Our biggest improvement this season

I think we’ve been the most fit team in Scotland since Gerrard arrived.

He absolutely nailed them the first summer at La Manga.

I think our squad is the difference. No longer brining on Greg Stewart or having to lump balls to Defoe away from home when Alfie is out, for example.
 
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Crouchy said:
I think we’ve been the fitness team in Scotland since Gerrard arrived.

He absolutely nailed them the first summer at La Manga.

I think our squad is the difference. No longer brining on Greg Stewart or having to lump balls to Defoe away from home when Alfie is out, for example.
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Yep definitely this. The fact that you can look at our bench now and be comfortable knowing any one of them could start without really weakening it. Before Gerrard I’d sometimes groan when you saw who was coming on.
 
Our fitness is unbelievable, you can see team tire around the 70th mark and we are still going at it, even watching the bheasts against livi last week you could see them starting to tire after doing all that pressing in the first half(again).
And our defence has largely cut out the daft mistakes coupled with goals being scored by defenders and midfielders makes us a pretty formidable force at the moment.
 
Fitness is a major thing, yes.

The tactics, player movement and everyone buying into the defensive systems when needed.

One of the other factors is actual ability and confidence to keep possession and play the ball. There’s been numerous times I wouldn’t have blamed a player for just playing it safe and punting it long rather than play a risky ball.

Now, we have them taking and playing the ball off in tight situations and keeping the ball. The biggest time you notice it is in Europe. I’d guess our possession stats are light years in front of what they used to be - because giving up cheap possession only invites pressure.
 
For me its the strength in depth, over the past couple of season our 1st team squad could go toe to toe with celtic in the games v them and play well, but over the course of a season with Alfredo having discipline issues and injuries elsewhere, there wasn't ready made replacements to come in unlike now
 
I'm sure it's a combination of things

Fitness gives us the energy to carry out quality tactics & even helps us cope when maybe our tactics aren't at their best

Fitness allows us to keep up play for 90 minutes plus - giving us chances late on - or keep defending duties sharp - if it's needed

I'm not sure pound for pound we're any more physical than we were last season - but we seem better at dealing with the hammer-throwers this season

Match fitness is needed in those that come on as subs - making the most of our squad -

Our subs are better quality now & most of them are easily interchangeable with 1st team starters - giving us the ability to change personnel for different opponents- without affecting the shape, formation or system we play


Belief breeds confidence & while I think our belief has improved since last season - I'd argue we've had the odd confidence issue
Barker seems to suffer with a lack of confidence & to a lesser extent Kent & Aribo may have had confidence issues ?

But the good thing is - the more successful we are - it will increase the belief & confidence we have

The attitude & motivation we've had this season is a big improvement on last season imo

I think we've looked at our best when we've converted defence to attack in quick, slick decisive play - like we play in Europe

In the SPL it's often a slower build up with multiple passes - like Jack's goal yesterday

But the fact we're versatile enough to apply more than one style is great
( remember Warburton's - 'make plan A better ?)

Overall when all our players play the way they're capable of - & blend together as a team the way they can - then imo - nobody in Scotland - & a fair portion of Europe - can live with us
 
Thommo2006 said:
For me it is our level of fitness. We are literally running teams into the ground. I've noticed it more starting with the hibs game on boxing day but the opposition are blowing out their arses by 60 minutes. Obviously credit to the coaches but also the players for buying into it and obviously doing the right things off the pitch
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This is why the praise Motherwell got for playing 6-4-0 was ridiculous

Lucked an early goal. But if you just have half your team on the goal line and half on the 6 yard box for 90% of the game, chasing the ball against a fitter and technically superior team it’s just a case of when, not if you lose.
 
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They've not said it but I think that when we win the league players and Gerrard might have something to say about about how it was awarded last season. Think that will have left a bad taste in everyone's mouth and played its part in motivation for this season.
 
Not in order:
1. A much better sqaud. We now bring on international players as subs. The Motherwell home game is a good example of that. We brought on Hagi, Aribo and Itten.

2. Better defence. We have clearly worked on not conceding silly goals, stopping balls across the box. Etc.

3. Quality in the starting 11. Kemar Roofe in particular. He is really talented and can score out of nothing.


4. Players getting into scoring positions and not relying on Morelos. Kent mentioned it in his interview yesterday.

5. Time. Fair play to us as fans and the board here. From where we came from, you need time. It takes players time to settle. Hagi, Aribo, Barasic, Helander etc. It takes time to gel and grow was a team. We've done that now.
 
How has our defence become so good? Balogun is the only defender we brought in that starts frequently, and Helander is no worse than him. I think it must go to show how good our coaching is as the improvement from last season on defence alone is ridiculous.
 
In no particular order;

Belief, desire, attitude, mentality, relentlessness, fitness, togetherness, learning for previous mistakes/lessons learned. More experienced, better equipped, manager more flexible, less stubborn and not over complicating things. There is a better balance across the team, more organised, disciplined. This teams heads never drop and we don’t let a set back hurt us.

We are a different animal in almost every aspect of football and that’s credit to the manager, his staff and the players.
 
I think the main thing is that the coaches have set the team up so well and everyone knows what their job much more than previous seasons and as a result, the team is much more solid.

Obviously there have been improvements in other areas as well but I think the confidence the team have from being well set up has been the main thing.
 
Glasgow Rangers (Sco) said:
Variations in the way we play......simple, but putting the ball over the heads of the opponent’s back 4 gets them turned and gets our team further up the park.

in SG’s first two seasons we were prone to playing in front of teams.

The signing of Itten gives us another option (which I think he always intended to with Lafferty)
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I think we still do this to a high degree but, for the best part, with much more quality, much more speed, much more threat.
 
CaptainCourageous said:
In no particular order;

Belief, desire, attitude, mentality, relentlessness, fitness, togetherness, learning for previous mistakes/lessons learned. More experienced, better equipped, manager more flexible, less stubborn and not over complicating things. There is a better balance across the team, more organised, disciplined. This teams heads never drop and we don’t let a set back hurt us.

We are a different animal in almost every aspect of football and that’s credit to the manager, his staff and the players.
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Perfect, bud.
 
The players were extremely fit anyway.

Greater squad depth has allowed us to rotate accordingly and maintain our intense style of play.
 
Depth of the squad with everyone doing their job no matter who starts ,comes on or sitting in the stand. The whole squad are right on it but its not a one season improvement .This has been a work in progress for the board , management and playing squad from the hour SG walked in the door .
Great time to be a bear
 
Glasgow Rangers (Sco) said:
Variations in the way we play......simple, but putting the ball over the heads of the opponent’s back 4 gets them turned and gets our team further up the park.

in SG’s first two seasons we were prone to playing in front of teams.

The signing of Itten gives us another option (which I think he always intended to with Lafferty)
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Absolutely this. We can play more than one style now and makes teams make mistakes.

Motherwell last week was the worst example of our old style since the Livi game earlier in the season.

We have proved this year that simply retaining possession with the goal of slinging balls in to wooden CHs is not the way to win.

Granted the squad is better too, but a better squad playing the same old style and we would not be where we are today.
 
Recruitment has been a huge part of it.

Not only have we made quality signings in Kemar Roofe and Ianis Hagi but we've also added to the squad depth by bringing guys in like Balogun, Itten and Zungu who seamlessly slot into the system when called upon.

We now have quality all over the pitch vying for a starting place which cranks up the competition.

Plenty other reasons as well of course as mentioned in the thread but our recruitment has been huge.
 
Have a look at yesterday’s bench, quality in every department, we could have brought on Roofe and Balogun as well as those who did come on, no longer looking at Jones, Stewart or Barker to chang things. As for fitness, the opposition have spent an hour chasing shadows and are knackered in the last quarter.
 
Calvinist said:
There was a game , can’t remember who against but it was a European team , and the opposition said Rangers didn’t allow them to breathe and constantly pressed with the ball and hunted in packs to get it back .

great stuff
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Rapid Vienna the 3-1 game, their captain said this after the game.

"Towards the end, we were just kicking the ball up the park and we could not hold onto possession. We weren't prepared to take any risks and we were punished for it. It was only a matter of time before Rangers scored.

"We weren't allowed any time to breathe"
 
Thommo2006 said:
For me it is our level of fitness. We are literally running teams into the ground. I've noticed it more starting with the hibs game on boxing day but the opposition are blowing out their arses by 60 minutes. Obviously credit to the coaches but also the players for buying into it and obviously doing the right things off the pitch
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I think we are just so cohesive from the top-down it is paying dividends. That and having a manager who commands respect. I wouldn't want to be a player Gerrard deems problematic.
 
I think its our squad has been steadily improved upon and the steady stability and constant intense coaching Have got us to this
 
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