Mark Warburton = Paul Le Guen?

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Mark Warburton = Paul Le Guen?
Article by Richard Fillingham
The poll result of my last article regarding the possible comparisons between Warburton and Le Guen are as follows:

1.    Give Warburton more time to turn it around. 55%
2.    Give him the season and write this one off. 22%
3.    Fire him. 23%

According to the these numbers, 45% of the fans are not prepared to give Mark the full season to muck it up and if he cannot fix it up, then he must go. The majority want him to change from the 4-3-3 formation and start accumulating points immediately. Well, following the poll, at least he started with 3 points against propping-up-the-league, Partick Thistle.


Can he get Rangers into the top three this season so that we qualify for Europe? Of course he could. We have the 2nd biggest wage bill in the country, so this should, at least, be achievable. For the small amount of money invested, we have a substantial squad of players who must gel quickly and develop a winning strategy. Through our predictable play, opponents simply know how to negate our system, proving that even having 70% possession is not always the Holy Grail to winning a match.
 
For a long time, last year, I thought our management team were fantastic. I still want them to succeed and stay on at Ibrox. I know they are doing some great things throughout the club with the new look youth set-up and a new coach for the U20’s side – in fact – everything seems to be going right except the first team results.

For goodness’ sake, wake up, shake up and make up your mind to change from your plan A to plan B with fluid 4 1 4 1 or 3 5 2 or 4 4 2 formations. Certainly not the same old 4-3-3 policies, as Premiership teams know how to play against this system. Warburton’s sides are becoming one-dimensional, too predictable and definitely (as they always have been) error-prone to losing goals.

Plan A does not work often enough against organised teams with superior defenders and midfield players. They adapt and stop this formulaic Rangers team from playing and scoring. Warburton’s ‘Magic Hat’ could soon turn to a ‘Dunce’s Cap’ if he doesn’t listen to the advice of experts, journalists or even the fans of the club who have the brains to understand where it’s all going wrong!

Any diehard fan seems to be able to offer a constructive plan B – why does he not see it for himself or listen to others?

I am beginning to compare Mark Warburton more and more to Paul Le Guen who never fully understood the mindset of Rangers Football Club. Very soon, the unbearable media and fan pressure which is simmering at the moment will boil over and Ibrox will become a pressure cooker of discontent for Warburton.

If his team fail to win at Inverness and lose badly to Celtic at Hampden Park in the Betfred Cup semi-final after that, surely the situation will escalate beyond repair for Warburton and Co? Only the dire financial restrictions of the club would then save the management team’s jobs because Rangers simply don’t have the money to pay them off. Is the board prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt for this season and allow them a year to adjust to the standard required in the Premiership? That is what Alex McLeish advocates.

This Rangers team consists of multiple free transfers and as my mother used to say, “You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear”. Against Aberdeen we were like a patchwork quilt – the team were stitched up by a poor referee in John Beaton, with another error of judgement. I, for one, didn’t have to see the replay again to know it was not a foul by Tavernier.

So far this season John Beaton has managed to produce 58 yellow cards + 2 reds in only 10 games after he booked a further 7 players in Thursday night’s Austria Vienna game in the Europa Cup. I must ask the question – why was this man who averages almost 6 yellow cards per game even allowed on the pitch, never mind refereeing a hostile grudge match at Pittodrie? Does he have red mist or is there always a rush of blood to his booking arm?  

After the Thistle game, however, we are up to 5th place, so maybe the recovery starts from now!

I hope so.

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26 COMMENTS

  1. Give Warburton and Co time to adjust to the SPL?? He has long enough proved that he cannot adjust, in 12 or 24 months time he will still be punting the 4-3-3 with the plan A regardless of results, if he has not fathomed it out by now that it is not the answer then he never will. Remember after the Killie draw he openly stated that he did not know what else he could do!!! for a manager of any team or company to state this openly must have people in senior positions raising eye brows of suspicion. He doesnt know what his best 11 are as he does not allow any 11 to gel for a few games and get some continuity bedded in. The Barton saga is a fiasco, the guy thinks he is bigger than the club, his excuse is he had no pre season so is not match fit, if that's the case how match fit will he be after the 3 weeks suspension?? And we are still holding onto him, he should have been released 3 weeks ago.

  2. Hobson and O'Halloran are better players who should be playing on a weekly basis but are continually benched.Our system asks too many players to face their own goal to receive the ball.The last 30 minutes against QOS is all we have had since last season's semi final. Dembele would struggle at Ibrox. Look at the results Mr Warburton. They are the result of your team selection and tactics. We have good players, but a rotten system. Get McKay and O'Halloran sprinting up the wings and then quickly cutting back for an onrushing Windass and Garner/Dodoo/Waghorn running in on goal. PUT THE BALL IN FRONT OF THEM FOR A CHANGE. Presently that is not happening, our opposition have the ball in front of them, they need to be turned.I could go on, no point is there? So farewell Mr Warburton. We appreciate what you have done, but way short of what we expected.

  3. Give it a rest. You sound like my mrs. You are constantly moaning and picking fault with everything to do with Rangers. You have obviously got fuck all else happening in your life. We are not bottom of the league with a couple of games to go. Try and be a bit more positive.

  4. This site gets worse and worse, hes rebuildin give him a fuc*kin break man. Support your team ! Stop tryin get managers the sack hes doin best he can with whats available.

  5. 99% of Rangers problems have been caused by their failure to score the first goal in a match,centre of defence is a nightmare (losing terrible first goals against Hamilton,Kilmarnock and Aberdeen)costing us 7 points

  6. Give Warburton time and we will come good. All the doubters need to GTF and join the fair weather supporters in the east of Glasgow.

  7. This is an incoherent rambling rant.
    Starts off with poll results, but ignores the biggest single voting group i.e. 55% who think W&W should be given more time.
    Then we get the old Plan A vs Plan B bit.
    PLG makes a cameo appearance, before some financial results and mum's perspectives on needlework and free transfers.
    A final triumphant flourish on declining refereeing standards.

    Feeling a bit sea-sick.

    • The article started with 45% of fans are not willing to give them time, so obviously 55% will. It is even more obvious that 4 3 3 is NOT WORKING and he won't change it – astonishing decision for a manager of Rangers. I don't want them sacked, I want them to fix the situation.
      For a long time, last year, I thought our management team were fantastic. I still want them to succeed and stay on at Ibrox. I know they are doing some great things throughout the club with the new look youth set-up and a new coach for the U20’s side – in fact – everything seems to be going right except the first team results.

  8. I think the number of changes made to the midfield have been a big part of the problem. Now that he has returned to Halliday and Holt plus 1, things have stabilised. Small changes only were needed, hopefully we will now start to improve. I do agree with some of the article eg giving Hodson and MOH some more game time. If people are not on form, rest/bench them and bring others in.

  9. If formation was changed it could change everything, not sticking to 433 continuously but a variety within attacking style. The fans would be in board more so. However he will not change in my opinion so this comment is pointless.

  10. The constant barrage of abuse and negativity from this so called fans site is gettin worse by the week. Warburton v le guen poll? Jolly boy john says are u FOR REAL! Its a massive rebuilding job going on at the club from top to bottom so do us a favour and calm doon a bit. Im convinced big chris mutton writes a few of these articles

  11. Spot on the guy on 20.21 time. Canny believe the amount of people at the games either sittin ther moanin at the slightest wee pass tht goes astray, no wonder the players lack confidence at times. Stop lookin for the worst and support the team, give them a chance as the lst guy says its a massive rebuild.

    Le guen inherited a good team but was just a pish manager, warbs has a diff job to do hes starting from scratch with way less money thn le guen did.

    I dont usually comment on ths site but some of the stuff i see gettin said abt warbs is a joke so the proper support need to bk him.

  12. Comparison to PLG…you are having a laugh!
    Is this site still supporting Rangers? Survey results are being misrepresented to make a biased point against MW. I read it as 77% behind the manager. As mentioned several times here, let's give the guy a break and get behind him and that applies to Ibrox games as well.
    Inherited rubbish, little money, all the crap still going on in the background re Whyte etc …..I think MW and the team have done well.

  13. I just hope we will continue with Halliday & holt they seemed to have made it back into the team & it gives it a settled feel,
    Krancjar is good & I hop he continues the way he is going & doesnt pick up an injury.
    Also tell Barton to GTF as i think he is a luxury we cant afford,
    And last but not least where is Rsiter is he broken?

    • Same injury issues he had at Liverpool…..heard that the club is trying to cancel his 4 year contract. How did he pass a medical with his injury record?

  14. The manager needs time. My only reservations on Warbs is recently, under a bit of pressure he has been very defensive in his comments to the media and I for one often wonder what the message is.

    Recently, "teams tire on the hour mark, players not getting time to settle, sticking to the game plan if we don't score the first goal."

    Not really getting this at all. He seems to be rambling and tying himself in incoherent knots.

    Is he saying we are fitter than other teams and should push on stronger on the hour? If so I have seen no evidence of this and effectively one game pre-season was a bad match fitness foundation imo.

    If professional athletes and footballers need time to settle why throw them in big games? Garner/Senderos-Celtic as an example. Ease them into games would be best.

    And the game plan hasn't been very effective so far, most of the criticism I read on Warbs is around his strict, inflexible tactics. For a manager to frequently make that type of comment suggests something is not right. Is he ineffective at getting the message across, are the players not capable of what he requires or is it a game plan that other teams find easy to counter or all of the above as I suspect?

    He needs time but we need to see some successes this season, I have my own team goal I would settle for, I don't think Warbs has done himself any favours by setting fans expectations so high as to suggest winning this league at first time of asking. I wish him luck.

  15. Le Guen was brought in to nurture young talent and bring in some players we could sell on once they made a name for themselves, he signed half a team before leaving in a short spell.

    King recently made similar comments around bringing in young talent and players of value we could then sell on at a big profit.

    Words are cheap, where did this plan fail? Warbs biggest failing is not having enough football experience at the top level or at any level tbh. What did we really expect in the top league?

  16. After the Thistle game, however, we are up to 5th place, so maybe the recovery starts from now!????? —-With the greatest respect for your sincere intentions and fair summary of current circumstances I ask that you look in mirror and repeat above phrase to yourself with a straight face as I am 99.9% sure you don't really believe it either, I applaud, the unfortunately negative, although it has to be said accurate, assessment of where we are at moment and what may very well lie ahead in immediate future re- The Hat (the only magic from MW will be a disappearing act after we face the manky mob at Hampden) I doubt if we (or he) will have the luxury of debating whether he, along with that completely hapless assistant who thinks a defence is something a dehorse jumps over, stays until seasons end as the massively high profile media attention and resulting progressive nature of such things at Rangers (as MW has discovered recently) and renders it impossible for this "management team" to remain in place for 7 days never mind 7 months. When The Hat drives down the 74 heading south for the last time in the not to distant future I am sure he will acknowledge to himself that the biggest mistake he made was to vastly underestimate the responsibilities involved and unwillingness to compromise re- tactics etc. He is well aware now that Rangers Football Club is a national institution in Scotland and across the world and that NO TEAMS in cockney land or elsewhere in the UK could hold a candle to The Bears fans in respect of the passion and continued commitment/support every one of us will give the club until the day we pop our socks (and beyond if at all possible)
    At end of day it started very promisingly but ultimately has not and will not work and that fact is unfortunately abundantly clear but certainly no hard feelings towards these guys as they simply got caught in a storm that they would have seen coming if they had done their due diligence stuff prior to arrival, although I doubt if DW will get many xmas cards from The Hat in future years as I cant help thinking he should have made his gaffer totally aware of what was in demand, makes you wonder exactly what DW has been doing over last year cause I just cant see it WATP

  17. When did we become the greatest fans to the most depressing ?? What is wrong with you all. Surely yous are aw at the wind up ??? Is there anyone out ther backing the team apart frm me and the other 2 guys on here ? Lol

    • Well said mate if they are soundin that depressed the now fuk knows wat they must have been like 2 or 3 year bak under ally, green, ashley etc. Im startin to get convinced this sites just a wind up and suttons on masquerading as several different rangers fans

  18. DD, 50,000 of us turn up every other week, so I would not argue that the team is lacking support. This is a critical time for the Gers. 77% of the poll say give Warbs and the team time. That's about 38,500 of the crowd willing to give our team time to turn it around. Sounds good to me.

  19. Your poll results are meaningless. Too often on this site posts from the mhanky mob seem to outnumber those from Rangers fans and far too often, going back to the time when Ibrox Noise consistently attacked Dave King and even voiced support for the fat cockney b*stard, the site has posted articles which seem designed to split Rangers fans and offer the great unwashed a perfect opportunity to do a bit of trolling.

    This article is a perfect example of this. You have a poll not of Rangers fans but of supporters of any club who visit this site then use the results to justify dedicating 7 paragraphs (yes 7 F'n paragraphs!!!) to attacking MW and end with an attack on a ref that takes me back to the paranoid rants from the east that occurred every time their team didn't win.

    I like this site, that's why I’ll keep coming back, and there is a lot of insightful and original articles but too often there's a negative attitude that is naïve, ill thought out and designed to cause a bit of controversy. Of course we're not happy with many of the results so far but aside from poor finishing we are showing signs that the team is starting to gel and play good, entertaining football. This is the time to get behind the manager and the team not to crucify them.

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