Vs Alloa (Cup semi-final)
- Thread starter wee_od_88
- Start date
wee_od_88
Vital Football Hero
Unfortunately welch.....Rodgers decided not to put him on the bench tonight! We have no strikers on the bench. We don't have a plan B!
FINALLY! FORREST! GOAL!
Christie made that happen, his quick crossfield pass set Forrest away and we broke at them quickly before they could get players back!
FINALLY! FORREST! GOAL!
Christie made that happen, his quick crossfield pass set Forrest away and we broke at them quickly before they could get players back!
TicV"Establishment"
Alert Team
Great run and goal from Forrest
TicV"Establishment"
Alert Team
That's outstanding from Dembele!
TicV"Establishment"
Alert Team
Had we been clinical tonight (or had Griffiths been fit and playing) it could have been a cricket score. Much like Sunday we simply didn't take our chances.
Griffiths is a huge miss for us. Not just his goals but his all round play, running and dragging defender's all over the place which creates a lot of space for other to exploit. We've really missed the latter especially in the last couple of games.
Griffiths is a huge miss for us. Not just his goals but his all round play, running and dragging defender's all over the place which creates a lot of space for other to exploit. We've really missed the latter especially in the last couple of games.
wee_od_88
Vital Football Hero
Glad for the win in the end.
I think the plan against Barca was to block up and hit on the counter, but when Dembele was left up front on his own against 2 top defenders who he couldn't even really outpace or anything then it was never going to be easy. If you remember when we beat them before, I believe was it Miku that played that night? Striker that we had on loan from Levante or something? He played kind of in behind the striker, that No10 role that Rogic plays. It meant there was someone there to put a bit of pressure on the midfield, the striker could stay up to occupy the CBs and the rest of the team concentrated on defending. I'd be surprised if we don't see a similar strategy next time we play them. We need to almost gamble a little bit more and give our lone striker just even a bit of help.
I agree we have missed Griffiths and his overall play, he brings a lot to the team. Dembele is quite similar to him though, they'd both prefer to get running in behind a defence and get in on goal but when a team sits so deep, that's simply not possible and that's when you need to have a plan B! Griffiths and Dembele are both good in the air, but simply not bullying enough to get on to crosses into the box. If they can find space then no problem, but last night space was hard to find. You put someone a bit more like Ciftci on in there and you have a different player who might not be as mobile or be able to jump as high but he can create a bit more space by bullying defenders. I still don't know if Ciftci is the answer but I would imagine Rodgers will want a bit more of a target man in January if he can find one that suits.
Shooting practice all round today in training though, because not a single player could hit a barn door last night or on Sunday! Dembele is the only one you could let off because he actually didn't have many chances.
I think Rodgers would also be wise to set up some sort of chance creation practice, even getting some of the younger lads in as the opposition, get them to camp with 9 men behind the ball and see if we can figure out ways to draw them out or create space, or just generally score!
I think the plan against Barca was to block up and hit on the counter, but when Dembele was left up front on his own against 2 top defenders who he couldn't even really outpace or anything then it was never going to be easy. If you remember when we beat them before, I believe was it Miku that played that night? Striker that we had on loan from Levante or something? He played kind of in behind the striker, that No10 role that Rogic plays. It meant there was someone there to put a bit of pressure on the midfield, the striker could stay up to occupy the CBs and the rest of the team concentrated on defending. I'd be surprised if we don't see a similar strategy next time we play them. We need to almost gamble a little bit more and give our lone striker just even a bit of help.
I agree we have missed Griffiths and his overall play, he brings a lot to the team. Dembele is quite similar to him though, they'd both prefer to get running in behind a defence and get in on goal but when a team sits so deep, that's simply not possible and that's when you need to have a plan B! Griffiths and Dembele are both good in the air, but simply not bullying enough to get on to crosses into the box. If they can find space then no problem, but last night space was hard to find. You put someone a bit more like Ciftci on in there and you have a different player who might not be as mobile or be able to jump as high but he can create a bit more space by bullying defenders. I still don't know if Ciftci is the answer but I would imagine Rodgers will want a bit more of a target man in January if he can find one that suits.
Shooting practice all round today in training though, because not a single player could hit a barn door last night or on Sunday! Dembele is the only one you could let off because he actually didn't have many chances.
I think Rodgers would also be wise to set up some sort of chance creation practice, even getting some of the younger lads in as the opposition, get them to camp with 9 men behind the ball and see if we can figure out ways to draw them out or create space, or just generally score!
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