Big Jaws

I've seen comments across forums such as 'is there a clause in the loan agreement that says ........ ........ has to play' fill in the name as you see fit. The reason it seems to be being floated as a possibility is because there is speculation around one club complaining that their loan player wasn't being treated properly by the surrogate club. I can understand why a club loaning a player would like to see their investment in their player pay off and might request that if fit and available for selection that the player be considered. Worral as we can see from your comment. its not the only comment of its ilk that I've seen so you are not alone, is such a player where this speculation has cropped up. Don't get me wrong I can understand why his selection may raise a few eyebrows when we have IMO a far superior player of our own missing/sitting out. I don't know if managers have said that to players or not. I can give anecdotal evidence which is actually straight from Archie Knox who would often tell Gascoigne that Walter wouldn't play him saying stuff like... 'Nah he'll no play you, you've got no chance'. There are many ways to man manage certain players of course there are but I'm not convinced that the 'poor treatment' of a particular loan player centred solely around lack of game time. I think there must have been far more to that story. For me it would be absolutely ridiculous to buy a player with a particular job in mind then go into the loan market in search of cover for that position whose contract stated that he must play if fit and from then onwards only play the loaned cover player. The reason being what was the point of spending all that money buying the guy in the first place only to replace him with a loan signing especially when they player who is a Rangers player is IMO the best CB we've got at the club and has been excellent for us. However it would be reasonable to assume that the player under contract would be a) injured, b) not playing well or c) not settling cultural differences. My initial reaction was why isnt Katic playing? Then a couple of weeks ago Stevie G in one press conference mentioned that Katic had complained of back problems after playing on plastic pitches. At that time he had played at least a couple of games on them including Kilmarnock. Although the comment was only in passing it got me thinking that Katic was carrying an injury and we haven't seen him play since.

No besides thats a ridiculous notion for a loan player. Katic has been called off from the U21 international match which goes a long way to explaining why he hasn't been picked recently. As I was saying to the lads on the Pod I thought he was carrying an injury turns out he was.

I did say in the aftershow that the Morales are all decent players but what did you think of Morelos?

Well done @pete you've just volunteered yourself to edit the next one after the international break.

Alfie isn't the first, nor will he be the last, of our strikers to get roughhoused all over the park by awbudy. Pretty much all of them as far back as I can remember to Colin Stein got booted all over the place in their first season or two with more or less similar treatment from refs as Alfie. Its not new to us older bears but in the case of Alfie it needs man managed because he'll be a hell of a player when the arguing with refs is gone from his game. Refs, especially these days, act like school teachers so every time the opposition take you out stay down Alfie leave them no opportunity to ignore it.

The Teddies have been outstanding in the first half 3-0 up against a decent and dangerous top of the league inform Hearts side. McGregor has had two cracking saves to keep a clean sheet but we've just been too much for them Morelos has been clinical with assists and his goal was an absolute cracker back heel into the topbins. Mon the Gers!!

https://video.twimg.com/tweet_video/DoshIu2XsAAlJXU.mp4

Boxer NI.

I get the impression that Katic is carrying a back injury. Just something SG said in one of his press conferences.

I thought Flanagan might play tonight Frankie but I was surprised at Worrall as I havent seen much from him that makes me feel confident in him. I stand corrected though other than the first 5-10 where he slowed the game down a fair bit he was outstanding tonight.

Bit harsh on Rapid there DB. They were a fair bit better than that.

We're playing in a European tournament here we're not going to have the ball all night and they opponents will look dangerous because they are. We were outstanding tonight as far as spirit goes. A few touches and flicks didn't come off but we won 3-1. I over the moon with that result against a very decent team in Rapid Vienna.

Arfield has been at most a 6 1/2 Coulibally gets a pass with a good 8 and Ejaria has been chasing the game.

We've not really got started yet and as DMAA says the winger at their goal was a yard n half offside when he receives the ball behind Flanagan. The linesman is in line with him too so theres really no excuse for it at this level.

Thats absolutely allowed but calling it an outlier or a one off doesn't change the fact that todays performance was sub par for team wishing to challenge for an SPFL title. This is a team who don't seem to be able to defend high balls into the box in addition to the fact that both CB's are short of pace and when teams put some one on their shoulder look suspect. However it wasn't a case of one person being poor or missing chances as some have commented in this thread. No one played well today and that concerns me more than one or two players having a poor game.

Yeah thats right the game at Killi was a cup game. No wins away from home in the league is definitely not good enough.

Where do you start with that performance? First of all the two CB's decided they werent going to jump and win a header in the box today. Goldson cannot play on these surfaces with the ball at his feet. He was the exact same at Killi and was lucky to get away with it. Lafferty and Morelos didn't work together with Lafferty on the left. On the right Candieas wasn't at work today he took the day off while Tav was still in his jammies and house shoes. One away win so far this season in the league is poor. Not good enough!

We've had a lot of the ball but we haven't created any chances so far. Livi have lumped the ball into the box and we've not tidy it up working for second balls and got some decent results from it. We need to be much better in defence and also start to create chances.

First of all the ref isn't there to administer his form of discipline. He is there to referee the ball being fouled in a game for all players on the field. That means that he has to, as any adult is supposed to, respect all players on the field. There is absolutely nothing wrong with disagreeing with the ref at any stage in the game. Dissent is such an offence that leaves a multitude of open interpretations as other posters have commented. To the letter of the law questioning the word of the ref in any situation is a caution. That includes pleading for a foul or a penalty. However we repeatedly see teams surrounding the ref during such decisions and no one is booked for dissent if the ref doesn't give a pen. Its a joke of a rule and should be scrapped. Another thing that does my head right in is seeing a ref run 30 yards away pointing at a grown man and ordering him to heel.

As sure as fate we'll be playing on the Saturday now that you've said it Gonzo.

I remember seeing someone on RTV talking about playing on the Sat if we got past Ayr but cant remember whom?

Where will our semi be played though? Both ourselves and Celtic will be playing in the EL on the Thursday and will be looking for a Sunday fixture at Hampden but they can't put us both on.

its one of the things Gerrard has been talking about in his press conferences, that he wants a squad thats all had minutes and are competing for a jersey.