match thread (image) [FT] Rangers 2 (Colak 40; Lawrence 70) - 2 PSV Eindhoven

[Malangsob 1,264]

6 hours ago, craig said:

So still questioning Davies despite already accepting that he was injured and unavailable ?

No, it's more about the fact that our defensive line is turning into a wounded warriors home. 

[buster. 5,185]

6 hours ago, craig said:

 We have the following central defenders :

 

Goldson

Davies

Souttar

Helander

King

 

Goldson played, Souttar, Helander and Davies were injured, and King too raw

 

Trying to squeeze value out of signings is all very well but recruiting an injury prone Souttar when we already had an injury prone Helander was always liable to lead to this type of situation.

 

That isn't recactionary, I said it when Souttar signed.

 

Then to just make sure we made it doubly difficult for ourselves, we change to a zonal marking system as CL qualifiers come around.

[ian1964 10,721]

Just watched the whole match again.

Evenly matched teams, poor ref, we can go there and get the correct result, it won't be easy but it is not to be feared and is achievable

[gisabeer 409]

1 hour ago, ian1964 said:

Just watched the whole match again.

Evenly matched teams, poor ref, we can go there and get the correct result, it won't be easy but it is not to be feared and is achievable

Ref let psv away with murder I'n the first half, especially when we started to come into the game.  He could have and should have booked at least 2.   

[Sutton_blows_goats 5,331]

17 hours ago, craig said:

What on earth do you want them to do ?  

 

We have the following central defenders :

 

Goldson

Davies

Souttar

Helander

King

 

Goldson played, Souttar, Helander and Davies were injured, and King too raw

 

We have 5 defenders for two positions.  What do you want the management to do ?  Go out and buy ANOTHER defender and have 6 players for 2 positions ?  IN case you havent been paying attention, we don't have an endless supply of finance to go out and do that just for the sake of it.  Davies and Souttar are short-term injuries too.....

Sands is a CB. I'm not having this Sands in CM nonsense. 

[stewarty 2,025]

11 hours ago, buster. said:

Trying to squeeze value out of signings is all very well but recruiting an injury prone Souttar when we already had an injury prone Helander was always liable to lead to this type of situation.

 

That isn't recactionary, I said it when Souttar signed.

 

Then to just make sure we made it doubly difficult for ourselves, we change to a zonal marking system as CL qualifiers come around.

I think everyone thought the same thing about Souttar in terms of his injury record, but on a free, on balance, I think he's a decent signing.  On top of that, as you rightly point out, Helander is also similarly out regularly and we struggle to get consecutive games out of him consistently.

 

Which is why I thought the comments from Super about Balogun were odd.  We similarly had to manage his fitness and he also struggles to string together games.  I'd much rather give King minutes when the need arises, and that seems to be Gio's view too.  

 

 

[Sutton_blows_goats 5,331]

3 minutes ago, stewarty said:

Which is why I thought the comments from Super about Balogun were odd.  We similarly had to manage his fitness and he also struggles to string together games.  I'd much rather give King minutes when the need arises, and that seems to be Gio's view too.

Agree with this and have said similar. Cant understand the clamour for Balogun. Also lots of talk about having a need for a left footed CB to play on the left side - but we had Balogun play there and he is right sided.

[buster. 5,185]

1 hour ago, stewarty said:

I think everyone thought the same thing about Souttar in terms of his injury record, but on a free, on balance, I think he's a decent signing.  On top of that, as you rightly point out, Helander is also similarly out regularly and we struggle to get consecutive games out of him consistently.

 

Which is why I thought the comments from Super about Balogun were odd.  We similarly had to manage his fitness and he also struggles to string together games.  I'd much rather give King minutes when the need arises, and that seems to be Gio's view too.  

 

 

On its own, the Souttar signing looks fine. Add it to the now worse situation of Helander and IMO, it is too much of a risk. We can't depend on the indestructibility of Goldson.

 

 

Up front, we signed Roofe knowing of his injury history but got a good player for a relatively small fee.

 

Always a risk but we had Morelos, who like Goldson, never got injured, until he did. 

At this point you have to ask the injury prone player (Roofe) for more minutes. What happens next is predictable, injury for Roofe and no decent forward option for business end of season.

 

 

 

 

[Tannochsidebear 2,406]

Havent had a chance to comment on the game yet, but I thought the first half was one of the bests halves of football I have witnessed for a long time. Both teas playing at a pace and intensity you just dont see very often, with skillful players on show on both sides. Really enjoyed it apart from being so nervous and us conceding a really poor goal, thought we deserved to be in front at HT. Second half our legs went after the first half exertions, and Gio, who got it spot on tactically (zonal defence apart) which RVN admitted, couldnt change when we saw PSV changed their approach in the 2nd half, and as a consequence PSV were certainly the better side in the 2nd half. Our subs were not right, we needed legs and we bring on Kamara to stroll around, when it should have been Arfield and Alfie should certainly have had the last 10 mins or so as Colak tired after a great shift. Anyone else want to see them together, I think the two styles would lead to tons of goals?

 

Ok, the elephant in the room continues to be Goldson. Both goals are his fault, no doubt about it. The first goal he actually ducks down, a feeble header right into the danger zone then turns away on the net-bound shot. This despite him not having a man to mark (awful zonal system to blame for that). The second he gets outjumped by a midfielder. H simply MUST win those headers, or do enough to ensure it is not a goal-bound effort. I will say that i agree this system dictates that others must be blocking off these runs to add some protection, and they failed also, but he is our main centre half and is positioned accordingly at the most dangerous zone and it is his job to ensure that if the ball comes into his zone, he wins it. He failed. Again. Sick of it but he aint going anywhere or ever getting injured or dropped so I am left with hoping he can improve, and that his mistakes go unpunished. 

 

[ian1964 10,721]