nvager 498 Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 Aberdeen vs Rangers on Sunday 23rd December 2007 at Pittodrie Stadium, Kick Off 3:00 pm. At present we trail Celtic by two points but have 2 games in hand. Celtic are top with 36 points after 17 games and we have 34 points after 15 games. Their goal difference is 5 (goals) better than ours. Surprisingly Motherwell are third in the table with 32 points from 17 games. Like the Hearts game last week this is another must win game. In fact all our SPL games are must win games from here on in if the SPL title is to come to Ibrox after an absence of two years. We were rather fortunate to squeak out a win vs Hearts at Ibrox last week and now we venture to the Highlands where a hostile crowd awaits and an Aberdeen team thirsty to take three points. Aberdeen however have a midweek European tie and that should work in our favour. In the meantime Celtic are home to Hibernian and that should be an interesting game, with Celtic under much pressure after dropping 7 points in their last four games. Nevertheless we must take care of our own business and our away form in the SPL has not been too clever with points dropped at Tynecastle, Motherwell, and Tannadice. This is a game we must win but a windy cold Pittodrie is no easy place to win and they will be wanting to emulate their neighbours ICT who gave Celtic a beating just along the road at Inverness on Sunday. How will Walter Smith approach the game? Will he play with two up front or one up front? Surely two up front and put Aberdeen on the back foot. This is NOT Europe and we should have a positive attitude in the SPL. We are champions elect and fear no-one. They should fear us. If we set up defensively we are sending a bad signal. It shows we are not confident. We need to win this game and the players must know this. No more scrappy play. No more lack of confidence. We are Rangers and should rule the SPL. We are like Manchester United in England - teams fear us - but do they? It has been a dry two years without a trophy. Teams from lower divisions have beaten us at Ibrox. Do we still instill fear? I rather doubt it. More the reason to start doing so again and regain that edge we used to take for granted. Walter has now got a great opportunity to go on a run and set up a charge to the title. Will he attack and run over all before him? Will he be cautious in his formations and tactics? My feeling is he will try to be both. He will not throw caution to the wind. It's just not him. I feel he lost a great opportunity in the CL by being far too cautious in the last two games vs Stuttgart and Lyon. I do think he learned from that and will be more adventurous generally in the SPL, but at Pittodrie? At Celtic Park? I really think he will at Pittodrie but NOT at Celtic Park. I would like to play Burke, JCD, Boyd and Naismith, backed up by Barry and Hemdani, but that would mean dropping McCulloch and I do not think Walter will do that, so one of the foregoing is unlikely to start. Also Thomson is likely to replace Hemdani. There is a groundswell of support for Buffel and Gow to get a chance, but I do not think either will make the squad. We need more pace and creativity in the side and if Walter picks a midfield including Whittaker, Ferguson, Thomson and Adam/McCulloch I for one will be very disappointed. It lacks pace and creativity with players playing out of position. The defence has a problem at left back. Papac or Whittaker? There is no great difference between them as Papac is better defensively and Whittaker offers more going forward. I can see Papac at left back come Sunday. Will we win? Yes, but it will not be easy as it just never is. We are not a good enough team, especially in midfield to take any opponent for granted. It happens all the time - if we score the first goal, we tend to take our foot of the gas and that is scary. If we get behind it is an almighty struggle as we have little pace and creativity. One last thought: Can we please improve at free kicks, corners and throw-ins. Last week vs Hearts and against Lyon we were embarrassing. For further discussion see the official Aberdeen vs Rangers thread. My prediction is Aberdeen 1 - 2 Rangers (and Celtic draw vs Hibs). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boab 73 Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 Good analysis Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nvager 498 Posted December 19, 2007 Author Share Posted December 19, 2007 Good analysis Thanks Boab - and just keep the fiver! :harhar: :harhar: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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