ScotBear

Who ?

Never tracked back to help his full back......first half he was largely restricted because of that very reason and he made for me the best defensive piece of play with an excellent tracking run and interception in his own box. I think what Murphy always offers is balance and team responsibility, and what he started to show today was his attacking threat.

He’s one of the very few players we have that can create something out of nothing. And those players tend to be frustrating, inconsistent, temperamental. Those that aren’t tend to be sold for tens of millions. It was the same with Barry McKay. For me you need a couple of players like that in your squad to give you options and a different way of unpicking the lock in tight games. I’m not saying I think Windass is good enough to be first choice long term, but i do think he’s worthy of a place in a 25 Man first team squad.

The Scottish Cup would be lovely but for me it won’t be the measure going into the summer as to whether or not Murty should stay on. For me that’s consistency in the league, setting a pace of points over a long period that would be deemed title challenging if achieved over a full season and winning at least one of the remaining Old Firm games. If we finish 3rd, fail to beat celtic and win the Scottish Cup, for me he’s gone. And going by other threads I’ve got more patience for Murty at this time than most. Crap teams can still win cups. Good teams prove it consistently in a league format.

I think the 6 game period is a good point. There have been signs of progress. I’m not saying Murty is the right man but we need to let this play out over a longer period to properly judge him. If he wins his next 4 league games (we have 4 more SPL games in February) that recent record extends to 8-1-1 and suddenly looks very good.

Don’t think the ref disallowed the goal but his assistant ? Hard for a ref to go against that if the assistant is adamant he’s seen something. F@ck knows what he saw though.

Agreed. It was soft but it was a pen. I like Tav but he was an idiot and it’s cost us today At 1-1 the momentum was with us, I’m confident the way the game was going at that stage we would have won. Today was always likely to be tough and it’s small margins in games like this.

I think it was a pen. Soft, but a pen. I don’t think today was about the ref.

Davie Weir wasn’t exactly Maldini but he knew his limitations on the ball and defended brilliantly. They aren’t the standard of Weir.....not many are that standard now compared to the team Weir played in.....but the theory is the same.

In his interview you could see Cummings was blowing out his arse and he was only on for twenty minutes. He himself said he wasn’t match fit yet and struggling. I didn’t get the sense in the slightest he disagrees with the decision to start his spell with us on the bench. I like him and hope, even expect, he will force his way in. But I like the way Murty is managing the situation in these early stages.

I doubt he did, but his team mates don’t plan on rolling over to let him in the team. It’s right he starts his Rangers career on the bench and either takes the place of Morelos through hard work in training and impact moments like today, or they both persuade the manager to change his system but that shouldn’t be an immediate change when results are going well.

I thought his subs were perfect, agreed with every one. Docherty for Goss.....fresh legs in the middle of the park during final period when players tire. I like Gods but he looks the least mobile of the midfielders when it comes to off the ball work. Cummings for Morelos.....if you’re winning in final period it’s best to keep the five man midfield. If we were chasing the winner a midfielder would have come off to go two up top. People can say it’s county, go kill the game.....football doesn’t always work like that and I agreed with the cautious approach in final period. Halliday for Candeias.....again, simply fresh legs and tighten midfield in final period, he was on for his off the ball work, not to play killer passes. Not the best performance from the players today.....you can’t always be at your best as we were against celtic and Aberdeen.....but the right starting 11 and subs from Murty. 10/10 from the manager today.

I still think he’s a great signing. He’s not Laudrup, he’s a work horse, a team player and I think sooner rather than later will show his goal threat. Under Smith we were a well put together machine rather than a team relying on indivduals and I think we’re building that again. On certain days Murphy will attack effectively and be a match winner. On other days he will simply be a great team player who will protect his full back, be in the right position, press the opposition....do all the basics off the ball with 100% effort. We shouldn’t take that for granted.

I wouldn’t change the system just now, one up top with hard working wide men was often a winning system under Smith and I’m glad to see it return. It also leaves us with a game changer on the bench.

I’m 100% for it. I particularly do not understand the argument of ‘it takes away things to talk about after a game’. I think those people need to take up another sport if they need controversial decisions to make a game of football interesting. The game is too quick for linesmen to be reliable and too many players are too dishonest & darkly cunning for refs to accurately spot a dive. Football is just a game but it’s importabt to people so let’s get the big decisions right.