Popular Post Govan Rear Bear 303 Posted December 19, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted December 19, 2020 Rangers answer questions on title credentials after crucial win against Motherwell Rangers extended their lead in the SPL to 16 points at Ibrox today, answering questions about their mentality in a hard fought but deserved win against Motherwell. If any game should have deemed a formality this weekend, it would be the meeting at Ibrox today. Going into the game Rangers had only lost one game in all competitions, had a achieved a 27 game unbeaten run and were looking for a tenth successive league win. But an unexpected bump in the road, thanks to a defeat in the BetFred Cup to St Mirren on Wednesday, had raised the age old questions about the mentality of Steven Gerrard’s Rangers and winning when it mattered. Approaching January, the month where things have traditionally gone wrong for the former Liverpool legend, the timing of the defeat on Wednesday could not have been worse. Add to the equation that Celtic appeared to have turned a corner of late, then you can understand why there was a greater sense of anxiety around those with blue tinted noses going into the game. But Rangers answered those questions emphatically with a vital win. Gerrard made five changes to his side, bringing in Filip Helander, Borna Barisic, Glen Kamara, Steven Davis and Jermain Defoe to replace Leon Balogun, Calvin Bassey, Bongani Zungu, Joe Aribo and Cedric Itten. Rangers started brightly, with Jermaine Defoe forcing a save from Jordan Archer and then hitting a shot just wide of the post in the first couple of minutes. But Rangers found themselves one down after some more slack defending in the sixth minute. Borna Barisic failed to stop Stephen O'Donnell firing a low cross across the face of the goal, and Callum Lang scored at the back post to put the visitors 1-0 up. Rangers had an opportunity to get a quick equaliser with a free kick just outside the box, but James Tavernier couldn’t repeat his heroics of last week fired it just over the bar. Ryan Kent then had a great chance to equalise on 25 minutes after some good work from Tavernier allowed Steve Davis to send in a great cross, which Kent headed just wide of the post. Then Roofe turned nicely in the box but fired his shot straight at Archer. Rangers were turning up the heat by this point and Tavernier had a great chance at the back post after Barisic sent in a great cross, but the Englishman, looking for his 18th goal of the season, failed to connect with it properly. Steven Gerrard introduced Joe Aribo at half-time in place of Glen Kamara in attempt to get Rangers back in the game. But for long periods Rangers looked devoid of any invention or creation, despite having the lion share of possession. In an attempt to inspire some sort of reaction Gerrard introduced Hagi for Arfield and Itten for Defoe. Rangers continued to dominate possession, but there was a strong feeling of déjà vu about proceedings until the 72nd minute when Kemar Roofe equalised when he turned inside the box and hammered home after Motherwell failed to clear their lines. Roofe then came close to giving Rangers the lead minutes later when his header went inches past the post. Rangers still needed a winner, however, and it arrived with eight minutes to go thanks to substitute Cedric Itten after James Tavernier’s corner evaded everyone in a crowded six yard box and he headed in at the back post. It was a huge moment for Rangers and they secured the win in the 94th minute when Joe Aribo stabbed the ball to Roofe in the box who turned and finished from close range in a similar fashion to his first. Steven Gerrard was delighted with the win afterwards stating: “I’m really proud and pleased with how we reacted to going a goal down. We kept asking questions all afternoon. We were relentless at finding a way back into the game. It was important that players stuck to their roles. “Eventually our success came. It was about staying calm at the half-time and making the subs at the right time. I thought the subs were really, really big for us today”. RANGERS: McGregor, Tavernier, Goldson, Helander, Barisic, Arfield, Davis, Kamara, Roofe, Kent, Defoe. SUBS: McLaughlin, Bassey, Hagi, Itten, Zungu, Patterson, Aribo, Barker, Stewart. MOTHERWELL: Archer, O'Donnell, Gallagher, Mugabi, Lamie, Grimshaw, O'Hara, Crawford, Campbell, Lang, Watt. SUBS: Chapman, McGinley, White, Maguire, Seedorf, Polworth, Cornelius, Johnston, Cole. REFEREE: Don Robertson 6 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
buster. 4,808 Posted December 20, 2020 Share Posted December 20, 2020 (edited) 18 SPFL games.....20 remaining 16 wins.....................0 defeats 50 goals and 50 points That is some going ! Edited December 20, 2020 by buster. 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rousseau 9,292 Posted December 20, 2020 Share Posted December 20, 2020 Not done it in a while, but published: 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RANGERRAB 3,252 Posted December 20, 2020 Share Posted December 20, 2020 Rather than yesterday’s win against Motherwell, I think our next 5 games will be more important to us if we’re to win the title. We’ve got always against St Johnstone, St Mirren & Aberdeen and two homes against Hibz &the yahoos. Win all of them & we’re in a very strong position indeed. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gonzo79 13,541 Posted December 20, 2020 Share Posted December 20, 2020 All league games are huge but the next few weeks will tell us a lot about whether we're going to win the league. I expect us to drop points but hope I'm wrong. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tannochsidebear 2,306 Posted December 20, 2020 Share Posted December 20, 2020 I think it is clear that after 18 games we have done remarkably well and set ourselves up with a chance. However after 23 games we will have a much bigger clue as to our destiny for this season. Our previous mental fragility when asked the big domestic questions arose again from nowhere on Wednesday and after an hour yesterday a large number of us would have been forgiven for starting to think we were watching a rerun of seasons past. At full time we took a huge sigh of relief as we finally found the way through the wall of ‘Well, and it is another game we can say that we definitely wouldn’t have won it last year which gives us hope that we are a different animal this year. To my mind we have 5 games to win the league. Win our next 5 games, we will have a minimum 10 point lead (in real terms) with just 15 games to go and we will have ticked off another set of games against the best 3 sides in the league. It should be cruise time from there. Anything less and we open the door to the bheasts, and allow the questions of bottle to magnify as the run in continues. 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RabiDuck 89 Posted December 20, 2020 Share Posted December 20, 2020 6 hours ago, RANGERRAB said: Rather than yesterday’s win against Motherwell, I think our next 5 games will be more important to us if we’re to win the title. We’ve got always against St Johnstone, St Mirren & Aberdeen and two homes against Hibz &the yahoos. Win all of them & we’re in a very strong position indeed. I think the motherwell result is hugely important. In past seasons, 1-0 down with 20 minutes to play heads would have gone down and we'd more have ended up conceding more goals more often than we'd come back and salvage a point. This time obviously we took all 3. Perhaps more importantly, we've shown that we're able to break down packed defences, again in past seasons a side facing us 5-5-0 would have been obvious to everyone what was going to happen, this time we faced it broke it and scored 3. A massive result and shows the credentials we need to drive the season forwards and hopefully wrap up 55. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackSocksRedTops 3,468 Posted December 20, 2020 Share Posted December 20, 2020 41 minutes ago, Tannochsidebear said: I think it is clear that after 18 games we have done remarkably well and set ourselves up with a chance. However after 23 games we will have a much bigger clue as to our destiny for this season. Our previous mental fragility when asked the big domestic questions arose again from nowhere on Wednesday and after an hour yesterday a large number of us would have been forgiven for starting to think we were watching a rerun of seasons past. At full time we took a huge sigh of relief as we finally found the way through the wall of ‘Well, and it is another game we can say that we definitely wouldn’t have won it last year which gives us hope that we are a different animal this year. To my mind we have 5 games to win the league. Win our next 5 games, we will have a minimum 10 point lead (in real terms) with just 15 games to go and we will have ticked off another set of games against the best 3 sides in the league. It should be cruise time from there. Anything less and we open the door to the bheasts, and allow the questions of bottle to magnify as the run in continues. I worry when I see words like "cruise time" in relation to this current Rangers team. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rousseau 9,292 Posted December 20, 2020 Share Posted December 20, 2020 I'm only thinking of the next game, and I hope the team are too. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackSocksRedTops 3,468 Posted December 20, 2020 Share Posted December 20, 2020 10 minutes ago, Rousseau said: I'm only thinking of the next game, and I hope the team are too. This 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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