der Berliner

Wow, as if the Sheep needed a stupid ref.

Can we just skip the Armed Forces Day games, the last have all been trash like this.

... just floor that being called Shinnie, so that he knows WHY he's hit the ground.

BTW, stop that Dessers-hunt. He gets virtually no support and "friend" Morelos in his latter seasons (sic!) needed four+ chances to grab a goal.

BTW, I want Sakala and Hagi back!

Not that this display and result is anywhere different from the dross we were served by SG's and Gio's Rangers. Only that Beale has been left without any creative people and few attackers. He might have done something different, but you also have to ask why veteran players like Jack and Lundstram still sit back all the time and don't "think forward", be it running into spaces or taking up more clever positions. This is going to be a long afternoon unless Beale chops a few and kick some backs.

Hey ho ... nothing else was to be expected. 

And this will most likely become even worse now. 

Aberdeen play totally tight in the middle, mainly because we have virtually no wing play. Neither of the three CM think forward or press early ... that's the sort of football you can defeat the clock with.

EDIT: Mind my remark about Ridvan and Wright playing as wingers ... 

24 minutes ago, Sutton_blows_goats said:

Wright couldn’t get a game For Aberdeen and I’ve genuinely no clue

why he is still with us. He is never good enough 

... ach well, in "our view", 8 out of 11 starters are usually not good enough for Rangers. Then, 5 to 10 years on, we regard quite a few of that category as legends, cult heroes, or generally decent players. 

28 minutes ago, Sutton_blows_goats said:

Only change is Dessers for Roofe, Ridvan keeps his place. Manager doesn’t have many options truth being told.

... well, Wright is always an attacking/creative option, if used properly. E.g. right wing, Lammers central as shadow striker and Dessers and Sima through the middle. Left wing slot could go to Ridvan, with Borna behind him. 

1 hour ago, Bluedell said:

We had a keeper, 4 defenders, 2 kids and Dessers and Wright on the bench.

Wright is always a better attacking option than either of the three CMs/DMs. There is lots of talk about Rice's ability. One might have thrown on Borna earlier and let Ridvan loose on the left flank.

Wee sidenote, it might have been a cool idea to throw a B-side attacker on the bench, not another CM. Given that there was so much defensive folk on display anyway.

Wee sidenote II: it is rather brutal that we lost so much of our "fire-power" in but two weeks, and we haven't even reached match day 10. If Roofe's out for a while, yesterday might be a precursor of what is to come.

The amount of pointless passing between defence and midfield was astonishing, but with the players selected, no real wonder. As I said before, those neat goals coated sugar over much toil and dire football. Our three attackers were essentially left to do much of their work alone, only the last goal late in injury time as down to some collective work. Ridvan set up Sima for the first with a long ball, Jack Ridvan and Borna Sima again - all with well-placed long balls from the back, leaving all the midfielders out of it. Between the first and second goal, the square- and back-passing got absurd again, as no-one of the CMs/DMs really filled the spaces. It should have been oh-so obvious, but MB did nothing to bring more creativity on.

Maybe one has to be satisfied with getting a result these days, but despite us having seen so much dire football of this very same sad standard, shouldn't we expect more from a Rangers team? Not least if we pumped up our attackers like we did last summer? It was Livingston, at home ...

Sugar-coated groats ... 

Not getting enthused about this at all. Good performance by Sima, fine goal by Ridvan, yet so much pointless toil again.

I just tried to imagine a team of the good old days, with three Stuart McCall's in the middle, half a winger and one striker ...

TV said no injury, just a swap. Shocking. Truly shocking. 

75 % possession, 9 corners or the like, yet virtually end product. Because we play our football around the centre circle and hardly anyone thinking forward bar our attackers. Once Roofe is trying to get the ball 5 or so meters either side of the halfway line, you know what up.

Yes, we might have expected Livingston to be far more physical and aggressive, but they offered next to nothing. One might have expected from our midfielders to go further forward then, but no. Jack stood back, Lundstram too. The front three ran their legs off, but get next to no real support.

Thanks to Collum, we got a goal, which Sima took well. 

Same procedure as every game ... (I just settle for a straight 4-3-3)

Butland 

Tavernier - Goldson - Davies - Ridvan 

Lundstram -  Cifuentes -  Jack

Lammers -  Roofe - Sima

Three workers behind a sad front-3, alas, Ridvan is back. 

At least we did not sell or loan Scott Wright ...

5 hours ago, Scott7 said:

Gonzo was right, dB. Only Gazza and Laudrup can play Gazza and Laudrup. Rangers will never again have players like that.

The current crew is hopeless. They’re not even Derek Grierson and Sammy Baird - nowhere near.

When I say players play akin to the style of e.g. Hateley (the more direct, robust centre-forward (as opposed to e.g. McCoist or Johnston)), or Laudrup (i.e. a free roving attacker), I do not necessarily compare that player to these players' abilities. It is not that difficult to grasp, IMHO. Cantwell is having a free role behind the front line (or striker), pops up on either wing or more centrally. Same with Lammers. Hence, he is more like Laudrup than e.g. a centre forward like Dessers or Roofe.

5 hours ago, Gonzo79 said:

I think it is appropriate to put you under the iron curtain from now on.

Available coaches ... at TM

Well, in the cold light of day, we managed similar dire results for decades, even with the likes of Gazza and Co.. I would assume the pubs in Scotland after the game were similarly downbeat. What I can't tell - for obvious reasons - is whether we managed to perform as dire as the results suggest, which I doubt for most cases.

In that same cold light of the day after, having acquired so many IMHO quality players, it was still a crime to let both Hagi and Lowry leave on loan with but one creative player left, and most of the other attackers un-tried in the Premiership. As per usual, that one creative player got hacked down (by a Yahoo at that) and soon after, Raskin followed, who is probably the most prominent one of our midfielders who can do a part-time job in that department.

Roofe has been what we expect him to be, a top penalty box predator. Let's hope he stays fit for the best part of the season. Dessers is more that Hateley type of a robust striker, and I would combine these two from now on up top.

Lammers is more the Laudrup type, but like Cantwell, the "always thinks forward" and ain't shy to have a shot. He would be my central creative player behind the strikers, at least in the absence of Cantwell. Sima, Matondo, and Wright should be used as wingers (sided-attackers) and told to stay there too.

For what we see is people running about with seemingly no cohesion whatsoever, flanks left unoccupied, so defenders have it not that difficult to get out of trouble that way.

I was hopeful that, going back to a 3-at-the-back, we'd throw on more attackers to put the nail in Motherwell's coffin for that game. Obviously, I forgot that for one reason or another, Beale will never sub Tavernier and hardly ever Borna (unless injured), which saw us playing with de facto 5 defenders. People will argue that both are more WINGbacks than fullbacks, but TBH, while Borna whips in most crosses (unless he plays the ball back) with success, Tavernier was rather terrible yesterday. And once we switch to 3ATB, we don't need a "right midfielder" who can't do anything useful with the ball. Once people have a bad day, sub them. Not least when we needed width. Too bad we don't have a right-sided Ridvan.

The ultimate shock came around the 70 min mark, as Beale decided to go into the shell and essentially defend a 1-goal lead at home. 5 defenders, 2 DMs, 1 CM and but 2 attackers. While it was brutal before, it was shocking thereafter.

We are closing in on the end of September, and while MD 10 is some weeks away, this does not augur well for the next few months. I am not sure whether Beale can get his players to work in a decent manner, especially tactic- and position-wise. Well, well ...

2 minutes ago, CammyF said:

Well hopefully that puts an end to those wanting us to go 3 at the back

 

 

Oh no, to the contrary. What we did is to fill those spaces freed with people incapable of playing the football required. Instead, all those DMs and the CM sat back and we played virtually on top of our defence, instead of keeping them occupied in their half - something creative/attacking players would have caused.

Likewise, Borna and Tav didn't provide any attacking threat whatsoever.

8 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

I've been impressed with Motherwell. 

No, not really. They were playing up to their capabilities, and fair enough. We seemingly are looking to find our capabilities and for weeks run about blindfolded.

I do not know what Beale's plan with the substitutions were. Either they were rubbish or the players simply didn't comply, maybe a mixture of both. This sort of stuff doesn't do anything for our confidence, and the confidence of the players in their manager. It was really, really grim to watch. If we manage to get kicked out of the cup by Livingston, this might be it for Beale ...

Best player (and so far acquisition of this transfer window): Jack Butland

... closely followed by Lundstrum and Lammers. Good to see Wright back, he was again shifted all across the pitch).

We're just begging them to grab that point. Honestly, this is so so dire.

Tavernier is having a stinker today ... 

Just now, Rousseau said:

I think Cifu is more of a CM than a DM, but... yeah:

 

Pathetic. 

Indeed, Lundstrum & Jack are the DMs, Cifuentes the CM.