It's still down to money and squad quality

I expected at least a three year build before Stevie could seriously bridge the gap.

Celtic are still ahead in terms of squad and spending and favourable refereeing.

A lot of work still to do but we are progressing.
 
so has the money been spent wisely?

in its entirety, wage and transfers

That's always up for debate I for one questioned the money spent on Kent. However the majority were well in favour of it. I personally didn't think we should have been spending our second biggest transfer fee on a development player in our financial position.

But people can't have it both ways -back everything to the hilt and then moan later.

Overall managers make bad signings as a % fall out and I think pound for pound on the vast majority of transfers SG has probably batted higher than average. As I say the Kent one was one that I never quite followed the logic on and paradoxically he's done better than I expected though I get the recent slump has disappointed people. The support are starting to turn on him that was noticeable today.
 
Again I’ll make the argument that no matter how much Celtic spend that doesn’t give us an excuse to get beaten by a god awful Hearts side.

A side that’s not won a league game in 2020 outside of beating us and have conceded 13 goals in their last 4 games.

How does Celtic having more money mean anything in that circumstance?

I really don't get this. There's no way we should have lost to Berwick. No way we should have lost to Hamilton under Souness. Or the multiple games heading into 10IAR.

There's no way they should have lost to Thistle in a cup final or in more recent times ICT ,Clyde or indeed Motherwell..

That's the nature of football.

On the day Hearts played well above what they have been playing and we didn't match them-the ball spent 89 mins in the sky.

The nature of football is even a bad team can spike a performance. You can\t always cross compare.

Livingston have as many victories against Celtic as we do this season-how do you explain that?

Where our support seem to struggle is not understanding that titles and teams aren't defined in short time frames but over campaigns. That's when squad quality and depth shows up.
 
The difference was, kent knew the league and was proven in it. Unknowns don't so that £7m could go to complete waste.

Add onto the fact since Kent was already here he knows the wages we can give out and he won't be dropping any, so despite him being £7m, he's not on a £7m players wages - if we spent that £7m elsewhere the wages would be a lot higher I'd reckon and with a bigger risk.


I said at the time, £7m was a lot of money but it could be worth it as we'll get that money back and he's proven in the league. Not sure I was entirely wrong back then but I agree he has to do more and go back to his form last season.

The problem though is that Kent hardly nailed performances week in week out last season-he got major kudos for his OF performances.
 
Nonsense it's not all about cash.

McGregor scored their first and Ajer scored their second after being set up by nae neck.

Between they three players it cost them under £1m.

Doh. And they weren't playing 3 a side. Their whole squad value dwarves ours as does the number of international players they have.

It is incredible the lengths people will go to deny that the cash spent doesn't matter-it does thats what's allowed them to build such a big squad. Look at their bench today then look at ours ffs.
 
They’ve spent over £5 million on 2 players who are not making their 18 at the moment. There is a huge difference in terms of resources. When we are at full strength and at our best we can match them. Anything under that and we are vulnerable. When you take a step back and look at it we’ve done pretty well again this season but we are still a bit short. Every one of their players knows that a couple of bad games and they are out. A lot of our players know that it’s highly unlikely they will stop out. That’s not because they have a brave manager and we don’t, that’s because they have quality throughout their 18 and we have it across about 12 or 13.
 
Doh. And they weren't playing 3 a side. Their whole squad value dwarves ours as does the number of international players they have.

It is incredible the lengths people will go to deny that the cash spent doesn't matter-it does thats what's allowed them to build such a big squad. Look at their bench today then look at ours ffs.
So what?

It's not the be all and end all you paint it to be.
 
They are not pure shite at all, they are a very good team. But Neil Lennon has a proven track record as manager. That track record is not some all encompassing god tier manager. Its actually failing at Bolton and being mediocre at Hibs.

My biggest regret is we dont put pressure on them. We are good enough IMO we just lack the character.

Character, bottle etc are words thrown about as if it's a magical thing. It's not. Players are a combination of factors, ability, desire to learn. determination, application as they build on that then the experience leads to being able to deal with situations better as they mature. Of course if you have better ability than your peers say like a Morelos then you can develop quickly but you are not a robot as Morelos recent slump in form has showed.

Since they have that bigger squad they've been able to ride out a variety of issues better-they've a handful of players now contributing who weren't earlier in the season because they haven't been driven into the ground and left to stew and play on off form.

Simply put at this stage a lot of our players aren't good enough and in several cases that's because they are developing.
 
So what?

It's not the be all and end all you paint it to be.

Over a league campaign it is very likely to be the most important factor. The good news is we are catching them. The bad news the financial superiority means they might just be able to keep winning a lot longer than any of us want to stomach.

As I've often stated we will catch them the million dollar question is how long it will take.
 
Does anybody know what the disparity in wages is between us and them is ? They were very quick to reference the old disparity between Celtic /Rangers and Aberdeen on Clyde but I thought the wage gap between us and Celtic is greater than that off us and Aberdeen
 
There have been 100% some grim decisions against us.

However there are strong parallels between us and the Tims say under Burns when they were nearly there and were looking for that break that would make a difference-happens in every sport when you are just that bit short to look for...excuses frankly.

Of course many agree with you and I accept that.
You make some good point DG. And to follow through the analogy with Burns, they had to go out and spend big to go that last mile. Suspect we will need to do similar in the summer. And we are bound to lose our main assets anyway in my view.
 
Over a league campaign it is very likely to be the most important factor. The good news is we are catching them. The bad news the financial superiority means they might just be able to keep winning a lot longer than any of us want to stomach.

As I've often stated we will catch them the million dollar question is how long it will take.
In the here and now it's nonsense to paint it as the be all and end all.

We spent £11m on Kent and Helander, let that sink in.

Two top class players for that and we are at their level.
 
In the here and now it's nonsense to paint it as the be all and end all.

We spent £11m on Kent and Helander, let that sink in.

Two top class players for that and we are at their level.

Helander in my view is the best defender at the club. You might disagree.

Kent as I've already stated is not where I would have spent 7M. But was was your view at the time?

They've just spent 5M on two players currently not making their squad. They've probably spent around 20M over 4 seasons that's been lost with little return. That's what happens when you buy players a % goes wrong.

I don't see how you are struggling to grasp this. It's not two top class players away it's more fundamental than that.

When we peaked we looked very good but nearly everyone was fit and in form. Now a short time later we can see our better players like Tav, Davis, Jack and Morelos struggling to regain form after being out of the team. They've got genuine quality on their bench we are bringing on ex-Hibs and Aberdeen players......they are simply more robust overall in every area.
 
For this to move on I would sell Tavernier, Goldson , Kamara and Morelos and Jack.
I would want a left and right back of decent quality, sign Hagi and two more midfielders. We then need to sign a pair of strikers, the boy from Barnsley could be an option.
No matter what happens in the league we have to move on and get players in the team who win things and are used to the pressure of doing it.

I think Kent has been a costly mistake and would sell if we could get our money back, however I think he will stay.
 
For this to move on I would sell Tavernier, Goldson , Kamara and Morelos and Jack.
I would want a left and right back of decent quality, sign Hagi and two more midfielders. We then need to sign a pair of strikers, the boy from Barnsley could be an option.
No matter what happens in the league we have to move on and get players in the team who win things and are used to the pressure of doing it.

I think Kent has been a costly mistake and would sell if we could get our money back, however I think he will stay.

Again we went this way last night. Do you really think the manager would sell his top 3 leaders? I'd also wonder just what fees we would get and we need to remember the debt needs to be serviced.

Kent has done better than I expected I don't really know why people thought he would make such a big difference...consistently....he was young and always going to need time.

For me the most flawed part of SG's thinking is longer deals for Davis and Defoe but that's not popular on here for me they most be costing serious cash I'd be looking forward more-I get their experience helps but beyond that I'm not sure we can afford them in real terms.

Ultimately in my opinion to get to the next step is probably going to cost serious cash and I don't know how you finance or guarantee that. Very tricky. It seems obvious we need the final article coming in at an age where they are key performers week in week out.
 
Character, bottle etc are words thrown about as if it's a magical thing. It's not. Players are a combination of factors, ability, desire to learn. determination, application as they build on that then the experience leads to being able to deal with situations better as they mature. Of course if you have better ability than your peers say like a Morelos then you can develop quickly but you are not a robot as Morelos recent slump in form has showed.

Since they have that bigger squad they've been able to ride out a variety of issues better-they've a handful of players now contributing who weren't earlier in the season because they haven't been driven into the ground and left to stew and play on off form.

Simply put at this stage a lot of our players aren't good enough and in several cases that's because they are developing.
I'm not throwing words about claiming they are magical. They are attributes. Just like finishing chances or winning headers. Our players need character. They need a bravado, they need to want to win at the very least at the same level as our opposition.

Yes they have a bigger squad but many of the players they have don't add much value. The players they have that make up the strong core of their side didn't cost much at all.

Keep making excuses by all means. If we have the desire to get to the top we will make it. I'm not sure we do. This is evidenced to me by throwing away leads against Aberdeen, Hearts and Kilmarnock (something we also did last season) and having so many players miss penalties. That's not a lack of quality.
 
A lot of debate on what's went wrong but really it's simple we are not as good as many thought we are and their strength and depth has allowed them to bounce back.

We went into the season relying on younger players including a 7M investment in Kent-a few established players whose credentials are not of veteran winners and a few real deal players who are at the wrong end of their careers. We've tried to bolster the squad with the best quality we can get with the budget we have.

In the main the signings have been good and next to no one on here balked at 7M on Kent even though common sense and experience would tell you he is still developing. I said at the time putting all our eggs in one basket probably meant we couldn't review in January and spend again-whilst Hagi was something of a rabbit out of a hat he was always going to need time to adjust and develop.

Of course SG isn't bomb proof and of course he has made mistakes. I would have liked a genuine third better quality striker for the very reasons we've seen recently but he has also made a lot of decisions that have worked out better than I would thought they would. The fact he can't draw on massive experience and is not yet adept at changing games-is what you get with a young inexperienced manager.

I was talking to a Bear of a similar vintage to myself after the Killie result who is at breaking point -whilst he couldn't come up with an alternative to SG his mindset is that he is a dead man walking and thinks that is justified.

Ultimately the gap SG inherited has been under estimated by most of the support and we remain absolutely 100% reliant on what they do. To not consider they can continue to regroup with their better power base is folly. But many don't want to face that reality.

For me the sensible way forward is to get behind the manager-a change in strategy now isn't going to fast track success-he has made strides forward and now he really needs to cement some stability during the rest of the season. The support will not take too many other setbacks and will ignore the gap in overall terms we've created over the rest of the league. We've fallen recently because everything negative has came together at the one time-with no genuine squad depth there is no magic solution.

He as an individual is very clued up l I'd be very surprised if he's the guy to lurch through too many crises because he'll know overall he's done a pretty good job probably as good as you could expect considering his budget and experience. The modern fan seems even more demanding and unreasonable from a support who do not do "no success".

Imagine where we would have been this season without the European cash or indeed the form of Barisic or indeed Alfie's golden spell. It could have been a lot worse in the short term and indeed financially we could have been a lot worse off.

Time for the support to dig in a bit I think and realise the alternative may well play into our enemies hands. At the same time SG has to get the train back on the tracks.

Well said. We've got more points at this stage than the last 4 times we've won the league. Celtic have won all but 3 games this season which in Mid-Feb is basically unheard of. It's been a bad start to 2020 but normally that wouldn't count you out the way this potentially will.

I think the Stevie G's doing great. Europe has been a massive over achievement, he just hasn't over achieved enough domestically. Also if the referees had applied the rules of football properly we'd have several more points. There's no explanation for why the 3 pushes on Wednesday night that were essentially the same all went the way of Kilmarnock.
 
I'm not throwing words about claiming they are magical. They are attributes. Just like finishing chances or winning headers. Our players need character. They need a bravado, they need to want to win at the very least at the same level as our opposition.

Yes they have a bigger squad but many of the players they have don't add much value. The players they have that make up the strong core of their side didn't cost much at all.

Keep making excuses by all means. If we have the desire to get to the top we will make it. I'm not sure we do. This is evidenced to me by throwing away leads against Aberdeen, Hearts and Kilmarnock (something we also did last season) and having so many players miss penalties. That's not a lack of quality.

Not making excuses indeed taking the opposite view I don't think our players are as good as you think they are.

Celtic also in the main simply don't have as many development players in their squad-look at their subs today is not made up of poor quality-it's a fair bit ahead of ours.

Some of their players have came through the ranks at low cost but they developed over many seasons.
 
Not making excuses indeed taking the opposite view I don't think our players are as good as you think they are.

Celtic also in the main simply don't have as many development players in their squad-look at their subs today is not made up of poor quality-it's a fair bit ahead of ours.

Some of their players have came through the ranks at low cost but they developed over many seasons.
Looking at the league table proves you correct on point one, but having seen both teams play I just cant see that being the case.

They do often have development players in the squad, Frimpong, Mikey Johnston, Kareoke Dembele, a lad Robertson played a few times as has a lad Henderson.

Yes some of their players have came through the ranks at low cost but they developed over many seasons. But thats nothing to do with finances.
 
Looking at the league table proves you correct on point one, but having seen both teams play I just cant see that being the case.

They do often have development players in the squad, Frimpong, Mikey Johnston, Kareoke Dembele, a lad Robertson played a few times as has a lad Henderson.

Yes some of their players have came through the ranks at low cost but they developed over many seasons. But thats nothing to do with finances.

Their development players though are not stuck in a recycle mode though are they? We are having to try and get Aribo and Kent et al at a level of their first choice players. They've hit dips and bad results without getting stuck in a rut because they've been able to call on their squad and over time at least 2 or 3 players for them who have been over the course have lifted them....we don't have Rogics, Griffiths and N'tchim style players sitting in hibernation they way they did this season. We were watching close to our best team week in week out over intense months of football.

Somebody like Forest has been able to develop over many indifferent seasons for them because they've had the quality around him and frankly no challenge giving them time.....SG has been under massive pressure from day one.

Now when we need to match them over a title race of course finance is crucial as is squad size/quality.

There's little doubt when we are at our best we will beat most teams and proved we can outplay them BUT a squad is required to sustain consistency of performance and results. Watching us today shows most of our players are struggling with form and confidence. Is that down to character or does mental fatigue play a part?
 
Kent should be ripping this league up for the fee he commanded no excuses look at the scums striker that was only 2 more
 
Their development players though are not stuck in a recycle mode though are they? We are having to try and get Aribo and Kent et al at a level of their first choice players. They've hit dips and bad results without getting stuck in a rut because they've been able to call on their squad and over time at least 2 or 3 players for them who have been over the course have lifted them....we don't have Rogics, Griffiths and N'tchim style players sitting in hibernation they way they did this season. We were watching close to our best team week in week out over intense months of football.

Somebody like Forest has been able to develop over many indifferent seasons for them because they've had the quality around him and frankly no challenge giving them time.....SG has been under massive pressure from day one.

Now when we need to match them over a title race of course finance is crucial as is squad size/quality.

There's little doubt when we are at our best we will beat most teams and proved we can outplay them BUT a squad is required to sustain consistency of performance and results. Watching us today shows most of our players are struggling with form and confidence. Is that down to character or does mental fatigue play a part?

Rogic, Griffith and N'tcham haven't been in hibernation, they haven't been involved because they hadn't been performing or had been inconsistent. Forrest has hardly kicked a ball for them this season and their fans have been getting on his back (just as well he has a big back..).

Your last mirrors the point i'm trying to make. There are questions for me around what is the root cause but our management team has blind spots around the form of certain players (took too long to drop Ojo and more recently wont drop Kent). What point is a big squad if we dont use it?
 
The question I always ask is what other manager anywhere in the world would be expected to win the league against a domestic opponent with a six year head start and half their wage budget?

Is that the scenario in any other leagues?
 
Helander in my view is the best defender at the club. You might disagree.

Kent as I've already stated is not where I would have spent 7M. But was was your view at the time?

They've just spent 5M on two players currently not making their squad. They've probably spent around 20M over 4 seasons that's been lost with little return. That's what happens when you buy players a % goes wrong.

I don't see how you are struggling to grasp this. It's not two top class players away it's more fundamental than that.

When we peaked we looked very good but nearly everyone was fit and in form. Now a short time later we can see our better players like Tav, Davis, Jack and Morelos struggling to regain form after being out of the team. They've got genuine quality on their bench we are bringing on ex-Hibs and Aberdeen players......they are simply more robust overall in every area.
If we sign tow influential players of quality for that £11m we are at their level it's really that simple.

The fact that they bought two players for the future in January is neither here or there in the present.

So it is not all about cash and we could be alot better than we are with the cash we have spent.

And guess what, if we are alot better than we are in the here and now then we are pushing neck and neck to win this years title.

Of course cash helps but so does a hell of alot of other things.
 
The question I always ask is what other manager anywhere in the world would be expected to win the league against a domestic opponent with a six year head start and half their wage budget?

Is that the scenario in any other leagues?
We dwarf all other budgets in the leagu apart from them.

All we have to do is deal with the rest and let it boil down to 4 games against them. We are currently level at one win each on that score.
 
Rogic, Griffith and N'tcham haven't been in hibernation, they haven't been involved because they hadn't been performing or had been inconsistent. Forrest has hardly kicked a ball for them this season and their fans have been getting on his back (just as well he has a big back..).

Your last mirrors the point i'm trying to make. There are questions for me around what is the root cause but our management team has blind spots around the form of certain players (took too long to drop Ojo and more recently wont drop Kent). What point is a big squad if we dont use it?

Ojo has had zero impact on the collapse....but that is my point if you are going to drop Kent and you don't have anyone close to his ability you have a problem.
 
No it’s not.

Off course it is.

Going back to the OP,Rangers played the filth off the park in our two most recent games which goes to show that Rangers can compete on a lower budget.

However, many many poor decisions from the officials have went against us this season and that's affected our league position.

Having a lower budget is certainly a hinderance but coupled with cheating officials makes it almost impossible to re-establish ourselves as the number one club of the country.
 
Don't think that's it, DG. If this team were regularly playing to their best then yes, you could rightly argue that any gap between us and them was probably money and quality.
We haven't dropped points recently because we have poorer players than our opponents

The team has clearly went down the tubes collectively. We'd agree I think. As stated I think that's down to key players being missing and struggling to find form instantly on returning and being missing in the first place. Similarly our younger players have been stop/start. This has combined to produce what we see.

When Celtic have hit bumps they've simply had extensively more quality to draw from, they have the luxury of players failing to impact and then coming in fresh.....we don't.
 
Ojo has had zero impact on the collapse....but that is my point if you are going to drop Kent and you don't have anyone close to his ability you have a problem.

I'll disagree with a specific example. We are 0-0 at home to Aberdeen and our manager decides to win a game he'll bring on a guy who has offered nothing for months. We had some other options on the bench like Greg Stewart who has dont nothing wrong but never seems to get a chance. But our manager has his favourites and Ojo got the nod. Much to the bemusement of just about every Rangers fan who watches our games. - I'll reiterate my point. The quality on the bench doesn't matter if you dont want to use it.

The stinkers lost Edouard for a while there and kept winning with strikers a million miles off of his quality.

Yes we cant go out and buy 4 Ryan Kents but no team has like for like for every player. Even Barca and Real Madrid have fringe players and youngsters who cost less and get paid less than first teamers. I'm not quite sure what you are suggesting is the fix for this situation as even if we did have a bench full of quality - good players want to play and dont want to sit on benches waiting for injuries or drop of form.
 
Kent should be ripping this league up for the fee he commanded no excuses look at the scums striker that was only 2 more

Morelos cost one million and theirs nine,Alfie's scored more.But yes if truth be told i'm a bit disappointed on Kent as i had expected a lot more from him.
 
The team has clearly went down the tubes collectively. We'd agree I think. As stated I think that's down to key players being missing and struggling to find form instantly on returning and being missing in the first place. Similarly our younger players have been stop/start. This has combined to produce what we see.

When Celtic have hit bumps they've simply had extensively more quality to draw from, they have the luxury of players failing to impact and then coming in fresh.....we don't.

For me, we are where we are today because of two factors. Number one for me will always be attitude; desire, refusal to accept anything other than a victory. We just don't have enough of that.
Number two is the manager; refusal to manage the game happening in front of him, failure to play Stewart whilst favouring Flanagan and Ojo, no plan B, over complicating Kent's game with wide/false 10 nonsense, over prioritising possession to the detriment of speed, late subs. He has a lot to reflect on.
 
I'll disagree with a specific example. We are 0-0 at home to Aberdeen and our manager decides to win a game he'll bring on a guy who has offered nothing for months. We had some other options on the bench like Greg Stewart who has dont nothing wrong but never seems to get a chance. But our manager has his favourites and Ojo got the nod. Much to the bemusement of just about every Rangers fan who watches our games. - I'll reiterate my point. The quality on the bench doesn't matter if you dont want to use it.

The stinkers lost Edouard for a while there and kept winning with strikers a million miles off of his quality.

Yes we cant go out and buy 4 Ryan Kents but no team has like for like for every player. Even Barca and Real Madrid have fringe players and youngsters who cost less and get paid less than first teamers. I'm not quite sure what you are suggesting is the fix for this situation as even if we did have a bench full of quality - good players want to play and dont want to sit on benches waiting for injuries or drop of form.

Punters have their opinions Ojo imo whatever his failings got ditched by them early doors simply can't have helped the lad. Similarly today we are seeing signs of Kent getting the Barry McKay treatment-it won't help.

Sorry but I am not going to worry about the punters opinion too much or popular opinion because RK was treated like the second coming and is now getting targeted by the boo boys.

Leaving that aside I tend to trust the game who sees them day in day out-there was a thread on Stewart last night-his goal return simply doesn't match the hype emerging for him.

Whatever way you dress this up or debate it out-they have better quality overall a debate about Stewart over Ojo proves my point.

They spend more, they can make more mistakes in the transfer market and overall their squad quality is noticeably better.

There's a root cause for all of this and it's what's happened to the club as pointed out elsewhere on this thread we were always looking at unprecedented gap in our history of competing with them.

I think the denial comes from the fact that if you believe this is the key factor then you need to realise we might have a while yet before we see the title. I believe that denial is very strong on here.

Now whatever you believe is the root cause of recent failings you do have to weigh up what we do next-stick with the manager or go for someone else. It's no more complicated than that.

I rather fear come the season's end that will be at best a very contentious 50/50 debate and very probably a majority will want change. That's the nature of our support.
 
For me, we are where we are today because of two factors. Number one for me will always be attitude; desire, refusal to accept anything other than a victory. We just don't have enough of that.
Number two is the manager; refusal to manage the game happening in front of him, failure to play Stewart whilst favouring Flanagan and Ojo, no plan B, over complicating Kent's game with wide/false 10 nonsense, over prioritising possession to the detriment of speed, late subs. He has a lot to reflect on.

I think you are in denial as already referred to in my last reply and I think there is a sizeable element of the support think the same way.

If you think it's just desire/attitude and failings by the manager then that's arguably an easier fix than catching an opponent who may always stay ahead by spending more.

As stated whether I'm right or you are right the support's influence on the board will be a key factor going forward. I don't think it will take too much more for the tide to turn against SG.
 
We are going round in circles here bud, in your opinion it is. Not going to convince you otherwise.

Leaving it that aside you need to figure out if SG has made really bad mistakes in buying players and setting up the team and decide if a replacement could bridge the gap. That's the bottom line.
 
I think you are in denial as already referred to in my last reply and I think there is a sizeable element of the support think the same way.

If you think it's just desire/attitude and failings by the manager then that's arguably an easier fix than catching an opponent who may always stay ahead by spending more.

As stated whether I'm right or you are right the support's influence on the board will be a key factor going forward. I don't think it will take too much more for the tide to turn against SG.

Despite the difference in spend they aren't beating us, we're doing that for them. We've shown when we play them we are at least as good if we are on it. They are so many points ahead of us because we've dropped off and that's because of the two factors I mentioned.
What am I in denial about, btw?
 
For this to move on I would sell Tavernier, Goldson , Kamara and Morelos and Jack.
I would want a left and right back of decent quality, sign Hagi and two more midfielders. We then need to sign a pair of strikers, the boy from Barnsley could be an option.
No matter what happens in the league we have to move on and get players in the team who win things and are used to the pressure of doing it.

I think Kent has been a costly mistake and would sell if we could get our money back, however I think he will stay.

Get players in the team who win things, and you reference a player from Barnsley (assume you mean Vydra from Burnley)

We can't sign guys who win things at the top level! They go for way above our budget!
 
Celtic spent 9 million on one player to win the Scottish league.

This season it's 13M and whatever Taylor cost plus a full high cost loans including their new first choice keeper.....of course that is offset by the Tierney fee but it is on top of 13m last season plus loans too....
 
Leaving it that aside you need to figure out if SG has made really bad mistakes in buying players and setting up the team and decide if a replacement could bridge the gap. That's the bottom line.
He works with what he works with. We dont have more money to spend on players so all he can do is motivate them as best he can and set up a team best he can. Problem is he seems very inflexible tactically. We often get over run in midfield and cant recall him ever adding to our midfield 3 to compensate. He likes to focus play out wide and often we cross the ball into 3 of our players v 6 of theirs. We are often slow and indecisive when going forward.

He seems to be repeating the same mistakes Warburton and Pedro made tactically which is very worrying. He has however removed the fear of playing them which has made a big difference.
 
Despite the difference in spend they aren't beating us, we're doing that for them. We've shown when we play them we are at least as good if we are on it. They are so many points ahead of us because we've dropped off and that's because of the two factors I mentioned.
What am I in denial about, btw?

Denial about money being more important than SG's ability or players "character".

You don't win a title by beating them once in the league and they've beaten us in a cup final and at home so I wouldn't bend the details about too much.

You can argue a lot of things about the cup final but you might argue a key factor was them financing the loan that got them Forster back.
 
He works with what he works with. We dont have more money to spend on players so all he can do is motivate them as best he can and set up a team best he can. Problem is he seems very inflexible tactically. We often get over run in midfield and cant recall him ever adding to our midfield 3 to compensate. He likes to focus play out wide and often we cross the ball into 3 of our players v 6 of theirs. We are often slow and indecisive when going forward.

He seems to be repeating the same mistakes Warburton and Pedro made tactically which is very worrying. He has however removed the fear of playing them which has made a big difference.

I wouldn't disagree we have a style and stick to it and I wouldn't disagree he is not great at changing games.

However it is like the Kent transfer you can't (and I mean this in general terms) back it with wild excitement and then say after a dip he was a bad mistake.

The high praise swing to severe criticism is a bit senseless with our support.

My and a few others view has always been a bit tempered and I think SG is well ahead of plan so I accept the mistakes and accept he has to develop too. Not for second am I saying he doesn't need to adapt and progress things.

However I think it's debatable whether he will get much of a chance the way things are going and then we are heading into changing again.

Bottom line? Is he ahead of plan or not. Many will say not.
 
Denial about money being more important than SG's ability or players "character".

You don't win a title by beating them once in the league and they've beaten us in a cup final and at home so I wouldn't bend the details about too much.

You can argue a lot of things about the cup final but you might argue a key factor was them financing the loan that got them Forster back.

My argument is something along these lines - if Klopp's Liverpool performed for him like Gerrard's Rangers too often perform for him then, irrespective of the transfer values or attributes of Van Djik, Salah, Mane, Alexander-Arnold etc, they'd be nowhere near the team they are now.
Or, as Graeme Souness put it "You can talk about systems until you're blue in the face but that's secondary - if you're closing down, if you're first to the ball, it doesn't really matter what system you've got."
My last words tonight.
 
Last edited:
If the hand ball was called or Morelos gets the winner on Wednesday, and Aberdeen get a penalty and win today then it's 4 points and a game in hand, all to play for.

Not to mention Beaton at Pittodrie, Griffith's stamp unpunished, Hamilton's red card, penalty against Ross County at 0-0.

What if Jullien is sent off for his last man foul on Morelos? Or Bolingoli for his pull back on a yellow? Morelos then plays at Tynecastle and they are missing a player.

There's a lot of shoulda woulda coulda there, but that's a lot of title defining decisions. Even today we played poorly but should still have been at least 2-0 up, instead we're defending a one goal lead.

We've been poor of late but I find it hard to criticise the team too much with the horrendous officiating. It must be demoralising for them and a factor in our form.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top