pete 2,499 Posted December 8, 2017 Share Posted December 8, 2017 (edited) Well what a week it has been. If we take the first game against Aberdeen into account, I will make that, what a last week and a half it has been. Whipping the Ovis aries commonly known as the Sheep 3-0 at Fort Brox (How I wish it was a fort) and then travelling up to Aberdeen for a little chewing of the cud by beating them 2-1 in their own sparsely habited Pittodrie stall.Even although we were down to ten men after an hour played, the players showed a character that we could only have dreamed about a few months ago. Ryan Jack got sent off for getting to the ball first and getting a pass away but was unfortunate to unintentionally land on the incoming leg of Stevie May who had pulled out of a 50\50 tackle. Now I am not going to say he shit it but there were more sheep droppings behind him than can be found on the Shetland Islands. Willie Collum all of a sudden got his animals mixed up and thought he was a matador waving his red card like he was fighting a bull. It is of course a trait by Mr Collum as he gives out more cards than any other referee in the top division in Scotland. In fact he probably produces more cards than Moonpig.com. Ryan Jack had been outstanding up until that point and will certainly be a big miss when we take to the field on Saturday to face Ross County at Ibrox. Rangers appealed Ryan's red card but it was rejected leaving him with a 3 match ban. Character is the word I would use for the last two games. We saw fight and determination that we had not previously seen from this team. I have often said there is no player willing to bust a gut trying to get to a ball. Josh Windass proved me wrong with his goal to put us 2-0 up. He did bust a gut to get in front of Shay Logan and turn a fantastic low cross from Daniel Candeias into the net. Aberdeen scored just two minutes later from a lovely free kick leaving us still with almost thirty minutes to keep our lead. Now I am not one to get into global warming but I think the Rangers supporters were guilty of the high production of Methane gas for that last thirty minutes.Thankfully we held out for the 2-1 win and jumped over Hibs and Aberdeen to the second place in the league. Character, that is it. But! One character who won't be in the Rangers dugout this Saturday is Derek McInnes. After six weeks of speculation Rangers finally made a move for him. Aberdeen rejected us permission to talk to him. It flew around the social media that McInnes would resign to talk to Rangers and then. The news broke that he wanted to stay at Aberdeen. I have no problem with that as everybody eventually finds a level they are comfortable with. Rangers is a goldfish-bowl where every move is dissected and you have to be up to that. Derek and his family obviously weren't. Now I don't feel sorry for Rangers or Aberdeen. I don't feel sorry for Derek McInnes but I do feel sorry for the wee woman that has spent the whole week embroidering DM on 7 polo shirts 7pairs of shorts, 7 tracksuit tops 7 tracksuit bottoms 3 Ski hats and a body warmer for the TV. Going seriously further, the winning tactical move by Murty was playing Ryan McCrorie in the defensive midfield role. That released Ryan Jack to a more advanced position and it suited him far better. Ross McCrorie and Ryan Jack were outstanding in the two games against Aberdeen. Due to Jack's red card he is now missing for the next three games against Ross County Hibs and St Johnstone. At this moment I have no Idea who will be covering for Jack in that midfield role as his natural replacement would be Graham Dorrans but he is still on the injury list. Foderingham will be in goals, you can bet your house on that. Tavernier will hold his right back spot but then it starts to get more difficult to complete the back four. If Alves is fit he will play but if not it is a choice between Wilson Cardoso and Bates for the central role. Bates was man of the match against aberdeen so it is difficult to see past him. I think he will go for Bates and Wilson with Declan John remaining at left back and the unfortunate Cardoso on the bench, McCrorie will again fill in in the defensive midfield role. The big problem is who will fill in for Jack? I think the midfield will be McCrorie Candeias Holt Pena and Windass but this does look a bit lightweight in the middle of the park as Pena and Windass are not the most defensive minded players, and we have lost out with that formation already against Dundee and to a lesser extent Hamilton. Baronjas and Kranjcar are other options but the last time Kranjcar came on the park he just didn't look fit. Baronjas is still young but has put in good displays before. I doubt he will be proffered over Candeias Pena or Windass though. Unfortunately for Morelos it looks like Kenny Miller is a first pick in the team no matter how he plays so our top scorer will have his bum planted on the bench. I think the team will be. Foderingham Tavernier Bates Wilson John McCrorie Candeias Holt Windass Pena Miller Ryan jack has a three game ban. We are going again for that elusive three wins in a row yet again. so I am going for a 3-0 win and our new manager to be named on the 3rd of January. C'mon the Gers!!! Edited December 9, 2017 by pete 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankie 8,186 Posted December 8, 2017 Share Posted December 8, 2017 Yeah, looks like Alves is back with Morleos and Cardoso also fully fit. Lee Wallace also trained fully today so may well come into the reckoning very soon, if not tomorrow. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankie 8,186 Posted December 8, 2017 Share Posted December 8, 2017 Going by recent games, I suppose the most likely team is below but I'd like to see Morelos in for Miller. I guess Windass could also drop deeper into the Jack role and Morelos could replace Josh but that's less probable. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rousseau 9,508 Posted December 8, 2017 Share Posted December 8, 2017 (edited) I'm not sure Candeias is a straight swap for Jack? I think he'd need to play at the tip of the diamond, but I wouldn't drop Pena. It needs to be a more supporting player -- can Barjonas play there? I'm actually struggling to think of anyone else, which says a lot about our squad depth! Edited December 8, 2017 by Rousseau 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete 2,499 Posted December 8, 2017 Author Share Posted December 8, 2017 Going by recent games, I suppose the most likely team is below but I'd like to see Morelos in for Miller. I guess Windass could also drop deeper into the Jack role and Morelos could replace Josh but that's less probable. I am not sure that McCrorie can bring what Jack does so I doubt that We can afford three such advanced players. I think our midfield may be over-run with that set-up given that Windass and Pena couldn't tackle a fish supper and don't. Putting Barjonas in though would probably be not attacking enough. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankie 8,186 Posted December 8, 2017 Share Posted December 8, 2017 I'm not sure Candeias is a straight swap for Jack? I think he'd need to play at the tip of the diamond, but I wouldn't drop Pena. It needs to be a more supporting player -- can Barjonas play there? I'm actually struggling to think of anyone else, which says a lot about our squad depth! Yeah, I'm not sure Candeias can play inside either so it may well be Barjonas if we opt for the diamond again. I'd imagine we'll move back to the 4-2-3-1/4-4-1-1 though. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RabiDuck 89 Posted December 8, 2017 Share Posted December 8, 2017 Ryan jack has a three game ban. We are going again for that elusive three wins in a row yet again. so I am going for a 3-0 win and our new manager to be named on the 3rd of January.C'mon the Gers!!! New manager named on 3rd of March surely on that logic? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete 2,499 Posted December 8, 2017 Author Share Posted December 8, 2017 New manager named on 3rd of March surely on that logic? Probably nearer the mark. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian1964 10,457 Posted December 8, 2017 Share Posted December 8, 2017 Could we see the return of Niko in the team? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete 2,499 Posted December 8, 2017 Author Share Posted December 8, 2017 I'm not sure Candeias is a straight swap for Jack? I think he'd need to play at the tip of the diamond, but I wouldn't drop Pena. It needs to be a more supporting player -- can Barjonas play there? I'm actually struggling to think of anyone else, which says a lot about our squad depth! Yes I struggled with it too that is why I think as Frankie says go back to a 451 in some form or other. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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