match thread (image) [FT] Hearts 1 - 2 Rangers (Goldson 34; Morelos 41)

[pete 2,494]

Just when you think it is time to stop for a breath you realise the next game is tomorrow already. Villarreal have come and gone with a 0-0 draw and poor Daniel Candeias undeservedly getting sent off for the second time in a few weeks. Again a referee invented a story to cover up the cock-up he himself conjoured up. Funnily enough Rangers have ended up with a one game knockout fight with Rapid Vienna and our mission is clear. We must win or the Europaleague will be in cold storage until next season. Anyway that is for another day the Europaleague has to take second place as we have to fly into preperation mode for our big game against Hearts at Tynecastle.

 

What a massive match this game has turned into for us. Due to Celtic playing Aberdeen in the League cup final Rangers have a fantastic chance to go top of the league. Yes, Celtic will have a game in hand but it is points they have to win and it puts just a little bit more pressure on them to do so. It will be great to see all the grudging headlines on Monday pronouncing us league leaders, We will of course have to flick through three pages of Aberdeen v Celtic and use a magnifying glass to see the headline. Their game in hand will also be well highlighted you can put your bottom dollar on that.

 

Before we are that far though we have the difficult task of getting a winning result at Tynecastle. Hearts have been in poor form of late only taking just one point from their last four matches, losing 2-0 in their last game against relegation fighters St Mirren 2-0. When Rangers stride into town though all the form books go out the window. Teams seem to find a bit of extra fight that they had lost in the games running up to our game. In Hearts favour, they have had some reasonable games against Celtic of late beating them 4-0 last season and 1-0 this season at Tynecastle. They have since lost their two main forwards in Kyle Lafferty, who was transferred to us, and also Steven Naismith to in jury. The ex-ger was the leagues top scorer before he was injured and was also first pick striker for the Scotland team. The Hearts manager Craig Levein, is a manager who builds his teams on being hard to beat rather than a full out attacking machine. I don't think anyone will forget his 4-6-0 formation when he was the Scotland manager in a must win game. I doubt he will play that on Sunday but he will certainly have his team organised and well drilled. That does not mean they will park the bus in a ten man eighteen yard block, just that they will play out from a solid defence.

 

With the Rangers players having had that difficult game on Thursday in their legs, Steven Gerrard may look to freshen things up a little. In his press conference he emphasised the point that Daniel Candeias would at least have fresh legs for Sunday, so I would imagine that makes him a starter. I think he may bring back Eros Grezda and give young Glenn Middleton a rest on the bench. Grezda looked to be starting to show some good form and scored two goals in the 7-1 thrashing of Motherwell before being dropped back to the bench for the last two games. Strangely he has not even appeared as a substitute as he was starting to show some good form.

 

I doubt Gerrard will drop the fantastic in form Alan McGregor and I will guess that Tavernier and Goldson will keep their places. I expect McAuley to return to the team in place of Worrel and with Borna Barisic fit again after a two month lay-off he will come in at left-back. Left-back has been a problem position for us of late with Halliday and Flanagan being pretty shaky to say the least. Flanagan almost gifting Villarreal a goal on Thursday if it was not for McGregor making a wonder save.

 

The other position worth discussing is the central midfield role. With Rossiter,Jack, Ejaria, Arfield, Coulibaly and McCrorie all with their hat in the ring. I would be surprised if Gerrard dropped Ryan Jack or scott Arefield for this one so that leaves a choice between Coulibally or Ejaria for me as I don't think the others will start. Ejaria missed out on Wednesday while Coulibaly excelled against Villarreal so that is a really difficult choice to make. I think Gerrard may go with the slightly more attacking Ejaria to try and play in the Hearts half but my own choice would be Coulibaly as I feel Ejaria flatters to deceive and slows the game down by his twisting and turning on the ball. We saw how Villarreal can slice through the midfield with quick one touch passing and that is what I miss with Ejaria. I think Gerrard will go with Ejaria though.

 

The team I think Gerrard will play is:

 

McGregor

 

Tavernier McAuley Goldson Barisic

 

Jack Ejaria

 

Candeias Arefield Grezda

 

Morelos.

 

I personally would go with Coulibaly.

 

We have not been top of the league since 2011. It has been a long wait so hopefully that wait comes to an end on Sunday and we return to where we belong. Onwards and upwards.

 

C'mon the Gers!!!

 

[ian1964 10,377]

This is a huge match for Rangers, bigger than the Villarreal match, a chance to go top is a massive incentive and our players should take advantage of this opportunity. If Kille beat Hibs today at home they will jump above us in the league so this is a must win match, if we are serious about challenging for the title then it starts here.

[compo 6,076]

I watched Hearts last week and they were dire if we play to our best we should win this game with a bit to spare .

[Gonzo79 13,548]

Teams tend to up their game against us.  We have lost comprehensively every time we've played them at Tynecastle since we returned to the top flight.

 

 

[Tannochsidebear 2,306]

I agree with the sentiments that this is a huge opportunity that we simply MUST grasp. It is in our recent DNA to royally balls up any good opportunity like this (see the LCSF as the latest evidence) and we really must show some testicular fortitude in these big games or we will continue to be hailed as big game bottlers.

 

Hearts form has gone since losing the big centre forward whose name escapes me (not Lafferty, the other big guy!) and who was very impressive any time I seen him, as well as Naismith and Berra has shown that their depth is not as good as others and they have struggled. I am not sure if any of those 3 are back (Berra is I think) for tomorrow but the other 2 will be a big miss. No matter how they line up, it is well within our capabilities to go there and win given what is at stake. To go top will force the media and the bheasts to wake up and realise there could very well be a title race for this first time in 8 years, not to mention give us some confidence that this could be possible.

 

Tynecastle is always a good atmosphere and a tough challenge, but good Rangers sides have usually done well there. Heres hoping we are all searching for copies of the league table come full time and then I will gladly take a Dolly victory at Hampden to stop all talk of another treble and put more pressure on Brendan who I believe will crack if we can put sustained pressure on him.

 

Its up to us, lets get it done!

[les186 271]

3 hours ago, Gonzo79 said:

Teams tend to up their game against us.  We have lost comprehensively every time we've played them at Tynecastle since we returned to the top flight.

 

 

Hearts 1 Rangers 3 October 2017. Were you not there ??

[Gonzo79 13,548]

54 minutes ago, les186 said:

Hearts 1 Rangers 3 October 2017. Were you not there ??

It was the only away game I've attended since we returned to the top flight.

It was at Murrayfield (that was precisely the reason I went).  I did state Tynecastle in my post.

 

Edited December 1, 2018 by Gonzo79

[ian1964 10,377]

Killie beat Hibs 3-0 so adds even more to our game tomorrow!.

[ian1964 10,377]

I would stick with young Middleton, he is a strong lad and well capable of handling 1st team football. Tin hat on here but I am not convinced with Grezda! I know he hasn't had much game time but he doesn't do it for me,YET!!!.

[JFK-1 1,666]

We're a better team than them. Just one line of evidence to support that assertion lies in the fact we have a +24 GD to their +4. Such vastly different numbers don't occur by accident.

 

That doesn't guarantee anything but it should go some way to getting us a win if the team play to their capabilities. It's probably our hardest away test this side of the new year. If we come through it with full points we can begin to consolidate a gap between us and the chasing pack.

This is indeed a key match.