phreeky

No matter how little is recovered it'd be stupid to keep someone just to sit in the stands. Such a large squad is overkill with the amount of football to be played.

Did McCoist even want to sign McKay? Is this perhaps more a matter of McCoist making a statement by not playing those that weren't his choices?

Probably because this game should be teaching Ally something, and then making the substitution he did has shown that he is a slow learner.

Never good to get an injury, but good for Fleck to get a chance like this. Hope he takes it.

I just hope the line-up is part of a game plan, and the game plan is one that fits into a larger long-term plan for a style of play to move towards. But Ally's weird decision making and lack of consistency does make you think he is just "trying things" (i.e. "f*cked if I know, we'll try this").

Concentrate on what you can control (and get 3 points!), no point worrying about the other clashes.

Messi at Rangers: most expensive way possible of keeping a bench warm

I suspect that's what he has done and it's resulted in being very unfavourable, not even warming the bench. Something along those lines at least. His performances so far show he is at least worthy of sub appearances, being out of the squad completely shows that something else is going on. Perhaps the two can't understand a word the other is saying...

Holy. Shit. That tells you enough about what is causing problems at the moment. Note, here's an intact link to the Q&A: http://www.oceaniarsa.com/news/34-general-news/121-matt-mckay-ready.html

It's a good enough squad that you should be able to field a couple of sides in parallel, each able to walk all over the majority of the SPL. The main area that could use some work is in attack, but McCoist doesn't seem interested in playing more than one striker anyway...

The bigger issue for the club with not just McKay's signing but also that of other McCoist signings is this: if you were playing regularly elsewhere and Rangers came calling, would you be willing to move? Footballers are going to see the club as a team where you move to and get stuck on the bench, and that is not a positive image at all. And that's ignoring the fact that the midfield needs some serious work and could do with some positive possession footballers like McKay in there.

The fans of Ian Ferguson's current team would be happy to see someone take him.

There might be some complaints about the squad, but compared to other SPL sides it's a quality set of players. How can it be their fault? The bloody players probably don't know what the tactics are because they get shuffled around on a weekly basis, and based on that you'd have to assume they also don't even know when they should be pushing forward or defending, sending the ball over the top to a run or keeping possession (haha), and there would just be a general lack of cohesion. If Ally wants to throw a player into an unfamiliar position then fine, so be it. But you cannot do so for one week and expect an excellent performance, you need to give the team some time to gel and develop tactics that work and they clearly haven't been given that. Ally panics, messes with the line-up and formation. And you'd be crazy if you didn't believe that it has a negative impact on player morale. The SPL is a low enough standard that a lack of management is glossed over by a quality squad. The squad doesn't make up the difference in Europe unfortunately. Win the SPL? Sure. Playing to their potential? Not even close.

With the possession and passing around the penalty area from St. Mirren, if you couldn't see that coming then you're completely blind. If there are no changes for the 2nd half it might get worse yet. A number of the better possession players are either on the bench or not even there, and they're what's needed in times like this.

That's a tough call, hard to know what his intent was. It was stupid to be throwing an elbow about at all, especially in close quarters.

Sure he should leave. And on a similar note, Rangers shouldn't try and hold onto him. Why keep a player you'll never use? This could be said for the others McCoist signed too, but wtf was he thinking? He either stuffed up when he signed them, or he stuffs up when he leaves them warming the bench (and sometimes not even on the bench). With the financial situation of the club was it really the right thing to do?

Edu seems to be playing well enough, but he gets the ball there is nothing on! Some off the ball movement would be nice.

Wylde could have a magical left boot and still wont be very effective unless he learns to get his head up and pick out a target (and hold up the play when there is nothing on offer). It's just blind crosses and once in a while he gets lucky.

For sure the SPL is in a sad state, but why not work at bringing it up a notch rather than going elsewhere? Too many concerned with $$$ and transfers. There are sides in other leagues with lower budgets doing pretty well, why not look at what they're doing differently?

It isn't just McKay. The squad has a fair bit of quality, better than what's apparent, and it wouldn't be the first time that poor tactics have made good players look bad.

Australian football has steadily improved. The same could be said for most nations in Asia generally. The SPL has been doing what? I'd suggest going in the opposite direction, and most Rangers supporters on here seem to say similar about Rangers themselves. Lets not forget that McKay is a central part of an Australian team ranked ~20. It hurts to say it but the Rangers of today need to lift. It makes me cringe watching them play these days. I'll be honest and say I hadn't watched much SPL in a few years until McKay signed with Rangers, and the quality (lack thereof) of football was a bit of a shock. I don't expect most to agree, that's opinions for you I guess.

Would be interesting to hear what they actually do at training. Sounds like they do no work on positioning, passing, runs off the ball - you know, all that stuff that makes a good team. The stuff that Matt is good at too. As an Aussie it's really hard for me to watch Matt McKay failing to get game time. In the SPL matches he has played he has made nice passes and crosses and continuously hassled the opposition, got MOTM v. Liverpool, and yet seemingly isn't favoured by McCoist? With the football McCoist's side is playing at the moment McKay's former team he captained would tear the Rangers a new hole it's sad to say. For Rangers in the long term it would be bitterly disappointing to watch a stack of players leave in January and succeed elsewhere, not because they are poor but because they were not used properly. I guess some consider topping the league as success, others like myself would like to see some bigger achievements. Genuine football players are pivotal to reaching that goal.

The current squad is more than good enough. It needs to be used properly. Hurry up and find out how to use it properly so that you can be confident of who you can let go in the transfer window, because time is quickly running out to do so.

Develop some real tactics and plans of attack, work on them at training, and stop believing that shuffling formations and players around is a genuine tactic.

Actually for Australia he has been heavily utilised as a left-back. When played in a more attacking formation he has played in quite an advanced position and delivers very nice balls into the box from the left (but certainly not from an extremely wide position, the sort you'd expect from Wylde), as Australia has a tendency to make very little progress through central midfield - to be frank Australia's central midfield options are limited. If McCoist can find one or two players to combine well with McKay in some fast ground level inter-passing then it could be a potent combination. It's such a shame that Naismith and McKay didn't get a chance to combine