So what did that friendly tell you?

[Reformation Bear 6,453]

As MW admitted - goals changes a game.    The defence looks capable of continuing to give them away cheaply (carrying on from the latter part of last season) and we don't take enough of the goal scoring chances we create.  We've not got a goal-scoring No9 - MW doesn't talk about the No9 position - and as such the usefulness of having a goal scoring predator striker does not seem to hold the same value to him as having a forward line of interchangeable 7s,8s,10s and 11s.

Goals change games - we look like we could be picked off relatively easily by teams that rely on counter-attack.   Defence acquisitions to counter this threat are not yet convincing. Giving away goals by not defending well does not create the ideal platform to win the league.   Despite the evidence of the latter part of last season the problem does not currently look like it is being fixed.  

Goals change games - creating chances but not taking enough of them does not point convincingly to a league winning capability.    Game after game after game throughout last season and already this season reference is made to the amount of possession, the chances created, the match analysis, the need to be more ruthless in front of goal.    But we still do not have an out and out goal scorer.  And we still don't take enough of the chances created.

Goals changes games but so do tactics.    We risk becoming so predictable.   Possession is only really of value if translated into goals which win games.   Otherwise its just possession for the sake it.    We risk being picked off game after game by counter-attack then facing 11 behind the ball and with not enough guile, pace, power, goal scoring threat to overcome and win.    We'll see soon enough if a single-minded unchanging determination to stick with the same tactics game after game are delivering the right results - the only right results being winning the games.

Goals changes games - to score and to prevent scoring.   But it may take some serious money to get better quality CB and RB and a goal scoring No9 striker are needed imo.       

Question is - has MW been given enough of a transfer budget by King and the Board to get his first (realistic) choice striker and defender(s)?  I know we constantly hear McP has worked hard to get players in - and a good job he has done so far.   But.....and it is a big but.....we don't know how limited a budget he and MW have to work with.  We don't know if Rangers could actually go and afford to get a goal scorer and CB/RB who would make a decisive difference.  We don't know the extent to which we are having to lower our sights on possible players because King and the Board will not (or are not able to) be more ambitious in funding.  

If over-cautious financials are constraining the opportunity to get step-change better players on the basis of seeing what can be done this season and only being prepared to open up more on spending next season, then in effect this season is a bet on whether MW can pull a league winning team out of the magic hat on the (relative) cheap and avoiding focus on King's seemingly mythical £30m.   A lot has been said by King, Smith McCoist and others about the value of players that departed from Ibrox and about and about the amount of funding that might be needed to get that level of league winning quality again.    It seems plain enough that so far mostly good players have  been acquired - but is King willing to shell out for first choice players that would now make the difference and not just betting on MW's magic with 55 being won without spending big? 

[BlueSuedeSambas 53,914]

Pre season results don't really matter all that much but Burnley are a good outfit. I'm pretty sure they went undefeated for about 25 consecutive games last season, which is really impressive in a league as competitive as the championship is.

The worrying thing is how bad we still are defensively and how easily teams can cut is open. It's been an issues for months now and Warburton needs to address it soon because it's a major issue.

[Gary Wilmot's Wedding Brek 299]

1 hour ago, sandyinroyalblue said:

Think it's fair to say I touched a nerve.

I'll take that as a tacit admission on your part that you accept I'm a Rangers fan and that you struggle generally in daily life. 

[sandyinroyalblue 16,478]

4 minutes ago, Gary Wilmot's Wedding Brek said:

I'll take that as a tacit admission on your part that you accept I'm a Rangers fan and that you struggle generally in daily life. 

I stand by my original point about your negativity towards the club you claim to support.

[Gary Wilmot's Wedding Brek 299]

23 minutes ago, sandyinroyalblue said:

I stand by my original point about your negativity towards the club you claim to support.

If you'd read all my posts on here and FF you'd probably realise I don't swing too far negative or too far positive. I am very, very happy with Warburton, I think he's performed miracles with pittance. My only concerns are that he has repeatedly provided direct and indirect evidence for him being a bit naive as a manager. He has an almost insane adherence to playing football from back to front. I'm a fan of football, it's been wonderful to watch, but it remains to be seen if it'll be a success this season. Smith had us playing grim football, but he kept us competitive in the league so I forgave all his sins. We've yet to know what Warburton will bring us, but I don't think any of us can predict confidently how this season will go either way.

I can predict that if we have no chance of winning the league by Christmas Warburton will be gone, and rightly so. The season will be a failure. 

[The Godfather 72,053]

Nothing we didn't already know

Kiernan is a complete donkey and we need defenders

[Bears r us 30,823]

1 hour ago, DBBTB said:

Pre season results don't really matter all that much but Burnley are a good outfit. I'm pretty sure they went undefeated for about 25 consecutive games last season, which is really impressive in a league as competitive as the championship is.

The worrying thing is how bad we still are defensively and how easily teams can cut is open. It's been an issues for months now and Warburton needs to address it soon because it's a major issue.

It is concerning that we cannot find a CH better than we have. Maybe we will get someone in soon  but not holding my breath. 

[Dutchy 1,200]

I didn't see the game, just the goals, but I did see both our games at Ibrox in the LC, plus the last hour of the 'Well game - not the first 30mins - and nothing seems to have changed in the slightest. We still attempt to walk the ball into the net and that may well work against Stenny, The Sons, and the other lower league teams, but it's not going to cut the mustard in the top division.

I'm not criticising MW other than he really needs to have some other approach such as a plan B.

I personally think we should knock the ball into the box more often and have less of these short corners. Let the opposition deal with panic in their box as even if the keeper saves it, there's always a good chance of scoring from the rebound. More than the success we're having trying to walk the ball in.

Instead, the opposition breaks and all the panic is in our box.

We need to change that and having shots and crosses into their box can't be any worse than 2 or three players standing in you way blocking your shot, or pass.

[ForeverAndEver 71,650]

1 hour ago, The Godfather said:

Nothing we didn't already know

Kiernan is a complete donkey and we need defenders

But, but, but he's a good passer of a ball.

[.Williamson. 82,619]

Hill and Kiernan give me the fear. 

[K.A.I 36,183]

The more I think about it the more this annoys me thinking back on the 3 goals we lost. I know the first one was never a penalty but the fact the Burnley striker got in that position and then being so clumsy too.

We have known for ages this is the one problem area that's needing addressed and we've not done it and are a week away from the start of the season. I thought Hill looked OK in the league cup games but sometimes we would do well to remind ourselves of the caliber of the opponents.

I have a bad feeling that Warburton has left the defensive side of things to Weir and taking a hands off approach there which doesn't seem to be working if that is the case.

The thing is, I don't even think Burnley were/are that good. I've seen people say on here they're a class outfit - not from what I seen.

[Turnberry18 3,204]

It told me that I have to be a bit more patient for longer than I thought I'd be. We are limited, this match said by how much. The club is on the up, the team on the park is on the up, but it's going to take time. We have the nucleus of something that will be good given time. Barton and McKay were among the two best players on the park. McKay was our best player, and if we can take hope that we are going forward, then we only have to look at the dramatic development in McKay's progress as indicative that the team we are developing will, given time, become a good side.

[Bluerod 358]

My only complaint on the summer signings is why we didn't get a strong no nonsense Centre Half who would clear the danger and control the penalty box 

[Smile 26,610]

3 minutes ago, Bluerod said:

My only complaint on the summer signings is why we didn't get a strong no nonsense Centre Half who would clear the danger and control the penalty box 

I think Warburtons tried but for whatever reason we don't seem to be getting them in. He can see that defence is poor.

[Supersonic 4,654]

16 minutes ago, Smile said:

I think Warburtons tried but for whatever reason we don't seem to be getting them in. He can see that defence is poor.

Exactly how I feel - Warbs has been trying for his first choices and just can't get the people in he'd like to sadly!

Thankfully he definitely knows it's poor, otherwise he wouldn't even be thinking about bringing in anyone else.
It's just a shame he's only mentioning getting 1 more defender...
Feel like we really require 2 of a decent to high quality defenders far more than we need another striking option

Although he always talks about learning from losses after them by watching footage and working out what went wrong - time and time again the same mistakes seem to happen - I have to wonder, even if for just a moment, that things need changed in training defence wise. Fuck knows!

[allgers 735]

I was worried after the Burnley game, seen mention that this was very early in their preseason, not a bit of it, they don't have a FA making them play meaningless games, they are allowed to plan their preseason.

15 July: Stade Nyonnais 1-3 Burnley (Stade de Colovray, Nyon, Switzerland). Goals: Gray, Barnes, Keane

19 July: Morecambe 1-1 Burnley (Globe Arena). Goal: Gray

23 July: Bradford City 1-4 Burnley (Coral Windows Stadium). Goals: Gray 2, Mee, Kightly

26 July: Bolton 1-2 Burnley (Macron Stadium). Goals: Gray, Ginnelly

30 July: Rangers 1-3 Burnley (Ibrox, Glasgow, Scotland). Goals: Gray 3

That Gray looks a good yin.

 

[ronniescu 2,985]

On Saturday, July 30, 2016 at 6:48 PM, KeyserSoze said:

Why won't Tav pass to MOH? does he go in a huff when his pal Waggy is subbed?

seen this loads btw

Tav was very poor. Even more worryingly, his body language throughout the game suggested he didn't care.

[Smile 26,610]

4 minutes ago, ronniescu said:

Tav was very poor. Even more worryingly, his body language throughout the game suggested he didn't care.

I think he was a bit pissed off that Barton was shouting at him.

[Smile 26,610]

10 minutes ago, allgers said:

I was worried after the Burnley game, seen mention that this was very early in their preseason, not a bit of it, they don't have a FA making them play meaningless games, they are allowed to plan their preseason.

15 July: Stade Nyonnais 1-3 Burnley (Stade de Colovray, Nyon, Switzerland). Goals: Gray, Barnes, Keane

19 July: Morecambe 1-1 Burnley (Globe Arena). Goal: Gray

23 July: Bradford City 1-4 Burnley (Coral Windows Stadium). Goals: Gray 2, Mee, Kightly

26 July: Bolton 1-2 Burnley (Macron Stadium). Goals: Gray, Ginnelly

30 July: Rangers 1-3 Burnley (Ibrox, Glasgow, Scotland). Goals: Gray 3

That Gray looks a good yin.

 

1

I thought he was Black.

[Teamgers 1,214]

I just cannot understand the Hill signing, he is a fucking bombscare, as is Keirnan, here's hoping we get a quality CB in before the Hamilton game..

[centenarystand 2,227]

How we could do with a Marvin Andrews type player, big Marvin never  cost the earth.

[ronniescu 2,985]

Why do we persistently hit long high crossfield balls to our wide men? Even if they manage to leap up & keep it in play, the ball's dead & it then goes inside or back. Why aren't our fast wide men running the channels, with our midfield trying to find the with passes on the deck? Yesterday, even our forward passes were high looping balls that took ages to come down & were pish easy to defend.

[ronniescu 2,985]

21 minutes ago, Smile said:

I think he was a bit pissed off that Barton was shouting at him.

I'm glad somebody was doing a bit of shouting.

[K.A.I 36,183]

8 minutes ago, centenarystand said:

How we could do with a Marvin Andrews type player, big Marvin never  cost the earth.

He was OK but still cost us some silly goals. There's got to be a Cuellar or Bougherra type out there even if it costs us 2-3 million. I don't admit to watching a lot of football apart from Rangers and Chelsea games but what I do see there's guys in leagues in countries like Russia, Ukraine, Poland etc that can tackle and mark.

[STEPPS BOY 74,190]

1 hour ago, K.A.I said:

The more I think about it the more this annoys me thinking back on the 3 goals we lost. I know the first one was never a penalty but the fact the Burnley striker got in that position and then being so clumsy too.

We have known for ages this is the one problem area that's needing addressed and we've not done it and are a week away from the start of the season. I thought Hill looked OK in the league cup games but sometimes we would do well to remind ourselves of the caliber of the opponents.

I have a bad feeling that Warburton has left the defensive side of things to Weir and taking a hands off approach there which doesn't seem to be working if that is the case.

The thing is, I don't even think Burnley were/are that good. I've seen people say on here they're a class outfit - not from what I seen.

Gray was class..

 

They're relegation material though..