What has happened?

148bear

148bear

Well-Known Member
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Simple question does anyone have an guess on why the vast majority of players have had a massive slump in form after the winter break,im struggling to think of a reason its baffling why again same as last year it has to be a mentality thing whats going on??
 
There's a lot contributing to our poor form. Kent has reverted back to looking lost in the final 3rd. Morelos touch seems to be all over the place. Davis (wasn't as bad yesterday) seemed to have forgotten how to play. Katic was a nervous wreck. Kamara is an absolute bombscare that seems to want a half hour for every decision. Aribo isn't far off it either & seems shit scared of the opposition goal.

It seems most of the players that were looking great before the break have feel to bits mentally. Very strange.
 
It's not a coincidence that Tav is injured and we're playing poorly. He is vital to our play.

Throw in injuries to Jack and the Morelos suspension, just been a collection of issues at the wrong time.
 
I think the team were over trained in Dubai in that they are shattered now

same as last year

add in injuries to key players and it equals a disaster
 
Certainly losing Tav has been a big loss, he was a great outball for our midfielders and central defenders as he always seemed to find space.
We are now dwelling to long on the ball looking for an alternative pass and being closed down quicker, this certainly is causing some poor decisions and confidence loss.
Hopefully his return will sort this out, but tactically we have to find a solution quickly to overcome any further Tav absences.
 
We have played all 4 games at Ibrox against teams with everybody behind the ball.

We are now predictable as everything is focused down the left, just like last season when it was all focused down the right.

You can see players look for the ball down the right that they would normally play quickly and nobody is there, so they turn inside to shift to the left, thus slowing the play.
 
We don’t have the answers when things aren’t going our way. If it’s not happening we struggle badly. Just seems too often that we lack ideas and repeat patterns of play. Not enough goals throughout the side.
 
frankie_dux said:
I think the team were over trained in Dubai in that they are shattered now

same as last year

add in injuries to key players and it equals a disaster
Click to expand...

They weren't over trained it was a normal training week with a bit of sun on their back and additional fitness work which you would expect after the players were given a week off. It was no different to an international break when they get a week off and do some running when they are back. We had a week back at the training ground to prepare for these games as well so Dubai isn't an excuse.

For me the break halted our momentum had we continued playing we wouldn't have dropped any points. Momentum is a huge thing and it's like the players are trying to find their feet again.

The formation while successful in europe and against that lot doesn't work against teams that sit in Kent and Aribo come inside to where the traffic already is leaving huge gaps out wide and we're too reliant on Tav and Borna getting forward and putting a good ball in.
 
We’re in bad form and our squad is depleted due to injuries to key players. It happens, but title winning teams grind wins out when they’re not playing well. We’re not there yet.
 
This time it’s no Jack, no Tav, no Stewart, no Defoe. We’ve got absentees on the pitch like Ojo and an off form Kamara and a Jo Aribo who, as silky as his skills are, struggles against stuffy, physical bastards like Hearts and Sheep. Even the previously rock solid Katic seems to have brought back some brain fog from the break and a couple of times yesterday, and during the week nearly cost us dearly.

Praise the Lord for McGregor.

No idea why this lot have lost their way but perhaps ending last term in a high gave some a false sense of security.

We better get our captain back ASAP and start working hard again.
 
I think it's a combination of things.

Winter break came at a bad time and disrupted momentum.
Our best performances are against teams that try to play football, not every man behind the ball - that's something we must quickly learn to overcome as it's what were often faced with.
Key players not available.

The bit i don't understand is they should of returned from Dubai full of confidence.
Do the players work with sports psychologists? I heard Ant Middleton was in for a talk with them but that's it.
 
Blue Skies At Night said:
There's a lot contributing to our poor form. Kent has reverted back to looking lost in the final 3rd. Morelos touch seems to be all over the place. Davis (wasn't as bad yesterday) seemed to have forgotten how to play. Katic was a nervous wreck. Kamara is an absolute bombscare that seems to want a half hour for every decision. Aribo isn't far off it either & seems shit scared of the opposition goal.

It seems most of the players that were looking great before the break have feel to bits mentally. Very strange.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't disagree too much with what you say but the more pertinent question is why, why have so many of our players who finished December on a high now looking devoid of confidence?

A player or two in any side can have a bad game together but we have almost a whole team playing way below par. It was so bad last weekend that SG stated we were 8 men down against Hearts and what I witnessed yesterday was similar, players taking little responsibility and playing the safe pass, a sure sign confidence is shot.

From the high of 29 December to the low of lows in only 4 games really takes some doing and has us all scratching our heads, looking for answers. What exactly has happened to destroy our title winning dream, anyone got a clue?
 
I was so confident after Celtic park victory, but something is missing in these last few games, we better find it quick.
 
The winter break is a farce and should be scrapped immediately.

It’s a complete momentum killer and if anything cramming games in before and after it is probably more harmful to players in terms of injuries than if there wasn’t one at all.
 
Missing Tav and Jack massively and too many players not showing up .

Davis needs dropped for a start hes been terrible since we came back.
 
We go to Dubai and for 2 wks the players are obviously getting high praise and everyone saying the title race is on, they believe the hype come back and they forget what brought them this far in the first place. No high intensity, first to every ball or anything like that they simply cant handle the pressure
 
I just think teams know how to play against us now, they all know we struggle to break down defensive teams so their all doing it now. We need to change our shape, struggling to understand why Gerrard is not going 3-5-2. I also we have weak mentality in the team and that’s the more serious problem, ojo, Aribo, Kamara etc
 
I'd say a massive factor in the downturn in performance has been the loss of Tav. The balance to the team is shot and we miss his drive. Coupled to that we had Buff missing and now also Jack. These three are absolutely vital to driving this team forward.
 
Blue Skies At Night said:
There's a lot contributing to our poor form. Kent has reverted back to looking lost in the final 3rd. Morelos touch seems to be all over the place. Davis (wasn't as bad yesterday) seemed to have forgotten how to play. Katic was a nervous wreck. Kamara is an absolute bombscare that seems to want a half hour for every decision. Aribo isn't far off it either & seems shit scared of the opposition goal.

It seems most of the players that were looking great before the break have feel to bits mentally. Very strange.
Click to expand...

This! 4/5 key players all off it at the same time.

we’ve gone from dismantling Celtic twice (albeit we lost the cup final) to looking extremely nervous and passive.
 
148bear said:
Simple question does anyone have an guess on why the vast majority of players have had a massive slump in form after the winter break,im struggling to think of a reason its baffling why again same as last year it has to be a mentality thing whats going on??
Click to expand...
I think this is a bit of a falsehood- we were poor before the break too (Celtic game aside)- against Kilmarnock at Ibrox we were just as bad as we’ve been lately until Morelos came on and turned the game single handed.

So, I think it’s mostly been down to Alfredo’s absence. Plain and simple- he’s our best attacking player and main threat going forward.
He looked really rusty yesterday which is not that surprising given it’s his first real game back for over a month.
 
Blue Skies At Night said:
There's a lot contributing to our poor form. Kent has reverted back to looking lost in the final 3rd. Morelos touch seems to be all over the place. Davis (wasn't as bad yesterday) seemed to have forgotten how to play. Katic was a nervous wreck. Kamara is an absolute bombscare that seems to want a half hour for every decision. Aribo isn't far off it either & seems shit scared of the opposition goal.

It seems most of the players that were looking great before the break have feel to bits mentally. Very strange.
Click to expand...
As others have said,the break has killed the momentum we had also having key players out hasn't helped our cause,but this same group of players have taken us to where we are. I'd say stick with them and back the team.
 
Graemelins said:
I think this is a bit of a falsehood- we were poor before the break too (Celtic game aside)- against Kilmarnock at Ibrox we were just as bad as we’ve been lately until Morelos came on and turned the game single handed.

So, I think it’s mostly been down to Alfredo’s absence. Plain and simple- he’s our best attacking player and main threat going forward.
He looked really rusty yesterday which is not that surprising given it’s his first real game back for over a month.
Click to expand...

Another game where a team turned up at Ibrox and just parked the bus.
 
Better find form ASAP. hopefully this is our sticky spell. Get it out of our system and push on and start believing again. A good performance/result will do wonders for the confidence and hopefully see this spell out to bed!
 
Bigbluebear said:
Another game where a team turned up at Ibrox and just parked the bus.
Click to expand...
Yip- I think the work Alfredo does in dragging defenders all over the place in these games is seriously underrated. It’s just as important to our attacking play as his goals. Creates a lot of space and openings for his teammates.
It’s no surprise to me that our worst run of play has coincided with his absence from the team.
For me this is a much bigger factor than anything else anyone’s been talking about.
 
Graemelins said:
Yip- I think the work Alfredo does in dragging defenders all over the place in these games is seriously underrated. It’s just as important to our attacking play as his goals. Creates a lot of space and openings for his teammates.
It’s no surprise to me that our worst run of play has coincided with his absence from the team.
For me this is a much bigger factor than anything else anyone’s been talking about.
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Unfortunately, a combination of his brain farts, and the way referees deal with him means we may see him miss other games. We need to have a backup plan!
 
We shat the bed. The players can't handle being in the dominant position in the league and throw away points within a game or two of getting there. They are not built for a title win.
 
Blue Skies At Night said:
There's a lot contributing to our poor form. Kent has reverted back to looking lost in the final 3rd. Morelos touch seems to be all over the place. Davis (wasn't as bad yesterday) seemed to have forgotten how to play. Katic was a nervous wreck. Kamara is an absolute bombscare that seems to want a half hour for every decision. Aribo isn't far off it either & seems shit scared of the opposition goal.

It seems most of the players that were looking great before the break have feel to bits mentally. Very strange.
Click to expand...
Hard to disagree with any of that.
 
Anybody that can come up with an answer to this puzzle is in line for the Nobel prize.

Injuries don’t help but in no way can they be accountable for the poor form we are in. There are just too many not performing just now.

The team is laboured in it’s approach going forward, slow and predictable in the build up and lacking penetration. Nobody seems prepared to try something different. I really wonder if that is down to the fact that a large section of our support is down their throats at the first sniff of an error.

When we go at teams on high intensity we can take all of them but too often we seem to be strolling about aimlessly. Most teams are gonna set up to frustrate us by packing out their back third and we really lack the guile to prise them open.

There’s a fair few don’t contribute enough and the really sad thing is that most of them have the ability but still can’t pull it off.

What’s the solution?
 
shotta1974 said:
No high intensity, first to every ball or anything like that they simply cant handle the pressure
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That isn’t pressure, it’s an attitude issue. No matter what form we’re in we should be at it from the start, right up them. We only seem to do this when we know we are playing a half decent team. Otherwise we look content to wait for it to happen rather than making it happen.
 
Already been touched on but I think we could do with a real big lump up front for a Plan B if Morelos is out.Someone who can hold the ball up to lay off to oncoming midfielders.

There's also a noticeable change in the tempo to our play.
 
Winners turn up when it really matters and win against the better teams.
Last season and this season, we simply don't beat those better teams often enough.

It was Aberdeen, Hibs and Killie who we lost the league against last time.
This time it's Aberdeen and Hearts.

Our team just aren't winners.

The run in basically starts after the winter break, and 2 years running we have folded. Bottlers.
 
Pressure,pressure,pressure ,that's it.Too many players who are content to be footballers rather than Winners and when the pressure comes on they disappear.Just like last year they done well to reach the break in contention but the the pressure always comes in the second part of a season,and 4 games in they have reverted to type.You will never win anything with players like Aribo_Ojo,Kamara,in the team they simply crumple when the pressure is on.
 
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