[FT] St. Johnstone 0 - 3 Rangers (Pena 27, 78; Dorrans 85)

[der Berliner 3,290]

What I have seen this season in the Premiership puts the quality we have faced in the lower tiers into shade. Of course we had some howlers by probably the lowest paid chaps in the ref's queue. But the guys out there these days are the top of the re roster in Scotland and are as poor or weak as it gets.

[cooponthewing 1,139]

What I have seen this season in the Premiership puts the quality we have faced in the lower tiers into shade. Of course we had some howlers by probably the lowest paid chaps in the ref's queue. But the guys out there these days are the top of the re roster in Scotland and are as poor or weak as it gets.

 

Or corrupt dB? Let’s not forget Beaton was no accident. The others may not have been as blatant but it’s one heck of a coincidence?

[Davie P 4]

Or corrupt dB? Let’s not forget Beaton was no accident. The others may not have been as blatant but it’s one heck of a coincidence?

 

Personally, I don't think that they are corrupt, (as in receiving backhanders in brown envelopes) however the entire atmosphere within Scottish football is toxic towards all things Rangers. As a result, you can be fairly sure that you are not going to receive any censure by the SFA/SPFL bosses with regards to any poor decision taken against Rangers. In that Hibs game, Beaton put on quite possibly the worst performance by a ref that I have ever seen, but if you recall the hullabaloo when he did not send of Garner last season, my guess is that he just wanted to show that he was impartial and instead of sending off Stokes, he sent off Jack to 'even' up the score.

[calscot 0]

Bit late to this but wanted to say I was really pleased with the performance and result on Friday. What pleased me most was that we were up for the fight, and we matched their physicality all over the pitch.

 

I found it a bit of a strange game where we dominated in most of it but then had lapses where we were dominated for spells. The good thing is that we scored the goals and kept the clean sheet which is something we wouldn't have done last year under similar circumstances. Their pressure would have led to a bad goal or two and ours would have likely not brought much in return.

 

I think it's a good sign that we won the game well even though we gave the opposition the upper hand in too many spells where we were not very good. The same goes for the 4-1 win.

 

I wouldn't say we're a Championship winning team yet but we now look like a team that will win most games even when we mess it up a bit.

 

I thought Pena had a smashing game, popped up late into the box on many occasions which is exactly what we have been missing.

 

I agree with most of the consensus that he looks a good player but has some ridiculous lapses that make him look like a rookie at times.

 

Dorrans had a fine game too and Holt did all the work Jack does, but still managed to get up the park for an assist. he brought the energy to the midfield and I don't think it's a coincidence that Dorrans best game to date comes with Holt beside him instead of Jack.

 

I agree with that, when Jack plays he looks like he's doing a good job, but Dorrens looks very ordinary at best in those games.

 

It looks a better fit with Pena ahead of them.

 

That does seem to be working well in our current formation and he seems to keep popping up in the box to the left of Morelos giving us more target options, and twice in this game put the ball in the net after the defenders all went to challenge the Buffalo from a cross from the right, and all missing the ball. One thing I noticed from Tav was that he was looking up before his crosses and looked like he had a modicum of measure on the ball, whereas I think he used to put it in a bit blind with hit and hope.

 

If we can get Pedro to see what everyone else can see, I.e. that Windass is not a Rangers player, we are looking a bit better all round.

 

I agree, I've never really thought he's fitted in much since he came. Worth trying as a young talent but not really up to the task yet.

 

Finally, I'm sure I'm not the only one to work out that as soon as we get Miller away from the squad, we have two very good away wins and a 7-1 margin. Just saying like!!!!!

 

Miller isn't sharp enough anymore to play in his more natural position, and I think we've seen he's not the player for the position he's been playing this season. With whatever talent he has left, he doesn't fit our current style of play - whereas Peña, aberrations aside, does.

[Tannochsidebear 2,322]

I found it a bit of a strange game where we dominated in most of it but then had lapses where we were dominated for spells. The good thing is that we scored the goals and kept the clean sheet which is something we wouldn't have done last year under similar circumstances. Their pressure would have led to a bad goal or two and ours would have likely not brought much in return.

 

I think it's a good sign that we won the game well even though we gave the opposition the upper hand in too many spells where we were not very good. The same goes for the 4-1 win.

 

I wouldn't say we're a Championship winning team yet but we now look like a team that will win most games even when we mess it up a bit.

 

 

 

I agree with most of the consensus that he looks a good player but has some ridiculous lapses that make him look like a rookie at times.

 

 

 

I agree with that, when Jack plays he looks like he's doing a good job, but Dorrens looks very ordinary at best in those games.

 

 

 

That does seem to be working well in our current formation and he seems to keep popping up in the box to the left of Morelos giving us more target options, and twice in this game put the ball in the net after the defenders all went to challenge the Buffalo from a cross from the right, and all missing the ball. One thing I noticed from Tav was that he was looking up before his crosses and looked like he had a modicum of measure on the ball, whereas I think he used to put it in a bit blind with hit and hope.

 

 

 

I agree, I've never really thought he's fitted in much since he came. Worth trying as a young talent but not really up to the task yet.

 

 

 

Miller isn't sharp enough anymore to play in his more natural position, and I think we've seen he's not the player for the position he's been playing this season. With whatever talent he has left, he doesn't fit our current style of play - whereas Peña, aberrations aside, does.

 

I cant argue with any of that. We have been here before however with a couple of decent wins and performances and then it all falls apart and we start again. It is crucial, if Pedro wants to be here past Christmas, that he can find a way of getting a run of wins together. 2 wins and a draw or defeat is never going to be good enough. However he may be excused a draw or defeat if he has won 6 games in a row, or goes 10 unbeaten with a couple of draws thrown in. I dont see this happening because I dont think he is a good enough manager to achieve this, but I really, really, really, want it to happen and I so want to have to give him credit and an apology.

 

There is no room for error on Sunday. A semi final defeat to Motherwell, no matter how it comes about with poor refereeing or a howler of an error from one of our players, will see the call for his head intensify. If we agree that celtic are financially way out in front of us and that we cant realistically compete, then Motherwell are to us what we are to celtic, and they should not be able to compete with us IF we are on our game.

[calscot 0]

I cant argue with any of that. We have been here before however with a couple of decent wins and performances and then it all falls apart and we start again. It is crucial, if Pedro wants to be here past Christmas, that he can find a way of getting a run of wins together. 2 wins and a draw or defeat is never going to be good enough. However he may be excused a draw or defeat if he has won 6 games in a row, or goes 10 unbeaten with a couple of draws thrown in. I dont see this happening because I dont think he is a good enough manager to achieve this, but I really, really, really, want it to happen and I so want to have to give him credit and an apology.

 

I don't think any of us are sure about how good Pedro will be, but I think many of us are impressed with his knowledge and his vision of how we want to play but are not yet convinced about the implementation and whether he can walk the walk. It does seem that hope is rising in many though as we see the improvements in the team.

 

I think we are still susceptible to defensive errors and prone to run out of ideas against a parked bus but I'm getting more an more confident we'll still get the points.

 

If we forget Progres due to not having his own team, treat the Hibs game as an aberration due to the refereeing, and the Celtic game as one against a much more expensive and established side, our record against the rest makes it look like when we mess up, we get a draw.

 

I'm not leaving much in the way of data points but we're 6 wins and 3 draws for the rest, with an extra time win with the draw in the cup. I think that bodes reasonably well at this stage in the development of the squad, and personally expect an extra time win to be the worse will happen if we don't play too well. Of course you can lose any game if you don't figuratively turn up and the opposition do.

 

There is no room for error on Sunday. A semi final defeat to Motherwell, no matter how it comes about with poor refereeing or a howler of an error from one of our players, will see the call for his head intensify. If we agree that celtic are financially way out in front of us and that we cant realistically compete, then Motherwell are to us what we are to celtic, and they should not be able to compete with us IF we are on our game.

 

Totally agree, and a manager has to show that he can negotiate these must-win games, while under a lot of pressure. That's something we haven't seen since Walter.

[JFK-1 1,677]

St Johnstone v Rangers full match.

 

There's over half an hour of prematch with the teams coming out around 37 minutes or so. The boy also removes the chat and his spot camera at the bottom left after a bit.

 

This was the first time I have seen it and I have to say that overall I was impressed. It's a difficult place to go and evidence of that is this was their first home league defeat of the season while hubz got a 1-1 draw there and Sundays opponents Motherwell were thrashed 4-1 there.

 

[video=youtube;Wa82rREy-kk]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa82rREy-kk

[none of consequence 0]

Evening Gentlemen,

 

I'm a refugee from DoTheBouncy as it was brutally hacked 3 times last month and looks to be all but dead. Also didn't fancy the '' replacement '' forum so thought I'd pack my bags and move to Gersnet for good.

 

So to get to the point, I'm enjoying seeing Pena come to life with the more game time he's given. He was given a tonne of stick before he even put a Rangers jersey on, so it's good to see him contributing.

 

Anyways, cool forum, glad to be here.

[pete 2,499]

Evening Gentlemen,

 

I'm a refugee from DoTheBouncy as it was brutally hacked 3 times last month and looks to be all but dead. Also didn't fancy the '' replacement '' forum so thought I'd pack my bags and move to Gersnet for good.

 

So to get to the point, I'm enjoying seeing Pena come to life with the more game time he's given. He was given a tonne of stick before he even put a Rangers jersey on, so it's good to see him contributing.

 

Anyways, cool forum, glad to be here.

 

Cheers mate and welcome. Totally agree about Pena he certainly is improving.