***The Official Rangers v Hearts Thread***

[Muff 245]

Who was McGregor going mental at? He failed to roll out a quick pass, the Dundee United players closed us down, he lumped it up the park, and McCulloch blazed it over the bar, McGregor came running out his box and went absolutely mental - it was his fault in the first place for not rolling the ball out, and starting a quick attack.

He also went menatl at Edu and the midfield all 2nd half, especially Edu when he allowed someone (think it was Sandaza) to turn, and get a header in, he also allowed Bauben to skip past him like he wasn't even there, and get a shot in.

[stuart93 0]

In fact i would probably want ...

:alexander:

:whittaker: :bougherra: :weir: :papac:

:novo: :davis: :edu: :beasley:

:fleck: :lafferty:

definatley won't happen though

[stuart93 0]

Who was McGregor going mental at? He failed to roll out a quick pass, the Dundee United players closed us down, he lumped it up the park, and McCulloch blazed it over the bar, McGregor came running out his box and went absolutely mental - it was his fault in the first place for not rolling the ball out, and starting a quick attack.

He also went menatl at Edu and the midfield all 2nd half, especially Edu when he allowed someone (think it was Sandaza) to turn, and get a header in, he also allowed Bauben to skip past him like he wasn't even there, and get a shot in.

What about Miller's rant at Lafferty :s i thought it was Millers own fault :L

[Muff 245]

Who was McGregor going mental at? He failed to roll out a quick pass, the Dundee United players closed us down, he lumped it up the park, and McCulloch blazed it over the bar, McGregor came running out his box and went absolutely mental - it was his fault in the first place for not rolling the ball out, and starting a quick attack.

He also went menatl at Edu and the midfield all 2nd half, especially Edu when he allowed someone (think it was Sandaza) to turn, and get a header in, he also allowed Bauben to skip past him like he wasn't even there, and get a shot in.

What about Miller's rant at Lafferty :s i thought it was Millers own fault :L

It was Miller's fault, there was no need for him to react like that, he went absolutely mental.

[ScotBear 144]

A so-called striker who cannot score, header a ball, pass a ball, link-up... he doesn't have the brain, ability or instinct to play upfront.

The sooner he is sold, the better.

You've described all our strikers there, leaving aside Miller and Boyd's ability to score regularly in our less testing matches.

Novo, for example, in his 6 seasons at Rangers has only bettered Lafferty's tally of goals last season twice in his 6 seasons at Rangers. He continually gives the ball away cheaply, often in dangerous areas (see Unirea away for example). Yet is given god like status by the support.

Now, he's scored some very important goals which has led us to take him to our hearts. But he's a 31 year old striker with great experience, who joined the club at 25. Lafferty joined at age 20, put away a decent tally wide left last year, is struggling this year but gets absolute dogs abuse.

If the other strikers were able to hold their heads high with the performances they've put in, fair enough. But they'r not, they've all been found wanting and until then I'm very happy to see a young guy like Lafferty given his fair chance, which for me he's not really been given up to now in his Rangers career. The guy I've seen in a Northern Ireland jersey, and in flashes in a blue jersey, very much has the ability to be a valuable Rangers player.

[Muff 245]

A so-called striker who cannot score, header a ball, pass a ball, link-up... he doesn't have the brain, ability or instinct to play upfront.

The sooner he is sold, the better.

You've described all our strikers there, leaving aside Miller and Boyd's ability to score regularly in our less testing matches.

Novo, for example, in his 6 seasons at Rangers has only bettered Lafferty's tally of goals last season twice in his 6 seasons at Rangers. He continually gives the ball away cheaply, often in dangerous areas (see Unirea away for example). Yet is given god like status by the support.

Now, he's scored some very important goals which has led us to take him to our hearts. But he's a 31 year old striker with great experience, who joined the club at 25. Lafferty joined at age 20, put away a decent tally wide left last year, is struggling this year but gets absolute dogs abuse.

If the other strikers were able to hold their heads high with the performances they've put in, fair enough. But they'r not, they've all been found wanting and until then I'm very happy to see a young guy like Lafferty given his fair chance, which for me he's not really been given up to now in his Rangers career. The guy I've seen in a Northern Ireland jersey, and in flashes in a blue jersey, very much has the ability to be a valuable Rangers player.

Lafferty can't even do it in the less testing matches. He has had 3 good halves of football all season in a Rangers jersey, I couldn't give a shit how he plays for Northern Ireland.

[Stu1993 101]

Millers attitude has been awful over the last Month. We need the width in our team again, when we have all 4 midfielders in the centre it becomes to hard to move the ball.

[stuart93 0]

Millers attitude has been awful over the last Month. We need the width in our team again, when we have all 4 midfielders in the centre it becomes to hard to move the ball.

Width needs to come from the full backs as well ... Whittaker sometimes get's forward, but is normally very frustrating and quite reluctant to do it! Papac, i can't remember him going forward at all tonight!

I would play 3 in midfield and 3 up front with 2 being told to play very wide ... either that or play Bougherra at RB and Beasley at LB ?

[Stu1993 101]

Millers attitude has been awful over the last Month. We need the width in our team again, when we have all 4 midfielders in the centre it becomes to hard to move the ball.

Width needs to come from the full backs as well ... Whittaker sometimes get's forward, but is normally very frustrating and quite reluctant to do it! Papac, i can't remember him going forward at all tonight!

I would play 3 in midfield and 3 up front with 2 being told to play very wide ... either that or play Bougherra at RB and Beasley at LB ?

No width comes from having to wide players, who will stay on the lines and not come in and steal the CM's space, which causes them to push further up the centre instead of pushing out wide. Naismith should be dropped from the whole squad, bring in beasley and novo.

[stuart93 0]

Millers attitude has been awful over the last Month. We need the width in our team again, when we have all 4 midfielders in the centre it becomes to hard to move the ball.

Width needs to come from the full backs as well ... Whittaker sometimes get's forward, but is normally very frustrating and quite reluctant to do it! Papac, i can't remember him going forward at all tonight!

I would play 3 in midfield and 3 up front with 2 being told to play very wide ... either that or play Bougherra at RB and Beasley at LB ?

No width comes from having to wide players, who will stay on the lines and not come in and steal the CM's space, which causes them to push further up the centre instead of pushing out wide. Naismith should be dropped from the whole squad, bring in beasley and novo.

It's natural when we play a CM at RM. I'm not disagreeing we need wingers but our full backs are just as much at fault for the lack of width ... on the left i would have Beasley, and would like to see Papac pushing up beyond them. On the right i would maybe play Novo, and would like to see Whittaker get far beyong him as that's just about all he is good at!

[Stu1993 101]

Millers attitude has been awful over the last Month. We need the width in our team again, when we have all 4 midfielders in the centre it becomes to hard to move the ball.

Width needs to come from the full backs as well ... Whittaker sometimes get's forward, but is normally very frustrating and quite reluctant to do it! Papac, i can't remember him going forward at all tonight!

I would play 3 in midfield and 3 up front with 2 being told to play very wide ... either that or play Bougherra at RB and Beasley at LB ?

No width comes from having to wide players, who will stay on the lines and not come in and steal the CM's space, which causes them to push further up the centre instead of pushing out wide. Naismith should be dropped from the whole squad, bring in beasley and novo.

It's natural when we play a CM at RM. I'm not disagreeing we need wingers but our full backs are just as much at fault for the lack of width ... on the left i would have Beasley, and would like to see Papac pushing up beyond them. On the right i would maybe play Novo, and would like to see Whittaker get far beyong him as that's just about all he is good at!

Papac is far too slow to leave that kind of gap behind for players to gain a run at DW. as for whittaker he would be getting red cards every game he played for diving in, he does it to much and thats facing the player can you imagine him trying to tackle from behind all the time. If we play two natural wide players, and a sitting midfielder, and davis in the free role then we control the game, we switch play qicker, play at a faster tempo. That leaves plenty of room in the centre and then when we want to pass it down the middle, miller/boyd comes short, plays it out wide to get in behind or trys to turn. Not rocket science.

[stuart93 0]

Papac is far too slow to leave that kind of gap behind for players to gain a run at DW. as for whittaker he would be getting red cards every game he played for diving in, he does it to much and thats facing the player can you imagine him trying to tackle from behind all the time. If we play two natural wide players, and a sitting midfielder, and davis in the free role then we control the game, we switch play qicker, play at a faster tempo. That leaves plenty of room in the centre and then when we want to pass it down the middle, miller/boyd comes short, plays it out wide to get in behind or trys to turn. Not rocket science.

Papac is far too slow to leave that kind of gap behind for players to gain a run at DW. - thats why we have the three defenders or defensive players at the time when he pushed up squeeze ina bit tighter, and cover till he get's back, that's pretty basic stuff.

as for whittaker he would be getting red cards every game he played for diving in - again, if we have people covering for a bit theres not much need for this to happen ... also it's whittakers one strong point so to not utilise it is suicide. For a defender, he really can't defend, but he can get forward when he wants to.

If we play two natural wide players - don't really have them, buuuut ... that's fair enough but i still don't see why our fullbacks shuoldn't be getting forward for extra support, or at least they are another attacking option.

[Stu1993 101]

Papac is far too slow to leave that kind of gap behind for players to gain a run at DW. as for whittaker he would be getting red cards every game he played for diving in, he does it to much and thats facing the player can you imagine him trying to tackle from behind all the time. If we play two natural wide players, and a sitting midfielder, and davis in the free role then we control the game, we switch play qicker, play at a faster tempo. That leaves plenty of room in the centre and then when we want to pass it down the middle, miller/boyd comes short, plays it out wide to get in behind or trys to turn. Not rocket science.

Papac is far too slow to leave that kind of gap behind for players to gain a run at DW. - thats why we have the three defenders or defensive players at the time when he pushed up squeeze ina bit tighter, and cover till he get's back, that's pretty basic stuff.

as for whittaker he would be getting red cards every game he played for diving in - again, if we have people covering for a bit theres not much need for this to happen ... also it's whittakers one strong point so to not utilise it is suicide. For a defender, he really can't defend, but he can get forward when he wants to.

If we play two natural wide players - don't really have them, buuuut ... that's fair enough but i still don't see why our fullbacks shuoldn't be getting forward for extra support, or at least they are another attacking option.

Or we just play like we did in december like i suggested and win more comfortably. No need to go to extreme lengths and push both full backs right up and leave weir with cover of bougherra and mcculloch who it will mostly be playing, also when there not full backs cause they dont have the pace or delivery to go up and down there all game. If we go back to having novo beasley and davis in centre, we have pace and can close teams down, thats the main reason we keep dropping points. We stand off far too much and invite teams on to us and the seem to be able to pick passes around our midfield casue its so narrow.

[simon 1,743]

No Kenny Miller either, waste of a jersey. I am sick of his lack of ability and constant moaning. Fleck and Boyd up front for me see how it works.

[stuart93 0]

Papac is far too slow to leave that kind of gap behind for players to gain a run at DW. as for whittaker he would be getting red cards every game he played for diving in, he does it to much and thats facing the player can you imagine him trying to tackle from behind all the time. If we play two natural wide players, and a sitting midfielder, and davis in the free role then we control the game, we switch play qicker, play at a faster tempo. That leaves plenty of room in the centre and then when we want to pass it down the middle, miller/boyd comes short, plays it out wide to get in behind or trys to turn. Not rocket science.

Papac is far too slow to leave that kind of gap behind for players to gain a run at DW. - thats why we have the three defenders or defensive players at the time when he pushed up squeeze ina bit tighter, and cover till he get's back, that's pretty basic stuff.

as for whittaker he would be getting red cards every game he played for diving in - again, if we have people covering for a bit theres not much need for this to happen ... also it's whittakers one strong point so to not utilise it is suicide. For a defender, he really can't defend, but he can get forward when he wants to.

If we play two natural wide players - don't really have them, buuuut ... that's fair enough but i still don't see why our fullbacks shuoldn't be getting forward for extra support, or at least they are another attacking option.

Or we just play like we did in december like i suggested and win more comfortably. No need to go to extreme lengths and push both full backs right up and leave weir with cover of bougherra and mcculloch who it will mostly be playing, also when there not full backs cause they dont have the pace or delivery to go up and down there all game. If we go back to having novo beasley and davis in centre, we have pace and can close teams down, thats the main reason we keep dropping points. We stand off far too much and invite teams on to us and the seem to be able to pick passes around our midfield casue its so narrow.

Like we did in December, a month in which Bougherra and Whittaker both scored ... shows you that they obviously did get forward, and it clearly worked that month.

And the main reason i think we keep dropping points is because when we get into the final third we seem completely void of ideas or ambition ... options from fullbacks would help stop this. Your either missing my point or ignoring it. Why can't we play with wingers and at the same time get our full backs to push up and offer more options?

[Mark. 69]

:alexander:

:broadfoot: :bougherra: :weir: :ssmith:

:whittaker: :davis: :thomson: :beasley:

:boyd: :novo:

Rangers 3-0 Hearts

Davis

Boyd(2)

[Stu1993 101]

Papac is far too slow to leave that kind of gap behind for players to gain a run at DW. as for whittaker he would be getting red cards every game he played for diving in, he does it to much and thats facing the player can you imagine him trying to tackle from behind all the time. If we play two natural wide players, and a sitting midfielder, and davis in the free role then we control the game, we switch play qicker, play at a faster tempo. That leaves plenty of room in the centre and then when we want to pass it down the middle, miller/boyd comes short, plays it out wide to get in behind or trys to turn. Not rocket science.

Papac is far too slow to leave that kind of gap behind for players to gain a run at DW. - thats why we have the three defenders or defensive players at the time when he pushed up squeeze ina bit tighter, and cover till he get's back, that's pretty basic stuff.

as for whittaker he would be getting red cards every game he played for diving in - again, if we have people covering for a bit theres not much need for this to happen ... also it's whittakers one strong point so to not utilise it is suicide. For a defender, he really can't defend, but he can get forward when he wants to.

If we play two natural wide players - don't really have them, buuuut ... that's fair enough but i still don't see why our fullbacks shuoldn't be getting forward for extra support, or at least they are another attacking option.

Or we just play like we did in december like i suggested and win more comfortably. No need to go to extreme lengths and push both full backs right up and leave weir with cover of bougherra and mcculloch who it will mostly be playing, also when there not full backs cause they dont have the pace or delivery to go up and down there all game. If we go back to having novo beasley and davis in centre, we have pace and can close teams down, thats the main reason we keep dropping points. We stand off far too much and invite teams on to us and the seem to be able to pick passes around our midfield casue its so narrow.

Like we did in December, a month in which Bougherra and Whittaker both scored ... shows you that they obviously did get forward, and it clearly worked that month.

And the main reason i think we keep dropping points is because when we get into the final third we seem completely void of ideas or ambition ... options from fullbacks would help stop this. Your either missing my point or ignoring it. Why can't we play with wingers and at the same time get our full backs to push up and offer more options?

They got foward alot more cause we never lost the ball. We were controlling the game unlike we do now. we can push them foward if we want but IMO they dont have the pace or tackling ability to get back intime.

[stuart93 0]

They got foward alot more cause we never lost the ball. We were controlling the game unlike we do now. we can push them foward if we want but IMO they dont have the pace or tackling ability to get back intime.

Probably true, but we should be able to control games, especially at home to Hearts this Sunday, so there should be no reason for them not to get forward, especially Whittaker who has no tackling ability anyway, so doesn't make much difference! Papac i don't mind as much not getting forward, he has a job, and normally does it well and nothing else (not so much the past few weeks). But whittaker needs to get forward, IMO. annnnnyway, im going to bed

[maxwellrfc 6]

If papac or whittaker are bombin forward one of our DMs should fill in for them til they get back.

[martyboy2009 11]

Same team as muffs on Sunday. No chance of it happening tho, we'll be subjected to another 90 mins of mcculloch pretending to be a decent center mid. Awful player.

Edu is injured so thomson will play alongside mcculloch with Davis on the right were hes not as effective. Probably expect Naismith to start again and no doubt lafferty.

Another bad feeling about this one.

[Poetry_In_Blue 1,043]

:mcgregor:

:whittaker: :bougherra: :weir: :papac:

:beasley: :davis: :thomson: :novo:

:boyd: :miller:

No McCulloch (get him to fcuk), Edu, Naismith or Lafferty ffs!

Get Steven Davis in the middle of the park where he should play every week, alongside Kevin Thomson!

I would have no problems with that line up, even though would be just as happy to have Edu in the middle instead of KT.

[docspiderman 1,225]

Same team but with Lafferty on the left

He played well against Aberdeen on the left so Walter decided to play him upfront , didn't really get that decision from him

I thought he was terrible against Aberdeen apart from 2 runs and a goal in a 10 minute spell in the 2nd half.I was amazed at the starting line up with Lafferty and Naismiith getting another start.

[martyboy2009 11]

I actually couldn't believe that the only change from the Aberdeen game was bougherra. Sometimes walter really does frustrate the life out of me. Keeping the same midfield for Hamilton, Aberdeen and united and in every game mcculloch and naismith were rotten.

[Muz333 359]

:alexander:

:whittaker: :bougherra: :weir: :ssmith:

:beasley: :davis: :thomson: :novo:

:boyd: :miller:

Sick of McGregor's punts.

Sick of Papac panicking in possession.

Sick of Lee McCulloch...just because he's Lee McCulloch.

Get them all out and let's put in a performance worthy of Champions (for a change) on Saturday.

Real tired of the punts up the park giving the ball away each time as well. We should be rolling it out to the defenders and keeping possession instead of giving it away every goal kick. Papac has been a bit poor recently so I'd probablly agree there too and I'm not a fan of McCulloch and his needless fouls either.

[Ozblue 4,331]

If everybody is FIT then I don't think Wattie will have any excuses NOT to play with width and stretch the Hearts defence the whole perimiter of the Ibrox sidelines which will mean Beasley and Novo starting.

My team would be as follows, but I wouldn't like to be holding my breath waiting for it to happen.

Surely we HAVE to be more confident and attacking minded at home.

:alexander:

:whittaker::weir::bougherra::ssmith:

:novo::davis::thomson::beasley:

:miller::boyd: