Kmcalpin Posted September 22, 2011 Report Share Posted September 22, 2011 After Falkirk's win last night I thought I'd ask the 2 Bairns fans in the office how they did it, given our appalling record in recent times against the OF. Some surprising answers. As many of you will know Falkirk usually line up 4-4-2 but to everyone's surprise they adopted a 5-4-1 formation with a big mobile guy up front. They had a very young team with quite a few teenagers. However half a dozen of them were over 6 foot and well able to give the likes of McCulloch and Lafferty a good old fashioned battering, which they did with relish. The midfield 4 sat very high up the park to support the lone striker but were able to motor up and down. That left a huge space between them and their 5 man defence. Any time Rangers broke through, their defence rushed out to meet them head on. This negated Rangers central midfield and strikers. The only Rangers threat came down the flanks. So what was their recipe for success. 1) a fair number of big physical lads prepared to get wired in and intimidate their opponents. 2) a very aggressive "in their faces" attitude which gave Rangers little or no space or time anywhere. 3) well thought out tactics. Would this work for us? Who knows. It may have been a one off, but food for thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orinoco Posted September 22, 2011 Report Share Posted September 22, 2011 Having giants battering opponents mentality is what is holding this country back. The technical ability in this country is shocking. Kicking opponents off the park, is what Pressley has got his team doing, just like what he did, is not a approach i would like, even if it ment winning against Rangers. Obviously, Rangers had an off night, the referee allowed the aggressive nature of their opponents, and Falkirk had alot of luck. I won't happen very often. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmcalpin Posted September 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2011 Having giants battering opponents mentality is what is holding this country back. It doesn't seem to hold Premiership teams back - probably the physically hardest league in the world. In our last encounters with Rangers at Fir Park Kyle Lafferty gave Stephen Craigan real batterings. The gentleman that he is, our captain asked the referee politely to clamp down on Lafferty and was given short shrift. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted September 22, 2011 Report Share Posted September 22, 2011 Lessons from a team in third place in the division below us when we're third in the top flight? Falkirk could play another 100 games against Rangers with those exact same tactics and players and they'd lose at least 95 of them. They'd get humped in quite a few of them, no matter how big and ugly their players are. It's not like Falkirk have discovered some secret method of playing big bruisers. As has been mentioned earlier that's "what Scottish football's all about". I can think of a few teams in the SPL who have players who are big and strong enough to knock Lafferty and McCulloch off the ball and yet, quelle surprise, they're still languishing in mid-table, and regularly lose to the Old Firm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brazilian Posted September 22, 2011 Report Share Posted September 22, 2011 lesson 1: believe that the old firm can be beaten 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haggischomper Posted September 22, 2011 Report Share Posted September 22, 2011 lesson 1: believe that the old firm can be beaten Bingo!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weeyin Posted September 22, 2011 Report Share Posted September 22, 2011 It doesn't seem to hold Premiership teams back - probably the physically hardest league in the world. "Hardest League in the World" might be a great slogan for WWE or Rugby, but not a great advert for football. And while many of the top players are undoubtedly great athletes, their athleticism is a complement to their ball skils, not a replacement. In our last encounters with Rangers at Fir Park Kyle Lafferty gave Stephen Craigan real batterings. The gentleman that he is, our captain asked the referee politely to clamp down on Lafferty and was given short shrift. We both know that if any Motherwell defender breathes on guys like Lafferty the wrong way, Rangers are getting a free kick or penalty. I'm with Orinoco on this. We need to be focusing on skill and technique. It's much easier and more productive to bulk up a talented kid, than take a clogger and teach him ball skills. Look at how well Rangers fared against mediocre European opposition this year to see how well their approach works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paisley Steelman Posted September 22, 2011 Report Share Posted September 22, 2011 No matter what Elvis is still a knob. End of discussion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobey_Dosser Posted September 23, 2011 Report Share Posted September 23, 2011 No doubt the young Falkirk kids will have the belief battered out of them by seasoned professionals in the years to come. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dosser1886 Posted September 23, 2011 Report Share Posted September 23, 2011 Get and agree with what you guys are saying but is there not an argument for modifying the way that we play a few times in a season just against the Old Firm? If it works and we get a result then fair enough. Doesn't mean that we have to change our entire way of playing all the time. The Tippy tappy stuff doesn't seem to be getting us anywhere against them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnstone Posted September 23, 2011 Report Share Posted September 23, 2011 The Tippy tappy stuff doesn't seem to be getting us anywhere against them. You mean passing. God forbid we play football on the deck in an entertaining way! We are going to lose games, we are going to win some and we might even draw a couple, but god forbid we do it in a way that the game was meant to be played. I can't wait until we get back to the glory days of "hump it up to the big man". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dosser1886 Posted September 23, 2011 Report Share Posted September 23, 2011 You mean passing. God forbid we play football on the deck in an entertaining way! I am referring specifically to how we set ourselves up and play against the Old Firm not other teams. Nothing entertaining about passing the ball about without gaining any territory or any real goal threat, continually giving the ball away and getting pumped time after time against the Old Firm 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steviereidml1 Posted September 23, 2011 Report Share Posted September 23, 2011 I can't wait until we get back to the glory days of "hump it up to the big man". Haha,Yeah then we can all get a good moan about how Craigan's lumpin' long balls toward Higdon(whose better with the ball at his feet -check his very own thread for confirmation of that). Hows about we just enjoy that were playing some decent stuff now and again. Were going to be hot and cold this season,the same as almost every other season. We might struggle a bit with putting a finish to the tidy passing game were trying to play but long balls are not the answer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albi Posted September 23, 2011 Report Share Posted September 23, 2011 Or we could just concentrate on trying to beat teams like St Johnstone and Hibs instead...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weeyin Posted September 23, 2011 Report Share Posted September 23, 2011 Or we could just concentrate on trying to beat teams like St Johnstone and Hibs instead...? As professionals, we should be trying to get points from every game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzyB Posted September 23, 2011 Report Share Posted September 23, 2011 As professionals, we should be trying to get points from every game. Agreed, no wonder they always win the league when we write games against them off before a ball is kicked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al B Posted September 23, 2011 Report Share Posted September 23, 2011 2-0 up with 5 mins to go, and getting pegged back to 2 each? Last minute winner or not, if that was us then this place would be going apoplectic about how we were defensively pish and how they had let the rest of the team down after managing to get a 2 goal lead and then throwing it away, and how we can't close out games when we're ahead, and how McCall should have changed it at 2-0 up with 15 mins to go because they were all fucked. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelEdge Posted September 23, 2011 Report Share Posted September 23, 2011 2-0 up with 5 mins to go, and getting pegged back to 2 each? Last minute winner or not, if that was us then this place would be going apoplectic about how we were defensively pish and how they had let the rest of the team down after managing to get a 2 goal lead and then throwing it away, and how we can't close out games when we're ahead, and how McCall should have changed it at 2-0 up with 15 mins to go because they were all fucked. That's a bingo! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
star sail Posted September 23, 2011 Report Share Posted September 23, 2011 2-0 up with 5 mins to go, and getting pegged back to 2 each? Last minute winner or not, if that was us then this place would be going apoplectic about how we were defensively pish and how they had let the rest of the team down after managing to get a 2 goal lead and then throwing it away, and how we can't close out games when we're ahead, and how McCall should have changed it at 2-0 up with 15 mins to go because they were all fucked. No chance!! We have not been able to get within three goals of the OF in recent times (the victory against Celtic at FP apart). A win under any circumstances and this place would be going mental in a positive way. I agree with the original post to an extent but Motherwells problem is a mentality problem against the OF and I would put the blame at the moment for that at the managers door. 'We have to be at our best and they have to have a bad day' 'We will not be judged on games against the OF' 'We will need a large slice of luck to get a result today'. None of this would fill me with confidence as a player and they are all recent quotes from SM pre or post OF matches. I listened to Pressley the morning before the game and thought Falkirk might get the result. He said all the right things and did not mention once about how Ranger was a fantastic team full of fantastic players that it was a priveledge to be on the same park as them. He basically said we are going to have a real good go. They did. Look what happened!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weeyin Posted September 23, 2011 Report Share Posted September 23, 2011 Rangers playing some of their diddy players helped too. Probably wouldn't have helped us, but it definitely helped Falkirk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Wellfan 2k7 Posted September 23, 2011 Report Share Posted September 23, 2011 Rangers playing some of their diddy players helped too. Probably wouldn't have helped us, but it definitely helped Falkirk. Definite Showing of a lack of respect right there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ceske Bairn Posted September 25, 2011 Report Share Posted September 25, 2011 Having just read the OP post I must have been at a different game midweek. Our team is littered with young guys correct but over 6ft I can only think of 3. Dods, Bennett and El Allagui. The rest are tiny and can be described as anything but battering rams lol. We closed rangers down, Had confidence we could win and took our chances. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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