Is unfavoured star ready to play key role?

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Is unfavoured star ready to play key role?

 Article by: Richard, for Ibrox Noise

Graeme Murty may have to seriously re-think his preferred 4 – 2 – 3 – 1 line-up with his experienced Portuguese internationalist Bruno Alves back to full fitness. Realistically he should walk into the team when you see his footballing pedigree.

I was shocked at how many clear goal scoring opportunities that lowly placed Partick Thistle managed to create against us at Firhill last Tuesday night.

It was frightening and we could easily have been down 2 – 0 before Windass scored his sublime opening goal.

Both of our full backs Tavernier and John, were caught out of position far too often in the first 39 minutes, right up to our opening goal which thankfully managed to change the game for us.

I believe that this was a game Rangers couldn’t afford to lose if they had hopes of finishing 2nd to Aberdeen this season.

Murty took John off injured and brought on true blue Halliday at left back and it seemed to stiffen up our defence for the 2nd half. Personally, I prefer players to be played in their best positions as often as possible.

A good example is Lee Hodson at right back who has never let us down in that position, but several times he has been played as a makeshift left back and he has been poor every time. The reason John was brought to Ibrox, firstly on loan and then as a fully pledged Rangers signing.

Our biggest problem is not scoring enough goals to win games comfortably, especially when we continue to lose our way in the last 15 minutes far too often.

I am desperate for us to tighten up our defence, so that if we only score one goal, we still have a chance of gaining all 3 points. The way the team is performing at the moment we have to score 2 goals to be confident of winning the game.

My plan is to play 3 centre halves for added security and to stop the full backs being over-exposed in defensive situations. This will also help us defend free kicks, cross balls and corners far better than with this present line-up.

By having Tavernier and Murphy or John (or Wallace when fit again) playing in the two wide midfield positions along with our holding midfield players, it should stop us getting over-run in the middle of the park – exactly what happened at Ibrox against Hibernian when we lost a game we could and possibly should have won.

Possible 3 – 4 – 1 – 2 line-ups:

Foderingham
Bates Alves Martin 

Tavernier Docherty Goss Murphy (McCrorie when fit in Mid Defence)
Windass
(if he continues to score important goals)
Morelos Cummings
(to see if it leads to more goals being sold)

I wanted to include Candeias at wide right, but with Tavernier being let loose, he could be a sensation in that position and he will surely add to his goals total with more attacking freedom.

Other midfield players to pick from
Rossiter, John, Wallace, Dorrans, Jack, Holt, Kranjcar and Halliday

Other possible forwards
Miller, Candeias and Herrera

Ibrox Noise would like to know what line-up would you like to see starting for Rangers when all the players are back and fully fit?

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5 COMMENTS

  1. Looks good to me. Though I would always play our own players before loan players. So I'd have McCrorie or Dorrans for Goss. I'd also like to see Dorrans given a free role further forward so he could also replace Windass. The system would also allow some flexibility to switch to 3-4-2-1 or 3-4-3. That would allow valuable game time to players like Dorrans and Candeias. Players like Goss, Wallace, John, Jack, Rossiter and Miller would be great back up and would get some good game time as good replacements as injury, suspensions, tactics, etc take effect. If they can force their way into the team then that can only be good for the club.
    When you look at the players at our disposal it makes you wonder what 2 GREAT signings in the summer could do for us.

  2. You on the money with this article. I've said for years our defence is the most vulnerable. Again we should have bought another centre half in that window, someone tall, strong and can header a ball. We have no height in our team, hence why we are so crap at defending set pieces or cross balls, and the opposition know this!!
    I disagree with the 3 at the back as Bates plays like a school boy and our midfield have failed all season to track all runners which have led to goals against! Our man marking is shocking and frustratingly ball watch! Therefore, we would have major gaps in the defence.
    It a 4:4:2 for me against Ayr on Sunday. This is going to be a battle which I am not looking forward to. Our players need to be prepared to roll the sleeves up and scrap tooth and nail for the ball and stop giving away possession like weans.
    My preferred team is:

    Foderingham,,,, John, Alves (Captain), Martin,Tavernier,,,, Docherty, Goss, Murphy, Dorrans(if fit) Candias, Morelos, Cummings.

    We should treat this game like our cup final. Ayr are more than capable of beating us. Its up to us to come out of the traps strong and fast and bury most of our opportunities. We are out of the cup if we don't.

  3. First of all scrap Kranjcar, Halliday, Miller & Herrera from any thinking whatsoever. With the pool of players we now have none of those 4 is remotely good enough to start or even to get a bench spot really.

    I'll go with your three at the back but in midfield substitute Jack for Goss and Dorrans for Windass.

    Then if Morelos & Cummings doesn't work then Windass or Candeias in for one of those two. And keep an eye on Rossiter in case he turns out to be what we hoped he would be.

  4. Sounds like a good way to go! 👍

    Would let Kranjcar and Rossiter Go
    Would Push Miller into a Coaching Role

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