Quarter Of The Way Through Our League Campaign

At the beginning of the season and especially after the old firm shit show most of us would’ve took this position.

Still leaves me concerned though that on our 1st challenge to stay on top we failed. The lack of urgency yesterday or leadership was a worry.
 
I said similar yesterday and I do still think this.

A part of Gerrard must be delighted that he could speak at the players like he could after the game, because that was aimed at them.

If you reach a stage where a result like this is when you feel you can throw a bomb at your players, you have a squad in a lovely place.
 
As I mentioned previously abusing players and managers is completely idiotic.

However, criticism of the way we are playing and ultimately the league position should always be allowed.

Gerrard more or less got a free hit last season, this season had to be a different story, I’m not convinced at all we have what it takes to go on a long run of winning games, home and away.
The point of the OP was that the criticism is way over the top and oversteps the mark.

We have played well this season, especially at Ibrox, bar the Bheast game.

I'm pragmatic. The glee that greeted Lennon getting the job was OTT as, whether you like it or not, he's got a good track record in Scotland and Celtic in particular.

I hope we win the league but still feel Celtic have a better squad than us so a slice of luck will be required.

Yesterday was disappointing but we should've had a penalty and that's what we should be talking about. If it was the Tims, that's all they would be talking about and putting pressure on the ref for the next game.
 
Next 6 weeks or so makes or breaks the season.

The volume of games away from home will inevitably lead to dropped points.
Celtic rarely in the last few years have lost a game at home in the league, logic says they'll be a few points ahead as a result.
 
Cheerleader stuff right here

yesterday deserved criticism

Yes it did.

But said criticism is over the top a lot of the time, and not just related to yesterday. Some are acting as though the entire season has been poor, or that's certainly how they sound from the words and phrases being used.

Everybody better get used to it though, because it's going to be like this all season.
 
Rather obvious flaw in the theory - we aint top. You can't show league winning form when your arn't actuallt winning it?
 
I'm guessing we're far better off points wise than this time last season, any know how many?

Yesterday was hard too watch, same players letting us down for the past few weeks but doesn't look like there will be changes, so we just need to hope they get through their bad patches or it will keep costing us more points.
 
Yes it did.

But said criticism is over the top a lot of the time, and not just related to yesterday. Some are acting as though the entire season has been poor, or that's certainly how they sound from the words and phrases being used.

Everybody better get used to it though, because it's going to be like this all season.

Criticism is absolutely fine. As I said in my OP, yesterday was poor. It's not a post to defend the performance, more a thread to add a bit of perspective to the debate with regards to our overall performance this season. Micro analysing every single game is pointless.

You think on Liverpool forums today their whole fan base have flung their toys out the pram because they drew with Man Utd yesterday? That result was actually very similar to us now that I think about it. Man Utd were only 1 point above the relegation zone yesterday but its historically a hard place for Liverpool to go, likewise us at Tynecastle. Man Utd raised their game (like Hearts did).

Liverpool are still on track for where they need to get to, likewise ourselves.
 
Agreed. It's about time these idiots were told to zip it. Having to share 55 with these cretins isn't ideal. They don't deserve a decent team to support.
What makes your support of Rangers more valid than the next guy? Folks have different opinions and ways of expressing themselves!!
 
Yes it did.

But said criticism is over the top a lot of the time, and not just related to yesterday. Some are acting as though the entire season has been poor, or that's certainly how they sound from the words and phrases being used.

Everybody better get used to it though, because it's going to be like this all season.


While that’s true, this sort of thing is the flip side of the over the top the criticism, i.e. turd polishing. I don’t think many people are saying we’ll definitely bottle the league, just that it’s a continuation of a worrying trend that suggests the issue of mental weakness might still be present, which given the result and performance is perfectly valid. The idea of forecasting a final points tally 8 games in when we were just about neck and neck at January last season and still lost by a land slide, is nonsensical really, it means absolutely nothing. To swat yesterday aside and ignore the abject nature of the performance by talking about being level on points and previous title winning Gers sides is akin to sticking the fingers in the ears and screaming ‘la la la’.

The irony is Gerrard himself seemed to show quite a bit of concern and and align more with those who see yesterday as a worrying and ominous sign, yet those who generally sit in that “Gerrard knows best and can do no wrong” camp seem to be kicking and screaming because a lot of fans refuse to turn a blind eye to this worrying trend, while the Gaffer himself seems to view yesterday is much the same way those “panty wetting/over privileged/spoiled/clueless” fans do.
 
I think some frustration from fans is permissible, we didn't manage to stay top, was a key reason. The main reason I think fans are angry is seeing off form players in the starting eleven every week. I'm doubtful about Greg Stewart but he earned the jersey with his last two performances and should stay in over either ojo or arfield, who have been in poorer form. You can see rationale in dropping him for the euro game where he has less experience at that level but not for the league. If you play well and lose your place where is the incentive to do well next time. Ojo is being developed for Liverpool at the expense of players who belong to us.
I agree no fan should be abusing the players. Gerrard however should be talking to them.
 
More concerned about some of the players and the way we’re setting up than I am about the result itself. More worried about dropping points in the upcoming games due to some of the problems that appear to be staring at us. Result itself I’m not too fussed about it happens, it’s a point at Tynecastle. They were up for it and played well. It is what it is.
 
We need to hold our nerve and get right behind the team. This is going to be a long, hard season in which we need to learn how to win games when not playing silky soccer.
 
I'm guessing we're far better off points wise than this time last season, any know how many?

Yesterday was hard too watch, same players letting us down for the past few weeks but doesn't look like there will be changes, so we just need to hope they get through their bad patches or it will keep costing us more points.

5 points better off I think.

We will also more than likely be top on goal difference again after next weekends game.
 
While that’s true, this sort of thing is the flip side of the over the top the criticism, i.e. turd polishing. I don’t think many people are saying we’ll definitely bottle the league, just that it’s a continuation of a worrying trend that suggests the issue of mental weakness might still be present, which given the result and performance is perfectly valid. The idea of forecasting a final points tally 8 games in when we were just about neck and neck at January last season and still lost by a land slide, is nonsensical really, it means absolutely nothing. To swat yesterday aside and ignore the abject nature of the performance by talking about being level on points and previous title winning Gers sides is akin to sticking the fingers in the ears and screaming ‘la la la’.

The irony is Gerrard himself seemed to show quite a bit of concern and and align more with those who see yesterday as a worrying and ominous sign, yet those who generally sit in that “Gerrard knows best and can do no wrong” camp seem to be kicking and screaming because a lot of fans refuse to turn a blind eye to this worrying trend, while the Gaffer himself seems to view yesterday is much the same way those “panty wetting/over privileged/spoiled/clueless” fans do.

In your world, when are we allowed to analyse? What is the sample size for us to look at a trend?

I mean, we could go back to the tail end of last season where we won 6 of the last 7. Only losing to Killie on the last day after ringing the changes.

That would increase our sample size to 16 games which would read:

Played 16
Won 13
Drew 1
Lost 2

That's not a kick in the balls off half a season for the sample.

But we arent allowed to include last season are we? As that doesn't suit your wee narrative that the end of last season was just all dead rubbers etc (even though our form into the start of this season proves you were talking rubbish).

We only went top of the league once last season (and we weren't even top, they had a game in hand). Do you understand what a trend is and how it works? The fact we've only been top twice, isn't a big enough sample to constitute a ''trend''.

I'll give you a trend. 13 wins from the last 16 league games, when for the first half of last season, we could barely string 4 or 5 wins together on the spin. That's a stark improvement and a nice wee upward ''trend'' in my book.
 
More concerned about some of the players and the way we’re setting up than I am about the result itself. More worried about dropping points in the upcoming games due to some of the problems that appear to be staring at us. Result itself I’m not too fussed about it happens, it’s a point at Tynecastle. They were up for it and played well. It is what it is.

Hearts didn't really play well though did they. They didn't dictate the game, they didn't control the midfield, they rarely went past our full backs and McGregor wasn't called into much action. They left massive amount of space either flank that we failed to exploit.

Berra swept up most long balls and from 45 - 90 we created next to nothing.

If long balls to Ikpeazu equates to a team playing well then we are in trouble.

Any time we troubled Hickey, White and Smith, they panicked. There is a different to being up for a game and playing well. From 35 minutes until half time there all over the place. We failed to come out the traps after half time and the tempo was set to almost pedestrian pace. I've spoken to a Hearts supporter this morning who thought both sides were rubbish and it was a terrible game of football. He couldn't believe how badly we played. Prior to kick off they were worried.

Gerrard has problems he has to sort out. Away performances, an aggressive, quicker tempo from the off. Better organisation, ironing out the players who make costly mistakes. Getting a reaction from his players after a dull opening period. He sat there during the first half slumped in his chair. Where is the inspiration, the motivation, the geeing up of his players?

Too many players off form yet he continues to stick with them every game.
 
Agreed op on the face of it i think its the fact we relinquished top spot so quickly that's really hurting some folk rather than the actual result.

If we come out the next 9 games with the same points we will have done really well
I think this is what people weren't taking in after we went top. It's great being top of the league but when you've played 2 more home games and 2 less away games than Celtic it's too early to get carried away like many on here did.

We've actually been pretty poor away from home in 3 out of 4 away league games despite only dropping points in one of those games. If you're an optimist you can say that's what champions do but I generally see those games as games that expose some cracks and show some worrying signs.

The OP is of course right in its main message about people going over the top, but more people went over the top when we went top of the league with child-like, utterly naiive bullishness about our prospects. There's a long campaign ahead and we need to sort out our problems on the road.
 
Hearts league position is a red herring as well. They have the 3rd or 4th best squad in the league and should be pushing the sheep for 3rd place. They have the most experienced CB in the league in Berra as well, who is made for games like yesterday. A few players back from injury as well. Ikpeazue will give the celtic defence plenty of issues like he has done in the past.

I think we need to ignore last season and look at yesterday in isolation. A clean slate if you like rather tha shouting about being bottle merchants. We are still joint top, level on games played. Last season when we dropped points when we were "top", we were still behind in games played and we went behind on points on those occasions as well.

We need to wait until the end of December and see where we are before deciding if we are bottle merchants who cant deal with the pressure or not.
 
Hearts didn't really play well though did they. They didn't dictate the game, they didn't control the midfield, they rarely went past our full backs and McGregor wasn't called into much action. They left massive amount of space either flank that we failed to exploit.

Berra swept up most long balls and from 45 - 90 we created next to nothing.

If long balls to Ikpeazu equates to a team playing well then we are in trouble.

Any time we troubled Hickey, White and Smith, they panicked. There is a different to being up for a game and playing well. From 35 minutes until half time there all over the place. We failed to come out the traps after half time and the tempo was set to almost pedestrian pace. I've spoken to a Hearts supporter this morning who thought both sides were rubbish and it was a terrible game of football. He couldn't believe how badly we played. Prior to kick off they were worried.

Gerrard has problems he has to sort out. Away performances, an aggressive, quicker tempo from the off. Better organisation, ironing out the players who make costly mistakes. Getting a reaction from his players after a dull opening period. He sat there during the first half slumped in his chair. Where is the inspiration, the motivation, the geeing up of his players?

Too many players off form yet he continues to stick with them every game.

They played as well as they could mate given their league form. Ikpeazu is an absolute specimen of a big boy and utilised his strengths very well. The last twenty minutes we got sucked into a scrap and we done absolutely nothing of note in front of goal the rest of the game anyway. That’s what Hearts can do and they done it. Not saying they were particularly great but they were effective.

At Tynecastle no matter how shite they are you need every edge it’s a narrow pitch against a physical team with a decent hostile atmosphere. When you start Ojo and your Captain is having another one of his moments right at the beginning, we’re at a disadvantage straight off the bat.

If the situation with Ojo is addressed as a matter of priority and Arfield taken out of the front three I think we will be fine again but all I know is you cannot start players like him in fixtures like that. Aribo and Kamara don’t work well together in those games either.
 
5 points better off I think.

We will also more than likely be top on goal difference again after next weekends game.

I wouldn’t be too sure about us being top on gd next, we have the harder game, the mhanks generally win with ease when they travel to Sheepville.
 
While that’s true, this sort of thing is the flip side of the over the top the criticism, i.e. turd polishing. I don’t think many people are saying we’ll definitely bottle the league, just that it’s a continuation of a worrying trend that suggests the issue of mental weakness might still be present, which given the result and performance is perfectly valid. The idea of forecasting a final points tally 8 games in when we were just about neck and neck at January last season and still lost by a land slide, is nonsensical really, it means absolutely nothing. To swat yesterday aside and ignore the abject nature of the performance by talking about being level on points and previous title winning Gers sides is akin to sticking the fingers in the ears and screaming ‘la la la’.

The irony is Gerrard himself seemed to show quite a bit of concern and and align more with those who see yesterday as a worrying and ominous sign, yet those who generally sit in that “Gerrard knows best and can do no wrong” camp seem to be kicking and screaming because a lot of fans refuse to turn a blind eye to this worrying trend, while the Gaffer himself seems to view yesterday is much the same way those “panty wetting/over privileged/spoiled/clueless” fans do.

Gerrard didn’t align himself anywhere near the shïte that was posted on here yesterday, don’t talk nonsense.

He criticised the performance, especially the first 10 minutes – the same as every Rangers fan on the planet. Point me to the part in his interview where he said we’re a team full of shïte bags and bottle merchants.

Talking about this ‘trend’, is it still a trend if we showed bottle against Kilmarnock, Aberdeen and Hamilton when we needed to? Surely a trend accounts for all results and not just the ones you want to support your trend with.

We’re going to drop points this season, that’s a simple fact.
 
Gerrard didn’t align himself anywhere near the shïte that was posted on here yesterday, don’t talk nonsense.

He criticised the performance, especially the first 10 minutes – the same as every Rangers fan on the planet. Point me to the part in his interview where he said we’re a team full of shïte bags and bottle merchants.

Talking about this ‘trend’, is it still a trend if we showed bottle against Kilmarnock, Aberdeen and Hamilton when we needed to? Surely a trend accounts for all results and not just the ones you want to support your trend with.

We’re going to drop points this season, that’s a simple fact.

“Wrong mentality wrong attitude”. He literally says it, that’s a lot closer to what fans like myself are saying than the turd polishing nonsense a load of others are persisting with. You’ve also got to consider that he’s very unlikely to show the extent of his frustration to the watching world and has to retain some sort of poker face.

Hamilton? Perhaps but then you couldn’t ask for a more straightforward fixture to go top (particularly with the Livingston upset happening shortly before our match leaving us no time to really dwell on that). However, our away performances haven’t been great this season and when we were presented with the chance to go and reclaim top spot by beating a woefully out of form Hearts side we produced a spineless display and blew that chance. The issue this side has is they’ve won nothing and when we get a chance to really stay up there and get our noses in front we rarely take it, that’s not up for debate it’s an undeniable fact. I’m a loss as to why people are determined to swot it aside as though its not cause for concern. But by all means, continue to do that, but I won’t be, I’ll continue to question them until they can stay top for longer than week and until they can deliver some silverware. When they do that I’ll unclench and relax more.
 
“Wrong mentality wrong attitude”. He literally says it, that’s a lot closer to what fans like myself are saying than the turd polishing nonsense a load of others are persisting with. You’ve also got to consider that he’s very unlikely to show the extent of his frustration to the watching world and has to retain some sort of poker face.

Hamilton? Perhaps but then you couldn’t ask for a more straightforward fixture to go top (particularly with the Livingston upset happening shortly before our match leaving us no time to really dwell on that). However, our away performances haven’t been great this season and when we were presented with the chance to go and reclaim top spot by beating a woefully out of form Hearts side we produced a spineless display and blew that chance. The issue this side has is they’ve won nothing and when we get a chance to really stay up there and get our noses in front we rarely take it, that’s not up for debate it’s an undeniable fact. I’m a loss as to why people are determined to swot it aside as though its not cause for concern. But by all means, continue to do that, but I won’t be, I’ll continue to question them until they can stay top for longer than week and until they can deliver some silverware. When they do that I’ll unclench and relax more.

“Wrong mentality wrong attitude” isn't even close to the extent of what was/is being said on here, I'm not sure why you're trying to claim that it is. Even with that, he was mostly referring to the first 10 minutes of the game.

Hamilton, yes. Not a tough opponent, but testing circumstances. If we failed to win and go top it would certainly be added towards this 'trend' so the fact that we did win it and go top counts against it.

There's no turd-polishing from me. Yesterday was shîte, the result was shîte, the performance was shîte. Should we ignore that it was a terrible performance or the fact that we were top of the league? No – we should certainly keep an eye on those points. But we also need to be realistic and I think this season the team has at least earned the right to be judged fairly, we've had a great start.

We haven't won anything yet, but at least give them a fair crack of the fücking whip. Why jump on them at every juncture when overall we're doing well? Into the group stages, progressing in the cup, 7W 1D 1L are all good returns.

Passed 'tests': Kilmarnock, Aberdeen (after they dropped points), Hamilton (to go top), Midtjylland, Legia. There a couple of others that could be chucked in.

Failed 'tests': Celtc, Hearts.

So far, the trend is positive.
 
“Wrong mentality wrong attitude” isn't even close to the extent of what was/is being said on here, I'm not sure why you're trying to claim that it is. Even with that, he was mostly referring to the first 10 minutes of the game.

Hamilton, yes. Not a tough opponent, but testing circumstances. If we failed to win and go top it would certainly be added towards this 'trend' so the fact that we did win it and go top counts against it.

There's no turd-polishing from me. Yesterday was shîte, the result was shîte, the performance was shîte. Should we ignore that it was a terrible performance or the fact that we were top of the league? No – we should certainly keep an eye on those points. But we also need to be realistic and I think this season the team has at least earned the right to be judged fairly, we've had a great start.

Passed 'tests': Kilmarnock, Aberdeen (after they dropped points), Hamilton (to go top), Midtjylland, Legia. There a couple of others that could be chucked in.

Failed 'tests': Celtc, Hearts.

So far, the trend is positive.

Ehh? I had a thread going in the squads mentality yesterday, that’s what myself and a load of others were expressing concern over. There may be one or two zoomers taking it too far but that’s nothing to do with me. I’m questioning their mentality and clearly Gerrard has similar concerns.

I just can’t class the Hamilton game as a real test sorry. If we’d have slipped up there then a full scale meltdown would have been justified because it was such a favourable fixture and the squad didn’t have time to ponder the fact the scum had slipped up minutes prior. I’ll give you the Aberdeen one, but for me the real test is showing that we can get in the driving seat and stay there, and getting to cup finals to put an end to their domestic stranglehold, but we can’t seem to do it for any longer than a week and even against sides like Aberdeen we come undone in the cups and I think that’s concerning.

We don’t exactly have opposing views either though I think you’re being a little bit kinder to them that they deserve at this time. But most of the other folk who’ve taken issue with my take on yesterday are flat out turd polishing and pretending that there’s no cause for alarm. I don’t know if they’re misreading what people are saying and they feel like the team are being written off, because they’re not, we can still do it, it’s just worrying that we seem to falter when we get the chance to get in the driving seat and stay there.
 
Ehh? I had a thread going in the squads mentality yesterday, that’s what myself and a load of others were expressing concern over. There may be one or two zoomers taking it too far but that’s nothing to do with me. I’m questioning their mentality and clearly Gerrard has similar concerns.

I just can’t class the Hamilton game as a real test sorry. If we’d have slipped up there then a full scale meltdown would have been justified because it was such a favourable fixture and the squad didn’t have time to ponder the fact the scum had slipped up minutes prior. I’ll give you the Aberdeen one, but for me the real test is showing that we can get in the driving seat and stay there, but we can’t seem to do it for any longer than a week and I think that’s concerning.

We don’t exactly have opposing views either though I think you’re being a little bit kinder to them that they deserve at this time. But most of the other folk who’ve taken issue with my take on yesterday are flat out turd polishing and pretending that there’s no cause for alarm. I don’t know if they’re misreading what people are saying and they feel like the team are being written off, because they’re not, we can still do it, it’s just worrying that we seem to falter when we get the chance to get in the driving seat and stay there.

I'm not being overly kind, the team have done very well and deserve a bit of breathing room because we've had a great season so far. If we go and drop points in the next two matches? A different story altogether.

It's far too early to push the 'THEY'RE AW' SHîTE-BAGS!' button that so many on here are doing. Even taking yesterday into account, this season we're leaning towards the opposite (which might or might not change).
 
I'll not lie I was very unhappy yesterday leaving and even gave the wrong player grief for the goal lol. Then me and my mate were having a wee lovers tiff on the way back to the bus.

It's just the high of being in front then bottled in the baws back down
 
I'm not being overly kind, the team have done very well and deserve a bit of breathing room because we've had a great season so far. If we go and drop points in the next two matches? A different story altogether.

It's far too early to push the 'THEY'RE AW' SHîTE-BAGS!' button that so many on here are doing. Even taking yesterday into account, this season we're leaning towards the opposite (which might or might not change).

I agree with that. Although I do think our leader is a serious cause for concern at the moment. Like I said though, I think we can win the league, but at the same time I can’t not be concerned over their mentality until they get on top and stay there and until they get us to Hampden and bring back some silverware.
 
You can't go through a whole season getting hysterical at every result that isn't a win.

Fair enough if we had lost three on the trot or something then it'd be panic stations.

1 loss and 1 draw at this stage is fine. Obviously never like to not win, but we're winning consistently enough to be in a genuine title challenge. As long as that continues I'll keep my knickers untwisted.
 
While that’s true, this sort of thing is the flip side of the over the top the criticism, i.e. turd polishing. I don’t think many people are saying we’ll definitely bottle the league, just that it’s a continuation of a worrying trend that suggests the issue of mental weakness might still be present, which given the result and performance is perfectly valid. The idea of forecasting a final points tally 8 games in when we were just about neck and neck at January last season and still lost by a land slide, is nonsensical really, it means absolutely nothing. To swat yesterday aside and ignore the abject nature of the performance by talking about being level on points and previous title winning Gers sides is akin to sticking the fingers in the ears and screaming ‘la la la’.

The irony is Gerrard himself seemed to show quite a bit of concern and and align more with those who see yesterday as a worrying and ominous sign, yet those who generally sit in that “Gerrard knows best and can do no wrong” camp seem to be kicking and screaming because a lot of fans refuse to turn a blind eye to this worrying trend, while the Gaffer himself seems to view yesterday is much the same way those “panty wetting/over privileged/spoiled/clueless” fans do.

A team with our record this season isn't one that deserves the criticism many are aiming at them. That includes Gerrard if he is as harsh as you say.

An acknowledgement that bad games will happen isn't ignoring anything. Suggesting that it's a sign of mental weakness or the likes is the flawed argument, because it has to hark back to last season to back it up which is completely irrelevant.
 
A team with our record this season isn't one that deserves the criticism many are aiming at them. That includes Gerrard if he is as harsh as you say.

An acknowledgement that bad games will happen isn't ignoring anything. Suggesting that it's a sign of mental weakness or the likes is the flawed argument, because it has to hark back to last season to back it up which is completely irrelevant.

No it’s not, when we shit the bed when we get in the driving seat that is a real cause for concern. We weren’t unlucky yesterday, we were spineless, you can’t win the league if you fold every time you get the chance to stay top, but when these chances come a long or we have the chance to make a cup final we’ve invariably folded nearly every time. That is cause for concern, it doesn’t mean we won’t overcome it, but fans are well within their right to acknowledge that clear trend and feel worried about it.

I’m also not sure how you can say last season is irrelevant when it’s most of the same players that are still out there?
 
It's been decent.

Probably no huge change from last season and fans KNOW that the crucial area is League Cup and visit to Scum Hut in December. Fail in those and it will be pretty much same as...decent players, progress made, but no fight and belief.
 
We'll still win the league

But %^*& me do we not half shoot ourselves in the foot. Every single time we get ahead we blow it the very next game. Don't know if it's a case of us not being able to handle the pressure but we seriously need to sort that out. It's happened like 3 times between this season and last season.

The thing that worries me is we have quite a few away games coming up, most harder than hearts. If we play like we did last night we will drop points to Livingston, Hamilton, Aberdeen, Motherwell and Hibs and we'll get pumped off Celtic.

We need to sort it out pronto because to be in for a chance of winning the league we'll have to win 5 of those 6 games
 
I'm not being overly kind, the team have done very well and deserve a bit of breathing room because we've had a great season so far. If we go and drop points in the next two matches? A different story altogether.

It's far too early to push the 'THEY'RE AW' SHîTE-BAGS!' button that so many on here are doing. Even taking yesterday into account, this season we're leaning towards the opposite (which might or might not change).

Your thoughts are pretty much aligned with mine from reading your comments on this thread. Pretty much agree with just about everything you have posted.

I wouldn't mind seeing some examples of the so called turd polishing that is going on as well? I genuinely haven't seen anything that resembles that. The forum seems to be pretty unanimous in their feelings regarding yesterday being a very poor display.

The hyperbole is coming from the other side of the debate.
 
I appreciate it has been a while, but I am pretty shocked at how many seem to have just totally forgot what a season when a team wins a league can look like.

Look at the last time we won the league - we had some abysmal results. We lost 3-0 at home to Hibs, had some horrendous results against Celtic (1 win in 4) and the nightmare of losing at home to Dundee Utd in the last minute to name a few.

The response to us dropping points on here is excruciating.
 
It's been decent.

Probably no huge change from last season and fans KNOW that the crucial area is League Cup and visit to Scum Hut in December. Fail in those and it will be pretty much same as...decent players, progress made, but no fight and belief.

We could hypothetically not beat Celtic all season but still win the league. Highly unlikely of course, but it's possible. Last season it was 6 points a piece for us and them in the league, it was dropping points to the run of the mill teams which f*cked us. We have improved on those games already in this season.
 
Look at the last time we won the league - we had some abysmal results. We lost 3-0 at home to Hibs, had some horrendous results against Celtic (1 win in 4) and the nightmare of losing at home to Dundee Utd in the last minute to name a few.

The response to us dropping points on here is excruciating.

Yip, Smith the second time around had learned how to make it look good as such, in that he polished things at the end of a season with tidy performances and thus deluded a lot of people into thinking we had been great all year.

At times over the course of the season under Smith during 3IAR we were bloody awful in some ways, awful to watch, battled through games etc but he got it done and thus no one cared come the end of the season.

We in the history I have watched us have never, ever won a league trouble free playing free flowing stuff all year and never dropping points.

Our start to the season is grand, just grand - in a place where most would want a team to be
 
I appreciate it has been a while, but I am pretty shocked at how many seem to have just totally forgot what a season when a team wins a league can look like.
This is a point very well made on h&h post match pod yesterday that it’s been so long since we have been in a title race that some have forgotten what a title race is like and the up’s and downs in a title race.we had all better get used to this because us and them aren’t going to win every week
 
I took myself off of one group page on Facebook yesterday after tav was labeled a kunt.sorry yes we can be unhappy at his performance but their is no need for mindless abuse
 
I took myself off of one group page on Facebook yesterday after tav was labeled a kunt.sorry yes we can be unhappy at his performance but their is no need for mindless abuse
definitely not! Tav is a brilliant player and as much mistakes as he makes there isn't a single player in our squad that can fit into RB and offer as much as he does in games generally.

However saying that I reckon he needs a little break and work his way back into the squad. His game lately has been poor and it's costing us. I think giving him a chance to fight for his position back could go a long way into getting him back to form.

Also get Morelos on penalties and Barisic on appropriate free kicks. No reason for Tav to take everything imo.
 
This is a point very well made on h&h post match pod yesterday that it’s been so long since we have been in a title race that some have forgotten what a title race is like and the up’s and downs in a title race.we had all better get used to this because us and them aren’t going to win every week


Yip, it happens - you drew a game.... it's the next 5 that matter.

Are you going to dwell on it or are you going to get it out the system and take 13 from 15 and keep on the pace.

Ferguson was the absolute master of it.

Gerrard thus far has shown himself to be pretty handy, or at least learning at being handy to screw a teams heads back on after a poor result.

We have rarely suffered a run of bad form as such
 
Motherwell at home and Ross County away, if we are level or better than them after this then I will be happy. Hearts yesterday? We have had similar away performances and nicked it, I just think we didn't get the winner and that can happen. Satisfied so far. Tav needs a game off but we need a fit Flanagan to replace him.
 
Some people have absolutely no bottle.

This is a title race. Both teams will drop points. Neither side is going to hit the 90 point mark this season, so be prepared for even more mistakes from both teams.

This title will be won or lost on away matches, because the other ten teams cannot lay a glove on either side at home.
 
They played as well as they could mate given their league form. Ikpeazu is an absolute specimen of a big boy and utilised his strengths very well. The last twenty minutes we got sucked into a scrap and we done absolutely nothing of note in front of goal the rest of the game anyway. That’s what Hearts can do and they done it. Not saying they were particularly great but they were effective.

At Tynecastle no matter how shite they are you need every edge it’s a narrow pitch against a physical team with a decent hostile atmosphere. When you start Ojo and your Captain is having another one of his moments right at the beginning, we’re at a disadvantage straight off the bat.

If the situation with Ojo is addressed as a matter of priority and Arfield taken out of the front three I think we will be fine again but all I know is you cannot start players like him in fixtures like that. Aribo and Kamara don’t work well together in those games either.

Hearts had 9 players out injured.

Naismith, Haring, Damour, Souttar, Walker, Halkett, Washington, Garuccio would all have featured had they been fit. Wighton was the 9th. We basically had a full strength 11 bar Kent and Jack.
 
No it’s not, when we shit the bed when we get in the driving seat that is a real cause for concern. We weren’t unlucky yesterday, we were spineless, you can’t win the league if you fold every time you get the chance to stay top, but when these chances come a long or we have the chance to make a cup final we’ve invariably folded nearly every time. That is cause for concern, it doesn’t mean we won’t overcome it, but fans are well within their right to acknowledge that clear trend and feel worried about it.

I’m also not sure how you can say last season is irrelevant when it’s most of the same players that are still out there?

Because players develop over the course of seasons. A few different players can change a team dramatically. And in our case, our management team are learning on the job.

It's words like "spineless" that I find an utter nonsense. How do you even quantify that? If we weren't top at the start of the weekend but played as poorly, would that be described the same? I doubt it.

Sorry, because this sounds much harsher than I mean it to, but I find this a childlike reaction to not getting what you want. We will have games where the other side has periods of good play and get some luck as Hearts did yesterday. That doesn't equate to our team being spineless.
 
Because players develop over the course of seasons. A few different players can change a team dramatically. And in our case, our management team are learning on the job.

It's words like "spineless" that I find an utter nonsense. How do you even quantify that? If we weren't top at the start of the weekend but played as poorly, would that be described the same? I doubt it.

Sorry, because this sounds much harsher than I mean it to, but I find this a childlike reaction to not getting what you want. We will have games where the other side has periods of good play and get some luck as Hearts did yesterday. That doesn't equate to our team being spineless.

Being level headed doesn't get you likes on social media though does it?

Maybe the forum is just reflective of society as a whole nowadays where everyone looks for a reaction / likes etc via social media posts.
 
We could hypothetically not beat Celtic all season but still win the league. Highly unlikely of course, but it's possible. Last season it was 6 points a piece for us and them in the league, it was dropping points to the run of the mill teams which f*cked us. We have improved on those games already in this season.

Attitude though. Sadly most players and fans will see losing away there and not winning LC as a sign that we are where we were....
 
Being level headed doesn't get you likes on social media though does it?

Maybe the forum is just reflective of society as a whole nowadays where everyone looks for a reaction / likes etc via social media posts.

I don't mind emotional responses to games during and in the immediate aftermath. It should be that way, even if I don't seem to do that personally a lot of the time.

But after a day to digest it, reactions should be far more measured. It's not unfair at all to ask for that, I agree.
 
Because players develop over the course of seasons. A few different players can change a team dramatically. And in our case, our management team are learning on the job.

It's words like "spineless" that I find an utter nonsense. How do you even quantify that? If we weren't top at the start of the weekend but played as poorly, would that be described the same? I doubt it.

Sorry, because this sounds much harsher than I mean it to, but I find this a childlike reaction to not getting what you want. We will have games where the other side has periods of good play and get some luck as Hearts did yesterday. That doesn't equate to our team being spineless.

Yeah but we’re still faltering and can’t stay top longer than a week so where’s the development in that sense? You can’t just say “they develop” when in terms of nerve and mental steel we’re not seeing too many great signs of development. And how do I quantify it? Easy, it’s the persistent failure to take these opportunities when they’re afforded to us, even when we’re up against a side languishing second from bottom who are in such poor form their fans are begging for their manager to be sacked. “If we weren’t top at the start of the weekend”, if yer auntie had baws! The fact is we were top and had a chance to hang on to that top spot and we failed that test. Let’s stick to what actually unfolded and put pointless hypotheticals to the side for a second.

We played a very poor team and barley created a chance, bullied off the ball and never at any stage looked like winning the game, does that scream mental rigidity to you given that we had a chance to go top again and make a real statement and show a real sign of progress? And forget about luck, we weren’t unlucky yesterday, we were crap and had the wrong mentality and attitude as the gaffer himself clearly acknowledged.

Why you believe that me debating the issue by looking at a clear and undeniable trend is childlike, is beyond me to be perfectly honest. It’s not as though I’m kicking and screaming with no valid argument and no evidence to back up my point. In fact, I’ve yet to see any valid counter argument to the point that I’ve been making since full time yesterday. All I’ve seen are happy clappers venting their frustrations at fans who aren’t prepared to turn a blind eye to a rather ominous looking pattern.
 
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