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The is just an impression with nothing to back it up but I've a feeling Alexander considered yesterday a freebie, used it for minutes in the legs and would have been surprised as anyone we fluked something.

Dropping your two previously first choice but injury prone CBs, protecting KVV made sense in a way. He also said at the AGM Tierney was a project rather than immediate starter yet pitched him in, Cornelius had been wanting time and got a run, he gave SOD a reward for training well etc.

 

Even the subs were guys we've hardly used recently. Hat off to them they were great did Alexander seriously think Amaluzor would go from our the squad to salvaging 0-2 at Ibrox?!

God knows who we pick on Wednesday.

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48 minutes ago, Handsome_Devil said:

The is just an impression with nothing to back it up but I've a feeling Alexander considered yesterday a freebie, used it for minutes in the legs and would have been surprised as anyone we fluked something.

Dropping your two previously first choice but injury prone CBs, protecting KVV made sense in a way. He also said at the AGM Tierney was a project rather than immediate starter yet pitched him in, Cornelius had been wanting time and got a run, he gave SOD a reward for training well etc.

 

Even the subs were guys we've hardly used recently. Hat off to them they were great did Alexander seriously think Amaluzor would go from our the squad to salvaging 0-2 at Ibrox?!

God knows who we pick on Wednesday.

Have to agree, the line up yesterday was far from what you would think is our strongest starting 11 and they looked just like that in the first half. If we’re being honest though Rangers should have won and we were lucky to pick up a point. Alexander would have taken plenty of stick with the line up if we had been thrashed.

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With the new 5 subs rule it seems a dereliction of duty if we don’t use at least 2 of them at half time.  As seen yesterday we have a squad of players who can all do a job so we are not restricted to a first XI ‘good’ players.  At half time we could be losing and something new should be tried, we could be winning and the opposition manager has spent time working out how to combat us, so change it up.  At the very least 2 fresh sets of legs should bring impetus to a second half.

The half time change doesn’t count as one of our three changes.  So a free hit.

We have a squad and now have a licence to get more of them on the park for longer, happier players, happier squad, more success.

I think I have just cracked management.

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2 hours ago, Handsome_Devil said:

The is just an impression with nothing to back it up but I've a feeling Alexander considered yesterday a freebie

I thought the same, evidenced by the fact that Ojala was dropped after a faultless day against Aberdeen the week before. I would have thought that given he seems to struggle for match sharpness after being out that we would play him now that he's finally fit but maybe Wed's game against County was seen as the priority (ditto not risking KVV at all).

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Possibly a "now is not the time" point but that's Alexander played Rangers 4 times and he's only lost one of them (3 draws and a loss).

As far as the team selection goes, there's an element of it feels like horses for courses as much as it does a tombola IMO.

We pretty much know we're not going to be "on the ball" much at Ibrox so it makes sense to bench Goss for that reason alone.

It also seems more than a coincidence that Deano's last two starts have been against Rangers and Celtic.

Fwiw, this is the team that drew with Rangers on "Flag Day":

220306915_ScreenShot2022-02-28at08_46_11.thumb.png.eca912b192bfd94cc5506de02806289d.png

Not risking KVV just feels like common sense given the games we've got coming up to the split. Alexander's post-match leaned heavily into the idea that these games coming up are the ones that matter - and he's not wrong tbf.

I don't have the citation but I'm pretty sure I read/heard Alexander say at some point that he didn't want to have a situation with the squad where we have an obvious "best XI" and while I'm at the point where I'm taking pretty much everything he says publicly with a crate of salt, it's also true that any of our 8 midfielders could realistically start on any given day.

It's an unusual situation for us to be in where we have a squad that can potentially be rotated to the extent after years of knowing pretty much what XI we're going to see week in, week out.

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Something i have noticed is that our away games against the old firm this season have been very close.

At Ibrox we have managed to get 2 draws (1-1 and then 2-2) while the Celtic game was only 1-0. I thought we could have gotten something from parkhead if the ref bothered to send of Hart for handling outside his box. Additionally we were never really out of the game.

 

Contrast that to our home form against the old firm. The less Said about it, the better.

 

Honestly, we our now in our end game for this season. The next 6 games will be crucial to wether this will be a successful season or a meh/disappointing one. I would hope to take maximum points from the homes games and try to do better away. We simply can't rely on every team around us dropping points that has basically happened these past 2 months. 

Edited by Phillips455
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50 minutes ago, CountyFan said:

Hi pals, will there be PATG for away fans on Wednesday does anyone know? 

Well, you will need to get a ticket as its all barcoded now. However there should be a ticket office/portacabin where you can buy/pick up tickets right next to the away stand.

Make sure to check online for more details.

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If Woolery can find a way to tie it together consistently he could be incredibly effective in this league.  I've not seen much of yesterday's game but that's twice at least this year (St Mirren away) where he's salvaged us results just by battering fullbacks about.

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45 minutes ago, YassinMoutaouakil said:

If Woolery can find a way to tie it together consistently he could be incredibly effective in this league.  I've not seen much of yesterday's game but that's twice at least this year (St Mirren away) where he's salvaged us results just by battering fullbacks about.

Even if it's like Chris Humphrey where the fullbacks were so terrified of being left in a cloud  of dust that we were unwilling to push up too far, it would be a good thing.

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18 minutes ago, Swello said:

Even if it's like Chris Humphrey where the fullbacks were so terrified of being left in a cloud  of dust that we were unwilling to push up too far, it would be a good thing.

I always wondered why Chris Humphrey ran down the wing, inevitably he ran out the pitch or crossed to the corner flag. Why not make a bee line for the goals and just keep running until there is a net in your face.

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13 minutes ago, Swello said:

Aye - (unless you were St Johnstone) the perceived threat of Humphrey vs reality were two different things - but other managers (including the OF) always gave him special treatment.

Mind Steven Anderson got hooked after 20 minutes to let Danny Grainger wonder what the f**k to do with him? Heady days.

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