After such a stellar start to life at Ibrox, Sean Goss found himself on the receiving end of the first significant criticism he has faced since switching Loftus Road for Ibrox.
The 22-year old playmaker, on loan from Ian Holloway’s QPR, has increasingly impressed with his vision, flair and composure, and made most observers wonder exactly why Holloway had failed to select him, never mind let him go out on loan.
Unfortunately for the deep-lying midfielder, his performance against Celtic was regarded by many as by some distance his worst since moving north.
Personally, we found this assessment a little unfair. While we admit his second half was pretty poor (the whole team’s was), his performance in the first was productive and if not exactly shining, it was decent enough.
The difference was Brendan Rodgers had done his homework on Goss, and quickly found that closing him down and cutting off the channels rather stopped him hard in his tracks.
Where before Goss was raking balls out wide or threading them forward, Celtic closed off most arteries and limited Goss’ usefulness.
He found himself being hunted down much more with pressing, and not getting either the time or space to make those telling deliveries.
And it is why Greg Docherty shone more overall – the match suited him far more, with his sleeves rolled up and physical battling his thing. Goss is far more the orchestrator, and cutting that off made him impotent. In all fairness, manager Graeme Murty recognised the problem eventually and removed him, replacing him with Jason Cummings and changing the shape, but by then the damage had been done.
Thankfully the QPR midfielder has not come out the match with too much damage to his reputation overall – it would be astronomically unfair to castigate a player based on one poor 45 minutes when pretty much the rest of his appearances have been excellent.
However, a number of fans have decided already that returning Graham Dorrans should immediately replace him come Saturday and we find such a flagrant dismissal of one of Rangers’ best performers this calendar year genuinely worrying – from fans who often tell this site off for ‘not supporting players’ we find such a fickle desire to see Goss benched after one slightly off-par display in favour of Dorrans who remains a tad unproven as a Ranger disconcerting.
Goss remains a player we rate significantly and we back to respond on Saturday v Kilmarnock.
No player will be outstanding for every minute of every match – and Rodgers really did do a number on Goss. That is the kind of canny management Murty will need to match in order to succeed at Ibrox.
Goss remains a fairly young midfielder with some things still to learn – and Rangers are a better team for him in the XI.
Aye read some of that mugumba myself on Twitter.
22 years old biggest game of his life in his first OF game.
Some of our fans need there head looked.
He and also our whole team will learn from that game big time.
Only glad the SF came second and not first.
Next OF game will be a 50/50 chance and its been a long time since i felt that way.
Next window so so important to the famous!!!
I agree we should not cast people aside for not winning and starring against Celtic. And I am not sure that Dorrans is the answer. But when he is fit, we need to assess him, like others, in league matches to decide where we need to strengthen in the summer. Jack, McCrorie and Rossiter are all options in holding midfield although I would rather see McCrorie at CB where we have more of a need.
Question is, if Goss and Docherty do well for the rest of the season, when does Dorrans get game time? Has to be before next OF, can't ask him to hit that game first off.
So maybe Kilmarnock is a good time to rest Goss. I don't know, just want Murty to consider his options.
Personally I would have had Holt for Goss and Cummings for Windass as soon as they went down to 10, but Murty is a better manager than me, trust me:-)
It was his dead balls that was the problem on Sunday. His corners and freekicks were even getting passed the 1st man or we’re going straight out… that was prob the most annoying bit since we’ve seen how accurate he can be
Can't help but feel the midfield is either Goss or Jack with Docherty or Dorrans. I don't think Docherty & Dorrans would be a good combination.
Goss has been great but he had a shocker, he was brushed off the ball for the 1st goal and his defending for the 3rd was a joke. I said before the match on here that midfield was our worry. The warning signs with Goss were there against Falkirk, he was terrible that game aswell. I'd rather have had Halliday. Goss does deserve to play because of his performances so far but the sooner mcrorie and dorrans are back the better.
Yes one point as a QPR fan i had about Goss is that he looks very good but in the Championship he got bullied. This experience will toughen him up. Hopefully he learns. I somehow expected that a better team like Celtic might deal with him in a more challenging way. In the Championship every team pretty well will be physical and energetic. Even the woeful Sunderland on Saturday made life difficult at times. So it will be interesting to see how Goss reacts and learns.
Goss deserves our support. No doubt his first Old Firm was an eye opener for him and he will learn from it. Let's see how he gets on in his next. As for Dorrans, one of the criticisms of Pedro was that he forced him to play in an unfamiliar deep lying midfield role. Dorrans needs to be played further forward where he can provide a goal threat and unpick packed defences. But, as with Cummings, it's hard to see where he fits to Murtys preferred formation of 2 holding midfielders and with Windass being the chosen one to support from midfield supported by 2 wide players.
Agree with everything in this article. Goss will improve for the experience. The only trouble is we have a few lightweights when it comes to tackling etc. You cant rely on Windass to do anything on that front and at the back both John and Cardoso if he is playing are poor tacklers so how many can we afford to have who wont put their foot in?
Agree with the article. Support the boy rather than fall into the (often) usual trap of destroying the player after 1 bad game. Well deserving of another chance….good player!
Young Goss is a very good prospect, he obviously felt the heat of the OF game its not a place for the faint hearted and he is no heavy tackler ! I like him very much he has composure and presence and the ability to see a pass. The OF game was a little quick for him he didn't get time to see the game I suppose that was Brenda the twat closing him down and rushing his decision making !! I would not rest him for the Killie game but maybe the up an coming matches against the lesser opposition and maybe he can re focus and gather himself for the Semi where he could be a match winner. Agree with the support comments we need to get real here
After his Falkirk performance I said he should not play against Celtic. Simply because he can be made very ineffective. Both Falkirk and Celtic managers proved it.
Goss had a big part in two of our goals conceded, very poor strength and inabiltity to at least put a tackle in.
You mention Brenda had done his homework on Goss? What homework did Murty do on them? They had players making debuts, didn't see them having a bad game!! So please spare me "its his first old firm game, wee soul" rubbish. Derek Johnstone scored in his first old firm at the age of 16 in front of a far bigger crowd!
Like most of our players,, they just don't have that higher level required to beat shellic. On Sunday, we needed 11 warriors on the park, instead, we got school boys who bottled it again after shellic got a man sent off. They buckled under the pressure because they were now expected to win the game, and they did not step up to the plate and the beggars were the better team.
After Windass scored, he hid for the rest of the game. Windass and Goss were poor, and if ANY one of our players dont turn up at an old firm game, we'll get beat. Hearts and Killie beat them FFS!
Our players have a big big problem playing in front of their own fans, and that is just not good enough!
What a chance to get within 3 points of them. They got a man sent off and our players failed to show any urgency, attack, clinical finishing or desire to win the game. Once again, when we needed a massive result, our players let us down. If anyone thinks they can live with that month in and month out,, then we might as well gift shellic 10 in a row
Agree with the majority of these comments!…
Totally unfair to crucify Goss for one poor 45 minute display.
And not forgetting …
Hes 22!
His First OF Match!?
We need to him him support not abuse
💙Sean Goss💙
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