match thread (image) Rangers 2 - 1 Hibernian (Edmundson 45; Hagi 83)

[ian1964 10,721]

4 hours ago, craig said:

Yawn Ian.

Yawn??, ok, if you are happy with the way the club are dealing with these terrible refs then good for you, I'm not.

 

[ian1964 10,721]

4 hours ago, craig said:

So you need to know everything the club are doing ?  Instead of letting them deal with things - that isn't how a business is run.  How do you know they aren't "calling it as it is" - you don't have to do that publicly to still do it.

 

So you expect that making noises behind the scenes would have an immediate effect ?  It wont.  And if you really think that Celtic wanting to have their "clarification" back in the day was a one-off calling which resulted in change then I think you are wrong - I suspect that they were making those same noises in the background and eventually went public to create pressure.

 

Just because you don't see it doesn't mean it isn't happening.

No, I don't need to know everything the club is doing, and have no desire to either! I do however expect the club to start calling out these refs otherwise continue like this with ''dignified silence'' and we will win nothing!.

The match v Separate Entity FC for instance, had we not scored two clean, cracking goals where the ref couldn't interfere/disallow then we wouldn't have won that match either.

[ian1964 10,721]

45 minutes ago, Bluedell said:

This isn't a new thing. It's been like that since we came back up to the SPL. If the club ARE doing anything behind the scenes, which I seriously doubt,  it clearly isn't working. 

 

The referees are taking the piss. We saw that with the Goldson booking on Saturday and the WWE move on Alfie tonight. 

 

This dignified silence approach isn't working. It's costing us points and it's costing us trophies. 

 

The club MUST start publicly calling out referees. It's the only way that's going to work. 

Agreed 100% BD.

[Gonzo79 15,292]

I woke up in a jolly good mood.  Late goals (in either half) are always fun and there's a guaranteed spring in my step after we beat the Leith tramps.  

 

?

Edited February 6, 2020 by Gonzo79

[Bill 13,717]

1 hour ago, ian1964 said:

Agreed 100% BD.

For what it’s worth, I agree with you too.

[Gaffer 1,665]

I realised last night what Rangers have been working on during the winter break.  We've changed our shape in the final third.  Previously, when Kent or Aribo picked the ball up, we relied on Tav or Barisic overlapping to allow the slipped pass to them or Kent/Aribo cutting inside.  That was once effective, but Kent in particular is being closed down by two players while another covers his runs he did when he dribbled past them.  This meant Kent only had the pass to Barisic, and it was similar on the other side.  I suppose that's why we saw such an increase in the number of crosses from Barisic before the break.

 

Now what we appear to be doing is asking the two midfielders (on either side of Davis) to move into those inside channels.  I think this is a good idea and will help to break down teams that constantly sit in against us (like Hibs, Aberdeen, etc), but it's such a big change to the system that I wonder if it would have been better down during the summer when we have more of an opportunity to play games and embed it.  It seems we gambled on introducing it and the gamble didn't pay off.  The big problem we had in the Hearts game particularly is that their midfield outran us and outmuscled us, meaning that our two midfielders (Kamara and Arfield) were unable to cover the ground they needed to.  I can't see this approach working against Celtic either, but it should be effective against most other teams.

 

On reflection I'm thinking that this is why we have slowed down in the transition.  It's almost like we deliberately slow it down to allow Aribo and Arfield (as it was last night) the time to make those runs forward.  As I said, it's a nice idea but it's going to have two consequences for us.  Firstly, our style is affected a lot by it and isn't nearly as fluid or as exciting to watch.  Secondly, all it takes is a hard working and rough team like Hearts, Livi or Killie and we will struggle to command the midfield like we need to.

 

I will pay closer attention to this over the next few games to see if we can become more flexible and effective with it.  Obviously the management team believe this will be a risk worth taking, but they would have hoped that we'd get through the first few games after the break while we practised it.  I guess it's unfortunate timing that Hearts changed manager and their style.  It's also unfortunate timing that Jack and Tav got injured too.  Sometimes in football, the difference between winning and losing is so marginal.

 

Anyway, I love the tactical side of the game and I thought I'd share what I'm seeing.  And while I'm on the subject of what I'm seeing, I've never seen a player like Hagi before.  I've never seen a player who uses both feet so interchangeably.  Can anyone else think of another like him?  I can't.

[Frankie 8,562]

A bit happier with that performance last night.

 

First half was rather disjointed but we did well to grab a deserved equaliser after missing a couple of decent chances.  Second half we completely dominated without creating anything clear cut though Aribo should have scored at least once.  However, credit to the players for reacting well to going behind and showing character when it looked like the points might slip away again.

 

I thought Goldson was again terrific - a real leader on the park - but Edmundson complimented him well and the wing backs also came onto a game.  Ahead of that Davis was poor first half but better second and the same can be said for Morelos.  Hagi was our stand out player though and what a finish for the winner!

 

We need more from others though: Arfield and Kent both worked hard enough but didn't really show any quality in dangerous areas and Aribo again was fairly ineffective despite finding some good positions.  Final point is that we need to get more support to Alfie ins the box and get players beyond the ball: far too often in recent weeks the ball goes too slowly from one side to the other meaning the opposition have time to get organised and crowd out our players.  Meanwhile, instead of Kent, Arfield and others being ahead of the ball and, inside the box, we're all in a line and to easy to defend against.  That did improve after half-time and we did move the ball a bit quicker as well.

[JFK-1 1,693]

 

[JFK-1 1,693]

Happy for Hagi to get a goal like that on his first start. Nice to see how much he enjoyed that and looks confident in his own ability. That wasn't an easy one to take.  

[Rousseau 10,604]

35 minutes ago, Gaffer said:

I realised last night what Rangers have been working on during the winter break.  We've changed our shape in the final third.  Previously, when Kent or Aribo picked the ball up, we relied on Tav or Barisic overlapping to allow the slipped pass to them or Kent/Aribo cutting inside.  That was once effective, but Kent in particular is being closed down by two players while another covers his runs he did when he dribbled past them.  This meant Kent only had the pass to Barisic, and it was similar on the other side.  I suppose that's why we saw such an increase in the number of crosses from Barisic before the break.

 

Now what we appear to be doing is asking the two midfielders (on either side of Davis) to move into those inside channels.  I think this is a good idea and will help to break down teams that constantly sit in against us (like Hibs, Aberdeen, etc), but it's such a big change to the system that I wonder if it would have been better down during the summer when we have more of an opportunity to play games and embed it.  It seems we gambled on introducing it and the gamble didn't pay off.  The big problem we had in the Hearts game particularly is that their midfield outran us and outmuscled us, meaning that our two midfielders (Kamara and Arfield) were unable to cover the ground they needed to.  I can't see this approach working against Celtic either, but it should be effective against most other teams.

 

On reflection I'm thinking that this is why we have slowed down in the transition.  It's almost like we deliberately slow it down to allow Aribo and Arfield (as it was last night) the time to make those runs forward.  As I said, it's a nice idea but it's going to have two consequences for us.  Firstly, our style is affected a lot by it and isn't nearly as fluid or as exciting to watch.  Secondly, all it takes is a hard working and rough team like Hearts, Livi or Killie and we will struggle to command the midfield like we need to.

 

I will pay closer attention to this over the next few games to see if we can become more flexible and effective with it.  Obviously the management team believe this will be a risk worth taking, but they would have hoped that we'd get through the first few games after the break while we practised it.  I guess it's unfortunate timing that Hearts changed manager and their style.  It's also unfortunate timing that Jack and Tav got injured too.  Sometimes in football, the difference between winning and losing is so marginal.

 

Anyway, I love the tactical side of the game and I thought I'd share what I'm seeing.  And while I'm on the subject of what I'm seeing, I've never seen a player like Hagi before.  I've never seen a player who uses both feet so interchangeably.  Can anyone else think of another like him?  I can't.

I love your enthusiasm, but weren't we doing that before? The formation we play, that should have been happening. Although, we have complained in the past about those midfielders playing too deep. They should be deep at first to ensure ball transition through the thirds, but when we reach the final third, those wide midfielders need to occupy the half-space. 

 

I thought it was more of a 4-2-3-1 in the second half (I didn't see much of the first half), with Aribo moving forward, Davis and Arfield sitting, wingers playing wider, or Kent at least.

 

The issue for me is the attacking positional structure; the positions, or zones on the park, that the players have to occupy.  

 

Guardiola has a rule that no more than two players should be on the same line, vertically. For example, if Kent is in the left half space (channel), then whoever plays behind him, say Jack, can't be on the same line; he must move diagonally or wide. This opens passing options and makes it more difficult to defend. 

 

For me, too many players keep playing in the same space. 

 

I thought last night we had good coverage: Tavernier wide right, Hagi in the right half-space, Aribo in the left half-space, and Kent wide left. Davis sat deep, alongside Arfield, but with Arfield having more license to get forward. 

 

Barasic was clever: when Kent was wide, he would come inside a little, and then overlap when Kent came inside. That's the movement and occupation of space that we need.