[FT] Ross County 1 - 3 Rangers (Morelos 31, 41; Herrera 89)

[Frankie 8,150]

http://www.gersnet.co.uk/index.php/news-category/match-analysis/794-false-promises-at-rangers

 

Rangers have not set the world alight with their start to the season. Having already played six competitive matches so far, the ‘Gers have only registered three wins this campaign. As such, fans have already started to show concern about the team’s prospects for the upcoming season.

 

The two wins on the bounce, a 2-1 victory away at Motherwell, and a 6-0 drubbing of Dunfermline in the cup provided Pedro Caixinha some respite. The team seemed to finally be gelling with a 4-4-2 formation, and with each other. It looked like we were finally gaining a bit of momentum that could act as a springboard onto a run of good results.

 

Rather disappointingly, recent league performances have seen the team slump back to the same kind of form they found themselves in following the dreadful Euro exit to Progres Niederkorn, as well as the poor end to last season.

 

Rangers seem to be lacking the level of consistency required to challenge at the top of the table this season. There had been fleeting glimpses of quality – the opening half an hour at Motherwell for example, but this hasn’t been sustained by the team regardless of the opposition. Rangers only once won more than two fixtures in a row last season, which is simply inexcusable for a Rangers side. Let’s hope this doesn’t continue this season.

 

This serves to demonstrate the deceptive nature of friendlies. The wins against the likes of Watford and Wednesday, as well as a draw with Marseille, lulled us into thinking we were ready for the season, and actually a half decent side!

 

The leap from friendly football to competitive action was a huge one. From the first whistle of the league season at Fir Park, the difference in the tempo, the increased physicality and passion was huge, and something you just can’t account for in friendly matches.

 

Despite Dorrans’ early opener, Rangers struggled to stamp themselves on the match at Fir Park. Once we had broken the deadlock and settled the nerves, we got our heads down and played some tidy football but after half-time we didn't play nearly as well.

 

When Ben Heneghan, an ex-Rangers transfer target, grabbed the equaliser, the quality of football dropped and it became more of a battle. In all fairness to the ‘Gers we got the win, thanks to Dorrans’ well taken fifty-eighth minute penalty, but it showed how you cannot trust form in friendlies.

 

Things didn’t improve against Hibs. Ryan Jack was sent for an early bath, and the refereeing decision was to blame for the result according to many Rangers fans. Fans conveniently forget that he did, however, play for the full ninety minutes against Hearts, and Hibs had fought their way back into the game before his dismissal. If conceding three against Hibs wasn’t enough of an indicator that all was not well, the warning signals definitely appeared again when points were dropped against a Gorgie side without a manager, and neither of their marquee players turning up on the day.

 

There is simply no way to dress up that Caixinha’s men have a poor league record since the Portuguese took charge. Under Caixinha, Rangers have a win percentage of around fifty per cent in the league, which is simply not good enough. There can be no excuses considering Caixinha has now had a summer to assemble his squad and get a pre-season under his belt at Rangers. Following the premature optimism after the friendlies this summer, it seems to be one step forward, two steps back when watching the competitive action.

 

However, the next couple of fixtures provide a good opportunity to get a couple of wins under our belt. Historically, Rangers have a fantastic record against Ross County; having never lost against them. County confidence should also be low, and the ‘Gers should realistically have too much quality for them to handle. Dundee on the other hand recorded an impressive win against Rangers last season, however have made a woeful start to the season sitting at the foot of the table having conceded seven goals in three games. Currently Betway Sports favour the Rangers to win their next two fixtures.

 

Let’s hope we head into the Old Firm derby in September with maximum points, and some confidence brewing. A win against Celtic at Ibrox will put to bed any memories of an indifferent start to the season, and hopefully ease the pressure surrounding Caixinha.

 

Possible team (4-4-2):

 

Edited August 25, 2017 by Frankie

[calscot 0]

I make it 3 wins in 6 including Europe or 2 wins in 4 domestically...

[Frankie 8,150]

The more eagle-eyed among you will have noticed the style of this preview is a wee bit different. As well as containing links for SEO purposes, the text was provided by our advertising partner and edited by myself. This is a wee trial to see how well it performs.

 

FWIW, we get a lot of sponsored content offers for the main site and I almost always turn them down as they tend to be artificial and not always relevant. As such, I've been working with one of our ad partners to try and make these appear more natural whilst maintaining a decent level of quality to make them worthy of match preview discussion.

 

I think the above works OK so we'll see how it goes.

[Frankie 8,150]

I make it 3 wins in 6 including Europe or 2 wins in 4 domestically...

 

Yeah, that stat can be debated but the author make specific reference to the league where we've only won 1 out of 3 so far.

 

Last season he won 6 out of the 10 league games he was in charge of so that's a total of 7/13 which is just above 50%.

 

Given the uncertainty, I've amended the post but I guess the overall point of his record not being good enough still stands though it's very early to make such judgements IMO.

[Frankie 8,150]

Yeah, that stat can be debated but the author make specific reference to the league where we've only won 1 out of 3 so far.

 

Last season he won 6 out of the 10 league games he was in charge of so that's a total of 7/13 which is just above 50%.

 

Given the uncertainty, I've amended the post but I guess the overall point of his record not being good enough still stands though it's very early to make such judgements IMO.

 

In terms of %age win records, it seems upwards of 65% is needed to achieve title wins.

 

Wallace, Smith, Advocaat and McLeish all had such a figure in their successful spells. Ally McCoist actually has a much higher win %age than many of his peers but clearly his opponents were of lesser quality. Same goes for Warburton who achieved the 65% figure.

 

By way of contrast, PLG was down at 52%.

 

PS: I think these numbers will have contained cup games as well (including Europe).

[D'Artagnan 173]

Yeah, that stat can be debated but the author make specific reference to the league where we've only won 1 out of 3 so far.

 

Last season he won 6 out of the 10 league games he was in charge of so that's a total of 7/13 which is just above 50%.

 

Given the uncertainty, I've amended the post but I guess the overall point of his record not being good enough still stands though it's very early to make such judgements IMO.

 

I suppose it depends Frankie on how much emphasis we place on last season. I have considerable difficulty with this as you are judging a manager based on the players he has inherited - which were clearly not good enough - and the systems he was forced to adopt to compensate for that. A fair counterpoint to that is that a good manager should be able to get the best out of what he is given and I acknowledge that.

 

But if we afford Pedro the benefit of the doubt, then Id rather we base the judgement on what we see this season. He has brought in his own players, he can play them in his style/footballing ethos and to that end there can be no excuses or latitude given to him whatsoever.

 

In terms of personnel recruited I have little doubt he has improved our squad considerably and that re-building process is clearly ongoing. I dont know the time spans others would give for a new squad of players to gel into a co-hesive unit, my own feeling is that it far too premature based on the no. of games so far.

Edited August 25, 2017 by D'Artagnan
typo

[Darthter 542]

Possible team (4-4-2):

 

 

Is Windass fit to play???

 

I don't think Miller will dropped in favour of Herrera.....If Herrera come back into the team, I fear it will be at the expense of Morelos. Other than that I think the 1st team is pretty settled, with maybe Rossiter getting a wee start in place of Jack (The 2 of them almost alternating games)

 

Over all I think we will win, and we will do it fairly comfortably (play wise, maybe not score wise).

[Frankie 8,150]

Is Windass fit to play???

 

I don't think Miller will dropped in favour of Herrera.....If Herrera come back into the team, I fear it will be at the expense of Morelos. Other than that I think the 1st team is pretty settled, with maybe Rossiter getting a wee start in place of Jack (The 2 of them almost alternating games)

 

Over all I think we will win, and we will do it fairly comfortably (play wise, maybe not score wise).

 

Not sure about Windass yet and I'd probably agree about Miller given my team was based more on hope than expectation.

 

If Windass isn't fit then I think we'll move to a 4-2-3-1 with Kranjcar perhaps playing in one of the deeper roles alongside Jack and Candeias, Miller and Pena/Dorrans in the more offensive positions.

[stewarty 1,876]

Given the discussion point on Pena during the week I'd expect him to feature.

 

I think Pedro will bring Herrera back in if fit, to give us the more physical presence.

[Frankie 8,150]

Given the discussion point on Pena during the week I'd expect him to feature.

 

I think Pedro will bring Herrera back in if fit, to give us the more physical presence.

 

It's annoying that Herrera missed out last week as I think he'd have been an ideal sub in terms of how the game played out.

 

In that sense, I'm not always sure we should start him but, given Miller's poor game last week, I think we do need something different on Sunday.