06 Aug 2014 00:45:00
The standard of football at our club just now is shocking! As much of a legend Ally is, he's no manager. He's got to go.

There's a squad full of talented, albeit some are ageing, players there and he makes them look like amateurs with his tactics.

Take tonight for example.

The idea of the 3-5-2 is fine but you've got to have to wing backs who are going to burst a gut to get up and down the park all night to create the width in the system. Wallace can do that but Foster either can't or is too lazy too. So the system falls apart there. And the Midfield 3 can't all sit back in that system. Surely you adapt the system and change to a 3-4-1-2, allowing the holding midfielder (Black) to sit, the box-to-box midfielder (Law) to get up and down the park and make runs beyond the front two and then allow the No. 10 (MacLeod) to link up with the front two.

It's hardly rocket science. Every midfield 3 should have a holding players, a b2b player and a creator. Ours just seem to sit back and contribute nothing. This leaves the two up front with no support. You give Boyd support, he'll bang the goals in!

You got to question what they do fitness wise in pre-season. They looked extremely jaded out there and it's only start of the season. To play a 3-4-1-2 you have to have a team of very fit players or the system falls apart. Look at what LVG is doing at United.

The same applies for other formations.

Say you go to a 4-4-2 diamond. You have a holding midfielder, 2 box-to-box midfielders and a creator. Then the two full backs provide the width.

Even a 4-3-3. The usual midfield applied as stated above. You have two pacey wingers to get balls into the box and Boyd will finish them!

I'm not a great fan of the traditional 4-4-2. I think it can be worked out pretty easily and stopped. Although I reckon with Hibs down to ten men tonight, if we had put on Aird for one of the CM's then it would have worked.

However, the main point that leads to all these systems working is, keeping the ball on the deck! Can't watch another season of punting it up the park.

Transfer wise:

If we can find enough money to get in another CB and another winger, preferably right sided then I'd be happy with that. I'd like a RB but I can't see that happening. Out should go Moshni, Peralta, Daly and possibly Crawford (don't rate the boy). Oh and Cribrari if he's still here!

Banter please Ed! Thanks.

1.) 06 Aug 2014
I continually read, game after game, " we weren't at our best, we can play better and we will. " If we're never at our best how do we know what that measurement is?

I think we've got a good enough squad but the problem lies in the selection of the starting eleven and this isn't going to change or go away. McCoist says he wants more players in but who's he going to replace? Not the ones the majority of fans want, that's seems sure.

The continual rant of playing for Rangers is a scary proposition and the opposition always raise their game is becoming a self fulfilling prophecy. Time to cut it out. If a player's good enough, just give him the jersey and tell him to get on the park and do his stuff. We played one home grown player last night and that's not good enough. Bet Hibs drove home last night saying " we'll take them next time. "

2.) 06 Aug 2014
G95, I think that no matter what tactics are decided at the outset of a game the key to actioning them is mobility and flexibility. A manager must tweek the system as the game dictates. This is where we fall down as we appear too rigid in our approach.
Football is a simple game, sometimes over-complicated by the systems being operated. Width and pace are the key with the ball doing the work. The core of the team must be mobile and flexible with players than can adapt to the things that the game throws at them.
Your overall appraisal is spot on, but we might disagree on the ins and outs. That's why we love the game.
I stopped going a while ago because I didn't like the product on show and from what I view on tv at present it is going downhill.
I miss the banter at the game where at the end of the day we will probably agree to disagree, but there are few things better than to watch the Glasgow Rangers in full flow. This will not happen unless radical changes are made.

3.) 06 Aug 2014
06 Aug 2014 11:46:08
@g95 top post mate sums it up pretty well

4.) 06 Aug 2014
Billyb,

I agree that we must be able to adapt the system and tactics during the game if they are not working or if an opportunity arises to change them, i. e. A red card. The thing is Ally doesn't even know how to set the team up from the start never mind change during the game.

I'll continue to go to all the home games although not for the actual football just now. I've sat in the same seat for 15 years and I love the banter you get at the football. Most of all I love the club and will go till I, or the club, die.

5.) 06 Aug 2014
G95, Enjoy the banter and, I hope, the football. The current scenario cannot continue and crowds like last night might just tip the scales. From the 50's I have seen many great players/teams, proud captains, honourable managers and genuine owners, but now we only have memories of what was. Being totally honest I feel that these days are gone for good, but who knows?

6.) 06 Aug 2014
06 Aug 2014 17:30:05
OP the fitness of the squad has been an issue for a couple of years now and you would have expected the full time training would win out in the second half against largely part time teams.
I think a couple of the more mature posters mentioned the sand dunes at Gullane near North Berwick which bears in the olden days used to have to run up and down until Sargeant Major Wallace knew the basic core fitness was in place.

Hard work ye cannae whack it -maybe it's time to revisit the seaside.

7.) 06 Aug 2014
Well in guys must agree with all above posts