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8 hours ago, rubber_duck said:

Ralstons limited, gave a goal away, looked awkward…but by god he hung on. Fair play. Deserves his place. 

No he does not, are you blind he was just absolutely awful, the lad can’t run jump tackle pass or control a football, bein a headless chicken is not enough at this level, the Hungarian winger will  torture him.

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8 hours ago, rubber_duck said:

Ralstons limited, gave a goal away, looked awkward…but by god he hung on. Fair play. Deserves his place. 

 

I'd imagine he'll keep his place due to a lack of alternatives, at least in Steve Clarke's mind, but he doesn't deserve to. 'limited' 'gave a goal away' 'looked awkward' You're absolutely right and that's what you judge an international footballer on. He hung on ? Didn't hide ? That isn't nearly enough. 

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3 hours ago, Bogbrush1903 said:

Ralston has hardly played all season and was struggling for the last 25 minutes, although that's, coincidentally, when he began to play better.

He began to play better when Hendry stopped passing him the ball

McCann summed it up neatly enough in commentary when he commented that Ralston didn't open his body up once when receiving the ball. Always went back.

We must have someone capable of more. Surely?

 

Edited by ArabFC
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25 minutes ago, ArabFC said:

He began to play better when Hendry stopped passing him the ball

McCann summed it up neatly enough in commentary when he commented that Ralston didn't open his body up once when receiving the ball. Always went back.

We must have someone capable of more. Surely?

 

That’s the thing - we don’t. 

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Would be amazed if we don't go with the same lineup on Sunday, with McKenna in for Tierney, assuming no other injuries. 

There is no chance we will change from a back 3 at this stage and very little chance we will start with Adams AND Shankland. 

Appreciate Ralston is a bit out of his depth. Have seen nothing of McCrorie so couldn't say if he will be much better. Probably comes down to the confidence of the player. What we know about Clarke is he tends to make decisions and stick with them. See Stephen O'Donnell & David Marhsall 3 years ago. 

Suppose other option is Forest... but I think that will be more a plan B in the 2nd half if we need to chase. 

I don't think Shankland will start, nor should he. He will get more game time on Sunday if we need a goal. Can 100% understand the reluctance to roll any dice last night in the last 10 or 15 minutes. At 1-1 we're very much alive and in control of our destiny, a win would only have changed things slightly. At 1-2, we're basically out of the tournament. Keep your dice and roll them on Sunday if we need to. 

Only other decision for me is McGinn. Being played slightly out of position and really struggled to influence the game on the left (1st half especially). Don't think we have a naturally left sided wide player. Perhaps there is a bigger role for McGinn on that side with Tierney out and McKenna in, who will not push up as much.

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As others have said, there's little to no chance Clarke doesn't stick with the usual shape, bringing in McKenna for Tierney, then pick the same other 10.

There's always talk that the 3 centre-back shape doesn't work without Tierney, as it was designed to enable him to break forward, but it also doesn't really work without a decent RB, as opponents can safely double-up down our left without Hickey or Patterson to worry about, and keep Tierney pinned back. That's what happened last night and what has happened in numerous other games.

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1 hour ago, ArabFC said:

He began to play better when Hendry stopped passing him the ball

McCann summed it up neatly enough in commentary when he commented that Ralston didn't open his body up once when receiving the ball. Always went back.

We must have someone capable of more. Surely?

 

I switched over to Radio Scotland for half time analysis because I wasn't enjoying the team BBC London had cobbled together.

Leanne Crichton gave a very good assessment at half time about Ralston's predicament, how is body was always closed and defensively facing forcing Ralston to go backwards every time with his passes. She continued that the Swiss had read this and it had led to the first goal.

I think she must've been near McCann because when I switched back to the T.V, here was McCann giving a watered down version of Crichton's summary.

Plagiarism by old Terry McCann I think.

I watched Hendry and Ralston during that first half through my fingers...

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I genuinely don't get the shouts for Forrest at RWB. He wasnt exactly renowned for tracking back as a winger or to have a bit of dig about him. He couldn't press a few years ago to get near the Celtic team under Ange and isn't strong either, he also isn't as fit as he once was. As pish as Ralston may be I'm struggling to see any reason as to why Forrest can fill in as a RWB unless we are chasing a game late on but dont want to change formation.

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12 hours ago, Cheese said:

Steve Clarke should be relieved of his duties and a selection council of P&B Da's should be installed for this crunch fixture.

I'd pick 4/5ths of the Hearts starting XI and the reincarnation of Cafu at RB for me Clive.

2-3-5 and Scotland The Brave should do the trick.

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9 minutes ago, 2426255 said:

I don't think it matters if we start in a back-3 or a back-4. We can just change how we build the game while it's in progress.  

Back-4.gif.2fe940ceb0aa7cf13d66974202996866.gif

Well that's incorrect, having and extra striker rather than an extra defender would change the game massively.

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I reckon if this next game was in qualifying or nations league we might see the back 4 come out. With the next game being so crucial I’d imagine Clarke will stick with the 5 

However, no one knows what he’s been working on in training if he’s drilled the players on a second system and we can easily go to that 

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Any other manager in the competition, other than Clarke, would have dropped Ralston after the first game and would not pick the headless chicken Adams for the next game. 

Without going into detail, it's clear for everyone to see that Ralston is way out of his depth, whilst Adams gives us nothing, no link-up play, no hold-up play, no assists and no goals.

Also, almost every other team in the tournament has made changes early to keep up the energy in the team, last night we needed changes much earlier.

I think we were lucky to get the draw last night and need more energy, pace and bravery on the ball to get the win on Sunday. If Clarke makes the Tierney/McKenna his only change then we are in need of a hell of a lot of luck to win.

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31 minutes ago, Bing.McCrosby said:

Well that's incorrect, having and extra striker rather than an extra defender would change the game massively.

How so?

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1 hour ago, Bing.McCrosby said:

If you can't understand that then there is no hope.

I suppose you're a Morton fan so I can see why straying from the idea of yer formation would be a bit scary.

 

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