07 Sep 2022 20:03:35
Thought I would put down some reflections, no doubt most won't respond as they will be thinking the same thing but here goes.

First and foremost, well done Ajax. A fantastic football team who played great football and dropped the tempo second half and still had plenty in the tank.

McLaughlin - did fine, made some good saves keeping score down, was not at fault for any of the goals.

We showed some fight in the second half even with the Jack blunder which led to the 4th goal.

The goals - 1st disgraceful. A centre half who ducks a ball from a corner (ducking once again), needs dropped. Zonal marking needs to be dropped as well, simply not working. 2nd unlucky deflection, third fantastic solo goal (Tav looked injured defending it), 4th Jack sold the ranch.

Reality check - Ajax are buying players 15-20 million, they have players worth 30million upwards who are fantastic technical footballers.

Minuses - didn't see much fight in first half after Saturday. Tav injured so no RB to replace and also seemingly no right footers for set pieces. Kent woeful. Matondo not much better than Wright who was also woeful.

For those saying sack Gio. who do you bring in? I don't believe he has lost the dressing room but he certainly was not backed by the board properly and there must be more than meets the eye behind the scenes re takeover.

Positives - King. Showed a lot of maturity when coming on. Borno had a fair game too and deserved a goal. Colak, very much the team man, ran all the way back to console Jack after the 4th despite being given nothing at all.

This is a reality check. We are scraping the barrel for signings (for whatever reasons) while Celtic go out and spend money to bring players to fit a system that will win the league in Scotland and give a good account of themselves in Europe. If our system is to be more passing and technical then we need the players with the ability to do that and we do not have them.

We move on to Aberdeen, that is the more serious match now to watch for a player reaction.

1.) 07 Sep 2022
07 Sep 2022 21:04:06
Credit to Ryan Jack, least had the balls to come out and own his error.

And flip Napoli at HT, 3 up against Pool and missing a penalty?!

2.) 07 Sep 2022
07 Sep 2022 21:07:43
Good post Jamger.

Big upgrade in opposition and we needed to be 100% to have any chance.

We performed at 50% and were found out. Confidence, fluidity, sharpness and focus all lacking across the pitch.

Who's to blame? It's not my style to cast blame but if we want to improve we must play against better opposition and when playing in the SPL we cannot compete financially particularly given where we have been in the last 10 years.

Gio will pick them up, work harder, tweak tactics and personnel and bring back injured players and we will improve

It's not an overnight fix but I will be supporting no matter the results.

3.) 07 Sep 2022
07 Sep 2022 21:22:47
Jamger, good post, gio didn't really say a lot on interview. I noticed he just sat watching, not stood in technical area at all. He did say hundreds of millions needed at this level. Were his actions a point to the board ' I told you we needed to spend more '?

4.) 07 Sep 2022
07 Sep 2022 22:42:12
We all will continue to support them DK19, but surely you must agree, we should at least see 100% effort in every game.