Should Morelos be dropped?

[Barebear 37]

Not a chance he will be dropped. And as always, he's going down as my FGS. 

[Frankie 8,146]

It's also very easy to forget that Morelos is still only 21 years old.

[buster. 4,808]

4 minutes ago, Frankie said:

It's also very easy to forget that Morelos is still only 21 years old.

He really is exceptional in what he has managed to do.

 

A different continent and culture

Goals in Finland 

Goals in Scotland with the pressure of playing for a big club

 

Not to mention his physique and how he uses it to good advantage as well as a knowledge of how to play the role that suggests more experience.

[pete 2,499]

9 hours ago, gisabeer said:

Going to stick my neck out and say he should be dropped for the beasts from the east game.   I'm sick and tired of him  miss sitter after sitter.  I think he is a vastly overrated player and reckon the club made a massive blunder by turning down 7 never mind 11 mill for him.

 

Cummings has to start.   He's a big game player and will be far more likely to score against the mhanks.

Cummings won't get half the room if you don't have Morelos pulling defenders away. It is a catch 22 problem.

[Tannochsidebear 2,306]

Morelos starts without a doubt, the big question for Murty is who does he play with him?

 

By my reckoning Morelos & Cummings have only started 2 games together and we have scored 10 goals in those 2 games, which is impressive at any level.

 

If we take as a given that we will play a back 4 with Goss & Docherty sitting in central midfield mostly a bit deeper, it leaves 4 attacking spots in the team between Morelos, Cummings, Candieas, Murphy, Windass. Every one of them will rightfully be upset if not selected. My preference for leaving out would be Windass. His home form is truly awful (only 2 goals all season and numerous stinkers) and he has often went missing in tough games. If we were playing away I would play him as his goals tally in away games is excellent. Horses for courses and all that.

 

Of course there is not a hope in hell Murty is not going to start Windass, as he seems to be his absolute favourite, so we'll say he is due a good home performance in a big game and hopefully that will be Sunday. I think Murty will play Candieas and Murphy wide with Windass supporting Morelos, and Cummings, despite the hattrick, on the bench. Very harsh on Cummings but thats the way I see Murty going.

 

If Murphy is not fit to play, perhaps we will see the same formation (with a couple of changes at the back) as yesterday which mostly looked like a 4-2-3-1.

 

The other option is we flood the midfield by playing Holt alongside Goss and Docherty, and Candieas and Windass supporting Morelos in a 4-3-2-1. This is more negative on paper to try to ensure we dont get hammered and to try to ensure we can double up on their wide danger players which we done to very good effect in December. It could come done to one or two chances each and see if we can take one this time.

 

We absolutely positively cannot play Halliday at left back if we want to have any chance of keeping a clean sheet. He is not a full back in any shape or form and definitely will get singled out and attacked and this will be our weak flank for certain. If John is not fit, Wallace has to be thrown in. It has been a long time out but he doesnt need to be bursting up and down like he used to, he can concentrate on defending the left flank and will be a much better option, if a bit of a gamble, than playing AH. It does make you wonder why we didnt just release Hodson in January if he isnt considered better than Halliday as a left back?

 

At centre back it has to be Alves & Martin for me. Big Bates has been ok but is prone to silly mistakes and losing goals, another one yesterday to add to Tuesday. I think perhaps he needs rested as his form is nowhere near as solid as it was around the last OF game. Experience will matter. I think Murty will play Martin & Bates however as that seems to be his preference.

 

I have absolutely no expectation of pegging them back in the league so a victory is not as important to me as it will be in the cup SF, but I think we are all expecting a much better effort than we have managed against them since our demotion (SF win aside). Yes, we played better at the dump in December and while we could have sneaked it, we could also have lost it by 2 or 3 in the first half alone which some seem to have forgotten. The one thing I will say is that, unlike under Pedro, I am no longer going to turn up and expect to be humped. So there is improvement right there!

 

 

[Rousseau 9,359]

9 minutes ago, Tannochsidebear said:

Morelos starts without a doubt, the big question for Murty is who does he play with him?

 

By my reckoning Morelos & Cummings have only started 2 games together and we have scored 10 goals in those 2 games, which is impressive at any level.

 

If we take as a given that we will play a back 4 with Goss & Docherty sitting in central midfield mostly a bit deeper, it leaves 4 attacking spots in the team between Morelos, Cummings, Candieas, Murphy, Windass. Every one of them will rightfully be upset if not selected. My preference for leaving out would be Windass. His home form is truly awful (only 2 goals all season and numerous stinkers) and he has often went missing in tough games. If we were playing away I would play him as his goals tally in away games is excellent. Horses for courses and all that.

 

Of course there is not a hope in hell Murty is not going to start Windass, as he seems to be his absolute favourite, so we'll say he is due a good home performance in a big game and hopefully that will be Sunday. I think Murty will play Candieas and Murphy wide with Windass supporting Morelos, and Cummings, despite the hattrick, on the bench. Very harsh on Cummings but thats the way I see Murty going.

Haven't Cummings-Morelos only start together against Falkirk and Ayr? If so, that's hardly a reason to play them, no matter how many goals they scored. (Did they play against Fraserburgh?)

 

Windass is one of our best performers; it would be absolute folly to omit him from the team. His home form is poorer, but I think that's only because of the way teams play us at home -- Celtic will not play us like that.

 

I'm not too worried about Halliday. He's certainly not a LB, but I think he'll work hard for the cause. I'd prefer a proper FB, though.

 

[Tannochsidebear 2,306]

Yes, the 2 rounds of the cup is the only time they have started together. I am asking why this is? Giving opponents (even poorer ones like Ayr & Falkirk) two troublesome busy strikers to worry about creates more opportunities for us to score. It also gives more than one target for the midfielders to link up with. This was the question I posed when we were linked with Cummings as I didnt see Murty playing them together very often as he likes one up top which doesnt suit Cummings at all. It's a difficult one to get the balance right.

 

Windass's home form isnt just poorer, its rank rotten in comparison to the away form. I dont see that opponents are setting up vastly different at their own grounds than at Ibrox, so I dont think it is that. Is he a big-game player? Can he play well at Ibrox in front of the big crowd and added pressure? To date you would have to say no, but lets hope on Sunday he shows he can do it.

 

I'm glad you're not too worried about Halliday, i'm feckin terrified!!

[Frankie 8,146]

The left side for Sunday is a worry for me but I thought Halliday did fine yesterday after looking fairly poor against St Johnstone.  I hope Murphy makes it but I reckon him and John will miss out.  Wallace hasn't played for months so despite a bounce game being arranged for midweek to check his progress, it would be a big risk to play him.

 

As such, Halliday with Cummings in front of him (again swapping with Windass where required) might be our best option.  If Murphy is out for a few weeks it will be a real shame.

 

I think I'd prefer Alves and Martin as a pair but I don't think Alves looked very sharp yesterday and the (wrongly IMO) much-maligned Bates had to cover at least twice when the ball went in behind.  As such, I'd stick with Bates and Martin.

 

 

[Rousseau 9,359]

10 minutes ago, Tannochsidebear said:

Yes, the 2 rounds of the cup is the only time they have started together. I am asking why this is? Giving opponents (even poorer ones like Ayr & Falkirk) two troublesome busy strikers to worry about creates more opportunities for us to score. It also gives more than one target for the midfielders to link up with. This was the question I posed when we were linked with Cummings as I didnt see Murty playing them together very often as he likes one up top which doesnt suit Cummings at all. It's a difficult one to get the balance right.

 

Windass's home form isnt just poorer, its rank rotten in comparison to the away form. I dont see that opponents are setting up vastly different at their own grounds than at Ibrox, so I dont think it is that. Is he a big-game player? Can he play well at Ibrox in front of the big crowd and added pressure? To date you would have to say no, but lets hope on Sunday he shows he can do it.

 

I'm glad you're not too worried about Halliday, i'm feckin terrified!!

If you play two strikers you lose the midfield battle. The way teams break against us, I find playing two very dangerous; against Celtic that seems completely unthinkable.

 

I don't agree with that; it keeps getting trotted out every time Windass is mentioned. He's actually one of our best performers against the big sides, if not our best. Sure he goes missing at times, but what player doesn't; and no other pops up with Goals and Assists like he does. He has 4 Assists and 2 goals for us at home, mostly against Aberdeen and Hibs -- is that really "rank-rotten"? 

[Gaffer 1,665]

I'm certain we will stick with 4-2-3-1 as long as Murphy is fit.  There's no reason to change it otherwise.  As for the left back position, Murty did say he needed to get game time for some so he was arranging a closed door game.  I'm expecting the purpose of this is to get Wallace or DJ fit.  Halliday has done well but our system requires a quick threat down that side and that's not his game.

 

I expect Cummings will be on the bench and itching to be involved.  We will be two up at that stage and he will come on and score the third.