This level of performance is unsustainable

Totally agree. We aren’t going to keep getting away with it.

It’s great that we are grinding out results and still top, but it’s not sustainable.

Only difference from Motherwell last week was the keeper bailed out our now obligatory defensive howler.
100% think back to the start of last season when they were playing shite and winning and all we got was this ‘sign of champions’ shite. That’s fine when you are 3/4 through the season but if we keep saying ‘got away with one there’ our luck will run out and the wheels will fall off.
Only shining light right now is that Lundstrum is starting to look like a player.
 
Under Gerrard the first halves of the season we are usually pressing high and showing real urgency. This is like the second half of the season. Can only hope it improves.

Ordinarily I'd fancy us away in Europa League v most teams but struggling to see where a big performance is gonna come.

That said, we ground out that win today and it's a massive 3 points and heaps the pressure on the tims
We'll be lucky to finish third in the group just now
 
Teams have periods of good performances and periods of poor performances.

Teams that keep winning during their periods of poor performances tend to win league titles.


We do look poor and there is no getting away from it but we are also still getting results. Performances will pick up and the results will keep coming. It is a cliche, but this side has earned us being a little more patient with them while they are winning ugly in my opinion.
At what stage does it stop being just a 'period'. 5 or 6 games I'd concede as a period, not 3 months worth.
 
Sad to say but this season has been no more than a reversion towards the norm. Frustration. Underwhelming. But doing just enough.
 
One really good half is all that springs to mind, it's been really poor.

Every game feels like a 'grind out a result' type of day.
 
Aye wish we could play Angeball! Nobody could argue we are playing well but it’s a good sign that we are sitting top without starting yet.
 
Only a matter of time before a team takes 3/4 off us if we play like that
Bit strong 2 maybe 3/4 no

We are making life hard for ourselves though and we need up the intensity and speed we play at balls not sticking up front as much as it was before either

Pre season was a bit of a mess and so start malmo prob hit us harder as we should have won that but they are better than we thought

Players coming back at different times as well hasn't helped from internationals

We have been stop start with covid and injuries

New players not fully integrated into the team and system

Transfer dealing I think we needed at least the playoff round to bring in quality players as replacements

But as others said I'd we can keep winning and building up fitness to hit better form through December Jan Feb we will walk the league

But we need to be careful we don't lose momentum with silly dropped points

Pressing game needs to return but I don't think Gerrard has confidence in doing it with out jack their or a quality replacement
 
Poor all over the park. Today possibly Roofe's worst game for us and Goldson and Tav not far behind. Barely ever looked like scoring more than the one we got and got away with murder several times at the back. Tough watches this season.
 
We are not at it! Teams are piling in, pressing hard, getting the ball forward quickly. We have ball players in midfield who want to play short - Aribo, Kamara, Hagi, for example. Although he didn’t play today Barisic is another ball player as is Tavernier. Without Ryan Jack we don’t have a ball winning defensive midfield player who will make opposition players think twice about having a go.
 
Delighted that we’re winning during our poor section of the season. All teams stutter at some point across the years.

With two more international breaks to come, I think we’ll continue in a similar vein before we build momentum.
 
At what stage does it stop being just a 'period'. 5 or 6 games I'd concede as a period, not 3 months worth.
I do not think we have had performances consistently shite. We have not played as well as last season but we have not played badly every game we have been out on the park for the last 3 months.

I am not trying to excuse the performance today, it was not acceptable and it was lucky we grabbed 3 points. I am not quite writing everything off and have confidence that we will see the required improvements.
 
Last year was a once in a century performance and the bar is probably artificially high but it is worrying that we genuinely haven't had one good 90 minutes this season, and very few decent forty-fives if we're being honest.

It looks very post xmas 19/20 in that its easy to see something isn't quite right but I've not heard a single sensible theory of what it is, other than the guys who drive the bus are all off form at the same time.

I would say the sense of cameraderie they seemed to have last year looks missing, but that is as likely to be an effect as a cause.

From an optimistic viewpoint I'd say there have been a few spells in the last week where we've offensively been more like it in terms of passing, moving, recycling but we don't seem able to maintain those spells longer than 5 to 10 mins.

My big concern is the defense just looks nervous and disorganised far more often than not. Goldson's performance levels have absolutely fallen off a cliff but with Helander's injury there isn't an option to replace him. If he got back to last season's form I think it would buy time for us to fix all our other problems. If he doesn't pick it up by xmas we have to bite the bullet and spend cash we don't really have on a replacement.
 
Need to see a 20% improvement from every player in the team and the pace we play at middle to front needs to increase significantly

Also Hagi isnt suited to the wide right role and we only need one holding midfielder
 
We're not playing well but I'm still very confident we'll win the league by dropping fewer points than everyone else.
 
I do not think we have had performances consistently shite. We have not played as well as last season but we have not played badly every game we have been out on the park for the last 3 months.

I am not trying to excuse the performance today, it was not acceptable and it was lucky we grabbed 3 points. I am not quite writing everything off and have confidence that we will see the required improvements.
Near enough though isn't it? Had a good half against Celtic, a good half against Dunfermline, a good half against Livi. Other than that, I can barely think of any performances I've thought were actually good.
 
Signs for me that Sakala and Bacuna could provide a spark. Just need to grind through this spell. Tav and Goldson’s form is worrying, no doubt about it - they’re spreading panic through the team when they should be the calm heads. Aribo needs to stop vanishing from games. Big 3 points today though, don’t forget that.
 
Unfortunately there are some people who can’t take their big Elton John glasses off and not be concerned because we scraped another win.

This level of performance is unsustainable and better teams will prove it against us if we can’t lift it in October.

Hibs next Sunday is massive, I genuinely couldn’t give a f*ck about Thursday in the europa league our league performances are that alarming.
 
I was thinking at half time, that I hoped that was the bad half. Boy was I wrong!

3 points though that is the main thing. We must improve from next Thursday onwards.
 
Unfortunately there are some people who can’t take their big Elton John glasses off and not be concerned because we scraped another win.

This level of performance is unsustainable and better teams will prove it against us if we can’t lift it in October.

Hibs next Sunday is massive, I genuinely couldn’t give a f*ck about Thursday in the europa league our league performances are that alarming.
Agreed....boss em before cup semi and 3 points into the bargain.
 
I don’t have time to actually watch Rangers games these days so I can’t offer an opinion on our performance, but we seem to be the opposite of what we’ve been before 55 ie. steamrolling the bread and butter games then failing the big ones.
 
You could flip that on it’s head.

We haven’t started this season well atall yet we are top of the league and currently 7 ahead of them.

Play like we did today at Easter Rd, Tynecsstle or Pittodrie and it might be a different story.
This should be a good period pitches in good nick should suit us. Maybe we’re trying out our winter team but it’s worrying. We are nowhere near the team that was outplaying some if the biggest names in europe recently. I’d like to try playing Alfie as we used to.
 
Got 3 points but the performance was not good

Pen save got us the 3 points but we won’t be as lucky against better teams

No idea how we solve the issues but we need to sort it out pronto
 
Near enough though isn't it? Had a good half against Celtic, a good half against Dunfermline, a good half against Livi. Other than that, I can barely think of any performances I've thought were actually good.
Aha! Nail on the head - they're all p1shed! Alcohol is the new Caffeine.

(seriously - agree with you; just trying to beat back the black doom
descending, as it did last weekend!)
 
I thought Balogun played well today as did Bassey and and Lundstram. I have previously seen the Dundee defender Jordan Marshall playing a few times he looks a good player, has pace and can ping a ball as well and not a bad defender as well, possession wise we did control the game and felt if needed they could have raised the pace if required 3 points is the main thing churn out results and stay top of league
 
will take 38 1-0 wins playing pish if its wins the championship!

big picture!
You cant win every week like that, sure you can dig out the occasional win and it's a good thing if you're generally playing well but playing like that every week will mean dropped points galore.
 
No point burying our heads in the sand and saying everything's fine cause we are top of the league, keep playing like this and that will quickly change.

Almost October, near enough 20 games, and we have barely put one good 90 minute performance in, that is absolutely shocking.
Frankly we’ve been garbage middle to front most games. Creating nowhere near enough, shooting nowhere near enough and not scoring many. Too much chopping and changing of personnel too.
 
Bright spots - Lundstram more settled and fitness improving. Sakala lively if looking a bit soft when under pressure, could just be sharpness that will come. More to come from Bacuna but early flashes. Bassey improving. Patterson an option as backup to Tav. Possibility of boys like Charlie McCann and Alegria being drafted in from B's.

Negatives
- defensive disarray is the first concern. We look like conceding. Teams are clearly believing they can sneak a goal - look how Dundee players collapsed at the end, gutted.
- lack of shots on target. The defensive weaknesses could be papered over if we looked like scoring two or three. We just don't, in too many games.
- lack of standout performers (on current form, this season). Players aren't cementing status as first names on teamsheet. Some have it by default - Goldson, Tav, Kamara, Alfie, Davis - but might not be starting if there was more pressure from the rest of the squad. Others are not quite doing enough to take their opportunities - Wright, Aribo. We look like a squad too heavily dominated by players who contribute but are not leading and shouldering the expectation and deliver week in, week out.

As it stands, it's not a disaster. Just frustrating and disappointing that it's not clicking. Given the above positives, we could be just waiting a bit longer, it all falls into place and off we go.

But I do think if this level of performance goes on, there's a very real chance we drop points against Hearts, Hibs or even Aberdeen. And if one bad league result becomes two in a row, the test of character necessary will be enormous for the players and nerve-wracking for us.
 
Head in the sand. We will drop points all over the place if we keep playing like that. We haven't kicked a ball all season and are very lucky to be top of the league. All the signs are we are going backwards. Blind faith wont fix this, there's a genuine malaise about us.

In what even remote way are we “lucky” to be top of the league %^*& sake.
 
We need to stop trying to walk the ball into the net. Try more long range shots or do something that the opposition doesn’t expect as we are too predictable right now.
 
The first 15-20mins of the second half was 2013-14 level of bad.

Goldson, Tav and Roofe going through the motions today. 1min, 1 f’in min after the penalty the same ball into our right hand side has us all at sea.

Going into October and waiting for the team find any sort of form is a massive worry.
 
No point burying our heads in the sand and saying everything's fine cause we are top of the league, keep playing like this and that will quickly change.

Almost October, near enough 20 games, and we have barely put one good 90 minute performance in, that is absolutely shocking.
I’m quite happy our heads are at the top and it’s probably worth realising Rangers could have played way better and collected less points and be further back.

We’ve not been great and we are top with room to only improve.
 
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