match thread (image) [FT] Motherwell 2 - 2 Rangers (Tavernier 52 pen; Murphy 53)

[pete 2,499]

2 hours ago, RANGERRAB said:

So who will be Rangers manager next season then ?

I was talking to a few Dutch friends tonight. Two FC Twente supporters and a Feynoord supporter and all three said they would rather have Michel Preud'homme rather than FdB. They were all of the meaning that FdB has too much of the Ajax philosophy whereas MPH has a more open flexible management style. What does this mean? Totally nothing just 3 more opinions. 

[Unicorn 206]

I’d like someone with a handy acronym as it saves time when typing.

 

MPH, GVB or FDB will do nicely.

[the gunslinger 3,366]

I’d like someone with a handy acronym as it saves time when typing.
 
MPH, GVB or FDB will do nicely.

SC

[Rousseau 9,361]

6 hours ago, pete said:

I was talking to a few Dutch friends tonight. Two FC Twente supporters and a Feynoord supporter and all three said they would rather have Michel Preud'homme rather than FdB. They were all of the meaning that FdB has too much of the Ajax philosophy whereas MPH has a more open flexible management style. What does this mean? Totally nothing just 3 more opinions. 

That aligns with my opinion, though -- and yours I think?

 

There can't be a coincidence that FdB had his only managerial success at a side that has its own in-built philosophy, one in which he is also steeped. Trying to replicate that anywhere will be near impossible.

 

That doesn't mean MPH is the answer, just that he's probably a more pragmatic option.

[RANGERRAB 3,254]

I can't see us going for a foreign manager. More likely a British manager I'd think

[Gonzo79 13,587]

21 minutes ago, RANGERRAB said:

I can't see us going for a foreign manager. More likely a British manager I'd think

I'd prefer a British manager but don't see any obvious candidates.

[Uilleam 5,409]

7 hours ago, Unicorn said:

I’d like someone with a handy acronym as it saves time when typing.

 

MPH, GVB or FDB will do nicely.

You exclude TLB.....

[Tannochsidebear 2,306]

Work commitments and a crappy Ipad at home have restricted my comments on Gersnet recently, but another abject performance on Saturday has me rather fed up with our club's direction. I dont blame Murty who is doing the best he can given his complete lack of experience and tactical knowledge, but we simply have to be doing something NOW to prepare for next season.

 

We had good players come in during the January window and we got a wee bounce from that during a successful February, but our lack of any consistency has come back to bite us with 1 point out of 9, now needing to beat Dolly at Pittodrie AGAIN to have any chance of second place.

 

Managerial inexperience has cost us big time in these last few games, as Murty had no clue how to use the man advantage against the tims, and doesnt give enough thought to his bench and changes which are a hugely important part of the game these days. More experienced managers like Rodgers and Clarke took full advantage of these tactical opportunities and both left with full points instead of what could and should have been 2 wins for us.

 

With 7 defeats and 2 draws in 22 league games, Murty cannot possibly be considered for the permanent position, I think at last everyone is in agreement with that, although no doubt if we somehow manage to beat the bheasts in the SF that will be enough for some to clamour for him to be given the job. Being Rangers manager is all about consistency, and failing to beat Dundee, St Johnstone, Motherwell, Kilmarnock, Hibs, Hamilton, 5 home losses, would be enough for us to be howling for a sacking if he was a permanent manager. 

 

Instead our rage should be against the men who have allowed this to happen on their watch - the board. After the fiasco of the handling of the "resignation" of Warburton, the shambles of appointing a mate of a mate in Pedro instead of doing a proper diligent appointment search, the board should have acted quickly and decisively to appoint a proper football manager to ensure we didnt lose any more ground on a clearly "there for the taking" bheast side, and instead this sticking plaster over a gaping wound has allowed us to be watching how small the gap is between us and FOURTH place in this 2 team league. For that the board are undeniably guilty and the goodwill from freeing us from our previous custodians is slipping at an alarming rate and they simply have to get this appointment right this time with no more excuses.

 

It has to be a decent name in the game who the fans will get behind with confidence. If it doesnt work out then fair enough, but it can be no more gambles like a Pedro or Murty. The playing squad has been improving with each window since our return to the top flight and this is encouraging, but it will count for nothing if the right man to pull everything together is not found.

 

As for who that is, debate and counter debate continues apace. I would do (again) what I would have done the last twice, ask for applications and go through them properly. Ask our DoF for advice, thats what he is there for. Under no circumstances allow cronyism to creep in. I know Steve Clarke favours the hoops, but he is a professional manager who may never get the chance to manage a club of our size, has done a remarkable job with a side who were relegation certainties in our league before he arrived, and has the right coaching credentials having been number two at two of the biggest clubs in England, a decent stint at WBA, and will have good contacts throughout football. If not him, then certainly nobody with less credentials than him.

[der Berliner 3,239]

16 hours ago, Tannochsidebear said:

Managerial inexperience has cost us big time in these last few games, as Murty had no clue how to use the man advantage against the tims, and doesnt give enough thought to his bench and changes which are a hugely important part of the game these days. More experienced managers like Rodgers and Clarke took full advantage of these tactical opportunities and both left with full points instead of what could and should have been 2 wins for us.

 

 

 

 

A couple of things here. First, while not all exactly over the moon, we were all praising Murty after his 6-game winning run. The kick in the teeth came with the home defeat to the Scum, unnecessary and undeserved too. Coming on and praising Rodgers for his tactical awareness is a touch over the top though. He brought on a PSG-groomed talent valued at 4.5m (i.e. the money that half of our team cost) and he had one real clever moment to beat our defence. In OF games, win, draw or defeat is often decided by a touch of genius or luck rather than form of the day or form of a specific team. Morelos could have drawn us the last or won us the game at the Scumhut, bar a stroke of ill-luck/touch. Very fine margins. Murty's side - made up of many Caixinha / MW players battled the Scum in these last two game like they haven't done in the years before. So there must have been something done right.

 

Thus, pre that Old Fim game, things were looking "good". Had we won the game against the Scum, it was title-race on again. 3 weeks later, that has evaporated, and, truth be told, I can't see us beating the Scum on our current form (though, as I said, the formbook goes out the window in an OF game). But we're old enough to have grown out of that "win/lose-change the manager madness" so prominent elsewhere, aren't we?

 

It is clearly frustrating that Murty, despite his good analysis of the game, does so little to change the team's and his fortunes. In that respect, I very much blame him as well as Nicholl and Johansson for not being more forceful and active in their use of our options - even though the latter were essentially limited to Miller, Cummings, Goss and a half-fit McCrorie at Fir Park. That is something that needs to change and I would assume that Murty is getting this message from all corners.

 

Blaming the board then? Well, that's the easy option, but given everything that happened pre the Scum game, a bit cheap IMHO. For back then, there were calls for giving Murty the job full time. We can't have it both ways. Unless things improve rapidly, as it stands, Murty will just see out his deal till the summer.

 

And there starts the hard stuff. Every time that Belgian goalie, DeBoer, Tuchel et al appear on the screen, you would ask yourself: what would they need to make us a serious challenger in Scotland. That is where we earn our corn and right for Europe. They would need to be shrewd in the freebie market, they would need to be shrewd with the money we would be able to hand them.

Taking these three chaps above, can we assume that much like Advocaat, PLG, MW and Caixinha, we'll see an influx of foreign chaps who would need to adapt to our game and of a certain standard to improve us, short- and midterm? Most likely. They need to be instant hits though. The market for chaps like these (and given our ressources) is minimal.

IMHO, it would really need a good coach and strong manager to change our fortunes more than a great name. Not that one necessarily excludes the other. I think we have a decent core of players ready, including all the January deals (bar Martin perhaps). We need some stronger characters in the middle of the park, leaders willing to take on responsibility and dominate and change games by themselves. And we need someone on the sidelines who will make a) changes to the playing staff on the field if things don't work out and b) change tactics according to the opposition at hand. I had hoped that Nicholl will teach that to Murty, but somehow the back-row union is rather quietish ...

 

How many good managers are about though? And willing to come? I do assume that Allen is already at it, but we should accept that it is far more difficult than checking who's out there, phoning him up and he'll be on the road to Ibrox ...

 

[DMAA 3,603]

The position Rangers are in just now is nothing short of a disgrace. When games in hand are likely won we'll be 3 behind Aberdeen and only 1 ahead of Hibs. And that's without even playing our hardest second away games (Celtic, Aberdeen, Kilmarnock, Hibs), only 3 of which we'll have to play due to luck.

 

The sides competing with us right now; Aberdeen, Hibs, Killie and Motherwell, have spent a fraction of what we've spent not only this season but last too.

 

These are seriously embarrassing times for Rangers. Even the whole debate of losing the midfield battle because the opposition have 3 in centre mid. You are in a very poor position if you have to worry about your opposition putting 3 in centre mid. Rangers should be exploiting that big time down the wings and making them regret leaving their wing backs exposed.

 

The buck stops with Murty sadly. It's getting harder and harder to see him salvaging even 2nd place now which is extraordinary.