DMAA

Joint on points with Standard Liege, will definitely take that. Could have been better but could definitely have been worse.

It’s echo chamber stuff for me.

I said this at the time on here. It was a huge risk and I was very surprised we took it.

We’ve been just as good if not better without him though, he hasn’t been a key player in our good form. I’d argue he’s been the least important player in the 11 to our form, who would people drop before him?The oft-repeated line about dragging players out of position and making space for others has been exaggerated beyond belief, and it completely misses the fact that it has been a tactical tweak in the team’s system and isn’t specific to Morelos at all. Roofe, Defoe and Itten have all done the same thing well too, and Roofe in particular did it much better than Morelos.

I only meant with regards to the first 11. I’ve seen/heard a lot say he should drop to the bench who weren’t saying it before. I’ve edited my original comment for clarify that.

Didn’t get to see the game yesterday, I’ve reached 60 minutes on catch up so will reserve most of my comments until I I’ve seen it all later tonight. But from what I’ve seen so far on forums/social media etc. it seems this game has been the tipping point for many on Alfie with regards to the current starting 11. I’m not sure why now tbh, probably because Itten was finally given a chance on Thursday so it has gotten that bit harder to deny that Alfie isn’t our best option. Defoe and Hagi have been hard done by up to now too though. The question now is whether Gerrard is prepared to drop his highest paid player who we rejected a £16m bid for only a few months ago, and I’m not sure he will because that performance wasn’t that different to many others this season.

They are very exciting. I think they all play it as well as Morelos or better. Roofe is the best IMO, I really like him playing up front. Defoe, I would disagree. I think his technique, link-up play and passing are great and he is excellent dropping deep. He just can’t shake the poacher tag for many though. Think of the Hamilton game, he didn’t even score, but as I said in the match thread I don’t believe we would have scored 8 goals if he hadn’t played because he was really good. Itten, when played in his preferred position looks to me like he might just have all the abilities to play it. I think his technique and link-up play are good and he played the role really well on Thursday. We need to see more of him of course before making definitive comments. The tactical tweak brings us much closer to Liverpool’s system now, not least with a goalscorer like Roofe beside the CF.

You asked why it is has changed but it’s perfectly natural to discuss whether it has been successful. But the question also takes for granted that it is Morelos-specific and as I said I don’t think that’s true, Roofe, Defoe and Itten do the same thing. It’s just a tweak to team’s strategy and it’s about bringing more fluidity to the front 3.

This has Morelos in third place for xA, which is quite astonishing. 4 Rangers players in the top 5. Quite a disparity between xA and assists per 90 though which suggests to me a higher number of lower quality chances being created.

Here it is. If you look through it you will maybe see why I am a bit skeptical as to how useful it is. It is intended to judge overall positive impact on the team I think, so covers everything from interceptions, tackles, shots on targets etc. I think I just feel shots on target alone for example shouldn’t necessarily be counted as a positive impact. But that’s just my surface level impression, I haven’t had a chance to really look into it.

He did surprisingly well (for me at least) in these stats in previous seasons, often out performing his xG. I am pretty sure he has been top for xG per 90 for a long time in this league, but he definitely didn’t have this deficit between XG per 90 and goals per 90. Well, the stats I remember from last season were probably from before the slump, there would almost certainly have been a deficit by the end of the season. In terms of goal creation, there is a new stat Rangers Report have been putting out called “Win Impact Rating”, and Morelos always scores highly. But his WIP has been falling gradually through the season for some reason. I am a bit skeptical of this stat.

The honest reason it gets a reaction out of me sometimes is just that what I see on the pitch doesn’t match the level of praise I see, i.e. I believe he is being overrated (same happens with Kent). If it wasn’t for this, I wouldn’t be reacting the same way. I know that it can go too far the other way because that’s human nature. It could be a similar thing with Ally. But, I praised him very highly after his away performance in Lisbon where he just raised his game beyond recognition (on this season’s form).

And it doesn’t suit the narrative but it simply isn’t true that he just isn’t get many chances this season. He has had more/better chances than anyone else in the league this season, he just isn’t scoring them. Compare that to Roofe who is scoring way more than he should given the number/quality of the chances he is getting.

He’s just giving his honest opinion and I agree with him.

This isn’t Morelos-specific though. It is a team tactic and every forward has been coached to do the same thing. I’ve seen people mention Morelos’s role in the first goal countless times since Sunday but nobody seems to have noticed that Roofe did the exact same thing for the third goal. If anything, Roofe’s role in that goal was more impressive because he dragged his defender out of position off the ball, and I am sure he knew exactly what he was doing, saw Tavernier’s run, and didn’t expect for one second to receive the ball but made that run back inside anyway as if he was expecting to receive it.

Frankly, I think we are playing him because he is an asset and we need to get his value back up. He isn’t a better option than Defoe or Itten in my eyes, especially in the new role involving dropping deeper. I have said for a very long time I just don’t see what others seem in him though and people don’t like it when I say it. The number of times people said he was our best player “by a mile”, he never was and people have finally noticed we have a team full of very good players and not a couple of forwards (Kent too) who are miles ahead of the rest.

You can just click the link through to Twitter and zoom from there. Not that it sheds a whole lot of light on it. Basically measuring who is conceding less than you would expect based on the shots they have faced by the sounds of it.

Kamara. Just what a player when he is brimming with confidence. But I could have gone for Itten who was excellent. He did everything well. Held the ball up, found players with passes, ran in behind, worked back and won the ball back several times. He offered much more than Morelos often has recently and he’s surely put himself in contention more more regular appearances. Not a MoM contender IMO but delighted that Hagi got minutes in a big game. Another player who has been left out a bit unfairly recently for me. We are better at many things when he plays, especially those passing interchanges which are so good to watch. He also brings that threat from long shots which is very useful to have in your team. I’m going to mention another of my favourites too, Aribo. He’s just such a good player. Brilliant in possession and brilliant at winning it back too. The ball sticks to him.

So many positives. Patterson, Zungu, Hagi and Itten were more or less coming in from the cold tonight and you couldn’t tell. They were all very good. It’s hard to believe how well things are going for us just now.

Absolutely delighted. What a stunning achievement.

Absolutely.

Stands out every game in Europe. It’s almost as though tougher opposition suits him.

Very pleasing half all things considered. You will always lose something with Tavernier dropping out, but Patterson has looked great. Zungu has looked good, albeit maybe just a little bit more likely to make a mistake than Davis. Itten has been great. I’ve been saying for a while I wish he would get more game time, I have to say from what we’ve seen tonight I’m not seeing why he hasn’t been given more opportunities over Morelos. He has won the ball working way back into our half too.

Benfica have gone with their strongest 11. Would be a bit disappointing to lose out narrowly by putting out a weaker team when our competitors aren’t doing the same. Finishing 2nd means losing out on half a million or so and getting a very hard draw in the next round.

I'm actually quite pleased with the line-up. I'm pleased Hagi and Itten are getting a chance. I'm disappointed Roofe isn't on the bench though. Luckily Lech Poznan have held up their end of the bargain and made extensive changes too, so we can go into the game with confidence.