“Basically invisible” – Five things we learned against Cowdenbeath

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“Basically invisible” – Five things we learned against Cowdenbeath


After another 90 minutes, this time of cup action, Ibrox Noise takes you through the latest compilation of titbits we can take after eking safe passage to face Killie. How many do you agree with?

1: Wes Foderingham was a mess. This guy has produced individually great saves for Rangers this season, but in this one he was a bit all over the place. Just completely unconvincing and if he’d wanted to use this as a shop window for a move today he’s probably put most suitors off. In one 90 minutes Rangers can see the difference with McGregor – even the new number one’s shakier displays are far better than anything Wes can offer.

2: Few if any of the fringe players impressed. Flanagan, as we said last night, was poor, while Coulibaly did very little of note bar his goal. Defoe was basically invisible again and Davis had a quiet night. Kyle Lafferty did manage a pretty decent strike though and didn’t do his chances too much harm – not sure if it’ll usurp Morelos but hey.

3: Andy Halliday was ruthlessly dropped by Gerrard for no reason at all – and he was determined to show that. And guess what – best player in blue by a distance, not even including his stellar goal. Halliday can do no more than what he is, and as long as he is playing as well as this, quite frankly the selection of Barisic is unjust. It is a ‘nice’ problem to have – two potentially outstanding left backs.

4: The first half was clinical from Rangers – 5 shots, all on target and 3 goals with 72% possession. Second half was a bit different but that first half did point to an efficient Rangers team getting the job done professionally.

5: Once again a conceded goal has seen Gerrard’s men unravel. Cowdenbeath were dangerous in the second half, ridiculously so, and once the bad call for a penalty had been made, Rangers struggled to keep their composure. It’s a recurring theme – there seems to be a character defect when Gerrard’s side concede. It was never more evident than at Rugby Park. We lack mental strength – a better side than Cowdenbeath may have won that last night – and indeed did in the form of Killie.

We will have more match reaction later today, but for now, which ones do you agree with?

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15 COMMENTS

  1. Agree with most of your comment, except….. Halliday was efficient NOT exceptional. Come on. I love the guy also but Barisic showed on Sunday who is the best left back by a mile and its not Andy. One player you failed to mention last night who really struggled and was out-powered virtually every time i.e. Katic. Will be interesting to see if Gérard continues with him on Saturday? He'll only do so if he hasn't any option.

  2. Gerrard stated after the livi game that he selected barbaric at left back because livi are a big team so he wanted as much height as possible in our team,therefore halliday wasn't ruthlessly dropped, he was dropped for that reason.

  3. I agree with you Flanagan is rubbish I think last night was his level he is poor I actually thoughht Coulibaly had gone off as he was not in the game at all
    But it is what it is we were poor & we move on

  4. thought defoe, davis were mince ,something wrong at rangers ,far to many players mcauley is finished ,flannigan ,also ,not been impressed with any gerrards signings ,come end season we will be watching team from last year ,murphy, dorrans, mccorie ,jack halliday, tav, morellos ,candiass, even pena would have out shone defoe ,at this stage not good enough.

  5. Watched the game on Premier last night down here in Oxfordshire and to be honest after halftime and the shocking pen decision we went backwards…..

    Defensively Katic had everything in the air and got stuck in but McAuley was constantly being caught on the ball. Flan/Coub were constantly going backwards if even in the game and the number of times a quick ball forward would have been the option they choose backward :-@

    As for Defoe he is not Morelos as the SuperAlly said he wants to run onto balls and doesn't get involved in the physical stuff. If Morelos had played we'd off been 5 up at halftime. Lafferty for me did nothing again except the goal which to be honest was rubbish defending aided by poor goalkeeping but thank god he did score as at 2-1 after pen I'd of not enjoyed that 2nd half.

    The pitch deterioated as the game went on looking more and more frozen with our players seeming to slow up and not go that extra yard. Apparently the pitch is the same for both teams but if you play on that dungheap every other week you are going to have more of advantage to the team that usually plays on a billiard table….

    Any this is all my IMHO 🙂

  6. Nothing unjust About Halliday being dropped, it was a tactical decision. Halliday was decent last night mostly going forward, he is nowhere near the quality of Barasic in the leftback slot. Suggesting Halliday should start games in LB over a natural leftback who is superior smacks of fanboy behaviour. Good to see your just gonna ignore his horrendous mistake that would have cost a goal had it been a better team. Pretty sure if Barasic had done that you would all over it with you eh..

    • His pass back to the keeper than was 10 yards to short? – If that was against a better team they would have scored. Or if Worral or Flanagan had done it I'm pretty sure you would have said something. Just wondering why you aren't subjecting your fave Halliday to the same treatment? that's all. Gotta be impartial..

    • 1: We didn't see that error
      2: We did – we criticised Flanagan for doing it.
      2: Halliday isn't our favourite – we just dislike him being abused more than other players do. If he made a clear error then he deserves to be criticised. Just like we've criticised many of his past errors. He just hasn't made too many since the Celtic match.
      3: Why do we need to be impartial? We're not the BBC 😉

  7. The horrendous mistake was the short pass back that Foderingham had to bail him out .Don`t agree with criticism of Fods he had one bad kick out , but constantly had to react to short and poor pass backs and put his body on the line every time ,He saved a penalty and got no support from the defence. Halliday was okay last night but he was part of the problem too in the second half , slowing things down and basically stopped playing .Barisic is the best left back and Andy should only play if he is unfit. Katic was the standout defender and only he and Jack played for the whole game.We won the game, rested players and no-one was hurt on a shocking pitch .No harm done so we move on to the bigger games.

  8. Haha – Great answer Ibroxnoise 🙂 . Yes Halliday made a bad mistake and luckily got away with it. I do like Halliday and think he has been one of our best players in the last couple of months. His goal last night was pure quality. Not a starter for me in leftback, but still a very important player when needed for the club!

    Not the BBC, haha love it. 😉 Cheers, WATP

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