GG Riva

😂🤣😂 Germany are " not in a good morment", as the Continentals like to say. I think they'll get their act together before next June and qualify from their group but I wouldn't bet my housevon it. Before Brazil 14, I predicted that England and Italy might not qualify from a group which also contained Uruguay and Costa Rica. You might want to google my prediction to see how it turned out. 🤔

I may be in a minority of one, but I think some of you underestimate both Hungary and Switzerland. The Swiss are notoriously hard to beat and did Hungary not gub England both home and away in the Nations League?

It's an ill wind.... Here's hoping🤞 that, when the game is played, all our regular starters are fully fit.

I'm not arguing that, KP, but I think his qualities make him more useful to the team in midfield when everyone is fit. The lad has bags of talent and confidence but he's not the finished article yet. I'm sure that in time, he will become an equally good defender. There's no hard and fast rule that a player signed in a certain role can't develop in another of course. In the 60s, Jock Stein converted Willie Callaghan and John Lunn from wingers into full backs and brilliant they were, too. George Farm moved Alex Edwards from the right wing into a creative midfield role in which he excelled for the Pars and then Hibs. Roy Barry played his first few games for the Pars in midfield before moving back to become our best ever centre half. captain Courageous, Norrie McCathie, did likewise.....

I can't see the problem in a manager showing affection and respect for a former player. Some United fans obviously interpreted that as Ten Hag not being disappointed by his team twice losing a 2 goal lead to drop 2 pts, which is well wide of the mark. I wonder if any of the players swapped shirts on the pitch after the game and whether these same fans were similarly upset about that? Maybe only if it was McTominay. 🤔

I would suggest he's more of a midfielder. He's so good at driving forward with the ball. Defensively, he's more likely to cost us a goal due to his inexperience. He'd be fine playing alongside Bene, but Hamilton and Comrie are not experienced central defenders - they're doing an admirable job but are just filling in until the likes of Bene and Breen are fully fit.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/24900252/man-utd-ten-hag-ziyech-ferguson-galatasaray/ Some United fans need to get a life.

Our very own Stanza posted the following on dotnet.I hope he doesn't mind me copying and pasting them on here. He never claimed they were facts and whoever compiled them probably likes Rangers as little as I do. ⚽️- Rangers are currently on a British record run of 67 games without conceding a penalty in the league ⚽️- the world top flight record is 74 held by Barcelona in the 2011/12 - 2012/13 seasons (which is currently under investigation by Spanish FA) ⚽️- Barca averaged 80% possession during that time (Rangers averaged 58% during their run) ⚽️ - before the current 67 game run, Rangers went 44 league games without conceding a penalty ⚽️ - so they have only conceded 1 penalty in their last 112 league games ⚽️- Since August 2020 they have the highest penalty differential in Europe’s top 20 leagues, ie pens for minus pens against (as shown in the graph below) ⚽️ - Since the 20/21 season they have conceded a penalty on average every 42 league games (Celtic every 9 games) ⚽️- from 2018/19 season they have a penalty differential of +43 ( Celtic are +15 for the same period) ⚽️ - since 2018/19 Rangers have been awarded 52 penalties and conceded 9 (Celtic have had 39 and conceded 24) ⚽️ - Since last season (when VAR arrived in Scotland) Rangers have had 16 penalties in the league with 0 against (Celtic have had 12 with 7 against) ⚽️ - They are only team in a league with VAR that has never conceded a penalty since the technology was brought in anywhere in the world ⚽️ - If Rangers don’t concede a league penalty before the end of this year (8 games) then they will have set a new world record ⚽️ - James Tavernier is now in the top 10 for the most penalties scored of all time ⚽️ - out of everyone on the list the Rangers captain has the highest percentage of goals from penalties Eta - Not a good read for any objective and fair minded person.

If the narrative for winning more penalties is that it's down to Rangers being an attack- minded team that spends a lot of time in their opponents` penalty area, it's hard to argue with that. My pal says there should be similar domestic stats for Celtic, over the same time scale - they have won 10 of the last 11 league titles, after all. He maintains Celtic are around midtable, both for penalties awarded and conceded, although I haven’t seen the stats for that. Tough one to explain if that is true......🤔

A Sellick fan pal of mine sent me this article from The Fitbaw Gospel: "Rangers captain James Tavernier has now scored more penalties than any other player in the history of Scottish football. His 58th strike from the spot today means he takes over from Johnny `The Penalty King` Hubbard who scored 57 between 1949 and 1959. Rangers have now had 6 penalties in their last 4 domestic games - with 5 in their last 3 league games. They have now also gone a UK record of 67 league games without conceding a penalty - made even more remarkable that it comes during the VAR era. A testament to the discipline of the Rangers defence over the last two seasons."

Disappointed but not despondent. There`s a feeling of inevitability that United will win this league comfortably. They have a strong, experienced squad with good players they can bring on to impact the game. We competed well for the most part, but their goalie didn`t have a great deal to do. We lost two avoidable goals, which I don`t think we would have with Bene at the back - no disrespect to the boys who played there. Nobody could have grudged us a point, but United will feel they edged it. Once Bene, Breen and Summers are back, we`ll win more games than we`ll lose and I feel we have a good chance of finishing in the top 4. Oh, and the ref was brutal. Overheard a fan on the way home saying, "That Euan Anderson is s***e! He should have stayed at home in Dumbarton." He probably did.😀

Well, a good, feisty debate on this thread, which I don't intend to get drawn into, but just make a single contribution. I didn't see the whole game as I watched the Goals Show on TNT, but did see the red card incident. At first I was convinced it was a stick on and tbh, it never occurred to4 me that Maeda was merely trying to block the pass and Hermoso kicked into him. (I suppose that's because I've never played the game at a decent level) It makes a lot of sense because Maeda is a high energy player but not a thug by any stretch. After reading the opinions of various pundits and posters, I'm now convinced the red card was extremely harsh and that there was no intent by Maeda to hurt his opponent. Unfortunately for him, referees are instructed to ignore any intent or lack of it under modern rules, perhaps because it's so difficult to be certain one way or the other. Perhaps more than the tackle itself, what caused the ref to upgrade the yellow to red was his VAR colleague telling him to look at it again on the monitor. The implication is that the ref has made "a clear and obvious error " and must send the player off. (How many refs can you think of, who have stuck to their original decision after consulting the monitor?) And lastly, the theatrical rolling around by Hermoso, and the heated protests of many of his team mates, did Maeda no favours, although I don't think this alone would have influenced the referee enough to change his mind.

Aye, that makes sense. They probably won't get on but it would give both lads a real boost after such a long lay off. Any player will tell you that the worst thing about being a footballer is being injured. For younger players, that must be even harder to handle.

A really difficult game to call. I can see it finishing as a draw and think both clubs would be reasonably pleased with that but statistically, it's apparently the least likely result in any game. I'll go for 1-1. (If we score first we'll be disappointed, if United do we'll be well chuffed. 😀) It'll be interesting to see the size of the crowd. I'd imagine a significant number of fans, of both teams, will be inclined to stay at home and watch it on the box. 🙁 I wouldn't criticise anyone who does. I'm going but it never crossed my mind to travel to Greenock last week. It's a long journey back after a defeat.....

I don't think we have anyone living in West Fife who is remotely as rich as Uncle Roy. I do recall feeling very disappointed and let down when CR Smith chose to sponsor Celtic and Rangers to the tune of £250k each, per annum, at a time when that was a significant sum of money. 😒

What's the story with him and County? Is he a fan, and/or is he from that neck of the woods. Sometimes I wish the Pars had a similar sugar daddy, but I'm not 100% convinced - it feels a bit like cheating, can't explain why. What does it matter if the money comes from 50,000 fans at each home game or just one especially minted supporter?

Agreed. Apparently, Uncle Roy is absolutely minted. I think Stuart Cosgrove said as much on "Off the Ball" at the weekend.

You reckon, S'Ally? Levein has bags of experience he did well enough at Hearts first time round and Dundee United to get the Scotland job. Things nose dived a bit after that, but he hasn't morphed into a poor manager. I think he'll keep them up. One things sure - we won't both be right. 😀

A great illustration of how to win the hard way. My ticker aged about 10 years in the 2nd half. 😱

Apparently, it's actually a whopping £3.5k for this round. 🙄 Why did the clubs not throw out this insulting offer when it was put before them? How many fans need to stay at home for this derisory sum to be swallowed up in lost gate money? Did they not vote on it? If not, why not and is it legally binding? Our clubs need to grow a set and tell the SFA or SPFL to gtf when a deal, which is not in their best interests, is negotiated. That's what these bodies are supposed to do, is it not? Instead, we get deal after deal which panders to just 2 out of 42 senior clubs. Some 20 years ago, the BBC was televising a top flight game on a Sunday afternoon. It was a bit of a disaster for 10 of the 12 SPL clubs (no prizes for guessing who the exceptions were) as the live game invariably featured Celtic or Rangers as the away side. Nevertheless, the BBC paid £50k to the home team and £45k to the visitors. How much would that equate to today? It was a disaster, though, because attendances for these games were well down on what might be expected. A Pars director at the time told me that the £50k barely covered the loss of gate money as our attendances were usually about 3,000 short of what might normally be expected. Meanwhile, the Glasgow clubs would pocket a wee bonus of £45k from almost every away game. Money for nothing (and your chicks for free.) ☹️

Exactly this. Being part of the squad and possibly on the bench will make these players feel good at having reached another milestone on the long journey back from injury, which can be quite tough mentally for any player. (Ask any player what the worst thing about being a footballer is and the most common reply is "Being injured.") There's probably little chance of them actually getting on and if they do, it might not be for much more than 10 or 15 mins - maybe less.

My understanding is that there is a quiet confidence and determination that the team will bounce back from Saturday's disappointment. Confidence and determination alone are no guarantee of a win, of course, but they can certainly help. Start on the front foot, get that all important first goal and take it from there. I'm not going to Greenock, but I'll be kicking every ball in front of the box. COYP!!!

I don`t know who first said that football can be a cruel game, but yesterday was the perfect illustration of how true that saying is. Only the most one-eyed Rovers fan would deny that the very least we deserved was a point. I take some consolation from the fact that yesterday`s performance was a vast improvement over the week before v Ayr. Things have tightened up dramatically in the last couple of weeks, with both ICT and Morton picking up full points. The pessimists will be looking nervously at the bottom end of the table, but we`re also not far off 4th. Some big games are coming up in the next few weeks, which may well define our season. I think we can pick up enough points from these games to reach a midtable position and hopefully, push on from there when all our injured players are back.

With all due respect, BPP, the results of individual games have very little validity when we're trying to establish whether there is a pattern for trend. I asked the same question on dotnet and the most comprehensive answer was posted by parathletic. "Over a 5 year period in the Champions League the team with most possession won 49.2% of games, drew 22% and lost 28.8%.As the range of difference grew so did the chances of winning." He/she also added: "I believe in playing to the strength of your team so it depends on your players.There are other factors like conditions, opponent, result, minutes played etc so horses for courses. If you have a one dimensional approach it can get you in trouble and you become predictable and easy to play against.It does infuriate me watching teams trying to play from the back who don`t have the capability to do so and end up playing themselves into trouble." Those of us old enough to remember the dominant Liverpool team established by Bill Shankly and continued by Bob Paisley, Joe Fagin and Kenny Dalglish, will recall that their success stemmed from their ability to keep the ball. Shankly's mantra was that "your opponents can't score if they don't have the ball" and "it's a sin to give the ball away."

I didn`t see Aberdeen v PAOK last night, but I did watch some 6 or 7 mins of highlights this morning. I was amazed to note that they had only 29 % possession during the game but led 2-0 with just over 15 mins to play before their Greek opponents produced a late rally to win 3-2. Teams losing while dominating possession is nothing new, of course. Jose Mourinho`s teams are notoriously good at winning with low possession stats. Inter Milan knocked Barca out of the CL semi-finals with just 18% in the 2nd leg at the Nou Camp. You would imagine, though, that this is the exception that proves the rule and that teams that dominate possession win far more games than they lose. There are stats on everything in football nowadays. Can anyone supply stats on the above?