Warburton reveals his first choice defence

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Warburton reveals his first choice defence

Mark Warburton has officially confirmed his first choice centre-back pairing for the foreseeable future, with former Wigan stopper Rob Kiernan and ex-QPR man Clint Hill installed as Rangers’ preferred partnership.

Rangers’ defence has not had its problems to seek of late, and one of the heaviest criticisms of Warbs’ regime is a lack of settled or indeed reliable defence, but now the former Brentford manager has stated his choice for the defensive duo. For now.

He said:

“At the moment Clint and Rob have the jerseys but it is about being ready when your chance comes along.”

He was speaking in relation to out-of-favour Danny Wilson and Philippe Senderos’ appearances for the unders v Ross County, but clearly given Kiernan and Hill have been in possession of the CB positions now since 14th October and Rangers’ trip to Inverness they will be retaining the slots for the time being.

Interestingly that particular match saw wholesale changes at the back, with the preceding fixture being Partick Thistle at Ibrox and Wilson and Senderos taking up the rearguard, but the month-long tenure of Hill and Kiernan does force the notion Warburton is happy with them.

Whether the fans are is another matter.

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11 COMMENTS

  1. Keirnan is a goal of a start to opposition , think back to joke defending for hibs first goal in final and his defending at parkhead !! Enough said ! It is going to be a long winter if he keeps getting picked !!

    • So you are judging a player on 2 appearances from a good while back? Have you been watching the Gers this season at all. Dont get me wrong, i wanted the lad strung up after that Hibs match but this past lot of games ive watched him and he has changed his style to no nonsense, back to basics defending and he has been doing it quite well in my opinion!!

  2. If you are correct I will begin to join the ranks of those losing faith in Warbs. Rob Kiernan tries his heart out but is prone to mistakes and weak in positioning for headers. We need to buy a robust CB but if we don't then I would have Wilson in as the best option available

  3. Keirnan will cost us goals every week and had already been caught out , cup final first goal against hibs when stokes scored ! What was he doing , at least two goals at park head were down to him goal at Ross county he was marking hill !! And that's just a few ! Open your eyes warburton and weir he is not championship class !!

  4. Of the four centre halves we currently have Wilson is the best we have got. Warburton is a sick joke! Every day in the papers we are linked to midfielders and strikers as transfer targets and never defenders, despite it being obvious that signing decent defenders should be the priority. We need a change of manager immediately.

  5. I'm worried that warbs mentality is same and inspired by the board these players mentioned should only be stop gap players on our way to building a team capable of beating Celtic ,all the so called quality signing have blown up on us and we are effectively playing with last years team ,and spec players for Jan are all the same warbs type and quality ,uless we change now ten in a row will be guaranteed for them

  6. sorry guys, but im totally disgusted with MW. i am pretty much aware we dont like celtics comparisons but in this case it could be useful. so dont write about me being a tim or whatever in that mould. i want my club to be successful, and success starts at the top- on the board and management level. Warburton is deluded if Kiernan is his first choice. He is starting to be iritating with his stupid comments and his attitude on and off the park.

    Look at Celtic and Rodgers. They have one guy who cost them 0,5m pound and now he will be sold for north o 20m pound. Warburton brought 20 players in his 1,5 year tenure and what? bust up with Barton and we our financial losses. Rossiter- chronicly injured. Krankar- out for the season. and we have to pay them wages ffs!! now a conflict with Waghorn. Forrester Dodoo and Hodson nae playing. Garner- 3 goals for 1,8m pound. Senderos playing for development squad. what the fek is happening???? He has absolutely NO excuses because he bought these players. Tactical naivety and general management incompetence. lack of any change in terms of the system. rumours about new transfers on strikers and midfielders position when we need centre back! and what do we have? Kiernan.

    Its getting more and more worrying. I didnt expect title challenge and think we have quite a good position- top 3 and only one point behind 2nd spot, but Warburton is not capable of getting te team forward. times for change.

    • Can't disagree with any of your points. Bottom line is Kiernan will cost him his job, if he can't see that : and he apparently,dumbfoundingly, doesn't see it, then he isn't the man we all achingly want to see bringing us the league title.

  7. Yes, I disagree with opinion that Kiernan is best choice with Hill. Warburton, I believe sees him playing well in training and working hard off the field. On field he is a different state of affairs. Would prefer any other defender to him as he is constantly caught off guard and unable to clear headers from corners. Many agree after witnessing his play. Warburton just doesn't see it.

  8. There is still a few weeks until Celtic come to Ibrox. Time to put in the only centre-back we have who is good in the air. Senderos. The best of the others, on the deck, is Wilson. These are the two who should have been playing when they are all fit.
    Remember how our hearts were in our mouths, during the Scottish Cup semi final last year, everytime Celtic got a free kick near our box, or a corner? Well that feeling will be worse this time around if Warburton insists on playing Hill and Kiernan as the two CBs.
    Unless we can totally dominate possession we will be in terrible trouble defensively as it is. To do that, our CBs will have to play further up the park, closer to our midfield. That will mean they will be vulnerable to a ball played in behind them. None of our CBs have the pace to go with quick breakouts from the opposition.
    If they sit deeper, we will not dominate possession and a lot of space will be left between them and our midfield. Celtic flooded that space at the last meeting at Parkhead, where Warburton played the slow Joey Barton as the sole defensive midfielder to patrol that space. a hopeless task.
    We continue to play the same system. Only, now we have the slow Andy Halliday operating as the sole midfielder there. a slow midfielder who can't tackle. He is a lightweight who gets brushed aside, with ease, in a contest for the ball.
    When we get pressured the other players filter back and we lose any shape, with players playing out of position all over the place.
    It's too late for Warburton to fix what should have been fixed in the summer. But he must pick Senderos and Wilson and play TWO DMs in front of them. If Crooks can play, then he must play. He would also be able to help Senderos out at set pieces. Our best player, before he was inexplicably dropped, was Harry Forrester. We must start playing Harry. NOW! With Rossiter out I'd even try Harry out sitting a little deeper in a pairing with Crooks. He's small, but he's quick and isn't afraid to put in a challenge.
    If we set up the best defence that we can and play quick players like O'Halloran, Windass and Dodoo, we can hurt Celtic. They leave huge spaces in behind their attack when the surge forward.
    Celtic are not a bad side. Better than Rangers are at the moment, but they are NOT, in my opinion, as far ahead as some seem to think. We are making it easier for them rather than setting up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with the right selections, that would make life difficult for them.

    4-2-3-1

    Foderingham:
    Tavernier, Senderos, Wilson, Wallace:
    Forrester, Crooks:
    O'Halloran, Windass, McKay:
    Dodoo.

    Nothing we can do about the CBs. Any other slow player who plays MUST, only, come off the bench. They cannot be in the starting line up. If we had quick CBs we could play one slower player further up if they offered some other quality. Someone like Kranjcar. But any more than ONE is asking for trouble. However, as we only have slow CBs, we can't be starting with ANY other slow players.
    Of course Warburton, if he could would start with two slow CBs, a single slow DM, a slow CM and an aging striker playing out on the right.
    Far fetched? Look at the team that started at Parkhead.

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