DMAA

Sands is very positive with his passing.

That was a great goal. Sands receiving the ball and getting it forward quickly (something I’ve noticed he’s good at when look at him), Morelos does great, Wright fantastic again, perfect from Kent and Hagi with the goal. What a move that was.

Much tougher in the tackle and more physical than Lundstram, absolutely the right decision imo. Lundstram looks built better but I think Sands has a more physical game, and importantly in these games better mobility and stamina.

Called it

I wouldn’t be surprised if Sands was thrown in tonight. It’s either him or Lundstram and Lundstram hasn’t played much since October. Could be Kamara Sands Wright Hagi Kent Morelos

Just googled it. Pace and acceleration 12 and 13. That’s probably a closer reflection than the FIFA one but on the harsh side, he isn’t slow.

He’s definitely not slow but I wouldn’t say he is fast. From what I’ve seen of Olsen I’m not a massive fan. If he signs I still think he would do well and be an exciting signing but I just think are better players out there for the money.

I think he is essentially his replacement, but we will bring someone else in in the summer too so Souttar will have to fight for his spot when Helander is fit. We could have met Goldson’s terms if we wanted to but it’s increasingly looking like we aren’t going to do that.

“We can see how excited he and his family are to join Rangers”. Keen for him to never play for Hearts again I think.

There was nothing in that SSN report. Still looks to me like people guessing, I don’t think anything will be announced today.

I still think it’s people guessing when they heard tours were cancelled this afternoon, which is apparently due to building work. I would be very surprised if Neilson was so in the dark only the day before it’s done and dusted.

I saw this rumour and I’m a bit skeptical. Robbie neilson was on a podcast yesterday/last night and said it would take a crazy bid for them to sell in this window, and he still hoped he would stay and he wasn’t aware of anything in terms of him leaving. Things can move fast but I’d be a wee bit surprised if they moved that fast.

Agree with your post but just thought I’d point out that this bit isn’t true. He’s done the same Achilles twice. He’s done the other Achilles once. His other major issue has been a recurring ankle issue. This appears to have been resolved with surgery in 2019 if I recall correctly.

Hopefully yeh. To be honest I’m generally a believer that a lot of it can’t be taught. When it comes to scoring goals some people just have it and others don’t. But it can be undiscovered/untapped. Luca Toni an example of that.

Souttar’s stats are excellent. Worth nothing that these stats pre-date Gio I believe for Goldson. i would also take the Doekhi one with a pinch of salt as it is based on closer to 500 minutes rather than 1000.

Positive updates today. Souttar reportedly likely to come to us is very positive, even in spite of the obvious risk. Defoe leaving and Itten coming in improves our squad as Defoe has been out of the picture all season. The big thing with Itten for me has always been his goal scoring, he hasn’t really shown himself to be a natural goalscorer to date and that’s what I want to see from him. He is a decent all round player and always fit and works hard.

Positive update. His injury problems are worrying but I’d be willing to take the risk if the fee and wages are right because he is a good player.

CBS Sports seems to be the source of the rumour. I find it very unlikely.

I’m optimistic on Sands. I’ve long thought Davis, while very good on the ball, doesn’t provide enough protection to the defence as our DM at 37 years old. He’s not known for aggression, tackling or obviously mobility (particularly important for counter attacks). That has to be caveated with the fact that we conceded 13 goals in the league last season, but we were often wide open in Europe and this season we leaked goals domestically too when Davis was playing. I’ve looked at a number of videos of Sands and looked at his stats too and he looks like he would provide very good protection of the defence. His defensive duels numbers are very good, both in the air and on the ground. His interception numbers are very good too, something Davis is good at. On the ball he is quite limited, levels below Davis really. Technically I would say he is fine but not great for a DM. But he seems to be good at forward passing (short passing) despite that, his forward passing numbers are very good. That could be because he’s been playing for the best team in his league though. So I think he would be quite a traditional defensive midfielder who would shore us up and improve our goals conceded and we have needed that kind of player imo, but maybe not be ideal against a parked bus at Ibrox.

I’d leave him to Celtic. It’s good news if they splurge anything like £3m on him.

Someone on FF saying they’ve spoken to someone close to Souttar and he’s likely going to go down south because the offers are much better than ours.

Positive update. Doekhi would be an excellent signing, Souttar would be good depending on a couple of things. Olsen I just can’t see happening, signing a player like that from Serie A isn’t cheap. I would have thought there were better value options out there.

By all accounts Lundstram was a centre midfielder at Sheffield United, and actually the defensive side of his game was weak. Their defensive midfielder was Sander Berge. The detailed stats I saw showed very poor defensive stats but fairly impressive attacking stats, broadly similar to someone like Arfield. His highlights reel backs that up, all about doing an Arfield and arriving late in the box and getting goals. It seems to me that he has lost his engine at a young age and has had to become a sitting midfielder before his time, but he’s just not that good at the defensive side of that position because it’s never been his game. I’m keen to see Sands in there who seems to be the opposite, a reader of the game, strong defensively and an athlete.

Championship competition pushes Souttar’s wage up and that’s the only concern I have. It’s risky on a moderate wage, very on a high wage. With regards to Lundstram, a decent player who can contribute but he wasn’t coming here for anything other than a very good wage and I don’t know why he was given that. I raised that concern before he signed, I’m not joining a pile on. A reliable admin on FF said it has been a major sticking point in the Goldson negotiations, who apparently has the same agent.

I think we can do better than Olsen tbh. He doesn’t offer good value for money coming from Serie A and I don’t think he’s as good as has been made out either.