McCall retains Promotion belief

[Tannochsidebear 2,405]

As his first two games came back to back with really no time at all to get to work with the players, I will reserve judgement on McCall for now as we all know that he inherited a squad totally lacking in confidence, with players hiding in games, or going through the motions without putting in a maximum effort, and with senior players who should be nailed on for starting slots all underperforming, but probably had to be given a chance to impress.

 

He now has 5 days before Sundays trip to Easter Road to work on these players, watch more videos of our earlier games, get reports from U20 coaches on our fringe players, and to try to build the confidence up a bit, although that usually happens by winning games, not often by training sessions.

 

McCulloch, Boyd, Law, Daly, Miller, Black, should all be told they wont feature any more. They have completely failed and while most have been good players at some point, all have been guilty of not being anywhere good enough for us this season (and in some cases for many seasons - Jig).

 

There are no lack of options, only a lack of guts if the manager plays the above lot again. I watched Nicky Law quite closely last night and he went into hiding at all times, never looked for the ball, looked to get rid of it quickly without taking into account that the player he was passing to was marked and would be unable to do anything with it, and generally jogged around the park. I do not remember one tackle he put in all night, for a centre midfielder playing against a team that floods the midfield and plays very compact between the width of the box that is almost impossible.

 

Jig costs the first goal by diving in unneccassarily at a throw in he had no chance of getting, was turned by the Alloa player, and the break leads to the free kick that they score from. Jig is marking nobody at the resultant free kick, just pointing at everyone else to mark the opponents while he stands in the middle doing nothing. That is not a one-off either, he does it every time, every week.

 

I thought Cammy Bell was at fault for the second goal as he had no need to come out into no mans land and make it easy for the striker to lift it over him. He was never going to score from that angle under some pressure if Bell had stayed in his goal, but some ring-rust is to be expected. Not sure where Jig was, but he clearly wasn't in the right place to prevent the goal, which is his job.

 

There were some decent signs of roots coming through. I liked the tactical change to a back 3 to chase the game and create some width. I liked the way he forced Walsh to come right over to the touchline to try to spread the Alloa back line when we didnt have the ball and the ball was over the other side. I was unsure of Shiels playing so deep but he was probably our best player albeit he fell out the game for a spell (perhaps expected given his lack of game time). I liked Clark playing right up top and getting into the box more often, and he took his goals well.

 

I am going to Edinburgh on Sunday, I dont know why exactly (habit more than anything) but there is absolutely no excuse now for McCall to be playing Jig and his band of losers. When the team is announced an hour before kick off, we will all know if he has a chance of becoming permanent Rangers manager or not by his selection more than the result.

[JTP 0]

am I wrong or has Paul Murray not spoken a word since the appointment of McCall as interim manager? from what I can see they appointed him and stuck him in front of the cameras to get on with it.

 

Maybe they are working on other things like getting out of Ashley's ridiculous contracts.

 

And is it not the managers job to speak about football?

[MoodyBlue 0]

Well he's got 9 games to prove you wrong...............

And if he continues to play Boyd & McCulloch he won't

 

McCall's biggest challenge will actually getting into the play-off's. QoS and Falkirk are not a million miles behind. We'll get pumped again on Sunday and one or both of them will gain more ground on us. This lot haven't got it in them to up their performance. They are lazy, unfit and unmotivated.

 

We don't deserve to go up and quite frankly we're not ready for it anyway.

 

Our players deserve to be playing to an empty stadium at our last home game. They disgust me.

[pmu 0]

Maybe they are working on other things like getting out of Ashley's ridiculous contracts.

 

And is it not the managers job to speak about football?

 

aye nae doubt they are to busy to faff around with something as irrelevant as the FOOTBALL TEAM! my point is that for a guy who isn't usually shy to sit in front of a camera and tell the world what Rangers need he is quite reluctant to tell us what the deal is with McCall, why they chose him , what his remit is etc.. I know why. it's cowardice. easy to shout from the sidelines like we all have the luxury of doing on Forums etc. it's not so easy to make the big decisions and have the balls to back it up. I think he's not keen to back a loser so is saying nothing until he see's how it pans out..

[BrahimHemdani 1]

McCall should arrange a meeting with Boyd this morning & advise him he is no longer being considered for the first team squad.

He is unfit & offers nothing to the team. His performance last night was one of the most ridiculous performances I've seen from a player in a Rangers jersey. We effectively played with a man short until he went off.

 

Funnily enough that's exactly what I said to my neighbour at the match. He really was just going through the motions and I hate to say that about any Rangers player. I never once saw him chase after the ball after losing it. Contrast with the likes of Dado Prso who never gave up.

[BrahimHemdani 1]

I thought Cammy Bell was at fault for the second goal as he had no need to come out into no mans land and make it easy for the striker to lift it over him. He was never going to score from that angle under some pressure if Bell had stayed in his goal, but some ring-rust is to be expected. Not sure where Jig was, but he clearly wasn't in the right place to prevent the goal, which is his job.

 

There were some decent signs of roots coming through. I liked the tactical change to a back 3 to chase the game and create some width. I liked the way he forced Walsh to come right over to the touchline to try to spread the Alloa back line when we didnt have the ball and the ball was over the other side. I was unsure of Shiels playing so deep but he was probably our best player albeit he fell out the game for a spell (perhaps expected given his lack of game time). I liked Clark playing right up top and getting into the box more often, and he took his goals well.

 

I am going to Edinburgh on Sunday, I dont know why exactly (habit more than anything) but there is absolutely no excuse now for McCall to be playing Jig and his band of losers. When the team is announced an hour before kick off, we will all know if he has a chance of becoming permanent Rangers manager or not by his selection more than the result.

 

I thought changing the in form goalkeeper was a mistake; no doubt that a fully fit Bell is our best but he needs more games in the U20's, too late now.

 

I agree about the tactical switch but once we were ahead he should have switched back to a back four, he could have brought Sinammon on and put McGregor at CB.

 

I will be on an early train to EDI on Sunday but unlike days of yore have nothing but trepidation about this trip. I can see as going down 3-0 or 4-1, we are really short of defenders. The only real hopes are Murdoch, Walsh and Clark but they are not enough against a good, confident, settled Hibs team.

 

BTW thought Murdoch was excellent in the DMF role, displayed a maturity way beyond his years and playing time.

Edited March 18, 2015 by BrahimHemdani

[Anchorman 0]

McCulloch was heavily at fault again for their second.

[Frankie 8,529]

Some good comments - not much disagree with.

 

Big test coming up on Sunday - let's see how McCall reacts.

[MoodyBlue 0]

Movement is shocking and running off the ball seems to be something that our players are simply unaware of. The amount of walking and jogging about is utterly disgusting.

 

Felt sorry for Walsh as the players around him (apart from Murdoch) are simply not interested - or fit.

 

How long until the "what a load of rubbish" chants are echoing around the ground ?? These players are taking the piss out of us. I'd just play a team full of youngsters and drop this over paid lazy bunch.

[Calgacus 8]

aye nae doubt they are to busy to faff around with something as irrelevant as the FOOTBALL TEAM! my point is that for a guy who isn't usually shy to sit in front of a camera and tell the world what Rangers need he is quite reluctant to tell us what the deal is with McCall, why they chose him , what his remit is etc.. I know why. it's cowardice. easy to shout from the sidelines like we all have the luxury of doing on Forums etc. it's not so easy to make the big decisions and have the balls to back it up. I think he's not keen to back a loser so is saying nothing until he see's how it pans out..

 

Why would a Director be making statements about football matters? We know the situation regarding McCall - he's there until the end of the season to try and win promotion.