Are these five players finished at Rangers?

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Are these five players finished at Rangers?
Rangers' Scottish goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin and Union's Belgian forward Dante Vanzeir fight for the ball during the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round first leg football match between Rangers and Royale Union Saint-Gilloise at the "Den Dreef Stadium" in Heverlee on August 2, 2022. - - Belgium OUT (Photo by LAURIE DIEFFEMBACQ / BELGA / AFP) / Belgium OUT (Photo by LAURIE DIEFFEMBACQ/BELGA/AFP via Getty Images)

Rangers tonight had a most sobering evening in Belgium, an evening which demonstrated it is debatably the end of the road for a number of players, and that their hearts and bodies are not up to the challenge of representing this club at the moment.

While James Sands is getting a tonne of criticism from fans convinced he was hugely culpable for the opening goal, we saw enough from him to demonstrate that at least he cared, and didn’t lack ability. He clearly prevented at least one goal, and helped stub out a number of Union attacks. He’s no stellar player, but he was not the worst Ranger on the pitch.

No, he isn’t the one we’re pointing the finger at tonight.

That honours falls to:

Jon McLaughlin, Connor Goldson, Borna Barisic, Glen Kamara and Ryan Jack.

Those five were quite simply not up to it tonight, be it ability, or guts, and that lethargy and apathy made Rangers stodgy, stale, slow and ponderous.

Jon McLaughlin is not, never was, and never will be a Rangers goalkeeper. We have been vocally against him as number one for a long time, and we stand by that even more so tonight. While McGregor will make some errors, McLaughlin is a rabbit in headlights. We want McCrorie and McGregor as the pairing for the sticks. We cannot fathom what Gio sees in McLaughlin.

Goldson has signed a new deal, is untouchable, and there’s barely any point protesting about his ineligibility to play for this club any more. He’s immune. He’ll always play. Moot.

Borna struggled badly and was subbed by what is clearly his successor. Yilmaz will have to prove his quality in time, but it’s the end of the Rangers road for Borna and he is being heavily linked with moves away.

Kamara has been angling for a move for some time, and with Forest said to be interested, the Fin downed tools a long time ago. Tonight was no different. Passive and flat, and just lacking heart for the fight.

Jack is a tougher one to call – he has the heart, but not the body any more. It was telling how hard he was drained at the end of his stint – he was absolutely bucketing sweat, something he didn’t use to do. And we do like and respect the man. But he’s no longer got the body to withstand this level of football. And that’s unfortunate.

There are probably one or two on your mind too – perhaps you disagree with some of these, but one thing is for sure, a lot of epic fails were exposed tonight and it may have cost Rangers the Champions League.

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17 COMMENTS

  1. The Belgians were actually bullying us, getting right in our faces, we looked timid, scared, slow and pathetic all round.

    • We got bullied for 45 mjinutes on Saturday too. It’s not good enough , everyone knew how important this is ffs . If we continue like this the league will be stolen again by a substandard mob

  2. My question to you is. Is the manager finished that tonight is a pedro result. End of. I can take getting beat if we compete and at the end of the game hold our hand up and say we got beat by better team. But fuck me no fight no urgency no fuck all.

    Gio needs to fix this

  3. It totally correct , although Sands try to do stuff, is not good enough for us , effort alone is no use sorry. The rest as you say are done , we have given Goldson a Willy Wonka Golden Ticket to take the pure piss out of the Famous. He is the common denominator. The only one we have a caring comment for is Ryan Jack , he’s done and we’ve loved having him but he’s done.

  4. Correct but when we tried to math the strong challenge we were disciplined by foul against. Cannot fathom the penalty decision! Please advise why this was given! Please do not blame just the referee who in my opinion was not really up to the task in hand. Bit like Scottish officials.
    Shite performance, too many players missing but full stadium and team pick just have a chance to turn this result around. Need to be more focused and committed.

  5. Jack kamara were dreadful Goldson bad but the critisism you throw at him every week is getting tiring for me

    McLaughlin I agree not rangers class but tonite 2 big saves late on that gives us at least a chance

    Borna is done sell him he has lost his drive of the past.

  6. Jack kamara were dreadful Goldson bad but the critisism you throw at him every week is getting tiring for me

    McLaughlin I agree not rangers class but tonite 2 big saves late on that gives us at least a chance

    Borna is done sell him he has lost his drive of the past.

  7. Rangers made a big mistake given mcgregor another contract we should have went for zander clarke mclaughlin is not a rangers keeper and never will we need a keeper badly
    After last night result I think we will struggle to get morelos and Kent to commit to a new contract

  8. The lack of quality was clear to see
    I never seen one shot on goal from Rangers while Gio sits in a fkn chair allnight

  9. I would like to see McCrorie getting a lot more game time his quality is undeniable. Maybe a 60/40 split in favour of McGregor will have the boy ready to be number 1 next season.

  10. I don’t really get it why Rangers are unwilling or unable or whatever to bring in a decent goalkeeper for the long-term. Or if the financial wherewithal or a suitable is not available, they don’t give young McCorie the opportunity to establish himself as No. 1. It’s too important a position to not sort it out. We’ve always had excellent goalies: Woods, Goran, Klos, Waterreus, McGregor.

  11. Unfortunately this is a trait that’s been going on for some considerable time now.

    They come out in the first half like a bunch of tourists standing around waiting to see what is going to happen. Fortunately the second halfs have been more like what is expected and have more often than not given the required result.

    They need to come out from the start looking like they want to play AND WIN.

  12. Far to many new players on field..shoulda played more league games b4 throwing them all on..mclaughlin never rangers first choice

  13. I agree with the 5 players lacking fight .but Gio started all wrong with Lungstrom in a back 3 fs and we also had Matongo who has lightning speed yet Tav never gave him anything we also have an old fashioned number 9 but our fullbacks never put a decent cross in .lack of fight in the whole team. beating by a pub team we are heading for the same outcome as Septic last year pumped out of all competition .come on Rangers fucking sirt it

  14. Can’t disagree with your comments. However, our manager’s tactics leave a lot to be desired. After the first 20 minutes the Belgian’s changed formation and started to close us down all over the pitch, something which happens on a regular basis.
    Van Bronckhorst lacks the ability to spot these problems and seems incapable of coming up with a solution. He also lacks the ability to lift a team when it is struggling.
    So let’s not put all of the blame on the players

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