match thread (image) [FT] Rangers 5 - 0 Aberdeen (Tavernier 20 pen, 71 pen; Stewart 40; Morelos 50; Defoe 80)

[ranger_syntax 3,751]

8 minutes ago, pete said:

You have to take into account that Morelos has run them ragged for an hour. I doubt if Defoe would have the same record if he was playing every game from the start. Of course neither will ever be so good as Odsonne Édouard. Ever!?

Pete!

 

Please!

 

It's french eddie!

[ian1964 10,386]

1 hour ago, pete said:

You have to take into account that Morelos has run them ragged for an hour. I doubt if Defoe would have the same record if he was playing every game from the start. Of course neither will ever be so good as Odsonne Édouard. Ever!?

I'm not talking about yesterday alone, I'm talking since he signed, he is a top professional and still a top class player and it shows every time he plays. 

[pete 2,494]

Just now, ian1964 said:

I'm not talking about yesterday alone, I'm talking since he signed, he is a top professional and still a top class player and it shows every time he plays. 

I agree he is a top player but I still don't think any player would have a 45 minute goal record playing the full 90 minutes. It is the same as a darts player having a 110 score average. If his opponent finishes every game in nine darts it is also going to give him a good average as well.

[compo 6,079]

Five goals for none against and still some of our fans have a wee moan ,the pubs will be open soon away and chill out as I am going to do because I can hear the tea trolley coming  .

[Bill 13,717]

5 minutes ago, compo said:

Five goals for none against and still some of our fans have a wee moan ,the pubs will be open soon away and chill out as I am going to do because I can hear the tea trolley coming  .

They're not moaning. They're pontificating.

[pete 2,494]

6 minutes ago, Bill said:

They're not moaning. They're pontificating.

Nothing is perfect but yesterday was damn near. My biggest gripe will be if Katic is not in the starting 11 on Thursday. Gerrard always says you have to win the Jersey back. Well with Goldson and Helander's performance against Dykes and Katic's performance yesterday then I will start to think that Gerrard has other motives to keep dropping his best defender.

[der Berliner 3,219]

Meanwhile, what the Sheep thought of yesterday ...

 

Game report surprisingly objective ...

 

Quote

 

Dismal afternoon for depleted Dons at Ibrox

September 28, 2019 5:29 pm Author: Malcolm Panton

 

An Aberdeen side down to the bare bones thanks to illness and injury were left chasing shadows in Glasgow as they slipped to a heavy, chastening defeat at Ibrox.

With Aberdeen’s injury problems continuing to bite, Derek McInnes made two changes from the midweek defeat at Hearts, Andy Considine – ruled out with illness an hour before kick-off – and James Wilson missing out completely, Zak Vyner and Niall McGinn replacing them. That means the number of first team players missing was up to eight, Andy and James joining Funso Ojo, Craig Bryson, Scott McKenna, Ash Taylor, Scott Wright and Stephen Gleeson on the sidelines. Shay Logan was in the line-up to make his 400th career start. Amid a very youthful bench, Seb Ross and Connor Barron were added. Rangers made three changes from their Wednesday win over Livingston, Helander, Kamara and Aribo replaced by Katic, Davis and former Don Greg Stewart.

The Dons enjoyed success over Rangers last season but this was always going to be a tough shift with so many experienced players unavailable, but within 12 seconds, Sam Cosgrove forced the first corner of the game. Hedges’ ball in was cleared by Jack at the front post area. A minute later, after a dangerous free-kick, Rangers won their first corner which was headed wide by Morelos.

In the third minute a Greg Leigh throw-in was picked up by Ferguson who tried his luck from 35 yards out but his dipping shot was always going over. Two minutes later, Stewart won a second corner. Morelos headed the ball back across for Goldson and his header was on target but Joe Lewis was well positioned to calmly claim it. After nine minutes Sheyi Ojo beat the offside trap and had time and space but could only fire his shot over.

A mistake by Hedges then allowed Stewart a run in on goal but his low shot never troubled Lewis. Connor McLennan then should have done better after great hold up play by Cosgrove, but he overran the ball.

In the 19th minute Morelso was tripped by Vyner and referee Bobby Madden pointed to the spot. Tavernier put Lewis the wrong way to give Rangers the lead. Aberdeen then very nearly gifted Rangers a second straight from the kick-off but thankfully Morelos had a shot cleared off the line by Devlin.

On 25 minutes Lewis made a good block from Ojo after Stewart and threaded through a neat ball. Two minutes later Lewis collided with Logan when coming for a high ball. Thankfully both were able to continue.

This was a hard watch as it was one way traffic. In the 28th minute, Niall McGinn was harshly booked for a foul on Morelos. Joe Lewis then went down again and the captain was clearly struggling.

Around the half hour mark, Aberdeen won a couple of free-kicks in good areas – Tavernier somehow escaping a yellow card for his foul on Leigh – but both were comfortably cleared before McLennan wasted a promising attacking by blasting a shot over when he had team mates in support.

On 38 minutes, Stewart’s pass found the run of Arfield and Lewis did well to palm away his shot. Then in the 40th minute, Rangers added a second. A cross from the right was headed goalward by Stewart and it looked like the ball was heading into the net but Lewis pulled off a stunning save at full stretch, tipping the ball onto the post, but it bounced back out and Stewart, the only player to follow in, tapped the ball into the empty net.

 

HALF-TIME: Rangers 2 Aberdeen 0

 

Rangers kept possession from the restart, ending in the 47th minute with Tavernier blazing over from the edge of the box before the Dons had barely had a touch. A minute later, Lewis had to make another sharp save to his left from Stewart’s drive at goal from the edge of the box, then in the 49th minute, a clever long ball forward got Stewart in behind, his first time shot from close range hitting the post.

But Rangers wouldn’t be denied and in the 50th minute, it was 3-0, Barisic picking out Morelos with a fine cross, the Colombian running away from Ferguson to nod in from eight yards.

Rangers were creating chances at will and in the 55th minute, Jack charged down the left to set up Ojo, his shot from distance deflected wide. From Tavernier’s corner, Stewart headed wide after Goldson won the first ball. Just before the hour, Rangers were able to introduce Defoe for Ojo and he could have been celebrating with his colleagues seconds later as Goldson put a free header from Tavernier’s corner well wide. Defoe’s first chance came in the 61st minute as he got away from Devlin but put his effort wide from a tight angle.

The Dons finally carved out a chance in the 67th minute, McGinn’s free-kick from the touchline looking for Devlin at the back post, but he got under his effort. A minute later, Campbell was first onto a loose ball 30 yards out, sweeping his left foot shot goalwards and only just wide.

Rangers responded instantly and good feet from Stewart created space and a seemingly certain goal for Arfield, Leigh making a super block in the six yard box to send the ball over. Morelos was then replaced by Barker but there was not much respite was earned though for in the 70th minute, Tavernier’s probing cross saw Leigh pull Stewart down as he looked to get on the end of it. Penalty and up stepped Tavernier to drill the ball home, straight down the middle to make it two goals and three professional fouls for the afternoon for the Rangers skipper. The Dons immediately brought on Gallagher for McLennan.

Cosgrove went on the run for the Dons, outsprinting Goldson, but as he turned the ball back into the six yard box, there was only a blue shirt in sight, waiting to clear. Rangers made their final change when Edmundson came on for Davis in the 76th minute. Three minutes later, a bending 20 yarder from Stewart went just wide of the target.

Goal five did come moments later, an unfortunate deflection off Hedges as he tried to clear on the edge of the box dropping perfectly for Defoe to run away into space and produce a delicate lob over Lewis from 12 yards out.

Cosgrove was booked in the 82nd minute for a slight touch on McGregor as he cleared his lines then Ethan Ross replaced McGinn seconds later. Devlin became the third Don in the book in the 86th minute. A minute later, Stewart came close again, curling a shot through the box and wide. Cosgrove was then replaced by Main in the Dons’ final change as they looked to run down the clock and get back up the road to lick their wounds and patch up the wounded.

 

https://www.afc.co.uk/report/dismal-afternoon-for-depleted-dons-at-ibrox/#match-report

 

Head Sheep:

Quote

Derek McInnes | Post match reaction from Ibrox

September 28, 2019 6:57 pm Author: AFC Media Team

 

“I thought Rangers were very good, but I thought that they were allowed to be better and enjoy the game too much for my liking.

“From when they got the first goal you saw the gulf in quality at times and the experience in the team.

“It was a good time for Rangers to play us and a bad time for us to play Rangers after the amount of injuries we have got and Andy Considine going down at the hotel this morning with gastroenteritis after all the travelling and the extra time the other night. There was maybe a lethargy about our performance, but we were also too passive at times as well and I would have expected more from us.

“We had a very young midfield out there, but I do feel as a team we lacked a bit of personality and sometimes you learn a lot about your team. I thought we were very young out there at times and we played that way.

“As I have said if Rangers and Celtic are doing their recruitment well and spending their money wisely and have good managers in place, they will be the teams who fight it out at the top of the league. You can see that Rangers are in a good place. They have got a good manager, they have spent enough money again this summer and they seem to have spent it well on their squad. As I said prior to this game I do think that they will be up there challenging Celtic and maybe for a bit longer this season.

“For teams like ourselves I think it is important that we still feel like we can compete in 90 minutes and compete better than we did today.

“Aberdeen with our strongest team with our players, battle hardened and experienced ones, boys that have been here time and time again – we can still win these type of games, there is no question about that but today we were miles away from it and it was a long afternoon and the response after losing the first goal never really came.

“We looked like a team who were playing their own little game. We looked very young at times and we lacked that kind of experience and personality that every team needs if you are going to try and get a positive result here.

“I have hope of getting a couple of players back but there is no certainty that will be the case.
“Up until we lost the game on penalties against Hearts, when the performance was decent but you can lose on penalties and we were disappointed with that, we had won three and drawn two despite having the injuries but when you play against a team like Rangers who were all singing and all dancing today and came at us, I need my better players.

“I need my experienced players. I need those battle hardened players. Hopefully we can get Bryson and McKenna back soon. But Ojo and Taylor, Wilson and Wright; they are going to be a bit longer.

“We could do with a couple back for next week, not just for the starting XI, but we need options for the bench which would have allow us to change the way we were playing. We did not have those options today.

“We have always tried to make sure we are strong through the middle of the park where we can turn over the ball a lot. The last few seasons we have had Jack, McLean and Shinnie in there and these types can turn the ball over.

“But when Morelos recognises the space where ever it is – whether it is down the sides of the centre backs, whether it is in the wider areas or dropping in as he did today and asking the question of your centre backs as to whether they wanted them to run in with him, which allowed other players to go through.

“We are well versed with how Morelos wants to play but when he does it as well as he did today it is difficult to stop. I thought he led the line brilliantly today and scored a good goal. That is the quality Rangers have.

“Sam was taken off as you never know what can happen in this fixture (was on a yellow card). At that stage it was just about making sure I had the better players available for the Hibs game next weekend.”

 

https://www.afc.co.uk/video/derek-mcinnes-post-match-reaction-from-ibrox/

 

... did Considine shat it? ?

 

Quote

 

Michael Devlin | Player Reaction

September 29, 2019 1:03 am Author: AFC Media Team

 

Michael Devlin was the player who spoke to media after the game:

“We as players need to look at each other in the mirror and take responsibility for what was an abysmal performance.

“There is a certain level of performance that is expected from the manger, the supporters and the club.

“Today we never got close to that.

“Alright, you are playing against a good team, but we had a good team out there, we had good players out there and not enough of us today done the basics right and I think that is what hurts the most.

“I think that is what will hurt the supporters, the basics were not there.

“We went to extra time during the week and we had some key players out and then we lost Andrew Considine at lunchtime with a sickness bug which forced the manager to change the team and the tactics; that is not ideal but as I say when you look at our team there were enough good players there that should have put on a better performance and this game should have been a hell of lot closer that it was.

“In the first twenty minutes there was not too much in the game, ok they had a bit more of the ball but I did not think they were causing us too many issues. We knew that was the pattern the game was going to develop into but we still felt given our quality and the pace we had on the counter we could cause them an issue and if we could get hold of the ball. Looking after the ball was crucial but after they get the first goal the game fell into a pattern that was totally against what we hoped for and quite frankly it was not good enough.

“Basics are required when you play in games like this.

“The basics are that you get close and you fight, you make tackles and you stop people playing but we did not do that nearly enough today.

“When you play against a good team that has got good players they will punish you if you don’t do that and Rangers certainly punished us.

“I can only speak for myself, the fatigue (from Wednesday night) is not ideal preparation but I do not want to make an excuse because excuses are not going to help us as a team get over what happened today and learn from it.

“It was not good enough, that is the bottom line.

As I say there are basics that are a fundamental of playing football.

“Principles that you go and set about doing. The manager asks you to go and represent the club, the city and the supporters and we were miles off doing that today.

“And that is what hurts the most.

“Coming here, such an important fixture for the club, with the fans supporting us in great numbers, it was not good enough. Last year we really gave them something to cheer about when we came here but today was shocking at times.

“Really really disappointed with how the game went.

“I don’t want to make excuses for that and we need to pick ourselves up because we have a big game for this club against Hibs next week.

“We are going to analyse where we went wrong and what we could do better, that is going to take a while but we will certainly have to be better next Saturday and I can promise everyone that we are going to work ever so hard over the coming week make sure we try and get a result.

“The manager spoke after the game and made us well aware – not that I think anyone needed to be told – that that was not good enough for this club.

“At times in the game he looks for character and looks for personality and I am not sure there was too much of that to found.

“That is not acceptable.

“As a squad we need to have a look at ourselves individually before we start chatting to each other and reach out to each other. That is something you can do when you have a good dressing room, but before we do that we need to look individually at ourselves and ask how did we performed?

“That starts with me, I will look at myself and know that it needs to be a hell of a lot better.

“There is no getting away from that and as a changing room we will all do that over the next week and if any of us are selected next Saturday, we will try and use that to take the game to Hibs.”

 

 

https://www.afc.co.uk/video/michael-devlin-player-reaction/

 

 

[ranger_syntax 3,751]

This made me chuckle.

 

Quote

We as players need to look at each other in the mirror

Thanks Mister Devlin.

[Tannochsidebear 2,306]

Just now, ranger_syntax said:

This made me chuckle.

 

Thanks Mister Devlin.

Great spot, that is an absolutely cracking quote!

[the gunslinger 3,366]

2 hours ago, pete said:

You have to take into account that Morelos has run them ragged for an hour. I doubt if Defoe would have the same record if he was playing every game from the start. Of course neither will ever be so good as Odsonne Édouard. Ever!?

He did ok v hibs when he was the one starting