the gunslinger 3,366 Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 (edited) The date is 15 November 1989, a young would be gunslinger called Roland Deschain still months away from the test where he will earn his guns by besting his mentor court in battle goes with his father Steven Deschain (dinh of the city of Gilead and of the line of Eld) to his first ever football match. The venue is Hampden park and Scotland are playing Norway in a vital world cup qualifier for IItalia 90. As a long remembered twist of fate. After slogging up a huge grass embankment he arrived in the stadium just as the teams came out to a huge Hampden roar. The attendance was 63,987. The floodlights were blazing, the atmosphere was electric and a love affair was born. Already a hero of the young slinger super ally scored a fantastic goal just before half time. Scotland held out for the draw they required despite some late dodgy goalkeeping from Jim Leighton. Football was very different then. I stood on a terrace with no roof. despite it being a Scotland match the rangers end were singing rangers songs and things like no surrender to the IRA. Scotland were expected to qualify and did, Though it wasn't a great match to watch. So here we are nearly 24 years later. Gilead has fallen and the gunslinger is now all that remains of the line of Eld. Once again it's off to a very different Hampden for a noon kick off this Sunday. Super ally is now the manager no longer the cheeky lad that was so loved by millions. We have all seen the debate over whether Ally should stay as rangers manager. Leaving that aside I think we can all agree that performances have to improve. Despite G Souness trying to convince us Super wasn't a good football player, thats not my recollection of him. When he first arrived he played midfield plenty of times and had a good all round game. He had a good first touch, could pass, dribble as well as having pace and all round game intelligence. So i say this it is possible for ally to deliver good football and he must start now. I feel our problems stem from an attempt to replicate the Walter smith Catenaccio style which translated means "door bolt" it relies on a strong defense and long balls and counter attack football to get goals. While this is a perfectly valid style of football and still popular in Italy and valuable for underdogs we aren't Italian or underdogs. Barcelona have raised the bar of modern football and fans worldwide hanker after good football. passing and movement and attacking flair. i would encourage ally to embrace this after all Scotland invented passing football. the problems i see are us playing far to deep. At the start of the season one of the things I noticed about the sfl is when players did break away they didn't have the pace to stay ahead of the likes of Wallace and Broadfoot. We invite teams to have possession and more worryingly we invite them to have it very near our box. If we shift the whole team forward 10-20 yards teams will have to go a long way to our goal through our players. Few will have the pace to punish us in behind.Longer term i would like to see us get two center halfs with pace and who are comfortable on the ball so we can continue to do this. Another thing super seems to have learned from walter is only having one attacking fullback with the other being a converted ch so when one pushes forward the other tucks in to make 3 at the back. Its no longer Dave McPherson or Papac it's now Heggarty Fuare or Perry but the principal it the same. I would do away with this and get a proper attacking right back who is comfortable on the ball and can link attacks the same way Wallace does. In midfield we seem to have far to many defensive midfielders with two and a ch playing in the midfield 3 recently. The balance has to be better here. Even our most defensive midfielder should be comfortable on the ball and able to pass and move it quickly. We simply do not work hard enough both with and without the ball. For years we have been master of pass and hide football. Teams playing us come of the park fresh as daisies. Personally I don't believe our players lack fitness as they never look tired either. When we have the ball we should be moving and looking to create space and to disrupt the other teams formation. When we don't we should be hunting in packs and looking to get it back as quickly as possible and as near the opposition goal as we can. Up front many have called for two strikers but it's not the number of strikers you have on the park which dictate how you play and how much you attack. It's work rate tempo and playing a high line that do. Being good in possession allows players to push forward without fear. I like one up front who can hold the ball up and ideally has good pace and strength. that needs to be backed up by midfield runners and support from wide. All in what we need is a formation and style of play. Not just players shoe horned in because they were the ones available. No more players out of position just because of their name. If we do this we have a chance to go into the SPL in a few years and really hit the ground running. players will know their job and what is expected of them, they will know their team mates and we can recover quickly. We need several players to achieve this but for tomorrow my team would be. :na: :aa::ec: :kh: :al: Go on Super just do it. Bring your own style to the game you could do it as a player and I am sure you can as a manager. If ever their was an ideal time it is now. Edited April 5, 2013 by the gunslinger 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chilledbear 16 Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 Nice one G. Scotland games were always good. Agree about giving opponents room, been saying it for years. It's even more relevant against inferior footballers. Will be good to get back to only thinking about football, long way away though. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
forlanssister 3,114 Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 Does Hegarty's suspension not kick in yet? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
54andcounting 0 Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 Hope we can get 3 or 4 goals on Sunday..but another 0-0 won't surprise me. Hopefully I get a surprise then 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GovanAllan 0 Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 (edited) Fan of The Dark Tower are we GS, a fine series of novels. 3-0 Rangers a quality performance of fast flowing football precise passing and killer finishing, Ally is hailed as the next Mourinho and Liewell and Lennon are seen dogging in the car park at the tattiedome. Well a boy can dream. Oh and gets my vote for preview of the season. But your team selection is honking. Edited April 5, 2013 by GovanAllan 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
the gunslinger 3,366 Posted April 5, 2013 Author Share Posted April 5, 2013 Does Hegarty's suspension not kick in yet? i will be honest i really an not sure who is and isn't available. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
the gunslinger 3,366 Posted April 5, 2013 Author Share Posted April 5, 2013 Fan of The Dark Tower are we GS, a fine series of novels. 3-0 Rangers a quality performance of fast flowing football precise passing and killer finishing, Ally is hailed as the next Mourinho and Liewell and Lennon are seen dogging in the car park at the tattiedome. Well a boy can dream. Oh and gets my vote for preview of the season. But your team selection is honking. second to none in epic drama novels imho. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
der Berliner 3,886 Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 (edited) BTW ... Missing: Lewis Macleod, Darren Cole, Chris Hegarty, Dean Shiels, Francisco Sandaza (contract terminated), Kevin Kyle (contract terminated) Possible: Ross Perry, Andy Little We are away from home, so that will be a 4-2-3-1 in Ally's book, no matter if the preview speaks of McCulloch going to play alongside Hemmings. From what is left, it will probably be ... Alexander Argyriou - Perry - Cribari - Wallace Hutton - Black McKay - Faure/Crawford - Templeton McCulloch He might spring a surprise going 4-4-2, but I'm done for surprises this season: Alexander Argyriou - Perry - Cribari - Wallace McKay - Black - Crawford - Templeton McCulloch - Hemmings Edited April 5, 2013 by der Berliner 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GovanAllan 0 Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 I would take that 4-4-2 DB, the leagues won unleash the dogs of war. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
54andcounting 0 Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 When you think about it, picking a Rangers side must be the hardest job in history...Ally must wake up look at the squad names during breakfast and go "aw naw roll on September" 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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