Rangers and that horrific cup record

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Rangers and that horrific cup record
Mandatory Credit: Photo by Stuart Wallace/BPI/Shutterstock 11872703bx Rangers Manager Steven Gerrard with Rangers players after losing the tie 4-2 on penalty kicks. Rangers v St Johnstone, William Hill Scottish Cup, Quarter Final, Football, Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow, UK - 25 Apr 2021 EDITORIAL USE ONLY No use with unauthorised audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or live services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. Rangers v St Johnstone, William Hill Scottish Cup, Quarter Final, Football, Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow, UK - 25 Apr 2021 EDITORIAL USE ONLY No use with unauthorised audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or live services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTXHUNxGRExMLTxCYPxROMxBULxUAExKSAxONLY Copyright: xStuartxWallace/BPI/Shutterstockx 11872703bx

So we’ve had an evening and a sleep to reflect on Rangers’ shock exit at the hands of St Johnstone, the second Saints in a row to surprise Steven Gerrard’s men in a cup tournament this season.

The post-mortem is well and truly underway, but let’s keep one thing in perspective – 20/21 was ONE HUNDRED PERCENT about winning 55, about finally securing our fifty-fifth title.

That goal was achieved, and was indeed the point of Steven Gerrard’s arrival.

We make a huge account for that, and what we say about the rest is with a heavy heart given how superb this season has been league-wise and Europe.

Those with a sensitive disposition of ‘snowflake’-itis should look away now to avoid offence….

But… there is no getting away that for God knows what reason, Steven Gerrard has been a terrible Rangers manager in domestic cups.

We can’t make reason or rhyme for this, but the squad, whoever they’ve been, have inexplicably been dumped now out of 6 cup tournaments under Steven Gerrard, and it’s hard to quantify that.

Looking at St Mirren, Rangers simply underestimated them – that one was, frankly, most on Steven Gerrard. He disrespected the opposition (a bit like he did on Wednesday) and put out a fringe team – what we got back was a disjointed performance from disparate players and a shock loss.

Against St Johnstone on Wednesday, he selected a fringe team again, learned nothing about his side or the opponent and could only draw.

In the cup quarter, having learned hee haw v Saints the first time, he nevertheless made a big boob in selection by choosing the ultimately invisible Ianis Hagi over the in-form Scott Wright.

But, let’s be frank – the team he picked was, mostly, about as strong as he could put out.

And it simply did not play.

No aggression, no pace, no urgency, and no heart.

Steven Gerrard and the management give these players the game plan, but it’s the players who have to execute it.

The only execution was Saints of their excellent gameplan – well organised and well drilled, and they were a team who DID learn from Wednesday.

Tonnes in fact.

We have to face reality, as Stevie said in 3 years Rangers have been terrible in the cups, and for some reason we and he indeed simply aren’t learning how to win in them.

Sure, we got to a cup final, and played well, but we still lost, and that’s the bit that counts.

And breathe….

The easily offended may come back in now.

Because let’s remember, we all wanted 55 more than anything, cups and Europe were a bonus.

But given how good 55 was, we should have been capable of more in said cups.

And Stevie and most of the fans know it.

Such is life?

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6 COMMENTS

  1. Made a mistake in substituting Morelos he looked the best bet for a goal. There was no urgency in the team and to have no one marking Clark knowing it was the last action of the game was criminal.
    On another topic we should sign Ali McCann a good promising young midfielder and steal him from under Celtics noses use Steve Davis to convince him as he is his mentor in the Northen Irelamd team.

  2. so scunnered waking up today and that feeling of oh ffs kicks in… it’s ok to say 55 was th main goal this season but it feels like a long time ago we won tht we should of been 100 % wanting this cup aswell what I watched last night tells me st Johnston wanted it more thts not good enough if they go on to win it they will have won more silverware than us this season…. if someone said at the start of season we would win 55 and ceptic would win nothing I would of been over the moon however gutted is all I feel now

  3. I have been knocking around since last night texting fellow Rangers People and trying to understand what actually happened . Its true the joke team SG put out on the league game was a good opportunity missed to test out the St Johnstone set up and also to understand if there was any gaps. We missed that because of arrogance as we did against St Mirren before. I agree with Donald Mc Kay, both my wife and I looked in disbelief as SG took off our most dangerous player Morelos and brought on a busy but ineffectual Roofe . Alfie was the main threat to scoring all game !! Mistake No 2, Mistake No 1 Hagi is a clever player but against this type of team and set up no F** kin use !! Mistake No 3 The marking at the Saints goal disgraceful and not acceptable in any circumstances . The same as the St Mirren game …..Saints its a bad green leaning omen ! Mistake No 4 Steve Davis looked burnt out poor man . I am so pleased we got the 55 done in some class and stopped that farce of the bent 8-5*IAR but the embarrassment of continual Cup failings is no way good enough for the Famous . We are still short of the balls , bottle , cahoonas like Wattie’s team always had and we need to get that instilled in the team for next season .

  4. Woke up today gutted but also in the realisation that we have won the league earlier than any team in history. This team was built to win the league and it’s done so. Hopefully the summer will bring some further quality additions to the team that can push us on to have success in the cups as well as 56. Hopefully the reaction to that performance will be a kick up the arse before the weekend.

  5. I think we should’ve played a full team on Wednesday. Maybe we might even have recorded a good win and knocked the hope out of St Johnstone before they even turned up at Ibrox. Our best form this season has been when we were playing every Thursday and Sunday. The players just seemed to relish the pressure and it built consistency of performance. Notably our form only really fell off in the New Year in the gap between winning the Europa Cup group and playing in the last 32. I can see the intent to give fringe players some game time and rest players but at this stage there was only 6 games until the end of the season. Surely we could’ve handled that.

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