This is great for 2 reasons. Firstly it allows us to make substitutions or rotations with little, if any, drop-off in quality and secondly, it keeps the pressure on for players to stay in the team, thus raising the ante.
I do think our squad being stronger this year is a big factor though, as well as the mentally challengeds regressing.
Agreed. I think it’s the squad depth that should see us avoid the same collapse this time round. So far our squad depth is looking fairly impressive, our bench today was proof enough.
Aye. In a sense, the fact we aren’t playing as well as last season but having more points in the table encourages me more. Shows we are in more of a position to properly challenge
Hopefully Celtc can continue to drop points and take some of the pressure off a little bit. I would prefer that to a right run race, given their experience (although I do think we now have the stronger squad).
Absolutely this,we scored a few late goals and scraped by some games last season.
Interesting you mention up to December. That is when the cracks appeared. From memory, we started dropping more points and went into the 29th on the back of some indifferent performances and results. To the point FF was toxic in the lead up and very few on here were confident going into the game, stating the league was done etc if we lost it.
That seems a fair post re Ibrox , where it could be questioned as yet to be proven is away fixtures on plastic .
This is more what I meant last year we were giving chances away even if we ended the fans convincing winners this year i don't think we have got peak form yet but our control in games is such that we seem to be better.
For me what occurred last year was we were physically and mentally zapped come January . And no wonder . All those European matches plus the domestic plus disciplinary plus officials plus injuries plus form was a gigantic set of challenges we done extremely well to conquer - until that point .
Interesting you mention up to December. That is when the cracks appeared. From memory, we started dropping more points and went into the 29th on the back of some indifferent performances and results. To the point FF was toxic in the lead up and very few on here were confident going into the game, stating the league was done etc if we lost it.
Difference is we had a run of tough away fixtures preceding it, this season we've played them already and only dropped 4 points on the road, 2 of them unjustly due to an offside equaliser. We have beaten Celtic convincingly, gained a lead and haven't gifted it straight back as we have been prone to doing the previous 2 seasons. We now also have the run of tougher teams at home and the 'easier' away games whilst they have all the tougher away games. During the equivalent fixtures last season we only lost once, at home to them.
During the first quarter alone we've lost Katic for the season with Barisic, Helander, Jack, Aribo, Roofe, Itten, Defoe, Barker and McGregor all missing for various periods due to injury and barely been affected by it. We are conceding far fewer chances, any individual mistakes are not being as harshly punished (luck does play a part in title wins) and all areas of the pitch are contributing goals or assists instead of an over reliance on morelos to be on his game, or simply just available, as we were last year.
I see so much improvement in our team, squad, game management, rotation, tactics and overall play this year, combined with the regression in theirs, that I can't help but feel over excited. I salute and envy your ability to remain calm.
The only season it’s ever been close for him at Celtic - 2010-11 - he blew it.
It does seem that our manager & coaching team have progressed too DZ.
I liked the way we seemed to draw Livi out a bit yesterday which allowed us to get in behind.
We’d also drawn 1 1 away to Hearts.
Their game in hand is v the Sheep, they’ve already played St Mirren.
And they've dropped points in both those games
Yup definitely agree & this is where we will find out if all the hard yards that have been put in work, A big test of this teams ability to do it away from home & do they have the bottle to be confident to carry the plan out when under pressure esp away from home. One game at a time is a sensible approach from fans & the management team.
I agree. But last season we were too reliant on our starting 11, and we had bad luck in terms of their availability.
Exactly that, my mate texts me throughout every game even though he knows i wont answer him lol massive Rangers fan for over 50 years but doesn't matter what the score is he will find a fault somewhere. Since the start of the season his hit list has went Kent,Goldson,Tavernier,Morelos,Jack and latest victim for him is Hagi i just don't get it. If he wasn't one of my best mates I think I would tell him to fvck off
