McCall’s Mission Impossible

Going into yesterday’s meeting
with bottom-feeding Livingston was the perfect
water for which Stuart McCall could dip his Rangers-managing toes in.

Five points adrift thanks to
financial mismanagement, Livvie are rock-bottom of the Championship and relegation
certainties. While Rangers’ form has been something below feeble, taking on the
worst team in the league as life began again at Ibrox for McCall was about as
good as it could possibly be.

And yet, despite that bright
start, after fifteen minutes it was clear the problems from the 40+ month-long
McCoist/McDowall era rot at the very core of this Rangers squad and continue to
blight it endlessly.

The team news itself was
certainly cause for some alarm. While there was some good news in the return of
McGregor to his natural position of centre-back due to the return of Sebastien
Faure to right back, and the first full debut to promising youngster Tom Walsh,
there were substantial negatives too;

The persistent presence of Lee
McCulloch at the back, the continuing Hutton in midfield (whose form has gone
south), and Kenny Miller up front who, despite his very fine season with
Vancouver Whitecaps last year appears to have run out of steam completely and
has been a failure third time around at Ibrox.

With a bit of a mish-mash in
midfield where it was unclear if Rangers were playing a 4-4-2 or a 4-2-3-1, the
signs were not great before kick off, but hopes were that McCall could
invigorate this ailing squad.

And for fifteen minutes, they did
indeed look a totally different side – filled with energy, aggression, purpose,
and even a bit of half-decent football. Unfortunately following Vuckic’s very
fine goal, the performance began to slide just slightly, before that fifteen
minute mark saw it just bottom out totally.

For the next 75 it was ‘the same
old Rangers’ and Livingston were compact, organised,
and to quote Tom Miller, “technically excellent”. Defensively Rangers were a
mess, with Wallace exposed time and time again, and McCulloch managed to
concede the ball three times in succession. And that was after he had already
gifted the visitors the equaliser. And in midfield…there was no midfield. Nicky
Law was a ghost after 15 minutes, Hutton barely touched the ball, and the only
bright side was some decent forages in attack from Vuckic, Walsh, and Wallace.

This match has to go down as
McCall’s trial run, his chance to truly see what the main first team would
offer. We love this man, and we want him to succeed. He is as good a soul in
football as you will meet, and as managers go Rangers could, and have done much
worse.

But goodness only knows why he
took Vuckic off and not Miller on 72, and only took Miller off on 81 to replace
him with the absolutely hopeless Kris Boyd.

Changes have to be afoot for the
visit of Alloa on Tuesday. McCall has seen first-hand what he has to work with,
he has two or three days to prepare a better team for midweek. If McCulloch
retains his place after yet another horrible display yesterday, it borderline
certainly proves this to be true, and the likes of Miller and Boyd should be
nowhere near the first-team squad now.

McCall has some big changes to
make, if he wants to get this team promoted, and playing the dross simply will
not cut it.

Here is hoping he has learned a
lot from yesterday, and has some idea of who to ditch, and who to bring in.

Promotion depends on it.