Goldson and Katic

[Reformation Bear 6,453]

A lot of games in Europe mixed in with a busy domestic league and cup programme in the first half of the season with a built-from-scratch squad where there was - and I think still is - a big element of still trying to find out what the best starting 11 is.   Add to that the enforced changes caused through red cards and some injuries.  Add to that the concept of rotating players to give them a rest as well as to experiment to find out if players coming in can deliver what is required.   

One outcome of that volume of games and churn in players that is either enforced (suspensions / injuries / lack of match fitness) or unenforced (player and tactical experiment) seems to me to be producing in recent games the risk of inconsistency of performance and result that we saw at Dundee.    There were 6 changes for that match and it didn't work.  Players who did not follow the game plan and who made too many bad decisions.    

The squad is nowhere near settled enough in terms of knowing exactly how each player will fit in and perform if selected to play.  Its as though the volume of changes for games mean the team selected for each game is not really sure of how each player will operate and form dips as a result.    

For the second half of the season I hope SG can get back to deciding his best 11 and sticking to that starting line up as far as is humanly possible / sensible.   And with that the knowledge for the rest that if a first team player must drop out due to injury or poor form then whoever steps in must - absolutely must - deliver top performances to stay in the side.   Chopping and changing a handful of players for every game weakens team cohesion and confidence imo.   It'd be less of a risk when the squad really does have time under its belt to know how replacement players will slot in and the team absorbs this and carries on in good form.  But while the squad is still new the amount of chopping and changing every week can't possibly be a good foundation for finding winning consistency.   

2nd half of the season needs to see us fielding SGs best 11 every week (and action taken to cut out the red cards so that the team suffers fewer changes from week to week).

[Boybluesy 3,776]

5 hours ago, Smile said:

Worrall is utter garbage.

He's not that good.

[Bears r us 30,901]

2 hours ago, Courtyard Bear said:

Just can’t get my head around the Katic mystery, he looked like we had won a watch and would be making a huge amount of money on him when he left for bigger and better in a couple of years time. 

Now it looks like he will slip into the unknown and get a free move. If it’s a case of a young lad going off the rails as he’s in a new country getting paid good money and got nothing better to do at night but head out for a few too many beers, the the management have to take the blame and get him back on track. 

Have you heard any rumours to suggest he has been not behaving ?? He seemed to be playing well and then put Worrell in out of the blue stating too many games for players to play in or something like that. 

2 hours ago, Bobby Hume said:

👍

Bloody good question Bud ..... I wish I had a decent answer but I don't ... other than when they show form we expect it to be consistent and want them to maintain that standard. 

I remember SG saying he picked the teams to suit the opponents we were playing ... now that seems like a solid idea .... but for some reason the chopping and changing has obviously not been working out as planned .... league wise for sure anyway.

I think he is realising that more than a few of his choices are not up to playing for Rangers never mind playing every game .... we will probably never know the reason behind the Katic no shows and as usual be left to guess what is or isn't happening behind the scenes.

I understand that some players will cope better with playing more games than others, but the changing of especially the two CDs seems stupid and I do believe Stevie has made mistakes with that. If he learns from it then splendid we can move on and start developing a partnership to build the team on.

I really hope Katic is not working shite and he has just slipped down because he seemed to lose his confidence when he played after being out, fingers crossed. 

1 hour ago, Courtyard Bear said:

Only answer can be Stevie has players he feels he must have on the pitch no matter what. 

McGregor Goldson Tav Arfield Mo seem to be his go to 5 everyone else can be switched around. Which is fine every manager has them, but don’t try to kid us on it’s because they are too tired. 

It will be interesting who plays on Thursday night, but I think the five you have mentioned are probably who he does trust the most. The problem is when you have some of them injured or suspended, how many can he trust now ???

[Boybluesy 3,776]

He needs to play a settled team. Arfield and Mo being suspended and injuries to Kent etc are imposed but the rest don't make sense. Worrall is poor as is our goal ratio from midfield. We need a good window. 

[Courtyard Bear 41,357]

1 hour ago, Bears r us said:

Have you heard any rumours to suggest he has been not behaving ?? He seemed to be playing well and then put Worrell in out of the blue stating too many games for players to play in or something like that. 

Just the usual rumour mill mate, which is usually a load of shit. 

It did seem to coincide with the other 2 lads from the Balkans getting signed, again no idea if that has anything to do with it either. 

[Bears r us 30,901]

37 minutes ago, Courtyard Bear said:

Just the usual rumour mill mate, which is usually a load of shit. 

It did seem to coincide with the other 2 lads from the Balkans getting signed, again no idea if that has anything to do with it either. 

Cheers mate, we will see when he plays next.  

[WATPWATP 160]

Gerrard broke something that didn't need fixing in the defence area,we were doing just fine.

he needs to sit doon,and go thru each position one by one and pick best player for that position and leave it the fuck alone! get the loan signings to fuck,apart from Kent. the rest are pish and clearly look like don't give 2 fucks if we win or not.

11 best players should be on the pitch,only replaced wen winning 2 or 3 nil or forced by injuries or suspensions.

you only get players learning to form partnerships with others around them by playing them with each other week in week out.

[gsa 3,906]

9 hours ago, MacBoyd said:

With the quality of tav and I assumed(and still hope) from barasic it looked a great defense.

What quality is that then? He's got plenty of energy but no real quality. His defending is weak and as an attacker, he can't even drop a corner into a dangerous area. Overrated spice boy gimp.

[Bobby Hume 13,238]

3 minutes ago, gsa said:

What quality is that then? He's got plenty of energy but no real quality. His defending is weak and as an attacker, he can't even drop a corner into a dangerous area. Overrated spice boy gimp.

👎

9 goals and 13 assists for a full back is not a shabby statistic mate ..... regardless of your personal insulting opinion of our captain .... did you ever play the game yourself?

[NeoGeo7 10,611]

They were horrific against Spartak so I think our best pairing is actually McAuley and Goldosn (Goldson was so assured earlier in the season so I have no doubt he has ability and its just a rocky patch).

[Malkytfp1 18,677]

Goldson has escaped a lot of deserved criticism for me...mainly because we have got away with a lot of his mistakes. He was at fault for Dundee's goal Sunday and his og against Spartak was a riddy. However he constantly fucks about with the ball and takes risks and is easily beaten when players run at him. For me he's not an automatic pick.

[Grundy 735]

Don't particularly like criticising Gerrard as I think we have improved overall but Katic and Goldson looked to be forming a solid partnership earlier in the season, I don't know why it was changed. Worrall for me is not an improvement, in fact he gives me the fear when in possession and I hope Forest can recall him. We've still got McAuley as back-up.

[Malkytfp1 18,677]

19 minutes ago, gsa said:

He's not a real Rangers captain. He looks like he's going to have a nervous breakdown every time we have to defend a corner. 

"Personal insulting opinion of our captain".

Oh, you're one of those guys that thinks him wearing a blue shirt and an armband means I can't or shouldn't, say whatever I want I about him. He's a spice boy cunt who stinks of failure and weakness and the sooner he and his self righteous dick of a pal "Wes" fuck off, the better. 

Warburtons wet blankets. 

I agree he is not captain material by a long shot but everything else is pish. Good luck trying to find an attacking full back who will have his statistics on a budget. A defender with the most assists in the league and 4th top scorer. Without that "spice boy" we lose one of our most attacking threats. Of course you are entitled to your opinion no matter how wrong it is.

[WATPWATP 160]

7 minutes ago, Malkytfp1 said:

I agree he is not captain material by a long shot but everything else is pish. Good luck trying to find an attacking full back who will have his statistics on a budget. A defender with the most assists in the league and 4th top scorer. Without that "spice boy" we lose one of our most attacking threats. Of course you are entitled to your opinion no matter how wrong it is.

you were doing alright there til your last sentence.

[Malkytfp1 18,677]

2 hours ago, WATPWATP said:

you were doing alright there til your last sentence.

Glad you took time to write that reply on a forum. Enjoy yourself.

[Hutton2008 646]

Can’t keep chopping and changing. Plus Worral is another clubs player. We shouldn’t be suffering to develop - let’s face it - a smaller clubs player.

the stats couple with Greggsy’s season is a damning indictment of how bad we have been at the back.

[GA1972 9,786]

Start of the season, we looked rock solid at the back and many were saying we looked the best side in the country with good reason

We dropped Katic for this Nottingham diddy and we’ve looked shaky at the back since.

Goldson from the minute Worrall was put next to him looked the polar opposite player to the confident, solid defender that was next to Katic and it looked clear he has no confidence in Worrall as a defensive partner.

Katic gets 1 chance against Hamilton and gets binned for a bad game yet Worrall gets kept on during that dismal showing on Sunday and every other dismal showing he’s had. Even the other game Katic played against Spartak he was the best of a bad bunch at the back

Our inability to break teams down recently stems from Worrall, Katic wants to bring the ball out from the back and get high up the pitch and while he’s not Beckenbauer he acts fast and is confident on the ball. With Worrall he’s so slow and pedestrian on the ball it’s untrue and most of the time will just fuck about, letting the other team take their shape before an inevitable sideways pass to Goldson or my personal favourite of playing the full back into a corner 

Also Katic scores goals from corners 

Lets get Katic back in, let him shake off the rust and start defending/playing the way we were at the start of this season.

Typical Rangers finding a player that looks promising and absolutely ruining him, by playing Worrall we are doing that to both Katic and Goldson

[STRUTH82 816]

Going forward its Katic and Goldson for me,  McAuley should be the main cover. Worral has been ok but i would send him back in january to free up the wage for elswhere on the pitch.

[BlueMe 25,327]

10 hours ago, gsa said:

What quality is that then? He's got plenty of energy but no real quality. His defending is weak and as an attacker, he can't even drop a corner into a dangerous area. Overrated spice boy gimp.

Coming from the guy who takes steroids.

[stewaj3 1,446]

22 hours ago, Rfc52 said:

Seen stats on FF this morning and it's pretty damming tbh. What I will say is though when he's been back in the team katic has been poor

This. Gerrard has to rightly take flak for dropping katic in the first place as it's clearly shattered his confidence. 

Goldson now also looks like he's lost his. It's the biggest mistake Gerrard has made for me, separating those 2. 

[gsa 3,906]

2 hours ago, BlueMe said:

Coming from the guy who takes steroids.

Nope. That weird KAI alleged that on the basis I said I liked rugby.

[WATPWATP 160]

9 hours ago, Malkytfp1 said:

Glad you took time to write that reply on a forum. Enjoy yourself.

ta, you too 

[WATPWATP 160]

6 hours ago, GA1972 said:

Start of the season, we looked rock solid at the back and many were saying we looked the best side in the country with good reason

We dropped Katic for this Nottingham diddy and we’ve looked shaky at the back since.

Goldson from the minute Worrall was put next to him looked the polar opposite player to the confident, solid defender that was next to Katic and it looked clear he has no confidence in Worrall as a defensive partner.

Katic gets 1 chance against Hamilton and gets binned for a bad game yet Worrall gets kept on during that dismal showing on Sunday and every other dismal showing he’s had. Even the other game Katic played against Spartak he was the best of a bad bunch at the back

Our inability to break teams down recently stems from Worrall, Katic wants to bring the ball out from the back and get high up the pitch and while he’s not Beckenbauer he acts fast and is confident on the ball. With Worrall he’s so slow and pedestrian on the ball it’s untrue and most of the time will just fuck about, letting the other team take their shape before an inevitable sideways pass to Goldson or my personal favourite of playing the full back into a corner 

Also Katic scores goals from corners 

Lets get Katic back in, let him shake off the rust and start defending/playing the way we were at the start of this season.

Typical Rangers finding a player that looks promising and absolutely ruining him, by playing Worrall we are doing that to both Katic and Goldson

this all day and week long 

[kaiser1041 9,088]

Woral has undiagnosed mild Down’s syndrome 

[Courtyard Bear 41,357]

These threads are pointless folks. 

Cedrick will be along in a minute to give us a full breakdown of the squad, so any opinion on our defence is pointless until that time.