Where is our weakness?

[Lothianbear 361]

Our defence havent been tested since the first half against Well, we should have conceded in that game if im honest, we got lucky, up front we try to pass the ball into the net and end up losing it, there were times last night we were in good position to shoot and ended up running in to defenders. corners !!! dont get me started. 

[AldoKrfc 106]

Last season we were close to drawing 0-0 a couple of times (st mirren and Falkirk) at ibrox and we did draw 0-0 against Kilmarnock in the cup. I love the way we play but worry that we struggle to break teams down who sit in. Last night I thought was really poor in the second half, and feel we should be using these games to tryn score as many goals as possible.

[eejay the dj 31,964]

9 hours ago, westenclosure2008 said:

I agree but if we went with what we've got   I would still be confident. Another striker would be welcome but I think Waghorn will be even better this year. I've heard he's spent the close season working on his game with the Superior Striker course and specialist fitness coaches. Only worry is that a team down south puts an offer in. 

In bigger games .The defence would still cost us IMO .Until Wilson is removed ,that uncertainty will continue 

[eejay the dj 31,964]

4 hours ago, Inigo said:

Yeah definitely, the final was a disaster in many ways. Just in terms of this thread though, Kiernan doesn't know what he's doing, exemplified in that one god-awful, schoolboy defending moment. But then, you could argue that's as much a failing in MW as it is in Kiernan. He's the one that keeps playing him.

Hopefully he sees something many of us don't, but as far as I'm concerned just now, centre half and Kiernan especially, is our weakest link.

 

I kind of see where your coming from mate .Kiernan either has a blinder (Dundee home ) or a nightmare game (cup final ) but  he has  have something  in his locker , he is exceptional at pinging superb passes from side to side and seems athletic enough .On the other hand .Wilson offers no real strength or passing that really gets us in behind ..Crucially both offer practically zip threat in the oppositions area at set pieces .Both are powderpuff and for me that's crucial in today's game .To be able offer some sort of threat and chip in with vital goals .Amo ,Gough ,Butcher etc etc 

[Bigsasasfloppyhair 13,310]

We have a number of weaknesses.

Defensively were not great but it's improving.

The team always want to score the perfect goal, we need to be more ruthless, shooting earlier etc.

Corners always just being taken short it a weakness too, it's predictable and teams now know how we will play.

 

[VladimirWeiss69 802]

Imo Hill is better than both Kiernan and Wilson, honestly if he was starting instead of either Wilson or Kiernan we would have been a tighter and better defence, every time I seen Hill he was shouting and trying to organise the defence, you wouldn't see Kiernan or Wilson trying to do that. Would still rather a quality pacey center half in beside Hill because if we go into the season with either Wilson or kiernan in defence, it is going to be a struggle to win the league in my personnel opinion  

[ForeverAndEver 71,482]

37 minutes ago, eejay the dj said:

In bigger games .The defence would still cost us IMO .Until Wilson is removed ,that uncertainty will continue 

From the 2-1 Falkirk game Wilson's been our best CB imo.

[ianferguson 2,619]

We can't afford to buy a top CH but if McParland finds us a loanee or dare I say it, a David Weir then it'll be his best and most crucial bit of business. Hope he proves me wrong but I don't think Hill has the legs anymore so we must pull a rabbit out of the hat or all our inevitable good attacking play will be in vain imo. 

[craigrfcc 265]

The amount of times we play a great ball across the front of goal with nobody at the end of it had been frustrating me. Dodoo managed to score from that exact position so hopefully he is the answer to my main gripe.

[JR 1,480]

I get the fear at defending any set pieces. I really need to see defensive pairing that will deal with crosses into our box. Teams can resort to winning free kicks around the area as well as hopeful long range efforts resulting in corners putting us under unessesary pressure. 

Sort that out and I think we'll have enough possession and firepower to hurt anyone. 

[THE_Ibrox_Preacher 2,812]

Weaknesses are as follows;

Neither Wilson nor Kiernan are solid, both have been left at 6's and 7's against inferior opposition with regularity, neither is a leader/commander/dominant, neither is recognisable as a man that wins the headers to clear the ball (that's off for a CB in Scotland lets be honest), both would ship enough points this season to see our title challenge melt. We assume Hill is going to be far better and will replace one of them but currently that means Hill will have to be some player to make either of them good enough for the title this season. If anything were to happen to Hill (injury/suspension) the Chronic Combo would probably lose us the league. A better standard of CB with some pace and who can head is about the minimum we need to improve the situation.

Going forward we seem to believe that possession 30 yards from goal is 2 goals in itself and that it would be improper to attempt to create the chance until the opposition has organised a 10 man pyramid on the 18-yard line. We lost how many points/games/ties last season heavily in part to this? and it has been seen again in pre-season. This is something I expect to correct itself with a few more games but it's a flaw that's yet to be rectified at present.

We don't have an aerial threat up front, nor for set pieces (Hill Maybe?). I could extend it to say we don't have a target man that with 3 men on him can head one home or lean his shoulder and create a few yards of everything. If we were to sign someone of that ilk at 6 foot 3" I'd be delighted because I think you should have something for as many occasions as possible and that's a string we don't have on our bow. The CB's in this country may not be gifted but they can head and are generally big sturdy types (mind we tried to break that mould with Karl Svensson?!), worth bearing in mind that we'll be against what seems like a back 10 as well so that'll help those CB's out. There will be times when the answer isn't a 5 foot 10 player that's a bit nippy. Set pieces are a good answer to games not going your way and having someone to head it is a big part of that.

Wallace and Tav are good going forward but neither are good defenders or at least they get caught out of position a lot with their forward play - it's an opening for a team to have a go at us that has someone of pace that can play on the wing. To be fair to Wallace he's stepped up in a big way last season and he's improved on the whole but the opposition creates enough from where he should be snuffing it out to think that he's got a bit to go or that it's a weak point in his game(if you get what I mean?).

Everything else is something that I assume has been rectified i.s. midfielders are more all rounded types that can help defend, more creativity should create more chances meaning our forwards all chip in goals or score more to the point where signing a '25+ goals' striker isn't necessary (especially if we get the target man that can rattle headers in). At the risk of repeating myself 2 of those 'problems' could be more by design than actual flaws and easy to address with doing next to fuck all.  CB and CF that can head a ball and we're in astonishing shape for a squad built for less than a dozen semi-detached. 

If you wanted to extend it to the more political side of things then Dave Kings promises of personal investment is a weakness  - we're never seeing 20-30M of his money coming in. If we spend some real money next season it'll have been earned from transfers or it'll be something like the fans money accumulated/saved from this season where we've pulled in a mint more than last yet spent less than Ally when the club was up the creek. Some will be raging I've even mentioned it but I didn't promise 10's of millions of my own money and get groups to lobby for me getting to be in charge instead of buying my way in. If you make the promises deliver or take it on the chin when you get reminded of it. We may be going in a good direction but it doesn't change the promises made to our fans. 

 

[AllyRfc 71]

Don't see why everyone throws the blame on Wilson he's our best CH as it stands right now, Rob won't cut it at this level and the Cup final showed that.

[eejay the dj 31,964]

4 minutes ago, THE_Ibrox_Preacher said:

Weaknesses are as follows;

Neither Wilson nor Kiernan are solid, both have been left at 6's and 7's against inferior opposition with regularity, neither is a leader/commander/dominant, neither is recognisable as a man that wins the headers to clear the ball (that's off for a CB in Scotland lets be honest), both would ship enough points this season to see our title challenge melt. We assume Hill is going to be far better and will replace one of them but currently that means Hill will have to be some player to make either of them good enough for the title this season. If anything were to happen to Hill (injury/suspension) the Chronic Combo would probably lose us the league. A better standard of CB with some pace and who can head is about the minimum we need to improve the situation.

Going forward we seem to believe that possession 30 yards from goal is 2 goals in itself and that it would be improper to attempt to create the chance until the opposition has organised a 10 man pyramid on the 18-yard line. We lost how many points/games/ties last season heavily in part to this? and it has been seen again in pre-season. This is something I expect to correct itself with a few more games but it's a flaw that's yet to be rectified at present.

We don't have an aerial threat up front, nor for set pieces (Hill Maybe?). I could extend it to say we don't have a target man that with 3 men on him can head one home or lean his shoulder and create a few yards of everything. If we were to sign someone of that ilk at 6 foot 3" I'd be delighted because I think you should have something for as many occasions as possible and that's a string we don't have on our bow. The CB's in this country may not be gifted but they can head and are generally big sturdy types (mind we tried to break that mould with Karl Svensson?!), worth bearing in mind that we'll be against what seems like a back 10 as well so that'll help those CB's out. There will be times when the answer isn't a 5 foot 10 player that's a bit nippy. Set pieces are a good answer to games not going your way and having someone to head it is a big part of that.

Wallace and Tav are good going forward but neither are good defenders or at least they get caught out of position a lot with their forward play - it's an opening for a team to have a go at us that has someone of pace that can play on the wing. To be fair to Wallace he's stepped up in a big way last season and he's improved on the whole but the opposition creates enough from where he should be snuffing it out to think that he's got a bit to go or that it's a weak point in his game(if you get what I mean?).

Everything else is something that I assume has been rectified i.s. midfielders are more all rounded types that can help defend, more creativity should create more chances meaning our forwards all chip in goals or score more to the point where signing a '25+ goals' striker isn't necessary (especially if we get the target man that can rattle headers in). At the risk of repeating myself 2 of those 'problems' could be more by design than actual flaws and easy to address with doing next to fuck all.  CB and CF that can head a ball and we're in astonishing shape for a squad built for less than a dozen semi-detached. 

If you wanted to extend it to the more political side of things then Dave Kings promises of personal investment is a weakness  - we're never seeing 20-30M of his money coming in. If we spend some real money next season it'll have been earned from transfers or it'll be something like the fans money accumulated/saved from this season where we've pulled in a mint more than last yet spent less than Ally when the club was up the creek. Some will be raging I've even mentioned it but I didn't promise 10's of millions of my own money and get groups to lobby for me getting to be in charge instead of buying my way in. If you make the promises deliver or take it on the chin when you get reminded of it. We may be going in a good direction but it doesn't change the promises made to our fans. 

 

Superb constructed post 

[eejay the dj 31,964]

5 minutes ago, THE_Ibrox_Preacher said:

Weaknesses are as follows;

Neither Wilson nor Kiernan are solid, both have been left at 6's and 7's against inferior opposition with regularity, neither is a leader/commander/dominant, neither is recognisable as a man that wins the headers to clear the ball (that's off for a CB in Scotland lets be honest), both would ship enough points this season to see our title challenge melt. We assume Hill is going to be far better and will replace one of them but currently that means Hill will have to be some player to make either of them good enough for the title this season. If anything were to happen to Hill (injury/suspension) the Chronic Combo would probably lose us the league. A better standard of CB with some pace and who can head is about the minimum we need to improve the situation.

Going forward we seem to believe that possession 30 yards from goal is 2 goals in itself and that it would be improper to attempt to create the chance until the opposition has organised a 10 man pyramid on the 18-yard line. We lost how many points/games/ties last season heavily in part to this? and it has been seen again in pre-season. This is something I expect to correct itself with a few more games but it's a flaw that's yet to be rectified at present.

We don't have an aerial threat up front, nor for set pieces (Hill Maybe?). I could extend it to say we don't have a target man that with 3 men on him can head one home or lean his shoulder and create a few yards of everything. If we were to sign someone of that ilk at 6 foot 3" I'd be delighted because I think you should have something for as many occasions as possible and that's a string we don't have on our bow. The CB's in this country may not be gifted but they can head and are generally big sturdy types (mind we tried to break that mould with Karl Svensson?!), worth bearing in mind that we'll be against what seems like a back 10 as well so that'll help those CB's out. There will be times when the answer isn't a 5 foot 10 player that's a bit nippy. Set pieces are a good answer to games not going your way and having someone to head it is a big part of that.

Wallace and Tav are good going forward but neither are good defenders or at least they get caught out of position a lot with their forward play - it's an opening for a team to have a go at us that has someone of pace that can play on the wing. To be fair to Wallace he's stepped up in a big way last season and he's improved on the whole but the opposition creates enough from where he should be snuffing it out to think that he's got a bit to go or that it's a weak point in his game(if you get what I mean?).

Everything else is something that I assume has been rectified i.s. midfielders are more all rounded types that can help defend, more creativity should create more chances meaning our forwards all chip in goals or score more to the point where signing a '25+ goals' striker isn't necessary (especially if we get the target man that can rattle headers in). At the risk of repeating myself 2 of those 'problems' could be more by design than actual flaws and easy to address with doing next to fuck all.  CB and CF that can head a ball and we're in astonishing shape for a squad built for less than a dozen semi-detached. 

If you wanted to extend it to the more political side of things then Dave Kings promises of personal investment is a weakness  - we're never seeing 20-30M of his money coming in. If we spend some real money next season it'll have been earned from transfers or it'll be something like the fans money accumulated/saved from this season where we've pulled in a mint more than last yet spent less than Ally when the club was up the creek. Some will be raging I've even mentioned it but I didn't promise 10's of millions of my own money and get groups to lobby for me getting to be in charge instead of buying my way in. If you make the promises deliver or take it on the chin when you get reminded of it. We may be going in a good direction but it doesn't change the promises made to our fans. 

 

Undeserving  of your great post but my little remark would be .King is one bullshiitong got lucky bastard .Will never trust him no matter what and how good MW makes us 

[ritchieshearercaldow 22,137]

Defense for me, we will be sorely tested in the PL, while I admire the bosses football philosophy  every team needs to have a reliable strong defense, If you don't lose goals you don't lose games

[eejay the dj 31,964]

6 minutes ago, AllyRfc said:

Don't see why everyone throws the blame on Wilson he's our best CH as it stands right now, Rob won't cut it at this level and the Cup final showed that.

Really ? We are in worse shape than I though then 

[eejay the dj 31,964]

5 minutes ago, Rangers_no1 said:

Wilson is the one that plays the diagonal passes, not Kiernan. He did it a few times last night to MOH. 

Disagree .Kiernan is much better 

And may I add I'm not basing that on some shitey wee games against East Stirling .

[theiconicman 2,991]

10 hours ago, westenclosure2008 said:

There are still doubts over the defence and we haven't really been tested in the last  two games to know if it has improved. I don't think Clint Hill is the greatest player but our shape seems better and the confidence of Kiernan and Wilson seems better playing alongside Hill.

Anyway what I'm trying to say is that I don't see any glaring weakness just now. I see it as our most well rounded squad in years.

I've never been so eagar for a season to start.

*pointless post I know but just getting my first out the way

Our weakness comes from our strength (like any tactical battle). Losing possession invariably goes bad for us. Teams that can stop us maintaining possession and breaking up play will cause us problems. We need to build plays slowly so teams that can hold the ball or make the game stop start will be effective. 

Our defence isn't great so direct balls over top and pacey forwards will also be effective  

 

[Wearethepeople72 1,845]

A striker that can put the ball in the net and a centre back with a bit of pace and we're well on our way to challenging.

[Albertz 78 918]

Weakness? Probably the lack of a physical presence up front and at the back.

Almost every corner we get tends to be wasted, sometimes the ball ends up back at the half way line by the time we make 50 passes from some corners. 

I like the passing style a lot but when games are 1-1 late on I would like us to just throw the ball into the box and go for it rather than try to score the Hollywood goal.

Maybe a big target man might help but not sure if that's Warbutons style.

[lidorfc 6,665]

"Where is our weakeness" Do you have eyes, mate?

[Amac9 2,060]

Still don't think we are anywhere near clinical enough.

Our defence is still shaky at set pieces and a possible lack of plan B might be our downfall over the course of a full season.

[7troop 187]

Our last line of defence is definitely our biggest weakness.

MW has openly stated that we attack from the back and defend from the front which is spot on but it doesn't change the fact that we are not strong enough in central defence.

Regardless of the defending from the front philosophy the opposition are going to create chances and directly  confront our back 4 at times during ninety minutes. The defending at Hampden was simply awful in particular from Keirnan and badly exposed by far our biggest weakness.

The simple fact is that once our opponents get on top of or in behind our defence we lack the physical presence, positional awareness and recovery pace to deal effectively with it.

Imo we are 1 central defender away from being a team that'll win this title back. I'm just praying that MW agrees with this and gets someone in ASAP.

 

[Ryju84 3,170]

One biggest weakness we had last year was having no suitable cover. No decent replacement RB, CB, Midfield substitutes etc... we have that now with Hodson etcc... and last night I smiled when we were able to take off a great player (Windass) and replace with another great player (Nico)... that couldnt happen last year

[Bighouse 1,012]

My main concern is we don't seem to practice set pieces.

This could end up costing us points against teams we would otherwise be swatting aside