Champions League £40m+ ;-)
- Thread starter TicV"Establishment"
- Start date
wee_od_88
Vital Football Hero
Well that's a shame. We played well tonight and really it came down to a couple of defensive errors and in reality they were smaller errors than what we have seen in the past but the good teams punish those small errors and Bayern are a good team!
Fantastic effort from the lads tonight. They showed so much more heart and fight tonight than we did 2 weeks ago in Munich! If we can play like that more often, we'll have a far better chance of winning games!
Fantastic effort from the lads tonight. They showed so much more heart and fight tonight than we did 2 weeks ago in Munich! If we can play like that more often, we'll have a far better chance of winning games!
TicV"Establishment"
Alert Team
A performance to be proud of. Fitba is cruel and defensively we aided and abetted the cruelty.
James Forrest was outstanding! :emoticon:01 :emoticon:01 :emoticon:01
Again, all the best to you (and the soon-to-be Mrs wee_od) for your wedding on Friday, Matthew
James Forrest was outstanding! :emoticon:01 :emoticon:01 :emoticon:01
Again, all the best to you (and the soon-to-be Mrs wee_od) for your wedding on Friday, Matthew
TicV"Establishment"
Alert Team
V PSG (away) 22/11/17
Have stuff on this evening so will likely miss most of the game ... which might prove to be a stroke of luck ;-)
As long as we don't stand off, show some fight and let them know they've been in a game this time, I'll be happy.
Have stuff on this evening so will likely miss most of the game ... which might prove to be a stroke of luck ;-)
As long as we don't stand off, show some fight and let them know they've been in a game this time, I'll be happy.
wee_od_88
Vital Football Hero
I totally agree Tic! Can't expect much but we want to do ourselves proud tonight!
Tonights team is:
Gordon
Lustig - Simunovic - Boyata
Forrest - Ntcham - Brown - McGregor - Tierney
Rogic
Dembele
Subs: DDV, Bitton, Roberts, Griffiths, Sinclair, Armstrong and Kouassi
Strong bench, plenty of pace and creativity. Looks like we might be going for more of a "keep it solid and stay in the game" kind of approach to begin with.
Tonights team is:
Gordon
Lustig - Simunovic - Boyata
Forrest - Ntcham - Brown - McGregor - Tierney
Rogic
Dembele
Subs: DDV, Bitton, Roberts, Griffiths, Sinclair, Armstrong and Kouassi
Strong bench, plenty of pace and creativity. Looks like we might be going for more of a "keep it solid and stay in the game" kind of approach to begin with.
wee_od_88
Vital Football Hero
Evening Welch. Afraid I'm not watching the 2nd half. First half was a bit depressing although the fact we scored is great! Especially the fact we scored first!
We've looked decent going forward, especially early on but they eventually realised they had to adapt how they were playing to deal with our attack and since they did that we've struggled. Defensively we still have a major problem and it's not just personnel. Too often at crosses we ball watch and switch off. It's like everyone assumes someone will clear it and that's it.........
We've looked decent going forward, especially early on but they eventually realised they had to adapt how they were playing to deal with our attack and since they did that we've struggled. Defensively we still have a major problem and it's not just personnel. Too often at crosses we ball watch and switch off. It's like everyone assumes someone will clear it and that's it.........
wee_od_88
Vital Football Hero
I've watched the second half goals.....not exactly a lot that could be done about them but it leaves me scratching my head a bit.....how do we improve? How can we stop that from happening again in the future? Some of those goals were speculative shots where they've just hit the ball towards the target and the keeper's not saved them. Dani Alves' goal in particular was like that and Verrati's before that too.
It seems that we're still being given plaudits for our efforts last night despite the scoreline. At the end of the day, as people are saying.....it is PSG we were playing! We did better against Bayern but for me PSG have a far more devastating attack than Bayern, especially as the likes of Robben are getting older. PSG are strong all over the pitch. Neymar, Cavani and Mbappe are probably the most fearsome attack in football right now! I don't think any 1 team has such an array of threats from their front 3 players as they do.
Not to lay the blame with Gordon, but with at least some of those 7 goals, would another keeper have done better? It always felt like Gordon's reactions were just that second too slow and that's been the case for the past few seasons in Europe for me. They're within reach but he either thinks it's going elsewhere and therefore can't change in time or just reacts too slow to get down and actually save it.
A moment that summed up the difference between us and some of the best European teams at the moment was in the first half when Dembele came deep for the ball and made himself available for the pass on the left, he passed it inside to Ntcham who then took off running down the left and got about as far as half way into the PSG half before being surrounded by FOUR PSG players! Even if we'd actually managed to get another player up to support him (raises the question why didn't we?), I think there was probably still another 1 or 2 PSG players who could have then tackled that supporting player.
I've said it before but it's the fluidity at which these teams can move up and down the pitch. It's scarily good! It's not a case of one going and one sitting, they move as a unit! This is where it starts to get back to the level of league we play in. We don't often get a chance to even try playing that way because a lot of teams sit off us so much and then when they do try and counter, we can deal with it with whoever is in defence basically. We don't need our midfielders and attackers all moving back to stop the attack. When was the last time you saw a team counter-attack us in the SPFL and the player was on his own with no support and we got 4 or even 3 players around him? I can't recall seeing that sort of thing happen at all. Two players maybe but generally it's one player goes to deal with it and then someone else to mop it up if it goes wrong.
So once again.....how do we get better? Is it time to start clearing out what are considered some of our better players in order to try and start bringing in even better talent? For example would we sell Armstrong, McGregor or even Rogic (not all at once obviously) over time after bringing in better players to replace them?
It seems that we're still being given plaudits for our efforts last night despite the scoreline. At the end of the day, as people are saying.....it is PSG we were playing! We did better against Bayern but for me PSG have a far more devastating attack than Bayern, especially as the likes of Robben are getting older. PSG are strong all over the pitch. Neymar, Cavani and Mbappe are probably the most fearsome attack in football right now! I don't think any 1 team has such an array of threats from their front 3 players as they do.
Not to lay the blame with Gordon, but with at least some of those 7 goals, would another keeper have done better? It always felt like Gordon's reactions were just that second too slow and that's been the case for the past few seasons in Europe for me. They're within reach but he either thinks it's going elsewhere and therefore can't change in time or just reacts too slow to get down and actually save it.
A moment that summed up the difference between us and some of the best European teams at the moment was in the first half when Dembele came deep for the ball and made himself available for the pass on the left, he passed it inside to Ntcham who then took off running down the left and got about as far as half way into the PSG half before being surrounded by FOUR PSG players! Even if we'd actually managed to get another player up to support him (raises the question why didn't we?), I think there was probably still another 1 or 2 PSG players who could have then tackled that supporting player.
I've said it before but it's the fluidity at which these teams can move up and down the pitch. It's scarily good! It's not a case of one going and one sitting, they move as a unit! This is where it starts to get back to the level of league we play in. We don't often get a chance to even try playing that way because a lot of teams sit off us so much and then when they do try and counter, we can deal with it with whoever is in defence basically. We don't need our midfielders and attackers all moving back to stop the attack. When was the last time you saw a team counter-attack us in the SPFL and the player was on his own with no support and we got 4 or even 3 players around him? I can't recall seeing that sort of thing happen at all. Two players maybe but generally it's one player goes to deal with it and then someone else to mop it up if it goes wrong.
So once again.....how do we get better? Is it time to start clearing out what are considered some of our better players in order to try and start bringing in even better talent? For example would we sell Armstrong, McGregor or even Rogic (not all at once obviously) over time after bringing in better players to replace them?
TicV"Establishment"
Alert Team
Gordon should have kept at least 3 of those goals out. He's not to blame for how open and exposed we were at the back, though. BR won't change his approach so we just need to suck it up and console ourselves with the £40-50m .
wee_od_88
Vital Football Hero
I think it's simply going to take a bit of time for us to get better. Our bread and butter is obviously domestic games and because the standard of the league is relatively poor in comparison to what the other teams are playing against around most of the rest of Europe we only have the European games to try and improve and to actually work on a lot of these things.
BR may be wise to get a good mix of beatable teams and good quality teams to play in pre-season. That's one of our only other chances to get better for playing this level of team.
Our team for the Cup game against Motherwell this weekend should be interesting. Not sure how bad Lustig's injury was but I wouldn't imagine he'll be fit. Gamboa at RB instead? I don't imagine so against a very tough and aggressive Motherwell team. I think it will be a 3-4-2-1 more similar to how we played against PSG. However a number of players may be rested.
BR may be wise to get a good mix of beatable teams and good quality teams to play in pre-season. That's one of our only other chances to get better for playing this level of team.
Our team for the Cup game against Motherwell this weekend should be interesting. Not sure how bad Lustig's injury was but I wouldn't imagine he'll be fit. Gamboa at RB instead? I don't imagine so against a very tough and aggressive Motherwell team. I think it will be a 3-4-2-1 more similar to how we played against PSG. However a number of players may be rested.
wee_od_88
Vital Football Hero
Final game against Anderlecht. Avoid a 0-3 defeat and we're through to the Europa League!
Dembele and Bitton both supposed to be fit enough to be involved now. The big question is how many changes should BR make to the team? He's already mentioned that he doesn't think it would be any sort of risk to play Edouard, after his hat-trick against Motherwell at the weekend, should he be given a chance in the Champions League?
Dembele and Bitton both supposed to be fit enough to be involved now. The big question is how many changes should BR make to the team? He's already mentioned that he doesn't think it would be any sort of risk to play Edouard, after his hat-trick against Motherwell at the weekend, should he be given a chance in the Champions League?
wee_od_88
Vital Football Hero
Tonight's team:
Gordon
Lustig - Simunovic - Boyata - Tierney
Brown - Armstrong
Forrest - McGregor - Sinclair
Dembele
Subs: DDV, Bitton, Griffiths, Ajer, Edouard, Rogic, Ntcham
The only worrying thing there is that if Forrest or Sinclair get injured/tired, we have no wingers to replace them. If either did need to be replaced, it would have to be McGregor or Armstrong moving out wide.
Gordon
Lustig - Simunovic - Boyata - Tierney
Brown - Armstrong
Forrest - McGregor - Sinclair
Dembele
Subs: DDV, Bitton, Griffiths, Ajer, Edouard, Rogic, Ntcham
The only worrying thing there is that if Forrest or Sinclair get injured/tired, we have no wingers to replace them. If either did need to be replaced, it would have to be McGregor or Armstrong moving out wide.
wee_od_88
Vital Football Hero
I'm not really understanding the way we're set up at the moment.....we're sitting back off them, Armstrong is the one playing further forward from midfield with McGregor sitting more.
When defending, Sinclair and Forrest are very narrow and giving their fullbacks a chance to get forward and on the ball. It looks like Onyekuru is going to give Lustig a torrid time tonight!
Armstrong has been running around chasing a lot but that's all it is, chasing! We can't get close enough to their midfield.
When defending, Sinclair and Forrest are very narrow and giving their fullbacks a chance to get forward and on the ball. It looks like Onyekuru is going to give Lustig a torrid time tonight!
Armstrong has been running around chasing a lot but that's all it is, chasing! We can't get close enough to their midfield.
wee_od_88
Vital Football Hero
Everything is too slow from us. It's all at walking pace! Lets see some energy please!
Anderlecht are playing with 2 sitting midfielders, so they're able to pop it about between them and have one of our midfielders chasing them while our other 2 midfielders sit and mark one midfielder.
Forrest is still struggling after hurting himself sliding into get a ball earlier in the half. If he's not going to be able to continue much more, I'd bring Griffiths on to run about all over the place and move McGregor out onto the right wing.
Anderlecht are playing with 2 sitting midfielders, so they're able to pop it about between them and have one of our midfielders chasing them while our other 2 midfielders sit and mark one midfielder.
Forrest is still struggling after hurting himself sliding into get a ball earlier in the half. If he's not going to be able to continue much more, I'd bring Griffiths on to run about all over the place and move McGregor out onto the right wing.
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