Two massive Rangers failings – why have these never been fixed?

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Two massive Rangers failings – why have these never been fixed?


We’ve been praising of last night’s performance, as there’s little denying it was extremely impressive, especially in the first half where the pressing and workrate was excellent. It did tail off in the second as the players tired a little, but overall few can be unhappy with what we saw in Govan.

Except, and you knew there was a but (given the title), there were two areas of discontent which mercifully didn’t get exposed which could, and maybe have already this season:

Rangers’ attack and Rangers’ defence.

Attack:

It’s clear Rangers aren’t scoring goals – it’s just that simple. 6 goals in the past 6 outings simply isn’t good enough long-term, and Stevie’s failure to acquire a number 10 or a number 9 this summer has been a big failure. Midfielder after midfielder and wingers ad-nauseum but not one single out-and-out striker arrived in the summer, nor did any quality playmakers. This was exposed last night as all of Rangers’ opportunities came from the wings, and every one of them was wasted – Ojo’s goal was a fine shot but utterly speculative. It was by no means a real chance created, but he did exceptionally well to find the space and the net. As we said earlier, it’s a results-based business and for now we’re managing to get by on this poverty of goals, but at some point Rangers’ wastefulness is going to haunt us.

Defence:

Despite Filip Helander’s impressive showing, Rangers were exposed a tonne of times at the back last night, and we can’t really understand why Nikola Katic was removed. Sure, the defence as a whole has looked shaky now and then, but time and time again Connor Goldson fails to impress and yet remains in his shirt. Rangers’ defence is, again, being badly managed, just like it was last season with the Joe Worrall nonsense, and slowly but surely we can see Goldson taking the-now Forest defender’s place in that kind of ignominy.

We don’t understand:

1:
Why striker and number 10 just weren’t dealt with this summer. Alfredo Morelos had another excellent night but he was far from clinical. He’s not capable of carrying Rangers’ goals alone.

2: Why Steven Gerrard is so obsessed with making a mess of the defence. Just when us fans think we’re happy with a player at the back, he’s out. Or rotation starts up. Yeah, we’re lost by that one.

Overall this Rangers team has been in worse places – it’s not horrible, and indeed had a pretty overall decent night at Ibrox, but the little failings seem to be things the manager could fix – and yet just doesn’t. We hope one day these do not cost us.

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9 COMMENTS

  1. Only at Rangers can we be slating a defender after a clean sheet result against a team as good as Feyernoord. I don't mind a bit of criticism, but constantly slating our players is percolating through, and actually affecting them. Barisic played his best game so far, but you can see his confidence was knocked. Kamara is a diamond, but now he is questioning his own ability. I read many tweets yesterday slating Gerrards team selection and tactics – before a ball had been kicked! I just wonder how we can be so cynical, considering where we were a couple of seasons ago (ie Progres and Pedro).

    Gerrard has quite obviously improved our team and our game play. Can we not just start to support the team and manager as we used to pre-twitter. It seems like IN has to bash somebody from one week to the next.

    We just beat Feyernord, am I the only one that can see how far we've come!?

    • Totally agree ,fans forget we were a broken club ,yes mistakes have been made on the road back,and as far as i can see we are moving in the right direction on and off the park.

    • Don't agree about IN, constantly bashing, sometimes they are the only ones telling it like it is so they get my backing. As for the rest ,yes I do see how far we have come and am extremely happy, but being a gers fan will never be 100% happy. We should always want more, always went better isn't that what Rangers are all about ?. WATP

    • Agree with Calvin and said similar prior to last night, biggest problem is the constant tinkering with defence, which then leads supporters and forums to end up disagreeing about selections. However, I don't think it helps when this site for example make claims a couple of months back that players are worth so many millions and now say they shouldn't be selected, we cant say a guy is a diamond and then a few weeks later say he is dud – only to then change our minds next week. Its confusing and should be stopped.

    • Rangers are a team and a good team all plays as one and last night Rangers did just that. I watched an exceptional performance against a team who are certainly not mugs.

  2. Does anybody else think that if we had a decent No 9, Morelos would make a great No 10? Looking at the openings he can create with 2 CBs on him, imagine what he could do with a little more space.
    And as the article states, he is not the most clinical.

  3. I have to agree we are light weight a little in goals but as a Team we are far superior to two seasons ago and are technically better too. IN please continue to play the Devil's Advocate but do please praise where needed perhaps more openly and strongly. As a football team we do look more together.

  4. Our passing was woeful last night. Not a big criticism, but how many interception did we have 2nd half. That needs definite work. Also, I wish some of our players were more 'Gazza' and try and take on a few defenders, instead of passing, before they get near. Is it me, or were the players of the past, more brave, more willing to take risks?

  5. Whilst I absolutely loved beating the dutch masters, I look ahead to Sunday with anticipation and fear because I know Gerrard will rotate players. This is where we usually drop points in the league.
    The league is far more important to me than Europe. But Gerrard will play the lesser players in the league and save the better players for Europe, that is just all wrong!!

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