Is Ally the Man for the job? - The McCoist Thread

[simplythebest 0]

How many times did we sell-out the stadium for league games, Celtic aside, with any other manager?

 

We never had these circumstances under any other manager did we?

 

I enjoyed Ally's famous lines etc but I was never walking away regardless of what he said.

[craig 5,199]

div 3 pitches are about 4 - 5 yards narrower than ibrox. maybe 5 yards shorter.

 

I'm not sure that should affect us overly much.

 

4-5 yards narrower AND shorter DOES have an affect though gs.

 

You are clipping a sizeable amount of the pitch.

 

I just googled and apparently the pitch size of our away opponents this season so far have been :

 

Annan : 109 by 68 yards

Berwick : 110 by 70 yards

Peterhead : 110 by 70 yards

 

Ibrox is 115 by 75 yards

 

So each pitch is about 5 yards narrower and also about 5 yards shorter.

 

That may seem like not much but just take a ruler out and draw something 11.5 inches by 7.5 inches - then take off half an inch all the way along the length of what you have drawn AND take half an inch off the full width as well. You would then have, roughly, a "to scale" example of the difference in pitch dimension - It will, especially the width, make it harder for teams accustomed to a little more time on the ball. I suspect we will be going up, for the most part, against teams playing with 5 in the middle and 5 yards less means even less time on the ball than presently.

 

Dont get me wrong, I am not looking to make it an excuse, but it WILL have an impact on the time players have on the ball. But our players ALL should know by now that they dont have the same time on the ball so they should be getting used to it.

[the gunslinger 3,366]

it will indeed make a difference. how much is debatable.

 

I got Annan as 110 by 71 btw

 

their could be a case for us doing better in tight situations than the opposition.

 

barca would.

[craig 5,199]

I'm not sure that I agree they've had enough time together as a team yet Craig. Enough time to understand what's required of them, yes, but not enough time playing together yet in my view. Here's some reasons why:

 

• Today's date is September 17th.
  
• Carlos Bocanegra started all 7 games up until leaving to go out on loan on August 31st.
  
• Dorin Goian started our games, but left to go out on loan on August 21st.
  
• Kirk Broadfoot started our games until leaving the club in the last week of August.
  
• Andy Little started every game for us in August, but hasn't played since September 2nd.
  
• David Templeton's first game for us was on September 2nd.
  
• Sebastien Faure didn't get his Gers debut until August 30th.
  
• Ross Perry didn't get his first start of the season until August 26th.
  
• Anestis Argyriou's first game for us wasn't until August 26th.
  
• Emilson Cribari's first start for us was August 21st.
  
• Sandaza's only had 3 starts & his appearance at Annan was the first he'd played in 3 weeks.
  
• Robbie Crawford's made 5 appearances, but they only add up to about 80 mins of football in 5 games.
  

 

That's not a complete list, but it does at least show that about half of our team have only been playing together for 3 or 4 weeks tops. Factor in losing Boca, Goian and Broadfoot who played most of our games in August and there's a hell of a lot of changes happening in a short space of time.

 

I don't know if you remember me saying this or not, but back in August I was saying that I thought we should in theory consider the start of the season for judging Ally as being September 1st when the transfer window was closed because that's when he would have his final squad for the season. If you do that or at least try to think about it that way just for a moment, then we've actually only played 2 games this month because of the international break and Ally has only had 2 competitive games with his final, completed new squad of players.

 

Other than Peterhead though the problem away from home hasnt been preventing goals, scoring them has been the issue. So I would discount both Goian and Bocanegra from the analysis - it isnt as if either set anything up from the back anyway, was mostly a punt up top.

Broadfoot hasnt been missed IMO, Anestis looks a better player and provides similar if not better defensive cover than Broadfoot gave and also is better going forward and gets forward as often. Not dissimilar players IMO although Anestis looks better.

Little - He has only missed one game has he not ? Injuries will happen and you need to deal with them

Templeton - unfortunate injury at the weekend

 

I was going to go through all of these Zappa, but the reality is that each person you mention, whilst they may not have had a lot of game time, you have to deal with injuries and the like. Example, you mention Faure, yet he has only had one game. I would contend that he wasnt a big miss in the games he didnt play in. Crawford, likewise, he is a bit part and will continue to be so.

 

Alexander, Wallace (bar his injury), Emilson, Black, MacLeod, McCulloch, Little (bar one game) have all been mainstays this season - that is the spine of the team. That is 8 players. They have had enough time together.

 

We can throw in the replacements if we like but there are plenty who have played in every away game who should, by now, know what to expect.

[BeardyGuts 6]

4-5 yards narrower AND shorter DOES have an affect though gs.

 

You are clipping a sizeable amount of the pitch.

 

I just googled and apparently the pitch size of our away opponents this season so far have been :

 

Annan : 109 by 68 yards

Berwick : 110 by 70 yards

Peterhead : 110 by 70 yards

 

Ibrox is 115 by 75 yards

 

So each pitch is about 5 yards narrower and also about 5 yards shorter.

 

That may seem like not much but just take a ruler out and draw something 11.5 inches by 7.5 inches - then take off half an inch all the way along the length of what you have drawn AND take half an inch off the full width as well. You would then have, roughly, a "to scale" example of the difference in pitch dimension - It will, especially the width, make it harder for teams accustomed to a little more time on the ball. I suspect we will be going up, for the most part, against teams playing with 5 in the middle and 5 yards less means even less time on the ball than presently.

 

Dont get me wrong, I am not looking to make it an excuse, but it WILL have an impact on the time players have on the ball. But our players ALL should know by now that they dont have the same time on the ball so they should be getting used to it.

 

I agree to a certain level that the pitch size should make a difference but not to the extent that it is.

I mean its never been too much of a problem before..off the top of my head last year we beat Arbroath 4-0 away from home and a couple of years before that we beat Forfar 5-0 i think it was. And lets be honest if pitch size was that big of a factor we would see top level teams getting dumped out of cups regularly which simply isn't true.

 

Coisty is my hero, but it makes me really sad to say this he just isn't a manager. He had the team pumping long balls up the pitch which a) makes your eyes bleed to watch and b) is just bread and butter for these defenders. I am not expecting us to play like Barcelona but expecting us to out play part time footballers isn't asking too much.

 

I can accept it if we play well and the ball doesn't find the back of the net, it happens in football....but what i can't accept is playing utterly terrible football and struggling to even create chances.

[the gunslinger 3,366]

I'm not sure that I agree they've had enough time together as a team yet Craig. Enough time to understand what's required of them, yes, but not enough time playing together yet in my view. Here's some reasons why:

 

• Today's date is September 17th.
  
• Carlos Bocanegra started all 7 games up until leaving to go out on loan on August 31st.
  
• Dorin Goian started our games, but left to go out on loan on August 21st.
  
• Kirk Broadfoot started our games until leaving the club in the last week of August.
  
• Andy Little started every game for us in August, but hasn't played since September 2nd.
  
• David Templeton's first game for us was on September 2nd.
  
• Sebastien Faure didn't get his Gers debut until August 30th.
  
• Ross Perry didn't get his first start of the season until August 26th.
  
• Anestis Argyriou's first game for us wasn't until August 26th.
  
• Emilson Cribari's first start for us was August 21st.
  
• Sandaza's only had 3 starts & his appearance at Annan was the first he'd played in 3 weeks.
  
• Robbie Crawford's made 5 appearances, but they only add up to about 80 mins of football in 5 games.
  

 

That's not a complete list, but it does at least show that about half of our team have only been playing together for 3 or 4 weeks tops. Factor in losing Boca, Goian and Broadfoot who played most of our games in August and there's a hell of a lot of changes happening in a short space of time.

 

I don't know if you remember me saying this or not, but back in August I was saying that I thought we should in theory consider the start of the season for judging Ally as being September 1st when the transfer window was closed because that's when he would have his final squad for the season. If you do that or at least try to think about it that way just for a moment, then we've actually only played 2 games this month because of the international break and Ally has only had 2 competitive games with his final, completed new squad of players.

 

I'm sure our opposition also had changes to their line ups.

[craig 5,199]

it will indeed make a difference. how much is debatable.

 

I got Annan as 110 by 71 btw

 

their could be a case for us doing better in tight situations than the opposition.

 

barca would.

 

I agree it is debatable on how much difference it would make. But many of us like to think of Advocaat as a good tactician... and what was one of the first things he did ? He narrowed the pitch by 7 yards or so, did he not ? Clearly he felt it would make "enough" of a difference to the way he wanted to play.

 

Re Annan, take it up with the SFL as I got the pitch dimensions from their website

 

Re being better in tight situations... this is kind of the point I was getting at GS. We should be, but we have been used to, for far too long, playing in bigger spaces which affords you slightly more time. Once the players get used to playing in these tighter spaces they should, given they are full time pros who SHOULD have better touch, vision and awareness, prove their superiority.

 

Barca dont always get it right either though do they ? Would they fix the problem ? Absolutely they would. Sadly we dont have the players to be as adept at fixing it as they do.

 

I still think we will come good but we need to get used to having to battle for wins. We have proven ourselves as underdogs in the past that effort and determination alone will sometimes get you results. We were very proud on those occasions where we did it (0-0 at Ibrox against Barca anyone ?) but now the shoe is on the other foot we are constantly sniping that we should be doing better. Sometimes it doesnt happen. But I certainly agree that it is becoming far too much of a common occurrence and it can go on for only so much longer.

[Zappa 0]

Craig,

 

Seb Faure actually got his first start for us on August 30th at Ibrox against Falkirk and played for almost 80 mins. He came on from the bench a couple of days later against Elgin and played for nearly the last half hour. Then obviously he played the full game at Annan as our stand-in right back.

 

Anyway, I'm not really sure if you've understood the angle I was suggesting we look at the season so far. From my point of view Ally didn't have a settled team at all in August because players were coming in, going and getting ready to leave later in the month. August was basically a month of bringing in new faces and players leaving, so basically building a squad in preparation for September and the rest of the season, whilst also playing and trying to win games with an unsettled squad.

 

As soon as that transfer window slammed closed at midnight on the 31st, it was basically a case of BOOM... this is it! This is the squad. Now let's get this group of players working together. That was 17 days ago and even if you argue that most of our new faces arrived before deadline day, it's fair to say that it wasn't long before if you look at the list again in my previous post.

[the gunslinger 3,366]

I actually believe we have a golden opportunity to tear up the Scottish football play book.

 

we could easily do what barca do and practice with the ball at each and every training session.

 

forgett specialist fitness work or studying the opposition or set piece play.

 

work entirely on technical skills for 3 or 4 hrs a day.

 

we would still win the league and may in 3 years be ready to tear the SPL apart.

 

but I bet nothings changed at mp. bit of running. practice headers then a game of passy shooty before running some more.

[craig 5,199]

I actually believe we have a golden opportunity to tear up the Scottish football play book.

 

we could easily do what barca do and practice with the ball at each and every training session.

 

forgett specialist fitness work or studying the opposition or set piece play.

 

work entirely on technical skills for 3 or 4 hrs a day.

 

we would still win the league and may in 3 years be ready to tear the SPL apart.

 

but I bet nothings changed at mp. bit of running. practice headers then a game of passy shooty before running some more.

 

I agree entirely with you on this.

 

Football is actually an easy game, it really is. Not everyone can do it properly and that is why we are on an online forum and not doing it for a living. But if you can control, pass, move and keep your head up then you have broken the back of much of the game.

 

We should be using this time to literally pass the shit out of teams. If you can pass around teams they will tire quicker too, creating more time and space for you.

 

We should have the players to do this and given we are full time pros we should be looking to do this all the time in training.

 

I know I have said this before but Bermuda has a consultancy agreement with Jacques Crevoisier (well respected educator at UEFA and was 1st team coach at Liverpool when Houllier was there) and in Europe there is a general belief that your training sessions should be 60% technical with the other 40% used on tactical and physical. I suspect that we are not even close to that at Rangers.

 

Unfortunately in British football the physicality usually stumps technical prowess. Arsenal havent won anything in years despite probably having the most technical game in the EPL. Take them into one of the big European leagues and they would do reasonably well, but not in the UK. Too much emphasis on physical attributes and not enough on technical attributes.

 

There are a number of players in the UK have had trials at big teams and not been signed because "you are too small" - we need to rid ourselves of such primitive thinking if we are to evolve as a country (all the home nations are included in that).

 

Sadly I wont be holding my breath.