Rousseau

Katic has done well with the physical threat, but he's rather slow and doesn't do much with the ball. 

It's been a flat start from us. Our goal was our first chance. 

Candeias and Arfield are picking up some nice positions between the lines--as they should do, playing wide in a front three--but the trio of Davis, Jack and Kamara have been, not bad per se, but disappointing, giving it away a few times. 

I thought I had Arfield as FGS... nope.  

0-1 Rangers!

Arfield.

Looks like Katic is in to deal with the aerial threat of Main. 

46 minutes ago, buster. said:

Will he up against Hastie ?

If so, he'll need to watch for the lad for cutting inside and shooting with his left peg.

IIRC his one on one defending wasn't the greatest and too many widemen got by him that led to a lot of yellow cards.

 

Bit of an experimental line-up and I reckon we'll have some defending to do early doors.

Not as confident as I was yesterday when I made a prediction on the other thread.

 

Flanagan's right-footed, so it'll suit him.

2 minutes ago, MacK1950 said:

Bad vibes today---Katic & Flanagan on left side defence----help!!!!.

Flanagan didn't do anything wrong midweek.

And everyone's been wanting Katic included for weeks!

GIRUY @ian1964 - I got in first!  

Possible XI:

McGregor

Tavernier - Goldson - Worrall - Halliday

Jack - Kamara

Candeias - Davis - Arfield

Defoe

Steven Gerrard will be absent from the dugout when Rangers travel to Motherwell in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday, live on Sky Sports.

Gerrard has accepted a one-match touchline ban after he was charged for comments he made to referee Bobby Madden in the aftermath of Rangers' defeat to Celtic last weekend.

Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos are also suspended following incidents during the Celtic Park showdown.

Rangers are 13 points behind leaders Celtic, who could secure an eighth consecutive title if they beat Livingston on Saturday and Rangers lose on Sunday.

With one game remaining until the league split, Motherwell are eighth in the table, six points behind sixth-placed Hibernian.

They were beaten 3-1 at Aberdeen in midweek but have won their last five games at Fir Park.

Goalkeeper Mark Gillespie faces a late fitness test while Carl McHugh is a doubt due to a neck injury.

https://www.skysports.com/football/motherwell-vs-rangers/391335

5 hours ago, Tannochsidebear said:

We had to bring in a huge number of players last summer, and it was always going to be the case that not all of these were going to be sucessful. I think we got more wrong than right. What we dont need is more squad players. We have a great group of youth players who we need to be able to call upon if injuries/suspensions kick in. We have enough squad players who can still do a job for a game or two here and there, but what we need more than anything is quality first-team starters in the key positions that seem to have always needed attention. If Katic is not to be given the gig, we need a CH that works with Goldson, and of course, we need the creative midfield player to get 10+ goals and 10+ assists that takes a team to the title. The stats for Kent and Candieas in this regard have been very disappointing, and is what our side needs to win the SPFL against the type of teams and formations we play almost every week.

Tannochsidebear. Stats. 

Flanagan, though!

I'm unsure what formation that could be.

Maybe just the normal 4-3-3 with Arfield playing wide right?

Or, maybe a 4-diamond-2 with Kent playing up front beside Defoe?

Useless, I think.

He gave Mourinho a new contract just as he hit the notorious third year. 

5 minutes ago, DMAA said:

Daniel Bachmann claims we've made contact too, not to be too negative but it really is starting to look like we're trying to build a rest of the league select ?

Everyone underestimates squad depth. I want to see a deep squad full of the best talent in the league. 

Of course, we need quality too. 

Bachmann has been a solid 'keeper. It might mean Wes is on his way. 

3 minutes ago, Waltersgotstyle said:

You are believing hearsay - Gerrard has made it clear to Liverpool and the player he wants him again next season.

Maybe.

I don't think SG wanting the player or not will make a difference. Financially, he's out of our reach, I think -- at least permanently. 

10 minutes ago, DMAA said:

Hard to argue with Stewart on a free. Underwhelming maybe, we’d all prefer some 21 year old African hotshot with an un-pronounceable name who is the next Sadio Mane. But we could have done with him this season, a player with creativity that we have often lacked. 

And an ability to occupy the right spaces and chip in with a few goals. 

32 minutes ago, Waltersgotstyle said:

I think we will get him for another year.

I think Liverpool indicated they don't want him to go on loan again; they want a permanent move.

They value him at £7M.

Even if we could afford that, I don't think he's worth it. 

9 hours ago, Whosthedado said:

The only thing with the rumours etc from our point of view, that disappoints me is, does the likes of Jones and Greg Stewart (still to be confirmed) improve us any? I am not sure

 

Especially if Kent leaves or goes elsewhere or returns to Liverpool

Only in terms of squad depth, which has been a concern this season. 

In terms of first-team quality, probably not too much.

The added benefit is it weakens the teams around us; I'm all for that.   

Kent's out of our reach, financially; I'm not too bothered if we get him or not, to be honest. 

8 minutes ago, ranger_syntax said:

Nice, get Flanagan in for some of these tough matches coming up.

10 minutes ago, Tannochsidebear said:

Looking more positively, we have shown they are awful defensively, have no tactical clue under the bigot, and when we get rid of Worrell, and get in a creative playmaker, we might be able to challenge. But we have to stop committing defensive suicide. I thought Tav defended brilliantly today, until his brain-fart opened us up to concede their winner, albeit only because we then didnt put a tackle in (Yes im looking at you big Joe again!) and failed to pick up the runner. 

 

We still have too many players who look to hide when things aren't going well, Ryan Jack being the biggest culprit for me, Candieas being another, and it looks like Morelos cant handle big game pressure. Goldson was poor today as well. And for all these players didnt play well, we were the better side for most of the second half, even with a man down. That is the biggest single most encouraging thing we can take away from that match.

 

Good performances from Kent (easily our MOTM), McCrorie, Halliday, and McGregor. 

 

All 3 of our subs were completely ineffective, showing we need better quality on the bench and our manager needs to learn how to make subs that impact the game. That will come with experience, and I was hoping his management staff would be more helpful to him in these situations.

 

Morelos will now play only about 3 games of our 7 left and will almost certainly be missing for the final OF game at Ibrox. 

 

 

Good post. It's nice to read about the positives--of which there are a few.

Worral is starting to remind me of Cardoso 1-on-1. 

Sickening result.

However, it proves that--despite how crap some individuals are at times-- we can batter this team when we're at our best.  

HOW DID THAT NOT GO IN?!?!