What do you think of the Champions League formation?

[bluenose_72 198]

:mcgregor:

:whittaker: :bougherra: :weir: :papac: :broadfoot:

:davis: :mcculloch: :edu:

:miller:

2 games in and it's worked very well so far. Steven Naismith appears to excel in it and is responsible enough defensively to get back and help Broadfoot.

Hopefully it will cause Valencia some problems in 3 weeks

[1st_Jan_1994 4,868]

I'm not the biggest fan of it, but no-one can deny it's effective and we won't lose a lot of games playing that way.

So who am I to think otherwise? it seems to be getting results - and that's all that matters

[1st_Jan_1994 4,868]

I'd play that way at Celtic Park too and I believe we could sneak it.

[ScottBF2 3,540]

The most impressive thing, for me, is how attacking we are with it. Even at Old Trafford, we spent quite a while around their box (albeit not as much as they spent around ours).

[Ryan_1 1,136]

I am happy with it, but I think we could use it better.

The likes of Davis and Edu could support Miller and Naismith a little bit more than they do, there is plenty of cover there, so they could unlock their shackles a bit more and help out Naismith and Miller.

I'd also like to see Naismith play more 'in the hole'. He tends to play slightly to the left, but if he could drift inside he could find himself in positions more often where he could either slide in Miller or get himself a chance to score.

Overall it's a effective way of going about our business in the Champions League and I also really like the fact that it's very adjustable.

[ForeverBlue_Since91 2,895]

Watching Rangers makes you fucking nervous sometimes,but it works.

[AGM_72 3,633]

It's effective so I'm happy with it, no reason to complain.

[Muff 245]

Suits the personnel we have at the club, bar the likes of Weiss and Jelavic.

Would have been interesting to see what we would have set-up like had Jelavic been illegible!?

[1st_Jan_1994 4,868]

Suits the personnel we have at the club, bar the likes of Weiss and Jelavic.

Would have been interesting to see what we would have set-up like had Jelavic been illegible!?

I think Smith is quietly content as it saves him making a massive decision.

[ryan_rfc 24]

Happy with it, hopefully we can get a few more good results:)

[TexasGers 96]

I didn't think we would set up that way at home, but it has worked really well so far. It requires everybody to put in a full shift and to be heavily disciplined so it has to be quite taxing physically

[nvager 498]

Be interesting to see what will happen if we were to go a goal behind.

Since we have not conceded a goal something must be working though.

[MikeRFCMike 10]

Be interesting to see what will happen if we were to go a goal behind.

Since we have not conceded a goal something must be working though.

if im honest i cant see us conceding anytime soon, unless won of the pings from 30odd yards catches McGregor off guard.

im quite happy playing this way in the champions league if it means points and ultimatley more money for the club

but still, would have liked to have seen Weiss make some sort of contribution, i think the wee man could run riot against the likes of bursaspor last night.

[Amac9 2,060]

So far we have been wrong and Walter Smith has been spot on. We went to Old Trafford, restricted them to long range shots and got a point. Last night was the exact same but this time we managed to get a goal and had other chances to get a second.

As mentioned though, it will be interesting to see what happens if we go a goal down. The formation and tactics are spot on for keeping it tight and sneaking a goal at the other end but at home to Valencia and Man Utd I feel we will have to attack a bit more as we will not get that many chances at goal if we play an ultra defensive 5-4-1.

[Gaz52 11,837]

I think we could stifle any team in the competiton with it and we have the attacking players to hurt teams as well. I'm quite confident about the Last 16

[ChrissyBoyyy 18]

i think walter hut it on the button when he said its easier to defend with no money than it is to attack with no money. its a cert other teams with the same background as rangers with poor income start copying us and playing more defensivly.

long live walter, tactical genius

[BouncingBear 23]

Certainly cant argue with it, we are only 2nd in the group on alphabetical order (I think). Alot of better teams would be more than happy to be sitting with what we have now. Anyone who says we'd rather see us go out and attack teams, ofcourse but would we still have 4pts?

[Poetry_In_Blue 1,043]

It's proved effective and after the issues we had last season was probably a necessity to give us back some credibility, if we continue to use this formation and continue to get results then I sure as hell ain't going to complain, and as was noticed last night we can move up the park quickly and we're probably unlucky not to win by more than the one goal.

[deleteduser1 169]

I didn't think we would set up that way at home, but it has worked really well so far. It requires everybody to put in a full shift and to be heavily disciplined so it has to be quite taxing physically

Agreed

Concentration has also been exceptional through out the side. Allan McGregor has hardly had a save to make in either game but has looked sharp and mentally alert when called upon and this has been the trademark of the teams performances so far in the CL group games.

[papaguy51 912]

I think we could have maybe got a goal at Old Trafford if we'd played it as we did last night.

Tomasz Kuszczak played that night and, IMO, he is awful. I wish we'd pelted a few at him.

[broxi51 48]

don't really mind it especially after last season and having to protect weir and our fullbacks.

i would like see us utilise the bench more, naismith and miller were fecked after 65 minutes. It's a squad game, but walter looks to be resilant on using the same 11 (they've earned it though) and laffery for the last 10 minutes.

i would have liked to seen weiss and lafferty on for the last 20 minutes, didn't think much of the turks defence.

On a side note, walter might have got someone tighter on insua on the second half, he got far too much time.

That being said, mcgregor hasn't really had a hard save to make yet in 2 games.

[the goal machine 7,802]

Suits the personnel we have at the club, bar the likes of Weiss and Jelavic.

Would have been interesting to see what we would have set-up like had Jelavic been illegible!?

Could have been:

:mcgregor:

:bougherra: :weir: :papac:

:whittaker: :davis: :mcculloch: :edu:

:jelavic: :miller:

[JamieD 18,940]

The most impressive thing, for me, is how attacking we are with it. Even at Old Trafford, we spent quite a while around their box (albeit not as much as they spent around ours).

5-4-1 converts to 3-5-2 very easily on the counter-attack.

[bluenose_72 198]

Totally agree about utilising the bench more, broxi51.

We were desperately needing fresh legs with a good bit of the game to go. Just someone who could relieve the midfield and defence by taking the ball 30/40 yards away from them.

As the 2nd half went on, we were sitting deeper and deeper. Nobody was able to press the ball.

Hopefully this changes for the Valencia game as they will be able to create better chances than the Turks did.

[sdunsmb 43]

Suits the personnel we have at the club, bar the likes of Weiss and Jelavic.

Would have been interesting to see what we would have set-up like had Jelavic been illegible!?

The same IMO.