Thoughts on tonight

Roofe looked a mile off the pace expectedly, Hagi was poor, Helander looked good, Itten seems sturdier than I had expected, Davis looked sharp when he came on.

Thought Gerrard handled the game well with his subs tbh, not sure why people moaned
 
3 points

clean sheet

top of the league

Now onto Sunday against Livingston.

Again any win will do.

C'Mon Rangers!
 
Nice to see the manager change it and go with 2 strikers up front. He is learning from last year hopefully now he has options.
 
One word "solid"

Barely a foot put wrong all night. A few lazy passes towards the end of the game but otherwise job well and truly done.
 
An impressive 3 points game killed stone dead after half time. Another clean sheet. Job done

Firstly. John Mclaughlin. When he first joined I said he reminded me of Neil Alexander in that a steady pair of hands to deputise. As much as Neil was a great keeper now I think I am doing him a disservice. Looks a right good keeper. Switched on alert 2-3 right good saves when called upon looks so comfortable. A number 1 standard

2) Helander. Impressed when he came on reading of the game great couple of great blocks and interceptions. The defence this year is looking far stronger as a unit which is great to see. 4 really strong centre halves at our immediate disposal.

3) if we are worried about bids for players Borna is right up there at the top of the list. That free kick was world class and the assist was top drawer. A huge asset for us. Against stuffy defences. One moment of magic.

4 Kamara. He looked every bit a 10m player for me tonight in that first half especially looked to try make things happen covering ground useful on the ball. Wouldn't be in a massive rush to cash in. Although he shits himself in the final 3rd generally that's not his game so it could be a case who's in to replace Jack...

Roofe as expected looked a tad rusty but then you started to see glimpses of what he will be about. Can't wait to see him and Itten once both up to speed.

One minor criticism? Too many subs at once killing momentum once the game was buried. But if that's all there is to moan about I'm a happy man.

On to the next one!
Great take on the game.
my only thing is that the subs need game time as well as giving the first picks some rest
The game was won, see out the rest of the second half without taking any risks
Like the 2 new lads getting minutes and used to their new teammates and surroundings
 
Thank goodness for Borna's goal. Up until then we looked really pedestrian and completely lacked penetration. We were content to keep possession, passing the ball back and forth waiting for the perfect chance to appear. I'd like to see us shake things up more with the odd long ball, and players making runs to try and pull defenders out of position.

We got much better after the opener, played with more confidence, and the goals either side of half time killed the game as a contest.

I agree with the OP about the substitutions. It essentially put us back to square one with too many attacking players trying to find a rhythm. Its hard to judge Roofe and Itten on 30 minutes. It would have been interesting to see what Itten would have done with that chance when he was tripped, but nice to see him finding space in the box nevertheless. It was also quite a welcome to Scottish football for Roofe tonight. I thought that was a straight red all day long. The fact it wasnt should give him an idea of what to expect in the future.

Delighted by the outcome and given the result you cant really complain. However, I still think we could use a midfielder who can win and retain possession, and our forward line needs to show more movement than it did for long periods tonight. We need to create chances, not just wait for them to appear.
 
It wasn’t a great start, never in doubt after the first goal. 3 points, 3 different scorers and another clean sheet. Good night all in.
 
Happy bear tonight, they got into our box about 3/4 times at most. We were never really troubled and we have a cleansheet and 3 goals.

We are now 5 points ahead of the beggars, we now work on making that 8 points. We do that, I'll be a very happy bear.
 
It's been said to death but out the traps from the start and an early goal forces teams to actually come out a bit. Imperative we always start with pace and intensity

It doesn't really. Needs to be 2 goals mostly.

Even at 3 nil St Johnstone were happy with ten behind the ball till late on.
 
It doesn't really. Needs to be 2 goals mostly.

Even at 3 nil St Johnstone were happy with ten behind the ball till late on.

True. But it obviously lifts that air of anxiety. Mind you with no fans in the ground it may not affect the players like it would have.

Just naturally feel better with that early goal
 
Ideal game to run young Paterson out when the subs were made. Shame he never got on ahead of Davis and Arfield. Understand we need to keep the senior pros happy though.
 
Solid team performance until the last half hour when I agree with the manager we were (mostly) lacklustre. Am glad our goalie and Helander stayed switched on. Roofe had an excuse for a couple of wayward passes and tackles. However, I can understand why the gaffer never rested Goldson and Hagi, both of whom I felt were off-colour and slack tonight. .
 
That's exactly what Davis and Arfield were brought on for.

A bit of game management, conserve energy and save ourselves for Sunday.
The manager in his post match interview pointed out he was disappointed at our display in the last half hour so you are kidding yourself on with the game management, you may be correct in the saving players for Sunday but the last 30 minutes was poor in my opinion and the managers. We need to aspire to play well for 90 minutes p!us.
 
We have slipped up in games like these in the past few seasons. So a 3 0 win when we probably weren't at our best in the first half will give us a wee boost .All in all a good night's work, bottom line 3 points.
 
Thi
3 more goals, 3 more points, 3 clean sheets.

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This
 
What was Tyldesley talking about KT winding up Keane on Twitter? I’m not on it so I missed that one.
 
Playing average and putting this utter soulless dross to bed is what we haven't done in recent years. Massive improvement. New lads getting some game time. Want to see more from at least 4 players
 
The manager in his post match interview pointed out he was disappointed at our display in the last half hour so you are kidding yourself on with the game management, you may be correct in the saving players for Sunday but the last 30 minutes was poor in my opinion and the managers. We need to aspire to play well for 90 minutes p!us.


He praised Arfield and Davis though.

I think his criticism was aimed at higher up the park.
 
He praised Arfield and Davis though.

I think his criticism was aimed at higher up the park.

Never seen the interview but the ball wasn’t sticking up top and was given away constantly so wouldn’t surprise me. Davis and Arfield done their jobs to a tee I would imagine.

Roofe was obviously rusty so wasn’t expecting much from him, I wouldn’t even risk him for two mins on Sunday.

Itten is early days but haven’t seen anything to fill me with confidence so far. Would imagine Gerrard comments would have been directed more towards him and Hagi.
 
Gerrard, quite rightly, not too happy with the performance.
Indeed but you have to blame the gaffer himself for that.

At 3-0 we were on easy street and looking to cruise to an easy 6-0 or more until he totally ruined our shape with the 4 subs.

Tonight was 60 mins of football and 30 mins of training.
 
Indeed but you have to blame the gaffer himself for that.

At 3-0 we were on easy street and looking to cruise to an easy 6-0 or more until he totally ruined our shape with the 4 subs.

Tonight was 60 mins of football and 30 mins of training.

Not a fan of it, but it serves a purpose for playing time for more players. He needs to find a way to get the team playing well past the 60 mins, maybe make two subs at a time, alfredo and jack off first, then 15 mins later the other 2. It's new so they are still learning how to make it work.
 
Not a fan of it, but it serves a purpose for playing time for more players. He needs to find a way to get the team playing well past the 60 mins, maybe make two subs at a time, alfredo and jack off first, then 15 mins later the other 2. It's new so they are still learning how to make it work.
Yeah of course. A good thing about tonight was replacing Balogun with Helander with no diminution in quality.

A bad thing was wholesale change at 60 mins and the shape going to %^*&. That's a coaching issue.
 
Yeah of course. A good thing about tonight was replacing Balogun with Helander with no diminution in quality.

A bad thing was wholesale change at 60 mins and the shape going to %^*&. That's a coaching issue.

I wasnt including Helander, that was a forced change of one player, as you say the other 4 changed the dynamic.
 
I wasnt including Helander, that was a forced change of one player, as you say the other 4 changed the dynamic.
I can see why it happened - but I was disappointed with the outcome. Lots of work needed in training if we are truly to have an 18 man squad.

We're not that far away though and Sunday seems a long way away. I'd love us playing Livi tomorrow.
 
I was a little surprised Borna wasn't subbed at 3-0. He's so important to us and that lot were kicking anything that moved.
 
One of the big positives to take from the game for me was our movement and passing and the ability to break down St Johnstone who sat so deep. After the turn of the year we looked laboured, slow and like we had ran out of ideas. The second goal was a great team goal. At times we lacked a little tempo and maybe took too many touches when it was unnecessary but we cruised the game. The depth on the bench was great to see as well, even if the 4 subs at one time kind of halted the momentum.
 
This really has been a terrific start to the season, from the summer tournament in France to our 100% record in the SPL - indeed the only disappointment was the loss to Leverkusen - which was not entirely unexpected.

That being said, there are just a few observations about the team that come to mind. The first concerns Hagi, who at times drifted out of the game. As a finesse player, I think he is still adjusting to the physicality of the SPL. Borna went through a similar phase and he eventually came around - I think Hagi will do the same. My other issue is with Tav - I've never been entirely convinced by him, and continue to remain so. I view him as a potential weak link in an otherwise solid back four.
 
I don't think we have fully clicked yet but there's now real competition in virtually every area of the team bar the midfield. Get a box to box midfielder in who can add 10-15 goals and we will be good to go. The thing that worries me is that it's one of the first things that should have been addressed this season and indeed last.

If anything teams are setting up even more defensive this season against us and not even changing that gameplan when they go behind which means we are going to have to tough it out in most of them where we don't get that early goal.
 
Fantastic 3 points, but a distinctly average performance, the good thing is when we do click someone is i in for a very uncomfortable 90minutes.
 
Jack a few times last night brought ball out we were countering well and he utterly nullified the threat. Reached half way line uncontested and appeared hesitant to go any further. Need a proper CM to take the ball to teams
 
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