saintant

2 hours ago, Farmer Saint said:

I've never understood why in Ice Hockey you don't get a morbidly obese man to just stand in front of the goal.

Are there agile, morbidly obese men?

Not everyone may like the fact but Russell Martin remains an interesting conversation topic and many fans will continue to follow how he gets on at Rangers. I don't rate him as a manager because he is not proactive and is welded to one way of playing. As a person I can't decide whether he's an egotist, a narcissist or a genuinely decent bloke - probably a bit of all three.

1 hour ago, Chez said:

the more I look at us, the more doubts I have about us challenging. The keepers are the same, but McCarthy looks slower than last time round. It wasn't a strength, it still isn't.

In defence, KWP and Bednarek were our two best players at the back last time. Both gone. The replacement RB is a step down. THB might remain (and thus will be the same) and the left back position feels the same in terms of defensive quality, although we certainly have more depth. It also wasn't a strength last time. 

Central midfield feels roughly the same strength wise. Charles may have improved a little since last time, but more importantly will be his changed role that better suits him. Smallbone hasn't improved and is only useful when you have loads of the ball. Aribo was a key player in the run in. And he's off. We lacked bite last time. I still don't think we have that.

We look a little weaker out wide. Fraser looks slower, and there are less options. Brooks impressed me more than others on here, I know, but that little bit of quality is missing (assuming Dibling/Fernandes depart). A lot may rest on Robinson being a star.

Up front, the central strikers offer more variety, but do they give us a strong focal point like Adams? Not sure. Armstrong is obviously here again, but is his heart in it? We are reliant on him being quickly reinvigorated like last time as his finishing got us out of jail a fair bit.

I know there is much more to it than just players. Martin had us dominate possession which strangled the life out of many teams. However, we were totally clueless without the ball and got murdered if we gave the ball away. Still's tactics must improve us, simple as that. 

His heart should be in it because by now he must have figured that the Championship is his ceiling. In reality, he should be chomping at the bit and determined to score a shed load of goals. Where else is he going to go? He could be an important part of a team challenging for promotion or alternatively, if his heart isn't in it, he can sit on the bench because only he can make Will Still pick him in our starting line-ups. 

Take anything north of £35m because a) clubs know he's not signing a new contract with us and b) his very poor second half of last season means he has no real track record in the Premier League so is a gamble that most clubs won't pay the really big bucks for. Anything around £40m would be a deal we should be happy with. We don't want to get ripped off but equally, play hard ball, and we may scare off all potential suitors. It's a tricky balancing act but, unfortunately, we have to accept we don't hold all the cards.

2 hours ago, HnycS said:

Yes that is it Gold Cup involvement meant he was late for pre-season. Suspect we may see him build fitness with longer match participation, no point spending him out for 90 and getting a muscle pull that puts him out until Xmas.

He played in the Gold Cup for his country managed by Pochetinno who we know is a stickler for total fitness. He'll already be one of the fittest players in our squad.

1 hour ago, Saint_lambden said:

Baffles me every year why people think the club are not working on deals just because every single move is not reported to them, but I guess we're living in a time of instant gratification. People would rather be fed a load of bollocks that has no substance to it than wait for deals to secured. 

Look at the Quarshie deal - nobody knew that was happening until it was basically done. That's how the club should be operating. 

Quality over quantity is still the mantra. 

It must actually be the new mantra.

1 hour ago, S-Clarke said:

The words from Dragon were that we were trying a Striker, Defender and AMC - and we can do before selling. We got the striker and defender, but maybe the AMC just didn't materialise for whatever reason.

We do need to be mindful that we do still have Aribo/Edozie and co on the books though, they need to be shifted. Not just financially, but squad size wise really. The vibe I get is that the club want to improve on Aribo, Edozie.

I'll say it again, did we really only have one target?

2 hours ago, Saint NL said:

This guy has 70k+ followers so seems legit enough to post

 

 

Snatch their hand off.

7 hours ago, HnycS said:

Is Stewart ahead of Downs? Not sure about that, from what I saw of Downs in the Gold Cup and the way he took the goal in pre-season as soon as he is fit he should play. So Stewart has a small window to prove himself.

Is Downs not fit then? What is his injury? Hope it's not the old chestnut that he's only just signed and missed a bit of pre-season. If he's our best centre forward then he should start against Wrexham. Let's face it, the competition isn't great.

11 hours ago, Smirking_Saint said:

Because they desperately needed to

Ah, my comment passed straight over your head then.

2 hours ago, OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint said:

It should dwarf many, but there are quite a few clubs who could stake a claim to promotion this year. For instance, the value of Birmingham's incomings this summer already surpasses £50m. They'll be difficult.

How are Birmingham managing to sign players before the last few days of the transfer window? Asking for a friend.

3 hours ago, S-Clarke said:

Oh absolutely, especially the first half I thought Downs was way too isolated. But it just highlighted the lack of attacking options we have across the 3 (10, wide left, wide right). We need at least 2 across that area, 3 if we're being really ideal. We can't go into a season with Fraser and Archer being our wide options, or even 'false 9's' as Fraser played during points. He'd get eaten up and spat out doing that at any level.

Fraser can be an asset to us, but only as a sub. If he starts as a first team player for the majority of the season then we've cocked up recruitment imo.

It's a pity Downs wasn't still on when we switched things around and had a go. Think he'll be great in a front footed approach from the team as he makes clever runs and has some pace and strength. His impact yesterday was limited by the way we played when he was on the pitch.

1 hour ago, AlexLaw76 said:

When they go on a nice little run and hit another sticky patch, he will be his prickly self when the jeers start again

Never rated him

Well he's clearly already got prickly with his own players.

46 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

Josh Brownhill please

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/statistik/vertragslosespieler

He'll attract interest from better clubs than us - shame because he'd be perfect.

8 minutes ago, Football Special said:

Bound to be a bit of that, Still also gets a 'free hit' game away at Northampton where no one will really care if we lose so can use that to give more minutes to young players and try out some others. I remember Martin using players who wanted out at Gillingham in an awful performance two years ago 

Don't agree - this is not a free hit game and if Still gets it wrong and we lose the fans will not be forgiving. Most fans want us to win every game and rightly so.

15 hours ago, Smirking_Saint said:

We looked much more assured and assertive with 5 atb, I know many don’t like the system, even I don’t like the system, but it does allow for a lot of tactical flexibility and Will Still has fallen back on it a lot in France

If we are without Tyler and Fernandes than this makes the most sense for me, if by a miracle they’re both still here than we’ll almost certainly incorporate them in either a 4231 or a 532

Not sure Downes will be fit and, even if he is, he'll be on the bench having had little preseason action.

42 minutes ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

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.

Their fitness is what it is, preseason is over up there. This is as fit as they'll be and they look well short of the required levels. Motherwell were still full of running at the end of the game but many of the Ranger's lot were blowing out their asses. We had it last season and he clearly hasn't learned. He's asking for more running but I think they'll struggle to give it to him and a lot of that is on him. He's already dumped the players under the bus at the first sign of his plans going tits up. Needs to take a long look in the mirror though he probably already does plenty of that. If he continues to stubbornly fly his flag of one way of playing then the Rangers fans will be venting their feelings and I hear they booed their players today at the end. Every team they face will be ready to press them high and the pressure will just grow.

5 hours ago, SuperSAINT said:

Is BBD injured?

It's quite hard to tell.

Groundhog day watching that game. Rangers fans are already raging and saying all the things most of us said including lack of fitness. They've played 3 games and, if their opponents could finish, would have lost them all comfortably. Feel a bit sorry for the fans up there because they've got this for the whole season although many are saying he'll be gone by Xmas. RM continues with his self belief in his way of playing and, as we found, he will never change.

2 hours ago, Turkish said:

Any chance you could repost this with the picture in focus. Thanks

Just now, Smirking_Saint said:

Lots of realism too.

1 minute ago, SW11_Saint said:

Not over yet! 

Oh, thought it was 🙂

1 minute ago, whelk said:

How do you know he won’t be? Too many reading the starting line up as if it is Will’s dream XI

Well it's normal to start your preferred X1 in the final friendly but maybe Will does it differently.

Creditable draw and hopefully Will has learned that he can't rely on those who have been crap for a long time. Lots for him to ponder before deciding his line up next week and hopefully quite a few have played themselves out of the team and vice versa. Let's see if he learned much today.

Seems Will spent weeks seeing which players would do a job for him and then picked all those who wouldn't - now he's subbed on the ones he perhaps should have started with and we are a different side.