tlg1903

The proof will be in the pudding re the upside but the aim, I would suggest anyway, is to get a team on the park that consistently is greater than the sum of it's parts. What that looks like in terms of results is always going to be evolving based on who we are playing and what state they are in. E.g beating this current celtic side would be less of an achievment than the one that started last season. Say Thelin gets it right and this time next season we are far more of a honed and settled team then that would be the baseline for a Thelin team. The strategy then is to raise the baseline season after season until the club reaches it's natural ceiling and can't really go any further unless there is a major change in circumstances (in our case there's only one thing that could do that as things stand and that is qualifying for the league phase of CL and all the money that brings). Then you see what happens quite frankly, it's sport.... there's so many variables and anything can happen.

For the best, he was probably never signing a new deal and we have made a profit on him which just a year ago no-one would have believed.

Not long in from that, it's good to have a season book again but it would be nice to see us get a goal at some point let alone a win. Falkirk were stodgy and surprisingly fond of falling over too. We weren't awful with 11 men and I think we would have taken it had 11 stayed on the park. Very harsh red on Devlin, just watched it back there. He barely touched him and was focused completely on the ball, if this is how the game is going we would be as well just making it a non contact sport now and getting it over with. The ref was awful in general quite frankly and looked completely out of his depth. I do take some positives though. Firstly we defo seem to be getting a lot better with aerial balls into the box which has been a problem for ages and just improving defensively in general. Knoester coming back in has helped but credit has to go to Jack Milne who is making that RCB position his at the moment. I liked the look of Lazetic, my main first impression was he looks to have good feet and very keen to get involved. That was about it though, everything else on show was varying degrees of disappointing. It's also worth noting we have been limping by at LB where every game played so far someone has been shoehorned into the position. Personally I think this is one of the biggest reasons we are looking a bit impotent going forward as fb's are so key to how we try to attack. Hopefully Gyamfi will return to training over the international window and we now have backup in Frame too so fingers crossed no more Molloy or Devlin at left back. Am I worried? Not yet and 2bh I don't think there's any point in being so as the die is cast and we are very much in a "trust the process" scenario which the chairman has bought into. In the big interview after the cup final he was talking about how Jimmy was hired on the understanding it would be a 3 year 'project' and how not winning the cup would have made sod all difference to his commitment to it. When we appointed Thelin I heard/read multiple Swedish journalists say "you need to give this guy 2 seasons before you see what his teams are all about" and when you dive into the numbers at Elfsborg over Thelins first few seasons you soon see why. They really didn't start putting results together consistently until the last few months of season 2. Season 3 they really took off and were successful until he joined us but for quite a while in those first two seasons it would appear the Elfsbog fans wanted rid in great numbers. My feeling is we are probably going to have to endure some struggles in the first half of this season, especially with the demands of europe though I think the extra games will be good for squad gelling in the bigger picture, but I think/hope we will really kick on in the second half of the season.

Probably more than any of us 2bf

Re the bold, that's not true, particularly der hun. Have a look at record transfers for them, Rangers FC - Record arrivals | Transfermarkt Half of those come from the 90's when multi million pound signings were far more rare, even the tims were not able to compete with them then. Sure they were being bankrolled by Murray at a loss but their budget dwarved everyone. Re diddy sides getting a windfall, you almost say that like it's a bad thing? It's sport, there's always going to be winners and there's always going to be losers. It's never going to be "equal" and you just have to make the best of what you have. That's not to say that wouldn't like to see changes. I think you made the point that for euro money to make a big difference to scottish football it should all be pooled and split amongst the clubs and i think that has merit 2bh. Never going to happen though as one of the biggest problems in scottish football is the clubs only ever act in their own best interests.

Hearts are going to have a really strong season, no two ways about it.

I see where you're coming from but you're basing this on it being the same teams that qualify for europe every single year because that's how it went with the ugly sisters. The big flaw there to my eye is that the size difference between the us, hearts, hibs (who are all similar size) and all the smaller clubs than us in the league is nowhere near as big as the gap between the three mentioned and Rangers and Celtic. Regardless of their euro qualification they were always going to finish top 2 because they had way more money anyway and back in those days virtually every other club in the league was carrying crippling debt (up to 12 mill in our case). That is no longer the case and I don't think you can say in say ten years time it's only going to be the same 5 teams qualifying for Europe every single season. How many times have we seen the big two have a mare of a season and massively underperform? Loads. Hell we probably would have finished second last season if we hadn't collapsed. Add in the struggles we all have when playing thursday/sunday and I think you would still see a fair bit of rotation for the 5th place at the very least.

Whilst you make valid points you're only looking at the status quo. Look at the bigger picture. What happens if Scotland regularly get 5 teams into the league phase? Inevitably the Scottish league would eventually get another European place. So there's a benefit straight away for another club. Also, the biggest criticism about Scottish football globally is it's just rangers and celtic. 5 teams playing in the league phase of European completion would challenge that and grow the profile of our league perhaps, especially if one or two of them go on a run (look at bodo glimt last season). Also more money for more clubs means better players and increased standard on the pitch. From there you have the potential to be negotiating improved tv deals which absolutely could be of benefit to the clubs of the spfl. I would also add we are seeing increasing numbers of young players going down south as they are low risk gambles for English clubs. Don't know about anyone else but I'm started to get a little bit worried by this talent drain. Often they rot in youth systems never getting the development they need from 1st team football at the crucial 18-21 stage. The more money at Scottish clubs the more chance we have to keep them and actually play them which I would defo say is to the benefit of the Scottish game. I ain't saying it's perfect, far from it, but it's a shit ton better than it was.

I don't think you understand how dire a position the Scottish coefficient is in and that's not a criticism btw as it not that easy to understand. Hell, I don't fully understand it but I know it's not in a good place. With that in mind I really don't care particularly where the coeffient points come from and, quite frankly, none of us should. 3rd place getting guaranteed league stage football has been the best thing to happen to the Scottish top flight since the play offs came in. I don't think that's particularly arguable to be honest. To our own club, according to the chairman, it has been worth 6 million net if you include the upcoming campaign. For context you don't even get half that for winning the league. With regards to the huns and tims I look at it like this. If they win I can console myself with coefficient points and if they lose I get to laugh at them. Win win really.

For many years I rolled my eyes at the ugly sisters doing well in Europe being good for Scottish football rhetoric. Because it wasn't, it was only good for them. Things are very different now, the introduction of the conference league has been an overwhelming success if you ask me. It gives clubs that wouldn't have a sniff at playing European football until December/January previously a real chance to do so. According to Scotlands coefficient on twitter we need to get 4 teams into the league phase to have a decent chance to stay inside the top 15 and keep 5 euro places. As such I am defo taking off my red tinted specs far more when it comes to Scottish teams in Europe now and I'm genuinely delighted by both results tonight. 5 clubs getting into the league phase would be an amazing achievement and 100% good for Scottish football.

Also, in further comparison with ourselves, Drita struggle to defend crosses too.

2-2 now, Bucharest a different team since the second Drita goal

Aye, the second goal has defo brought them to life a wee bit

Got that on the radio, Hibs have a great chance to make the play off now and hopefully get into the league phase.

Hard to say as I'm not giving my full attention Al but I've not seen much from Bucharest. Drita actually remind me of how Thelin is trying to get us to play a wee bit 2bh though with a back 3

2-0 Drita. I've only got it on in the background whilst doing some cleaning but from what I've seen it's not against the run of play. This is a good team.

Found it five minutes ago on kodi, quite an open game so far

Everytime I log on and see there's no updates on this thread.

Yeah I have never rated Hanley

I didn't really have the stomach to talk about this post match, god I hate Hearts. I can see where Panda is coming from, there were spells in the game we actually looked quite handy going forward. Equally I can understand where Rico is coming from in saying we have seen this film before though I do think Milanovic and Aouchiche add something new. The biggest concern I had coming into this was how the defence was going to perform but for the most part I felt we actually held the hearts front line at arms length from that POV. Shankland did fuck all really (lovely finish for his chalked off goal 2bf) and Braga didn't cause too many problems either despite jambo wankfests over him in the build up. The first goal was a real kick in the teeth that at the time was completely undeserved and I do suspect this game would have gone a bit differently if Knoester doesn't slip. That's not to say that we wouldn't have still lost but 1st goal was always going to be really important last night I'm sure you all agree. To concede it in the manner was just grim. 27 days left of the window which will probably drag like fuck and then a flurry of late business. There is a lot to be said for keeping your powder dry until late in the window as bargains can crop up at bigger clubs as players get pushed down the pecking with late business. Equally though there's no point in having powder if it's not going to go boom at all and if you leave it too late you can end up scambling. I also do wonder if the club are expecting a bid for ferguson sometime soon which potentially couild affect the transfer budget.

Aye a goal would be good for him, hell even an assist just to get some confidence up. I felt Yengi did have one nice touch when he layed off to Aouchiche to run onto early in the second half and he was bit unlucky with an attempted rainbow heel flick that would have taken him into acres of space on the right. None of this is to say I don't have concerns though, he does look massively off the pace for what we need from a no 9. The rest of his game last night was poor and he's going to be a target for the boo boys before long if that doesn't change. The salt in the wound is Hibs look to have signed exactly what we are after with Keiron Bowie and he would have helped with euro registration too. Personally I try and reserve judgement until a player has had a chance to settle into a new place to live and had a reasonable amount of consistent game time. Sometimes I can tell straight away but that's usually only when they are really fucking good and even then they can go onto disappoint you. I think it's also relevant to mention that all new signings have to learn the system and that takes a bit longer with gegenpress. For someone like Yengi this is likely the first time he's ever been played in such a system.

So cheap

Boyd playing no 9?

Encouraging start to the second half though

I think he was trying to control it with his left then hit it with his right but it comes of his shin and trundles out