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[FT] Rangers 2 - 0 Progrès (Aribo 20; Ojo 53)


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  • Frankie changed the title to Rangers v Prógres Niederkorn

I don't think you'll be far out with that team but I'd expect more of a 4-3-2-1 again tomorrow night.

 

McGregor will start as I agree he does need to work on his sharpness a little and I'd hope Goldson starts as well as he remains our best defender.  I'd fancy Katic will start alongside him despite his mistake the other day and it will be up to Edmundson and Erlander to displace what I'd consider our first choice pairing for the moment - though that may well change, especially if the manager fancies going with a three at some point.  Tav and Barisic are our two best full backs (on paper at least) and they have important roles in this formation as it's them who provide the width with the attacking players deployed more centrally than in the alternative 4-2-3-1 the manager also likes.  The Croatian seems to have responded well to criticism so far this summer and I'm keen to see him grab his second chance with both hands.

 

The deeper midfield three will be Jack, Aribo and Davis as those three have also impressed most in pre-season so far with Kamara a little bit off the boil.  Jack and Davis will allow us to control the game in midfield with Aribo able to get into forward areas.  Further forward that will allow Jones, Arfield and Morelos to start the game with with the first two players playing inside forward roles and Arfield in particular tasked with giving quick support to Alfredo.

 

It's positive that we have several other players capable of coming into the team (or indeed starting).  Guys like Polster, Halliday, Edmundson, Fod, Kamara, Docherty, Ojo, Stewart and Defoe have also done fine when called upon so I've no issues if any of them play tomorrow night from the start or later in the game.

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No result against Niederkorn will exorcise the nightmare of two years go. However a good win and the chance to achieve positive results against better teams will give us good memories to counter the bad. 

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1 hour ago, Frankie said:

I don't think you'll be far out with that team but I'd expect more of a 4-3-2-1 again tomorrow night.

 

McGregor will start as I agree he does need to work on his sharpness a little and I'd hope Goldson starts as well as he remains our best defender.  I'd fancy Katic will start alongside him despite his mistake the other day and it will be up to Edmundson and Erlander to displace what I'd consider our first choice pairing for the moment - though that may well change, especially if the manager fancies going with a three at some point.  Tav and Barisic are our two best full backs (on paper at least) and they have important roles in this formation as it's them who provide the width with the attacking players deployed more centrally than in the alternative 4-2-3-1 the manager also likes.  The Croatian seems to have responded well to criticism so far this summer and I'm keen to see him grab his second chance with both hands.

 

The deeper midfield three will be Jack, Aribo and Davis as those three have also impressed most in pre-season so far with Kamara a little bit off the boil.  Jack and Davis will allow us to control the game in midfield with Aribo able to get into forward areas.  Further forward that will allow Jones, Arfield and Morelos to start the game with with the first two players playing inside forward roles and Arfield in particular tasked with giving quick support to Alfredo.

 

It's positive that we have several other players capable of coming into the team (or indeed starting).  Guys like Polster, Halliday, Edmundson, Fod, Kamara, Docherty, Ojo, Stewart and Defoe have also done fine when called upon so I've no issues if any of them play tomorrow night from the start or later in the game.

Funny how Goldson seems to have two camps with the spectrum pretty far apart. I personally I think Goldson is a bomb-scare and Katic is the best defender between the two. I will reserve judgement on the other two until I have seen them play more games.

One thing both teams have luck with is that the first game is at Ibrox. Scotland is forecast with 27 degrees so at 8.00pm the temperature should be reasonable to play football in. In Luxembourg and all over the continent temperatures are ready to hit a record 40-41 degrees on Thursday. That would have probably been a game of last man standing. I know one thing I am staying indoors until it cools off at the weekend.:D 

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The stats simply don't bear the bomb-scare stuff out.  

 

Goldson played over 50 games last season and I struggle to remember any time he was directly at fault for a goal.  Yes, like any player, he had periods of poor form but he was our most reliable centre half by a fair distance which is why the manager sees him as first choice.  I do think he can be a bit complacent on the ball and perhaps suffers from a slight lack of pace but his positioning is usually good and his distribution has improved markedly in the last six months or so.

 

Katic is a fine young player and didn't do a whole lot wrong when called upon last season but without a more experienced partner like Goldson, he doesn't look as comfortable and is clearly still learning his trade.  Due to his good late season form I'd have him alongside Goldson for now but I would expect Gerrard to manage his appearances carefully again this season and we didn't pay £3m for Helander for him not to play.

 

One thing is for sure, I'm very happy with the four centre halves we have so we're well served there as it stands.

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2 hours ago, les186 said:

No result against Niederkorn will exorcise the nightmare of two years go. However a good win and the chance to achieve positive results against better teams will give us good memories to counter the bad. 

Maybe so, but I would not put too much emphasis on this. It was still very much a work in progress with a new trainer, new players and like nowadays weeks before the season starts/-ed. Likewise, in many ways people seemingly like to disregard teams from "lesser" leagues and countries, even though football has sure improved world-wide over the last decade. And it is not as if we haven`t seen it before or see it regularly every other week. Add to that the in-build problem that some teams that you may meet are well into their summer-football league season and the minefield is set. In fact, one wonders how the Scum`s game tonight will go, given that their opponents have 20 match days under their belt.

 

All said, given what I have seen of the team now, I don`t think we will have much trouble putting Progres to the sword this time around. We are quite settled, have far better players and look in the mood.

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2 hours ago, pete said:

Funny how Goldson seems to have two camps with the spectrum pretty far apart. I personally I think Goldson is a bomb-scare and Katic is the best defender between the two. I will reserve judgement on the other two until I have seen them play more games.

One thing both teams have luck with is that the first game is at Ibrox. Scotland is forecast with 27 degrees so at 8.00pm the temperature should be reasonable to play football in. In Luxembourg and all over the continent temperatures are ready to hit a record 40-41 degrees on Thursday. That would have probably been a game of last man standing. I know one thing I am staying indoors until it cools off at the weekend.:D 

I know we've said this a lot but it is amazing how differently people see certain players.  For me it's the other way around.  Goldson for me is rock solid and our best defender.  Katic can be excellent for 85 minutes in a game, but he can get caught out of position (although he does have the pace to get away with it most of the time) and does lack concentration too often for my liking.  With Katic, I've noticed he can be excellent if we are constantly under threat because he's switched on.  It's when we aren't under much pressure that his brain switches off.  It happened 3 or 4 times in crucial games last season and that's why he was dropped.  I like him though and he can develop that side of his game.  I hope he does because offensively he's a real threat, much more so than Goldson is (despite his recent goal poaching).

 

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  • Frankie changed the title to Rangers v Progrès Niederkorn
4 hours ago, Frankie said:

The stats simply don't bear the bomb-scare stuff out.  

Correct, but neither Katic nor Goldson do particularly well. 

 

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Compare to Celtic

 

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Stats like this always come with caveats of course but you have to say it stands to reason that their defenders would do better in the stats considering they conceded 7 goals fewer than us in the league. I’m hoping Edmundson and Helander will push both Goldson and Katic this season. 

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