Anthony Ralston

Didn't lose a ball in the air today too. Second half didn't seem to be going up for our corners as much but I reckon he's got a few set piece goals in him too over the season.

Real pity that shot didn't go in - it was a rocket!

 

Ralston has the bit between his teeth now.
I would start him against the Huns. Give them something to think about.

 

To be fair Ralston has probably played against the mini-Huns dozens of times. Sure he could take the step up (down??) to play on Saturday.

 

Lustig will start v The Huns and rightly so...

No substitute for experience in these games, for me it's on a par with saying Brown shouldn't start..

 

lustig will be a cb.

 

Yep, definitely ready to start this one. Lustig at CB is a good shout. Too soon for Boyata.

 

Possibly, depends on how Boyata does on Wed.. might be too soon..

 

I think saturday might be too soon for boyata. I wouldn't mind him starting, not at all, but wouldn't mind seeing ralston RB and lustig CB.

 

Ralston is on a steep learning curve. Looked a little lost when we played Saint Johnstone and a bit out of place. Rodgers has shown faith and he is getting better every match. Looks to be gaining confidence now as well. Unlucky not to score a great goal as well.

 

Huns are *. Team selection for them should be made with a dave king eye firmly on anderlecht. Boyata should play ahead of him. Get the defense ready for belgium

 

He's gonna be really good for us, love seeing young talent breaking into the team and not looking out of place.

 

When Neymar is defending? I don't know, I haven't seen him do a lot of defending over the years.

It's a case of him learning that, when he can't beat someone 1v1, he can pass inside and help us keep the ball and move it out to the other side.

Lustig does it all the time. He can't beat anyone 1v1, so he has to time his overlapping runs. Given that they're quite similar in stature, Ralston would do well to learn all he can from Lustig over the next year or two.

 

whether he starts on Saturday or not ..... fekkin great option to have !!! happy days ..... really not bothered by champions league we are there got the money just enjoy it .

 

Similar in stature????
In what way?

 

Needs more game time, but not on this game please, I still think he's got too many mistakes in him, certainly doesn't hold back, and Ill say it again, he looks slow to me.

 

Stature was probably the wrong term to use, since Ralston is probably 2-3 inches shorter than Lustig I imagine? But in terms of style they're both physical full-backs who appear more comfortable with the defensive side of their game.

 

Although Lustig looks like a centre-half I think he's better going forward than defending, good passer of a ball and crosser, not much of a dribbler though but 2/3/4 years ago he was mobile enough to get forward all the time and back, last 2 years he's lost a yard of pace and doesn't go as forward as much because he'll get done easier at the back but he still does ok going forward.

It's defensively im worried about Lustig, he gets beaten too easy when people run at him because he can't keep up with people or catch them like he could 2+ seasons ago.

Think he's actually similar to Ivanovic who played for Chelsea like that, they are both guys built like centre-halves but they were good going forward and only really ok defensively.

Gamboa is the opposite, he looks like a traditional wee fast attacking full-back but he actually defends really well but offers nothing really in attack.

For me Ralston looked initially in his first few games that he doesn't like to go over the halfway line and played it pretty safe but against PSG and Ross County he played with more freedom and got forward more and looked more natural so it's likely he just didn't want to get caught out or make a mistake in his initial few games.

 

Lustig is, for me, better defensively than he is going forward. The problem he has defensively, as you've pointed out, is his lack of pace. For me, that is highlighted by how openly we play - even in Europe.

Lustig got far more protection in, for example, a Neil Lennon team. That was before he started to decline physically as well, which is why he was heralded as one of our top players at that time, before the injuries really took hold.

He's technically pretty sound for a full-back and if you combine that with his intelligence & experience it's easy to see why he's such a favourite here, and why he has so many caps for Sweden. But I'm not sure that's enough for me to say he's better going forward.

The point I'm trying to make is that, given they seem to share similar styles, Ralston can learn an awful lot from Lustig. Where to position himself when we defend and when we attack, how to time is over-lapping runs, when to cross, when to come back inside etc, etc. He'll learn that naturally with games, but if you've got a player like Mikael to learn from, you probably should.

 

He looks a far more confident player now than he did a couple of months ago. Hopefully he keeps seeing plenty of game time.

In his first few games, he looked like he didn't really want to cross the halfway line. Now he looks far more comfortable running at opposition players and beating them.