[FT] St Johnstone 1 - 1 Rangers (McKay 23)

[pete 2,499]

Santa Claus has come and gone steering Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, and Blitzen back to Lapland for a well earned rest. He has forgotten Rudolph I hear you saying but the fact is that Rudolph was not named in the original line-up. Rudolph was in fact brought in as a last minute addition to lead the front line through stormy weather. You could say he was the Joey Garner of the Reindeer team.

Even the red nose and the fact he was a bit of a misfit probably fits the analogy perfectly. Some Rangers supporters may take the opinion that some of the other reindeer offer up a better analogy for Garner and call him a right prancer or a right dancer. The fact is just like Rudolph Garner is the type who will not be suited to every outing. Nobody will ever be able to criticise his work ethic though for when it comes to work a horse comes more to mind than a reindeer. Unfortunately the liking is more the cumbersome strength of a work horse other than the agile stealth of a racehorse. After the games against Aberdeen and Hearts where Garner was the man of the match, on Saturday against Inverness he was almost non-existent against a physically strong ICT defence. That a striker is non-existent occurs with almost every striker but with many you can say he only needs one sniff of goal and he will score. Until now it looks like Joe doesn't have that quality in the saddle-room. With that in mind it surprised me on Saturday that Mark Warburton chose to substitute the constantly dangerous Waghorn instead of a not so smok'n Joe.

 

After Waghorn, who has been our most dangerous player recently, was substituted in the last two games we have virtually surrendered as an attacking force putting the defence under immense pressure. This is something Warburton should think about when making his standard substitutions. Taking off your most dangerous player could have could have serious implications to the outcome of such a tight scoreline.

 

On Wednesday we head up to Perth to face a St Johnstone team who also chalked up a 1-0 win on Saturday against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park. Kilmarnock had the best of the play for most of the game but St Johnstone mirrored Rangers in scoring a goal and with staunch defending holding on to take the spoils

 

St Johnstone have been a thorn in our side over the last two seasons beating us 1-3 at Ibrox in the league cup last season, and holding us to a 1-1 draw at Ibrox in the league this season. In manager Tommy Wright they have a Wiley old fox who is tactically very astute and will set up his team to be extremely organised.

 

All of a sudden teams have been going from parking the bus against us to closing us down quickly high up the park to try and stop us playing our ball retention game. After a 3-0 defeat at Tyncastle the Rangers management team looked to have decided that plan B was not perhaps playing plan A better but bringing in more flexibility in our play. We have now been playing the long ball and bridging the midfield far more than in the previous games. This brought great success with fantastic wins against Hearts and Aberdeen our nearest rivals. On Saturday we saw against the tall physical strength of Inverness that the long ball is not the answer to every game situation though and the important word in the story is Flexibility. That is the word that has been missing from Mark Warburton´s vocabulary until recently. It is great to see someone stick to their laurels but not so great to see them constantly run into a brick wall because they are not willing to alter course. It would seem now that that penny has dropped and that can only be for the betterment of the team.

 

Apart from the Long term injury victims Rossiter and Kranjcar, Lee wallace is also extremely doubtful for Wednesdays game. There have been pages of discussion on the Rangers websites whether he should have left the field on Saturday or take up a standing position on the wing as we had already used three substitutions. Taking up the wing position meant a defender still had to make sure he did not get involved in the play, thus not giving Caley a player a free pass to join the attack. As Wallace never really exerted himself I feel he and the coaching staff made the correct decision as the 3 points were almost in the bag, As the old saying goes a bird in the hand is better than two in the bush. If it is indeed a Hamstring injury that Wallace has incurred then he was always going to be out for 4 to 8 weeks anyway whether he played on or not. I would imagine that Wallace played the largest part in the decision to stay on to play his captains part. While he is not loved by all fans a place in the Rangers hall of fame must be beckoning for the full/back when he retires.

 

One position which has become a first pick is the goalkeeper. Fotheringham virtually won the game on Saturday single/handed with a number of crucial saves at crucial times. I was one of his biggest critics last season and doubted whether he would ever make a top class keeper. He has obviously worked hard with the goalkeeping coaching staff and has vastly improved on last season. His whole game has improved and he commands his area where he was stuck to the goal-line in the past.Much credit to him and the coaching staff.

 

One other point worth mentioning is the position of Andy Halliday. He really has to stop trying to be clever when playing out of defence. On three occasions in the last two games he has blundered by trying to be clever. He is lucky there are no other players ready to step into that defensive midfield position or he may have found himself on the sidelines. If a defensive midfield player is brought in in the January window Andy may find himself warming the substitutes bench. Against the top teams we cannot afford a time-bomb on the pitch.

 

At the time of writing no other injuries have been published and I doubt Wallace will be fit so I think or would like the team to be:

 

Fotheringham

 

Tavernier Kiernen Hill Hodson

 

Holt Halliday Miller

 

Waghorn Garner McKay

 

C,mon the Gers!

Edited December 27, 2016 by pete

[cooponthewing 1,139]

Enjoyable read Pete! Rudolph Garner indeed(I reckon that's a sticker lol). Totally agree re Halliday too.

[aweebluesoandso 290]

To be honest my head is on Saturdays game, we can't afford to be any else but at the top of our game. Wednesday's clash with ST Jonhstone should be an opportunity to iron out the wee niggling problems that crept into our game on Saturday, like lack of concentration. Sloppy passing and adjusting the sights on the boots. Just in time for the big one, get the little things correct and i think we can do them on Saturday.

 

No disrespect to St Johnstone but we need to play to our strengths tomorrow, get at them early doors, keep it tight at the back but let our wingers do the damage by getting the ball into Garner and Miller, Waghorn just needs to get his shots on target, McKay should sprinkle fairy dust on his boots and he'll fly by SJ defenders.

[der Berliner 3,247]

I'd like to trial this 3-5-2 formation tomorrow to have them ready against the Scum

 

Foderingham

 

Tavernier - Kiernan - Hill - Wilson - Hodson

 

Forrester - Halliday - Miller

 

Waghorn - Gardner

 

Enough cover at the back should any of the fullbacks go forward, a good defensive setup if we face their forward department. Hill for organisation, Wilson for playing the long and precise ball out of defence. Kiernan with the option to support Halliday in defensive MF, or allowing the latter to move forward too. Miller and Forrester as the creative folk in front of Halliday, and Waghorn and Gardner keeping the backlines busy. Holt and McKay can come on later, they look - right now - physically not able to stem a robust midfield tide like we will face from the Scum. Dodoo and O'Halloran for later.

[boabie 230]

To be honest my head is on Saturdays game, we can't afford to be any else but at the top of our game. Wednesday's clash with ST Jonhstone should be an opportunity to iron out the wee niggling problems that crept into our game on Saturday, like lack of concentration. Sloppy passing and adjusting the sights on the boots. Just in time for the big one, get the little things correct and i think we can do them on Saturday.

 

No disrespect to St Johnstone but we need to play to our strengths tomorrow, get at them early doors, keep it tight at the back but let our wingers do the damage by getting the ball into Garner and Miller, Waghorn just needs to get his shots on target, McKay should sprinkle fairy dust on his boots and he'll fly by SJ defenders.

 

Following our last showing Warburton has the chance to prove he possesses a large pair of hobnail boots which he will not be afraid of connecting with a few of our players erchies. Nobody is looking for or expecting a world class display. What I want to see is some of the carelessness and torpor cut out.

[jhunter 0]

fair play , you avoided the little donkey references

[Gribz 743]

Would like to see something along the lines of this:

 

Foderingham

 

Tavernier Hill Wilson Hodson

 

Halliday

 

Waghorn Holt Forrester McKay

 

Dodoo

 

Would have picked Miller but Id like to see him 100% for the weekend as he is a big game player and has a good record against Celtic.

 

MOH against his old side on the right is an option. Waghorn has his shooting boots back on so is an important player.

Edited December 27, 2016 by Gribz

[the gunslinger 3,366]

Need to win this one after tonights results.

 

 

[ian1964 10,416]

Did any of you over seas fans get any feed back from Rangers TV regarding streaming issues the last match?, have Rangers TV corrected these issues?.

[ian1964 10,416]

St. Johnstone face Rangers on Wednesday evening at McDiarmid Park in their second last fixture of 2016. Saints will look to build on Thursday night's victory over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park, which saw them move to within a point of third place Hearts in the Premiership table. It was all square when Rangers and St Johnstone met earlier in the year, a superb Blair Alston goal secured a point for the Saints in a 1-1 draw at Ibrox. The game will also mark the return of former Saintee Micheal O'Halloran to McDiarmid. The forward moved to Rangers in January of this year.

The visitors come into the fixture in a fine run of form. Rangers' 1-0 home victory over Inverness on Christmas Eve marked their fourth victory in a row. The Ibrox outfit are second in the league - 11 points ahead of Saints - but trail Celtic by 14 points.

Murray Davidson, who scored the winning goal against Kilmarnock, is suspended but Steven MacLean returns. Both Micheal Coulson and Ally Gilchrist remain unavailable due to injury.

On the match, Tommy Wright said: "Rangers are expected to win every game they go into. They come into this game in a good run of form but we've only lost six games ourself this season.

"They'll have more of the ball than us but if we use it well when we have it, we can cause them problems in their half.

“We will have to make a change because of Murray’s ban but you always know he’ll pick up bookings. We have options with the likes of Paul Paton as well. Murray didn’t play against Rangers the last time and we got a good result.”

 

http://www.perthstjohnstonefc.co.uk/news/post/match-preview-saints-v-rangers271216