Warburton apologises but are we in for the long haul?

[Norris Cole 0]

It's not happening for Warburton. But our financial situation is such that I don't see much point demanding he goes - not mid-season anyway - unless we'd be happy with a Stuart McCall-type replacement.

[Norris Cole 0]

Gribz, that's a good point about every team raising their game. They smell blood and have absolutely no fear against us!!!

 

An old-fashioned view I know, but teams should be shitting themselves upon seeing Rangers next up on the fixture list.

 

OK we're flat broke, but among the many things money doesn't buy you are attitude and application.

[Waltersgotstyle 307]

It's not happening for Warburton. But our financial situation is such that I don't see much point demanding he goes - not mid-season anyway - unless we'd be happy with a Stuart McCall-type replacement.

 

I just don't understand why people think we would go for a Stuart McCall type...

 

Plenty of candidates were interested when we were in the championship and I am sure we would have plenty more interest now we are looking towards Europe.

 

As for Mark Warburton... I really want it to work for him but he really needs to step it up for the big games.

[Davie P 4]

I think a lot of us didnt see there was a gulf in the top flight to the championship but on a weekly basis it seems there slightly is, not to mention everyone raises their games 20% against Rangers anyway. But your right not adapting and changing is a mistake.

 

You're spot on there. With Hibs contesting the SCF with us, and our beating Kilmarnock and Dundee (and Pen win over Celtic), I honestly thought that there was basically no gulf between the divisions. Not blaming Warburton for assuming the same, but he does have to shoulder the blame for allowing Kiernan to continue when it was blatantly obvious that he could not even cut it against the Hibs strikers (SCF). Senderos was a panic buy, but the money spent on Garner and O'Halloran should have been used to strengthen the spine of the team. Fairly sure we could have got a half decent Scandinavian CB for R2m!

[Walterbear 557]

I don't think kiernan is good enough. He has decent ball skills but not all round defensive skills. However I don't feel comfortable scapegoating one man in this shambles as he is getting no cover from the wide areas and we are constantly being run at because we can't retain possession and our full backs are 60m up the park. That is largely tactical and a lack of quality. It's no coincidence we look much better with hodson who is a more traditional full back.

 

MW must come out and say he is adjusting tactics where appropriate to demonstrate and acknowledge that at least he is learning from his mistakes. I don't think it means the project fails it just means it's a tougher project than he first thought and he's adjusting.

 

Agree with the comments on Wallace. Not a captain in a million years but has been a great servant to the club. Clint Hill is the best captain material we have at the moment which with no disrespect to him is sad because there is a whole squad of players who do not appear to have leadership qualities (except Miller).

 

Comments that there are only a few teams in Europe who can get away with plan A all the time are spot on. We're not one of them so must adjust and quickly. We can get another SCF if we adjust (and avoid the Tims at Pokheid). We can get second if we adjust.

 

Fail to adjust and we will not get 3rd imo.

Edited February 3, 2017 by Walterbear

[Oleg_Mcnoleg 50]

I don't think kiernan is good enough. He has decent ball skills but not all round defensive skills. However I don't feel comfortable scapegoating one man in this shambles as he is getting no cover from the wide areas and we are constantly being run at because we can't retain possession and our full backs are 60m up the park. That is largely tactical and a lack of quality. It's no coincidence we look much better with hodson who is a more traditional full back.

 

MW must come out and say he is adjusting tactics where appropriate to demonstrate and acknowledge that at least he is learning from his mistakes. I don't think it means the project fails it just means it's a tougher project than he first thought and he's adjusting.

 

Agree with the comments on Wallace. Not a captain in a million years but has been a great servant to the club. Clint Hill is the best captain material we have at the moment which with no disrespect to him is sad because there is a whole squad of players who do not appear to have leadership qualities (except Miller).

 

Comments that there are only a few teams in Europe who can get away with plan A all the time are spot on. We're not one of them so must adjust and quickly. We can get another SCF if we adjust (and avoid the Tims at Pokheid). We can get second if we adjust.

 

Fail to adjust and we will not get 3rd imo.

 

I think it would be easier to forgive the defensive flakiness if we were an exhilarating attacking force that gave away the odd daft goal through being too cavalier. It's certainly what I expected from MW. But we've not been.

[craig 5,199]

Two points from this thread I think are key to the playing side of things. Tactics and our captain.

 

Tactics. There are only 2/3 teams in world football that can play the same tactics regardless of the opposition. The rest of us have to adapt to our opponents. And that's exactly what opposition managers do to us. Press high and we can't cope. Our CB's can't pass and we lose possession. MW needs to change. When a formation works 20% of the time, it's not working. I think the fans would give him a bit more slack for a performance like Tynecastle if we'd went 4-5-1 and it hadn't worked but within 5 mins you could see what Hearts were going to do. That tactic worked against Celtic last April because they were all on their game. Even then we never won the game! This we keep playing our game doesn't cut it anymore. I await the 4-3-3 tomorrow.

 

Our captain. Lee Wallace is great for Rangers off the field. On it, nope, not for me. I think he brings excellent attacking qualities to our play and links well with McKay but defensively he scares the life out of me. But besides footballing ability it's his leadership on the park that I can't get behind. We concede a goal and he just turns away and walks towards the halfway line. You don't see him shouting at the players to gee them up. Can you imagine Fergie being captain and Halliday making that mistake and fergie just turning round and walking away. Not. A. Chance. He'd be in their faces letting them know what he thought. We are badly needing someone with a voice on the park. This team are too lightweight and nice. It's getting us nowhere. When was the last time we put a few heavy tackles in to show we are up for a battle. I think we'll need a better left back to challenge Celtic next year but more importantly I think we'll need a better leader on the park!

 

If we need a better left back for next season then we need a further 7 or 8 on top of that.

 

Wallace is one of the very few we have who are truly of the desired quality.

[craig 5,199]

An old-fashioned view I know, but teams should be shitting themselves upon seeing Rangers next up on the fixture list.

 

OK we're flat broke, but among the many things money doesn't buy you are attitude and application.

 

That's all fine and well - but why was it that teams were shitting themselves when we were next up on the fixture list ? I would say because of the players we had. When we had Gough, Goram, McCoist, Gascoigne, Laudrup etc etc - teams DID shit themselves.

 

But this is 2017, we have no money and the standard of player we are bringing in are no better than what Hearts, Aberdeen etc are bringing in - which is exactly why they have no reason to be shitting themselves against us.

[trublusince1982 243]

That's all fine and well - but why was it that teams were shitting themselves when we were next up on the fixture list ? I would say because of the players we had. When we had Gough, Goram, McCoist, Gascoigne, Laudrup etc etc - teams DID shit themselves.

 

But this is 2017, we have no money and the standard of player we are bringing in are no better than what Hearts, Aberdeen etc are bringing in - which is exactly why they have no reason to be shitting themselves against us.

if that is so why are we paying them double triple what hearts are and why did we spent £3m on players we could get for £175k?

[Norris Cole 0]

That's all fine and well - but why was it that teams were shitting themselves when we were next up on the fixture list ? I would say because of the players we had. When we had Gough, Goram, McCoist, Gascoigne, Laudrup etc etc - teams DID shit themselves.

 

But this is 2017, we have no money and the standard of player we are bringing in are no better than what Hearts, Aberdeen etc are bringing in - which is exactly why they have no reason to be shitting themselves against us.

 

I'm not disagreeing with you, but it's a little frustrating that my point continues to be misunderstood.

 

I'm not demanding to win every game. I'm not demanding Laudrup/Gough-type quality. I'm merely demanding the same level of commitment as those players you mention.

 

Theboyharley makes a good point about the captain. When we go a goal down, I want to see him f*cking roaring at his players. The fans have already done more than enough for this Rangers team.