Davidorrp

Cantwell was ok yesterday but again in key moments didn’t influence the game the way he should have. And that’s the problem, he’s playing in the 10 role, so he has to play the killer passes or take goal scoring opportunities. He’s just not doing it enough at moment and in big games like yesterday it’s crucial that he does. For me he still just holds on to ball that bit too much or take an extra unneeded touch. I actually felt when he dropped deeper he was better on ball than in final 3rd. Also thought it should have been up to Sterling and Lundstrum to ragdoll McGregor thruout the game. And none of those 3 did.

Should be a secondary striker, as soon as we either bring in a striker or Lovelace or Danilo get fit. But in the meantime he needs to be told to be stronger in Holding up ball and linking play. Has to cut out the going down softly too.

Tavs crossing has been dreadful for ages now, as other posters have said, he’s only putting 1 or 2 out of every 10 that can be classed as dangerous. He should only be allowed to take free kicks that are goal scoring opportunities, everything further out or wider or corners we should rotate the takers between midfielders. We wasted several opportunities to put real pressure on their defence and keeper with our poor crosses/corners yesterday. its the one niggling worry I have with Clement at moment, we haven’t yet seen a real improvement in the crossing dept, our shy’s or our passing (which I still think is poor). I’m hoping it’s just still a firefighting phase for him and we will see improvements after summer. But it drives me mad how poor we are at the basics.

Thought that a few squeaky bum mistakes apart he had a very good game last night. He drove forward well, encouraged team mates to press high, was constantly looking for ball from defence (and they should give it to him a lot earlier imo, but are too effing slow at times). He had a couple of great half turns moments as well. He does appear to do this more in europe, but we could really do with him doing it more domestically as well. A very good game from him tho.

Delighted with win. A flat nervy first 35 mins and then a decent few moves seem to spark us for final 10 mins of half. Thought the 2nd half we took game to them more and looked the team most likely to score. Despite the chances they had I never really felt like any were really gilt edged apart from that one header. The rest were save that I felt Butland should be making. Still a work in progress tho and much to improve on. Some real slack passing and control some times that put us in self inflicted trouble. But considering where we are at moment, last night was a definite step in right direction. Here’s hoping we build some belief and momentum now.

Butland Sterling, Goldson, Davies, Yilmaz Cifuentes, Raskin, Lawrence Sima, Roofe, Matondo. I’d try Dropping Tav, as I just think the way we use him unbalances the team by expecting him to be our attacking threat. Then means our Right mid has to sit back and cover. Prefer to let Sterling just defend, and let Cifuentes and Sima provide our attacking options on right hand side. Hopefully allows Cifuentes to be more box to box as well. Of course I do realise there is no way Beale will drop Tav.

Has to be the coaching, as it’s been a huge concern of mine how badly we do the basics of football. I think we are coached to play safe easy passes. Our players always always take a touch as well. We just aren’t drilled in quick aggressive pass and move style playing. So when we get pressured we aren’t on the front foot in terms or reactions, control and 1 touch passes so we can’t play thru a press even from some SPL teams. Also Our players are very guilty of holding on to ball too long and getting swamped too. Saw that against Newcastle, Olympiacos, Hamburg, PSV and celtic now. We are always flat footed and or lack of movement to support each other is part of that. Even when we do get a break on. How many times have you seen it falter because of a slow/poor pass or lack of support as everyone is staying back ball watching. I hate to mention them, but McGregor, O ‘Reilly and even Turnbull all look better passers of the ball than our guys, they play thru the midfield lines to feet, they are not afraid to pass to a teammate under pressure, their breaks exposed us with usually 3 passes and it was only poor finishing that let them down. How often do we see them pick out Kyogo or another striker with their final pass compared to our final pass in those circumstances. We usually delay final ball, allowing a block to be made, play it behind or beyond our strikers or pass it straight to opponent. we are awful at moment on the footballing basics

We seem to play almost like 5 aside 1 touch stuff in a small pitch going by training vids. So it’s all 1 or 2 yard passes or flicks to beat inrushing players. And you see that in matches when we end up tippy tippy short passes amongst ourselves or doing stupid wee flicks and usually losing it as we don’t progress ball forward any distance under 5 yards or open up play. There is very little pass and move or 1-2’s. Our passing is usually short or curls back away from receiving player when it should be in front. My biggest bug bear is a our crappy slow passing and our numerous touches before we do pass. From the training vids, our crappy wee short passing exercises don’t solve that issue.

He shouldn’t have gotten a new deal. He’s slow as a week in jail and is a very negative player these days. He should have been let go and if we wanted a bit part player, use a youth or Lundstram who may not be mikes better but he is more mobile and generally quicker than Jack and can be a goal threat which Jack is never. Beale tho is hanging him out to dry in games like this when he’s not got the legs anymore. Again another fault we can lay at managers door.

Players at Rangers should only have a shelf life of maybe 3-4 yrs to be honest. If they are playing well and in a winning team the board should be open to offers when they are at their peak and before their last year of contracts, Any manager should be told that’s just the way it is. We are a selling club and that’s the model. And the end of 55 season, we should have absolutely sold Morelos, Kent, Kamara and possibly Goldson and Tav. They were at their peak, league winners and had decent European performances and we could have gotten very decent money for all of them. Even a conservative £10 mill for the likes of Morelos, Kent and Kamara could and maybe should have been achieved. Maybe half that for Goldson and Tav. And then reinvest and start again. But Gerrard supposedly wanted to keep them and then effed off 6 months later. We got left with them and look where we are now. Nothing for Morelos and Kent and arguably poor performances from both last year. Kamara we got money for but no performances for 6 months or more. And we have Goldson and Tav on long contracts when they are in their 30s and probably on the downward slope performance wise (if not hurtling down it already). As fans we are also too sentimental about players staying . Just look at all the arguments about keeping the players above. But it’s the boards place to be ruthless with this and I honestly can’t understand why even managers wouldn’t realise that at Rangers. Backwater league, we need money from sales and you’d obviously get something back to help rebuild. Surely that’s part of a managers job to improve players, sell on, invest and start again. Add in Jack Davis and even Arfield and we kept players and still keep players way to long. We should always be evolving, improving and moving on players, hopefully after they’ve been a success with us.

Tav is a liability in defence, and his goals have saved him. If he didn’t have those goals(which he rightly gets credit for). We’d have been screaming to bin him years ago. but because of the way we set up which pushes him upfield he gets away with it, but our midfield have to cover for him and that unbalances our midfield imo. But we can replace his goals by getting the strikers to take penalties and free kicks. Midfielders and winger should replace his goals at back post. But we absolutely need a better defensive RB.

He’s a dead man walking. There is nothing redeeming to write about in anything he does at moment. We have no style, we are crap at the basics(passing, movement, control). His signings don’t look great and doesn’t play half them. We are slow, cautious, boring. He’s ruining Cantwell and possible Raskin too. He sold players who were more effective. He obviously watches an entirely different t game from rest of us going on his comments. Bosrd have to act now rather than waste time. But suspect they will give him another couple of months until we have no hope of a comeback. Put it this way, 4 league games in and the League is Celtics to lose, not ours to win. That says it all for me.

Any hope I have is rapidly eroding. I’ve no idea what our approach is. I felt our style is generally a cautious possession based one, but the front 6 seem to constantly be changed, moved around leading to no cohesion in our play. I just don’t know what Beale is trying to achieve at moment. We still stick with playing our fullbacks high up, when both are older and slower and it means our midfield have to cover. How many times have you seen our deep lying midfielder get the ball and look up and there is no one on middle as they are wide to cover space left by fbs. It’s just not working for me anymore. And we are all hoping it’s going to click rather than thinking it will happen soon. No confidence at all in seeing us play good football for 90 mins any time soon.

I couldn’t understand this last night. Lammers may be tall, but nothing so far has shown he’s hard or robust in challenges! Their most dangerous threat in the air and our two biggest and supposedly hardest defenders are 3 or 4 yards behind him marking others. If that’s instructions from coach then he’s not got a clue, if that’s decided by Goldson or Souttar then they are cowards. It’s just common sense to put your biggest, hardest player on their biggest harder player. another thing I noticed last night is we kept a high line defending free kicks and were undone almost every time ball was swung into box. That’s another tactic or decision we got wrong last night. Suits attackers more than defenders to me. Defenders are caught side on to ball a it and are trying to play almost an offside type,approach rather than having backs to goal and facing incoming ball better.

Goldson domestically is very good for us and probably our best defender. But he’s still got a f*ck up in him and that gets exposed more in Europe. Tav certainly doesn’t help him on his right side as he very rarely cuts out cross balls. Borna not much better on the other side. Souttar who I like has cost us more this season and last night could be argued was at fault in 3 goals. De Jong is a very good attacker but again how many times did Goldson or Souttar really have a go at him. It should have been a total ding dong of a battle, and they should have went thru him a few times last night. Might be crude but it’s the dark arts and they used it thru out match. I’ve mentioned this a few times in various threads but for me it’s our style of play that’s our biggest issue to how the team and defence play. No urgency or tempo, never on front foot, so players and crucially for our defenders wait for ball rather than attack it. We never anticipate again because a slow timid passing style leaves us slow in reactions. I think in some ways Scottish football holds us back too. We don’t come up against the technique here that we do in Europe. So our players kind of expect most of the ball, know they will get it back quickly if they lose it. Can’t take multiple touches and play safe, cautious, football. We aren’t used to pressure or passing and moving at pace or higher tempo. I feel Goldson can be really casual at times (similar to our style) and this gets exposed in Europe. Ultimately he’s 1 of 3 defenders who have been with us for 5-6 years and we’ve won 2 trophies in that time and we’ve seen many error strewn performances like last night. So it’s totally arguable that he’s not good enough.

It’s the style for me. Slow ponderous and cautious. Possession for possessions sake most of the times. Risk averse and obviously more about probing football than being direct. I’ve been lucky to have the opportunity of occasionally using a ticket in Govan rear this past season or so. Almost on centre half line. Brilliant seat and as it’s not far from back and you get a superb view of the pitch and how we play. I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve seen us ignore easy diagonal forward passes or easy passes along the line or thru the lines to turn ball back inside or square or back to recycle it amongst defenders. Which completely stalls out attack. Tav when he’s on the Govan side(first half’s) is usually one of the worst culprits tbh. But the team as a whole do it. I can’t understand why professional football players don’t take the easy forward passes. And I’m not talking threading the needle, but more of a could drive a bus thru the gap. It has to be the their instructions. Don’t take risks, be safe, don’t lose ball. we hardly play 1-2’s, we aren’t getting many free kicks around edge of box these days coz players won’t take on opposition, opting to pass instead. We hardly get to byline either which is where crosses is more effective and dangerous. We are always on the back foot. That’s why it feels we never win 2nd balls or get the breaks of the ball. I’ve said a few times already. It’s our style that causes most of our issues. We should be far more braver and far more attack minded. Play at a greater tempo. All the training vids show us playing 1 touch passing exercises. How often do we see that on match day! Practically never. We have a pedestrian style. And in my opinion. It doesn’t suit us.

I’d quite like to see Hagi get a run in midfield. Just not sure who to leave out for him. He’s quick in his decision making and can see a thru pass and generally goes for it, and he’s also comfortable with both feet. He will also drive forward and likes a shot. Is he more of a 10 or since his injury could he player deeper as a proper midfielder. Felt in one of the pre-seasons games he linked well with Raskin and we looked far more attacking when he came on. Not been hugely impressed with Lammers. So perhaps drop him, play Cantwell as the 10 and have Raskin, Hagi and Cefuentes behind him. Just feel we could do with someone with a bit of guile in middle of park.

I don’t think it’s just a hangover from last season. To be honest I thinks it’s a build up for a couple of seasons now. Too many false dawns and too many crushing moments. It’s like playing on people’s last nerve. I feel desperate for a convincing thumping win these days. Last 30 mins tonight I was shouting at the telly desperate for us to speed things up. Increase the tempo, Play passes quicker, win 2nd balls, get to byline in particular before crossing instead of most of our crosses which are from deeper (corner of box area) and easier to defend. i felt we needed a 2 or 3 goal lead to take to Switzerland, but even in SPL I think we need 2 or 3 goals to win a game these days as years of watching us loses leads and turn wins into draws has scunnered me. It’s been constant disappointment since 55. Even that year we should have won more trophies. The nerves of the fans are just frayed to F*ck to be honest. For me part of that is our tactics, the slow cautious style especially against SPL dross is not imo what Rangers are about. Bravery, drive, hunger to win, greed for goals. Being in the front foot is what we should be demanding. It’s what Rangers should be all about. We will probably improve but this style we have makes it easier for the team fall back into flat performances and to be honest leaves me anxious during games.

Felt tonight was a missed opportunity. The first 20 mins was good, rest not so much. We became very laboured at times and again for me the tempo just isn’t right. Things I’ve mentioned on here before really as well like passing and movement. There was improvement from Sat, and there was flashes from the new players that show they can be good players for us. I actually think a better tempo will suit them better. But it might all click a wee bit too late for CL and maybe even in league. Think we needed to go over to Switzerland with a clear 2 or 3 goal lead especially since they went down to 10 men. Hence the missed opportunity point. I’m just not convinced we will keep a clean sheet over there. Games totally in balance for me.

The thing about Lowry that we look like we lack in team at moment is a bit of inventiveness. He tries to go for the forward pass or a wee dinked thru ball or to go past a player. Cant remember which friendly it was, but he came up against a bit of a packed defence on edge of box and looked like he’d made lost the situation. But with very little back lift, he went for a wee pass style shot into bottom corner forcing the keeper into a very good save. I’m not sure many of our players would have tried that. Cantwell and Hagi are two others i class in that mould. Players who are attack minded players who will see and go for early passes or shots, who play incisive forward passes. Hagi is another who looked good I felt in the friendlies. Cantwell went past a couple of players as soon as he came on at weekend and tried a few breaking the lines style passes. it’s early days I know, but I hope our new signings start to show that kind of approach too. Would certainly hope Cantwell and Hagi who I think could be a key player to how Beale wants us to play get more game time going forward. Lowry was probably always going to struggle this season with all the newly bought players. Hearts is a very good move for him, I hope he grabs it with both hands and performs well for them and himself and comes back to us all the better for it.

Still hope that Beale is the man for the job, but problem is now for him that he’s put himself under pressure with that result at weekend, he’s been backed by board, got most of his targets by the looks of it, talked a very good game about playing an entertaining, taking the brakes off style of football and exciting fans. And we’ve seen absolutely no evidence of that style yet. So if we play poorly again midweek the groans and doubts from the stands will grow. This will continue if we don’t take maximum points now from all games up to Old firm, which he just has to win now. Could be a tough month for him and us.

I hate to say it, but I felt after only 3 minutes on Sat that it would be a struggle. They kicked off and launched the ball at Tavs area, we headed it clear then there was a minute or so of ball bouncing around, being half cleared and and mostly them being first to it and then they got a corner at about 3 minutes. And I just thought none of our players were on the front foot. The ball bounced around and no one went and claimed it, attacked it to clear it either by head or foot or drove at Killie when we did have ball. My mate arrived in pub just a few minutes later and I just said “slow start” and he just acknowledged it with a roll of his eyes. And that sums it up. 5 mins into new season, and all the hope deflated like a burst ballon. So you then, think, give it 20 mins, it’s first game of season and all that, we had a wee had a bit more control in that spell, but didn’t really create anything. Still a bit slow, too much recycling of possession, too many touches at times. Couple of nice wee moments but no real excitement or chances! Right then, give it till half time, then we will come out faster in 2nd half, but it was just rinse and repeat. And the whole time, I’ve got this gnawing sensation that we’ve all seen this before. Those wee spells where we haven’t scored and we are making heaving weather of clearing ball or losing ball cheaply and then 1 mistake. 1 chance and we are behind. I looked at clock and thought 30 mins to turn this around. There is a wee injection of urgency and tempo, (coz we like to wait till we go behind before we do that) and lasted maybe 5 minutes and then it was just nothing after that. Slow, turgid, weak, risk averse. Boring. No releasing the Kraken, no Cavalry charge, no busting of guts…no ideas! I’ve spent the last couple of days trying to regain my hope and optimism for Wednesday. i realise its new players and at times they showed some nice bits of skill and hopefully they will come good. But if we don’t adapt our style then I really do worry we will struggle. I hate praising celtic but they do go at teams with higher tempo than us, they move ball quicker, they get to byline more and they score plenty from cut backs. Saw their 2nd and 3rd goals at weekend,2nd headed ball from midfield to wide, winger takes a touch and squares it across quickly to Kyogo who shots first time from edge of box, 3rd is again just quickness, ball thru middle to Kyogo on edge of County’s box, 1 touch flick between 2 defenders to O’Reilly, smacks it into roof of net.. Simple but effective. We’d probably have played both ball wide and thru middle back if that was us. We need to play passes sharply and early, shoot early, nearest man to shy takes it quickly (hopefully forward), take quick free kicks, alternate free kick takers and corner takers, 1 pass instead of 3. Take your opposite number on. Your a Rangers player, be brave ffs. Get to byline whenever you can before cutting back. Be on the front foot and maybe we will start getting break of ball as well. Most of that’s not rocket science, it’s common sense. Schoolboy stuff even. I hope on Wednesday to see some of the above and maybe the ballon that I am might just reinflate a bit!

And one other issue. Win your individual battles, I lost count of how many times played lost a shoulder charge. It’s the basics

Out problem today was our footballing style, , which has been my bugbear for a few years now, it’s slow and ponderous. 3 passes when 1 will do. Defence have most touches in game. Every single player takes a touch before passing on. We never go to Byline to get a cross in always a diagonal cross from about 30 yards out. Lots of individual issues I can moan about (Fullbacks). Bit move the ball quicker and we would be far far better.

In an ideal world young players should get more minutes (last 20-30 say) as Rangers should have the game sewn up by then against most SPL opposition. Problem is for the last few years we get control of games but then we don’t always kill teams off completely. Sit on 2-0 leads say, and then take our feet off the gas so to speak and allow teams a wee window back into game. So bringing on youth becomes suddenly riskier than going with more experienced heads. Also we have larger squads, so most again managers will go with experience from the bench rather than youth. And that’s before you take into account managers favourites too who tend to be a shoe in for most games. I think it’s very hard for a Rangers manager to get the balance right. I’d love to see Rangers teams batter SPL teams by 3 or 4 by half time or 60 mins and then bring on the Lowry’s, Bailey Rice’s, Devine etc. But still feel it’s more like Beale will bring in a Jack or Lundstrum(assuming they two aren’t first 11 picks going forward) to give them match practise for trickier games ahead.