verratti are all more playmaker-types compared to the old destroyer-types. Here, Rangers have more options. Pedro Caixinha's arrival has brought a slight change in formation, which now includes a double-pivot in a 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2. Instead of having one player that must do all jobs, we can now use two that complement each other. In this way we can utilise our limited players; using their skill-sets collectively for the benefit of the team. When you think about the top DMs in the game today, very few are known for their purely defensive qualities -- like the Keane's and Veira's of old -- Kroos, Alonso, Thiago, Weigl, Verratti, Carrick and Fernandinho are all preferred, not because of their tackling ability per se, but because of other attributes. Modern DMs are expected to act decisively, keeping a detailed picture of what is around them; they have to be composed in possession, because it’s their job to get the ball off the back four and create, while also reading any danger; they need the vision and technique to execute crisp passes into space or into feet; they need to be good under pressure, and able to shield the ball from opponents; and, they need to be able to keep it simple -- over-complication leads to danger. The current Rangers team has a few players with these qualities: Hyndman, Toral and Holt. While they don't have the physique of the old-type DMs -- we've seen with N'Golo Kante that you don't need a player built like a brick shithouse to break up play -- but their vision, technique, energy and passing ability lend themselves well to the more modern style DM. Rationally, these players seem unsuited to the role, considering their sight statures, but when they are used as a collective unit, they become something more than the sum of their parts. Holt in particular has been nothing short of a revelation in the role. Holt's energy and stamina allows him to cover every blade of grass, giving us that early wave of pressure as soon as we lose the ball. His vision and reading of the game allows him to make key interceptions and cover our Full-backs; and his passing ability and technique allows us to build from the back. A slight tactical shift has freed Holt to play to his strengths. Caixinha has sought to use his vision, ability to create angles and his passing range - which is more short-ranged - and sought to use it deeper, which has allowed him to use his energy to its greatest effect, to hound players. Playing deeper also allowed him to arrive into the box late, where he has the natural ability to find space. Holt's slight frame has seen him play further forward earlier in the season - he does have the technique and movement with an eye for goal - but his most valued assets have been has boundless energy and vision. However, according to TheSPFLRader (@TheSPFLRadar ), he's not been performing in a forward role, being involved in very few chances created. Provided by TheSPFLRadar Holt's statistics have been quite remarkable in a deeper role. He was involved in more defensive duels against Aberdeen than any Rangers midfielder has in a single game this season. Only 4 times has a Rangers midfielder had 10+ interceptions in a game, 3 of which were in the last 5 games. Holt is only the one to do it twice. Again, in Saturday's game, no Rangers player was involved in more defensive duels than Holt. In the last 3 games, Holt has retrieved the ball 33 times. Moreover, Holt's influence on the rest of the team has been similarly impressive. For example, Aberdeen's Ash Taylor averaged 35 passes per game, but against Rangers he had 60. Rangers' midfield structure forced Aberdeen to very often go backwards. However, the most important statistic in Caixinha's 5 games as manager, is that Rangers have only conceded 1 goal. Rangers' Defensive-midfield has been in desperate need of a upgrade. While we've been hoping for an old-fashioned destroyer-type, perhaps a modern playmaker-type DM has been here all along. Holt has been a revelation; the number of physical duels he has been involved in is superior to any other player we have; moreover his ability to intercept and retrieve the ball is a key aspect of this new set-up under Pedro Caixinha. We may have indeed uncovered the white Kante!

He's certainly up there. Does Fergie count within that time period? Guardiola is also up there, for me - Man City tenure aside!

I meant "forced" in the sense that I don't think it was Mourinho's intention to play them both, but perhaps he did because Zlatan was fit? I believe one of the guys in the studio suggested they were good mates off the pitch, and have known each other for a good few years. I agree, they worked very well together.

A Mourinho tactical masterclass indeed - 6-2-2 formation! Mental, but it stopped Chelsea playing it into their danger men. A Lingard-Rashford pairing seemed forced, but their pace was a constant danger. I agree, I still think/hope Chelsea win the league, but it just puts an element of doubt into the equation. I don't think Man Utd will finish top 4: they have an awful run-in.

A CB's pass won't always be to one forward, though; it's any pass that takes a player out the game. That one failed/successful pass won't count too much in the context of a whole season. You can't criticise a stat in isolation - it's never meant to be interpreted that way. The Packing stat is most interesting when compared to, for example, a CB's pass success %. Like the guy says: "Dedryck Boyata has the highest pass % in the league however his packing rate is only 1.8 which shows that the passes that he is making may be successful however they tend not to break down the opposition", i.e. they go backwards/sideways.

I know... more stats! This one is quite interesting, though, looking at the number of 'effective' passes from the centre-backs rather than the normal pass success %, which is usually misleading with CBs as they predominantly pass to the 'keeper or each other.