We are going to Ibrox in just over a week and we need a win.
There will be a long of talk between here and that game about the tactics we should play and the team selection itself.
In some ways it is not really a conversation for the here and now, because we have two hugely important games to come before we go there, but those two games should be used to get us into fully familiarised with the system we will use when we get there.
It seems manifestly obvious that it would be insane to go there with a 3-5-2.
If we don’t have natural width they are going to get Tavernier up one wing and Barisic up the other all day long, and that is going to be absolutely hellish for us to deal with.
Their system is an adapted 4-3-3.
Do you really reckon it makes a blind bit of sense for our defenders to go man for man with their forwards, and for us to allow their full-backs – who are amongst the best assets in their team – full reign? It would be disastrous.
For all that, it seems readily apparent that we have to go with two men up front.
Their defence will easily deal with a stupid tactic based on us lumping the ball down the wing and trying to cross it into a packed penalty box.
They could do it in their sleep.
The system we went with the other night – the straightforward, no frills, 4-4-2 seems to offer us the best chance we have of success.
This article will explore the reasons why.