match thread (image) [FT] Rangers 5 (Morelos 11', 64'; Kamara 72'; Arfield 75'; Sakala 84') - 0 Hearts

[Gonzo79 13,741]

Being overrun in the middle of the park will continue to be an issue, as long as we persist with wingers* staying so wide.  

 

One of the very first things I learned about football tactics was if you lose the midfield, you'll probably lose the match.  

 

 

*we don't really have natural wingers

[Rousseau 9,478]

2021: We're too narrow - we need wingers!

 

2022: We can't persist with wingers staying so wide. 

 

 

 

 

[Gonzo79 13,741]

I don't recall ever saying we were too narrow under Gerrard.  The full-backs played further forward/wide.  

 

Barisic and Tav are both good at going forward but aren't great defensively.

[alexscottislegend 2,090]

11 hours ago, Bill said:

I think we'll know within the first ten minutes or so against Hearts whether we are going to challenge for the title this season. The answer will be seen in the tempo of our play. If is isn't hugely improved from Wednesday we will know that the players and coaching staff haven't been able to react in the required fashion and that in all likelihood we face more points dropped in the weeks ahead and Celtic running away with the league.

 

Any time we've been able to reflect our individual quality in a high tempo performance, we've run over the top of our opposition. Whenever we've reverted to the slow, hesitant football we've seen so often in the past, we struggle.

 

One of my erstwhile favourite players, Glen Kamara, has become so prone to slowing play and inhibiting transition from defence to attack that he sucks the tempo out of most games he plays in. That can't go on and I believe is the reason he was hooked at half time in midweek. If he plays against Hearts then he needs to have a very different attitude. Barisic is so notorious at slowing play that he's a luxury we can no longer afford, end of. I think their omission would help in moving the ball more quickly and give our forward players more of an opportunity to find space. Hearts should be stern opposition and an excellent yardstick by which to measure our intent as a team. I'd like to see something like this, with six positional or selection changes from the starting line up against Celtic.

 

McLaughlin

Tavernier-Goldson-Balogun-Bassey

Ramsey-Jack-Aribo

Diallo-Morelos-Sakala

 

We'll likely start this game 4 points adrift. We simply can't let that margin continue into the next game. 

Only one I might argue with there would be Diallo. We saw on Wednesday why he's still firmly in the 'potential' category; doesn't chase back, looked lost and all his touches seem to be in a very narrow corner of the right side. Kent may off-form but he still works for the team and can tuck in as he was wont to do under SG.

[Rousseau 9,478]

16 minutes ago, Gonzo79 said:

I don't recall ever saying we were too narrow under Gerrard.  The full-backs played further forward/wide.  

 

Barisic and Tav are both good at going forward but aren't great defensively.

Apologies - It wasn't aimed at you, per se. I don't recall you saying we were too narrow, but it was certainly a common complaint. 

[der Berliner 3,279]

1 hour ago, Rousseau said:

2021: We're too narrow - we need wingers!

 

2022: We can't persist with wingers staying so wide. 

 

 

 

 

No. We don`t have "wingers" in a 4-3-3 ... we play "wingers" instead of real modern day strikers like Sakala and Roofe and ask them to perform like strikers, which a hardly any of them do. I expect a left-/right-sided attacker to come up 10+ goals a season against Scottish opposition. Kent stays at 2 goals and 5 assists in the league in 15 games (1,229 mins), whereas Sakala has 5 goals and 2 assists in 18 games (805 mins). Roofe is on 6 goals and 1 assists in 798 mins). Our right sided "winger" play more often than not consisted of Hagi or Aribo being played there for long spells under SG and also nowadays. Neither IMHO are right-"wingers" nor right sided attackers. Or should play there ahead of true attacking players like Roofe, Sakala and Morelos, who can play and have played all across the front 3.

 

There is every reason to think that 4-3-3 has its values and should be played with small variations. If you have the players for that (and use them) and if the opposition "allows" it. Against low-blocks you need wingers and strikers ... plus marauding fullbacks though. Under Gio - not least in those last few games - the supply by the fullbacks has been dire (even if one or the other comes up with the odd goal or assist) for long spells so their attacking thread is hardly that of a real winger. Likewise, having to rely far too often on a CH like Goldson to make cross-field long balls and precise passes from the back means we sure lack someone in midfield for that role. So we need anchor men in MF who take the pressure off the defence and also are able to find their own in the attacking areas. We sure need a more lethal attacking threat in the opposition area than we have seen throughout the last few seasons, so I`d always play with at least two strikers, one of which stays central. My greatest point of anger is that we have and have had the players, yet persisted with the same system and usually the same players no matter what. I assume Kent was SG`s darling  and Tavernier being captain could simply not be dropped. But I don`t buy this droned mantra of how important either was or is for our current team, not least when both simply don`t come up with the goods. Patterson made me forget that we had Tavernier after a couple of games, Sakala`s attack play and enthusiasm for the game is half if not a level above Kent`s current showings. And here it comes to the manager now, who has to show what he is willing to do. Change the players (if only for tactics) and change the formation according to the game at hand. As I said before, Gio`s seen now how Scottish football works now and has seen all his players in action. It is time to get on the job.

 

That OF firm game fell niecly for the Scum and their in-form team, as opposed to our current troubles, be it a leaky defence or players returning to form/fitness only now. The hysteria levels from Wednesday were quite remarkable, given that you could clearly see beforehand what was to come. While I do not expect the Scum dropping points very often this season, playing us is something different than squaring up against the brickwall brigades - a quick look of their last games will show that. It could well be that we are top of the league again tonight.

 

Should one have reason to believe in a change in fortunes? Well, football fortune is capricious, as they say. We will soon see a world-class player in Ramsey taking control of our CM, will have Jack back in the frame to dominate the MF too. Our strikeforce is back up to full strength, I assume Diallo will show a bit of his trickery soonish too. (IMHO he should not have been send out against the Scum from the off - he`s a ManU u23 kid who has never played in a remotely similar game before.) Zukowski is a good one too, only that he hasn`t played in January due to the Polish winter break. Helander will be back, Balogun now too. It only depends on the manager to make the right decisions now and see how these player fit in and play.

Edited February 6, 2022 by der Berliner

[Bill 13,717]

35 minutes ago, alexscottislegend said:

Only one I might argue with there would be Diallo. We saw on Wednesday why he's still firmly in the 'potential' category; doesn't chase back, looked lost and all his touches seem to be in a very narrow corner of the right side. Kent may off-form but he still works for the team and can tuck in as he was wont to do under SG.

On the other hand, we know what Kent is about and he'd certainly be on the bench and available. Diallo on the other hand might be a real asset but we'll never know unless we play him and last Wednesday was the last place to judge a new young player. If you look at it dispassionately, on the basis of Wednesday's performances you would be hard pressed to tell which was the seasoned pro and who was the newbie finding his feet at a new club.

[Bill 13,717]

51 minutes ago, Gonzo79 said:

I don't recall ever saying we were too narrow under Gerrard.  The full-backs played further forward/wide.  

 

Barisic and Tav are both good at going forward but aren't great defensively.

Barisic is decidedly average as an attacking fullback. He can cross a ball when he makes an effort but when was the last time you saw him take on a defender, hit the line and pick out another blue shirt?

[Rousseau 9,478]

18 minutes ago, der Berliner said:

No. We don`t have "wingers" in a 4-3-3 ... we play "wingers" instead of real modern day strikers like Sakala and Roofe and ask them to perform like strikers, which a hardly any of them do. I expect a left-/right-sided attacker to come up 10+ goals a season against Scottish opposition. Kent stays at 2 goals and 5 assists in the league in 15 games (1,229 mins), whereas Sakala has 5 goals and 2 assists in 18 games (805 mins). Roofe is on 6 goals and 1 assists in 798 mins). Our right sided "winger" play more often than not consisted of Hagi or Aribo being played there for long spells under SG and also nowadays. Neither IMHO are right-"wingers" nor right sided attackers. Or should play there ahead of true attacking players like Roofe, Sakala and Morelos, who can play and have played all across the front 3.

 

There is every reason to think that 4-3-3 has its values and should be played with small variations. If you have the players for that (and use them) and if the opposition "allows" it. Against low-blocks you need wingers and strikers ... plus marauding fullbacks though. Under Gio - not least in those last few games - the supply by the fullbacks has been dire (even if one or the other comes up with the odd goal or assist) for long spells so their attacking thread is hardly that of a real winger. Likewise, having to rely far too often on a CH like Goldson to make cross-field long balls and precise passes from the back means we sure lack someone in midfield for that role. So we need anchor men in MF who take the pressure off the defence and also are able to find their own in the attacking areas. We sure need a more lethal attacking threat in the opposition area than we have seen throughout the last few seasons, so I`d always play with at least two strikers, one of which stays central. My greatest point of anger is that we have and have had the players, yet persisted with the same system and usually the same players no matter what. I assume Kent was SG`s darling  and Tavernier being captain could simply not be dropped. But I don`t buy this droned mantra of how important either was or is for our current team, not least when both simply don`t come up with the goods. Patterson made me forget that we had Tavernier after a couple of games, Sakala`s attack play and enthusiasm for the game is half if not a level above Kent`s current showings. And here it comes to the manager now, who has to show what he is willing to do. Change the players (if only for tactics) and change the formation according to the game at hand. As I said before, Gio`s seen now how Scottish football works now and has seen all his players in action. It is time to get on the job.

 

That OF firm game fell niecly for the Scum and their in-form team, as opposed to our current troubles, be it a leaky defence or players returning to form/fitness only now. The hysteria levels from Wednesday were quite remarkable, given that you could clearly see beforehand what was to come. While I do not expect the Scum dropping points very often this season, playing us is something different than squaring up against the brickwall brigades - a quick look of their last games will show that. It could well be that we are top of the league again tonight.

 

Should one have reason to believe in a change in fortunes? Well, football fortune is capricious, as they say. We will soon see a world-class player in Ramsey taking control of our CM, will have Jack back in the frame to dominate the MF too. Our strikeforce is back up to full strength, I assume Diallo will show a bit of his trickery soonish too. (IMHO he should not have been send out against the Scum from the off - he`s a ManU u23 kid who has never played in a remotely similar game before.) Zukowski is a good one too, only that he hasn`t played in January due to the Polish winter break. Helander will be back, Balogun now too. It only depends on the manager to make the right decisions now and see how these player fit in and play.

I was being sarcastic in my post.  

[ian1964 10,440]

Right! heading off to Ibrox in 5 minutes, looking forward to the match and to seeing Ramsey play, 3 points is a must, mon the Rangers