SIRB_72

All up for this especially at Ibrox. We played this at Ibrox a few times during the 20/21 season with Alfie and Roofe up top, Jack holding by himself and a combination of Aribo, Kent, Arfield, Hagi in behind the front two. We battered a few teams Hamilton & Aberdeen coming to mind and it was some of the best stuff I'd seen us play in years.

Basically sums up my issue with us centrally. Push Lundstram up to Kamara and Kamara up into that huge gap between Jack & Tillman and Colak. No wonder the passing was so laboured.

We don't need to necessarily play Colak in a two we just need to get bodies and movement around him. From the limited I've seen from him he stays between the posts, doesn't come deep but does make angles to make spaces for others. The second half against Livi when we had Tav and Borna high, Lawrence and Tillman just in behind him moving around and eventually Arfield doing similar it worked a treat. We were way too disjointed last night for anything like that to happen. I certainly think Colak will work and will score goals but it's all about using players strengths and hiding their weaknesses. This is something I think Gio will sort with Colak and the other signings.

I'd rather McLaughlin than Siegrist. Another one who turns into Gigi Buffon up against us.

Change of shape would definetely have helped us going forward. If we had that same 11 with Lundstram in midfield, Kamara just ahead of the latter and Jack along with Tilman starting off the right and moving centrally and Matondo out left with Barisic rather than Tav we would have had overloads centrally and on the left, leaving Tav 1v1 with their wing-back. I can't disagree with you on the individuals though. Kamara and Sands both ball watching for the first and Borna just way to weak. No shape can fix that rubbish. That's true in regards to the goals and that decision was very harsh, at the same time McLaughlin kept us in it. We've seen before what we can do at Ibrox in Europe so nothing is lost!

I doesn't help either when Gio plays our best and most expensive (in terms of wages) midfielder in defence.

Probably the worst Gio has got it since parkhead. Typically though he's excellent at changing it, especially shape, and it just never came.

To quote Walter Smith "If we had a bad night last night you're having a fucking horrendous one just now"

Gio got that hugely wrong tonight. I give him huge credit when he gets it right but tonight he deserves every bit of stick. I thought going into the game it was a 451/433. I don't know why we've almost tried to match up with them. Lundstram should only drop into a back 3 when defending under real pressure when we have to sit deep like Dortmund & Leipzig (away). He can't influence the game then Kamara has to come deeper and the front 3 are too isolated. If he wants to go for the 3 at the back with Lundstram bring in Davis for forward balls and intellegence for Jack and bring Lawrence in for Matondo who can come inside and out and support Colak better. Why we decided to play Matondo on the same side as Tav rather than Barisic tonight is baffling to me. Tav can dribble, has pace and so can go 1v1. Borna cannot and was then left isolated. It was the right players but just not in the right roles for tonight and left us extremely unbalanced which is why everything broke down once the ball left one of our back three.

Not what I expected tactically. Matondo should be on the other side supporting Barisic rather than Tav. Lundstram pretty much in back 3 is hurting us badly. It means Kamara is one down beside Jack, Tillman is playing inside and leaving us with no left side. Push Lundstram up and get Matondo on the left. The goal was powderpuff as well. Sands and Kamara ball watching and McLaughlin should do better!

Happy with that team. Pretty balanced all over. Tillman will start, in theory, start out wide but he'll drift in and join Kamara centrally in front of Lundstram and Jack (which also makes us hard to break down). It gives us an overload centrally and will leave Tav one v one with their full back. On the other side we should, again in theory, be able to double up on their wing back with Borna and Matondo. Happy with that!

Yep also a player that can also be used elsewhere behind Colak. Would much rather have him in that inside right role rather than Arfield who is a good impact play. Also Sakala or Wright on the right just get in the way of Tav. Matondo is available but just unsure of his fitness coming of off injury in a huge game. If he's ready to go then Lawrence on the left is alright with me. I'm assuming Kamara will sit just ahead of Lundstram and Jack.

Surely if available Sakala would be the best option on the left?

Tomorrow we'll probably be quite rigid and be happy with a draw and then take it back to Ibrox.

I reckon Sands will have a break out year and be a bit of revelation. Especially once Jack and Souttar inevitably get injured.

Wow! Ferrari really have out done themselves in this weekend.

I might regret this post later but going off pure form in 2022 it'll be interesting to see how Ferrari make a howling cunt of a golden opportunity to catch up on Red Bull/ get a 1-2.

That's just Rangers though There was definetely a switch after that parkhead game and certainly performances picked up. His PPG against the rest is higher than postecoglu's . Those two losses against them killed us but then in the last two we were probably the better side. So there are signs of progression which is why I'm feeling positive. In terms of a striker it depends what happens with Alfie. Today we really missed his link up play and coming deep. I think we missed a little bit of the same with Roofe who would get involved with general play. Colak is just a big number 9 by the looks of it. Wont offer too much but just needs one or two touches to be effective. We seen with his "offside" goal that if we service him he will score goals.

Gio's in game management winning us another game. I doubt many others feel similar but I feel very confident we can turn things round with him in charge and games aren't going our way. Bringing on Tillman for Wright gave us the overload in the centre and let Tav go 1v1. Bringing on Arfield for Kamara was the right call at the right time as our possession killed Livi's legs. Sands coming on for Souttar really settled us defensively - bold call here but Sands will be the revelation of the season when Jack and Souttar inevitably get injured. As for Souttar a tough tough debut and a lot of work needed, got bullied, looked clueless positionally and i've seen milk turn faster. I would have him as a understudy to Goldson as he's better with the game in front of him and let Davies, Sands and Helander (if he cant get fit) be the left sided centre halfs who can step forward. Overall, despite the first half, a deserved victory. We created more chances, should have scored more with Tillman and Colak's wrongly called offside goal. All of this without Morelos, Roofe, Matondo, Yilmaz and Davies. The future is bright.

It's about time we just trust Gio with the subs

Some goal from Sligo!

I'm pretty confident in that regard. Gio has a better PPG against the rest than postecoglu. Against them in head to heads the momentum is with us as Gio found out how to counter them which he also did with just about every other team in the league and Europe.

Sad day for the sport. Always good to have guys like that on the grid. He has seemed disenchanted since the late Ferrari days and the move to Aston Martin was an attempt to bring back the glory days but unfortunately it wasn't to be. Hopefully he does an Alonso and has a change of mind in a couple of years but I doubt it.

Number 71? I'm out.

Not a bad replacement for Jake Hastie. Welcome to Rangers!