The Manager

[Sutton_blows_goats 5,329]

Hard to tell. Had some great results (Prague, Dortmund, away run before xmas, hearts horsed at home) and some very bad ones which are obvious. I'm behind him fully but he makes some odd decisions.

[Gonzo79 15,292]

8 minutes ago, Sutton_blows_goats said:

I'm behind him fully but he makes some odd decisions.

The indecisions are the worst (sticking with McGregor and not substituting players who are clearly out of gas).  

[Sutton_blows_goats 5,329]

29 minutes ago, Gonzo79 said:

The indecisions are the worst (sticking with McGregor and not substituting players who are clearly out of gas).  

Agree. Also chucking helander in at tannadice when he was clearly miles off it then trying Lundstram at CB a bit later seemed to be acts of desperation.

 

[JohnMc 2,750]

The jury is always out, that's the nature of football management, particularly if you're the Rangers manager. You're only a run of bad results away from criticism and questions, they know this when they take the job. 

 

GvB inherited a squad that had hit some wonderful heights last season but was stuttering this season. Our recruitment in the summer hasn't really strengthened us. Sakala reminds me of Lovenkrands, great when he's got space to run into, but he won't contribute a lot against 10 men defences sitting deep. Lundstrom has looked better recently but has taken 6 months to find his form and position. Scott Wright is a bit part player at best and Jack Simpson doesn't seem to have won the confidence of Gerrard or GvB, I expect he'll be back in The Championship in the summer. The least said about the signing of Ofoborh the better. Added to Goldson, Arfield, Balogun, Davis and McGregor all in the final months of their contracts, all senior pros at the club and I expect the guys who 'run' the dressing room and you could see a less that ideal atmosphere to inherit.

 

In January our squad was weakened. Patterson, despite not making any impact at Everton, was an exceptional talent. Ramsay is clearly struggling with injury and is using us as an attempt to get fit, Dialo is a young player who has tricks but little heart or desire from what i've seen. The young Polish lad might prove an astute buy, time will tell. Add that to Aribo having to go to Africa and come back half the player who left.

 

None of this is GvB's doing. 

 

GvB got our tactics so wrong against Celtic it's still painful to speak about it. But he got them so right against Prague and Dortmund. The lack of rotation and subs in recent games has puzzled. I feel that's connected to fitness or illness, I mean it's not like the Dutch don't understand how subs work. I can't help but feel there's more to this than we know. Likewise not starting Balogun, I assume he's not fit enough for two games a week and the management team thought we'd be able to beat St Johnstone without him but not Red Star. I'm guessing, but nothing else makes sense to me. 

 

Some players have improved under GvB, some have done the opposite. Barasic looks like a shadow of himself, Kamara has lost his spark, Roofe isn't trusted, McGregor is suddenly a weakness. Yet Morelos looks reborn, Sakala started to show something and Bassey is now a first choice starter and Tav looks like he's risen to the challenge. 

 

Gerrard was always going to be a hard man to replace. Gerrard brought exciting, entertaining football back after a period of ineptitude and ridicule. His presence and charisma, his media savvy and his instinctive understanding of the club and the support were enormous assets for him and the club. Whoever we replaced him with was going to struggle to match that. GvB isn't charismatic, he's not got the profile of Gerrard despite a stellar playing career, he's a different type of manager as well. 

 

This league isn't won or lost yet. I've been bewildered by some of our performances and angered by some of our decisions recently. But, I still don't buy that our city rivals are the world beaters their support think they are, everything is still to play for, fine margins will tell in the end. I'm backing GvB. For now. 

[Sutton_blows_goats 5,329]

3 minutes ago, JohnMc said:

Added to Goldson, Arfield, Balogun, Davis and McGregor all in the final months of their contracts, all senior pros at the club and I expect the guys who 'run' the dressing room and you could see a less that ideal atmosphere to inherit.

 

In January our squad was weakened. Patterson, despite not making any impact at Everton, was an exceptional talent. Ramsay is clearly struggling with injury and is using us as an attempt to get fit, Dialo is a young player who has tricks but little heart or desire from what i've seen. The young Polish lad might prove an astute buy, time will tell.

Agree with this fully. As time goes by it looks more and more like we either don't have the finances for transfers or we don't have the ability to identify targets within our budget. Looks like we have also gambled that bids would come in for Kent, Aribo and Morelos hoping for big money when we will likely lose them for a fraction of that big money in the summer. Kent in particular I'm now thinking we will be lucky to make our money back on.

 

Doesnt matter who manages the 1st team this area needs to be better.

[Blue Moon 1,289]

14 minutes ago, JohnMc said:

The jury is always out, that's the nature of football management, particularly if you're the Rangers manager. You're only a run of bad results away from criticism and questions, they know this when they take the job. 

 

GvB inherited a squad that had hit some wonderful heights last season but was stuttering this season. Our recruitment in the summer hasn't really strengthened us. Sakala reminds me of Lovenkrands, great when he's got space to run into, but he won't contribute a lot against 10 men defences sitting deep. Lundstrom has looked better recently but has taken 6 months to find his form and position. Scott Wright is a bit part player at best and Jack Simpson doesn't seem to have won the confidence of Gerrard or GvB, I expect he'll be back in The Championship in the summer. The least said about the signing of Ofoborh the better. Added to Goldson, Arfield, Balogun, Davis and McGregor all in the final months of their contracts, all senior pros at the club and I expect the guys who 'run' the dressing room and you could see a less that ideal atmosphere to inherit.

 

In January our squad was weakened. Patterson, despite not making any impact at Everton, was an exceptional talent. Ramsay is clearly struggling with injury and is using us as an attempt to get fit, Dialo is a young player who has tricks but little heart or desire from what i've seen. The young Polish lad might prove an astute buy, time will tell. Add that to Aribo having to go to Africa and come back half the player who left.

 

None of this is GvB's doing. 

 

GvB got our tactics so wrong against Celtic it's still painful to speak about it. But he got them so right against Prague and Dortmund. The lack of rotation and subs in recent games has puzzled. I feel that's connected to fitness or illness, I mean it's not like the Dutch don't understand how subs work. I can't help but feel there's more to this than we know. Likewise not starting Balogun, I assume he's not fit enough for two games a week and the management team thought we'd be able to beat St Johnstone without him but not Red Star. I'm guessing, but nothing else makes sense to me. 

 

Some players have improved under GvB, some have done the opposite. Barasic looks like a shadow of himself, Kamara has lost his spark, Roofe isn't trusted, McGregor is suddenly a weakness. Yet Morelos looks reborn, Sakala started to show something and Bassey is now a first choice starter and Tav looks like he's risen to the challenge. 

 

Gerrard was always going to be a hard man to replace. Gerrard brought exciting, entertaining football back after a period of ineptitude and ridicule. His presence and charisma, his media savvy and his instinctive understanding of the club and the support were enormous assets for him and the club. Whoever we replaced him with was going to struggle to match that. GvB isn't charismatic, he's not got the profile of Gerrard despite a stellar playing career, he's a different type of manager as well. 

 

This league isn't won or lost yet. I've been bewildered by some of our performances and angered by some of our decisions recently. But, I still don't buy that our city rivals are the world beaters their support think they are, everything is still to play for, fine margins will tell in the end. I'm backing GvB. For now. 

Great post John.

[RANGERRAB 3,653]

2 hours ago, Rousseau said:

I don't subscribe to this. 

 

Are you referring to Lundstram and Sakala, specifically? I think they are good players, that have just taken a while to find their role. Lundstram in particular, I think, was signed to play a certain position but couldn't fulfill it; but now that he's found his DM role, he's been superb. Sakala is similar in the sense we're not quite getting the best out of a decent player.  

 

This squad is good. GvB should be able to get a tune out of them.

 

Basically, we should not need a rebuild every time a new manager comes in; that's unsustainable and goes against one of the main purposes of having a DoF.

 

 

The players I was referring to are the likes of Wright, Simpson, Offoboroh, etc

Lindstram has now settled but Sakala too inconsistent for me

[RANGERRAB 3,653]

3 hours ago, ian1964 said:

He needs to find a system to include both Morelos & Roofe

I presume that means 4-4-2 playing both up top

would he do that?

[Gonzo79 15,292]

Recruitment for the past couple of years hasn't been good enough.

 

I was recently advised that seven of the starting eleven in Dortmund started the match away at Ufa.  

 

You always want to bring in two or three first team starters each Summer.

 

 

 

[Sutton_blows_goats 5,329]

18 minutes ago, Gonzo79 said:

Recruitment for the past couple of years hasn't been good enough.

 

I was recently advised that seven of the starting eleven in Dortmund started the match away at Ufa.  

 

You always want to bring in two or three first team starters each Summer.

 

 

 

You have also got to take into account the previous management team took a few bargain bin rough diamonds and polished them up (Kamara, Aribo etc)

 

We still go into many games with a midfield that cost at most 50k.