Gaffer

I agree with that to a certain extent, but if these players can't do it, we cannot tolerate it. We have to put on the younger players. This isn't just a blip, this is a persistent car crash and Gerrard is just watching it. He has to demonstrate that he sees there's a problem and change the players.

I saw the team sheet and followed through with my threat of not watching. However, I couldn't help but check on Gersnet at half time. @Rousseau, this is what we have said almost every week this year. I really thought I was the most optimistic bear on this site but the team has lost me, as has the manager now. What is it that you think will change? You're watching the same players do the same things. I admire your persistence, but I just can't bring myself to waste any more time watching this garbage. I thought Gerrard was the guy I wanted in charge for a long time, but if we don't get him help from someone more experienced it's only a matter of time before he goes. The sad thing now is that I think I'll be relieved.

I agree with you on Edmundson, because he's not been given enough of a chance. Goldson however has had much more than "one brain fart". He's been really poor since the start of this year (except for against Braga for 135 minutes). I like Goldson and I'm not suggesting we get rid of him. However he does need to realise that he too will suffer consequences for these poor performances. This will help him and the team longer term. We've got too many players who know they will continue to be selected regardless of their performance. That's not good for our team to see or feel that. It has disastrous consequences for a team if they don't trust one another or don't trust the manager. He needs to be dropped for his own good.

This is where the manager needs help. If the club is serious about success it needs to help develop the manager as much as the players. I like Gerrard but he's lost. Surely they can get him help from an experienced manager.

Firstly, what a great article by @fateck. I get what you're saying about Morelos working hard, but unlucky? I play golf with my best mate and another guy. My mate hits his shots into the trees and every time this other guy says "ah unlucky pal". He's been saying this for months. The simple fact is that my mate is not unlucky, he is just hits too many bad shots too often. Morelos is the same. Morelos can be unplayable at times. Before Christmas he played with a smile on his face and it's no wonder that this translated into terrific play and goals from him. He looked moody from the start of 2020 again and its little wonder his head isn't right. I can see it. You can see it. Everyone can see it, and yet Gerrard keeps playing him. Our manager is to blame for this shambles at the moment. It's not his fault that players are out of form, but its 100% his fault when he keeps playing them regardless. When I saw the team the other night I almost posted something before the game started. I was going to post that Gerrard has to go or get a good assistant in to help him with the man management side of his role. He just does not understand the damage he is doing to this team by persevering with some of these players. The reason I didnt post it however is because I wanted to be wrong so watched the game anyway. It really doesn't matter if we go on an unbeaten run in the league until the end of the season. It will make no difference to me. My fear in fact is that we do something like this and then lull ourselves into a sense of false optimism. In my opinion, there isn't too much wrong with this team. We do need a leader or two on the pitch. We clearly have none so there is no point giving the captaincy to anyone else currently at the club. What we do need though is for our manager to take the steps required to demonstrate to the players, fans, and everyone at the club that this will not be tolerated. He has failed to do that and yet had he done so by dropping certain players, we would have recovered quickly and could have sustained our title challenge. In this next game at the weekend, he must drop Goldson, Tav, Davis and others. Regardless of the result, this will help stabilise us in the medium term. If he persists with them in this upcoming game, regardless of the result we will continue to create a poor culture. I hope he makes the right decisions. If I see them all in the starting eleven again I am not ashamed to say that I will not be watching and I'll be unlikely to go to any other games this season. In all my years of supporting my team I've never felt like this before. I think I'm so sore about it because we are so close, it's easy to fix, but needs the strength and skills in management to fix it. Please Steven Gerrard, make the right decision for all our sakes.

What's going on at our club. This is bloody crazy to put Halliday up under the circumstances. We are absolutely rudderless and gutless at the moment. I'm shocked, gutted and ashamed right now.

It's beyond ridiculous now. I don't know as much about football as Gerrard but I do know about building teams and this has disaster written all over it. He has to drop Goldson, Tav, Davis, and Morelos at least. It actually doesn't matter who he puts in or what the score is. He has to demonstrate to them and others that these performances are not going to be tolerated. At the moment he is condoning it by persisting with them. The lack of consequence is killing this team.

Gerrard has a lot to learn. I realise he's still growing into his management career but there are some lessons he needs to learn quickly before he creates the wrong culture at Ibrox. I have sensed for a while now that we are generating a losers' culture within the club. That's quite a statement to make considering the man we have in charge but here's why I believe this. In the past year I've heard/read 6 press conferences or tweets where our players (twice it was from our captain) have suggested that winning the next game somehow "makes up for the performance in the previous match". Immediately when I heard this I wanted to scream "no it doesn't!!!". These remarks by players and staff are symptoms of the culture I'm talking about. Winning the next game, or the next 5 games does not make up for a defeat if you plan on winning the league, or plan on winning a trophy. Our players have now bought into this concept that it's ok to suffer a loss if you "bounce back in the next game" (another common thing I hear them say). Of course, if we do lose a game the only thing we can do is win the next one, but it does not make up for the loss. Our players need to understand that the real lesson to learn is not about "bouncing back", it's about not being beat in the first place. For too many of them however, it seems that when things are not going well during a game they are thinking "oh well, we will just have to bounce back in the next game". No, what they need to do is find a way to overcome that challenge there and then. Gerrard needs to fix this and quickly. This is why an on field leader can help but we don't have one. We have a manager who has won many things in his career so you'd think he'd be ideally suited to bring out the best in our players. There is a problem however with using successful players as managers and that is because they treat the players in the same way they wanted to be treated to bring out the best in them in their own playing days. Gerrard was a winner and very often he was the guy who would drag his team up from losing positions. He is mentally strong and will rise to the challenge. I've no doubt that if he played poorly in a game, the best thing for him and his team is just to put him back out there for the next game and he'd be sure to work even harder. The problem is that our players are not like him. For too many of them, it doesn't seem to make a difference to their determination or attitude when they suffer a defeat. Gerrard must be wondering what is going on because if it was him he'd be running faster, tackling harder, and doing everything to win. Gerrad has created this culture however. He now knows which players react to a defeat or a challenge in the right manner. Those are the players he can put in for the next game. Those are the players that even when they're out of form they will work even harder to make things right. However, those that consistently fail to respond must be dropped. By not dropping these players it sends the wrong signals to that player and every one else in the squad. It says "I know you're out of form and not working as hard as you should, but I believe that this player will eventually turn it around". That's not what he will be saying to his players, but that's what they'll hear. Gerrard must address this now or he will lose any chance of creating the winning mentality he talked about when he arrived. I like Gerrard and I do expect him to be a successful manager. I just hope he can change this poor culture we have or his future success will not be at Rangers. I posted my opinion in this thread because I see that Compo suggested that all would be forgiven if Morelos scores goals. I can't think like that. I know my role as a supporter is to get behind the player but he is consistently letting the team down and I have lost all patience and understanding with him. He's a great player, but he's damaging the culture within the squad and for me he has to go. The manager's treatment of Morelos is consistent with the point I'm making. Morelos will play brilliantly and then after a few games he will let us down. The manager's response to this is to keep playing him. This is damaging in the long run because it's teaching him that this is ok. It's not! It's also teaching the other players that this is acceptable. In a winning team this is NOT acceptable.

1-0 Kent

I like the way @Rick Roberts is able to articulate brilliantly how we all feel. This is another great piece. Great job!

We seem to have two problems. One is easy to fix, but the other can only be sorted in the summer. Our first problem is that the management team believes in playing players out of their poor form. This is a sensible approach if one or two are not performing but at the moment we have 3 or 4 who need to be dropped. That's too many under performers to carry. Katic, Davis, Kamara, Kent and Morelos are way below their best so they should be dropped. It's harsh but it's so important that the rest of the team sees that they will get their chance if they perform well. At the moment Stewart, Kamberi and Edmundson must be wondering how they will ever get a starting role, despite their counterparts playing so poorly for a while now. Equally, players must know that they have to perform or they will lose their place. That must be demoralising all round. The second problem is something I said concerned me last year. When things are not going well on the pitch, or when players are not performing, who on the pitch is dealing with that? After we lose a goal I don't see or hear a single one of our players challenge those responsible. All successful teams have someone who kicks backsides or puts an arm around their team mates to get the best reaction. We don't have it and it's particularly obvious when we face tough decisions or incidents on the pitch. Against Braga we relied on Hagi to inspire those around him but that only works sometimes. We don't have a leader on the pitch and we badly need it. Theres no doubt our team will click again and we will be back to playing great football. However, teams don't win leagues based on their best form. The win it based on their worst form. At our best we are the top team in Scotland (and in my opinion by some margin), but at our worst we are mid table level and that's not good enough. Gerrard needs to play the form players and drop those who don't perform. He then needs to get someone in to that team who takes charge for him on the field. Until then we will continue to suffer.

I've no idea what instructions our centre backs have been given but each time there's a long ball, normally one should attack it and the other covers. If you look at their goal, Katic attacks it (albeit poorly) and Goldson is actually jogging back while square with Katic. It's the same on the other side when Goldson attacks it. If Goldson had sprinted back to cover we would have cleared it without a problem. I've said this since Helander got injured, but he was excellent at reading the game and knew when to cover and when to attack. We also need Arfield and Aribo to recognise when they are needed defensively too. Arfield always tries hard but his positioning is terrible in the three man midfield. He needs to allow Kent and Hagi to take up those half spaces. He wants to occupy them as well and this means that's not only is he out of position but he's taking the space from Kent and Hagi. I saw Hagi telling him to move away from him twice. I like Arfield but not in this role.

5-0. Kent

Morelos was stupid to dive there. He's now even less likely to get a penalty when it is deserved. Why did he not just shoot??

I don't have any visibility or knowledge of the current board members, but what I do perceive is a relatively meek board now that King has stepped back from it. I like Souness, but even those who don't must accept that he's a strong character and someone who would act as a good sounding board (with his own opinions). Also, as someone's who demanded high standards on the pitch, I'd expect him to demand high standards off it also. As long as he does not interfere with the football management I think he'd be an excellent addition to our club. Welcome home!

Thanks Ian for posting these but I won't be clicking on it and I hope others don't either. The MSM doesn't deserve clicks or any further dissemination of its agenda. Let's just stick to our own fan created content from now on.

I know you know the answer to your own question @Bill but let me answer it anyway..... "nothing". The club had an ideal opportunity to release that statement (which would have been great if it had been followed with action) and then remove press privileges. This would have created news in other parts of the UK and would have highlighted the racism that exists within our MSM. In releasing that on its own it achieves nothing, except giving Traynor an opportunity to have a go at his former colleagues. Our PR is terrible and getting worse. Celtic should be in the middle of a crisis regarding child molestors, racism, and corruption, and yet their PR has resulted in the narrative being all about us, or others. Our press and politicians are an utter disgrace to allow this, but our club is also to blame in allowing this. There are two things we need in order for the narrative to change. 1. A trophy win 2. A PR department The clue is in the name "Public Relations". Our club should be celebrated for having coming back from the brink to now challenge domestically and in Europe. Instead, most (?) members of the public have a negative image of our club and its supporters, and a neutral image of that other lot. If this was any other business there would be a measure on the success of the PR team. There is not a single measure that can possibly suggest that our team is doing anything other than a terrible job. I realise that football clubs, especially ours, are just small to medium sized businesses but even small businesses realise the importance of this. Our board must sort this out and soon. At the moment our on field performances are being severely let down by a dysfunctional back office team and that's just not acceptable.

Exactly! I think the statement is excellent as a first step but there must be consequences. If we can't achieve that through the legal system, or from the relevant football authorities, we need to take it into our hands by revoking all press privileges, and denying them any access to our stadium, players or management team.

I agree. This is an excellent statement, but the hatred runs too deep for any of them to apologise. I, like every other bear, will remain angry until these disgusting commentators get what thy deserve. Every one of them should be sacked, and in any other country that's what would happen. I've always been proud to be Scottish and British. Unfortunately these days I'm becoming disgusted at what our little country is becoming. I hope we can somehow recover.

It wasn't a back pass though. It was his attempt to clear the ball from the attacker. It just so happened to get to the keeper. It has to be a deliberate pass to the keeper, which it wasn't.

5-0 Kent

I think this is the very epitome of a "click bait" title.

It looks like Beale is one of the few At Rangers who was willing to call it out. His ban is for calling the referee's integrity into question. According to Beale he did it in such a way as to not directly "accuse him of cheating". Beale knows what's happening. We all know what's happening. Well done Beale!

Our midfield is so important to the way we play. Kamara and Arfield are not a good partnership and I feel it's affecting the whole balance here. Aribo needs to know when to come back to build up play and he's not at all. Hagi and Kent are not in this because Aribo doesn't have enough lateral movement to make the space for them. Aribo is making good forward runs though but he needs an earlier cross to him. The team just looks so static. Look at the gap between Arfield and Kamara, or between them and Aribo. That's not how to play this setup. Edit: I just posted this and a minute later an early cross to Aribo gets the goal. ??. Thankfully Gerrard has put Davis on because it's clear that the midfield is broken here.

We can't play 4-2-3-1 when Jack isn't in the team. He reads the game well and covers the wings so well. Kamara and Arfield are so out of position defensively and then just react to the attack rather than anticipating it. Equally, Edmundson and Goldson need to communicate better. On the plus side, Hagi once again looks like he's going to be a new absolute steal. He needs Morelos and/or Kent to hit some form because at the moment he has no one on his wavelength.