dennyc

I agree. Especially as he was hung out to dry. Expected to cover all across the back line, even to the extent of right back. And when Celtic were rampaging down the left he received no help whatsoever from Goss, Donnelly and Carroll who spent more time playing hide and seek than tracking back. He did make a few mistakes, but at least he was willing to get involved and never hid. The others mentioned would do well to look at the way the youngsters applied themselves. What got me was not the defeat, but the manner of it. One poster said the players were no less committed than they were in the previous matches. Not so. Against St Mirren and County all the players put in the effort., even if the end results were poor. Sunday was just depressing.

The concussion thing got me thinking. Say our player got concussed with 15 minutes to go and we had not used any or only one of our subs but our opponents had used all their allocation or made three separate changes, could we insist the substitution of our player was routine so as to deny our opponent an additional tactical substitution?

Strange how folk view things differently. I thought the main reason Maguire had to check back so often was because several players were not making themselves available for a pass. Woolery and Roberts, for so called wingers, spent most of the match trying unsuccessfully to be centre forwards and Goss and Donnelly were just nowhere to be seen. If it was not for both (much maligned} full backs, Maguire would have had no outlet whatsoever. Maguire was the only midfielder prepared to go looking for the ball. In fact it was a re-run of Dingwall for much of the match. And I don't get the Goss love in either. Sure, he can make a lovely pass from time to time (the touch to Donnelly for the winner) but too often he passes the buck and plays others into trouble. I lost count of the number of times McGinley in particular was sold short and then moaned at for not getting a cross in because he was closed down. I expect more from Goss as he certainly has the ability. Van Veen, Tierney and Slattery had an immediate impact as we all saw. It's amazing what energy, movement and demanding the ball can achieve. Even then Tierney was often ignored as he found space to receive a pass. I hope Alexander finds a way to include all three of those substitutes from the start against Hibs, but I'm not sure where Tierney will fit when Alexander sticks to his usual formation. I think he would be best suited to slotting in behind two strikers, which is the position he excelled in before he joined us.

And if TW goes this month and continues his scoring run, there is a decent chance he will be called up by Scotland. Generating additional income for United and increasing his value. £100k seems low to me. If that is all we are asking for then we are being over generous. No reason we could not add a few extras, like additional payments based on goals, league position or a Scotland call up. And I'm pretty sure there have been recent examples of players moving early and an agreement being reached that they could not feature against their former club for the remainder of that season? Don't think there are any rules ruling out any lawful terms negotiated between clubs.

It is on the App. Shows up on the International Travel link. At least mine does. Took a couple of weeks for it to feed through but should now show up quicker. Not checked if it is on the paper copy.

According to the Gretna official Twitter page last night , the lad was awaiting surgery as a result of the injury. Sounds like a terrible accident and understandable that no more detailed information was made available. Everybody agreed the Officials made the correct decision to abandon the match. Hopefully all goes well and he makes a full recovery.

If that sums up your debating skills I'll just take it you have no logical contribution to make, Clearly you find hard facts hard to handle.

Although you have a point regarding the nature of fouls, Celtic must commit an awful lot of ‘soft’ fouls given the massive difference highlighted by those figures. How about these stats lifted from the Sporting Life text of the Aberdeen v Celtic game. Can you honestly see any of our players getting away with this on Saturday. Surely Jota should have been booked before the half hour mark. 16' Foul by Jota (Celtic). 22' Foul by Jota (Celtic). 23' Foul by Jota (Celtic). 26' Foul by Jota (Celtic). 26' Foul by Jota (Celtic). (Not a double entry; Jota committed 2 fouls in the same minute) 34' Foul by Jota (Celtic). 66' Foul by Jota (Celtic). 66' Jota (Celtic) is shown a yellow card. 77' Foul by Jota (Celtic).

There must be. Otherwise he could just have developed a "Deccy like" back injury and sat out with wages until January or even the end of the season. At least this way he is not using up club training or physio resources. Can we forget about him now please?

Was at my first Scotland match for years yesterday and disappointed that SOD was not selected. What pleased me though was that not one fan around me had a bad word for him. Those fans represented a wide range of clubs, although Rangers were not one of them. Their comments seemed to echo the reception he got at Wembley. To a man they questioned Patterson being selected ahead of him. That view was backed up by Patterson’s first half defending and his mistake which led to the first goal. Everybody was tearing into Patterson and McTominay at half time and expecting SOD to be brought on. In fairness to both those players they improved dramatically in the second half, and justified Clarke’s persistence. That said, Patterson frequently reminded us that he has a lot to learn defensively. In an attacking sense he was excellent second half. He is young though and likely will improve his defensive qualities. He may well be the future. In short, I don’t think many fans who actually attend Scotland matches have an issue with SOD. That seems to be more of a media thing, who no doubt have their own Rangers focused agenda. And a few Motherwell fans who resented his signing and will not be content until he moves on. Hopefully the player pays more attention to the fans and Managers, both Club and Country, who recognise his value rather than those with an axe to grind.

We will stick to our usual plan. We all know that. 3 in midfield and surrender wide areas as we think we can defend anything that comes into the box. I suspect Celtic will use that space out wide to get in behind our full backs and cut the ball back, rather than lumping high balls into the box from forty yards out.... which suits our set up. If we gift them an early goal like we did yesterday, it will turn out to be a very long day. Celtic are not great and are there to be got at, but not by us if we set up as we have done all season. Not with their pace.

Going by his most recent performances Lawless is not good enough for our squad and hopefully has been told that by Alexander. That's the only thing that really matters. Until he finds another Club to take him on he seems to be doing his own thing with a total disregard for how it reflects on his current Club or himself. He surely has destroyed any remote chance he had of ever getting back into the matchday squad. I don't believe Burrows or Alexander will have any qualms about leaving him to rot until he departs. The social Media stuff is classless and might even be an "Up yours" to all with a Motherwell connection, having caught on to the fact his days with us are numbered. Whether that might deter other Clubs from signing him is a factor he clearly does not care about either. Can we just not completely ignore him and leave all the bitterness to those that follow the Old Firm? Not playing and being ignored will get to him far more than anything anybody on here can say. But as for him been seen cheering on the team he supports! Get a grip. Would there be the same reaction on here if Tony Watt was seen at Celtic Park or Stephen Kelly at Ibrox? I think not. And I may have missed it, but I did not see any complaints from St Mirren fans when Charles Dunne tipped up at Fir Park to cheer on his mates. To me, all the noise is because of who is involved and, for some, where he was seen.

We bit of a stat research on yesterday's referee, From what I can find Craig Napier has refereed only 13 top division games since 15 Aug 2020. I suspect he is a lower league referee who gets promoted now and again for perceived low key matches. The fact he has taken charge of league games involving every top division side other than Celtic and Rangers speaks volumes to me. Clearly he is not considered strong/competent enough to referee those two. He was useless though and a few times he did not even appear to know the rules. As I understand them anyway. ...........the injured player stoppage, when the ball hit him, and when he asked our player to leave the pitch after treatment following a foul and yellow card for a County player (the fourth official overruled that instruction). On a positive note he has refereed Motherwell four times and we have won three. The loss being 2-0 at Aberdeen when I recall him being referred to as "The referee who is not allowed to referee Celtic or Rangers". I took that with a pinch of salt but it now rings true.

Exactly this. Well said. Spot on.

Hearts way round that was to charge the lower tier as a lower category but charge the Platinum price for the upper Tier. I would imagine that very few Hearts non season ticket holders would be forced to buy Platinum Seats which is what effectively was forced upon Motherwell fans once the lower section was sold out. A huge amount of the home Platinum seats were likely allocated to ST Holders anyway so were not a factor. But it all fits the League rules if you want to screw away fans.

I think Hearts did that a couple of seasons ago. Charging more for the upper section than the lower. There was no stewarding of who sat where once in the Stand so it became a complete shambles. Folk paid for the lower section but sat in the upper section and refused to move, resulting in many of their fellow fans being punted to the lower section having paid for the dearer seats. Nearly got really out of hand. I think Utd did something similar as you suggest. Their additional con was to close the turnstiles giving access to the lower level ( where prices matched the home fans) and insist that all Motherwell fans sit in the upper dear and pay the higher price. If I recall correctly their were no concessions in the upper tier and the police actually threatened to arrest Motherwell fans who complained. So I think a split might be possible, but it would need to be properly managed and might be more trouble than its worth.

I think there is a League rule.....there certainly used to be....that visiting fans cannot be charged any more than non season ticket home fans. For the same level of seating that is. I think we stick to that principle. If we are asked to pay £30 for a seat at Tynecastle then so should non Season Ticket Hearts fans. Whether Doncaster and his pals enforce that rule when it involves the Old Firm (and others maybe) is another matter. And of course if you can fill your ground with your own season ticket holders, then the impact of that rule does not really affect home fans.

Solholm took a knock against Aberdeen and was hobbling a wee bit in the second half. Pretty sure after his performance last week that he would be in the squad if fit. Pity, certainly looked to fit in well beside Ojala.

If St Johnstone had wanted away fans to attend our game they could have simply approached the Local Authority. They would not have been refused. Nobody else was at that stage. Might even be the same Local Authority Dundee had to approach for our visit. Saints chose to keep us out. Ross County were not refused the week before our Saints game. Same as us with Hibs visit.....again the week before. So precedents established. And how about Airdrie as an even earlier example. It was up to individual Clubs to apply. Some did. Some did not. Some did not want to. Hearts could easily have requested that a limited number of Celtic fans be allowed in for their opening League game, but chose not to. Hearts I understand as they could fill all the available seats with their own fans. So no financial loss. Selfish but understandable. I would love it if we could limit visiting fans because we needed the seats. Sadly not likely to ever be the case. Other Clubs did allow visiting fans that weekend so the CoVid Level was not a factor. No matter how you want to paint it, Rangers and Celtic are not the only Clubs who were/are at it. And if I can watch the game this weekend without donating a penny to Rangers, all the sweeter. Until the Authorities mandate that a set % be set aside for visiting fans nothing will change. Especially as that change would require the OF to sign up to it. Not sure Hearts, Hibs or Aberdeen would either.

And St Johnstone? Was that not after we were allowed in at Airdrie in the Cup.. And after they had fans at County for a League match? My point is that it is not just an Old Firm thing. Other Clubs use the system to their advantage no matter what level we are in. It was evident even during the League Cup. Under the rules Clubs can pick and choose. Many do.

It's not just an Old Firm thing. In fact others set the example before them. Also using the Red Zone requirement as a reason. Hearts v Celtic and St Johnstone v Motherwell, for starters. For the advantage it feels it gives them at the time. Hearts and the Old Firm I get. They can fill their entire ground with their own fans so don't lose out financially. But Saint Johnstone? Could Rangers have come up with a different solution? Of course they could. But they don't have to. No point in getting upset about it.

At present I really do think SOD should be first choice. If Patterson did not play for Rangers he would not be getting hyped up to the extent he is. Compare his media to that of Doig at Hibs who in my opinion is every bit as good, and has much more first team game time under his belt. Patterson may well turn out to be a top player but it is very early days. Ironically the player who is keeping Patterson out of the Rangers team I think now also qualifies for Scotland. According to Fifa and Uefa that is. But we have a Home Nations agreement that none of the four countries will select players who qualify purely on residency, if that player was born in any of the other three countries.

Other than his involvement in the goal do you really think he played that well? From what I saw he ran about a lot but seldom passed to a Scotland player and his crossing was terrible. Admittedly though, he was not really tested from a defensive point of view. All about opinions I know, but I was not overly impressed. Maybe he was just a bit rusty having played only once for Rangers this season but I did not think he was an upgrade on SOD.

Non vaccinated are far more likely to catch the virus and pass it on. Non vaccinated are more likely to become seriously ill or die when they get the virus. I think everybody can agree on that. But it is not purely about the non vaccinated attendee. Non vaccinated are more likely to be hospitalised (Lots of stats published showing the dominance of non vaccinated admissions at present). When hospitals become overrun people die or at best operations/treatment for other conditions are cancelled. The bigger picture is the thing here, not sitting in your wee seat at Fir Park. The scenes first time around when doctors in places such as Italy and the US had to decide which people to let die because hospitals could not cope or provide ventilators were harrowing. The UK almost got to that stage. I don't think any Government is wrong in trying to ensure a similar situation does not happen here as the virus continues to evolve. Those that can be vaccinated and choose not to are not only endangering themselves, they are endangering the lives of vulnerable people, directly or indirectly. I think that is selfish. I'm not supporting that vaccination should be enforced, but if people opt not to be vaccinated as is their right, then I have no problem with them being excluded from specific events. That is the choice they must make.

The tackle was out of order and Carroll got exactly what he deserved. If that reckless tackle had been on one of our players we would have been screaming at Collum if he had not produced a red. And for all we know, his Assistant maybe had a clear view and immediately shouted "Red Card". I detest Collum but I find it ironic he is getting questioned for actually getting a decision correct. There are plenty of shocking decisions to focus on rather than correct ones. I think if a red had not been issued, then it would have resulted in Carroll being cited anyway. And I have not heard of the Club lodging any appeal.