Future expectations

8
Future expectations

As alluded to in a recent entry about Martyn Waghorn and
James Tavernier, the victory over Hearts was one of the most enlightening
performances of last season in terms of truly teaching us fans and the manager
more than most matches have.
Truthfully, the dreadful win over Partick Thistle taught us
nothing – we already knew this squad was awful, and nothing in that display
suggested anything different. We had already suffered the humiliation at the
hands of Celtic on two successive occasions, so if nothing else had conveyed
the poverty of this current Rangers squad, that certainly did – we did not need
a shocking display at Firhill to affirm it.

No, the win over Ian
Cathro’s
men was more illustrative than most matches this season because it
led to a very stark conclusion; when the pressure is on, this Rangers squad
simply cannot perform. Remove it, and suddenly the players can sometimes
produce. And that is the most insulting thing you can say about the squad we
presently suffer.

If you are a little unsure of my point; for the first half
of the Hearts match, there was only one team really in it. While certain
individuals were not having great matches (Tavernier, Holt, Toral and Miller)
the team as a whole was expressing itself a lot better than it has in a long
time – the odds of such a performance are rather long these days according to best sport betting and it was the
most convincing display since Caixinha’s debut against Hamilton. But of course,
there was literally nothing to play for; third place was assured, and Europa
League participation along with it.
So, when there is no pressure, no expectation, the players
Rangers have can indeed perform a bit, even if Cathro’s Hearts had been mostly
a shambles since the ex-Valencia coach became the manager.

However, the sending off of Prince
Buaben
early in the second changed everything, and not in the way it should
have – going by that second half, it was Rangers who looked a man short. From
the red card onwards, Hearts took control, playing thrifty football, often
bullying a feeble Rangers who were unable to accommodate being a man up into
any meaningful attacking.
It was Hearts who were the better team and truthfully they
should have won, just like Partick before them. Through luck, grit, and unseen
forces, Rangers have scraped undeservedly through the last few matches and
seized all 9 points on offer.
And herein is the rub; what we learned is Rangers can only seemingly
modestly perform when the pressure is lifted, and there is nothing to play for.
But change the circumstances suddenly, and even that is gone – and the
performance deteriorates horribly.
In short, Caixinha has shown zero ability to adapt properly to
changes in circumstances, to adapt to the game altering around him (often
making wildly inappropriate switches), while his players have shown zero
ability to cope with pressure or alterations around them.
None of it bode well. Rangers’ manager is being backed by
most because there is a belief he deserves to have his own men. That is indeed
a fair assessment, whatever you think of his methods. And the players are
copping a great deal of the flack as well they should because they are indeed
dismal. But then, they did not sign themselves.
We will see next season just how much of this season’s dross
was down to inept management and rotten players, or how much deeper the rabbit
hole at Ibrox truly goes.


No posts to display

8 COMMENTS

  1. I love this,it is ok to look at the players that are coming in to our club but one can they cope in the Scottish game i would hope so two have we spent all our money on beating Aberdeen to second spot if so then manager must go,three i like what i see but it still stands if you can not beat Selltic you can win nothing they are going bring in more players for this fight and it is our managers job is on the line not theres our new players can shout what they going do but they must bring it to the pitch.

  2. Personally I thought the st Johnstone game was a big sign of things to come. They have really been a boggie team to us in the past and yet this time we showed what we can do. And even better was the fact of how many youngsters started and they can only improve

  3. Too Many moaners, Give P C a chance. Too many non Scots, foreigners have for many years been in our winning teams.Mexicans I welcome their addition. Consider… Mexico 16th in world Rankings. Scotland……..59th. I believe in the next couple of seasons ,you will see the Scots youngsters coming through with the help of our incoming Talent.At least Pedro has a Plan.I hope his Board Have. !!

  4. i agree with you ibrox noise that you have doubts about our current manager…the way i see it is that this guy is too much of a hard man…walter was a hard man when he needed to be but he also coaxed on people like gazza…you need to have that fatherly approach to be a success as a football manager…anyway i still have hopes that this guy will come through for the gers…lets be honest…there is nothing we can do about it!!!

  5. Agree that Pedro is still the big unknown. He has used his time at the club so far for assessment and experimementation. Pity he didn't realise that you just can't do that against the Parkheid lot. Hopefully he realises the importance of that now. But I'm liking who he has got so far. Before we kick a ball I reckon we're about 40% stronger. The rest of the teams won't be finding us a soft touch this season. I think we'll be getting value for money with the incoming guys. Pedro's already an improvement on the bread man. Watp

  6. I like peds attitude, i like his signings and suppose targets. And i really think this is the guy to finally challenge at the top again. Also hes giving youth a chance which is minted ! Lol. Lets really get behind him and also welcome these new players to the most successful club in the world 🙂 cant wait for the new season !!

Comments are closed.