Holmes_and_Watson

It took them until 87 minutes, but Celtic got a winner against St. Mirren. Martin no doubt hoping to be remain on equal points with them. Even had St Mirren (quite changed with some strong, smart recruits) held on, the reasons would have been quite different. Celtic hit the bar, and the post twice. They didn't just dominate the possession (76% to Rangers 65%), they dominated the game. Rangers managed 1 more shot in their game, but it was Motherwell who nearly got the points. While St Mirren had a couple of half chances, Celtic were the team hammering for a win. That's what Old Firm fans, or any fans of clear favourites, expect to see. A big game already for Martin on Tuesday, as the club need as many Euro-pennies as they can get, in their long chase to get closer to Celtic.

Don't like Jamaica, oh no I love her

It's a great get-out-of-responsibility card. He had a go at players not being patient enough in their final third. That they are too individualistic and not making any of the right decisions. In defence, it will be individual errors undoing what he's asking them to do. In every scenario, he can play it back and find fault. In everything except the way he has set them out and the consequences of resetting on every move.

He would be a star there. Had we been talking about Flynn Downes currently playing for a non old firm Scottish team, he could well have followed the likes of Scott Brown's career. Downes clearly works well with, and likes, Martin. Juric said he was unhappy with Downes reaction to a blocked move (I think to Ipswich) after Martin left, and he either didn't like the changes, felt the reasons to stay had gone with Martin or just saw the writing on the wall for us. With Rangers getting new funding, and Martin's relationship with Downes, there was the usual speculation, linking a move. https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-transfer-news/rangers-could-break-six-year-35437572 We paid 15 million for him plus 3 million in add ons on a four year deal. Purely in amortisation, we'd be looking for at least 12 million. Considering he's one of our sellable assets, it's fair to think we'd be still in a position to get more than our initial outlay. Wages wise, a 40% reduction puts him on 36k ( all figs here pulled from websites). An attractive deal for a PL club, if he still wants a move. It's beyond the resources of Rangers at present. No doubt Martin would love him to be there. Downes could very well love the idea of playing for Martin again. They have a massive overhaul underway. They have an initial investment of only 20 million or so. The linked article points out that it was 2019, when Rangers last paid 7 million. Currently, their highest disclosed fee on wiki, in the squad is 5.6 million for Danilo in 2023. 36k a week would also make him Rangers' top earner. They are operating in a different market to one where they could afford a Downs. Even if there were circumstances where Downs was available to loan, there would be a number of clubs interested. Rangers' biggest draw would be European football, and a prolonged run in it. They are pretty weak right now, for that to be a great choice. As Downes contract goes closer to winding down, who can tell if he joins Martin? He'll be somehow managing Manchester United by then, having left a trail of baffled fans in mediocre teams. 🙂

Could have been. There's been nothing to clap about, watching the team, for a while. So the guy's now not sure when and how to do it. 🙂

In other news, a big shout out to the North American Saints, currently enjoying their annual get together in the...ah.. Carribbean...awkward. 🙂

I didn't watch long enough to hear the boos, but not surprised. Every point lost is keenly felt. Rothwell's default state is being red faced and looking unfit. Motherwell didn't need to press much. They just outworked a tiring opponent, struggling to adapt to a system, for much of the second half. At the other end, that tired Rangers team are going to have to turn possession into breaking teams down. They didn't look like doing it today. A good Euro performance will ease the pressure...until the next game.

MK Dons in League 1 Swansea in the Championship Southampton in the PL Rangers in the CL qualifiers. Brand Martin won't feel he has to get it anytime soon. 🙂

Just looking at the Old Firm totals in the last few seasons, to see what Martin is up against. 24/25 - 75 points. 17 behind. 23/24 - 85 points. 8 behind ( Beale got punted in October) 22/23 - 92 points. 7 behind. 21/22 - 89 points. 4 behind. 20/21 - 102 points. Winners by 25 points. It was their first title since 2011, breaking Celtic's 9 in a row. The team had Davis and Aribo in it, as well as the likes of Bassey. It's been a brutal time since Newco Rangers started up. Some more thoughts... It's very early on, but Martin's control will be beneficial in Europe. His comments of his players only gearing up for Europe may shortly come back to bite him, as they don't bother there. Hopefully not. He knows he needs a left back. Not sure if that means Tavanier is pushed up, so both he and Aarons can play. You'd think so, as they don't have the strength in depth to have them competing. If Dessers goes, they need a more physical runner to drop back and support, as well as finish. That's a priority, and a tough one on their budget. If they can get someone, then Danilo, Gassama, Bajrami and apparently the loan kid can provide attacking support. Cameron looked decent when he came on too. The centre half pairing did okay. While Rothwell and Barron can do a holding job. Butland is going to have to learn to pass short, or have clearer targets. The team have already started to pick up some of the controlled passing from the back. Like us, a lot more is needed further up to keep the transitions going. We had better players in the champ, to use creative skill above, and as part of, Martin's system. This covers a lot of the things Martin levelled at his team today. They will have to conform to his system, or it falls apart. That's going to lead to departures in a short space of time to get replacements. They could do with Baz, Manning and/or Will on loan. Players who really made a difference to his system, and fill gaps in that Rangers side. If he's learned one thing, it's hopefully fitness related. Our PL team were miles off their opponents. He was criticising them for their lack of running today. Partly, that's getting used to the lack of movement when his system isn't working. But if he lets the squad be anything less than have PL fitness levels, then he's knowingly repeating a failure. Martin knows full well he has to win games. A number of his quotes reflect that. But it's going to have to happen in exactly the same style as he always sets up for.

I'm not over the shock of reading yours and thinking we were going down to L1. 🙂

Again?! Oh, I see... 🙂

If he's smart he's negotiated better terms to stay, knowing that if his wages aren't paid for successive months, he can walk anyway.

Loved the links last season Christophe. Thanks for keeping it going.

That would explain an awful lot about his performances.

Very early for him to be this brittle. Every point dropped is going to bring loads of criticism. Every time it happens, there will be people wanting him gone. The larger the gap to Celtic, the louder that's going to be. So, he does need to walk the walk in terms of all his getting the players onside platitudes he said with us. Motherwell were not braver. Martin's system allowed them to have some momentum, and his own attack created nothing of note at the pace they were instructed to play at. He can't be surprised as he sees it in training every day, and their fitness is likely to fall to Rothwell levels, rather than improve. It's clearly going to take time for him to work out transitions from the centre of midfield to attack. And then to do it at pace. And against sides, far more happy to defend. Sadly, he's never going to learn to win ugly. Rangers don't seem to have anyone to do that anyway. Hopefully for him, his tactic gets him through the next Euro round, as that's likely to be where it's better suited for now. If he's going to throw regular starters under traffic this early, he's in trouble.

Never underestimate the win at all costs mentality of Old Firm fans. As we all know, there's deep rooted cultural hatreds and rivalries mixed up in it. A vocal percentage couldn't give a stuff about the club's player turnover, lower resources or implementing football philosophies. Did they win, and are they doing better than Celtic are their priorities.

Exactly this. I watched from 40 mins on. Motherwell conceded by being even more suicidal in passing out from the back, than Rangers. The often defensively maligned Tava ier got the header from a resultant corner to get the lead. Rangers had lots of the ball, with Rothwell being central in their midfield and in taking corners. As the game went on, Motherwell did get a fairly controlled number of players forward. But Rangers never exploited the space quickly enough. Nor did they manage to break down Motherwell, when the home side were more compact. As normal for Martin sides, they didn't mind ceding some space down the flanks. That's an acceptable risk for Martin, and they were comfortable dealing with it. However, Martin never factors in that seeing your side break forward creates a bit of momentum and noise. He's not I tested in that. Motherwell's equaliser came fairly centrally, with a chest down back out to be struck past Butland. Butland didn't mind kicking long. Not that Rangers did much with that, and you can see Martin wanting to train that out, or bring Baz in on loan. After Rangers showed a couple of minutes of life after conceding, it was Motherwell's Sparrow who nearly got all 3 points for them. Butland's shot stopping kept them with a point. Before the game Martin was aware of the requirements, while pointing out the amount of changes completed, and still to be done. “There's been so much change and we're navigating a lot of change at this football club, everyone is, and the staff and the players are really doing well with that. “To manage that is not always easy, so we're trying to win while building and developing. We have so much to work on and so much to go in terms of performance and what we're looking like. “We've had five weeks that have been hectic with pre-season and then two massive games to prepare for and now we have to focus everything on this because this is what you're judged on, the success of a season." Not that this will impress a number of their fans. They dropped points in the last 2 opening league games. Neither manager lasted the season. Rangers failed to really create anything in that second half, whether they had space to move on or not. They showed sparks of playing at a higher tempo, and Martin will have to get them there for longer. Although I can imagine Rothwell spontaneously combusting at being in a game of that pace. Defensively, you could see Martin's training at work. They are already better than other sides at playing out. They moved players into space to receive short passes from the centre halfs. However Rangers had high possession before Martin. Controlling possession isn't the problem. Today, they couldn't even move it up quickly enough when they had space. Rangers clearly the more talented side. Undone by having a narrow margin and not being able to keep a clean sheet. Familiar territory. No doubt Rangers forums will be in their meltdown phase, even before Celtic kick a ball.

Procrastination

I heard we were expanding the antelope? MLG Snr has been sending messenger pigeons about it all week.

Thinking

I certainly don't have your flare for the subject.

Well, don't blame me if it blows up in your face.

Oh for Fawkes sake, trousers. Let them at least start their investigation.

I heard that some Wednesday fans were less bothered about their club going under, because at least they'd not have SOG on their forum. 🙂

Nostalgia