match thread (image) [FT] Dundee Utd 1 - 0 Rangers

[JohnMc 2,766]

If only we could play Real Madrid every week. 

 

It was inevitable we'd hit a patch of poor form after last season where we rarely put a foot wrong, every club goes through them eventually. There's a mindset change required in our team, we're no longer chasing, we're now being chased and that requires an adjustment mentally. I suspect there are other issues in the squad that we're not fully aware of too. There have been a few hints at Covid cases with players and it might be these have been more disruptive than we realise. I'm less concerned about 3 points being dropped in the league than I am about Tuesday's match. Our late goal in Malmo helped disguise an uninspired performance against a well organised but ordinary side, indeed the type of European side we've excelled in playing in recent seasons. An unfavourable result on Tuesday will see some pressure being applied to the players and management, as ridiculous as that sounds. Those of us who have been watching Rangers for a long time know our support, magnificent at times, will quickly forget about last season's heroics should this season start poorly. As Richard Gough once said at Rangers you're only as good as your last pass. 

 

I feel Kent is working hard but things don't seem to be coming off for him just now and our full backs aren't yet hitting their stride. That's such an important part of our style of play when it's not fully firing others need to step up. 

 

Hopefully we'll respond like Champions to this and start showing the side we know is there on Tuesday. 

[Gonzo79 15,294]

I think we missed Roofe yesterday.

 

The lack of creative players in the team and on the bench was a concern.  Aribo was the only player who looked capable of creating something.

 

Kent was poor on Tuesday and yesterday. The reason he is still at Rangers is his inconsistency and it looks like he's hitting another dry spell.

 

 

Edited August 8, 2021 by Gonzo79

[Rousseau 10,655]

27 minutes ago, DMAA said:

He’s supposed to be, his stats at SU showed that he was very weak defensively but pretty good going forward. To me he looks very unfit and I don’t really know what his excuse is, and I find it a bit concerning that SU fans complained at how lazy he was all of last season, some players do lose a bit of their fitness/energy earlier in their career than others, I hope that isn’t happening with Lundstram. 

I assumed his attitude issue last season was because he wanted to leave and was refused that; he was just playing out his final year. 

 

I think it's too early to draw conclusion about fitness. 

 

Edit: I've just seen that there are some stories about us struggling with Covid cases during pre-season, so not everyone is up to speed. 

[DMAA 3,658]

28 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

I assumed his attitude issue last season was because he wanted to leave and was refused that; he was just playing out his final year. 

 

I think it's too early to draw conclusion about fitness. 

 

Edit: I've just seen that there are some stories about us struggling with Covid cases during pre-season, so not everyone is up to speed. 

Yeh of course it’s too early to draw conclusions, I’m just theorising because I very rarely buy that “attitude” is the cause of poor performance, and fitness is one of the most likely explanations for what could be perceived by fans as laziness, what he did yesterday certainly reminded me of myself at 5s many a time. He may be like Arfield and have seasons of energy in his season. 

[rbr 1,256]

I really don’t understand why all the wailing , gnashing of teeth and self abuse is coming from ,apart from last year , traditionally we never start like a rocket , and as has been posted elsewhere unlike previous years we haven’t had a set of Euro qualifiers to bed us in , every team will go through a rocky patch , calm down troops .

[RANGERRAB 3,680]

7 minutes ago, rbr said:

I really don’t understand why all the wailing , gnashing of teeth and self abuse is coming from ,apart from last year , traditionally we never start like a rocket , and as has been posted elsewhere unlike previous years we haven’t had a set of Euro qualifiers to bed us in , every team will go through a rocky patch , calm down troops .

True but it’s how much come out of the rocky patch that matters. Changes were needed sooner in these last two games. 

As I said in another post Ive yet to be convinced about any of the players we’ve signed this year although I do concede it’s still early days for some of them 

[Gonzo79 15,294]

There will always be an overreaction when we lose.  Losing two on the trot is viewed as a mini crisis at Rangers.  

 

It's all a bit ridiculous but that's just the way it is.  

Edited August 8, 2021 by Gonzo79

[der Berliner 3,749]

The one thing that makes our line-up yesterday more plausible was that we might want to keep Itten, Wright, Hagi and Co. unscathed and fit for Malmö, as this will be a far more important game for the club than 3 points at the start of the season. Let`s hope we come out all guns blazing for that game.

[MacK1950 2,378]

IMO we met two teams in these last games who did not park the bus and found us wanting,so hop fully the analyses of these games will sort out something for Tuesday.

[craig 5,199]

21 hours ago, der Berliner said:

So we are down to the bare bones of stats now? You saw the line up today and thought that would be enough for Dundee United then?

 

Before the game I wrote:

As with previous seasons, you look at the line-up and see lots of workers, but the lethal, goalscoring bit, will again rests on the shoulders of a single striker and the hope that Aribo and Kent provide an end product to their work. There`s a reason we "only" won 11 league games by 1 goal, 6 more by 2 goals and drawing 6 more. I know it is lamenting on a high level, but the stats remain and we all remember these dire affairs of teams sitting deep and we toil along to break them up.

 

Not sure whether some people`s memories are short, but today was exactly as those games mentioned above, dire affairs of toil. Quite a few of those 1-goal-wins happened when we brought a 2nd striker on. Yes, when we started the scoring early and teams opened up, we occasionally beat them handsomely, that 8-0 vs Hamilton will have blown the stat up a bit too. But help yourself to the game threads of last season and much of those will include "job done, no more no less". No smug comments will change that, nor will they help us improve games against Scottish opposition.

Yes, I saw the line up and thought it was enough for Dundee Utd.  You are making Dundee Utd sound like world beaters ??. That line up WAS good enough for Dundee Utd…. Just as it was last season.

 

stats don’t lie.  We averaged 2.42 goals per game in the league last season… AVERAGED….. and yet you’re saying we “didn’t blow teams apart”.  Given we conceded 0.34 per game abd had a positive goal difference of over 2 per game on AVERAGE… yes, I’d say we blew teams away last season.

 

im not providing smug comments, that’s your realm, I’m merely stating stats as facts, which they are.