“Sloppy in possession” – Rangers player ratings v Killie

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“Sloppy in possession” – Rangers player ratings v Killie


After yet another false dawn for Rangers has been made clear by a dismal night in Kilmarnock, Ibrox Noise takes you through our match ratings for the evening’s ‘fare’ at Rugby Park:

Allan McGregor:

Not great from him tonight, possibly one of his worst since returning. Should never have been beaten by Jones and looked shaky for the second time (Motherwell) in his second spell. 5

James Tavernier:

Not the worst from Tav, defended quite well and positioned himself more wisely than he used to. Didn’t get forward as much as he can but it was a disciplined display from the captain. 7

Gareth McAuley:

Not his most shining performance in the jersey – seemed to be strolling till the opening goal then it rather went downhill and he struggled to organise the defence or his own positioning. Laboured. 5

Joe Worrall:

After his heroics against Celtic, this was a nightmare. Comfortable enough till Brophy got to him then complacency was his killer – had a real shocker after that and wasn’t till deep into the second half that he got something of a grip of himself. 4

Andy Halliday:

Wasn’t able to affect too much going forward but did get a helping hand in the goal, and was defensively decent without being marvellous. 6

Ryan Jack:

Not the most robust display from Jack – sloppy in possession and lost his way for the bulk of the game, not getting a bit of a foothold till deep into the second. 5

Steven Davis:

We can’t understand why he was removed – the best midfielder Rangers put out, worked hard, as good off possession as he was on it, a fine league return for our ex-captain. 7

Scott Arfield:

A quiet and frankly ineffective display from Arfield, a far cry from his stellar display on the 29th. Didn’t have much impact on the match and was borderline demure by his standards. 5

Ryan Kent:

Showed glimpses of what he can do but nowhere near the class of his Celtic display, mainly because, like the friendly v HJK, he was played in the unfamiliar 10 role which he is completely ill-suited for. Went out wide later on and started looking much more threatening. 6

Alfredo Morelos:

A frustrating night for Alf in which he thought he had the Hand of God. This is the kind of display that hurts his value and makes some fans wonder what the fuss over him is about. 5

Jermaine Defoe:

If his two ‘performances’ are anything to go by so far, this might not be quite the epic signing we’d hoped for. His goal was poacher’s instinct, true, but for the rest of the performance he was literally invisible. Just like v HJK. 5

Subs:

Daniel Candeias:

Worked hard to create and the change in system on his introduction improved things but not enough. 4

Kyle Lafferty:

Extremely wasteful – looks extremely off form, and borderline disinterested now. 3

Steven Gerrard:

This was Stevie’s big chance to show the Old Firm steps he took were not a flash in the pan, and even we at Ibrox Noise bought into the idea everything had changed. But the only thing that changed is the formation, to one that’s playing three, maybe four players out of position to accommodate one striker. The system didn’t work, at all – Kent was left impotent, Defoe was invisible, Morelos frustrated and Rangers just didn’t click at all. It was a bad night for pretty much everyone involved and that certainly includes the manager. 4

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19 COMMENTS

  1. I was delighted when i seen the line up, couldnt wait to see defoe and davis. After that performance its clear we should have played exactly the same team as the 1 that beat the mhanky mob, as gerrard said: "they had the jerseys". We missed candieas badly. Morelos was non existant and cant play in a partnership! Kent is a left winger. Arfield was never in it. Jack was hopeless. I know he scored and i think he will be profilic but kilmarnock away wasnt the game to change things. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

  2. Spoke to my mates today and said I would stick to the same lineup that beat the beggars with the exception of goldson who was out injured and after I saw the lineup b4 kickoff I wasn't confident that Morelos/Defoe would work upfront and yes we were cruising until worral sold the jerseys but apart from our goal what else did we actually do after their goals…Gerard got the plaudits a few weeks ago and rightly so but once again he has fucked up,candelas/mccrorie should have started b4 Davis/Defoe as they earned the jersey with their performance against the beggars a few weeks ago…Would sell morellos if it was 10 million or more and spend it on another stronger centre half/striker b4 window shuts…watp

  3. Fucking furious. And I tell you why. When I was asked today if we would play 4 4 2 I said I'd be astonished if Gerrard experimented in such a crucial match because last time he done it was the 3 3 at Fir Park with 3 centre halves and the team looked all over the place. Gerrard, you got everything so so wrong tonight. Same mistake for the 2nd time this season.

    I've gave Gerrard plenty of praise but to gamble on a system we have not once played in a competitive match in such a high calibre match was baffling!

    We play at our best with Kent and Candeais on the wings supplying Morelos and when Morelos is on form we usually win. This 4 4 2 system had Alfredo no where to be seen tonight because he didn't have a clue what to do with another striker beside him. For me all he had to do was get Killie and Livvy out the way then start thinking about introducing Defoe gradually and the new system. If we had played the team that played Celtic (Davis in for McCrorie) and the 4 3 3 I can only see us win. But the shock to the system was apparent and we had no idea what to do after 20 minutes once Clarke figured us out. I think even Killie were surprised at the 442.

    You've hit the nail on the head. We ended up finding ourselves having to play Kent as a number 10, drop Tavs support link on the right in Candeais and drop any attacking threat with no wingers. Last time we were here Tav got 3 assists, Candeais is that important to how Tavernier plays. And in doing that we took so much away from Kent's game, Morelos' game, Taverniers game and even Scott Arfield who was so used to being the 2nd striker to Morelos and making late runs I saw none of that tonight. I can't help but feel Defoes presence in Gerrards mind has caused more hassle than he actually knew. I find it even more infuriating that he never reverted to 4 3 3 and subbed Davis for Candeais instead. Delighted for Defoe but he should have been the one off.

    The 4 4 2 may work. But ffs get this week over the line and experiment at Ibrox. 3 points dropped needlessly because of a system change.

    6 points and an inferior goal difference once Celtic win their game in hand.

    Rangers, it'll be a long 2019.

    • Here mate he needs to justify bringing big earners like Defoe and Davis. Do we think he is bringing them in to watch from the bench or the stand no way. And I can see some unrest in the dressing room if players are dropped to make way for these 2. They should have to earn their place in the team not just walk into it I feel for the rest if our players. I do hope Gerrard gets a grip of this before it escelates and gets out if hand. It will only take one smelly newspaper to get a wee whisper here and there and put a spanner in the works for us as they all hate us.

  4. Strangers not Rangers. Take them to Siberia next year, not Spain. The three changes were three too many. Whole team looked for a leader after Killie goal. Still looking. SG get the finger out, start with Worral. A Clydesdale is faster and more surefooted with the same weight.

  5. Sorry but this is now normal service from SG & his team. They are all talk a “good game”
    and will no doubt say “sorry” again.

    It is simply not good enough perhaps we should start planing for a new manager now …

  6. Really poor tonight. If they play that system then it's imperative that we push the full backs forward to support a narrow midfield. Tavernier didn't really do it tonight and I don't really think it's Halliday's way. Kilmarnock simply pushed their wide midfield players onto our full backs and effectively nullified them. That should've left space in midfield vacated by Burke and Jones but we didn't seem to know how to exploit it. We certainly weren't going to do it by having Worrall and McAulay on the ball. Clarke worked that out in 20 minutes.
    Newsflash: Defoe may score goals but dont expect him to provide much else. That's just the way it is so choose if you think that will be enough. It wasn't with Windass.

  7. Stevie Gerrard got it wrong tonight. Again, trying to be a better manager than he actually is! He is now costing the club points with his nonsense. I thought after the Celtic game he had turned a corner, found a system that works and would kick on, clearly not! He should look at Clarke to see what the best manager in the country looks like and how he sets out a team!

    Poor..

    • The system deployed against Celtic was the same one that had been criticised most of the season. We just deployed it better on the day. Fans have been crying out for 2 up front all season. Well they got it and now they want to go back to the way it was. On another day with 2 up it will work because we simply deploy it better.
      Clarke has done a magnificent job at Kilmarnock but in truth they hardly laid a glove on us. We lost because of our own deficiencies. Tactically he got it right but ultimately it depended on us shooting ourselves in the foot. His style of football gets results but it would get football stopped and I doubt if it would be accepted at Rangers. We strive to be better than that.

  8. as soon as we get things right gerrard changes things about for next game he aint got a clue looks like we threw 55 away tonight ,laughing stock once again ,the jones thing also mr gerrard ,far to many players we didnt need defoe, davis

  9. And to think our manager put it out there last week if Forrest want him back they need to pay us money is he having a laugh chase the chancer just now defo not good enough for the people no surrender .

  10. Also heard, away from last nights shambles, our kitty is totally gubbed (no more share income coming our way), Gerrard will be gone by the end of the season unless he manages the mircle of 55, we cant afford him financially as his signings are bringing us close to a wall unless he replicates a certain recent game, he can talk but he just can't manage J

    • Bullshit Unknown. Gerrard makes the signings he is allowed to make. It's not his call on how much we spend.
      55 was never a miracle it was just unlikely at the start of the season, unlikely before the Celtic game, unlikely after the Celtic game and it remains unlikely. We lost away from home on a dodgy pitch to the team in 3rd place after nearly 4 weeks without a game while trying to introduce 2 new players into a new system. Be realistic.

  11. Nothing to back up our finances, you are right, we can't even provide a set of audted/signed off accounts, Mr K's bubble is due to burst, coming from several close to the finance sources, our problem on the field is Mr G I'm afraid J

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