Are Rangers ready to make a statement?

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Are Rangers ready to make a statement?

With all the off-field nonsense surrounding Kenny Miller resurfacing again, it may have been forgotten to a few that Rangers have a massive cup semi final on Sunday to contend with.

While Graham Dorrans’ double seized all three points on the opening day of the season at Fir Park, not only was it a pretty poor display from Pedro Caixinha’s men, but Motherwell were nowhere near as in-form as they are now.

Having usurped Tommy Wright’s fading St Johnstone in fourth, Steve Robinson’s men have hit a purple patch of form, only having lost three SPL matches all season – the first, to us of course, then secondly, to the-then hot streak of aforementioned Perth crew, then more recently to second-placed Aberdeen.

They sit just one point behind Rangers in the league, and will be absolutely no pushovers in the cup.

Meanwhile Rangers’ recent results and form make for intriguing observance. As we discussed earlier, Pedro seems to have eked a little consistency from the side, Celtic loss notwithstanding. And the comeback v Hamilton was convincing followed up by that impressive victory at McDiarmid – if Dorrans, Alves and Pena can all produce that level again, it could be a very good afternoon for Rangers.

But crucially, Rangers need to make a statement. The win in Perth was Pedro’s first convincing display and result against a good SPL side – Motherwell qualify as another and will be a huge barrier between Rangers and the final.

Robinson’s side are most definitely Scotland’s in-form team, and Louis Moult is just one behind the slightly out-of-form Alfredo Morelos in the scoring charts although for his own part the Steelmen’s star striker has similarly not scored since the 21st.

So Rangers know fine well what awaits on Sunday – a tough, organised Motherwell who absolutely blew Aberdeen away in the quarters – the 3-0 victory was by all accounts no fluke nor flattering.

Rangers’ A-game will need to be on point, and anyone assuming an Ibrox victory is naïve.

But even half the performance in Mount Florida that we saw v Wright’s lot would go a long way.

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9 COMMENTS

  1. Agree with article. This is by no means an easy game. Motherwell will be more physical than skilful and will be out to wind our players up.
    We need to play a very clever game and force the referee to make a decision should our players suffer a bad tackle and not get involved in brawls.
    Motherwell are playing very well, we need to defend tight and scrap for every ball and have the urgency and desire to win for the Rangers. Team choice is going to be key on Sunday. I'd pick the same team who beat St Johnstone minus Windass, but that probably wont happen, so will be playing with 10 men for 60 minutes of the game!!

  2. It was a very good performance against St J but at the same time we had to weather some concerted attacking play from them before we put the game to bed. It was our best defensive performance in a long time and had to be. Can we do that 2 games in a row? We'll need to score at least 2 goals in my opinion to win this semi. I think it will be Moŕeĺos time. Mon the Gers

  3. this is THE game of the seson for us,right now…..Motherwell will play like they have nothing to lose…so they Will play better than they normally do…..Rangers will need to be aggressive in a subtle manner…would try playing Nemane from start and see how that goes..if not well,then change players FAST(by that i mean at half-time).ANY player who struggles should be removed.at half-time..thats my view… I hope the Rangers show,the improvement made in last two games continues !!

  4. There game plan will be exactly the same as game 1.
    It won't be nowhere near as affective as at a tight Fit park,
    Plenty wide space and we have better quality players for Sunday.

    GersJimbo.
    Watch Windass will play a blinder & score mate!!
    Morelos will love the extra space also.
    Honestly can't wait me.
    WATP 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

  5. I think Pedro has never had a Semi like the one watching Rangers at the weekend.

    Hope the camera captures him struggling to hide his excitement 😁

  6. When you rank the spl by form, then Motherwell are 3rd. You can't just round them up to being 'the most in form team in Scotland'

  7. I think the article sums up the potential for Sunday’s semi at Hampden. We need above all else to keep our discipline, last time a time Fir Park, Motherwell were very physical as they always tend to be against us. We have to ensure they don’t outmuscle us but be careful. The referee is McLean, who can be very nitpicking, stops the flow for minor fouls and has been awkward for us, without generally being as biased against us as 95% of the other referees we have had, (hope I don’t have to eat my words come Sunday night).
    If we perform as we did against St.Johnstone, without the 16 corners, I would be confident in victory. One point is the fact Morales not scoring for a few games, I am happy enough with his work rate, he gives defenders a real hard time and has been very unlucky in front of goal.

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