Our problem has reversed since the season start

[ronniescu 2,988]

1 hour ago, Inigo said:

On Hodson though, he deserves great credit. To be on the sidelines so often and be so dependable whenever called upon is admirable stuff. He's very reliable on the evidence so far. 

Was he not MOTM against Germany last week?

[plumbGER 24,518]

Just now, ronniescu said:

Was he not MOTM against Germany last week?

My boy said that was mentioned pre-match yesterday.

I like what i have seen of him, he has a bit of fight and desire sadly lacking elsewhere in the team.

[sammy cox 664]

We are obviously not scoring enough goals or for that matter creating enough decent chances.The McKay/Miller/one other formation is not working as everyone can see.Both Miller and McKay need dropped and other players given a good run of games to show what they can do.Not 20 or 30 minutes but 5 or 6 games as our front line is poor to say the least.How Mckay especially turns out every week is baffling especially when we have cover for his position.the fact that we finished the game yesterday with a totally different front three from what we started with says it all.

[writingranger 1,427]

4 hours ago, Inigo said:

Yup. The back is solidifying whilst the front is running out of ideas. 

It's simply that lack of quality in forward going areas that's been mentioned elsewhere. That wee sprinkle of quality is far more important in attacking areas.

it was always the front that was the problem, particularly when you see how many goals the fullbacks scored last season. Goals against were often because we list the ball whole they had bombed forward. Now they don't get forward and we don't get their goals.we lack imagination in the final third. That's always been it. Perhaps the single most tellin moment for me was that free kick where Barton snatched the ball off tav and made a pig's ear of it.the team has to gel going forward as a unit and that means some of the newer players getting their chance.

[chipster 6]

Not one rangers player in the top ten scores in the league this season after nine games. I can't remember that happening ever and i've had a season ticket for 25 years. The defence has improved in recent weeks which is good. The next five league games are massive must win games. Before we play hearts twice & Aberdeen in a ten day spell. 

[RFCRobertson 11,792]

6 hours ago, Inigo said:

Yup. The back is solidifying whilst the front is running out of ideas. 

It's simply that lack of quality in forward going areas that's been mentioned elsewhere. That wee sprinkle of quality is far more important in attacking areas.

There is a massive difference between the way Celtic attacked and the way we attacked.

Celtic had at least 3 players in the box while a cross comes in, and another 2 running into the box

Meanwhile, if when we do a cross we have about 2 players just running into the box. 

 

Another thing was we didn't pressure Celtic at all either.

 

Defence was brilliant, Kiernan, Hodson, Tavernier, Gilks and Hills all did a great job defensively. Yet people would slate them for conceding before bashing Holt, Halliday, Garner or so on for not doing their job. 

[K.A.I 36,183]

1 hour ago, RFCRobertson said:

There is a massive difference between the way Celtic attacked and the way we attacked.

Celtic had at least 3 players in the box while a cross comes in, and another 2 running into the box

Meanwhile, if when we do a cross we have about 2 players just running into the box. 

 

Another thing was we didn't pressure Celtic at all either.

 

Defence was brilliant, Kiernan, Hodson, Tavernier, Gilks and Hills all did a great job defensively. Yet people would slate them for conceding before bashing Holt, Halliday, Garner or so on for not doing their job. 

Not true at all - all the comments I've seen have said we defended well but created fuck all 

Holt and Halliday are utter pish IMO 

Hill finally came good on Sunday and used his experience 

[RFCRobertson 11,792]

9 minutes ago, K.A.I said:

Not true at all - all the comments I've seen have said we defended well but created fuck all 

Holt and Halliday are utter pish IMO 

Hill finally came good on Sunday and used his experience 

I wasn't slating the defence, if anything it shows their strength that they were able to withstand such pressure. 

I'd agree with that, Windass wasn't up to much. The defence was the highlight off the game. 
Hill has started 9 games and of 6 of those are clean sheets. He definitely organises the defence, wilson and kiernan always look decent next to him. 

[bluenose48 954]

When we were in the Championship last season the tactics were, as long as we score more than the opposition, its three points.

The attacking players we had then were successful, against weaker opposition, Waghorn, MacKay even Miller are struggling at this level.

We are not scoring more than the opposition, in fact we are struggling to score at all, Garner spends more time throwing himself either at defenders or on the ground rather than running channels like Miller.

He is a failure IMO,

Wags and McKay have been sussed by clearly a better class of defender, stepping inside onto your preferred foot is too easily countered. Plus McKay has no balls, too scared of getting his hair messed up. 

As others have said, why MOH was not used as a sub for Miller is beyond me.

 

[TMB 14,167]

When Celtic's wide players get the ball they look to break quickly in to the box and make something happen.  McKay passes it straight back in to midfield which gives the opposition defence time to get back and reorganise.  I want to see us become more direct in the final 3rd of the pitch and we absolutely need to get one or two wingers in who can create things. 

[Thewhitesettler 2,712]

What has happened to the team that beat Dundee, and Them last season. We played both teams off the park.

After both of those games I lost my voice, for the right reason though, as I was cheering on my team so loud, and so proud, after those two games.

I also lost my voice after that cup final,  but for different reasons. I'd quite happily lose my voice after every game if it helps us win. COME ON THE GERS! WATP!!!

[plumbGER 24,518]

3 minutes ago, OhW said:

Hodson, not Hodgson.

 

Whoooosh!!

C'mon mate, a smart guy like yourself should know i was meaning Roy Hodgson replacing Warburton, in a light-hearted dig at cushys spelling mistake.

If you dig around the forum you will find someone calling him Hobson, pull him up for it.

[plumbGER 24,518]

8 minutes ago, OhW said:

Silly me.  So full of rage I couldn't see the joke. Hobson you say?! I'm on it. 

My guess is that there will no doubt be a Hodgkin in there aswell

[eejay the dj 31,964]

15 hours ago, K.A.I said:

What I still can't understand about yesterday was, ok we were playing a deep sitting counter-attacking game against them which in some ways has it's merits but with about 20 minutes to go and when he made his changes, why not O'Halloran and play him on the flanks or even better through the middle?

I'm not an O'Halloran fan by any means - but that was set up perfectly for him and the way we were playing on the counter-attack.

Those fresh legs through the middle like that for last 20 minutes could have got us something but Warburton sees things so differently from the rest of us at times and I think it will end up costing him.

His decision making on the subs on Sunday were appalling . Armstrong on ,changed it for them .

He stood by ,like Ally would have done and made 3 subs in 5 mins . Still can't get my head around it .

He won't cut it for me and in the fullness of time ,my thoughts will be validated .Would love to be wrong but I won't be .

Sad thing is .We will probably have to go through another 18months and many big game  beatings to get there

[sassaaaa 11,406]

Amazing the amount of folk that think thats the defence sorted because they have had a couple of games with hardly any fuck ups.

That whole back line is a game away from fuck ups , none of them are good enough and never will be.

[Cobham 1,569]

Read through this thread and I have no idea the way forward in terms of formation. Normally I would have an idea of how I would like to see the team play or at least recognise what the manager is trying to acheive even if it isn't quite working but I'm kinda a wee bit lost and I think Warburton is too.

There are a few things I don't get....

• Playing Tav further forward: This decision honestly embarrassed me. Warburton always bleats on about doing what we do best and it's all about us but this decision made it quite clear it was all about stopping Tierney and Sinclair. And if that wasn't the case then it's even more embarrassing that we play a right back at right wing when we have Waghorn, Forrester, MOH and Dodoo all more suited to playing that position, what message does it send to them? I have no problem with Hodson starting but it should have been Hodson in, Tav out if this was the case.
• Garner: Garner is the most baffling signing we have made and I'm not having a go at Garner here. What we have seen from him so far (and it's not much) is that he will contest every ball, put his head in where it hurts and be a general nuisance. He might be the best finisher in world football but he's not going to do it if we don't supply him with chances. Playing wingers on the wrong wing that always cut inside is never going to suit Garner as he isn't a link up player and isn't going to run in behind, we need to get the wingers wide and get crosses or square balls into the box to give Garner a sporting chance. As soon as Miller went off we were never going to the win the game on Sunday as Garner becomes like a man short due to us not playing to his strengths. I'd love to see what he could do if we got some proper service to him.
• MOH: Best player to play for Rangers he is not but what the fuck does he need to do to get a fair chance? Celtic played a high line on Sunday and it would have been perfect for him to play either wide right and get in behind the full back and supply crosses to Garner ideally or play through the middle and try get in behind them with space to run into. He caused Celtic problems every time he played against them for St Johnstone. I don't understand why Warburton would sign him and not give him any sort of chance to make an impact.
• Ball retention: Last season we were brilliant at keeping the ball even in tight spaces, every time we got posession on Sunday we gave it away within seconds. We don't seem to be as brave on the ball as we were last season and yes we have moved up a league but we did it against Celtic and Dundee last season also.
• High pressing: We don't do this anymore. Why?

Don't get me wrong while I'm pissed off and confused there were a few positives. Hodson had a decent game against a very good winger. The CHs looked better, I actually quite like Clint Hill. Gilks was brilliant as long as the ball wasn't at his feet.

Like I say, I have no idea the way forward but if Warburton wants to succeed at Rangers he needs to find a solution and soon.

 

 

[jintybear 8,660]

16 hours ago, Torontoblue76 said:

Obivous to all maybe, but yesterday we were weaker at the front than the back. I'd like to see the same team start against St. J, except with either MOH or Forrester in for McKay, and depending on fitness, Rossiter in for Halliday. Every time he pulls on the jersey I am less and less impressed with Garner, and Waghorn's confidence seems to go down with every game.

Why for Halliday? IMO he's easily one of our best players. Do you mean move him to more a central midfielder or take him off completely? The rest I agree with.

[MasterD 7,446]

3 hours ago, eejay the dj said:

His decision making on the subs on Sunday were appalling . Armstrong on ,changed it for them .

He stood by ,like Ally would have done and made 3 subs in 5 mins . Still can't get my head around it .

He won't cut it for me and in the fullness of time ,my thoughts will be validated .Would love to be wrong but I won't be .

Sad thing is .We will probably have to go through another 18months and many big game  beatings to get there

His subs again proved he doesn't make subs in regards to how the game is going on the pitch. Pre-planned with no focus on changing the game.

[MasterD 7,446]

2 hours ago, sassaaaa said:

Amazing the amount of folk that think thats the defence sorted because they have had a couple of games with hardly any fuck ups.

That whole back line is a game away from fuck ups , none of them are good enough and never will be.

I think the only reason the defence looked better is because we were set-up to defend in numbers. Even at that they had enough good chances to score 4/5 goals.

In more open games where it's not back to the walls defending it will be back to seeing them cut open with a ball over the top or behind the RB/LB.

[The No.9 760]

To get more out of the attack I believe we really need to go 4-2-3-1 or with two strikers up front we don't have enough quality put wide or through the middle currently for the set up we keep using (plus all opposition teams are setting up the same way and being successful against us)

[Torontoblue76 120]

5 hours ago, jintybear said:

Why for Halliday? IMO he's easily one of our best players. Do you mean move him to more a central midfielder or take him off completely? The rest I agree with.

Sorry good point I should have been clearer. So the midfield looks like this:

Rossiter

Holt      Halliday

Cheers

[AGM_72 3,729]

I think the defense has improved somewhat, although not on the basis of Sunday's showing where we were sitting on our own 18 yard box and still offered up numerous chances in behind. We've improved in the sense that we have kept some clean sheets when Wilson returned to the defense but we're still fragile in that area.

I think there has always been a need for someone to play in front of the defense who is more of an enforcer than any of our current players. It was evident last season but we got away with it in the tougher games we played Halliday and Ball in there. Although the need for an enforcer is not the route of all our problems it will certainly help.

I think we're suffering from a lack of cohesion but that comes from constant injuries and loss of form, our team selection isn't even close to being consistent, we're constantly chopping and changing. Last season the midfield three of Zelalem, Halliday and Holt were consistently playing until around January and Dom Ball started to make more appearance's when Zelalem was injured. We can argue about the effectiveness of that midfield in some games last season but the players were settled. This season has been so stop start, with so many changes it's hard to put together a run of form under these conditions.

[NixonRFC 1,456]

I'm bewildered when I see folk go on about beinv better at the back, how many saves did Gilks have to make? How many 1 on 1s did the tims get? Just because we haven't been punished doesn't mean the defence played well or it's playing better, it hasn't.