****Your official Rangers v The Accies thread ****

[1NachoNovo 840]

5 hours ago, NeoGeo7 said:

I think last year the subs were poor, this year we have options but I can't see him moving from 4-3-3.

well forrester and MOH definitely offered something different from Kranjcar and Miller today wouldn't you agree? Two direct players on for one who generally plays creative passes and the other runs about up front (really struggled to actually say what Miller brought to the game).

what I'd like to see more than anything is the energy levels, pressing and tempo increased to where it should be. We look too casual and lethargic. Peterhead on Tuesday is a good opportunity to play a team that we'd like to see next weekend. I think Wilson will come back in for hill, Gilks and Hodson may get in but I'd rather stick with fods and Tav (both of whom had a decent match today).

the midfield and front 3 are where we need to do something different. I'd like to see rossiter Barton and forrester in midfield with MOH Dodoo and McKay up top. Once again we've let Hardie go on loan and now Waggy gets an injury so it's time to see if Dodoo can play as a striker.

if Miller or Kranjcar start on Tuesday after their performances today then I'll seriously be doubting warburtons decision making.

100% agree with that. Age before beauty is not the best option in this case. Kranjcar is a ride, but wee Harry is far more sexy. MOH is a definite start for me ahead of Miller. Not knocking Kenny, but we need to start stronger than we did today and Miller just seems a bit off the pace so far. He will get there though. Also Barton, thought he was good today, but still not there yet. I'd rather start with Rossiter. It's early days, but we lacked enthusiasm today. The younger hungry guys should be getting let loose imo. We need to be relentless to get the message across that we mean business. As you say, too casual at times.

[theiconicman 2,979]

Team for Tuesday should be

Foderingham

Tav Clint Wilson Wallace

Barton

Holt Forrester

O'Halloran Dodoo McKay

 

 

[bombaybadboy08 15,660]

I take it Tuesday's game is just on RTV for viewers outside the UK and viewers in it with a proxy?

[Turnberry18 3,204]

We were very predictable going forward, especially in the first half, and it was very much a similar match to that Cup Final, where we appeared to lack confidence when in attack. The second half was better; Forrester changed the way we played and they couldn't cope well with him. O'Halloran or Forrester should have started ahead of Miller. 

[james_85 656]

Was talking to the old man at the game and mentioned before the game that I hoped it wasnt the same as the day we got the trophy last season. The pressure seems to be too much at times for the players. We managed to get through last season playing 4-3-3 and beating teams and accepting that the manager makes subs at 60 mins and then maybe 75 mins, but if things continue like today the fans will turn, I heard plenty of people around me moaning about and it will get worse as the season goes on. 

[theiconicman 2,979]

9 minutes ago, james_85 said:

Was talking to the old man at the game and mentioned before the game that I hoped it wasnt the same as the day we got the trophy last season. The pressure seems to be too much at times for the players. We managed to get through last season playing 4-3-3 and beating teams and accepting that the manager makes subs at 60 mins and then maybe 75 mins, but if things continue like today the fans will turn, I heard plenty of people around me moaning about and it will get worse as the season goes on. 

There is a word that sums us up.

Predictable. 

There is another for us, unplayable.

Unfortunately, we've not been unplayable for a long time and just left with predictable.

[james_85 656]

I got the feeling the Tav and Wallace have been told that they can't bomb forward as much. I felt that Tav was always about 10 yards behind where he should be.  The movement was poor today and it seemed to be that the first pass the midfield made was backwards rather than forwards

I haven't read to much of this thread but fuck me what a ball by forrester for the goal he must start the next game along with MOH both of them look very dangerous when they came on. Hopefully a good pre season does MOH the world of good as I wasn't the biggest of fans beforehand.

[Supersonic 4,654]

We just didn't look ourselves in the slightest sadly 

Felt like no one on the pitch today even knew what Warburtons style of attack is/was!

No great passing, no runs, no short corners!!!

 

Don't know what it is, maybe the midfield of Niko, Barton and Halliday just wont work to our style and benefit sadly.

 

Nothing felt like it was clicking at all for the majority of the match 

Frustrating beyond belief!

[orange&blue92 1,284]

Thought Barton played well, was spraying passes all over the park and chasing the ball when he lost it. Thought Kranjcar was very poor, trying to dribble past their whole midfield and losing the ball. The game changed on the 60th when MOH & HF came on. MOH looked sharp when coming on and should have started IMO. Would like to see Rossiter and Barton in midfield with Forrester/ Holt above them. We need more energy in midfield

[millsygers44 22]

So frustrated after today ... Hope warburton shows some authority and makes changes v Dundee 

halliday needs to have a look at himself pissed off with his celebration in final and subsequent lack of marking in that game for winner now looks to have transferred this info new season with Billy big time attitude wee spell on bench watching will hopefully help him if not he can get too

[millsygers44 22]

Rossiter Barton windass will and should become our main midfield 

[BluebearDory 3,694]

All my Liverpool supporting boys went home yesterday to watch their team thrash Barcelona on telly and left me up here to go to the game myself. How we (they) laughed at the results last night 

Accies at home? And we didn't beat them?

Why the fuck did MOH and Forrester not start? Look at the impact they made. 

When did our young dynamic passing starting eleven change into a slow old sloppy passing team of players who all seem to be 2 yards off the pace? 

We needed some older experience in the team but Hill, Barton, Kranjcar and Miller together is too much. 

We won't be going for 55 til we go back to letting our young hungry boys back in the team. End of. 

Hate slagging my team but MW this time got it very wrong. Here's to midweek.

 

[eejay the dj 31,964]

2 minutes ago, BluebearDory said:

All my Liverpool supporting boys went home yesterday to watch their team thrash Barcelona on telly and left me up here to go to the game myself. How we (they) laughed at the results last night 

Accies at home? And we didn't beat them?

Why the fuck did MOH and Forrester not start? Look at the impact they made. 

When did our young dynamic passing starting eleven change into a slow old sloppy passing team of players who all seem to be 2 yards off the pace? 

We needed some older experience in the team but Hill, Barton, Kranjcar and Miller together is too much. 

We won't be going for 55 til we go back to letting our young hungry boys back in the team. End of. 

Hate slagging my team but MW this time got it very wrong. Here's to midweek.

 

Good post 

[eejay the dj 31,964]

6 hours ago, millsygers44 said:

So frustrated after today ... Hope warburton shows some authority and makes changes v Dundee 

halliday needs to have a look at himself pissed off with his celebration in final and subsequent lack of marking in that game for winner now looks to have transferred this info new season with Billy big time attitude wee spell on bench watching will hopefully help him if not he can get too

Yes it's funny you should says that about his celebration in the cup final .It pissed me off also .

I will quantify that by saying in the cup semi final .We scored both goals and the players went berserk .The passion and realising the magnitude was in Miller and McKays faces .

The Cup final was clearly different .In both goals ,the celebrating was done with an arrogance that was shouting out "this was fucking easy " 

The players at the second goal looked happy but they should have been going nuts ..Just how I seen it .

[eejay the dj 31,964]

I also have to say Halliday did not once have any contact with Barton yesterday on the pitch .We will see if these two get along 

[andy500 463]

Warburton said he had learned a lot from the Burnley game - well I hope he learned a lot more yesterday.

He started with the exact same team, and we saw the exact same issues.

Miller and Waghorn starting together in the front three never works. It didn't work last season, and it definitely won't work this season. Neither of them are effective enough as a winger, and leave us looking like we lack ideas. Especially when McKay isn't playing well, like today. Starting those two with Dodoo, Forrester and O'Halloran all sitting on the bench is unthinkable.

Then the midfield - last week we looked like we didn't have a midfield. Halliday, Kranjcar and Barton together are slow, and leave us looking really light in the middle. It leaves massive gaps, and it's easy to break against. Again, even assuming Holt isn't fit - Forrester for either one of Kranjcar or Halliday would have been a far better option. Even Rossiter might have been. Windass, Holt or Forrester can fill that 'engine' role, and have creativity going forward - two of them together might even be better than Kranjcar and Halliday. We don't know just how good Rossiter is, but every time I've seen him he's been excellent. We have lots of options in the middle, these three shouldn't ever be playing together.

The defence didn't lose us that game - the team selection in the midfield and front three did. I hope we don't see that eleven again this season.

[eejay the dj 31,964]

9 minutes ago, andy500 said:

Warburton said he had learned a lot from the Burnley game - well I hope he learned a lot more yesterday.

He started with the exact same team, and we saw the exact same issues.

Miller and Waghorn starting together in the front three never works. It didn't work last season, and it definitely won't work this season. Neither of them are effective enough as a winger, and leave us looking like we lack ideas. Especially when McKay isn't playing well, like today. Starting those two with Dodoo, Forrester and O'Halloran all sitting on the bench is unthinkable.

Then the midfield - last week we looked like we didn't have a midfield. Halliday, Kranjcar and Barton together are slow, and leave us looking really light in the middle. It leaves massive gaps, and it's easy to break against. Again, even assuming Holt isn't fit - Forrester for either one of Kranjcar or Halliday would have been a far better option. Even Rossiter might have been. Windass, Holt or Forrester can fill that 'engine' role, and have creativity going forward - two of them together might even be better than Kranjcar and Halliday. We don't know just how good Rossiter is, but every time I've seen him he's been excellent. We have lots of options in the middle, these three shouldn't ever be playing together.

The defence didn't lose us that game - the team selection in the midfield and front three did. I hope we don't see that eleven again this season.

First class post .That's exactly how I see it too .MW gets the blame for starting same team after the Burnley thrashing 

[Reformation Bear 6,453]

Reading the article from MW in the Rangers website this morning he insists the team didn't freeze and that they were well aware of the significance of the game.

They may not have frozen as such but as a team, and mostly too at individual performance levels, they showed way too little evidence of turning their understanding of the significance of the game into a match-winning performance.    As well as the significance of the game and of the expectations of the Support at a sold-out Ibrox there is the significance of the season.    Now that has not changed one iota since we last played in the top flight.    For Rangers the league is there to be won.  Not to be just part of the competition but to win it.   If that message is not clear enough to the squad then it damn well needs to be pronto.  

DK talks in broad terms about 'competing' this season.  MW insists his squad will be 'more than competitive'.   Yesterday did not provide evidence of being more than competitive - only that we can compete to get a point at home.    Whether they like it or not the pressure is already on MW and the squad.  MW has said in the past that he recognises the pressures of managing a Club of Rangers' stature and that he wants players that can play well in dealing with that pressure (and enjoy it).    They were miles away from that yesterday.   Miles away.  The Support was let down by a team that performed well below its capabilities and by the Manager whose selection, tactics and motivation of the players did not produce any sight of a team that will be more than competitive.  

MW talks often about analysing a match, about learning, and about preparing well.   Great words and great aims.    But we have heard them a lot.   Evidence of having actually learned is sadly lacking not just in the team but by the Manager too.   If MW is not able to more quickly translate analysis and 'learning' into action that demonstrates that the team has learned then I suspect scrutiny of MWs approach and skills will come into much greater focus.   

You could see from the DK interview after the game yesterday that he was 'disappointed' in the result.  I bet he was.  He and tens of thousands of Bears.   So far, and admittedly after only one league game, evidence of being able to be more than competitive has been posted as missing without any sign of action.   

[harlands plater 16,962]

It's clear every team has figured out plan A. 

[Captain Hilts 12,819]

Only just became sober enough to post......

We had a lot of the ball, without dominating, but didn't create enough chances. First half in particular we looked very slow going forward and lacked ideas. Second half was a lot better. We didn't batter their goal but I think we probably did enough to get the win and had Waghorn stayed on we may have nicked it at the end.

IMO the defence looked a bit more competent defending set pieces but still very vulnerable to the counter. Their goal was a clusterfuck from our point of view but was a great strike from the lad Crawford.

In terms of individual performances, I thought Barton had a good game without being brilliant (although I don't think anyone was). Solid challenges and good range of passing. Kranjcar still doesn't look fully fit and we didn't have a decent pace in midfield until he was replaced by Forrester. Tavernier still hasn't convinced me defensively and hasn't offered a lot going forward so far this season. Might be time to see if Hodson can offer something different. Waghorn's injury looks a bad one, I initially thought he would be out for a couple of months at least but was a bit more optimistic after seeing him walk off. The fans have mixed opinions on him but he is without doubt our biggest threat going forward.

We're at our best playing with pace throughout the team so I'm hoping we'll see Forrester and O'Halloran start against Dundee to add the pace that we need.

[eejay the dj 31,964]

54 minutes ago, harlands plater said:

It's clear every team has figured out plan A. 

See there where it annoys me .Warbs should have more plans than A and B .We now have a reasonable squad to pick from .It astonishes me that he picked the same team that got humped 3-0 last week .

[WeirFleckNRothen 1,789]

I'm disappointed, but not concerned.

Of course, we would have loved to start the campaign with three points and I felt we dominated the game enough to do that, but these things happen. Hamilton were well organised, but on another day, we would have put three or four past them.

I'm sceptical about the #goingfor55 campaign that has gathered momentum. Tin hat on, but the tarriers are favourites for the title and understandably so. We are usually a media savvy club (See Kenny Miller's response to Brown during Friday's press conference), but shouting about winning the league at the first attempt and dedicating the entire Govan stand to it before dropping points at home to Hamilton, it doesn't look great.

Player-wise, Barton and Kranjcar need to step it up a notch. I'm not suggesting they think it, but this isn't a retirement home; every game against us is our opponent's cup final, so you need to be on top of your game every single week. Kranjcar dived in for their goal and it was totally unnecessary; it was lazy, the boy barely even dummied the shot. I'm reluctantly inclined to criticise McKay's work rate, too. If you lose the ball, you chase it back.

[WeirFleckNRothen 1,789]

3 minutes ago, Rangers_no1 said:

You have to create clear chances to win by 3/4 goals, something we certainly didn't yesterday. Outside the goal I'm struggling to remember a clear chance bar the sitter Waghorn missed that was wrongly ruled offside.

No, you don't. Clear-cut chances occur in an ideal world, like our equaliser, but they're not required to score.

Halliday had an effort saved in the first-half and Barton put one just over the bar in the second; those are two opportunities which came to the top of my head without giving it any thought. I'm sure the statistics will emphasise that we were dominant.

[WeirFleckNRothen 1,789]

1 hour ago, Rangers_no1 said:

Fully disagree, the Halliday effort and Barton effort aren't chances you should expect to score with regularly. We didn't do anything near enough to score 3+ goals yesterday, not a chance.

Who said anything about it being regular? I said "on another day", so for you to go to the extreme of fully disagreeing is quite incredible.

If you genuinely believe that there was absolutely zero chance that we could have put three or four past them yesterday, on a good day, then this discussion should end here.

[johanhentze 14,073]

7 hours ago, WeirFleckNRothen said:

I'm disappointed, but not concerned.

Of course, we would have loved to start the campaign with three points and I felt we dominated the game enough to do that, but these things happen. Hamilton were well organised, but on another day, we would have put three or four past them.

I'm sceptical about the #goingfor55 campaign that has gathered momentum. Tin hat on, but the tarriers are favourites for the title and understandably so. We are usually a media savvy club (See Kenny Miller's response to Brown during Friday's press conference), but shouting about winning the league at the first attempt and dedicating the entire Govan stand to it before dropping points at home to Hamilton, it doesn't look great.

Player-wise, Barton and Kranjcar need to step it up a notch. I'm not suggesting they think it, but this isn't a retirement home; every game against us is our opponent's cup final, so you need to be on top of your game every single week. Kranjcar dived in for their goal and it was totally unnecessary; it was lazy, the boy barely even dummied the shot. I'm reluctantly inclined to criticise McKay's work rate, too. If you lose the ball, you chase it back.

He usually does, though.