We need to do something specific tactically to fight their midfield three

C

Coisty09

Well-Known Member
Official Ticketer
For me, the scum have dominated recent games because the combination of McGregor, O’Reilly and Hatate have been free to run the show between them.
Since Gerrard, no manager has ever seemed to do anything specific from a tactical perspective from our side to try and negate the influence, these three have in old firm matches.
I would like to see Sterling brought into the middle alongside Diomande and Lundstram so that we are not overrun in there.
Providing Ridvan is fit, we could sacrifice the wide right position as Tav will offer us some width.
If we can blunt the midfield trio and not allow the diving Japanese, any space, we really could reduce the threat hugely.
 
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We'll just hoof it long in possession as that's the current tactic.

Off the ball though you're right we need to match their energy in the middle as it's where we've lost the game in recent matches.
 
Coisty09 said:
For me, the scum have dominated recent games because the combination of McGregor, O’Reilly and Hatate have been free to run the show between them.
Since Gerrard, no manager has ever seemed to do anything specific from a tactical perspective from our side to try and negate the influence, these three have in old firm matches.
I would like to see Stirling brought into the middle alongside Diomande and Lundstram so that we are not overrun in there.
Providing Ridvan is fit, we could sacrifice the wide right position as Tav will offer us some width.
If we can blunt the midfield trio and not allow the diving Japanese, any space, we really could reduce the threat hugely.
Click to expand...
Cupace20240506111736739.png

Would it fit?
 
Coisty09 said:
For me, the scum have dominated recent games because the combination of McGregor, O’Reilly and Hatate have been free to run the show between them.
Since Gerrard, no manager has ever seemed to do anything specific from a tactical perspective from our side to try and negate the influence, these three have in old firm matches.
I would like to see Stirling brought into the middle alongside Diomande and Lundstram so that we are not overrun in there.
Providing Ridvan is fit, we could sacrifice the wide right position as Tav will offer us some width.
If we can blunt the midfield trio and not allow the diving Japanese, any space, we really could reduce the threat hugely.
Click to expand...
Play 4 in there against them and cut off their supply to their front players.

Sterling,diomande,lundstrum,lawerence(or cantwell) .....take a wee gamble with 3 at the back with tavernier,souttar and balogun (or davies)
and dessers & silva (or sima/matondo if fit) up front.

Alternatively ,play dessers up on his own and keep yilmaz in back four.
 
Gerrard understood to command the midfield is to dictate the state of play, of getting it forward and getting it wide. Easy to plan but hard to implement if you don't get the player choices correct
 
If we go 4-2-3-1 on Saturday they will run over the top of us.

Dio, Lundstram and Sterling has to be the midfield. If it's not for any other reason other than one of them is injured then I don't know what Big Phil is seeing that we're not.

If it means dropping Cantwell or playing him as one of the front three then so be it. But we cannot go with him(or Lawrence) as a 10 against them. Lawrence will get eaten alive in terms of fitness next weekend from the start.
 
Butland

Tavernier
Souttar
Balogun
Davies
Ridvan

Sterling
Lundstram
Diomande

Cantwell

Dessers

Is unfortunately the best available option. We cannot concede early.
 
Been saying for a while we have to play a flat 3 in midfield against them.

The only issue is it would mean Dessers is even more isolated and he’s simply not good enough at holding the ball up.
 
For me it’s less about shape and more that we aren’t passive.

Games where we’ve been aggressive across the past 4 managers we’ve done okay. Games we’ve conceded the initiative not so much. Passivity loses in these games.

Their players aren’t particularly physical and we have bullied their midfield if and when we got in their faces. When we retreat into a shape and give them time to pick passes bad stuff happens.
 
Butland
Tavernier Balogun Souttar Ridvan
Sterling Lundstram Diomande
McCausland -----------------------Cantwell
Silva
​
Unsure on the availability of Matondo?
 
He won’t change, he believes in his style and so I guess it’s right he is stubborn and follows it.

However it’s no coincidence for me that our best results and performances came in Gerrards 433 formation, and if you had sima who could get close to Dessers from the left I think it would work a treat, but Phil won’t go 433 and sima is out so that plan is gubbed.
 
The likes of Cantwell, Lawrence and Dowell can’t be trusted at Parkhead. They may have a part to play in the second half …….

We need physicality and stamina in the first half. The evidence in the games this season is that they are poor in the second half of games

Too many times in recent seasons we go there and be naive with starting 11’s
 
I think we should aim to play our own game for once.

First half at Ibrox we tried to use Lawrence as the player to block that easy ball from centre half to Iwata, and leave Scales time as we figured he wouldn't hurt us or he'd make a mistake, and they played around us quite easily. Second half we pressed higher, pretty much went man-for-man in defence and caused them a load of issues.

We've watched Tillman and Cantwell be used in these more defensive roles in recent games to the complete detriment of their performances. Screw it - let's just back ourselves, have a real go at them and see what happens. No amount of tweaks or changes guarantees anything anyway.
 
Tav Balogun Souttar Yilmaz
Sterling Lundstram Dio
Cantwell
Dessers Silva/Roofe

Sterling and Silva give us next to nothing from the wings. Stop playing them out of position and strengthen the midfield instead. Width from Tav and Yilmaz but essentially play either through the middle or down the channels. They also hate teams going 2 up top against them, leave Dessers 1v1 against vickers and he will hassle him the entire game. Having the loaded midfield allows us to pick up more second balls if we need to go long.

We need to do something different than usual. Also not shitting the bed in the first 15 minutes would be a massive help.
 
The most success we had of late was when we sat someone niggly like Arfield on McGregor or Brown. We’ve been back to giving McGregor the freedom of the pitch and making him look like fucking Beckenbauer at times. Get in their faces.
 
Anyone who knows anything about old firm games understands you have to dominate the midfield first if you are to stand any chance of winning.

I’ve yet to be convinced that our manager sees things this way.
 
Coisty09 said:
For me, the scum have dominated recent games because the combination of McGregor, O’Reilly and Hatate have been free to run the show between them.
Click to expand...
I do t think that midfield 3 has played against us this season tbf but we do seem to lose these games in midfield so need to counter it even if it means an extra body in there from elsewhere on the park
 
Coisty09 said:
For me, the scum have dominated recent games because the combination of McGregor, O’Reilly and Hatate have been free to run the show between them.
Since Gerrard, no manager has ever seemed to do anything specific from a tactical perspective from our side to try and negate the influence, these three have in old firm matches.
I would like to see Stirling brought into the middle alongside Diomande and Lundstram so that we are not overrun in there.
Providing Ridvan is fit, we could sacrifice the wide right position as Tav will offer us some width.
If we can blunt the midfield trio and not allow the diving Japanese, any space, we really could reduce the threat hugely.
Click to expand...

Sterling should be in the middle of the park for this one. I’d happily see John Lundstram drop out. He’s usually anonymous in these games anyway.
 
I want a performance from the players when the chips are down. That's now. I can't get my head around to trusting Cantwell so would prefer him benched but Clement has a headache. It's a big job putting a team out to do a big job when you have trust issues regardless of who you pick. You're left hoping for the best and that rarely works out. Anyway, intae them Rangers.
 
I think the key ingredient is no free gifts and attack them in wide areas their fullbacks are dung and Scales is suspect as in he can’t pass out of defence when there’s a high press there’s definitely a mistake in him it all depends on who’s fit and available to start I feel we’ve more than a good chance if Sima and Matondo can either start or come on and run them ragged.
 
Whatever we do we need drop Cantwell from the midfield 3 and either start Raskin or Sterling in there.

We aint winning with a midfield 3 of Lundstrum, Dio and Cantwell.
 
LoyalRanger_72 said:
Gerrard always overloaded the midfield and put a man on McGregor and Brown. We need similar on McGregor and Hatate. No surprise our record against them is garbage the minute we stopped the midfield overload
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Oddly, certainly at Ibrox, it usually took until the 2nd half where someone, usually Kent, sat on McGregor when they had possession.
 
IF Matondo and Sima not fit (I think either will be lucky to make the bench)

Butland

Tav
Balogun/Davies
Souttar
Ridvan

Lundstram
Diomande
Sterling

Cantwell
McCausland

Dessers
 
Top managers understand when they have to change the way their team plays in order to beat a particular opponent in a particular game.
Stubborn arrogant people stick to what they believe is the best way forward even if the evidence shows they have repeatedly got it wrong.
 
Cooper's left peg said:
We have to make the midfield more solid.

But I just don't see Clement doing the right thing. We will get overrun as usual.
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Agree with this. I think most would agree we need to go with Sterling in a solid midfield 3 but I just don’t see Clement doing it.

The number 10 position is a luxury we don’t need this week and Cantwell is ineffective in it anyway.

Gio and Beale failed to learn in old firm games and so far Clement never learned from his first one and done the same at Ibrox.
 
Gerrard used the 4321 and would often play Kent with someone like aribo behind Morelos.

Out of possession aribo would drop back in and make it a midfield 4. With Davis jack and kamara giving us a solid foundation it was really effective against the tims.

We need to get back to that.
 
Bradbo88 said:
Gerrard used the 4321 and would often play Kent with someone like aribo behind Morelos.

Out of possession aribo would drop back in and make it a midfield 4. With Davis jack and kamara giving us a solid foundation it was really effective against the tims.

We need to get back to that.
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It's not hard to see why that worked tho. You had Davis and Jack who knew the importance of the fixture and Kamara playing his best football. You had a confident Morelos who hated them and was a pest throughout and Aribo who in my opinion would be the best player in the team if he was still here. That team would be far better equipped at playing Hatate and O'Riley too.

That's before taking Bassey and Kent's partnership into the equation.

Our team then wins 9 times out of 10 Vs our current available team
 
Bradbo88 said:
Gerrard used the 4321 and would often play Kent with someone like aribo behind Morelos.

Out of possession aribo would drop back in and make it a midfield 4. With Davis jack and kamara giving us a solid foundation it was really effective against the tims.

We need to get back to that.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately there is zero imagination like this in our setup. We will likely go with the usually 4-2-3-1 and get overrun in midfield.
 
Need to match them man for man, right man marking and solid challenges. Give them freedom to pass and roam and it’s a disaster for us.

Surely to %^*& someone on the coaching staff can see that only playing this match as a war is the only way we can win. If we fight them hard, tackle them at every opportunity and hurt them in that midfield area, take out their main man in the jump the dyke and make sure he knows he needs to fight to be in the game.

We won’t win this by being nice and pretty, we need to play ugly and show our teeth. Simple as that.

Midfield 3, Diomande Lundstram and Sterling. All can play, all can pass and all can dig if they feel the need to. We need discipline in there and Sterling and Diomande can offer this. Lundstram needs to shepherd the defensive line, he needs to help his defenders out. If we go toe to toe with them, we can win it. Standing off won’t get us anywhere.
 
Cooper's left peg said:
Clement doesn't seem to do anything about it.

Tactically he has questions to answer and I am concerned about our whole shape, movement and strength under him.
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The problem is that if we move Sterling inside, we lose his defensive qualities against their biggest threat. It’s not as simple as fixing the problem of the midfield. We need to have players to come in. Our injuries have really hampered Clement. Look at the bench from Saturday. Genuinely, nobody there makes a real difference.
 
Coisty09 said:
For me, the scum have dominated recent games because the combination of McGregor, O’Reilly and Hatate have been free to run the show between them.
Since Gerrard, no manager has ever seemed to do anything specific from a tactical perspective from our side to try and negate the influence, these three have in old firm matches.
I would like to see Sterling brought into the middle alongside Diomande and Lundstram so that we are not overrun in there.
Providing Ridvan is fit, we could sacrifice the wide right position as Tav will offer us some width.
If we can blunt the midfield trio and not allow the diving Japanese, any space, we really could reduce the threat hugely.
Click to expand...
They have not dominated recent games , they have in fact dominated less in recent games than ourselves . They have however been more clinical.
That's where we need to improve
 
TimzRFudz said:
The most success we had of late was when we sat someone niggly like Arfield on McGregor or Brown. We’ve been back to giving McGregor the freedom of the pitch and making him look like fucking Beckenbauer at times. Get in their faces.
Click to expand...

Basing this on next to nothing, but I could see Raskin doing that job
 
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