Buy cheap, buy twice. Scotland has a low cost version of VAR. It is better than nothing, but it has limitations which were clearly (in a blurred sense) displayed at St Mirren on Saturday evening. We also have match officials who were recently put under significant pressure due to a decision at last season’s Motherwell-Celtic game (the penalty awarded to Celtic, not the one denied for the foul on Maeda). People buckle under pressure, we should not be surprised.
VAR was introduced to our game four years ago. Operational standards improved significantly since the early days of the technology, but the same kit is still in operation. It is easy to call for a better system without being responsible for payment (less of a problem for Celtic, but most of the league live hand-to-mouth). Still, we should aspire to upgrade.
Celtic played well going forward and defended stoutly, but there remains concern about the sheer volume of chances St Mirren created. Everyone creates chances against Celtic this season, which will cost us again. There was a period in the second half when St Mirren controlled the game. Better teams will make more of similar opportunities.
95 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- 2
- 3
- »
Battered Bunnet 7th Sept 12.30 pm
Couldn’t agree more, if we start at Ibrox, or maybe even at Perth on Wed Night, with Nygren as part of a M/F 3 and Tounekti and Hassan out wide, then we’re asking for trouble. Nygren is either part of a front two or an attacking midfielder in a M/F 4, playing him in a M/F three leaves us deperately weak when teams couter attack us.
It looks to me that MON and Maloney haven’t learned the lesson from our CL qualifying debacle. Play that system and our defence will be left facing runners in one on one situations, this always ends in either last ditch desperate tackles, or the attacker getting a shot at our goal. Up front we’re doing well, but our M/F is a three verging on two. The Rangers aren’t a very good team but McInnes must be rubbing his hands at the prospectof us playing 4 3 3 with Nygren part of that M/F .
Last October we went to Tynecastle to play Hearts, then managed by McInnes, with a weak exposed defence and suffered a 3-1 defeat I just hope we don’t make the same mistake next Sunday at Ibrox.
tangerine tam7_noted
Do not recall ever doing that! Though I know that you and others of your ilk have suggested something to that effect. I do recall labelling you as the dumbest poster ever to post on here. Wasn’t dissembling, wasn’t being economical with the truth……no need to….it is a fact. Definitive….
Not Good
I was thinking how great we were doing in the League compared with our last, disastrous season. I looked up our results. We didn’t lose a game until past mid-October and, of the two games we drew, one was against Rangers. We’ve a long way to go before we can claim to have improved.
Keep on digging.
It is easy to call for a better system without being responsible for payment (less of a problem for Celtic, but most of the league live hand-to-mouth). Still, we should aspire to upgrade.
————–
for a laugh, offer to pay for the best version, make it a gift, throw money at them.
watch the conspiracy theories then.
Keep on posting…..
Not Good
ProofPositiveCSC
SILVER CITY 1888 on 7TH SEPTEMBER 2026 5:01 PM
We were beaten at Parkhead by a terrible Ferencvaros, scraped last some poor teams to get into the Europa league and then got thumped in the group stages
A mad season and a mad time of life for everyone.
“McInnes must be rubbing his hands at the prospectof us playing 4 3 3 with Nygren part of that M/F”
Do you think? I reckon he’ll be too busy dealing with the ptsd from the last time he played us and keeching himself abkut losing his job
Rangers fans are currently circulating and celebrating a trivia claim on social media that the roof of the Main Stand at Ibrox Stadium houses the world’s longest single-span beam. [1]
(https://x.com/i/status/2096869411697082457)
The claim states that the hidden, 146-meter-long beam supports the stadium’s structure entirely free of internal pillars. The topic has quickly gained traction as a lighthearted point of pride among Rangers supporters, while simultaneously drawing mocking banter from rival Celtic fans, who joke that Rangers have “run out of football-related claims” and are turning to architectural ones.
————–
i bet there are other longer beams but like worlds greatest club claim nobody can be bothered asking.
other claims are,
more trees were felled to create the oak board room and trophy cabinets than were used for the mary rose.
the marble staircase used more stone than the vatican, get that up yeese timmy.
the edwardian toilet block has more glass than the botanical gardens
Surely, as it’s a great debate, SKY will be dead against the VAR system changing any day soon. Mind you because of the pittance the pay to have SPFL, surely they should muster up the VAR premier payment? Absolute peanuts in comparison to what they pay for the EPL, por cierto
https://x.com/mehdirhasan/status/2096987219709866396?s=20
NEW: Every week, a Philadelphia nun drives to the immigration court in Harlingen, Texas, to sit beside unaccompanied children, some as young as four, who face a deportation judge with no lawyer and no parent.
This week, an undocumented migrant who is facing imminent
👏
Rangers fans are currently circulating and celebrating a trivia claim on social media that the roof of the Main Stand at Ibrox Stadium houses the world’s longest single-span beam. [1]
And David Murray certainly charged them for it.
Play with two proper midfielders. We only play with two, usually McGregor and Baur. Both are very good footballers. Our current 3rd midfielder is Nygren, who isn’t a midfielder. A very good creative attacking player but not a midfielder. Sorensen and the Dutch lad should, hopefully, provide that different type.
Three not two😁
por cierto
I suggested earlier that the costs of VAR should come out of the SKY/SPL deal, but your idea is better, tell Sky they need to pay for it, and upgrade it or VAR no va……
The best thing to do in the next couple of weeks if Hogh isn’t fit is to play a front 6 of ….
Baur McGregor Sorrenson
Hassan Duran Nygren
Nygren can play anywhere in the front 3 but it also gives us a bit more solidity when the opposition have the ball and we have 4 inmidfield when BN drops back.
LR@621….inspiring and heartbreaking.
According to BBC Scotland, the penalty against Motherwell is now “infamous”. I have no respect for their sports department but surely this crosses a line?
Callum Osmand was 2 yards onside for the Maeda goal against Hearts.
He was flagged offside…
That is infamous.
Pretty sure Murray reamed those clowns for £20 million for that back in the day
Nygren has more goal involvements than any other player tgis season – 5 goals and 6 assists in 8 games and from midfield. It’s a fantastic return, hes in fantastic form. Dropping or playing him out of position so we’re less likely to concede seems a bit counter-productive to me.
C40ME
I take your point but we are far too open.
He needs to be in the team but having him in a 3 man midfield is akin to playing Jota in midfield.
My point was…he has played in all 3 forward positions in his career and that’s where I would play him in the next few weeks.
I think we’re looking at more of a 4-2-3-1 already with Mac Gregor and Baur doing the covering
It’s not perfect but it’s a very differebt mindset from last season and I’d give it more time
Nygren looks better when Hogh is playing
I’d agree with that. When Høghs back Martin will be facing the sort of problems he could only have dreamed about last season.
When Jotas back where does everyone fit in?
Who cares where anyone plays when everyone is fit?
We are allowed a strong squad.
HH
THE BADA BING on 7TH SEPTEMBER 2026 8:15 PM
Nygren looks better when Hogh is playing
—/
I don’t have the stats but this may be because we’ve tended to go more direct with Hogh in the side and therefore not as vulnerable to turnovers.
Nygren’s off the ball ineffectiveness is perhaps therefore mitigated somewhat.
BR mitigated Nygren by keeping the ball but that did lead to charges of the horseshoe of doom coming his way. I certainly wouldn’t play Nygren on the wing, we tried it last season.
Paul 67
Upgrading VAR
Is it Time to Act? :
Should Celtic, Rangers, and Hearts Unite to End Our Shambolic VAR Crisis
Scottish football is stuck in a self-inflicted time warp. Week after week, we endure embarrassing delays, baffling line-drawing exercises, and outright technological blind spots—like Celtic’s disallowed goals against St Mirren where the camera angles failed entirely and officials were left guessing. It is actively damaging the credibility of our game.
The solution is staring us in the face: Semi-Automated Offside Technology (SAOT). It cuts decision times to seconds and brings total accuracy. So why haven’t we implemented it? Because of a total financial deadlock.
A league-wide SAOT upgrade costs roughly £1.2 million a year. Expecting smaller clubs to vote for this is a fantasy. For sides like Ross County or St Mirren, that means cannibalising their €766,666 (£639,000) UEFA Sustainability Payments—money legally ring-fenced to keep their youth academies and community programmes alive. They cannot, and will not, vote to bankrupt their futures just to upgrade refereeing tech.
The responsibility lies squarely with the clubs who actually have European aspirations. It is time for a “Coalition of the Willing.” Celtic, Rangers, and an ambitious Hearts must step forward and directly bankroll SAOT.
If the Glasgow giants absorb 40% each (£480k) and Hearts picks up 20% (£240k) as a statement of their intent as Scotland’s permanent “third force,” the financial gridlock vanishes. By providing a private commercial guarantee to the SPFL, the “Big Three” can bypass the voting drama completely. No smaller club will block a multi-million-pound infrastructure gift that costs them nothing.
For Celtic and Rangers, this expense is a rounding error compared to European prize money. For all three, it protects their multi-million-pound player assets and ensures their squads aren’t tactically shocked when playing under elite UEFA tech on the continent.
Stop waiting for a broken SPFL system to fix itself. Our top clubs need to stop complaining about refereeing standards, put their hands in their pockets, and buy the technology the Scottish game desperately needs.
Thing is we scored our second goal on the counter and could have had another two also on the break, Tounetki’s miss when he got clean through on goal and Slim Shim* being wrongly penalised when also on the counter. Ergo we have the ability and mobility to threaten from defensive positions. Cannot design that always in the SPL but hopefully will prove useful in some EL games home or away. Doesn’t resolve the inherent problems of our midfield being outplayed, outthought and outfought by teams even in the SPL. Not sure how we can resolve if we play three across the midfield and want our fullbacks to get forward, which we do. We tried pressing high against Lask, didn’t work and yet we had trouble pressing Saints even in our own half at times. Baur can hustle, Benjie and CalMac less so, all good players, and Sorenson also seems to be more attacking and defending. Good dilemma to have, but needs a tactical or formation solution.
*for Parkheadcumsalford & Tontine Tim
On the difference between 3 year Football Earnings Rules (FER) and Squad Cost Ratio ) rules under FSR pay a visit to
https://sentinelcelts.com/2026/09/07/bhoys-beat-buddies-var/#comment-465462
https://sentinelcelts.com/2026/09/07/bhoys-beat-buddies-var/#comment-465465
It might untangle existing views.
https://substack.com/@jemby123/note/c-331869720?r=bc5xc&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
BatteredBunnet/MMcCartney
Very valid points lads. Nygren, Tounekti and Hassan are a toxic combination in terms of off the ball set up and work rate.
Duran playing wide early in the season probably helped Nygren a lot in covering space out of possession, also with Yang helping out on the left.
Why are we discussing changing our system, formation, tactics or lineup for the games against rangers? We are clearly the best team in Scotland and should be able to beat them (or any other Scottish team) playing our usual game with our usual lineup.
We’ve won our last 15 consecutive domestic matches, not losing against Scottish opposition since March.
So let rangers worry about how they are going to cope with us and how they are going to stop Duran, Nygren, CalMac, Mheuka and Scales consigning them to a third and fourth consecutive defeat against Scotland’s Champions.
…and while the huns are trying to keep a tight rein on that quintet, what better time for Baur, Sorensen, Hassan, Tounekti, Trusty, CCV and Donovan to make a name for themselves.
buy cheap, buy twice
i thought PLs son was back again…
When Jotas back, the rest fit in to accomodate Jota…
bigchipsuk
Well it is surely about getting the best tactics and formation for the next game…..
Which incidentally is against St Johnstone up in Perth on Wednesday….
One game, one formation at a time …..as the song goes