disgruntled_bear 157 Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 Whatever happened to Pedro Mendes? It's a question Rangers fans have been asking this season with the Portuguese appearing to have gone AWOL in the club's two biggest matches to date. Mendes was a virtual spectator against both Stuttgart and Sevilla in the Champions League when much, much more was expected of him. However, the classy midfielder will be handed a shot at redemption on Sunday against Celtic. Rangers are in desperate need of inspiration and Mendes can provide it. This is a game Walter Smith's men cannot afford to lose. It is also a game in which the manager requires his match-winners to show face. Mendes was a revelation at Parkhead in the opening Old Firm match of the last campaign 12 months ago and it's time he started to reproduce that form. He was such a big disappointment in midweek when Sevilla produced a second-half masterclass at Ibrox. A Champions League winner with Porto, the stage was set perfectly for him to showcase his talents. He should have relished mixing it with Sevilla's world-class stars but instead he was a peripheral figure. I've said time and time again Old Firm matches are won in the middle of the park and if Rangers are to beat Celtic their midfield needs to start functioning. Mendes cannot do it alone so Steven Davis and Kevin Thomson also need to emerge from the shadows. Davis has also failed to reach the heights of last season when he was the best player in the country for long spells. In his defence, he has been struggling with a virus over the past few weeks since returning from international duty. He was one of the few to get pass marks against Sevilla although after a bright start he was unable to sustain his high-energy game as fatigue understandably set in. Thomson is the third member of a Rangers midfield trio that has failed to sparkle. People forget he has just returned after being out for the best part of a year following cruciate knee surgery. You can't possibly expect him to be the same player he was before the injury only games into his comeback. Rangers have been struggling as a team so too much responsibility has been placed at his door. Slowly but surely he has been improving and the Old Firm seems to bring out the best in him. He has made five appearances in the fixture and has been a winner every time. If he is to make it six out of six Rangers must find a way to put the confidence-crushing events of Tuesday out of their minds. Sevilla taught them a harsh lesson. For 50 minutes Rangers played a high-tempo pressing game that nullified the threat of the Spaniards' flair players superbly. But you can only play that game for so long. It is impossible to deny quality players space for an entire match. You see it most weeks in the SPL when teams visit Ibrox or Celtic Park. They try to push high up the park and while it can be successful temporarily you cannot sustain it for 90 minutes. That's why there are so many goals in the last quarter of games involving the Old Firm at home because that's when spaces open up. Yet, there is no disgrace in losing to Sevilla. They might not be the most high-profile but they are certainly one of the best teams in Europe. Manolo Jimenez's men are well capable of beating Real Madrid on Sunday and I think they will go close to winning the Champions League. Against Rangers they had seven shots on target and scored with four of them. On the three other occasions Allan McGregor made world-class stops. As soon as the first went in you could see Rangers wilting. From being in control, the full-backs started to have a torrid time and the centre-halves were pulled out of position every time Sevilla attacked. It was clear Walter simply didn't have the personnel available on the bench to make changes or to rest key players ahead of Celtic's visit when it became evident the game was lost. Of course, the major talking point was the penalty incident. When the Swedish referee denied Rangers a stonewall spot-kick the momentum of the game was always going to swing. You can call it a bottled decision or a botched decision but it was one that had serious repercussions. It was such a straightforward call and I'm sure the ref cringed when he watched the replays at half time. He should have gone into the home dressing room, apologised and admitted he made a pig's ear of it. Rangers would still have been extremely hacked off as there was no way of rectifying the error. But it would have been easier to stomach had the official held his hands up for a genuine error. http://blogs.<No links to this website>/markhateley...-ways.html#more Yet again it's hard to disagree on what he's saying, Mendes and the rest of our Midfield do need to emerge from the shadows. But one main point he's missed out is that McCulloch is a major problem in that Midfield, if anybody needs dropped on Sunday it's him. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
davie1689 1 Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 its time for Hately to stop fekin slaggin us off i dont listen to him anymore Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muff 245 Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 Time for everyone to stand up and be counted, and work as a team! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
disgruntled_bear 157 Posted October 2, 2009 Author Share Posted October 2, 2009 its time for Hately to stop fekin slaggin us off i dont listen to him anymore He's not slagging us off, infact he's trying to put a positive spin on things at the moment. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
davie1689 1 Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 its time for Hately to stop fekin slaggin us off i dont listen to him anymore He's not slagging us off, infact he's trying to put a positive spin on things at the moment. sick of listening to him Db never a good word to say about us my opinion m8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
disgruntled_bear 157 Posted October 2, 2009 Author Share Posted October 2, 2009 Time for everyone to stand up and be counted, and work as a team! That all depends if Walter can motivate this team and stop shoehorning certain players in, big decisions have to be made on Sunday. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
disgruntled_bear 157 Posted October 2, 2009 Author Share Posted October 2, 2009 its time for Hately to stop fekin slaggin us off i dont listen to him anymore He's not slagging us off, infact he's trying to put a positive spin on things at the moment. sick of listening to him Db never a good word to say about us my opinion m8 Really, take it you don't read or listen to him. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
davie1689 1 Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 its time for Hately to stop fekin slaggin us off i dont listen to him anymore He's not slagging us off, infact he's trying to put a positive spin on things at the moment. sick of listening to him Db never a good word to say about us my opinion m8 Really, take it you don't read or listen to him. not anymore no Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
disgruntled_bear 157 Posted October 2, 2009 Author Share Posted October 2, 2009 its time for Hately to stop fekin slaggin us off i dont listen to him anymore He's not slagging us off, infact he's trying to put a positive spin on things at the moment. sick of listening to him Db never a good word to say about us my opinion m8 Really, take it you don't read or listen to him. not anymore no So you're early comment was just a blind one, cheers for adding it to the thread Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
davie1689 1 Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 the guys a wank at reporting like i said its my opinion and i choose not to read or listen to him Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nvager 498 Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 Apart from the GK and Boogie the whole team has been disappointing these past few weeks in the SPL. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
disgruntled_bear 157 Posted October 2, 2009 Author Share Posted October 2, 2009 the guys a wank at reporting like i said its my opinion and i choose not to read or listen to him Yeah it you're opinion but you can't really comment if you didn't read the piece, as i said it's a blind comment. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizmico1986 0 Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 i think mark hateley is spot on with that article,he is only stating the obvious and trying to put a positive spin on it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
disgruntled_bear 157 Posted October 2, 2009 Author Share Posted October 2, 2009 Apart from the GK and Boogie the whole team has been disappointing these past few weeks in the SPL. Even McGregor is looking shaky in the SPL, this team is lacking motivation and confidence. We'll find out a lot of things this Sunday about our team on and off the park. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
davie1689 1 Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 the guys a wank at reporting like i said its my opinion and i choose not to read or listen to him Yeah it you're opinion but you can't really comment if you didn't read the piece, as i said it's a blind comment. reaches for my white stick Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
swanseabear 25 Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 I think it's a good article. I still feel we will win despite the fact our squad is poor. Theirs is even worse. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny 9 Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 Mendes hasn't 'Mendes' ways since October last year. After a superb start (which was probably the best he's ever played in his career) he lost it, and I got pelters every time I dared to point it out. I don't know what we expect of him - he's not a Barry Ferguson OR a Kevin Thomson. He's not going to graft hard all over the place OR creative chances for the strikers. He's quite an ordinary player tbh - but I do see him working a bit harder this season than he did last year, after admitting he 'looked away' when we needed to work hard. That said, it doesn't alter the fact he was way overrated in the first place, and now seems to be the villain of the piece at Ibrox. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coopermania 1 Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 Hateley's right. I like Mendes, but he needs to shape up or ship out. We would get a decent price for him and we could use the money elsewhere. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dietspam 733 Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 the guys a wank at reporting like i said its my opinion and i choose not to read or listen to him Then why bother coming into this thread? Quite clearly an article from Mark Hately. Anyway, i think he is spot on there on what he says. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gid 47 Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 I think Hateley is spot on here. Don't think he's being negative either. Don't understand where you're coming from Davie. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyalbertz 0 Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 Good article. Hateley always talks sense, tells it like it is Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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