match thread (image) Rangers 1 - 0 Kilmarnock (Morelos 65)

[buster. 5,185]

27 minutes ago, Bluedell said:

Friday was a totally different type of game. Hibs played a diamond in midfield with 4 attack minded players whereas Killie played a deep lying narrow 5. 

 

I felt it was obvious that we may struggle with Defoe up front and it should have been changed at half time. 

 

Gerrard took an unnecessary risk today picking Defoe. 

Agree re. type of game but tend to think what actually happened was always on the cards whoever we played up front, ie. struggle to make clear cut chances against organised deep defence but over time we wear them down and eventually score. Having Morelos on the bench gave us an excellent option but IMO the goal itself was more about Jack and Aribo teeing up a relatively straightforward chance that you´d expect either AM or JD to tuck away.

 

The game on Sunday is a very different proposition and Alfredo will start, hopefully after a re-charging of the batteries.

Much of the focus will be on the Columbian but we´ll need all players to step-up. Ryan Kent being one who needs to lift his quality level and the defence maintain concentration.

 

 

[Briton 314]

17 hours ago, rbr said:

This Killie  team are a horrible bunch of bastards , they just kill football stone dead .

If you have so much fear in you, what is the point in turning up?  I'd rather my team had a go and  lose than get beaten with this kind of  scaredy-cat anti-football; not that Killie are alone in that.

[BlackSocksRedTops 3,751]

3 hours ago, buster. said:

Agree re. type of game but tend to think what actually happened was always on the cards whoever we played up front, ie. struggle to make clear cut chances against organised deep defence but over time we wear them down and eventually score. Having Morelos on the bench gave us an excellent option but IMO the goal itself was more about Jack and Aribo teeing up a relatively straightforward chance that you´d expect either AM or JD to tuck away.

 

The game on Sunday is a very different proposition and Alfredo will start, hopefully after a re-charging of the batteries.

Much of the focus will be on the Columbian but we´ll need all players to step-up. Ryan Kent being one who needs to lift his quality level and the defence maintain concentration.

 

 

Kent and Aribo could be key to Alfies success tomorrow IMO

[Franc Ergs 1,651]

20 minutes ago, Briton said:

If you have so much fear in you, what is the point in turning up?  I'd rather my team had a go and  lose than get beaten with this kind of  scaredy-cat anti-football; not that Killie are alone in that.

Nah ,When you're trying to win a league, it's three points at all costs.

[Franc Ergs 1,651]

28 minutes ago, BlackSocksRedTops said:

Kent and Aribo could be key to Alfies success tomorrow IMO

Hope it's not tomorrow ?.

 

I've got a feeling that if Morelos scores one against them ,then the floodgates will open.

[Bluedell 5,624]

1 hour ago, Briton said:

If you have so much fear in you, what is the point in turning up?  I'd rather my team had a go and  lose than get beaten with this kind of  scaredy-cat anti-football; not that Killie are alone in that.

We reached a European final playing that way. 

 

I don't have as much of a problem with Killie as I do the ref. It was him that allowed all of Killie's time wasting.

[Bluedell 5,624]

3 hours ago, buster. said:

Agree re. type of game but tend to think what actually happened was always on the cards whoever we played up front, ie. struggle to make clear cut chances against organised deep defence but over time we wear them down and eventually score. Having Morelos on the bench gave us an excellent option but IMO the goal itself was more about Jack and Aribo teeing up a relatively straightforward chance that you´d expect either AM or JD to tuck away.

I'd argue that it was Alfie's threat and movement that allowed Jack and Aribo the opportunity to set him up. 

[der Berliner 3,744]

Regarding the BBC, or rather BBC Scotland, McLaughlin had his media privileges removed because of incorrect reporting et al, as has also been verfied by the BBC`s very own BBC Trust at the time. Even on the day he receieved a reprimand, he did it right in front of the cameras. The BBCeltland though closed lines behind him and declared heinously that their ability of reporting from Ibrox is impossible due to the "ban of one of their reporters" from Ibrox et al. Even when McLaughlin was off to pastures new elesewhere. Blatant lies, simple as that.

 

It is the BBC Scotland (mainly Sports) department that drags the name of the BBC into the gutter and it is beyond me that the esprit de corps is more important to them than their own guidelines and rules. But you get that at times from journalists, who think of themselve as a higher species that needs to look after their own more than anything else. Alas, we got the Press Council over here that takes care of somesuch.

 

As for the game on Sunday, it will be a totally different ball game compared to Hibs or Killie. I doubt we will be able to force the game unto them like we die at the LCF, they will be up for that one at home in front of the howling hordes. Controlled pressing and defending, then set the killer blows.

 

In essence, Plan A will be done again, with exactly the same players starting bar Defoe, for whom Morelos will come in. Maybe we see a change and have Stewart instead of Arfield, as the former`s ability to pass, shoot and find spaces might be a better asset than Arfield`s more physical approach. It would also give us better balance on the right.

[der Berliner 3,744]

Killie ... the big problem for many teams in Scotland this last (two) decade(s) is that their managers have gone the physical and destructive route, so the players with a certain gift or talent were either ironed out or left for England or the OF soonish. Hence, the Scottish game as a whole has been in a down-spiral and descended into the wilderness on international level. Be that the national side or the non-OF teams in Europe. You check the international squads of the last decade and see that many if not most players selected either come from the OF or English lower league sides, have hardly played together and usually end up as expected.

 

Obviously, the "lesser" teams don`t want to get pumped by the OF time and again, but I seem to remember that in the late 80s and 90s, the mid-table teams were always trying to play football too. If you check the record books, we did not exactly slaughtered any team even in our best NIAR years. These days, it is the usual brick-wall stuff every other week, with the only difference being which team has one or two players haring after any ball played from defence. You wonder what a neutral guy would make of games between Livingston and Ross County or Hamilton vs Kilmarnock ... feasts of football no doubt.

[Briton 314]

19 minutes ago, Bluedell said:

We reached a European final playing that way. 

We won a European Trophy playing football.