match thread (image) [FT] St Mirren 3 - 2 Rangers (Goldson 7; Davis 88)

[DMAA 3,603]

47 minutes ago, Gonzo79 said:

Waiting until the 82nd minute to bring Hagi on wasn't great.

Hagi’s game time has been very limited since September. I find it really frustrating, Kent isn’t exactly on fire so there shouldn’t be the huge reluctance to give Hagi a chance. He has proven end product, all the stats show that. He has 5 league assists from almost half the game time Kent has had, who has 3. 

Edited December 17, 2020 by DMAA

[Scott7 5,170]

If Motherwell are defeated 4-0 on Saturday all will be well. 3-1 might not be good enough. I’ll take 1-0
all the same.

 

Some solace from last night. It’s the least of the trophies available and celtic are already out.

 

Also, as my mother and my big sister used to infuriatingly tell me in my tantrums after a favoured team fell out of a cup: “It’s good to see the honours go round” (No it bleeding well isn’t. I still haven’t grown up)

[Gonzo79 13,631]

8 minutes ago, DMAA said:

Hagi’s game time has been very limited since September. I find it really frustrating, Kent isn’t exactly on fire so there shouldn’t be the huge reluctance to give Hagi a chance.

Agreed.  Kent flatters to deceive whereas Hagi, despite being off-form, always creates chances.

 

 

[Gonzo79 13,631]

11 minutes ago, alexscottislegend said:

The League Championship flag not do for you?

We're not halfway yet and if the last two seasons are any indication...

[alexscottislegend 2,064]

8 minutes ago, Gonzo79 said:

We're not halfway yet and if the last two seasons are any indication...

.....they are not. I have a quiet assurance that the lessons have been learned. We are indisputably a better team than we were the last 2 seasons.

[Gonzo79 13,631]

I hope you're right, asil but only time will tell.

[DMAA 3,603]

13 minutes ago, Gonzo79 said:

Agreed.  Kent flatters to deceive whereas Hagi, despite being off-form, always creates chances.

 

 

I’ve shared this a few times but it’s my favourite stat, because rather than a simplistic look at assists or even expected assists it only counts good chances. Even the xA stat can be a little bit deceptive because you can build it up with lots of mediocre chances. But what this shows is exactly what I see, Hagi has the vision and passing ability required to really put chances on a plate for people. Kent is below Kamara on this stat. Kent of course contributes in other ways and I’m not taking away from that, but this stat sums up pretty well my longstanding complaint. I like my creative players to put good chances on a plate regularly, even if they are anonymous for spells. 

[der Berliner 3,247]

After a night's sleep ... I still have to remember hard to find a game where a team went out as "physically" as St. Mirren did last night. Initially I thought the ref would step in when he booked one of theirs early on, but it went on and on and on, which eventually allowed the St. Mirren chaps to become ever bolder. Right to the point where that clown Goodwin screamed at the ref when Roofe was kicked by two of his charges right in front of him, demanding a throw in. The "assault" on  Balogun wasn't even a foul, mind you. That was stuff w ewere used to in League 1 and the Championship, both in terms of tackles and refereeing.

 

Generally, I try to look at a game from various angles and thus not only from a Rangers perspective. I see quite a bit of the latter here and on FF, when people lay into our people like there is no tomorrow, blaming solely us on what befell us last night. IMHO, that's just half the tale. Anyway, going into that game I thought the line-up was good enough for the Buddies, indeed rather attack-minded. Despite their close attentions, we played well enough, indeed played not much different throughout the game than we did before in other games. What caught my eye rather early was that Aribo is still at 75 % of his best, he was loosing too many tackles and 50/50s. Likewise, Kent was rather ineffective and that went on till the last minute (maybe credit to the St. Mirren defenders). In that respect, we were almost 2 men down throughout. I only noted that Bassey was actually on the park 5 mins before their penalty. Maybe we are used to the presence of Borna on the wing, but on that side little went on - of course, Kent was running around everywhere. Zungu did his job, but there is a difference between him and Kamara, who's ball control and eye for a pass is right now much better. Maybe SG has to ask himself if the combination of Arfield and Zungu was too bold from the start? For that defensive/creative department, combined with Aribo, provided little for Roofe and Itten to work with. Speaking of Itten, he was sure up for the physicality and - as opposed to what others thought - was doing his job quite well. As was Roofe, though both were usually outnumbered. That he midfield was not working became apparent when we reverted to long balls far too often, essentially going down to a playing-level St. Mirren are familiar with.

So I had hoped that we remove Aribo and Kent early in the 2nd half for Defoe (with Itten going left) and Hagi for Aribo, as well as getting Davis and Kamara on for Arfield and Zungu. When part of that materialized, it was too late. Davis and Kamara restored some order in midfield though. My personal "icing on the cake" was that cross into the box for 3-2, when Davis clung to the right post, moved away a little, but when the danger persisted, he went back to that place. Yet Kent on the left post was running away from that job as soon as the ball was half-cleared (20 secs in), leaving McCarthy stealing in the score almost unapposed. While I don't want to single him out, he sure contributed rather little yesterday, yet was kept on for the whole game. As is often the case.

 

Alas, Saturday is not that far away and given that the Scum aren't playing a league game, we can stretch our lead at the top further. You would hope that this defeat was a timely reminder what has to be done in the future.

[MacK1950 2,231]

The left side of our team failed last night(includes Balogun) which was obvious by half time,when Borna and Kamara should have been brought on.Zungu did not look at ease in the weather condition,and is nowhere near cover for Jack.

I fear we will be two players short on Saturday with the disgraceful tackles on Arfield and Balogun,the latter should be a stick on for the CO but won't hold my breath.

[Soulglo 2]

A poor team selection leaving Davis, Kamara and Barasic out, this wasn’t E Fife we were playing.