AJF

Really quite content with that first half display. We were always going to surrender the ball to Benfica a lot but when we have had it we’ve looked to break quite quickly and have found gaps. Dessers has been a bit of a nuisance but nothing is sticking really and he is losing possession too easily. Silva on the other hand is doing well to take the ball in and involve his team mates further up the pitch. Penalty looks like it was headed onto his arm so potentially harsh, but what a way to respond. Excellent ball in from Silva. I mentioned a week or two ago that Tav has lost a yard, and I think it was quite evident early on in the half. Settled a bit as the game went on, but he has been unable to recover on a few occasions simply as he doesn’t have the pace over a sustained distance anymore.

I like our midfield balance with those 3. However I wonder if it would’ve been better to go with Raskin in a more compact 3 to try and stifle the 3 of Benfica that sit behind the striker. We will need to be at our best to get anything.

To an extent, yes. However, I have watched plenty (and even attended a couple) of matches with VAR in operation as a neutral where my team aren't playing. I still maintain that VAR greatly diminishes the product and entertainment value. So without any self-interest in those matches, I still believe it would be far better without VAR. To suggest that all issues stem from the fans or bias is disingenuous, in my opinion.

Of course you can still moan about it because ultimately, in the example you provided, the referee got the decision wrong. Just because some people prefer there to be no VAR doesn't mean they lose the right to feel aggrieved at bad decisions, it just means they are willing to accept that they will feel aggrieved from time to time if it means VAR isn't on the scene. Fans are impossible to please because it is impossible to get every decision correct while maintaining an entertaining product.

That's the thing. People that do want rid of VAR (myself included) have already accepted that there is a trade-off with incidents like the one you posted. Most people realise referees are humans and humans make errors from time to time. How did we manage without it for so long that turned football into the world's most popular sport? As an aside, I watched that game live last night and in real time thought it was a great clearance. I'd also note no QPR players appealed either so I understand why the ref never gave it, and that's exactly how it would be viewed here if there was no VAR. Obviously fans of the club suffering it will be aggrieved, but football fans accept they will be aggrieved at one point or another if they go to watch football.

Aye, expecting this to be a very different experience compared to the last time we met Benfica where arguably we should've had a couple of wins but done our best to shoot ourselves in the foot and draw twice instead. I think we will struggle big time.

Cover for me how? Why on earth would I be obliged to post about hooligans having a rammy with each other?

Nope, equally wild. This is what I said about that claim in the match thread:

The ball was running away from McCausland and towards Casey. I personally think it’s wild that anyone can describe it as a 50/50 and suggest Casey wasn’t heavy favourite to get there first.

As was pointed out by many Motherwell fans in Casey’s defence, it was never a 50/50 tackle. Casey got to the ball a good metre or so ahead of McCausland. I’m not sure why folk are expecting McCausland not to have pulled out when he was clearly not going to win the ball. Image borrowed from @Al B’s post on the match thread. Looking at the point that Casey reaches the ball, what are people expecting McCausland to do here? Throw himself into a tackle and potentially put himself at risk of a card?

I thought the same, but I read on Twitter (I know) that apparently 3-4 weeks is about the norm for charges brought against managers or staff. It’s seemingly only players that get fast track hearings.

Christ, don’t give them any ideas for something else they can claim as a stitch up.

Update from the gaffer ahead of tomorrow. Hasn’t given much away regarding team selection, other than to say McCausland has done some individual training but will wait til tomorrow to see if he will get any game time.

I don’t think it’s just flag waving from Celtic fans though. There is clearly a lot of online abuse he is receiving, even if he did receive an ovation in the stadium. Add in the claims made today from the president of his former club that he has been approached in public by fans then it’s clearly a more complex issue than just Palestine flags being waved.

I think we’re at an impasse here, as I thought it was fairly evident I was making a facetious comment about Davidson and we’ve drifted a bit. I don’t think I am going to convince you otherwise, but objectively, I think missing 148 games through injury is a lot, even if you discount 8 of those games for sickness or concussions. He has 456 appearances across his career, with 148 games missed through injury. So effectively he missed 1 in 4 matches through injury during his career. I’d say that’s pretty bad.

But concussion or flu only accounted for 8 games according to what you said. I’m not sure what narrative you think I’m trying to push. If we summarise what I’ve said on this thread as: 1) I don’t think Casey should’ve received a red card 2) I don’t think he needed to go to ground 3) It was perfectly natural for McCausland to pull out the challenge considering Casey was always reaching the ball before McCausland. It was impossible for McCausland to get there first 4) Davidson was a sicknote Nothing really controversial there in my opinion or driving a “narrative”

Why would we discount certain types of injuries to make his stats look better? Even before I checked how many games he’d missed I had the impression he was a sicknote. The numbers just confirmed it. And without a doubt it’s a bad tackle from Roofe, I don’t think that’s debatable. Though I’m not sure how often people are asked to describe the worst tackles they’ve seen, nor is it in a fans nature to bash their own players. But if me saying it was a bad tackle by Roofe makes you feel any better, then there you go

Really? Looking at his injury history on Transfermarkt, he looks like he missed 148 games through injury during his career. That’s almost 4 full league campaigns worth.

Murray Davidson maybe not the best example to use given he was made of glass. Maybe he should’ve pulled out a few more of those situations.

The exact same happened to Lagerbielke as happened to the Hearts defender yesterday. The forward put his foot across the defender and the defender then made contact with the attackers calf. Yet a different outcome.

First meeting between Rangers and Celtic earlier this season. Dessers gets his leg in front of the Celtic defender. The Celtic defender then proceeds to kick Dessers’ calf. Dessers was penalised and our goal ruled out. Pretty much the exact same scenario as yesterday but a different outcome. Going by your own description, Dessers being kicked in the calf should not have resulted in a foul against us and the goal ruled out?

So Yang getting his foot in-front of the Hearts defender to initiate contact was just clever forward play?

Aye, your penalty yesterday was a right stone-waller

As has already been pointed out by a few, Casey was always reaching the ball first. McCausland was never getting there first so naturally he wasn’t going to fling himself into it and just tried to block the ball by the looks of it.

Yeah, similar happened when we played St Johnstone last month. The ball struck their defenders arm and was cleared. The ball stayed in play and we were knocking it about at the back, if I recall correctly, when the ref halted play to then go to the monitor.