[FT] Hibs 3 - 2 Rangers (Holt 41; McKay 85)

[pete 2,499]

At approximately 2:45 on Sunday Thomas Rogic launched a penalty that nearly went into orbit. The ball seemed to jump up before he kicked it, caused by his standing foot pushing up the turf. You could call it a space oddity. As the ball sailed high over the bar millions of bluenoses all over the world were also launched into into a blue, blue heaven.

 

4 years ago the Scottish premier league teams decided to throw Rangers out the SPL forcing us to apply to the SPFL and start at the lowest level. You could say they put their biggest most succulent morsel into a tin can so as the other tasteless bites would look and feel more appetizing. With our promotion to the SPFL and our win against Celtic the can has finally been ripped open. The song Space Oddity from the late great David Bowie actually sums up the feelings that I and I am sure many other Rangers supporters were feeling at that moment.

 

This is Ground Control to Major Tom

You've really made the grade

And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear

Now it's time to leave the capsule if you dare

"This is Major Tom to Ground Control

I'm stepping through the door

And I'm floating in the most peculiar way

And the stars look very different today

For here am I sitting in my tin can

Far above the world

Planet Earth is blue

And there's nothing I can do.

 

Change the last line to “ there is nothing they could do” and you hit the nail on the head. Rangers were dominant. Mo Johnstone said he thought he was watching Barcelona. The fact we kept passing the ball about in the first 20 minutes even although Celtic tried to close us down, was a joy to watch. They were chasing solar shadows as we eclipsed them in every position on the field. Jump back 2 years when we played them in the league cup and hardly dared to come out of our own half, then you have to say the difference could be measured in light years. The Celtic supporters take pride in calling Rangers zombies but there was only one team on the park that looked like the walking dead and they certainly weren't wearing blue and white. The green and grey hoops had a vertical saliva stain from hanging tongues, running down the front of their shirts after about 25 minutes, forcing them to retreat to defend in their own half.

 

Not everything is perfect though. Every corner or cross into the box extracts Fecal matter from our bodies. It is not simply down to heading ability but our defenders seem to lose their direct opponents very,very, easily. We get pushed about and very often an attacker gets a head to the ball. We seem to ball watch on a huge scale instead of attacking the ball. The magic hat will need to conjure up a remedy for this for next season. If he doesn't then we could be losing a lot of cheap, unnecessary goals.

 

One thing has happened though. All those media experts who are supposed to give an unbiased opinion have been left spellbound. A few of course are just biased and just hold a grudge against Rangers. Well either that or they haven't a clue about football.

 

Chris Sutton came away with:

 

” Four of the back five pick themselves. Craig Gordon is the No.1, Kieran Tierney and Mikael Lustig are the full-backs and I’d have Charlie Mulgrew at centre-back.

He’s composed, calm and also gives left-sided balance.

Beside him, I’d go for Dedryck Boyata. He has a mistake in him but he’s also got pace which is an asset on a big pitch such as Hampden.

Erik Sviatchenko gets dragged around too much and Boyata’s a better bet so long as he doesn’t try to pass from the back.

Celtic need to win and do it in style. Yes, Rangers won a Second Division and Petrol Tank Cup but it is time for Celtic to show their rivals they can’t compete now and won’t next season either.

 

 

Well Chris, Mr Delia took your advice and guess what? He had to take off Boyata after 20+ minutes after he was given the run around by Barry McKay. You have been promoting Delia to get the sack for making the wrong decisions. You also stated Rangers can't compete with Celtic, Maybe you should look in the mirror and weigh up your own expertise as a football pundit. Yes, of course your excuse will be that the real Celtic didn't turn up but that is a poor excuse for your lack of neutrality.

 

 

As for Mr Hartson and his comment “ Rangers will be lucky to escape with a 4-0 defeat” I can only say: Get over Rangers not signing you. It happens. Kilmarnock let Barry McKay go because they thought he carried a hip injury. He was the best player on the pitch on Sunday. Personally I believe your conduct since, has shown you never had the character to be a Rangers player. Any injury probably never played a part.

 

I said in a preview a few weeks ago that the Championship was possibly stronger than the Premier league. Many may have laughed at that but 2 championship teams deservedly in the Scottish cup final would seem to cement that fact. Remember back to those big scoring wins at the beginning of the season and how Championship teams all of a sudden responded to our tactics. It would seem the SPFL never got the message. For all of those honest unbiased people sneering at Rangers and thinking we had no chance against Celtic I point them to the words of Amanda Holden in Susan Boyle's first BGT audition.(Not a good name to mention on a Rangers site I know). She said,“I know everyone was against you when you walked out we were all being very cynical and this was the biggest wake up call ever.” It was a privilege watching that. It certainly was a privilege watching this Rangers team on Sunday and all season.

 

Britain has talent takes me to, Scotland has talent. It would seem that Gordon Strachan thinks that that talent only lies east of Ibrox and couldn't\didn't see the talent of Barry McKay, Jason Holt, Lee Wallace or Andy Halliday. He really should look in the mirror and wonder if his omission of Rangers players in his team selections has been in the best interest of our national team . It has been clear for ages that Scott Brown is a talentless headless chicken, as Sunday substantiated. If Mr Strachan had even considered having a look at a fantastic footballing Rangers team he would have witnessed for himself that there are chickens in the hen house who do have have a head and an ability to read a football game and who are not blowing air out their backsides after 25 minutes..

 

On Wednesday we travel to Easter Road to face Hibs in a cup final rehearsal The big thing now is for us to jettison our rocket packs and descend back down to earth with a soft touch-down. The same goes for Hibs of course who also reached the Scottish cup final on a penalty shoot-out. You often hear the saying xxxx wanted the win more. Hibs need to win to reach the top spot of the play-offs. Rangers are champions in waiting and you could say will be vulnerable to have a lackadaisical performance. Mr Warburton has always said that we want to win every game but do we still have that adrenalin rush to keep us competing when there is virtually nothing to win? You always think you do but psychologically your performance could unwillingly be a few notches down on what has become the norm.

If the Rangers management team can get the team back down to earth and compete with Hibs then they really will show the professionalism that has been missing at Ibrox for many a year. That will not say they are any less professional if we lose but a need to win situation can sometimes swing the pendulum in that direction.

 

 

Mark Warburton will have these players up for it even although we only have 3 un-needed points to gain. I fancy Hibs will throw everything except the kitchen sink at us but that is just Hibs. They always Hibs it in the end and the Kitchen sink is always just a bit too heavy for them. At the moment Rangers are so pumped up they could probably throw the bath tub a mile. I personally don't see us losing,

Stubb's mind games could not beat us the last time round and may even have caused the collapse of his own team. Mark Warburton stated yesterday that when signing players you have to be careful not to cause unrest in the dressing room. In retrospect maybe the signing of Anthony Stokes was not such a good idea after all, as it seemed to coincide with their total collapse.

 

Picking a team for this game is a bit different from other games as Warburton may choose to give players who have sat on the fringe of the squad a game and give ever present players a much needed rest. I would think O' Halloran and King will be certainties to play. As Ball will also miss the cup-final I would think he will also have a starting place. The squad is so thin that there is actually not much room for resting players.

 

One option could be.

 

 

 

 

 

O Halloran King

 

I would fully expect Halliday to be in the team though and Zelalem sitting on the bench.

 

I hope we get a glimpse of young Liam Burt at some stage but it may the game against Alloa before we see him.

[ian1964 10,720]

I just want us to keep driving on until the end of the season,beating every team we have left to play,starting with the horrible classless scum Hibs,let's pump these bastards!,I'm sure MW & DW will not allow complacency to set in,mon the GERS!!!!!

 

 

 

Asked if the club will give Rangers a guard of honour at Easter Road in recognition of their title success, Stubbs indicated he would prefer to concentrate on matters on the pitch.

 

"I rang Mark (Warburton) and David (Weir) personally as soon as they won the title, but we are focused on the game itself and what we need to do tomorrow. That is the most important thing," he added.

 

"We all want to see the game, it's not about other issues, the most important thing is you will see two good teams tomorrow night."

 

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11792/10249726/alan-stubbs-says-three-points-against-rangers-the-main-priority-for-hibernian

Edited April 19, 2016 by ian1964

[theboyharley 5]

Hibs are showing that they have absolutely no class. Hopefully we go about our usual business and heap further misery on them. Dun Utd and Hibs in the championship next season would be highly amusing and satisfying

[Bearman 9]

Hibs require 2 wins from their last 4 games to avoid being caught by Raith Rovers, we should be up for this and make sure they don't get anything at all from us.

[Germinal 27]

Might not be the worst thing in the world if we do lose, though...a kick up the arse before the Cup final might do no harm. Plus it would be an invaluable lesson learned in maintaining standards for when we beat celtc again next season.

 

On the other hand I could live with constant victory.

[jhunter 0]

Might not be the worst thing in the world if we do lose, though...a kick up the arse before the Cup final might do no harm. Plus it would be an invaluable lesson learned in maintaining standards for when we beat celtc again next season.

 

On the other hand I could live with constant victory.

 

eh naw

 

lets just leather them and extend the party.

[calscot 0]

Hibs require 2 wins from their last 4 games to avoid being caught by Raith Rovers, we should be up for this and make sure they don't get anything at all from us.

 

Seems to me that third or fourth makes little difference except for playing away first.

[Frankie 8,562]

Thanks for the preview Pete!

 

Should be very open tonight with two teams tired from their exertions at the weekend. Don't be surprised to see some mistakes and I'd expect more goals as well.

 

Let's hope we maintain our good play and win what should be another exciting game.

[the gunslinger 3,366]

Wouldn't be surprised if we don't win tonight. Hibs far more to play for and we will be tired.

 

But if it's open we have the talent to exploit that.

[der Berliner 3,742]

Well, luckily enough, all has been decided before today, so we can go in there rather relaxed. It won't even be a benchmark for the Cup Final, as we will sure field a different team. Today, I wouldn't rule out seeing Shiels, O'Halloran, King, Zelalem, Clark and even Law (from) very early on in the match, plus Burt later.

 

Any more points dropped by Hibs today would see them go head to head with Raith, then Falkirk. If they survive this play-off rubbish, they'd have to go past (probably) Killie. IMHO, it would be quite cool if Hibs, the Arabs, St. Mirren, and Killie playing in the Championship next season, after voting us out and now not even getting any money from us being back where we belong. That, and me liking Falkirk most of this lot anyway.

Edited April 20, 2016 by der Berliner