[FT] Rangers 2 (Wilson 56; Morelos 76) - 0 Motherwell

[cooponthewing 1,139]

Firstly, I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and prosperous new year. It has been a turbulent time of late so I wish everyone merriment and enjoyable festive season.

 

 

I am penning this preview on Christmas eve, the day after spending an afternoon that I will never get back at rugby park yesterday. At this time of year bears all over the country and the world spend hard earned cash on merchandise for friends and family as we all share a collective love for our club. It was particularly unsavoury to witness the complete lack of desire shown by our team during yesterday’s second half. I was also genuinely shocked to observe two substitutes standing with hands in their pockets like schoolboys having a laugh. If that is the attitude of the substitutes on the bench, then they should not be on the bench. Clearly, they have no desire to be part of our club. All we ask of players as fans and supporters of our great club, is that you give 100% on the park. We know things are not as we would like off the park and we also are aware that players are human and can be affected by it. It has also been noticed that this lethargy in the side is a symptom of a much bigger problem within the club. If there are problems at boardroom level then this is clearly affecting the players. However, as generations of Rangers’ supporters have followed our club we will not accept anything less than 100% commitment and desire on the park. I sincerely hope Santa drops some motivation, fortitude and professionalism at the door of some of our players?

 

 

Graeme Murty took charge of the game as officially Rangers manager for the first time. I like Graeme Murty and I also believe he can do a job for us. The players have a responsibility to stand up and fight for themselves, the club, the supporters and for Graeme Murty. Like it or not, Graeme Murty is now your Gaffer, I hope he makes sure they are aware of this in no uncertain terms. It’s time we all got behind the manager. As far as I can see he is one of the very few who have shown complete loyalty, commitment and desire to the cause on a continual basis. He can’t do anything about what’s going on off the park and I have tremendous respect for him standing up to be counted in the knowledge he will face criticism should he not hit the ground running.

I have spoken enough about matters peripheral to this Wednesdays home fixture versus Motherwell. This fixture is being held on the 27th of December at 19.45 yet we have been sold out for the last week. Again, this is quite incredible from our support which will see 50k Rangers supporters cheer on our side on a bracing winter evening! The last time we faced Motherwell was at Hampden where we witnessed another inept performance bereft of passion or desire. Although it must be said we had enough chances in the first half and should have been ahead. My own opinion is that by this time the collective belief had gone and the majority of the side had lost the heart for any kind of fight. Therefore, Motherwell took full advantage and with the help of another shocking refereeing display proceeded to virtually assault us off the park and bully us to a humiliating 2-0 defeat. Louis Moult that day provided more examples of why we should have made a greater effort to sign him?

 

 

After what I witnessed yesterday it’s not particularly easy to be optimistic with team selection? I would not start with Hodson as he just doesn’t cut it at Rangers. Unless Beerman is injured I would put him back in if we are playing DJ further forward? I am also unsure of the situation with Bruno? So, if we presume Bruno is fit I would go with a back three of Alves-McCrorie-Cardozo. I will openly say that I don’t and have never rated Wilson therefore if Cardozo is fit I would play him. Tavernier would be on the right and DJ on the left. This leaving Jack to come back in along with Holt and Windass. This could introduce Hardie who could play off Morelos. There is no future in talk of Nico or Pena etc they are both well overweight and not fit for purpose in my opinion. Candeias is a good impact player from the bench but we are even struggling to find that as Hererra is not the answer either?

 

 

All in all, it’s a tough time for us bears and the team I have picked there would hopefully be good enough to see off Motherwell? Then again, I am not the gaffer Graeme Murty. I will predict my usual 3-1 home victory with Windass fgs. I genuinely wish everyone a very merry xmas and I hope Santa treats you well? It would certainly cheer us all up if said Mr Claus was kind enough to drop off sacks of commitment and desire to our team. If they apply themselves on a consistent basis I am sure they are capable of turning things around!

 

 

C’mon eh Bears!

Edited December 24, 2017 by cooponthewing

[Big Jaws 570]

Decent write up Coop thanks for that however what I've been reading from other forum posters is that all the subs who were meant to be warming up looked disinterested. Personally speaking I do not curb my writers voice when editing but in this instance where two players are named specifically I would be cautious of publishing any article with names in tact as it is potentially litigious if made public.

[cooponthewing 1,139]

Decent write up Coop thanks for that however what I've been reading from other forum posters is that all the subs who were meant to be warming up looked disinterested. Personally speaking I do not curb my writers voice when editing but in this instance where two players are named specifically I would be cautious of publishing any article with names in tact as it is potentially litigious if made public.

 

Pena and Herrera were the most blatant. They were standing on the by line at the Chadwick stand having a rare old chat. Maybe they were discussing tactics? What do I know? I’m sure admin will edit it if they need to. No problem with that.

[les186 271]

Commitment and desire, yes indeed that's what we need. I would also agree that we need at least one more midfielder. Hopefully Jack can stay on the park for 90 minutes.

[cooponthewing 1,139]

Commitment and desire, yes indeed that's what we need. I would also agree that we need at least one more midfielder. Hopefully Jack can stay on the park for 90 minutes.

 

Lets hope Jack steps up to the plate? Graeme Murty needs a man on the park and Jack should be him.

Edited December 24, 2017 by cooponthewing

[Big Jaws 570]

Pena and Herrera were the most blatant. They were standing on the by line at the Chadwick stand having a rare old chat. Maybe they were discussing tactics? What do I know? I’m sure admin will edit it if they need to. No problem with that.

 

It was more a heads up rather than an it should be done Coop. You're entitled to your opinion or how you felt about something and if you felt the subs were disinterested then you should say it. However, for example you can say things like x player didn't play well but something like this that cant be referenced other than from your anecdotal evidence is a something I would point out to my writers might be problematic.

 

EDIT: knowing how petty Traynor is its the sort of thing he or his team might pick up on and its not worth the hassle mate.

Edited December 24, 2017 by Big Jaws

[cooponthewing 1,139]

It was more a heads up rather than an it should be done Coop. You're entitled to your opinion or how you felt about something and if you felt the subs were disinterested then you should say it. However, for example you can say things like x player didn't play well but something like this that cant be referenced other than from your anecdotal evidence is a something I would point out to my writers might be problematic.

 

EDIT: knowing how petty Traynor is its the sort of thing he or his team might pick up on and its not worth the hassle mate.

 

That’s actually a fair point big jaws. Names removed from article. I was in a rush and still smouldering from yesterday.

[pete 2,499]

You have thrown up an interesting discussion in that: Is the half-time break an official training session or is it just a kick-around for the subs to waste the 15 minutes until the end of the break. If it is just a kick-around to waste time then I don't see what is wrong with having a tongue wag, but if they are supposed to be warming up then you are right they should have been trying harder. Personally I think it is just a casual kick-about to stretch their legs although I am not sure the clubs view on it.

Edited December 24, 2017 by pete

[MacK1950 2,231]

Good report and like you I do not rate Wilson,I have always called him a "bombscare" although he had a decent game yesterday.

The big problem during games is that we don't have a leader on the park and with Miller out I don't see a solution.

Should be there on Wednesday although I have a busy?heavy afternoon.

Like all on here I wish all our "netters" a good xmas and happy new year and hope the team have the same and also that they can put a smile on our faces.

[der Berliner 3,247]

You have thrown up an interesting discussion in that: Is the half-time break an official training session or is it just a kick-around for the subs to waste the 15 minutes until the end of the break. If it is just a kick-around to waste time then I don't see what is wrong with having a tongue wag, but if they are supposed to be warming up then you are right they should have been trying harder. Personally I think it is just a casual kick-about to stretch their legs although I am not sure the clubs view on it.

 

... and it probably also depends on the temperature, weather and surface. Since I rarely see any other half-time warm-ups, I can't tell. Yet I get the feeling that quite a few things have been brought out of proportion and put under the microscope, usually without much reference to other games and players. Over on FF they went bananas about a HT twitter video showing Herrera and Pena doing next to nothing. The Mexicans were given pelters like there was no tomorrow, but only 1 in 20 posters remarked that neither of the other subs actually did anything different. How do we know what they were being told?

Edited December 24, 2017 by der Berliner