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"Adapting" to the Scottish Game


Der Kaiser

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Der Kaiser

Following on from Damours interview...

 

Is this reason for failing to shine on the pitch genuine or actually just a poor excuse for your own shortcomings when you are a foreign player? 

 

The game isn't different. You pass to folk in the same top as you, you try to put the ball in the net and stop the other team putting it in yours? 

If you're a professional footballer then your job is to play football. "More physical.....less time on the ball"....so what! Every team you play brings a different challenge in their formation, tactics and players.

 

I understand that moving to a different country, new cultures,  time away from families and friends, all these things can be unsettling and if players said these reasons were having a negative impact on their wellbeing I'd be more inclined to recognise that as a genuine excuse.

 

I just dont buy this adapting to the game excuse from folk coming to Scotland and I never have. It just seems it's an accepted reason, more so from the media and pundits.

 

 

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Howdy Doody Jambo

He's failed to adapt in the English /Welsh and Scottish leagues now makes him some sort of joke 

Just an excuse for being slow on the ball 

 

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Haven't ever understood this one myself. If it's so hard to adapt to, how come our national team aren't world beaters? Surely every other country would be 'struggling to adapt' against our 100mph game? 

 

Maybe, just maybe, it's because we are beaten by teams with superior technical ability and tactical nous than ourselves who can more than cope with our 100mph kick and rush game, and players who struggle to adapt to the game up here were just crap and/or lazy in the first place. 

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Bazzas right boot

Players do underestimate the league and particularly in midfield the game is faster. 

 

Ofc, if you are technically a level above you'll be ok, but if not you need to adapt a little. 

Must be frustrating, but you need to adapt, choose your moments better to hold on to the ball and, make better decisions. 

Damour, despite being caught several times never adapted. Never seemed that fit either. 

 

Someone like Bozanic who imo has a ridiculously bad first touch and is pretty average, but has more energy and is more direct is more suited to our game. 

 

 

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On Damour, I've never been one to join in with the boo boys getting on one particular players back. The whole argument that fans have paid their money so can say what they want and they're professional players so they should expect it as a part of the game has never held any water with me. It just seems totally counterproductive for 'supporters' to berate their own player to the extent they lose all confidence.

 

Having said that, Damour's complete inability to protect the ball as a defensive midfielder, directly costing us goals, has caused me to completely lose my sh*t at him. It's fair to say that he's directly contributed to us being in the position we are and because of that I will be delighted to see him go. What a  joke that we gave him a 4 year contract!

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58 minutes ago, Der Kaiser said:

Following on from Damours interview...

 

Is this reason for failing to shine on the pitch genuine or actually just a poor excuse for your own shortcomings when you are a foreign player? 

 

The game isn't different. You pass to folk in the same top as you, you try to put the ball in the net and stop the other team putting it in yours? 

If you're a professional footballer then your job is to play football. "More physical.....less time on the ball"....so what! Every team you play brings a different challenge in their formation, tactics and players.

 

I understand that moving to a different country, new cultures,  time away from families and friends, all these things can be unsettling and if players said these reasons were having a negative impact on their wellbeing I'd be more inclined to recognise that as a genuine excuse.

 

I just dont buy this adapting to the game excuse from folk coming to Scotland and I never have. It just seems it's an accepted reason, more so from the media and pundits.

 

 

case in point i thought in his few performances for us sibbick performed well from the start apart from match fitness but you get that from players returning from injury.

 

Yes some players need time to adapt to a faster or more physical league, similarly a physical player would need time to adapt to a more technical league. Surely that is what training should get them ready for, then use the matches to build match sharpness

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Spellczech

Difficult to say if it is an easy way to get out of saying they failed to settle into life in Scotland or didn't like the manager,  got bullied by other players, didn't try hard enough or let the club down for another reason...

 

Part of being a professional footballer is to adapt to whatever role or style you are asked to play so the tackles being crunchier shouldn't really have a massive impact unless you don't have big enough cajones to cope with it, and I suspect this is what they are really admitting...

 

 

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Midloth_Iain

Alex Tsiolis adapted pretty quickly, he just couldnt be arsed and was only in it for the cash.

 

I was convinced Damour would come good, but seems to have a cry-baby attitude and the sooner he therefore goes, the better.

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58 minutes ago, Smith's right boot said:

Players do underestimate the league and particularly in midfield the game is faster. 

 

Ofc, if you are technically a level above you'll be ok, but if not you need to adapt a little. 

Must be frustrating, but you need to adapt, choose your moments better to hold on to the ball and, make better decisions. 

Damour, despite being caught several times never adapted. Never seemed that fit either. 

 

Someone like Bozanic who imo has a ridiculously bad first touch and is pretty average, but has more energy and is more direct is more suited to our game. 

 

 

 

Pretty much this. Damour refused to adapt. Either that or he is too stupid to realise you need to be quicker. 

 

Either way, I'm of the belief that both him and Pereira are why we're bottom. Both signed on as key players and both didn't just fail they let everyone down big style. 

 

Quite honestly, he can **** off. If we can either fine him or sack him for that interview that would be grand. Did rangers not sack Sandaza for making it clear he is only there for the money? Thats pretty much what Damour has done...

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Bazzas right boot
Just now, OTT said:

 

Pretty much this. Damour refused to adapt. Either that or he is too stupid to realise you need to be quicker. 

 

Either way, I'm of the belief that both him and Pereira are why we're bottom. Both signed on as key players and both didn't just fail they let everyone down big style. 

 

Quite honestly, he can **** off. If we can either fine him or sack him for that interview that would be grand. Did rangers not sack Sandaza for making it clear he is only there for the money? Thats pretty much what Damour has done...

 

100%

Individual mistakes have cost us huge. 

 

Damour v hibs was the best example. 

 

Concede a goal early, (after being in control), what not to do- gift them a second. 

 

 

Yip either unable or too stupid to adapt. 

 

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I genuinely believe there's a sink or swim element. Plenty players who done well in Scotland have still spoke about their struggles to adapt to the game.

 

For players from England, I'd imagine that complacency is an issue. The game in England isn't played too dissimilar to here, where the tempo is very quick and physical, although I'd imagine the higher up the leagues you go in England that will be diluted due to the influence of more foreign players and coaches. Having played for Neil Warnock's Cardiff, I didn't think Damour would struggle so much.

 

Players who come to Scotland from abroad with no British football experience, I can understand for struggling even more. In Scotland, all teams seem to press collectively as standard. Not necessarily as a tactical instruction, but it's more instilled in our brains to just always run and close down. In a lot of countries on the continent that's not the case. 

 

Someone like Damour probably really needs a pre-season to prepare for Scottish football. He came once the season had already started, but that doesn't excuse his lack of aptitude in games.

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Poor attitude more like it. There are plenty examples of players taking time. But that is clubs with big squads. David Silva took a year at Man City but they can cope. Damour cost us 4 or 5 goals. 

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manaliveits105

To be fair It does take new players a while to realise when they pull a Hearts jersey on if they are fouled it usually wont be given and if they tackle an opponent it will be deemed as a foul if ball hits off opponent its their corner/shy - there is no offside except in opponents half luckily they will be guided through this by our refs 

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I remember former Rangers player ,Van Bronckhorst, saying he felt the speed of the game here helped him progress as a player. This was after his move to Arsenal. 
 

Good players adapt and don’t make excuses. 

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3 hours ago, Der Kaiser said:

Following on from Damours interview...

 

Is this reason for failing to shine on the pitch genuine or actually just a poor excuse for your own shortcomings when you are a foreign player? 

 

The game isn't different. You pass to folk in the same top as you, you try to put the ball in the net and stop the other team putting it in yours? 

If you're a professional footballer then your job is to play football. "More physical.....less time on the ball"....so what! Every team you play brings a different challenge in their formation, tactics and players.

 

I understand that moving to a different country, new cultures,  time away from families and friends, all these things can be unsettling and if players said these reasons were having a negative impact on their wellbeing I'd be more inclined to recognise that as a genuine excuse.

 

I just dont buy this adapting to the game excuse from folk coming to Scotland and I never have. It just seems it's an accepted reason, more so from the media and pundits.

 

 


I totally buy it. Seen plenty players do well at clubs in leagues of a similar standing or better, then come here and just not cut it. Another factor though, is the overhyping of the leagues they come from. The amount of folk who genuinely seem to believe the English Championship and League 1 are a great standard is bizarre. Bit of both of these things imo.

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The speed of the game in Scotland is much faster than in England or abroad for example. I personally think German football is the most similar to Scotland. 

 

Scottish football is basically one or two touch stuff before getting clobbered by some big hammer thrower. In England, especially at League 1 and 2 level, you see players getting acres of space and time on the ball. 

 

Personally think that Damour is probably better than what he has shown. I don't think he has been near fit enough, not even close and I do think he has struggled with the pace because he's been caught 3 or 4 times thinking he's got time to take another touch. If he's here next season, he needs to get super fit and win back hearts and minds. 

Edited by Cruyff
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Its just a pity we seemed to get a hell of a lot of muppets all at the same time that couldn't adapt to the Scottish game including Scottish players 🤦‍♂️ 

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Guest ToqueJambo

It's all about their attitude when they come. We've had some very technical, skilled foreign players come and excel with us - Rudi and Flogel spring to mind straight away. Gomis and Pallardo were technical players who liked being on the ball who coped fine with the agricultural football down in the championship. Osman Sow is hardly a typical Scottish centre forward and he seemed to enjoy himself. Most recently Haring actually seemed to become more of a footballer with us.

 

The worrying thing about Damour is that since Cathro came in we've had a habit of ditching some players too soon and replacing them with far worse players. Kitchen, Jonsson, Muirhead, Rherras, Rossi, Ozturk, Alexander... even Vanacek. Some of them are players many fans were happy to see the back of at the time because we thought it would be relatively simple to improve on them. In almost all those cases we didn't bring in someone better in that position, at least not immediately.

 

One of the things I liked about Stendel is he immediately improved someone like Sean Clare by focusing on where he could best benefit the team. I thought initially he might have looked like doing that with Damour too but he does look like another Martin. Cathro made everyone worse. Levein can maybe only point to Peter Haring as his one success story.

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Bazzas right boot
48 minutes ago, Debut 4 said:

I remember former Rangers player ,Van Bronckhorst, saying he felt the speed of the game here helped him progress as a player. This was after his move to Arsenal. 
 

Good players adapt and don’t make excuses. 

 

 

Yeah, a player of that quality will do. 

Most players we get won't be. 

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Bazzas right boot
27 minutes ago, rory78 said:

Its just a pity we seemed to get a hell of a lot of muppets all at the same time that couldn't adapt to the Scottish game including Scottish players 🤦‍♂️ 

 

😂😂😂

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Fort Vallance
1 hour ago, Debut 4 said:

I remember former Rangers player ,Van Bronckhorst, saying he felt the speed of the game here helped him progress as a player. This was after his move to Arsenal. 
 

Good players adapt and don’t make excuses. 

Correct. Didn't do Van Dyke any harm and the the Dutch league is as technical as you'll get.

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airthjambo
1 hour ago, Debut 4 said:

I remember former Rangers player ,Van Bronckhorst, saying he felt the speed of the game here helped him progress as a player. This was after his move to Arsenal. 
 

Good players adapt and don’t make excuses. 

Exactly, didn't take Skacel , Bednar, Jankauskis etc. long to adapt in 2005

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Ultimately, I think he never really wanted to be here.

 

And getting off to poor start meant his confidence completely went out the window.

 

I actually thought he was having a decent game away to Motherwell in the cup, then he gave the ball away for their goal and never seemed to recover any kind of form.

 

Seriously hope we're able to get out of this terrible contract if we are to be relegated.

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6 hours ago, Smith's right boot said:

 

 

Yeah, a player of that quality will do. 

Most players we get won't be. 

Not all players in the SPL are quality but know how to handle the rigours of the game. It’s a state of mind as ever when it comes to football.

 

I get all players have differing levels of athletic ability and movement but most of the time it comes down to how much a player keeps switched on, really wants to put the work in, and tries hard to stay focused properly. 
 

There was times Damour came out the tunnel bristling with energy and looked sharp and alert, then there was times he looked flat footed and unsure. Funnily, the latter was mostly under Levein. Stendel at least seem to draw more workrate and better concentration out of him. The mistakes he made just comes from being not very good in the moment , I think.  

Edited by Debut 4
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