Today’s loss to Hibs was as disappointing as any loss Rangers have suffered recently. While few would argue the home side was atrocious, there was definitely a lot to ponder following the 1-2 reverse. Ibrox Noise takes you through some things we noted following the 90 minutes in Govan.
1: Alfredo Morelos’ head has definitely been turned. He was sluggish, angry, and while his ‘goal’ was a fairly well taken header and confusion reigns over the reasons for its disallowal, nevertheless something was not right with the Colombian. We have had mixed messages from the player and the club following these big money bids, and you would have to say once this path is tread it is very difficult to prevent the inevitable.
2: Graeme Murty really struggles against Neil Lennon. While the Rangers boss has the number of Derek McInnes and by some distance, by contrast the former Parkhead icon seems to know how to get results from Rangers these days. Murty did manage a staggering 3 points in Edinburgh but completely against the run of play. Today Rangers were left short for the second time against Lennon’s lot this season, and we cannot pin it on a silly red card this time.
3: Our manager needs to learn to change the system when it is not working. We know Murty loves his 4-2-3-1 but today it did not reap rewards and he stuck with it for the full 90. While substitute Jason Cummings did get forward late on as an attempted partnership with Morelos, he spent more time sitting in the three behind the Colombian. That formation has worked in recent weeks but Lennon clearly did his homework and Murty had no answer.
4: Wes Foderingham should have done a tonne better with both goals. While McGinn’s strike was powerful, a top class shot stopper would have anticipated and got to it. Fair enough if the thing exosetted into the top corner, but it was a daisy cutter. Meanwhile the penalty was far from the best strike but it squirmed in off the goalie. Not his finest 90 for someone many cite shot stopping as his best asset.
5: Jamie Murphy started to show why we worked doggedly to secure him. A load of work in both halves, covering superbly for the frequently out of position Declan John, Murphy also caused real havoc in the opposing half and was by an absolute mile our best player. Really pleasing display from the winger.
6: While Rangers’ favourite opponent Scott Allan did make the most of Tavernier’s challenge, Rangers’ number 2 showed unbelievable naïveté to make such a crude attempt in the box. The Englishman’s defending is patchy at times and today it cost us two points.
7: Russell Martin is looking a very solid defender indeed – he is leading the line well, and Rangers look just a little less vulnerable with him steering the rearguard. He could be a fine example for young Bates to look up to and learn from.
8: Sean Goss’ left peg really is potent – we have enjoyed his range of passing and one raking inswinger to Jamie Murphy was borderline astonishing. His goal was also outstanding. If he was able to dictate the midfield as effectively as a Barry Ferguson type he would be the complete midfield general.
9: You will not get a match-winning display from Josh Windass every time and he still gives the impression of playing the game for himself. Murty has complained many times of his poor decision making, and today was an example of it, till he disappeared entirely.
10: It is time for Murty to start fully using his January signings. Rangers were terrible in Dingwall, mortifying at Bellslea (despite both results), and weak again today. One wonders just how much of that is failure to deploy all the new lads. It is about bedding them in, to an extent, but at the end of the day you should play the best players you have. We remain mystified as to why Docherty and Cummings remain benched in particular. Neither came to Ibrox to sit on the sidelines.
All in all, Lennon got what he came to Ibrox for; another three points. Rangers simply did not have the answers. The excellent display v McInnes’ Aberdeen feels a long time ago already, and while we praised Murty for gritting out the results when not playing well, therein lies the rub – you must grit the result out. As soon as you fail to do so, the fare itself can be legitimately criticised.
On-form Partick Thistle are next, with only Celtic and Aberdeen able to take wins from them in recent times. With the East End shower dropping 3 big points to equally in form Killie, today was a critical chance to make up some of the difference, albeit second placed Aberdeen won so no ground would have been closed to them. Nevertheless, anything other than 3 points from Firhill would be another damaging blow to the creeping momentum we were feeling after Fraserburgh.
We hope for a much more positive outcome.
Cannot believe as an "unbiased" site you come out with the crap…."you will not get a match winning display everytime from Windass"!!…..if i live till im 100 he will never be a footballer!!….500k…i'll drive him down myself!!…..this page isn't usually slow getting on players backs,so i find it astonishing nothing being said about Mr Invisible….ok he scored 3 against a junior team midweek…but he brings absolutely zilch to this team!…..fuckin passenger!!
Welcome back Ibrox Noise! For a few weeks there we feared we had lost you. That said the biggest issue that I always have wit this site is that it builds players up to false heights after a few good games and then writes them off when their form inevitably dips. Declan John is a case in point. Anyone can see that he can't defend yet a few days ago you had Wallace cast forever to the wilderness.
The truth about this Rangers team is that they have no proven winners in the side – and they have a rookie manager who has also achieved little. Murty continues to give it his best in the role and is a breath of fresh air after the Caixhina farce – but I doubt if a stare from the sidelines or a bollicking at half time from Murty carries the same intensity as the equivalent from a Walter Smith or a Souness. For the majority of the players he will always be Murts!
While Rangers had a pretty good transfer window there is no denying window – today was also a reality check. The players we brought in were guys who could not get a game at Brighton, Norwich, and Notts Forest. This is why they were brought in on loans (which I applaud) as we can't afford to have a third batch of players on the books that can't handle the jersey. Cummings I believe will show his worth between now and the end of the season and will be at Ibrox for the long haul – but he hasn't kicked a ball for weeks and needs to get match fit – yet your article would have him immediately replace the leagues top scorer – who is sulking to boot! Again Morelos is a young man and inevitably at this stage in his career will blow hot and cold. Yes maybe he is in a sulk but actually he has been poor for weeks and pre the interest from China. Rangers have taken a gamble in holding off the Chinese for now ( although a couple more slips and as Aberdeen head away in second) he may well be on his way before the month is out. Personally if we can get the sort of sum mentioned then I'd take it as it will enable us to recruit 2/3,quality players of the £2/3 million mark.
Last shout out for Tav. Sure he sold the jersey's today with a naive and foolish challenge on Judas Allen who was going nowhere (much like his career) – but Tav has been immense for weeks now – both in defence and attack. Cut him some slack and remember his performance at Celtic Park!
Murty got it all wrong today, formation & team selection.
Docherty should have started with Goss. More bite and penetration.
Bates should have crunched there goalscorer rather than turn his back,schoolboy defending again, also Fods should have done better for both goals for me.
Murphy & Goss only pass marks.
Cummings Windass Candias very poor.
Morelos got no service today, God knows why his goal got chopped off!!
Tavi stay on UR bloody feet and jockey them away!!!
We so so need a Nr-10 Windass is just not one.
Mr Allen get busy and get me another CH also please!
Windass must go he was absolutely terrible; Morelos not far behind; we need someone who can actually find the net from inside the box having squandered so may chances today against a tema who were absent completely after the first 25 minutes
Agree with most of your analysis but no mention of once again a deplorable exhibition of refereeing by Collum Murty as you said stuck with his formation it was crying out for a four four two switch we are missing Jack and McCrorie for to toughen up the midfield Take the money for Morelos as he wont produce anything better now his head has been turned as for Windass he has no desire to give his all for the team timid and lacks conviction alright when the going is easy
After today I've had enough of fellow bears saying Murty is the man for the job long term, although there were some poor decisions by officials today the main damage was self inflicted by poor/lack of management decisions before/throughout the game,I believe Cummings/docherty should have started or at least been on a lot sooner and for me the reality is that Murty is not the man to take us forward,and before all the Murty fans have a go at me for my opinion Just have a look back at the points we have dropped under him and also poor/lack of decision making in those matches as well,in fact even some of the matches we have won have been difficult and a struggle to watch?
I'm affraid the Board have once again got it badly wrong…watp
Just my opinion!!!
I believe the situation with Morelos is affecting the team and he should be allowed to go . In one fell swoop we'd have the money back that Caxhina waisted ! Also lets get Cummings and Docherty into the team right from the start .
Let's face it the tactics right out Warburton and Pedro playbook. Two wingers and one ineffective header of a ball in the middle leaving the midfield exposed as in the first goal the guy ran from the half way line with nobody challenging. As for players Windass can go any time as he is a waste of a jersey and ad for Murphy thank goodness he is on loan because there is nothing from him to date that has had any value.
Look Murtys here till the end of the season, he will be replaced in the summer and back to his old job.
It's no coincidence we got all these loan players and the new manager will decide who he wants, said before Cummings came he got found out at NF and will be back there in the summer, still very much of that opinion.
I would like to think that Mark Allan and the board have a new manager lined up NOW. with the money we get for Morelos in the summer and this apparent investment get Goss bought aswell as Martin & Murphy. We need to be looking in Holland, Argentina for a Nr-10 and a striker. Windass can go for 800K.
We are going in the right direction but need a massive clear out this summer with better quality arriving.
High profile manager will bring in high profile players.
Is De Boer working yet!!???
🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧 Queens XI 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
For me there is absolutely no need for 2 sitting midfielders against any team apart from the manky mob, Docherty should have beenin from the start instead of holt, half time 1nil down I was shouting to get windass off Cummings on n holt off Docherty on, changes wer made far to late wen a player comes on takes them 10 mins or so to get up to speed n even more so Cummings needs game time n maybe take him a wee while to get into the game so imo they should have been on at haf time.
Yes I believe Foderingham should have done better with the two goals.
The refs was shocking merelos goal disallowed for wat I don’t kno, he gives a very very soft penalty, he let so many fouls go that shud have been bookings that wud have later in the match led to reds that I am sure of.
What I wud like to see in the next few games is one holding midfielder with Docherty starting instead of holt n windass out n Cummings in 2 up front again in the spl no need for two sitting mids reminds me wen mcculloch n edu played in ther n it wasn’t easy on the eye and should always play 2 up top apart from against the unwashed.
Sort it murty!!
Theres no doubt this squad is an upgrade on the 1 left my ped but we have still a group of average players who will be inconsistant. Desperate in need of a quality no.10 as well as an out & out striker as morelos needs 4 or 5 chances to score. Murty is doing a good job but is too inexperienced to be full time boss. Lets hope we can get back to level of play against aberdeen & grab 2nd spot thats most we can expect
so disappointed.we could have gained 3 points on smelldick.
if morelos form goes down so will his price.time for cumdog?
I thought we had a good transfer window but we need to remember that most of the players brought in were unable to get a game with average Championship teams. I still hope that those players are better than that and will grow into the jersey. Any time you sign 5 or 6 players at one window you can be fairly sure some will work and some won't. Time will tell but I still think we are stronger now than we were in December. However my main point is that we will not improve enough over 1 or 2 windows. It will take 5 or 6 windows and there will be some failures along the way. But if we can pick up 2 gems every time we will get there eventually. Even Pedro's disastrous reign gave us Morelos.
Quite an accurate analysis of the game Ibrox Noise. Again, walking to my car after the game, absolutely raging at our defence and lack of back tracking from the midfield! Sick fed up with it. What a chance to catch up with the beggars!! Instead the sheep get closer!
There is no flow or the ability to break out quickly against any team, we always hold the ball which lets the opposition get back into position! Why do that! Poor passing! Just plain mince!
We will be lucky to make 3rd or 4th place this season, we are that bad!!
Jimbo.
We will get 2nd mate, once Holt & Bates are out of the team we will improve massively, Escobar needs to start banging them in if he wants to go to the WC so he will be running through walls again.
We go again tomorrow let's hope Murty picks our best team.
Never win anything with the likes of windass and holt in our team. Simple
Oh dear…just as we thought we had some forward movement .Morelos is lazy and seems disinterested. Docherty should have been on from start not Holt.Cummings needs more than 19 minutes to make a difference poor decision making by Murty he needs to learn …never mind saying the players think they are the best !@@! Watties troops always thought they were the best …..Onwards
1. As much as I like morelos as a player I think if we get an offer of around £10-12m we should take it
2. We were Unlucky but also have to question the Tactics/Team Selection
3. Murty does need to change the team around but I also believe Nicholl should be doing more and sharing his knowledge and experience with Murty
4. Let Wes & Jak Go : 2 New GKs Please?
5. JM was Magic! 👍
…well worth the effort to get him
6. Silly challenge to make from Tav given hes been playing so well recently.
7. At first I was not convinced by the signing of RM but after watching him lead our backlime in the past few matches im coming round to the idea
…the next davie weir? 😄
8. Gossy has been immense from day1!
😃👍
…would be great to have permanently, I would also say hes more like a paul scholes type of midfielder than a midfield general 👐
9. Windass is not Good Enough! 👎💩
Simple as that!
If we get offered £1.5m …Take It!
10. Docherty & Cummings both should have Started, also think he should give Barjonas a run out also is McCrorie injured?
The fact of it is we had the chance to close the gap …we didnt take it.
We were simply not good enough and hibs exposed it.
Unbelievable!! Look back at what you’ve attempted to write. Those are not 10 opinions, but 3 wrapped in 10. Then you get someone asking if McRorie’s injured, but they’ve an opinion on the teams performance? There are definitely failings…but…no Dorrans, Alves, Jack, Wallace, Miller and Rossiter available for selection. All internationals and will play when fit or be included in match day squad. I await tomorrow’s pish in our beloved team ��
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