Reality strikes Rangers?

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While today’s display at the Indodrill was far from the worst Rangers have played under Mark Warburton, that such context is being explored is definitely a mite worrying.

Rangers’ form slump seems to be extending match after match right now, starting with that uninspired win at Cappielow; this is natural, teams do have dips, but this is the second one under Warburton and while the matches with Morton, Raith & Falkirk yielded victories, today’s draw versus a battling Alloa was the first time during this spell the presently misfiring attack was unable to truly capitalise on dominant possession in the league.

Make no mistake – Rangers absolutely horded the ball greedily, and managed 25 shots, 10 of which were on target. But this growing trend of nice football with little end product is making a few fans slightly edgy, as is the resurfacing inability of the manager to try a different tactic when things do not go according to plan.

Let us be real here – Rangers remain 8 points clear at the top of the table and still look on course for promotion; but the harsh realities of what this squad is capable of are starting to hit home a little more – previous eras were absolutely slated for failing to get results in Alloa, and while Warbs had smoothly bucked that trend the first time he took his men there, this time the story was quite different.

Not unlike the Kilmarnock result, we are left admiring nice football but being frustrated by an impotence up front. Not unlike Killie, we are left saying we were the better team and should have won.

And this theme has been a sporadic one this season, on and off – naturally there have been many more victories than other results this campaign, and no one should throw themselves off a cliff at Rangers failing to win a match of football, but that is now five matches in a row Warbs’ men have been toothless up front or at best, underwhelming, and even more concerning is that effectively eight attackers were on that pitch for the Magic Hat and none looked terribly inspired, Jason Holt aside.

Rangers used a colossal get out of jail card today – Hibs and Falkirk also slipping up was a massive fillip, and general consensus is that hopefully Warbs’ men have got this sloppy spell out their system and will raise their game come Tuesday.

Because a loss at Rugby Park would see yet more questions raised about this Rangers squad’s ability to compete with the bread and butter of the Premiership, questions which have been simmering recently with such a below par period of football.

All teams have dips, that is football, and hopefully that is all this is.

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22 COMMENTS

  1. His top priority in the January window should have been an out and out striker. How many wingers do we need especially when there is nobody in the middle to cross it to.This slump is coinciding with his insistence on playing Waghorn out on the wing and using a geriatric striker through the middle.What about all guff about using youth when he refuses to give young Hardie a chanceI am fed up hearing how angry they are after a bad result do something about it and be more direct

    • Totally agree when is young Hardie going to get his chance, Peterborough play 18 yearold Samuelsen in a cup tie against WBA on Tuesday night and he proved the point give youth it's chance.Yes we need to bring them on carefully but 5 mins here and there is hopeless.

  2. Ffs while I loving reading some of the things you write others leave me wondering if you are affiliated to the manks…..we are playing wonderful football,something which I never thought I'd see again from the Bears these last few years!!……yes we drew today ,yes we should/could have scored 6,7,8….but you get those days in football…..we all need to stick together and support a team that has been together a little over 8 months!!!!……could be worse we could have Ronnie as our manager!!…then I would be worried ����….in Warbs and Sir Davie we trust WATP

    • Although the I understand your opinion I think the point is for the last 3-4 months we have won a lot of games 1-0 or drawing. On the bright side we have won the important games and job drew today but we need to start beating teams 3 or 4 -0 cause let's face 8 teams in that league really shouldn't be competing with our team especially with some of the players we have.

    • Ross county 3 Celtic 1 all seems well in your world wish I was there.. Aberdeen 2 Celtic 1 do you get were this is going..halfwit

    • 1-1 against Alloa is totally unacceptable regardless of stats!!

      We have been crying out for a player who can finish the endless chances we create! Ryan Hardie doesn't look like a player who deserves to wear the strip never mind a contract extension and that effectively is our back up out and out striker.

      Would buy a lazy 6yd goal poacher anyday

    • Sandy if you are going to accuse someone of being a mhank at least spell it correctly or the teddy bears might think you is one of the mhanks

    • Well said Sandy! I nearly spat out my cornflakes when I saw the headline "Reality Strikes Rangers?". Seriously, WTF??????

  3. We will need a few more games like this to truly say it is a loss of form. I think the team will be better tuesday.

  4. Have to agree with sandy on this one it could be so much worse Than were we are. We can't have it both ways would we rather have it like last year just hoofing it up front and hoping for the best. Granted Falkirk did us a favour today to keep it at 8 points. Onwards and upwards lets just keep faith with Warburton and what he's doing. Like I said just think to this time last year. What would you rather have. Watp

  5. I have one major criticism about our team. The players are not taking shots at goal often enough. It's almost as if everyone is waiting for the perfect teed up ball inside the box and can be very frustrating to watch. There are numerous opportunities in every game to let fly from inside and outside the box whereby the ball is tippy tapped forward then passed further backward, then sideways for 20 yards, while the opposing defence block a pathway to goal that was wide open for a strike for goal a few second previous.
    Hopefully the impetus Michael O'Halloran brought to the game today can encourage everyone to bloody well put the bootlaces through the ball when a chance presents itself.
    Goalkeepers have all the time in the world to get their angles right with the laborious attacking set-ups we use whereas a piledriver can hit the back of the net before they see it. More goals should be scored from corners. For every goal scored from a corner by the opposition Rangers require forty corners to equal their tally.
    And the number of times McKay and Wallace beat the fullback and don't cut it back further than they do at present is daft. They are always going too close to the line and pass to within a yard of the goal line. Goalkeeper comes to the front, therefore the ball should be passed to a man designated to be waiting on the penalty spot area for a strike to the far corner. Just look at O'Hallorans goal. Scored from a cutback to the penalty spot. Simple.
    Felt for Halliday today. he let fly just the way I like to see it done but a moment before he struck the ball it gave a high bounce off the plastic pitch and was sent over the bar. A certain goal on a grass pitch.

  6. In all fairness we have won these games recently and have played some great stuff of late. Minds on the game on Tuesday, heavy legs after a few games in bad weather (livi at ibrox comes to mind) and just not having that slice of luck you sometimes need. Everton had 34 shots today, lost 1-0. We need to look at the bigger picture which is getting back up, then hopefully during the summer we will see a few new faces coming in as well. To talk along these lines after 3 wins and 2 draws is madness

  7. Alex spot on analysis couldn't have put it better myself on the corners you talk about us needing 40 to get a goal, I could be wrong but I don't think we have scored from a corner this season but I did notice yesterday we started crossing into the box, rather than that short corner our players usually fuck up but I think that was out of desperation & this is the bit I don't get Mr Warburton told us we have great guys doing jobs on video analysis of our games yet our players keep doing the same mistakes all the time like the ones you have highlighted above, now before this seems like all doom & gloom I think when we we get a better quality of players in they will not make the same mistakes our current squad is making

  8. Same old negative bullshit from this site. Points dropped v Alloa – true. Got lucky with Hibs result – true. But look at our season long results! Compare them to the rest of the UK. Games won. Games drawn. Games lost. Best in British football. Waghorn needs a rest. And yes we need an out and out striker….but not to win this league. Get a grip. You lot depress me

  9. Wen i watched barca a few years ago everyone raved about how gd barca played tipy tapy stuf bt i found it frustratin cos they over played n always tried to score the perfect goal n i feel thats wat gers r doing sometimes need to b mre direct instead of over playin hava a shot from 20 yards.the now wen we go forward thro the middle ad like to c the wingers cum in of the the lines mre so thers mre people in the box bt they jst seem to sit on the line n not cum inside to support an attack thro the middle and another thing the front 3 seem to swap positions that much ther ends up way no striker in the box wen the ball get pt in. We need an out n out striker who jst wants to play in n around the box cos the constant swaping of the front 3 is leaving that position vacent n watchin it every other wk is really getin to me.

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