Diamond Scot
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Posts posted by Diamond Scot
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1 hour ago, gonzohiggy said:
I agree with this being the reason Shankland is 3rd of those 3. Other than having a squad of good players, Clarke places a high importance on continuity and closeness between the squad and he shows great loyalty to those players.
From a footballing perspective it’s pretty obvious that Shankland is a better all round striker than Dykes and Adams at the moment. He’s a far far better goal scorer than both, stronger than both and I’d argue as good link up as both. He’s not as dynamic as Adams but I’d say he’s on a par with Dykes from that perspective.
I don’t expect him to overtake either come the Euros but I’d be staggered if he doesn’t make the squad.
Totally agree with your initial point regarding Clarke. He has shown that in order to take somebodys place in the squad / team then you need to be clearly better than them. This is probably because the current occupant knows the setup, systems, phases of play etc and have done a job. I think this way of thinking is a big part of our success as there has been way less chopping and changing. It feels like getting a call up is much more of a thing now, more earned than previously.
It comes with frustrations for fans though. Many including myself think Ferguson should have had more chances, especially late in games or friendlies but instead Clarke brings on guys like Christie and Armstrong. Its a similar thing with Shankland.
Im not sure I agree with your assessment of Shankland though. He is a much more natural and better finisher but he is nowhere near as strong as Dykes or Adams. He can hold the ball up much better than he used to and lay off others but this tends to be more around the half way line than in and around the box. The one thing that the other 2 do better in my opinion is occupy the centre backs either by bullying them or running them out of position. Thus allowing space for midfielders. Imo this is the main reason why Shankland will only be used as an impact sub.
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3 hours ago, vanderark14 said:
This is going to be key. If collum made a mistake and the offside was used as a get out because it was noticed later on then the huns have a point but does it need to be so public? Does it need this drama and a witch hunt of a referee?
Let's say collum did spot the handball and gave a penalty? What happens if the offside is then spotted. Do Celtic get a meeting with the head of referees and go after collum?
I agree. I dont like how Rangers do things, especially what seems to be pandering to the lowest of their support however I dont dont understand the criticism of some on here for them seeking answers.
Every club has had questionable decisions made against them. Some much worse than what might have happened to Rangers last week but its the responsibility of each club to seek answers and fight their case.
The fact that other clubs havent done that much and then Rangers have gone all in should be a criticism of the other clubs, not Rangers.
Its about time the other 10 non OF clubs got together and formed as collective to give their voice more weight. Why this hasnt been done makes me question the motives of the owners.
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1 hour ago, Fairbairn said:
Which again begs the question of why the offside stills were released. In my opinion they’ve realised they’ve fucked up by not sending the ref to review the handball and have chucked out the offside excuse hoping it would cover their arse. It’s another absolute shambles from the SFA and it’ll be interesting to see their response.
And just for clarity, I’m not for a second suggesting that this is based on any sort of bias or conspiracy against Rangers, it’s just another in a long list of examples of gross incompetence.
Who released the offside stills?
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Apparently Rangers have been allowed to listen to the audio and there is no mention of offside. Decision made purely on basis of handball.
I didnt watch the game but im lead to believe that any handball review didnt take long which having now seen the incident seems like madness to me. Jonhsons hand clearly takes an independent change of direction to hit the ball. Im not overly sure if he means it or not, my 1st thought was that he was trying to grab / manoveure Sima but if its hardly been reviewed then thats really poor from the VAR ref. Especially (and this shouldnt make a difference) in the biggest most contentious game in our footballing calender.
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9 minutes ago, LoganRoy said:
It needs to be if the ref see's something or is unsure. The whole clear and obvious part is being disregarded.
It also feels like a ref would rather give a yellow and not a penalty, and leave it up to VAR to get involved.
The St Mirren red card yesterday, St Johnstone at Ibrox, and Rangers one last month, they are all clear reds. If the ref isn't seeing those in real-time and relies on a VAR rep to call it then the refs not doing their job.
Thats why I think having the ref ask a direct question is better. For example the ref blows for a foul. Before giving a card he says to the VAR, I want you to check where the red player has connected with the yellow player and if leg was straight or bent at point of contact. VAR does a quick check and comes back and says, on the shin, straight leg. Ref then says, ok confirmed im going to give a red is there anything else I should be aware of. No, good, red card.
As long as refs werent going to VAR for every challenge then I think people would accept this. It would also allow us to see the thought process of the ref which is part of the problem atm.
For the Rangers / Celtic game at the weekend there would be an assistant on that side of the goals. If the assistant and ref dont see the handball then nothing happens. If they do and want to confirm if its deliberate then just go to VAR. VAR, can you check if Green players hand moves towards the ball and makes contact. Thats what I believe happened, yes, ok thanks penalty. Offside can be fully automated now as per world cup and champions league so the conversation wouldnt even get that far if Sima was offside. Everybody in the stadium and at home would be in the loop so vastly reduces the scope for all this nonsence.
Of course the problem comes when none of the 6 (ive added 2) officials see something obvious but for me thats sport and can be dealt with by authorities in their review of how the officials handled the game.
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16 minutes ago, JECK said:
Don’t know if the above is true but in total contrast you look at Lewis Ferguson, according to snippets (mainly is old man on open goal) he has embraced absolutely everything in Italy whilst having a young family over there. You would actually think Italy would be harder to adapt to as even less folk around you would speak English in somewhere like Bologna
My point being is that its a choice that footballers dont really have to make although I agree they 100% should commit to as Ferguson has done.
Some footballers spend many years in a foreign country without learning the language etc. Their priviledge as a footballer allows them this luxury. Ie it would be impossible for an IT person or a nurse etc to move to Spain and not learn Spanish. Day to day would be extremely difficult and doing the job would be impossible.
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9 minutes ago, N4Footsoldier said:
I agree also that Shankland is unlikely to start. It's easy for us computer pundits to say he scores goals so that = starting. It's about the system.
The only case for someone like a Jacob Brown in the squad is if we prioritize pace over finesse, but even at this point in the season if Shankland isn't on the plane then he would be really hard done by. If he stays in Scotland forthe rest of the season (whether at Rangers or not) and ends up top league goal scorer, that should be a shoe in for our squad which seems to lack natural finishersin the forward position.
If fit Adams and Dykes start. For a tournament of 3 games minimum I think Clarke looks at his 3rd choice striker and goes with somebody who can do something different which Shankland falls into. Ie needing a goal you bring him off the bench (like Georgia).
This would make sence using the Norway game as an example. Many wanted and thought Shankland would replace Brown however Dykes did. We were winning 3-2 at that stage (70 mins) and therefore needed somebody to continue the role rather than change it. Had it been 3-3 then I suspect Shankland might have got the nod.
Again, personally I think that Shankland could play the role and Norway would have been an ideal time to find out but Clarkes sees him in training and will have studied videos etc so maybe he thinks differently.
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16 minutes ago, Bzzzz said:
The problem with VAR is that it seems to be getting worse rather than better as you might expect. All it has done is moved human error.
This was always my problem / fear with VAR. Im very much in favour of using technology for factual matters. Ie is the ball over the line, offside. Even whether or not a foul is inside the box or if the ball has hit a players arm.
However the minute you use it the way it is now then you just create chaos and inconsistency. You end up just reffing the game twice.
People use other sports as an example but in most sports its factual stuff that gets checked.
Even in Rugby, although its changed slightly, it used to be that the ref asked the VAR a direct question. Ie can you check to see if the ball is grounded etc. You would then see what the VAR guy is looking at and then hear him come back and say yes or no.
I believe it would work much better in football if it operated like that. Only for truely off the ball violent conduct, like getting punched off the ball should VAR bring stuff to the refs attention. And even then it should be so obvious that the VAR just tells the ref to send off Red player 7 for punching yellow player 5 etc
Id even be up for having the the assistants to the side of the goals like they trialled a few years back. Assistants on both wings, one to the side of each goal on the opposite side from the one on the wing and the 4th official. Any of them can bring something to the attention of the ref who can then ask VAR a direct question. Heard by the crowd and then the reply also heard.
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5 hours ago, Caledonian Craig said:
I fully get the sentiment from fans about wanting him to tell Arsenal to GTF but there are other things to consider. Two things could be a big factor here in items I have read online. One suggests the Real Sociedad boss is not willing to part with the cash Arsenal are asking for to make the deal permanent as he is worried about Tierney's record of injuries. Secondly, in the last week or so I read a report suggesting Tierney was struggling to adjust to life in Spain. Those may just force Tierney's hand.
Obviously, it would be better if another club came in to buy Tierney in Spain, France, Italy or Germany but there have been no rumours of other clubs showing interest which I find surprising.
Always annoys me when footballers cant adust to life abroad. Its not like if a normal person moved to Spain where they would be under immense pressure to learn the language and understand all the different ways things get done. I can imagine that would be very difficult however most of Tierneys team mates will speak a level of English, he will have a translater, his personal life will be largely unaffected by language as he has some much money that he has no need to interact with the public in the same way a normal person would. Ie he will have a personal shopper, a chef if he wants one etc. Almost all upmarket restaruants etc speak English.
You would think some hot weather would be a good thing. These guys can jump on a plane and be back in Glasgow in an hour if want. Realistically he could come home for a day every week if he really wanted to.
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8 hours ago, theabsentee said:
Interesting to see how he deals with the step up.
Also thanks for the update on Kerr Smith, new contract means Villa rate him & it looks like Levein or someone from St. Johnstone also does. Wouldn't be signing him if they didn't think he is ready to play regularly at spl level. Be watching him with interest for the rest of the season.
Villa have vast resources. They will keep most young talent on regardless of whether they rate them highly or not. Obviously if they think they are rubbish they will let a kid know but it makes business sense to keep as many prospects on as possible as the rewards for one breaking through are massive.
Ie if they have 100 youth players they might only rate about 5 as 9 or 10/10 potential but they will keep all the 6/10s on aswell because at that age one of them might develop late and become a star. The wage these guys are on wont be high either.
Its good that he will get some game time at St Johnstone though. Hopefully does well and gains some experience.
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Its good that we have around 26/27 good players as its usual that players become N/A for tournaments. I cant see Cairney breaking in if everybody is fit but he is exactly the standard of squad player we need should a few 1st teamers miss out.
On the Shankland front, I think he is currently in a weird position. If Clarke only takes 3 strikers which I think he might then Shankland is probably that 3rd striker however I dont think Clarke see's him as a starter.
He is our best finisher but I disagree with some posters saying thats all that matters. Its all about putting a team out that best compliment each other and that help get the best results. If for example the striker is great at goalscoring but doesnt hold the ball up or create space for midfielders etc then its alot easier for teams to just mark him. Currently they need to worry about midfield runs from deep aswell as the striker.
That being said, I think Shanklands all round game has improved loads in the last 2 years so to label him as just a goalscorer in the mould of Boyd and Rhodes is probably unfair.
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1 hour ago, vanderark14 said:
Contentious? It wasn't contentious at all.
If we are talking about a very dubious decision I would understand, however this isn't contentious at all. This is Rangers pandering to the brain dead part of their support to cover for their loss yesterday. They lost because their striker is pish and couldn't score with a barrow load of fannies.
This is not a good move by Rangers, staying quiet for once would be the right move, pick a fight where there is one. They could be opening a can of worms which could go against them.
As I understand it, they are looking for clarity on the decision making process. They believe they were told one thing at the time and another later on. The audio would confirm which took place.
I dont like the way Rangers go about things. Making a big song and dance out of everything however there should be nothing wrong with asking the authorities to explain decisions.
As ive said previously on multiple occasions, maybe if other clubs started doing the same and sticking up for their own club / supporters then the game might start to get rid of some of the errors that litter our football.
Ie, rather than moaning about ticket allocations, get together with other affected clubs and do something about it.
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3 hours ago, RDFH64 said:
Their brass neck & arrogance knows no bounds, why haven’t they demanded var audio recordings be released of the numerous dodgy var decisions that have gone their way since var started.
Why would they? Rangers are only doing what all clubs should be. They are challenging / seeking clarity on a decision that they feel has gone against them.
Maybe if all clubs took the same approach and had more of a backbone / stopped rolling over at boardroom level then refs wouldnt find it so easy to give these questionable decisions against the non OF clubs.
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36 minutes ago, BryanBlessed said:
Adams is hardly setting the championship alight so why would an EPL team want him? Even his goal yesterday was a pretty easy finish when Southampton were already 4 up. He’s been off it for over a year now.
I think Dykes will be in for his unselfishness and hold-up play but I think Shankland should be at least tried as a starter.
I believe there was bids for Adams in the summer. It often happens when a team get relegated and dont sell a player, that the player falls out of favour and doesnt perform. More often than not the player moves in January as it suits both parties. The buying club normally get the player for abit cheaper than they would the previous summer and will be banking on getting the player back to previous levels.
Adams could still do a job for a number of EPL lower half sides and for about 10 million he will be worth a punt.
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4 hours ago, N4Footsoldier said:
I wasn't sure what to expect on this thread but honestly I just look forward to the next penalty against Rangers whether deserved or not just so everyone can stop banging on about it and move on to the next thing that serves as apparently irrevocable evidence that Scottish Football is a wider masonic conspiracy.
As for the VAR process, we know ourselves from every other league that applies it that it is highly imperfect. The concept of "clear and obvious" is something they need to look at to get right, which will come from IFAB and filter through every association. Honestly I think VAR does actually work 9/10 times and no one ever remembers the times when it comes in useful, just the minority of incidents that are debatable, although it should be 100% effective, there are still humans behind the technology who can make mistakes whether on the technical side or just out of misjudgment. We really don't have the transparency at present to understand what they are using it for.
Take the Motherwell penalty appeal from Sunday. Any number of factors could lead to it not being a penalty such as handball in the build up, O'Donnell kicking Butland in the head while trying to get the loose ball, or the fact that in no way should the Motherwell player have gone down like that with his legs totally giving way at just a tiny tug on the arm. This would have been run through the ref's earpiece.
Honestly I think the next step for the VAR process would be transparency on the comms in real time, like rugby for example. They are trying to introduce it in England with Howard Webb on TV after the fact, but the overall refereeing community I'm not sure has a level of comfort yet with that type of transparency. Especially because football as a game has such subjective judgment-based rules versus other sports, not to mention the terrible ethos within football towards officials from the grassroots up, and to be honest the level of self importance that does exist within football officials to the point they just don't come across like real people, are all factors that block any progress here.
A big part of the problem is alot of people in the game who arent refs are absolute idiots so having more transparency doesnt help.
The fact that co commentators dont know the basic rules of the game, thsrefore feeding misinformation to the viewers. Then you have people like Paul Merson who I watched a bit of footage recently when they had an ex ref and they were reviewing VAR decisions so far this season and the ref was explaning them / saying whether he thought were correct etc. There was one where the ref explained that the laws dictate that the decision was the only one the ref could provide. Merson starts shouting about common sense, the ref then says well yes but the laws would need to be changed first as refs cant just apply common sense if its against the laws. Merson then starts ripping the mickey out of the ref saying, its football, not the laws of the country, refs wont go to jail etc. The ref was then trying to explain what should be obvious to anybody in football that refs cant just make stuff up as they go along or it would lead to chaos but Merson wasnt having it.
Everyone involved in football needs to improve in order for the game to improve.
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15 minutes ago, dan cake said:
SUMMER FITBAW!
Been saying it for years. There is little to zero benefit to playing football in Scotland in the winter.
Putting aside the state of the pitches, games are ruined by the wind and rain. Then consider the impact on fans. Only the absolute hardcore fans would go to a game tonight and there are less and less hardcore fans as the years go on.
I guarentee that nowhere in Scotland today has a kid been bored and the parents say, why not take him along to the X game? They are playing tonight are they not. However during the school holidays when the sun is shining or at least in still warmish rain, I bet you would get alot more adults with kids attending.
The only reasons we play the traditional calender is because we dont want to appear to be a 2nd rate footballing nation and because as a country we are scared of trying anything new and out our comfort zone.
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1 hour ago, ProudScot said:
Dykes has mega credit in the bank but he needs to start scoring
I think if Dykes is fit but doesnt score again for the rest of the season then he is still on the plane for a number of reasons.
1) Credit in the bank
2) Knows our system and phases of play which is important to Clarke
3) Utter lack of any credible alternatives
I can see Adams getting a move to low end EPL team in January. Would suit both parties at this stage although Stewart getting injured might affect things.
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2 hours ago, BryanBlessed said:
I've been really impressed with him recently. Still has a bit of pace, is a good crosser and has a good finish. Looks like ab EPL player which is what he is.
I don't think he'll be in our first 11 but should be in the squad.
Good to see Adams scoring but I wonder if it might be Dykes or Adams in the squad and not both.
If fit it will be both Dykes and Adam. 100%, not even a remote chance of either being dropped.
The question is who the 3rd forward will be. Probably between Shankland, Brown and Nisbet. Id take Shankland.
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1 hour ago, thesaint said:
To me they are just a sort of...NOTHING design.Totally forgettable.
If any of the classics were brought out today they would be nothing designs.
For the home strip in particular I think less is more.
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I actually quite like the current strips but the anniversary strip should be the template for future strips.
Dark and traditional for home. Away abit more free but not neon etc
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5 hours ago, BryanBlessed said:
I agree that Fergson is going really well but Serie A is not as good a level as the EPL and I don't think he deserved to take the place of any of our midfielders. Even McTominay, in a poor Utd team, has still managed to get a few goals and that's not even considering his international form. He's a great option to have on the bench.
EPL is a better overall standard than Serie A however id argue that its harder to score goals in Italy.
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2 hours ago, Bzzzz said:
That's what I was worried about, these templates are non descript. You'd think that given the amount of sales they get out of these things and the astronomical prices they're asking for them they'd actually listen to what the fans want to maximise sales. If they give us good stuff we'll buy it!!!
If they give us bad stuff we buy it anyway lol
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3 hours ago, Redz said:
The ball rolled freely over the area he had 'concerns' about
The weather was improving
Cove (Cove ffs) managed to delay their ko by 30 minutes to accommodate their game going ahead, with the paying public in mind
Arbroath, 12 miles away, managed no bother
Cunts
Im not defending the ref as I havent seen enough about the specific match today but why do you think he would call a game off if the pitch was clearly playable? Robson said he had concerns about the pitch and on Clyde 1 they were saying the away end goalmouth area was particuarly bad. I just cant see a reason why a ref would travel to a game and then cancel it for no real reason.
Others games going ahead sometimes doesnt tell the full story. Is Dundee's pitch just not very good this season. As others have said, theres been a good few games where the pitch has been bad. I would suggest training on it to make a point probably wont help the pitch going forward.
I think it may be half fee and travel expenses to answer my own questiob about whether they get paid.
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2 minutes ago, kumnio said:
Dundee say that the pitch was playable, the ref in question has previously called games off when the clubs have wanted them to go ahead. He also fucked up at Dens this season with a call that was called wrong by VAR, and then called wrong later by the SFA. The ref in question is a cunt.
Clubs will always want games to go ahead. The home team because they lose money if a game gets rescheduled and both teams as generally they can do without the fixture congestion. Thats why its left to the officials to decide.
Scottish players in action 21/22
in TA specific
Posted
Im not overly concerned about that aspect atm. Clarke has shown that he is more than willing to play youth when the time is right.
By the time Armstrong and Christie are winding down, Ferguson will have been in the squad for years, have a decent amount of caps and im sure Clarke will start to gradually increase his game time, probably after this Euros.
We finally seem to be producing a steady stream of players. Maybe not all top top class but you can pick pretty much any position except GK and CF and see a good few potential replacements. There was a time when a big player retiring or getting injured would have meant a massive drop off in quality. Thats not the case anymore.
Our 4th or 5th choice left backs are either playing in Italy or for Celtic. We have multiple CBs all around the same standard. 2 solid RBs and then another 2 or 3 with potential. Midfield we are strong with a good few potentials in and around 1st team football.
My bigger fear is what happens after Clarke. I really hope we are looking at managers with similar approaches.