The real problem at Ibrox

[Sweeney 241]

Let me start by saying there are many problems with this current team. A few players are not up for the job, the higher ups make stupid decisions like spend 4 million on a single player, albeit a great one, and spend the rest of the season with 14 or 15 first team players if you discount the youth players and so on.

The blame lies firmly at the feet of Walter Smith and this stubborn ideal that every team we play have the god given right to be better than us because; "we have no money, we have a lot of games, we have a small squad" and so on. I for one am sick of his excuses. The REAL problem, is Walter's fear of change. A Phycologist said once;

" Fear of the unknown.

They are afraid of new ideas.

They are loaded with prejudices, not based upon anything in reality, but based on… if something is new, I reject it immediately because it’s frightening to me. What they do instead is just stay with the familiar.

You know, to me, the most beautiful things in all the universe, are the most mysterious. "

Anything outwith a run of the mill SPL game and our tactics become as predictable as they are boring.

Walter Smith in the champions league played 1 good game in a 5-4-1 so refused to change it out of FEAR of ruining it even against shitty teams like Bursaspor, who we should never ever be afraid of.

Walter Smith changed things up a bit against Motherwell and despite Bartley looking mighty impressive, he is AFRAID to give him a go against a very poor side and sticks in Foster.

We go a goal up and Walter Smith is too AFRAID to upset the momentum of the game that he refuses to make a single change despite several players either being awful or fucked and we paid for it. This is not limited to tonight, how often does it take Walter till the 88th minute to make a change?

Kyle Laffery. Everybody knows he can't perform against a team thats not going to give him 10 seconds on the ball. But Walter is too AFRAID to give a guy like Healy a chance.

This "back to the wall" approach when we go a goal up in a game is getting beyond a joke and it has to change.

We should not be the most boring team in europe to watch. We are The Rangers and its time for us to start having a go at teams again. Time for us to stop fearing any team just because we don't know about them and saying "they must be good if they are in europe". Time for us to bring back a 4-4-2 and get rid of the dead wood.

I really hope Ally McCoist isn't afraid to change the system because at the moment, we are horrible to watch and this is affecting the once deafening Ibrox atmosphere as well.

[Irwin Sparkes 97]

I'm honestly staggered that we're getting posts like this after tonight, 2 weeks after the board was awash with people trying to defend our performance against Celtic

I'm oot.

[Sweeney 241]

I'm honestly staggered that we're getting posts like this after tonight, 2 weeks after the board was awash with people trying to defend our performance against Celtic

I'm oot.

So you are happy with the way this team has performed over the season?

[El Buffalo 120]

Let me start by saying there are many problems with this current team. A few players are not up for the job, the higher ups make stupid decisions like spend 4 million on a single player, albeit a great one, and spend the rest of the season with 14 or 15 first team players if you discount the youth players and so on.

The blame lies firmly at the feet of Walter Smith and this stubborn ideal that every team we play have the god given right to be better than us because; "we have no money, we have a lot of games, we have a small squad" and so on. I for one am sick of his excuses. The REAL problem, is Walter's fear of change. A Phycologist said once;

" Fear of the unknown.

They are afraid of new ideas.

They are loaded with prejudices, not based upon anything in reality, but based on… if something is new, I reject it immediately because it’s frightening to me. What they do instead is just stay with the familiar.

You know, to me, the most beautiful things in all the universe, are the most mysterious. "

Anything outwith a run of the mill SPL game and our tactics become as predictable as they are boring.

Walter Smith in the champions league played 1 good game in a 5-4-1 so refused to change it out of FEAR of ruining it even against shitty teams like Bursaspor, who we should never ever be afraid of.

Walter Smith changed things up a bit against Motherwell and despite Bartley looking mighty impressive, he is AFRAID to give him a go against a very poor side and sticks in Foster.

We go a goal up and Walter Smith is too AFRAID to upset the momentum of the game that he refuses to make a single change despite several players either being awful or fucked and we paid for it. This is not limited to tonight, how often does it take Walter till the 88th minute to make a change?

Kyle Laffery. Everybody knows he can't perform against a team thats not going to give him 10 seconds on the ball. But Walter is too AFRAID to give a guy like Healy a chance.

This "back to the wall" approach when we go a goal up in a game is getting beyond a joke and it has to change.

We should not be the most boring team in europe to watch. We are The Rangers and its time for us to start having a go at teams again. Time for us to stop fearing any team just because we don't know about them and saying "they must be good if they are in europe". Time for us to bring back a 4-4-2 and get rid of the dead wood.

I really hope Ally McCoist isn't afraid to change the system because at the moment, we are horrible to watch and this is affecting the once deafening Ibrox atmosphere as well.

Absolutely Agree M8

[northumberlandloyal 17]

So you are happy with the way this team has performed over the season?

Thinks irwin is on the hard stuff

[RANGERST1LLADIE 33]

Sick of our performances this season.

[StevieWonder88 10]

Let me start by saying there are many problems with this current team. A few players are not up for the job, the higher ups make stupid decisions like spend 4 million on a single player, albeit a great one, and spend the rest of the season with 14 or 15 first team players if you discount the youth players and so on.

The blame lies firmly at the feet of Walter Smith and this stubborn ideal that every team we play have the god given right to be better than us because; "we have no money, we have a lot of games, we have a small squad" and so on. I for one am sick of his excuses. The REAL problem, is Walter's fear of change. A Phycologist said once;

" Fear of the unknown.

They are afraid of new ideas.

They are loaded with prejudices, not based upon anything in reality, but based on… if something is new, I reject it immediately because it’s frightening to me. What they do instead is just stay with the familiar.

You know, to me, the most beautiful things in all the universe, are the most mysterious. "

Anything outwith a run of the mill SPL game and our tactics become as predictable as they are boring.

Walter Smith in the champions league played 1 good game in a 5-4-1 so refused to change it out of FEAR of ruining it even against shitty teams like Bursaspor, who we should never ever be afraid of.

Walter Smith changed things up a bit against Motherwell and despite Bartley looking mighty impressive, he is AFRAID to give him a go against a very poor side and sticks in Foster.

We go a goal up and Walter Smith is too AFRAID to upset the momentum of the game that he refuses to make a single change despite several players either being awful or fucked and we paid for it. This is not limited to tonight, how often does it take Walter till the 88th minute to make a change?

Kyle Laffery. Everybody knows he can't perform against a team thats not going to give him 10 seconds on the ball. But Walter is too AFRAID to give a guy like Healy a chance.

This "back to the wall" approach when we go a goal up in a game is getting beyond a joke and it has to change.

We should not be the most boring team in europe to watch. We are The Rangers and its time for us to start having a go at teams again. Time for us to stop fearing any team just because we don't know about them and saying "they must be good if they are in europe". Time for us to bring back a 4-4-2 and get rid of the dead wood.

I really hope Ally McCoist isn't afraid to change the system because at the moment, we are horrible to watch and this is affecting the once deafening Ibrox atmosphere as well.

You couldnt have said what i was thinking any better mate, i totally agree wae you.

Why the fuck was Lafferty on solo striker the dafty couldnt score in a barrel of fannys...

I'd take a £1 for Lafferty in the summer, fair play he plays for the jersey but what he has to offer is no where near good enough!

Ibrox need a shake 'n' vac and a hope tae fuck the take over happens and they make the changes that need to happen to take the club forward.

[lancedeangers1 287]

I can't really argue with your assessment mate.

[Sweeney 241]

You couldnt have said what i was thinking any better mate, i totally agree wae you.

Why the fuck was Lafferty on solo striker the dafty couldnt score in a barrel of fannys...

I'd take a £1 for Lafferty in the summer, fair play he plays for the jersey but what he has to offer is no where near good enough!

Ibrox need a shake 'n' vac and a hope tae fuck the take over happens and they make the changes that need to happen to take the club forward.

Lafferty is a horrible footballer. A 7 foot striker with a head like an oxo cube a a shot like a 12 year old girl. The sooner he leaves the better. I wouldn't even mind having him as back up but he seems to always gets his game

[StevieWonder88 10]

Lafferty is a horrible footballer. A 7 foot striker with a head like an oxo cube a a shot like a 12 year old girl. The sooner he leaves the better. I wouldn't even mind having him as back up but he seems to always gets his game

Ano mate look at the advantages the big bastard has tae, he has the height aswel but canny header for shite!

A was surprised tae see Whitakers goal was a header and a liked the look of Big Bartleys ariel potenial but apart fae that we have no threat wae our heading capabilities anymore at Ibrox which needs to change!

I cringe every time i see Lafferty jump up for a header cause 9/10 times he doesnt even fuckin header or win the ball and the prick jamp for it lol

[Skol 401]

Let me start by saying there are many problems with this current team. A few players are not up for the job, the higher ups make stupid decisions like spend 4 million on a single player, albeit a great one, and spend the rest of the season with 14 or 15 first team players if you discount the youth players and so on.

The blame lies firmly at the feet of Walter Smith and this stubborn ideal that every team we play have the god given right to be better than us because; "we have no money, we have a lot of games, we have a small squad" and so on. I for one am sick of his excuses. The REAL problem, is Walter's fear of change. A Phycologist said once;

" Fear of the unknown.

They are afraid of new ideas.

They are loaded with prejudices, not based upon anything in reality, but based on… if something is new, I reject it immediately because it’s frightening to me. What they do instead is just stay with the familiar.

You know, to me, the most beautiful things in all the universe, are the most mysterious. "

Anything outwith a run of the mill SPL game and our tactics become as predictable as they are boring.

Walter Smith in the champions league played 1 good game in a 5-4-1 so refused to change it out of FEAR of ruining it even against shitty teams like Bursaspor, who we should never ever be afraid of.

Walter Smith changed things up a bit against Motherwell and despite Bartley looking mighty impressive, he is AFRAID to give him a go against a very poor side and sticks in Foster.

We go a goal up and Walter Smith is too AFRAID to upset the momentum of the game that he refuses to make a single change despite several players either being awful or fucked and we paid for it. This is not limited to tonight, how often does it take Walter till the 88th minute to make a change?

Kyle Laffery. Everybody knows he can't perform against a team thats not going to give him 10 seconds on the ball. But Walter is too AFRAID to give a guy like Healy a chance.

This "back to the wall" approach when we go a goal up in a game is getting beyond a joke and it has to change.

We should not be the most boring team in europe to watch. We are The Rangers and its time for us to start having a go at teams again. Time for us to stop fearing any team just because we don't know about them and saying "they must be good if they are in europe". Time for us to bring back a 4-4-2 and get rid of the dead wood.

I really hope Ally McCoist isn't afraid to change the system because at the moment, we are horrible to watch and this is affecting the once deafening Ibrox atmosphere as well.

Putting words like fear and afraid in capitals doesn't make them true, and certainly doesn't give them any more gravitas.

We took 4 points off Bursaspor, your chosen example, playing 4-5-1.

People have this championship manager idea that 4-5-1 is defensive and 4-4-2 is attacking. Look around Europe at the formations and you'll see we have simply adapted to modern football styles.

Arsenal played 4-2-3-1 at home last night with van Persie up top.

Spurs played Crouch as the lone frontman against Milan in a 4-4-1-1 or 4-2-3-1 or 4-5-1 depending on how you see it. Milan had Ibrahimovic up front alone with Robinho supporting.

In the Manchester Derby, Rooney was the lone striker in a 4-5-1 and Tevez up front by himself in a 4-5-1 for City.

I could go on.

Perhaps Smith played Lafferty up front because he thought he was the best person to hold on to the ball and play in the supporting players - supposedly Weiss and Diouf - and because he felt that Healy was not best suited to playing that role. That's not fear, it's a tactical decision.

I agree that his substitutions are often too late in the game (or not at all) but if you're going to write a piece entirely critical of him, at least make it sensible.

[lewisrfc93 470]

sick of it. all fucking season we have feared the bigger teams we play and sit back, fucking ridiculous.

[WilfredJ 0]

What changes would he have made though.

Healy for lafferty possibly - healy wouldn't have done much better.

Bartley for edu, thats about it.

Naismith was just on the bench to make up numbers.

[harry handsome 629]

Look i kind of agree but i come from a back everything Rangers background even if it is shit.

Being pragmatic about the big picture rather than recent games is probably the way i see things.

Walter has steadied the ship to the point of it coming to a standstill and as much as i am unconvinced with Super Ally getting the job i believe he will try and go for the throats of teams when they are there for the taking.

[Dado'sMulls 2,691]

I really enjoyed watching the Arsenal - Barcelona game last night, attractive fitbaw, real skill on display, aw the rest of it.

Tonight was dreadful to watch.

Tonight made me realise how truly awful to watch we are. It's like fucking amateur fitbaw! Every game is a total cringe fest. How many times did Laffertys first touch end up out for a throw in? We're awful. Our midfield can't string 5 passes together. I could go on all night about what we lack but hey, as long as wee pump the bead rattlers who the fuck cares right?

[HIGHL4NDER 1]

didn't Germany play young players at the world cup.......what happened to them?....mccoist said he would have no fear of playing youngsters, we will wait and see.

[skyehigh 2]

You could have written the whole script for that dross tonight and things will never change till Smith has gone and god help the next team he goes to ........

[Sweeney 241]

Putting words like fear and afraid in capitals doesn't make them true, and certainly doesn't give them any more gravitas.

We took 4 points off Bursaspor, your chosen example, playing 4-5-1.

People have this championship manager idea that 4-5-1 is defensive and 4-4-2 is attacking. Look around Europe at the formations and you'll see we have simply adapted to modern football styles.

Arsenal played 4-2-3-1 at home last night with van Persie up top.

Spurs played Crouch as the lone frontman against Milan in a 4-4-1-1 or 4-2-3-1 or 4-5-1 depending on how you see it. Milan had Ibrahimovic up front alone with Robinho supporting.

In the Manchester Derby, Rooney was the lone striker in a 4-5-1 and Tevez up front by himself in a 4-5-1 for City.

I could go on.

Perhaps Smith played Lafferty up front because he thought he was the best person to hold on to the ball and play in the supporting players - supposedly Weiss and Diouf - and because he felt that Healy was not best suited to playing that role. That's not fear, it's a tactical decision.

I agree that his substitutions are often too late in the game (or not at all) but if you're going to write a piece entirely critical of him, at least make it sensible.

It works for those teams, thats the difference. Their midfields can keep a hold of the ball. Look at our possession in recent games? its been woeful. 29% against Celtic when they had 10 men for most of the game. Our lack of composure in the midfield usually results in a panic ball being played to the lone striker who can do nothing with it. We have played our best football this season when we have had 2 men upfront, and the point i'm making is that we shouldn't be afraid to play aggressively against teams like Bursaspor and Sporting Lisbon.

[Jelavic18 644]

The real problem is that we can't kill games off! We are shitbags - we had so many simple chances tonight to put this game beyond doubt. We, however, gave this under pressure side far too mcuh credit from what they displayed

[StevieWonder88 10]

What changes would he have made though.

Healy for lafferty possibly - healy wouldn't have done much better.

Bartley for edu, thats about it.

Naismith was just on the bench to make up numbers.

Aye Healy for The jokerty

Bartley for Weir, Boughie or Edu... the fresh legs would have put a spring in our step in the last 10mins

Naisey was just there to make up the numbers i agree. But look at the effort wee Flecky put in against Motherwell when he came on? Why no fire him on for Davis or even Foster or throw Wylde or young Kyle Hutton on just tae Defend it better wae fresher legs?

JOKE!!!

[markybear 136]

Meltdown

I agree no subs and sitting back has to change though, it's really been punishing us in the recent wks

[markybear 136]

Imagine a race car driver, every day he drives the same track in the same car, and he's an absolute expert at navigating it and almost always wins. However, one day he tries something different and goes to a different race track, or drives a different car...... and comes last.

Perhaps a bizarre metaphor, but that's kinda how I feel about Walter Smith. He's fantastic at applying the tried and tested formula, but as soon as something outwith that tried and tested comes about, well... it all goes tits up.

Walter is not a good manager at making in game tweaks and adjustments. He has always seemed reluctant, and over cautious. That's nothing new, but we're seeing this highlighted more and more as time goes on.

Not the worst analogy badger

[Skol 401]

It works for those teams, thats the difference. Their midfields can keep a hold of the ball. Look at our possession in recent games? its been woeful. 29% against Celtic when they had 10 men for most of the game. Our lack of composure in the midfield usually results in a panic ball being played to the lone striker who can do nothing with it. We have played our best football this season when we have had 2 men upfront, and the point i'm making is that we shouldn't be afraid to play aggressively against teams like Bursaspor and Sporting Lisbon.

Look I agree I'd like to see us play more aggressively at times but taking a man out of midfield, our weakest area, is not necessarily the answer. We're frequently over-run in midfield as it is.

4-5-1 can actually be more offensive. The numbers don't dictate how attacking we are, it's the style of play.

I mean today we had Lafferty, Weiss and Diouf on the park.

[chrisrfc1986 0]

Let me start by saying there are many problems with this current team. A few players are not up for the job, the higher ups make stupid decisions like spend 4 million on a single player, albeit a great one, and spend the rest of the season with 14 or 15 first team players if you discount the youth players and so on.

The blame lies firmly at the feet of Walter Smith and this stubborn ideal that every team we play have the god given right to be better than us because; "we have no money, we have a lot of games, we have a small squad" and so on. I for one am sick of his excuses. The REAL problem, is Walter's fear of change. A Phycologist said once;

" Fear of the unknown.

They are afraid of new ideas.

They are loaded with prejudices, not based upon anything in reality, but based on… if something is new, I reject it immediately because it’s frightening to me. What they do instead is just stay with the familiar.

You know, to me, the most beautiful things in all the universe, are the most mysterious. "

Anything outwith a run of the mill SPL game and our tactics become as predictable as they are boring.

Walter Smith in the champions league played 1 good game in a 5-4-1 so refused to change it out of FEAR of ruining it even against shitty teams like Bursaspor, who we should never ever be afraid of.

Walter Smith changed things up a bit against Motherwell and despite Bartley looking mighty impressive, he is AFRAID to give him a go against a very poor side and sticks in Foster.

We go a goal up and Walter Smith is too AFRAID to upset the momentum of the game that he refuses to make a single change despite several players either being awful or fucked and we paid for it. This is not limited to tonight, how often does it take Walter till the 88th minute to make a change?

Kyle Laffery. Everybody knows he can't perform against a team thats not going to give him 10 seconds on the ball. But Walter is too AFRAID to give a guy like Healy a chance.

This "back to the wall" approach when we go a goal up in a game is getting beyond a joke and it has to change.

We should not be the most boring team in europe to watch. We are The Rangers and its time for us to start having a go at teams again. Time for us to stop fearing any team just because we don't know about them and saying "they must be good if they are in europe". Time for us to bring back a 4-4-2 and get rid of the dead wood.

I really hope Ally McCoist isn't afraid to change the system because at the moment, we are horrible to watch and this is affecting the once deafening Ibrox atmosphere as well.

I couldn't agree more mate, I'm fuckin sick of listening to myself saying the same thing.

We are givin shite teams the chance to shine with this negative approach. Why have so many good attacking players just to have them sittin on the half way line and have that fukin donkey run about like a headless chicken chasing around crap ling balls.

Davie weir a solid football mind, however his legs can no longer cope, I feel this 4-5-1 is a way of protecting him.

Fukin pig sick and Sunday will just go the exact same way... Hate to say this but part of me is looking forward to a change in management come next year... Hope I am not eating my words a year from now.

[BILL.I.AM 18]

Can't believe no-one see that Lafferys barnet clearly got in his eyes n that's sthe only reason he didn't score. It also got in Walters eyes n thats why he couldn't make any subs