match thread (image) [FT] Rangers 2 - 1 Motherwell (Defoe 45+1; Helander 79)

[Frankie 8,148]

Team huffed and puffed really but lacked imagination and tempo. Too many midfielders and attacking players not doing their bit. 

 

They kept going though and turned the game round where we could easily have felt sorry for ourselves.

[compo 6,122]

16 minutes ago, Frankie said:

Team huffed and puffed really but lacked imagination and tempo. Too many midfielders and attacking players not doing their bit. 

 

They kept going though and turned the game round where we could easily have felt sorry for ourselves.

To many of the same type trying to do the same thing and none of them doing it well plus I think we need a bit of muscle in the middle but we got the points so it wasn't a disaster 

[Bill 13,717]

Analysis of individual contributions is one thing but too often, as a team, we follow European excursions and international breaks with poor domestic performances. I don't know if this reflects of an ongoing lack of real depth in the squad or just a tendency to lose focus and momentum. Personally I don't think we're ready to compete effectively on so many different fronts and we can expect the likes of today's struggle to be repeated for a while yet. I still think if we can stay in contention beyond Xmas when European football has run its course for the season and concentrate on the routine of league football, we have a great chance of winning this championship.

[ranger_syntax 3,765]

14 minutes ago, Bill said:

Analysis of individual contributions is one thing but too often, as a team, we follow European excursions and international breaks with poor domestic performances. I don't know if this reflects of an ongoing lack of real depth in the squad or just a tendency to lose focus and momentum. Personally I don't think we're ready to compete effectively on so many different fronts and we can expect the likes of today's struggle to be repeated for a while yet. I still think if we can stay in contention beyond Xmas when European football has run its course for the season and concentrate on the routine of league football, we have a great chance of winning this championship.

A few factors play in to it.  Firstly the number of changes is a problem.  Secondly some of the changes are either a clear change in quality or dictate a change to our style of play.  Another point is that the players surely think about European matches more than domestic ones.  After Thursday I found that I was really just looking forward to getting Porto in to Ibrox and having a go at them.  I would guess that many of the players are the same to some extent.

 

I suspect we will still be struggling with it in the new year though.

 

[pete 2,499]

5 hours ago, Rousseau said:

They're taking a minute to take a throw-in. Every time. 

 

FFS.

I love it when teams waste time all game and then it comes back and bites them on the bum. Watching them race around in the last 5 minutes trying to get the ball into play quickly is great to watch.

[der Berliner 3,239]

3 hours ago, the gunslinger said:

Quite important your right back covers defensive mid in modern football. 

 

Honestly rarely seen a dafter statement. The other way round maybe. 

What, Polster can defend and cover DM too?! That' all I am saying. Tav's defending is sub-(his)-standard and DM is sure not a place you see him that often. Sugar that cake with his rare contributions in terms of decent crosses, corners and free-kicks and you see my point. But I can spell it, if need be 

[Bluedell 5,329]

Tav is integral to the way we play. Neither of our other full backs can offer the same attacking options and his play also drags one or two of the opposition to him which frees up space for other players. 

 

That's ignored by many of his critics. We need him in the team. 

[RANGERRAB 3,254]

I thought both Barker & Stewart struggled today which gave us a problem in we weren’t creating anything in wide areas in the first half. 

[BEARGER 1,829]

1. Guy in front of me giving the nazi salute (I know) when the poppy party were making their way to centre circle. I asked him if he thought that was appropriate. Usually it’s a guy with his young son in these seats.

2. Gerrards comments regarding Tavernier. We don’t have anybody else to play right fullback?

3. We are 2-1 up in a tight game and our fans are leaving in their droves. Watching Liverpool game who are in the same position, nobody is leaving.

[JFK-1 1,669]

It was a poor performance especially so in comparison to what we have come to expect at Ibrox. Wasn't helped by a bizarre refereeing performance in which we were denied two stonewall penalties then given one I though was debatable to say the least.

 

Motherwell were fortunate to keep 11 men on the pitch for the duration then after spending a vast amount of the game wasting time got an extra 5 minutes tacked on stemming from their time wasting which gave them the chance to snatch a late equaliser. One of those days indeed.

And then afterwards we have Robinson declaring this.

 

Quote

we got beat by a set-play and a very, very dubious decision for the first goal.

"If they come together and he falls over and it's accidental, it doesn't matter. It's a foul. And it leads to the first goal."

No mention of clear non given handballs in the penalty area or his players blatantly taking ours out of the play and receiving no punishment. Despite playing poorly we still only got a narrow win because of the ref and he got away with a narrow loss because of the ref.