Jives Miguel Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 (edited) 57 minutes ago, Michael W said: The other problem we have here, is that football is analysed to death now. Opponents have realised that Ralston is guff and they are actively targetting him, with resultant impact on the team. Patterson hasn't kicked on as we hoped he would, but he is a better choice than Ralston, who needs dropped for his own good. Ralston was excellent last night, more than held his own against one of the best left wingers in the world defensively, and was pretty good on the ball also. The timing of his runs and positioning on the overlap are excellent and he's a decent crosser of the ball. If he can cut out the daft errors like Switzerland and Poland then he's not going to be a problem for us. I don't think there is a huge world of difference in quality from an on-form Ralston and an on-form Patterson tbh. Goal scoring threat too. Since 2021 he's got 18 G/A for Celtic and Scotland, which works out to one per 294 minutes played, or around 3 games, very impressive. Edited September 9 by Jives Miguel 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbydazzler Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 (edited) 10 minutes ago, Jives Miguel said: Ralston was excellent last night, more than held his own against one of the best left wingers in the world defensively, and was pretty good on the ball also. The timing of his runs and positioning on the overlap are excellent and he's a decent crosser of the ball. If he can cut out the daft errors like Switzerland and Poland then he's not going to be a problem for us. I don't think there is a huge world of difference in quality from an on-form Ralston and an on-form Patterson tbh. agree, Ralston wasnt bad last night at all and it's clear to see he's much more comfortable in a 4 than a 5. On Patterson, he could be the next coming of Cafu (i'm not saying he is btw) but if you are always injured and never available it's no use to anyone. Edited September 9 by bobbydazzler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fletchers Saucy Manbun Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 2-1 going on 6 or 7-1 and supporters are happy with the performance. We're a very strange footballing nation. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamonds are Forever Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 11 minutes ago, Jives Miguel said: Ralston was excellent last night, more than held his own against one of the best left wingers in the world defensively, and was pretty good on the ball also. The timing of his runs and positioning on the overlap are excellent and he's a decent crosser of the ball. If he can cut out the daft errors like Switzerland and Poland then he's not going to be a problem for us. I don't think there is a huge world of difference in quality from an on-form Ralston and an on-form Patterson tbh. Agreed, people seem to have totally forgotten that in Patterson's last 2 games for us he was getting slated, particularly after giving away the goal in the Northern Ireland game. It's that thing where the longer a player is injured the better he becomes. He probably has a higher ceiling than Ralston by virtue of being younger, but at present having him over Ralston would make no difference, in fact I'd probably have Ralston based on what I've seen in the last couple of years. Hickey is the real loss, once he is out you're down to limited options where it doesn't really make much difference who plays as they are of similar ability. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jives Miguel Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 8 minutes ago, bobbydazzler said: agree, Ralston wasnt bad last night at all and it's clear to see he's much more comfortable in a 4 than a 5. On Patterson, he could be the next coming of Cafu (i'm not saying he is btw) but if you are always injured and never available it's no use to anyone. Definitely better in a 4. I think there's too much responsibility on the ball for him to play wing back in a 5. But in a 4 when he's got passing options backwards, inside and up the line I think he's actually fairly neat and tidy on the ball. And lack opportunity to overlap when playing wingback takes out what is probably the best part of his game 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkoRaj Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 10 minutes ago, Fletchers Saucy Manbun said: 2-1 going on 6 or 7-1 and supporters are happy with the performance. We're a very strange footballing nation. I take it you'd be absolutely raging if Dundee Utd had a similar result against Celtic? Or would you maybe accept that they have an abundance of better players available and that it they show up to their best abilities you don't really stand a chance? I can't understand this mindset that we should have greater expectations when it's just not realistic at all 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butters Scotch Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 32 minutes ago, Jives Miguel said: Ralston was excellent last night, more than held his own against one of the best left wingers in the world defensively, and was pretty good on the ball also. The timing of his runs and positioning on the overlap are excellent and he's a decent crosser of the ball. If he can cut out the daft errors like Switzerland and Poland then he's not going to be a problem for us. I don't think there is a huge world of difference in quality from an on-form Ralston and an on-form Patterson tbh. Goal scoring threat too. Since 2021 he's got 18 G/A for Celtic and Scotland, which works out to one per 294 minutes played, or around 3 games, very impressive. I don't dislike Ralston, he is actually very good going forward and can do well against the weaker nations when we will be attacking a lot of the game but he is so weak defensively. To say he was excellent last night is mind blowing, he was nowhere near excellent. Portgual were getting at him at will pretty much the whole game, he has a really bad habit of backing off the attacking player and consistently letting them freely drive into our box to create good attacking opportunities. If Portugal weren't so profligate then he would be getting a lot more pelters on here for not defending our box as he should. It is fine to back off to an extent but he doesn't have the faintest idea of when to close down the opponent and make the tackle. If you can't see this then watch the Switzerland game back for example, you will have a very clear understanding of how poor he is as a defender. You only have to look at how Robertson defends the attacker at how he nullifies their winger, they weren't getting much joy down their right hand side hence why Neto ended up being subbied. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forameus Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 (edited) 2 hours ago, TPAFKA Jersey 2 said: Secondly, someone else spoke about wishing Patterson would hurry back. Do some folk still believe he’s any better than Ralston?? In his most recent games for us he’s been terrible and he’s being kept out of the Everton team by a 73 year old Seamus Coleman and a left footed, 56 year old Ashley Young. I always find it amazing how a long term injury can turn a bang average player into the son of Cafu. It's the same attitude that rears its head whenever we're not doing very well. The answer is never who is currently playing/managing, the answer is always who isn't playing/managing. Patterson is just the latest example of it. He'll be clamored for until he comes back, then lambasted when, amazingly, the problem still exists. You can see it with Clarke too, with cries of absolutely anyone being a better option, conveniently forgetting that we've been through this routine before, and likely will with the next guy that comes in. It was most glaring, from memory, around Jordan Rhodes and Steven Fletcher. The former, similar to Gauld, wasn't getting a game despite scoring for fun. He was the saviour, the one who'd definitely score a bucketload and solve all our problems. He eventually got a shot, and he was...fine. A return of 3 goals in 14 caps shows he wasn't the one everyone claimed he was. More notable with Fletcher, as when he was in a huff with Levein you got the double bubble of him being a good striker not involved at a time when we didn't have many, and him being opposed to Levein who everyone hated. He eventually came back, and did pretty well for us, but ended up getting some pretty ridiculous abuse for his efforts. I don't blame people for wanting to be better and grasping at anything, but I think ultimately we're just not very good at the moment and the player pool is very limited. That's not to say we can't do better with what we have, we absolutely can, but there isn't some rich vein of quality we aren't mining. We're largely playing the best players we have available, and there isn't some quick fix available to us. Particularly as, when Clarke is inevitably punted probably next Autumn when we fail to qualify for the World Cup, we'll hire whatever Scottish jobber is available rather than picking the manager who can specialise in getting something from nothing. Edited September 9 by forameus 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Judge Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 Did we deserve, at least, a draw last night? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fletchers Saucy Manbun Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 1 hour ago, MarkoRaj said: I take it you'd be absolutely raging if Dundee Utd had a similar result against Celtic? Or would you maybe accept that they have an abundance of better players available and that it they show up to their best abilities you don't really stand a chance? I can't understand this mindset that we should have greater expectations when it's just not realistic at all I wouldn't think we played well when the evidence is we were toyed with. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkoRaj Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 4 minutes ago, Fletchers Saucy Manbun said: I wouldn't think we played well when the evidence is we were toyed with. Toyed with? We were in the lead for half the game! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
accies1874 Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 3 minutes ago, Fletchers Saucy Manbun said: I wouldn't think we played well when the evidence is we were toyed with. We were hardly "toyed with" when Martinez made two subs at half-time, indicating that he was unhappy with the performance; we were just up against a team miles better than us. I don't think we were great last night, but I also don't think it's true to say that Portugal were always in control. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fletchers Saucy Manbun Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 Delusional stuff but each to their own. Hopefully the players are much less happy with the performance and result than many fans. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jives Miguel Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 4 minutes ago, Fletchers Saucy Manbun said: Delusional stuff but each to their own. Hopefully the players are much less happy with the performance and result than many fans. How often do small teams get results against big teams by playing them off the park? Almost never, it's always a backs to the wall performance, nicking a goal or two and riding their luck. It was pretty much a Ronseal big team v small team performance. I dont understand your revulsion -1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkoRaj Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 It's like saying Man City toyed with QPR when they won the league. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkoRaj Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 Remember Barca toyed with Celtic in the Champions League? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bing Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 2 minutes ago, MarkoRaj said: Remember Barca toyed with Celtic in the Champions League? I would disagree with the phrase "toyed with" but the best team clearly won and the margin should have been greater I think is fair to say. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butters Scotch Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 (edited) 14 minutes ago, Jives Miguel said: How often do small teams get results against big teams by playing them off the park? Almost never, it's always a backs to the wall performance, nicking a goal or two and riding their luck. It was pretty much a Ronseal big team v small team performance. I dont understand your revulsion Portugal wasted so many good opportunities and Gunn made some brilliant saves but on another day that would of been 4 or 5 at least. This wasn't a Spain type performance where we actually had control for a good chunk of the game in and out of possession but last night, we were really clinging on most of the game, it was only matter of time before they put their umpteen chances away. We did have a few good counters when we could actually string a few passes. The scoreline was more down to Portugal being profligate than Scotland defending heroically so a bit of context is needed here as I feel only losing 2-1 away to Portgual is clouding certain posters judgements here. Edited September 9 by Butters Scotch 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butters Scotch Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 10 minutes ago, MarkoRaj said: It's like saying Man City toyed with QPR when they won the league. You're just being deliberately obtuse about the toyed with phrase, it's pretty obvious what the point is here... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkoRaj Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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