Ibroxholm

On what datum line are the cameras calibrated? I wouldn’t have thought that the side lines, centre lines and byelines are set out by the groundsman to a very high level of accuracy, although I may be wrong. If I was setting it out on an instrument, I would probably take the centre point of each goal, draw a datum line between them and take the offside line at right angles to that datum. It could be that the side lines may not be fully parallel with, or the same length as the central datum line. The cameras themselves, plus the reading of them, must have some plus and negative tolerance so there must always be some grey area even if small. One wonders who gets the benefit of the doubt in these cases or if they just totally ignore the instrument/reading tolerance. You also have to think why the offside law was introduced in the first place, presumably to prevent the attacking team seeking an unfair advantage. If that advantage cannot even be deciphered by the human eye, how can it be considered to be unfairly sought. You would think that some reasonable margin of error (say 300mm) would be given to the attacking team to account for this.

Still think he changed the squad too much in one go. When he first came in last year, he indicated he had faith in the players we had and he could get them playing for him. In a few months that changed to we needed a wholesale clear out. Given Beale’s main selling point was/is his coaching ability, you would think that given we were going to Morelos, Kent, Arfield, Davis, etc, he might have hung on to the likes of Sakala and Colak and tried to improve and get more out of them. At least, he knew what they could do (and what areas they needed to improve) whereas he doesn’t seem to have a clue about how to use the players he has brought in or what position/system to play them in. Times running out fast for him if he doesn’t find this out quick style. League Cup win and Europe after Christmas is minimum needed for him to survive, I think.

Prefer to focus on the positives of his time with us. Top goal scorer in European competitions as well as scoring his share domestically. Hardly missed a game though injury in almost 5years. Basically led the attack on his own for most of his time with us, in the process taking all kinds of stick from opposition players, fans and press alike. Never gave us any great issues of the park despite him probably getting a lot of abuse from lowlife while out and about. For me, it was quite sad the way it ended for him with us. For a foreign player, he probably spent too long with us and lost some of his motivation when he didn’t get moved on (it was never any secret that he saw us a stepping stone). I think also we overlook that his injury in 2022 was the first long term injury he had to come back from and it showed in his performance and him being out of condition. All in all will look back fondly in his time with us. Wish him well in the future.

Sounds awfully like a feminist rewrite of the old Alex Mclean joke.

From all accounts, Rodgers appears to have reverted them to the slow, ponderous style of play that we excel in.

Beale is pretty well all in now and will live or die on his judgement on the players he has brought to the club and their ability to bring success. Although we definitely needed a clear out in the summer, I think he may have been unwise to make such wholesale changes rather than bring in fewer players and try to get a bit more (or hope to enhance the performance) of some of our better players (Hagi, Sakala, Colak - we all knew these players shortcomings but we also knew what they could give us). With bringing in so many new players at one time, I don’t think Beale has a clue at the moment how to fit them in and get the best out of them. He better find out quickly for his own sake (and ours).

Well, Beale’s talking nonsense then because I was essentially quoting him.

In Beale’s interview after the game, he said team were a bit heavy legged because he had been working them hard in the days before the game. He said the same after the Newcastle game. Now, I understand the preseason is primarily for getting players match fit but it gets a bit self-defeating to organise games and then tire the players out beforehand. Can maybe understand it before the Newcastle game but surely by now, particularly in our position with so many new players, we should be prioritising players getting to blend with each other and understand their role in the team in match conditions. Also, while preseason results are largely irrelevant, confidence is a critical factor in my view and it can’t do much for the confidence of a largely new team to be getting beat convincingly (display wise) in these games.

Suppose, better to find out tonight that we’re well short than in ten days/ 2weeks time. We’ve a lot of work and sorting out to do between now and then to fix things.

How was it three managers? His age probably precluded Gerrard from playing him when he was here and it’s not as if he gave any of our boys much of a chance when he was manager. Gio played him at least 2 or 3 times the season before last, such that last season at this time he was the great new hope on here. Beale seems to be another Gerrard, very reluctant to throw boys in and not likely given his purchases this summer. Rice appears to be this seasons Lowry. On past evidence, I doubt we will seem him much at all after the preseason games unless we have an injury crisis.

John Greig testimonial. Rangers beating the 1978 World Cup winners (or soon to be) 5-0 at Ibrox.

Having played through most of the summer, I suspect he is more match fit at this stage than the rest of our squad.

It gives them an advantage but they are limited, as we are, on which players will even consider coming to play in a proverbial football backwater like Scotland. Players who are the finished article and tick all the boxes are not going to come here. They are more likely to be looking at young players with potential who would see coming here as a stepping stone to playing in England. In that way their pool of potential players is limited and has some risk involved, although their financial advantage probably means they don’t have to look for potential that has lost it way, like we have to. The financial advantage they have can be offset by many factors; players form, ability to settle and adapt to Scottish football, blend with other players, form, injuries, and run of the ball at the right time. I wouldn’t right us of on financial grounds alone.

I don’t know, We know Jota’s done the business for them but any new signing, no matter how much they have to spend, will always be a hit and miss affair, Playing in Scotland will always limit who they can bring in and will prevent them getting top, ready made players in their prime.

It’s a good point you make over the difference in playing style. From memory, Rodgers style was a lot slower more patient build up, not dissimilar to how we play. That’s going to be a big departure to the fast, throw everything at them from the first whistle, style they used under the Australian. Be interesting to see how that affects them, particularly if we can get a good start and keep the pressure on them.

I seriously wonder why any of the boys coming through our youth ranks would sign a professional contract with us. It seems they are always at the back of the queue as far as management and fans concerned.

Yeh it was, forgot about that one.

Not a particularly great goal but Colak’s in Eindhoven was probably the highlight of a forgettable season for what it meant. However, Tav’s at the Piggery gets my vote for being both spectacular in finding the net and then being able to watch the misery on the faces of the backdrop. Sakala’s at Tannadice also worthy of a mention.

There is no doubt he has gone stale, same can be said for Morelos and Kamara. I think for non-Scottish players, probably about 3 years is the maximum you will get before they start to get itchy feet and want/need to move on to pastures new. In hindsight, we should have sold them after the League win in 2001 and didn’t qualify for the CL. (Good thing is them over the city are going to start to have the same problem in the next year or two with all their imports).

From the few games we saw of Lawrence I would agree with you (although I don’t necessarily think they would have been competing for the same position under Gio). Lawrence looks as if he had a bit of composure about him when he got in and around the opponents penalty box, a quality that Kent sadly lacked. I’m sure in time Kent will be better thought off for his undoubted contribution over the last few years as it is sad to see him leave with so much criticism. Small margins in football though compared to what it could have been if he had sclaffed that chance he had in the final minutes against Eintracht into the net.

Sounds about right. Don’t think we’d greatly miss any of them. Throw in the out of contract and permanently/constantly injured and looks like a wholesale clear out.

Wouldn’t make drastic changes but would bring in 2 or 3 of our most promising young players (McCrorie, Lowry, Devine, King) to give them some game time. Self-defeating to play too many youngsters without some experience around them. Other than these younger players, don’t think we are going to learn very much we don’t know already about our other fringe players (maybe with exception of Ridvan).

Stop giving cheap goals away. Nothing undermines the confidence of a team more.

You have pretty well set out the position I was making and agree with me about Matondo. It might be ok for some teams, but pace alone is not enough when playing for us, they need to have other attributes to their game to beat players when space is limited. On the centre back issue, I think at the present time the priority needs to be given to a physical aggressive defender rather than someone who is a good in distributing the ball (ideally, it would be both but that likely costs money).

Where did I say that I wanted us to go back to route one football. I said we needed to pick players who will be suited to playing what we come up against week on week in Scotland. Players like Matondo whose primary method of beating players is his speed alone are not particularly suited to playing games against teams sitting back for 90minutes, which happens in most of our games. Say what you like about Walter, and I have been critical of some of his tactics over the years, but he knew how to pick a centre back that could defend and have the necessary aggression to compete in Scotland. Don’t care how much the game has changed over the years, your not telling me that an Amoruso, Cuellar or Bougherra wouldn’t walk into our team at the moment and give us the necessary backbone to compete and win things again.