05 Mar 2026 04:50:18
My Rangers starting 11 would be the same team that started against Celtic last sunday in the league TBH ?Our performance was superb in the first half and i honestly think if we'd not sat back and tried to absorb Celtic possession/pressure and made the correct subs at the correct time we would have won the game hands down ?So my Rangers team on sunday against them would be -
Butland
Sterling
Souttar
Fernandez
Rommens
Raskin
Chukwuani
Skov Olsen
Moore
Naderi
Chermiti
???
05 Mar 2026 07:40:05
SWS, I don't disagree with the team, but I also don't think our tactics were to sit back and absorb pressure. I just can't see a manager of a team so dominant in a first half choosing to do that. Now, the players may mentally have settled for 2-0, as they do score and then seem to have done that in the past.
However, I also think Celtic changed the way they set up and played; they gained momentum, and we never really got it back, other than brief periods when we won a corner or a free kick.
So, yes, go for the same team, but players (and manager?) now need to be aware that they might need to change on the pitch in game.
05 Mar 2026 09:14:44
Still going long with one striker and leaving them an extra man at the back just kept giving them the ball back. A few players were knackered, plus only two subs, who were empty jerseys, didn't help either. Nadri is not going to last past the hour, so hopefully a couple up before DR tinkers with the team.
05 Mar 2026 09:22:17
I really think those who are adamant we "sat back" are clutching at straws. Did we sit back?! Not from what I was witnessing right in front of me in the first 5 minutes of the 2nd half.
Nope! We were outdone by their manager changing their formation and tactics, while our manager did nothing to combat it.
It really was that simple.
They did to us after a 1st half battering what we did to them at the midden, after they battered us for 45 mins.
05 Mar 2026 09:23:16
Yes, I'd start the same team. Playing Olsen from the start, I think, would be more beneficial than bringing him on after 70 mins, as he is currently struggling with the speed of the game. The problem in the 2nd half is Celtic were allowed to play their quick possession based passing and we sat off, which allowed
their runners in forward areas to put us under pressure.
Diomonde made no difference as the speed of the game passed him by. Cameron, I thought, was all over the park last night against them. Of course, he's not the greatest, but he was brought up in this environment and would have been in around them far more effectively than Dio. If Barron can come on in the 2nd half, it would be a bonus for me.
05 Mar 2026 11:32:54
Agree with the momentum shift in the 2nd half.
But it wasn't tactical switches that scored their goals. It was bad defending that cost their goal and the passage of play leading up to their 2nd.
Without having a pop at individual players that get defended to the hilt on here, it's fair to say that they will have spells in the game when they are dominant and probably create chances.
Rohl has to get the balance right, and I believe playing the same personnel does not make us safe at the back.
Stats tell their own story: 6 goals lost in the last three games.
05 Mar 2026 11:36:28
Bang on the money, SS. Basically, I was going to post something similar. Celtic forced us on the back foot with those changes. When we battered them in the 1st half, we had two shots on target. When they battered us in the 2nd half, they had 7 shots on target.
05 Mar 2026 12:32:30
Interesting stat, I honestly don't remember Butland having that much to do in the second half, although I do think they created a lot of chances that they blazed over or wide. Would the 7 shots on target include Maeda's header saved by Butland at the penalty, and Hatate's 3 attempts to score at the penalty? It is true, though, that apart from Chermiti's goals we didn't create nearly enough when we were on top and never put any pressure on their keeper.
Still, I think Fernandez should have buried that header to make it 3-0 and kill the game.
05 Mar 2026 13:35:47
League is a joke, fixed. Look at that Nygren goal last night, definitely offside, making the Aberdeen player look like he has Krusty the Clown feet.
05 Mar 2026 13:56:33
We never deliberately went out to sit back. Celtic made changes that influenced the game like Rohl did at Parkhead earlier in the season. Momentum switched. It wasn't intentional.
05 Mar 2026 13:56:56
Really don't get why we can't post pics here?
{Ed033's Note - To post pics, you go to the Sightings page.
05 Mar 2026 14:36:18
Look closely at that offside call, then you'll see he wasn't offside; the Aberdeen player's left leg is keeping him on.
Has anyone seen the Celtic rb barging Raskin a second before he takes a shot? I never noticed it during the game, but VAR is meant to notice these things, and that was a missed foul and penalty kick. Surprised it has not been mentioned.
05 Mar 2026 14:43:07
We never pressed them well enough in the first half. Their full-backs did nothing in an attacking sense, as we had them pinned back. Yes, they changed formation, but then it's up to our manager to change ours to let us continue the press.
05 Mar 2026 16:47:01
Rosevale, I think, with the amount of pressure being continually on our back line, there is always a greater chance of any individual making a mistake, as they can only concentrate at that high level for so long. The ball was cleared and just kept coming back. Defenders can't concentrate for long periods of continual, sustained pressure for many reasons, and this can lead to slower reaction times and lapses in concentration.
Different players will have different levels at which mental fatigue happens.
People will ridicule this, I know, but search for the Yerkes-Dodson Law to have it explained.
05 Mar 2026 18:16:25
You are Mr Leniency and agree with a lot, but I respectfully disagree with an excuse like that for poor defending, Angus.
It's plain and simple switching off, and Souttar and Fernandez are both guilty of it.
I watched the day before; Halkett defended properly to make sure they got the points in the second half, and before people say he's not good enough for us, he defends his box well and tracks runners.
It's getting the right level of defender that we need, Angus.
05 Mar 2026 18:31:23
So, the defenders that can concentrate, Angus, are they called the non Yerkes?
If that were the case, then no one would be accountable for lapses in concentration or bad defending.
You are entertaining, though. ?
05 Mar 2026 20:09:02
"This is Sparta." Sorry, that was Xerxes, not Yerkes. "You there, may you live forever." Think I may be not well. ???
06 Mar 2026 12:48:50
Rosevale, this isn't me who says this is the case. I am only repeating what I have read on the topic. A long established, peer reviewed study from 1908, so not new, covers how performance increases with physiological or mental arousal (stress), but only up to a point, at which point it is damaging and there is a drop of equal proportions.
Not saying it is that, but one reason why players and everyone can't concentrate and/or perform when under that stress.
Spartan theory, and in fact Fork theory (there is one), are two different issues, although Fork theory is in the same ballpark.