Do you blindly trust WS?

[Danny 9]

I think it's safe to say that last January through till summer Smith steadied the ship remarkably well. Solidified us and made us look like a team who could win again. And be very hard to beat.

We generally trusted him in the transfer market as well, and by and large he repaid that faith with some shrewd signings like Cuellar and Thomson.

But every time we have a 'bad' result the side and the manager get pelters, and from what I see from my fellow fans, trust in the boss seems to take a knock.

Right now the issue (on top of the other night's result) seems to be his insistence on choosing the likes of Adam and LM over the creative options like Buffel and Gow. None of us can fathom why 2 gifted footballers are frozen out in favour of unimaginative workmen-esque players.

In short, I see so many folk questioning Smith's judgement - does this suggest our trust in him is taking a knock?

[Boab 73]

Yes, things have been heavily frustrating for some time now, I wasn't totally against Muff suggesting this week that David Moyes (or indeed any) as the new Manager in the Summer!

[superally07 387]

as much as i dont agree with him somtimes. i trust him. until results show otherwise he has my trust

he really pisses me off somtimes, but hey, the pluses overight the negatives

[Dado 334]

Rangers fans are always a fickle bunch

Lets look at the facts:

• We have not lost an OF game since Walter was back in charge.
• We are 4 points clear at the top of the league.
• We are still in four competitions.
• We have not lost an SPL game since October.

On the flip side....

• We are fed up of 4-5-1.
• We are fed up of a lack of creative players (or the lack of game time the creative players get!)
• We are fed up of giving teams too much respect, especially at home!

While its not pretty to watch - It is getting results.

As long as we keep winning and bring the league title home then all of this will be forgiven.

Remember last season?

When I was watching us grind out a 0-0 with Barca, winning 2-1 at home to the German champions and pumping the French champions 3-0 in their own back yard after every game I thought back to St Johnstone the year before and how low I felt at that point......and how much we have come in a short space of time.

Its remarkable that we are even in the position we are considering how much of a mess the club was last season, if we win the league then it will be the the best Walter has ever won in terms of the personnel and the money at his disposal.

Get off the mans back and give him some support and he will reward us the only way he knows how - winning titles.

In Walt we trust.

[BlueIsTheColour 35]

Rangers fans are always a fickle bunch

Lets look at the facts:

• We have not lost an OF game since Walter was back in charge.
• We are 4 points clear at the top of the league.
• We are still in four competitions.
• We have not lost an SPL game since October.

On the flip side....

• We are fed up of 4-5-1.
• We are fed up of a lack of creative players (or the lack of game time the creative players get!)
• We are fed up of giving teams too much respect, especially at home!

While its not pretty to watch - It is getting results.

As long as we keep winning and bring the league title home then all of this will be forgiven.

Remember last season?

When I was watching us grind out a 0-0 with Barca, winning 2-1 at home to the German champions and pumping the French champions 3-0 in their own back yard after every game I thought back to St Johnstone the year before and how low I felt at that point......and how much we have come in a short space of time.

Its remarkable that we are even in the position we are considering how much of a mess the club was last season, if we win the league then it will be the the best Walter has ever won in terms of the personnel and the money at his disposal.

Get off the mans back and give him some support and he will reward us the only way he knows how - winning titles.

In Walt we trust.

Can't really add to that. Completely agree Dado.

[Guest]

a used to blindly trust WS, without question, but now i am starting to question his team selections and formations every game. Starting to really maske myblood boil when i see such crap players such as Adam playing in our team, it really does.

[Bluepeter9 5,167]

Have to say he has my total faith - you can be assured that he is doing his best - and the turnaround proves he is on track - some may not like our style at present, but that willl come and I'll settle for winning every time. Yes, I wonder why he doesn't play Boyd and Novo as often as Charlie Adam but what I do know is HE picks what he thinks is the best team - and that IS good enough for me.

[outlaw69uk 123]

I think it's safe to say that last January through till summer Smith steadied the ship remarkably well. Solidified us and made us look like a team who could win again. And be very hard to beat.

We generally trusted him in the transfer market as well, and by and large he repaid that faith with some shrewd signings like Cuellar and Thomson.

But every time we have a 'bad' result the side and the manager get pelters, and from what I see from my fellow fans, trust in the boss seems to take a knock.

Right now the issue (on top of the other night's result) seems to be his insistence on choosing the likes of Adam and LM over the creative options like Buffel and Gow. None of us can fathom why 2 gifted footballers are frozen out in favour of unimaginative workmen-esque players.

In short, I see so many folk questioning Smith's judgement - does this suggest our trust in him is taking a knock?

I would say, I fathomed it out. This season is about getting the job done, end of. Get some trophies in the cabinet by any means neccessary, with or without pretty football. Come the end of the season, I really wont care how bad it looked when it reads "SPL, League Cup, Scottish Cup champions - Rangers"

I have said a number of times, am prepared to watch crap games while drinking heaily if it leads to the right result at the end, however, next season I expect better.

Another point is, people always argue about the merits of Boyd against a more "creative" forward. The more creative forwards generally score less, but also provide a lot more, so, perhaps, the fact WS is using this type of striker at the moment is the reason we arent playing more creative midfielders? (as well as Boyd). Perhaps, being solid, and only having the creativity in the striker is a reason for this? If you think about it, Boyd in a team with the likes of Buffell, Gow, Naismith, Burke as opposed to the Adams and McCullochs of this world, would be a good spearhead, and, would finish off the chances the creative ones make.

Just a thought, but, I think, a good one!

[TheMotor 2,208]

Rangers fans are always a fickle bunch

Lets look at the facts:

• We have not lost an OF game since Walter was back in charge.
• We are 4 points clear at the top of the league.
• We are still in four competitions.
• We have not lost an SPL game since October.

On the flip side....

• We are fed up of 4-5-1.
• We are fed up of a lack of creative players (or the lack of game time the creative players get!)
• We are fed up of giving teams too much respect, especially at home!

While its not pretty to watch - It is getting results.

As long as we keep winning and bring the league title home then all of this will be forgiven.

Remember last season?

When I was watching us grind out a 0-0 with Barca, winning 2-1 at home to the German champions and pumping the French champions 3-0 in their own back yard after every game I thought back to St Johnstone the year before and how low I felt at that point......and how much we have come in a short space of time.

Its remarkable that we are even in the position we are considering how much of a mess the club was last season, if we win the league then it will be the the best Walter has ever won in terms of the personnel and the money at his disposal.

Get off the mans back and give him some support and he will reward us the only way he knows how - winning titles.

In Walt we trust.

Plus he's much better at this than any of us.

I'm pretty confident that once the league title is back, and with it the guaranteed Champions league slot, there will be a wee bit of money invested in 3 or 4 quality players for next season and we will see some style return.

For those who have forgotten, the first full season under Souness was a bit like this one. We weren't all that special, just a lot more solid than we had been.

[Dado 334]

Plus he's much better at this than any of us.

You wouldnt think so to look at this board

[demise 3,573]

No i do not trust him.We play anti-football and that`s all...I`m starting to worry about SPL this season,i hope we will win it.But i don`t trust a man who don`t give a chance to players like Buffel and Gow,and put in starting line-up someone like Adam or McCulloch..

[ScotBear 144]

I get a bit sick of the negativity, and it becomes very tiresome defending Walter Smith. Celtic had the league wrapped up this time last season........now we sit 4 points clear.

Fans seem to expect success and attractive football to just land on their laps, as if Walter should be able to wave a magic wand. It doesn't work like that. It will take time. Walter has built a solid, reliable squad that is getting results and topping the table. This season, that should satisfy every Rangers fan.

Perhaps in the summer, rather than having to rebuild the squad as we did last summer, he'll be able to concentrate his funds on bringing in a couple of players of genuine quality. And then perhaps we can raise the bar in terms of our expecations for next season, and demand more attractive football.

He leaves guys like Gow and Buffel out and there is outcry. Why ? It would be nice to have more creative players in the side, but it doesn't mean we just chuck in anyone. Buffel has let us down more than he's produced for us. I don't buy the argument that he's been played out of position too often. I've seen him go missing playing his favoured position 'off the striker' and I've seen guys like Novo produce worthy displays for us out of position.

Boyd is another one. 'Start him Walter, he always scores !!' Well he's started him in 12 SPL games, and he's only put the ball away 3 times from open play, 5 in total, in those 12 matches. Cousin has scored 7/8 times in 14 SPL starts, and has shown a strong level of performance against the likes of Celtic, Lyon and Barcelona........yet gets booed.

I see posters on here criticising Walter's tactics, and then see some of the worst looking suggested line ups you could ever imagine, with wingers playing as part of midfield 3's in a 4-3-3, immobile front pairings of McCulloch and Boyd, Buffel off Boyd (how many through balls is Boyd going to speed away onto the way Lovenkrands did ?), 4-2-3-1 systems with Ferguson and Hemdani the central midfield pairing (with Hemdani sitting deep and slow as a week in the jail, Barry would be breathing out his arse).

My point is, you can all sit and rip Walter's tactics. I could sit and rip your tactics. You could rip apart my tactics. And so on so on........because we all view the game differently. But only one man gets paid to make those decisions, and some fans need to show a bit more respect for those decisions, the way we do with each other on here, even if you don't always agree with them.

But some of you need to stop being so bloody negative with regards to individual decisions, take a step back and look at the bigger bloody picture. The SPL is the priority, we're 4 points clear. Once we get it in the bag, then we can start to push on and use that success as a foundation to build from.

Get real, give Walter a break and try and look on the bright side of life now and then !

[Del 667]

I do trust him!

Hes turned our club from the brink of disaster to mounting a serious title challenge in little more than a year!

One that does annoy me is his apparent stubbornness!

I dont have a problem with 4-5-1 some of the best teams in the World play 4-5-1, its the way you play it and the players you use that define a tactic!

To play 4-5-1 sucessfully you need mobile wide men! And unless we play Burke or Naismith we dont have mobile wide men. You need to get up and support the striker when we have the ball and defend as a unit when we dont.

Playing Charlie Adam and even Lee McCulloch out wide isnt going to get you anywhere as they simply arent mobile enough to get up and down the park every 5mins!

I trust Walter and will give him at least 1 whole season in charge (which he hasnt had yet!!!) before i judge him!

[TheMotor 2,208]

I get a bit sick of the negativity, and it becomes very tiresome defending Walter Smith. Celtic had the league wrapped up this time last season........now we sit 4 points clear.

Fans seem to expect success and attractive football to just land on their laps, as if Walter should be able to wave a magic wand. It doesn't work like that. It will take time. Walter has built a solid, reliable squad that is getting results and topping the table. This season, that should satisfy every Rangers fan.

Perhaps in the summer, rather than having to rebuild the squad as we did last summer, he'll be able to concentrate his funds on bringing in a couple of players of genuine quality. And then perhaps we can raise the bar in terms of our expecations for next season, and demand more attractive football.

He leaves guys like Gow and Buffel out and there is outcry. Why ? It would be nice to have more creative players in the side, but it doesn't mean we just chuck in anyone. Buffel has let us down more than he's produced for us. I don't buy the argument that he's been played out of position too often. I've seen him go missing playing his favoured position 'off the striker' and I've seen guys like Novo produce worthy displays for us out of position.

Boyd is another one. 'Start him Walter, he always scores !!' Well he's started him in 12 SPL games, and he's only put the ball away 3 times from open play, 5 in total, in those 12 matches. Cousin has scored 7/8 times in 14 SPL starts, and has shown a strong level of performance against the likes of Celtic, Lyon and Barcelona........yet gets booed.

I see posters on here criticising Walter's tactics, and then see some of the worst looking suggested line ups you could ever imagine, with wingers playing as part of midfield 3's in a 4-3-3, immobile front pairings of McCulloch and Boyd, Buffel off Boyd (how many through balls is Boyd going to speed away onto the way Lovenkrands did ?), 4-2-3-1 systems with Ferguson and Hemdani the central midfield pairing (with Hemdani sitting deep and slow as a week in the jail, Barry would be breathing out his arse).

My point is, you can all sit and rip Walter's tactics. I could sit and rip your tactics. You could rip apart my tactics. And so on so on........because we all view the game differently. But only one man gets paid to make those decisions, and some fans need to show a bit more respect for those decisions, the way we do with each other on here, even if you don't always agree with them.

But some of you need to stop being so bloody negative with regards to individual decisions, take a step back and look at the bigger bloody picture. The SPL is the priority, we're 4 points clear. Once we get it in the bag, then we can start to push on and use that success as a foundation to build from.

Get real, give Walter a break and try and look on the bright side of life now and then !

Spot on.

[Del 667]

I get a bit sick of the negativity, and it becomes very tiresome defending Walter Smith. Celtic had the league wrapped up this time last season........now we sit 4 points clear.

Fans seem to expect success and attractive football to just land on their laps, as if Walter should be able to wave a magic wand. It doesn't work like that. It will take time. Walter has built a solid, reliable squad that is getting results and topping the table. This season, that should satisfy every Rangers fan.

Perhaps in the summer, rather than having to rebuild the squad as we did last summer, he'll be able to concentrate his funds on bringing in a couple of players of genuine quality. And then perhaps we can raise the bar in terms of our expecations for next season, and demand more attractive football.

He leaves guys like Gow and Buffel out and there is outcry. Why ? It would be nice to have more creative players in the side, but it doesn't mean we just chuck in anyone. Buffel has let us down more than he's produced for us. I don't buy the argument that he's been played out of position too often. I've seen him go missing playing his favoured position 'off the striker' and I've seen guys like Novo produce worthy displays for us out of position.

Boyd is another one. 'Start him Walter, he always scores !!' Well he's started him in 12 SPL games, and he's only put the ball away 3 times from open play, 5 in total, in those 12 matches. Cousin has scored 7/8 times in 14 SPL starts, and has shown a strong level of performance against the likes of Celtic, Lyon and Barcelona........yet gets booed.

I see posters on here criticising Walter's tactics, and then see some of the worst looking suggested line ups you could ever imagine, with wingers playing as part of midfield 3's in a 4-3-3, immobile front pairings of McCulloch and Boyd, Buffel off Boyd (how many through balls is Boyd going to speed away onto the way Lovenkrands did ?), 4-2-3-1 systems with Ferguson and Hemdani the central midfield pairing (with Hemdani sitting deep and slow as a week in the jail, Barry would be breathing out his arse).

My point is, you can all sit and rip Walter's tactics. I could sit and rip your tactics. You could rip apart my tactics. And so on so on........because we all view the game differently. But only one man gets paid to make those decisions, and some fans need to show a bit more respect for those decisions, the way we do with each other on here, even if you don't always agree with them.

But some of you need to stop being so bloody negative with regards to individual decisions, take a step back and look at the bigger bloody picture. The SPL is the priority, we're 4 points clear. Once we get it in the bag, then we can start to push on and use that success as a foundation to build from.

Get real, give Walter a break and try and look on the bright side of life now and then !

Spot on.

Some of it is correct but its far from spot on!

[demise 3,573]

Don`t you people get it?When was the last time we played attacking football against good team(not Falkirk and Gretna)?Yes,every club have bad moments but that`s too much.Every fuckin game,same CA,same LM,same fuckin` tactics,same anti-football,same Boyd and Buffel out of the starting line-up..Same problems in midfield..Can you see anything`s get better?Cause i don`t..and that`s just in mounts...The only one possitive thing that happen` IMO is Chris Burke(and maybe Whittaker on the left back before Hutton leaving)...That`s not enough..Cause seems horrable to me when we all know something that WS DOESN`T WANT to see...

[demise 3,573]

Aye,i missed one.Whit that performances we are lucky that the scum are 2nd..

[Danny 9]

Plus he's much better at this than any of us.

I'm pretty confident that once the league title is back, and with it the guaranteed Champions league slot, there will be a wee bit of money invested in 3 or 4 quality players for next season and we will see some style return.

For those who have forgotten, the first full season under Souness was a bit like this one. We weren't all that special, just a lot more solid than we had been.

tbh - Smith was never noted for playing flair football - as D'Artagnan will back me up on, 9IAR was won through hard graft, effort and sheer will. We had a flair player or two, but Laudrup nor Gazza won us the leagues - the whole team did.

Your point about him being better at this than us is 100% accurate - he has more experience and he's had an entire career in the game. He definitely knows more than us.

But we do have the right to question him - a true supporter wouldn't take everything their club gave them without any opposition - a real fan has the right to question and criticise.

What I am saying is, yes, Smith knows more than any of us - but this doesn't make him infallible and immune to being called on.

[ScotBear 144]

But we do have the right to question him - a true supporter wouldn't take everything their club gave them without any opposition - a real fan has the right to question and criticise.

Of course but there is constructive criticism..........and then unreasonable, OTT reactions to individual decisions where people get too emotional and lack perspective. The bigger picture is lost on some when their favourite players aren't getting a game.

The booing when Cousin came on, for example. It should also be noted that this was a game in a competition that many fans stated they didn't really care about, and we're all in agreement that the SPL is the priority.

I know that you personally would have been as disgusted as me with regards to the booing of Cousin, Danny

[Danny 9]

But we do have the right to question him - a true supporter wouldn't take everything their club gave them without any opposition - a real fan has the right to question and criticise.

Of course but there is constructive criticism..........and then unreasonable, OTT reactions to individual decisions where people get too emotional and lack perspective. The bigger picture is lost on some when their favourite players aren't getting a game.

Some could levy that one at me in light of Buffel being frozen out.

The booing when Cousin came on, for example. It should also be noted that this was a game in a competition that many fans stated they didn't really care about, and we're all in agreement that the SPL is the priority.

I know that you personally would have been as disgusted as me with regards to the booing of Cousin, Danny

See my reply in the striker thread for a level of clarification regarding that. It reminded me of Boab Malcolm being booed. Some sections of our 'support' seem to forget what the definition of support is.

In short it made me sick.

[Del 667]

But we do have the right to question him - a true supporter wouldn't take everything their club gave them without any opposition - a real fan has the right to question and criticise.

Of course but there is constructive criticism..........and then unreasonable, OTT reactions to individual decisions where people get too emotional and lack perspective. The bigger picture is lost on some when their favourite players aren't getting a game.

The booing when Cousin came on, for example. It should also be noted that this was a game in a competition that many fans stated they didn't really care about, and we're all in agreement that the SPL is the priority.

I know that you personally would have been as disgusted as me with regards to the booing of Cousin, Danny

The same could be said for the way people on this board speak of Boyd....

As far as the booing Cousin goes from the 5mins i spent reading that thread it was clear to me taht people who booed did so because Novo was going off and Boyd was coming on. Not directed at Cousin booing at the sub choice.

Again if you spent 5mins to read other threads, the one i have about the Uefa Cup, it looks again that many fans have stated the "do" care about the Uefa Cup.

Smith hasnt even been in charge for a whole season yet we need to give him a break but i have no doubt that he has favorites in the dressing room and that sometime his choice in line-up etc really annoy me.

Another thing that does my head in is he never makes subs! Fair enough if we are winning we dont need to change things but if we are 2-0 up

why not swap players round, bring on Novo or naisy or someone!

Apart from that i have no doubt that Walter and co will bring silverware back home!!

[simplythebest 11,453]

These days i really do question alot of his decisions but i still know hes a Rangers fans and he has won alot with us so i suppose i do 'trust' him in theory.

[Danny 9]

The same could be said for the way people on this board speak of Boyd....

As far as the booing Cousin goes from the 5mins i spent reading that thread it was clear to me taht people who booed did so because Novo was going off and Boyd was coming on. Not directed at Cousin booing at the sub choice.

I don't buy that m8 - mainly because Adam was the player who came off for Cousin, not Novo.

Otherwise I don't understand your point.

[Danny 9]

These days i really do question alot of his decisions but i still know hes a Rangers fans and he has won alot with us so i suppose i do 'trust' him in theory.

So your heart trusts, and your head isn't so sure.

[Davy 68]

The same could be said for the way people on this board speak of Boyd....

As far as the booing Cousin goes from the 5mins i spent reading that thread it was clear to me taht people who booed did so because Novo was going off and Boyd was coming on. Not directed at Cousin booing at the sub choice.

I don't buy that m8 - mainly because Adam was the player who came off for Cousin, not Novo.

Otherwise I don't understand your point.

The moment Cousin ran on the field, the boos started. That, to me, suggests the boos were aimed at him.