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[FT] Rangers 1 (Kranjcar 75) - 1 Marseille


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On Saturday at 3pm Marsaille will take the field to play Rangers in a friendly. They probably won't get a great reception as they enter the field, as our memory of Marsaille goes back to season 1992-93. We finished a close second to them in the group stages of the Champions league. They went on to beat AC. Milan in the final but soon afterwards they were accused of match fixing. They were found guilty of fixing one game in the French competition so that they would be champions at an earlier date to give them the optimal time to train for the final. Stories that referee's were also bribed on the way to the final have been loitering in the shadows with their flamboyant president, Bernard Tapie, being suspected of throwing cash around. This was 25 years ago and nothing can be done to change history unless you are HMRC. It is now time to move on and enjoy top European teams back to Ibrox. What a pity we could not do it within the Europa League.

 

Rangers have far more troubles to bear. It is now 5 matches we have failed to score a goal. That old song we used to sing”Oh Oh Oh Rangersssss, Rangersssss, I'd Walk A Million Miles, For One Of Your Goals, Oh Rangerssssss, ” Well today it looks like you may have to walk a million miles to see one of our goals.

 

I am not going to drag up all the negatives of the last few weeks and try an put a positive spin on things. Pedro's\our team is starting to take shape. We dominated St Johnstone but the final piece of the jigsaw was missing. Putting the ball in the old onion bag. We had players playing their first game for the club and yes they may need time to gel together. Lets be honest we could not beat Marsaille with world class players in 92-93 so can we really expect with this Rangers team at the stage we are at to go out and beat them. This is one game I really believe the performance is more important than the score. This is a game where our manager should be released from the pressure of losing his job.

 

Thinking of the game I get the picture in my head of Bruce Lee in the film Enter the Dragon. On to the park will walk big Bruno Alves for the first time in a Rangers strip. God I hope they throw him a snickers before the game and he doesn't turn out as Mr Bean. Everyone will agree our defence has been weak for the past few years so hopefully big iron man, backed up by Cordoso will give us that steel grit at the back in what they call the backbone or spine of the team.

 

Ryan Jack moved from Aberdeen to us in the summer to cover the defensive midfield role and has probably been the success story of all our summer signings so far. Or has he? He has really played well in games sitting in front of the defenders and winning the ball in the midfield to start the following Rangers attack. Unfortunately no matter how good Ryan plays he is not going to win you games of football. I have to ask, when we are playing teams week in week out who sit with nine defenders behind the ball do we really need a defensive midfield player or could he be swapped for a more attacking minded player? After all, falling deep and picking the ball up from the defenders and passing it square is not going to break down teams and get us the things we miss the most. Goals! The thought behind it is that with a defensive midfielder the full-backs can play more of an attacking role, but teams have like Prógres Niederkorn caught on to this ploy and stuck two hard working wingers on to the full-backs leaving a one man attacking funnel in the centre of the park. What is easier when you know we have only one danger in the midfield than to shut him down quickly. Ryan Jack has done his work brilliantly but the old robot theory comes into my head. The same, the same, and more of the same, with no player to get in behind the enemy lines.

Marsaille is a different kettle of fish as the SPFL though and he may even use two defensive midfielders in Jack and Rossiter

 

Nico Kranjcar was the player that became that one man midfield funnel. Nobody can deny he is a fantastic player. But! Does he have the physical ability to go a season in the Rangers engine room. To compensate for Kranjcar Dorrans and Pena will have to be played wide. Normally they are not wide players so has Pedro bought square pegs to fit in round holes? As Dorrans and Pena have only played in one game it would be unfair to give any sort of judgement on them at this time.

 

At the top of the spine it looks like Eduardo Herrera will be taking up that role. He certainly seems to be able to hold up the ball which is what we want but his lack of goals over the years makes me ask again. Is he the type of player we really need. To get the best out of him we have to have players getting up past him otherwise we have Joey Garner mark 11

 

So we have a defence and spine of Tavernier, Alves, cordoso,and Wallace that pretty much looks like the preferred defence. We then need to fill in the rest of the team around Kranjcar and Herrera.

I think against Marsaille he may go for the 4-2-3-1 formation which will put in Rossiter and Jack.

That leaves Dorrans, Pena, Dalcio, Holt, Miller, Waghorn, Candeias, Morelos and Windass to fill the last 2 midfield\attacking roles.

Miller has been an ever present in the team so he will probably get the starting nod for a wide midfield place. Given that Pena is Caixinha's star signing I would expect him to take up his place in the team although that may depend on his fitness.

 

That would make the team:

Foderingham

 

Tavernier Alves Cordoso Wallace

 

Rossiter Jack

 

Miller Kranjcar Pena

 

Herrera

 

 

 

 

Losing to Marsaille will be no scandal unless it is by a large score.

I doubt if this game will have much influence on the Rangers managers position but Caixinha's team really needs to start at least showing some improvement. If the team don't then Dave King could be ready to say “Rien ne va plus” on Caixinha's reign as manager.

 

I really did try to b positive.:(

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Is it possible to pay at the gate tomorrow?

 

Been nothing in the media or through normal club channels? I suspect it will be tickets as usual?

Enjoyed the read Pete. There is not a great deal of positivity to discuss to be fair. Pre season has not been great but let's hope the next two games sparks some life into the side!

Edited by cooponthewing
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Perhaps change the title to 'plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose'! Under Warburton we played possession football with no end result, under Pedro, we appear to be exactly the same. (Based upon the pre season matches anyway). Like you, I am surprised that we continue to buy (and be linked with) central midfielders. If Jack and Rossiter are our DM's, then if forces Pena and Dorrans wide, as Kranjcar is always going to be the attacking point of the arrow head.

 

I did enjoy your thoughts iro Jack and the need for a defensive midfielder when our SPFL opponents are likely to have 10 players behind the ball. However, I would argue that last season, as we became more desperate to score, Wallace and Tav would always remain in our opponents half and Andy Halliday would be drawn forward as well. Our opponents would then switch the play into the vacuum left by the full backs, which then drew one of the centre backs across the field and out of position with no cover. Jack appears to be a very disciplined player and seems to have great awareness of danger. When the fullbacks are forward this season (as they will be) and the space behind them is exploited, you would anticipate Jack dropping back into the CD position, covering Alves or Cardoso. I am hopeful that we will be much more solid this time around. Now if we can only create and take our chances, we will be far more competitive this season!

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Just to make sure that the world does not revlve Rangers FC, Don Pedro and Co. ...

 

Olympique spend a mere 38m on transfers this summer https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/olympique-marseille/transfers/verein/244/saison_id/2017

 

They finished 5t last season and their star player is without doubt Dmitri Payet, a smashing left-winger. Elsewhere, a lot of names unknown to me bar Mr. Evra, and all but 5 look to be of a immigrant or foreign background ... which, in Marseille, is to be expected. Hubocan as Bruno Alves' partner at Zenit.

 

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/olympique-marseille/startseite/verein/244?saison_id=2017

 

EDIT: They've won friendlies against Fenerbahce and Sporting Lisbon

 

Fener highlights

https://www.om.net/en/videos/323725/om-1-0-fenerbahce-highlights

 

Rerport on the Sporting game

https://www.om.net/en/news/324277/om-2-1-sporting-portugal-om-remain-solid

Edited by der Berliner
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I hope for a strong select that gives the support some much needed belief again. We can go trialing and testing during the close-door games.

 

Wonder whether we start a tad more defensive than I would have liked us, with two covering players. I do hope that Tav is up to the threat of Payet, else trouble is on the horizon.

 

Foderingham

 

Tavernier/Hodson - Alves - Cardoso - Wallace

 

Jack - Rossiter

 

Candeias - Dorrans - Dalcio

 

Herrera

 

I would rather see a 4-4-2 though, with two strikers to keep them occupied.

 

Foderingham

 

Tavernier/Hodson - Alves - Cardoso - Wallace

 

Candeias - Jack - Dorrans - Dalcio

 

Herrera - Morelos

 

I do wonder whether we will have Pena and/or Kranjcar in from the off though, instead of e.g. Dalcio, with Dorrans going slightly left-midfieldish instead. Options over options.

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