CammyF

Which was my initial point - not who was better, but how tired Ridvan was on Thursday night. He want the only one to be fair to him, but no getting way from the fact he looked out on his arse on Thursday. The debate on who is better is down to opinion, but using statistics, they are pretty even.

Weirdly, the stats would make it easier for someone to go into bat for Borna Barisic as they show it could be argued he's definitely as good as, or even better than Ridvan Yilmaz. Again, weirdly, I hear / see far more fans doubling down on Ridvan being better, when the stats aren't really there to prove that. We paid a lot of money for Ridvan, so would need to recoup £8-£10M for him to be classed as a trading model success. I'm not and never have gone into bat for Barasic. I've continually said that they are a much of a muchness and the stats @Rousseau kindly provided show that my opinion is almost spot on (for a change).

If only they could be combined into one left back 😀

So per 90mins Barasic is better defensively and offensively?

In theory I agree but Roofe is just coming back from injury and is lacking in sharpness. I'd go with Silva and play Wright and McCausland wide if they are fit.

Agreed he can't score the goals for attackers. Given Barisic is playing with the same attackers, would it suggest the quality of his crosses / delivery is better than Ridvan's? I mentioned in my original post, I believe Barisic is our best option from corners (not that that's a reason to select him) as his delivery from corners is far better than both Tav and Ridvan. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, both have their strengths and weaknesses. The undeniable fact is that Ridvan looked absolutely drained on Thursday night. That would be a mixture of the quality of opposition, the conditions and the amount of game time he, and others are being asked to play. It's a tough decision for the manager tomorrow. We can't afford to drop any points so does he go with players who are physically and mentally drained (it's not just Ridvan I'm talking about here) or does he go with players who are coming back from injury (or not played for a while). Both options are gambles, PC will need to decide if he sticks or twists. I think he'll go with minimal changes and that's fine with me. I'm also fine if he makes 4 or 5 changes.

When I said assists I meant chances that created goals, I'm sure Barisic is ahead of Ridvan 😀 Anyone who watched Thursdays game must have noticed how mentally and physically drained he was. I'm not singling him out, I mentioned 4 or 5 others who looked the same. I've said numerous times (until I'm sick to my back teeth) I really don't care who starts as there is nothing between them IMO. It's the demonisation of Barisic that is unfair IMO.

That's you opinion, and you're entitled to it. It does however remind me of a story Jim Denny told. When he was a sub in an old firm game he was told to go and warm up. He did but went and warmed up at the Celtic end. When he returned to the bench he was asked why. He simply said, I get less abuse off them. Barasic isn't anywhere near as bad as some Rangers fans attempt to make him out, and he isn't near as good as others make him out. In fact, him and Ridvan are much of a muchness. However, I do believe the stats will show Barasic offers more assists and in my opinion, he's our only full back that can take a decent / dangerous corner. His time at Rangers is coming to an end, hopefully Ridvan's is as well.

I'd like to see Barasic play tomorrow as Ridvan look absolutely shattered on Thursday. So much so, he attempted a long throw into the box and it landed at his feet. He also look mentally drained - the short corner routine was comical and he continually gave the ball away. Telling that the guy who sits next to me who is a big fan of Ridvan said at half-time "if Barasic had put in that performance, he'd have been crucified". Ridvan isn't the only one looking mentally and physically drained - Goldson, Lawrence, Dio, Lundstram, Dessers, to name a few all look like they could do with a rest / break. The players coming back from injury (Matando, Cantwell, Roofe and Raskin) have shown in the little playing time they have had that they are short of minutes. Whilst the team requires wholesale changes, I'm certain PC will ask the same tired, injured players to go again for 90 more minutes before the international break. He is in a catch 22 situation tomorrow. Dropping points playing tired players and drop points he'll receive criticism. Make wholesale changes and drop points, he'll receive criticism. Tomorrow is the most important game of the season in my humble opinion and I don't envy PC his job of getting the ballance right with his team selection. Basically tomorrow is a case of win and win at all / any cost and hope that we get more players back after the international break Long winded way of saying I think that the team needs freshened up but think PC will ask the tired players to go again one more time. No right or wrong answer but our season might rest on tomorrow's game.

Aye, but don't tell him that 😀

My Dad rates the 1962 side as best ever, the 1st side I remember was from 1974. Read alot about the 1970 and know they are highly rated!

Best ever Brazil team?

Only thing that will stop Liverpool winning it is if they rest players for the title run in. Even then, they'd still be favourites to win it.

Throw-ins last night were horrific - maybe time we went back to Tav taking them all (joke before anyone jumps in).

For context - I can remember 4 goals from corners v Celtic during the SG era off the top of my head - Katic at Parkhead 2-1 win - Helander at Ibrox 1-0 win - McGregor OF at Ibrox 1-0 win - Morelos at Parkhead 1-1 draw. Probably more but my memory isn't what it used to be 😆

Maybe my mind playing tricks on me, but I'm sure we scored a few goals from set pieces under Gerrard. Certainly a fair few against Celtic .

Once again you are 100% correct, the Russia / Ukraine thread is tiresome.

Off course it is, but life on football and social media in general is easy. Just ignore anything you find boring and tedious rather than becoming involved. Your time and effort (and undeniable knowledge) would be better served in the Russia / Ukraine thread where there is no tedious arguments or boring posts.

Big decision for manager on Sunday. Does he ask for one last pre-international break push from the core of players who've played recently or does he make wholesale changes? Some players look out on their feet, some are just back from injury. Does he go with same 11 or bring in the likes of Barasic, Balogun, Cantwell, Raskin, Matondo, Roofe from the start? Hopefully Sterling is fit enough to feature

And yet, here you are getting involved. Tedious and predictable?

Maybe I picked him up wrong but I didn't think he was throwing Dio under the bus - just explaining what went wrong. Like you say, he did say that Dio had played well. All players make mistakes, some lead to goals, others don't. I'm confident that Dio will go on to be a top player for us, and PC said when we signed him that he has the atributes to end up at the very top echelons of the game.

Whilst there was no shortage of effort form every player last night, no one really stood out on the creative side. However, thought Lundstram was good in spells but tired in 2nd half, Souttar and Tav were both very good defensively and Wright, Dio and Silva showed some quality but only in flashes. Voted Souttar.

Agree about the quality of corners and its been a concern for most of the season. As for their goal, I watched it back and if Dio had stayed with his man rather than trying to win the ball, it doesn't lead to a goal - think manager said similar.

He had a good game last night. Looked most likely to create something.

Just my opinion but I thought Benfica got it spot on tonight. They pressed us last week and we picked them of and arguably could / should have won the game. Tonight they sat in and gave us the ball in areas they knew we couldn't hurt them, then hit us on the break. I'm sure our XG was 0.5 and there's was 1.57. The lack off creativity killed us tonight, but their number 87 was brilliant, controlled the game and snuffed out our forward players. The positives are that we've had another really good European campaign, generated much need cash but ultimately ran out of steam. We were never going to win the EL so now we can put all out energy into securing the league title. If we were offered the league Cup in the trophy cabinet, the last 16 of the EL, 2 points ahead in the league and semi-final of Scottish Cup at this stage of the season before a ball was kicked, we'd have all taken it. Also, if anyone had said we'd be in this position when PC took over, they would have been sectioned.