As regular readers to the site will know, we are big fans of Jason Cummings. We love his attitude, his commitment, and coupled onto his strength, pace, ability and fire, he is, for us, capable of wonderful things.
But, there is a problem. It is evident to most fans watching Rangers at the moment that Cummings is not a lone striker; that holding up the ball, winning the ball in the air, and generally playing the isolated forward is not in his CV.
And yet, that is exactly how Graeme Murty is playing him. Every appearance the forward has made has been in that slot in front of the three, and while he grabbed a fine goal on his debut at Dingwall, he has cut a mostly frustrated figure in his two starts.
While his touches have been classy, and his movement and running top drawer, he has been unable to properly influence the game from his starting position and has found himself coming deeper to win the ball and have impact.
If we look back to his Hibs days, he played with a supporting striker, be it Dominique Malonga or Anthony Stokes, and that reaped rewards as the most productive time in his career thus far, with the former two doing much of the grunt work and giving Cummings space to run into and do damage.
And that is very much his forte – he is the kind of striker who cannot do it all by himself, and right now he is playing out of his comfort zone.
In short, Jason Cummings is being starved of service in this formation and he is limited in the kind of damage he can do.
It is not even excuses for poor displays – when he has the ball he usually gets things going, but the worrying issue is he has to come into the false 10 position in order to achieve that, which invariably leaves the striker position unoccupied unless Windass is off on one again.
Quite simply, unless Cummings adapts to the lone striker position (and he is still young and can develop) Rangers will struggle to get the best from him as long as he is selected there. He may be better off in the three, but even then it is not quite his best position.
That all said, if Murty is interested in going 4-4-2 (he has the players for it) he would get much more out of his squad than he is currently getting. Equally, my colleague Richard proposed a similar solution albeit a 3-4-1-2 formation. Either way, it would mean Cummings presumably alongside Morelos, which for us would be a fine solution.
At least till the summer anyway…
Completely agree
Sunday is a good time to try something different and bed it in
Back three CBs
2 central midfielders flanked by Wingbacks or wingers
Windass behind Morelos and Cummings
May not be defensive enough for some SPL teams, but fine for tomorrow
The point you are making is absolutely correct and surely he must give it a try no matter what formation he uses (even if he selects certain games)
Fine goal at Dingwall??
Trust me I was sitting right behind county's right hand post and if it wasn't for a wicked deflection the keeper was gathering it mid rift.
He hasn't proven himself at this level, got well and trueley found out at NF.
Back to Sherwood Forest on what I've seen so far!!!
100% on this one Ibrox Noise. Cummings needs service. He comes deep into midfield to get the ball, needs the ball at his feet in the box! 4:4:2 for me. Cummings needs a partner in there, also we need to press the opposition defenders, its very easy to mark one player, not so easy with 2 up front.
Our attitude and commitment needs to be right tomorrow and come out strong and fast, Ayr are dangerous up front and we are weak in defence. It's going to be a scrap and hopefully our players are up for that fight!!!
Can’t believe I’m agreeing with IN for once 😳
I do think Morelos & Cummings would be a great pairing for the Ayr game. This 4-2-3-1 formation isn’t my cup of tea and it would be too negative against Ayr..
Rangers need to grab games by the scruff of the neck by having 2 strikers upfront. It puts more pressure on the opposite teams defence more so if they’re quick and good movement – both players have that in spades…
Murty if you read this please play Docherty from the start and give him the bit between the teeth…
Totally agree we should go with 4-4-2 but will Murty want to… probably not?
Robbie Wilson,when cumdog scored that Wicked deflection did you cheer like every other bear or did you Just do nothing but complain about His goooooaaaaal !!!
Me thinks your being a bit too harsh and and for someone who hasnt proven himself you just need to look at his goal scoring record wether it be the championship here or down south and also cup competitions…….
watp Helicopter 2005 ��
Dave.
I did the bouncy mate.
Sorry just not convinced he will cut it at Rangers.
As U say all his goals in the Scottish Championship for a top team. 1 in the SPL 1 in the EC.
Doesn't set the Heather on fire for me,
That's just my opinion I don't rate him sorry mate!!
🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧 Queens XI 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
Stick him up with Morelos = Deadly Partnership! 👌
Plus if murty is playing him out of position thats not his fault if he doesnt play well.
Also hope we can get him permanently
the thing is ur right if he plays out of position not his fault but need to do better.stick him up front tomorrow at ayr see what happens but wee need to go into that game thinking that it is a prem team not a league one cause ayr will come out fighting to prove a point an we need to be ready for that
Going 4-4-2 is a step backwards we ain’t good enough to keep out good teams playing that way..either slot him in where Windass is now or he is a back up for Morelos ..we are a squad set up to play 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 with the amount of good midfielders we have..Jason is unfortunate that the man he needs to oust from the first 11 Windass seems to be on fire at the moment.
Only person I agree here with is Robbie. Think a lot of Rangers fans want to believe he's the next Novo who's came on the cheap but quite frankly he's a Hibs-Hearts level player. Good player but dear God don't let this be our level. Leigh Griffiths at Hibs was 10 the player he is even and scored in the top league. #ThinkBigger
F###s sake, the boys got the potential to be a great player for us, give him time
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