match thread (image) [FT] Rangers 1 (Morelos 18) - 2 Malmo

[der Berliner 3,749]

1 hour ago, Gonzo79 said:

Gerrard wasn't overly critical in his post-match presser.

 

I wonder if that's how he actually feels?

Maybe he has lost hope in his ever-present, "ever-reliable" Kent and Tavernier? He even said there won`t be wholesale changes for Friday, even though the League Cup is usually McAllister`s business.

 

I assume we will see the return of Bassey and Patterson, Kamara and Roofe. Stick with the 4-2-3-1 and if the Pars stand tall, suffer more dire stuff.

 

If you`d ask me, I`d adopt 3-4-3, chuck Tav and Barasic et al and play a strong attacking line. Dunfermline won`t be running over our defense and both of them hardly get a decent ball in these days, and sure we need more real strikers.

When we play an attacking 3 up front, they should perform. Last night, Morelos and Wright caused constant danger, Kent not. Aribo was out of sorts too, after the first 30 mins, at least.
 

McLaughlin

Balogun - Goldson/Helander - Simpson

Hagi - Davis - Kamara - Wright

Roofe - Morelos/Itten - Sakala

Keep them in their own half, cut them to pieces early on and then bring on people to hit them with pace on the counter.

But, but, but ... our wingbacks?!?!!? Teams playing a 3-4-3 don`t play defenders on the wings as "makeshift" attackers. And when those wingbacks don`t perform in the attacking role anyway, why not use real wingers instead and ask them to track back should need arise.
The three defenders should be able to mop up any threat, not least with Kamara in front of them.

We have the players, we should use them.

 

 

[RANGERRAB 3,680]

35 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

We actually went with a 4-4-2 diamond with Kent in the hole and Morelos and Sakala up front, as the latter came on. Didn't change much. The players were still p*sh. 

 

I get your point, though; we should have made changes, to go for it more. To be fair, though, I'm not sure if it was so wrong to still be conservative after half-time; we were level and in a dominant position. But, when we went behind, certainly.  

We waited til they went 2-1 ahead before changing anything 

[craig 5,199]

1 hour ago, Gonzo79 said:

Gerrard wasn't overly critical in his post-match presser.

 

I wonder if that's how he actually feels?

Doubt it.  He’ll be livid at a fantastic opportunity lost

[craig 5,199]

1 hour ago, DMAA said:

I don’t think we disagree, I just meant that for a period of dominance and great pressure we didn’t actually come close to scoring much, I don’t think we had an effort on target aside from the goal. You would normally expect the keeper to be very busy during a spell like that. 

Fair point mate.  We did huff and puff a bit but I felt Malmo had already showed signs of cracking.  We had them on the ropes and, for the second time against them, went to sleep for 5 minutes and it’s put us out.

[craig 5,199]

1 hour ago, RANGERRAB said:

We should have changed tactics with the extra man advantage. We did nothing at all. 

We didn’t need to change tactics with an extra man.

[craig 5,199]

46 minutes ago, alexscottislegend said:

I live 350-odd miles away. Outcomes are never obvious after 70 minutes. If you had been in Malmo, by that logic you would have left after their second goal.

 It only that but first “full house” in 18 months…. I knew it was done but no way was I leaving before the end last night

[ranger_syntax 4,330]

1 hour ago, DMAA said:

You’re being a bit snide as usual but yes if Helander was available it’s a baffling decision and it cost us last night with two moments of very poor defending. 

Nothing snide about it.

 

I admit I really don't know why you would be baffled given the fact that he is slow and that he needs to manage an injury.

[ranger_syntax 4,330]

48 minutes ago, alexscottislegend said:

I live 350-odd miles away. Outcomes are never obvious after 70 minutes. If you had been in Malmo, by that logic you would have left after their second goal.

Titter.

 

I don't know how your distant view has been over the last decade but from up close you would have found that very many outcomes have been obvious at 70 minutes.

 

Can't believe you are greeting about fans leaving early when you were not even there.

[alexscottislegend 2,330]

Just now, ranger_syntax said:

Titter.

 

I don't know how your distant view has been over the last decade but from up close you would have found that very many outcomes have been obvious at 70 minutes.

 

Can't believe you are greeting about fans leaving early when you were not even there.

Unless you are SEVERAL goals up by 70 minutes the outcomes are not obvious. After 70 mins in Malmo you could have said the outcome was obvious, but look what happened. When they were winning thier tainted titles, Keltic regularly nicked victories in the last twenty minutes, a habit I thought we had begun t pick up.  And look at the times ManU clinched things in injury time, so much so that that it was known as 'Fergie time..' In many of those instances the outcome seemed 'obvious' after 70 minutes.

 

The team desperately needed our support in the last third of the game and those supporters should have been encouraging them. Admittedly tv can deceive, but I didn't get the impression that they were.

[Bill 13,717]

I'm intrigued to see how Gerrard reacts to the last three performances and whether he adopts a conservative or radical approach. I think it will be very revealing about the character of our manager.

 

We were in a similar "crisis" when Covid struck and I've heard it argued that Covid saved Gerrard from difficult decisions at that time. Then came a wonderful season 2020-21. Now we've clearly got some issues to address again and we look to the man in charge to come up with solutions.