ian1964 10,419 Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 By Andrew Dickson WALTER SMITH admits it's still too early to think about putting together his team to face Celtic on Sunday because of the international break. Rangers' preparations for this weekend's crucial league derby have been hampered somewhat by the fact so many players have been called up by their countries. Barry FergusonBarry Ferguson, David Weir, Allan McGregor and Kirk Broadfoot all attended Scotland's training camp at St Andrews earlier this week. Kyle Lafferty and Steven Davis are also scheduled to play for Northern Ireland tonight against San Marino in a World Cup qualifier. The same applies to DaMarcus Beasley, who is in the United States squad to face Mexico in the same tournament this evening. Madjid Bougherra is away with Algeria for their home friendly against Benin while Andrius Velicka completes the set as he is representing Lithuania against Andorra. In all, Gers have been without nine senior players over the last couple of days and it would have been more had Kenny Miller been fit enough for the Scots' gathering. With three of his stars involved in competitive games and many more away from Murray Park, Smith is unsure of what state they'll return in. Until he has them back together as one group, he concedes he can't settle on what side he'll field at Parkhead and it could be Friday before he has an idea of who he'll use. All he knows at this stage is that he will be without the injured Nacho Novo and Kevin Thomson, although Miller will be available. Smith said: "It is too early in the week at the moment to say what we'll do at Parkhead on Sunday as we still have people away. "There are a few people who are yet to get their international games out of the way such as Lafferty, Davis and Bougherra. Madjid Bougherra"They're all guys who have been in our team recently but we must wait and see if they return to us injury-free before we know what we're doing. "We won't be sitting down to pick a side until tomorrow or Friday. It's different with the Scottish boys as they're attending a training camp. "We wouldn't expect them to get injured but there are other lads taking part in World Cup qualifiers and they can be a wee bit teethy. "The situation is not perfect in the sense that you like to have your squad together as one in the lead-up to a big game. "The fact the players who were away with Scotland didn't train in the early part of the week because of the weather was a problem, especially as our game at Forfar was off. "I know these things happen but it's not ideal. At least the fact we're playing on Sunday gives us a bit more breathing space. "When international games are on in midweek, we sometimes only get players back on a Friday morning and that's not great if we're then playing on Saturday. "Because the match in 24 hours later, we still have a couple of days together to prepare so it isn't too bad." 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluedell 5,345 Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 I'm horrified if he's telling the truth and that he currently hasn't got a team picked if all players return fit. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian1964 10,419 Posted February 11, 2009 Author Share Posted February 11, 2009 I'm horrified if he's telling the truth and that he currently hasn't got a team picked if all players return fit. Horrified..................BUT NOT SURPRISED ???? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
calscot 0 Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 Ah come on. Do you really have to pick your team four days before a game? Utter nonsense. How long does it take everyone to do it in FM? How long did it take everyone to do their version on here? Picking a team doesn't take days and days of planning and even if it did, I'm sure Thursday is early enough to start thinking about it. The criticism of WS gets more ludicrous by the week and my flabber has been truly gasted with how weird people can get on here... 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluedell 5,345 Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 Ah come on. Do you really have to pick your team four days before a game? Utter nonsense. How long does it take everyone to do it in FM? How long did it take everyone to do their version on here? Picking a team doesn't take days and days of planning and even if it did, I'm sure Thursday is early enough to start thinking about it. The criticism of WS gets more ludicrous by the week and my flabber has been truly gasted with how weird people can get on here... Walter should have been thinking about it and planning ahead for over a week. Things should be worked out in training with that in mind since the last league game. The Milan game should have (and possibly was) been used for various tactics, and training should be geared at working towards this game. If he's not planning ahead then he's not doing his job properly. FM? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gribz 743 Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 He should certainly have an idea of who / what (formation) he intends to play and he has been helped with the Forfar game being called off IMO. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
calscot 0 Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 Walter should have been thinking about it and planning ahead for over a week. Things should be worked out in training with that in mind since the last league game. The Milan game should have (and possibly was) been used for various tactics, and training should be geared at working towards this game. If he's not planning ahead then he's not doing his job properly. FM? I think it's pretty obvious he's doing that, but he does have to wait till he sees who's uninjured before he makes his final decision. Plenty of top managers have changed their minds about teamsheets on the DAY, or had it forced upon them when someone get's injured in the warmup. But it's not a big scientific thing or a formal process and he doesn't exactly have that many to players choose from. To twist a quote to imply he doesn't plan at all or doesn't have a clue is pretty much scraping the bottom of the barrel for me. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian1964 10,419 Posted February 11, 2009 Author Share Posted February 11, 2009 What I am questioning is,does WS actually know his best team ?,not just for this match!! He probably does know what team he is going to put out @ the piggery,but then why not just say it,without naming the team ?. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluedell 5,345 Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 I think it's pretty obvious he's doing that, but he does have to wait till he sees who's uninjured before he makes his final decision. Plenty of top managers have changed their minds about teamsheets on the DAY, or had it forced upon them when someone get's injured in the warmup. But it's not a big scientific thing or a formal process and he doesn't exactly have that many to players choose from. To twist a quote to imply he doesn't plan at all or doesn't have a clue is pretty much scraping the bottom of the barrel for me. It's hardly twisting a quote. "We won't be sitting down to pick a side until tomorrow or Friday." He could have easily said "I know what team I want to field but have to wait to see if there are any injuries before finalising it" but he didn't. Excuse me for taking him at his word. I didn't imply that he hasn't a clue so please don't make things up. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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