We’ve talked about this a few times, but last spring, going into the split, Steven Gerrard made a bunch of changes to his Rangers side, both forced and unforced, and the team won 6 out of the last 7 matches making it some of the best form under Stevie.
Jermain Defoe up front, Arfield wide right, Davis sitting holding and Katic back in – these led to a run of wonderful form and saw a total change in system from the poor January-April form.
So, why not do it again?
Why not rip up what doesn’t work and start with a tabula rasa?
Sure, we don’t know when football’s resuming for the SPFL, but we do know trying something new and resetting, which is what this extended absence feels like, isn’t always a bad idea.
So here’s your Ibrox Noise guide to what we’d change in terms of the existing squad:
Recalls:
Jamie Murphy, Ross McCrorie and Greg Docherty come home where they belong.
Out:
Alfredo Morelos, Connor Goldson, James Tavernier (sort of), Glen Kamara, Sheyi Ojo (if still here), and Joe Aribo to name just six would be bench/utility options at best.
In:
Matt Polster, Florian Kamberi, Nathan Patterson, Jordan Jones, Nikola Katic to name but five would now be much more prominent in this team.
Team pool:
McGregor, Polster, Patterson, Helander, Katic, Barisic, Davis, McCrorie, Arfield, Jack, Docherty, Hagi, Tavernier, Murphy, Kent, Jones, Kamberi, Defoe.
One possible team would see Polster at RB, Helander and Katic CBs, Barisic LB, McCrorie, Jack, Hagi as the three-man mid, with Jones, Kamberi and Kent up top.
In others Docherty, Murphy and Tavernier would play in the advanced areas – that’s right, Tavernier as RW only and no longer bothering being a poor RB.
In others Patterson would be RB, Polster in the middle of midfield and Arfield would lead.
And Jack would likely be captain in all of this.
The point is a few changes can be achieved with the existing squad to get refreshing results rather than sticking with the same stale pals Stevie has for basically two seasons.
Except for that spring 2019. Which really really worked.