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Sure that's not Butland's report card xpected gaffs

What annoys me is the league was over some time ago so why not experiment different formation different tactics give the boys their chance to stake a claim

I don't do it often, probably only a handful of times these last 20 years, but on Saturday, I switched off after their second goal. At the end of the day, you have to give in-form Hibs credit for their game plan and play. Not that it is any great change from how teams usually play at Ibrox. Only that Hibs are curently top of the lot, similarly to St. Mirren not too long ago. The Scum lost also on those two occasions, BTW. We always had the odd reversal at Ibrox, the names Ivan Sproule and Allan Johnston (IIRC) may spring to mind. Only that back in those days, it was an anomaly. Saturday, the interimistas changed that horrible line up from Dundee to a more attacking 4-3-3, but that's still not good if those who are supposedly wingbacks don't make it a 2-5-3. And those three in the middle are essentially a world apart from the "threat" caused occasionally by the likes of Lundstram. But instead of changing it by HT, the interimistas obviously stared at the unfolding events like a hare to a snake. Maybe it was all just a big training session for Thursday and they consider the league gone. (Not far from the truth, obviously, but that's not how Rangers shall approach a game.) I have no idea what Danilo and McCausland have done wrong, so they don't even get half a chance. At least they will be craving action and willing to prove themselves. RANGERS: Butland, Tavernier, Sterling, Souttar, Jefte, Barron, Raskin, Diomande (Danilo, 74), Cerny (Bajrami, 58), Igamane (Hagi, 87), Dessers (Curtis, 87) You have 5 subs possible, replace the only real threat you have (even though Cerny has a tendency to waste more good chances and runs than Dessers every now and then - and that was the case on Saturday), Danilo was probably too late, the 87 min subs are essentially a joke, not least Curtis for Dessers. There was no wide play (again), yet you keep all three wingers on the bench (again) ... Subs not used: Kelly, Propper, Cortes, Balogun, McCausland ... and that IMHO is simply down to poor management and anticipation. Cortes has been on the bench for weeks now, Danilo too. I have no clue what Barry was trying against Dundee, nor what the plan for Saturday was. It backfired miserably, and cost us the chance to close the gap. Like most managers before him, he and his lot are those picking the team and the line-up. Coming out saying it was not good enough from the players is just half the truth. My "fear" is that our next manager will need another 3 month learning period, by which time the Scum is racing away again.

The Championship is unusual this season. Normally there’s a runaway winner with the occasional surprise getting the last playoff place. I’m only familiar with two other leagues, Scottish 2 and Highland League Neither is competitive in the sense of uncertain contest for the likely winners. I have the old fashioned view that every match is a contest.

Rangers get beat and the usual suspects are to blame. Amazed Tav hasn't been blamed yet.

That's your opinion, though. We'll all have a different opinion of whether a player should have scored or not. This xG model tells you how many past players have actually scored from that type of shot - taking into account numerous variables of hundreds of thousands of shots. It's pretty accurate. A penalty has an xG of 0.79. Were Dessers' chances similar to a penalty? A free shot, centre of goal with no defenders around him? Dessers has an xG of 12.26 this season in the league. He has scored 12. Haaland has an xG of 21.40 this season in the league. He has scored 21. Can you beat that? Have you watched more than hundreds of thousands of shots? Are you able to take into account 20 plus variables?

To be fair, the pass network shows he got very little service.

The horseshoe!!

Tav is contracted to 2027, and I actually think it was a mistake to renew it for so long. Should've sold Tavernier after we reached the Europa league final when he was top goalscorer. Bassey, Aribo, Tav and Kamara all should've gone together for big money. Instead we renewed deals and it bit us on the arse.

One of the reasons that BF will never get a top managers job.

OK, I'll indulge you. Because the current set-up is boring. Playing the same teams 4 to 6 times a season is boring. I think a lot of football fans will have the same opinion. I'd also say that the current set-up doesn't encourage player development.

We lack creativity in central MF. Tin hat on here but a Calum McGregor type player who wants the ball & builds from the back

I understand the stats behind it but I disagree with it almost entirely. There are not thousands of chances at Ibrox playing for Rangers for a £5M striker to compare against. I dispute the chances being compared to his actually being similar. If a centre half finds himself through on goal like that and fails to hit the target then fans sigh but are not surprised. A striker on hot form scores those chances. Also, a chance falling to a striker in the final minute of a 4-0 win is not the same as a chance at 0-0 after 10 minutes. But they are treated the same by stattos and both are counted the same for xG. Of course they are not similar, it’s ridiculous to suggest they are. This computerisation of football to spew meaningless stats out just to make talking points is abhorrent and totally unnecessary. I trust my eyes to tell me if when a Rangers striker is through on goal if it is a good chance, a great chance or not much of a chance. Dessers had 4 really good chances on Saturday, and didn’t even force a save from the keeper on any of them. These misses now make other strikers similar misses look ordinary because they will be counted in someone else’s xG comparison. For xG to say we should only have got 1 goal out of 15 chances is just making the stats look ridiculous. Anyone in attendance would tell you Dessers should have had a hat-trick to go along with his double hat-trick from Dundee, but instead we have xG telling us he is performing just as expected. Absolute bollocks to that. I appreciate you love the stats side of the game Rousseau, and they make interesting analysis at times, but I find more and more they paint a picture that is totally alien to the game it refers to. The wee passing wheels and average positional stuff is interesting because it is based on facts, xG is not based on facts. It compares apples and oranges and tells us they are both bananas.

A winner - acht well, it was short odds on who'd reply. I thought both goals were Borna's fault.......

Read the game thread up there again. Tav was not helping in any way, but leaving the slot where he does the most damage far too often.

We played a 5 at the back and two DMs away to Dundee. Not Bilbao, Leipzig or some high profile non-stop attacking side. We essentially reduced our "attacking" threat of last Saturday down by another player or two at Dundee, which allowed them to come at us. They wanted to win that game, much like Hibs. We marginally upped that to our usual 4-2-3-1 (if I consider Barron the DM in a 4-3-3), but played a striker out of position, while the wingbacks were not attacking like they meant to be. Tav was somewhere in the middle, Jefte hardly receiving the ball at all. We had plenty of possession because our defenders played triangles with the midfielders and vice versa. There was no pace and hardly any penetration. That is no different from what we have seen for weeks, months, if not years. Just a general observation. After 30 mins, the game backed for a back-3, one DM, 4 midfielders (two wingers included), and a couple of strikers. So we'd have a goal scoring threat. Instead, we were down to the usual hopeful, bit part show that Hibs (like many others) can easily counter.

I think that’s right. A current exception is the Championship in England. Great competition this season, it’s only now that four clubs are beginning to pull away.

Which is the reason “youth” and “development” and Rangers are incompatible.

He's making basic mistakes. While Kelly isn't great, I would still like to see him get a chance

We tried a different formation in the first half in Dundee and look what happened. As for giving the youth a chance, it's very dangerous at this point. if our losing streak continues, they would get associated with it and it could damage their careers. I understand the concept but it would be far better for them to be introduced into a winning team.

So, Big Ange then..... 😁

That's true with most leagues so not restricted to Scotland

I would bring up Basher Bashiri's elbow on Dessers face, but then the clown in black also missed a clear handball in our box. Both were pens imo.

According to this there were no high quality chances created, or even a step below that. Damn that Dessers

Whats worse is the fact you could throw a blanket over our three mids

Can't see BF dropping him for Thursdays match .

Well, to get back to the match thread, that is as bad as it gets. It was as cold as it is in December or January in the main stand and those clowns serve that up. I am done with the team and with the interim management team.

I've not read the entire thread and whilst I agree with the club and fans pointing fingers at the UB for silly banners (their displays are usually well thought out), has anyone addressed "the elephant in the room" regarding the reappearance of The Billy Boys? The club specifically mentioned "songs" in their statement and this is not a UB issue, the majority of fans in attendance sang The Billy Boys. The singing of this song (and others) has already resulted in sections of the stadium being closed and will do again of it continues. Will the club and the wider fan base use the UBs as a convenient scapegoat if this were to happen?

aye that was a poor manchester derby

Shown a bit of patience, I thought Nsiala could have been the next Bassey, but unless your name is Jack it seems to be one bad game and your out.

Bigger league and ditch the four games nonsense.

Bigger league - 16 teams, play each other twice (home and away). No split but would keep promotion / relegation play offs (Bottom 2 relegated / top 2 promoted. Play off between 3rd bottom and 3rd top). I know nobody would vote for that, but we need to change the format.

nothing is going to change until the new owners take control one thing i'd like to know is the young lad Nsiala injured haven't seen him since the former Alloa manager threw him under the bus

100% And not playing 3 holding midfield players who you could throw a duvet over they are that close together.

Tavernier? Butland? yilmaz? , Cortes? Propper? these aren’t OOC Others too aren’t out of contract whom we’d probably like to move on

And it’s also about playing players in their best positions. Igamane is unsuited wide left

Butlands got the yips best to take him out of the firing line come Thursday

The biggest problem the new manager will have is being unable to move on underperforming players on lucrative long term contracts.

Another Butland classic performance , and I bet hes the first name on the team sheet on Thursday.

If I was him, and I actually won the Europa League as interim manager, I would refuse the permanent post. Wouldn't get any better for him after that.

I once met a lovely lady called Steffi from Bielefeld in a bar in Dusseldorf. I was, however, young and stupid in those days and decided to carry on the evening drinking with my pals instead of staying in said bar, and seeing where the night would take me. What a fool I was. 😞