“Poor – 4”, “Best player by a country mile – 8” – Rangers player ratings v them

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“Poor – 4”, “Best player by a country mile – 8” – Rangers player ratings v them


Rangers have lost in a truly underwhelming and mildly crushing Old Firm defeat, Steven Gerrard losing his 100% record at Ibrox in this fixture.

Ibrox Noise takes you through player ratings for an utterly awful afternoon in Govan.

McGregor:

Made some big saves, but had no chance with either goal – McGregor was certainly one of Rangers’ performers and can look himself in the mirror. 7

Tavernier:

Was reduced to crossing early on every attack, and couldn’t make any of them stick. Non-existent as an attacking threat, got behind enemy lines only once, and failed to produce anything with it. At one point he crossed from the half way line. Poor. 4

Goldson:

A couple of good clearing headers, and bailed out his partner near the end in an ultimately futile act, but overall Goldson had a bad match and cost the first goal while repeatedly giving the ball away with bad distribution. Had a fixation for passing wide right to Tavernier and putting it over the captain’s head. 5

Katic:

Did make a little error near the end and got exposed for it, but otherwise another who can hold his head high. Could do nothing for the first goal, was completely exposed by Goldson, but otherwise a reasonable shift. 7

Flanagan:

Not much going forward, as always, but defence and commitment-wise this was a good showing again from Flanno, who got in a few good blocks and won a few 50/50s. Solid. 7

Kamara:

Managed a few reasonable touches and held onto the ball a couple of times, but mostly seemed rushed and lost the ball more often than not. Gave away some cheap fouls and just wasn’t good enough for the shirt. In awful form this season. 5

Davis:

Rangers’ best player by a country mile, Davis was the only man in a blue shirt who seemed to be in control, and had any time on the ball. Used the ball wisely, went on a couple of neat runs and tried to make things happen. 8

Jack:

A decent enough display but was unable to make much happen – Gerrard is trying to make Jack an all-action Barry Ferguson type, but this game didn’t really showcase the success of that evolution. 6

Aribo:

His drought of impact continues, and while his colossal tackle to end Scott Brown’s run was a good sign which got the fans onside, overall Aribo is struggling to make himself heard in this shirt. That multimillion pound player we thought we had isn’t showing his worth. 5

Arfield:

Another one who worked hard as he could but couldn’t affect the match the way he’s capable of, Arfield had some decent moments particularly in the first half but faded dramatically and had next to no impact up front. 5

Defoe:

Starved of any service, Defoe was unable to do much, and what little he did was negligible. He’s suddenly hit some poor form – he was pretty rotten in Paisley too. 5

Subs:

Ojo:

No one seemed enthusiastic at the sight of the Liverpool loanee, and his impotence showed why. He just isn’t creating anything, and while he wins fouls, he seems unable to channel any quality he has into tangible results. Average at best. 4

Morelos:

His first touch on the ball was glorious, his resulting shot the typical v Celtic Morelos we’re used to. Seemed to be playing more as a right winger than a 9 in truth, and his impact at best was just strange. Got the fans geed up though. 5

Jones:

Will be gutted not only to have been benched for this but to have taken so long to come on – he gave Rangers pace and energy on the left, and was the only attacker who seemed capable of making things happen. 6

Manager:

Gerrard shocked everyone with that team selection, packing five midfielders into the system and leaving Defoe up top. It was a gamble, and it was a case of trusting the manager on this one. It’s a gamble which completely failed, and one we don’t even understand his use of. Walter used to pack his Old Firm Rangers with defenders, but Gerrard wanted to win the midfield battle – we don’t oppose that, but we do wonder why he picked this match to try something new when the previous system worked so well at Ibrox v Celtic last season. His defence has been trustworthy recently, why didn’t he trust the system he’s been using of late to decent effect? No, while the players had a total off day, the system was wrong, the selection was wrong, and Stevie will have to take the impending criticism on the chin. He was a big part of this failure. Maybe the biggest. 2

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18 COMMENTS

  1. Gerrard = 0 at best! Absolute shocking team selection. Possibly the 1st time hes ever played without a winger and he chooses an old firm game against a terrible defence that is under pressure. Defoe upfront against a 7ft defender?? Absolute joke! All we have done is give thst mob 3 points, confidence and momentum and put the pressure firmly on us! Thanks Gerrard!

  2. Only Gerard knows what he was trying to do with that selection and formation. Will he man up and admit he fucked up or blame the players? If we fans knew it was wrong from he start why couldn't the manager. They looked fitter, faster and better than us in all dept's and that is truly disgusting and disheartening. Let's look at the bigger picture tho, you can't go 3 points behind after 4 games and still expect to win anything.

  3. Gutless toothless performance apart from gk +Davis 2nd to everything has sg not learned anything carbon copy of his first old firm game sat of them again set up for draw utterly rubbish Jones tackle at end was needed at start of game goldson needs dropped to slow wrong set up sg once again us fans suffer another session like last year time for change?

  4. Marker laid down by Celtic from the kick off! We were not up for this and the team selection was baffling. Really disappointing performance from the team and manager.

  5. What a shambles! Across the board we were poor, had little to no fight in us. Poor team selection, too. Benching Morelos proves stevie doesnt trust him. Defore didnt do anything. Seriously frustrating afternoon.

  6. 100% behind your assessment here Ibrox noise….Gaffwr got it wrong from the start, Aribo & Kamara both guilty of going very quiet for long spells in games & today was not the day to have both men starting, for me Jones should of started in front of one of the 2 mentioned MF….If Gerrard dosent trust Freddo to start an OF Derby then at least bring him on sooner! He should of been on at half time not Ojo, il be glad if I never see Ojo in a Gers strip again, but I'm afraid we have another Joe Worrel situation with this lad….we where doing OK until we gifted them the ball which led to there goal, over all a very poor day at the office, but it's early enough in the season to dust ourselves off & March onwards….

  7. Gutless toothless performance once again utter rubbish gk Davis only players who turned up same shit different day same as sg first old firm game no heart Jones tackle was what was needed from the start but no sg stand off them give them all respect goldson needs dropped sg needs to have a word with himself see if he is up to job

  8. Result “backwards” from last year 2 home wins.

    Yes I agree a 2 for Gerrard was generous.

    Into “sacking” territory! If he hasn’t got the stomach to beat Celtic we need to know now.

    Being beaten was bad enough it was the manner of Gerrard’s limp performance.

  9. Wow…Jones gets a 6…we must have bern watching different games…

    This was the same Aribo I watched stuggle to impose himself and back out of 50/50's for Charlton at Wembley last season in Play Off. I think he lacks heart.

    Today showed how badly we need a frontman who can hold the ball up, link with midfield (like Edouard does for them) and we also lack a Mark Hateley type physical presence when we want to play direct. There was no point putting a winger on at half time when we needed to go more direct – put their centre halves under pressure and midfield press for 2nd ball.

    Bad day at office but no need for hysteria. We can learn from this and win the league

  10. Bad move not starting Alfredo or a winger. Taking Kamara off at half time when it should've been Aribo. Passing was atrocious today from Tav/Goldson/Aribo and I thought Davis was poor too, some of his passing was woeful, that outside of the boot long ball attempt! Done brilliant to intercept a pass on his chest, ball into the box nowhere near a blue jersey.
    Shocking attempt at a makeshift defence, Jones should've been on earlier and had Ojo running at Boli from the start instead of arfield/aribo.
    Poor showing all round, second to too much, shadow of our previous two performances

  11. Poor day today reality check needed Kamara is another coulibally airfield has never turned up this season olicompany[at]hotmail.com is another one oradea we had nothing on the left side should have played Barassie in front of Flanagan and Morelos has to start always godson is becoming a liabits no idea why we keep signing wingers and midfielders we need someone who can run at defences with pace and that is our biggest weakness no pace

  12. SG got the tactics wrong and the formation didn't allow the players to perform. They couldn't play through a packed midfield and there was no out-ball from defence. If you're going to play one up front, then at least play Morelos, who can hold it up and put himself about. A real missed opportunity today – Celtic weren't great, but they didn't need to be.

  13. This was a bad day for sure. No wonder Gerrard has tried so hard to get Ryan Kent back! Think back to how he terrorised Celtic defence last season, we simply don't have anyone with that level of ability this season. Mcgregor did ok, and so did Flanagan. No-one else played at their best, even Davis was giving the ball away on occasions which is unusual.
    As for the original team and formation, I got a sore head trying to make sense of it.
    Today was a reality check. Celtic were effective, and we were ineffective all over the pitch.

  14. That performance took us back 12 months ..we played the occasion ,not the game , lost the plot all over the park . Young boys didn't handle it well , Morelos almost went back to last season's ways , you could see it brewing , had another semi kick at brown , …though no one seemed to see it too big a game for Jones ..thought we looked tired after midweek …take it on the chin , all the youngsters will learn …and we move on …I think getting in the Europa League was more important tbh ..we can still win the league !! Get behind the team ..!

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