Match Thread [FT] Rangers 1 (Dessers 6') - 0 Hearts

[CammyF 8,017]

37 minutes ago, Gonzo79 said:

Nothing remotely funny about those two players whatsoever.  Even years down the line, I doubt I'll be able to look back and laugh about their time here.  

Oh you've misunderstood again, I wasn't laughing at Lawrence and Dessers.

[compo 7,012]

It’s about time we gave some of these youngsters a run out see if they can do the job of being a Rangers player you never know we may unearth a couple of Bobby dazzlers ,GIVE THE LADS  RUN IN THE TEAM .

[CammyF 8,017]

We draw 2-2 with Motherwell yesterday in a bounce game with Curtis and Propper scoring. 

 

For those who'll instantly jump in and say this is evidence that Curtis should get an opportunity in the 1st team, it's worth noting that PC has given competitive minutes to 1 player under 20 since he took over. 

 

Thats less than any of our previous 3 managers.

[compo 7,012]

1 minute ago, CammyF said:

We draw 2-2 with Motherwell yesterday in a bounce game with Curtis and Propper scoring. 

 

For those who'll instantly jump in and say this is evidence that Curtis should get an opportunity in the 1st team, it's worth noting that PC has given competitive minutes to 1 player under 20 since he took over. 

 

Thats less than any of our previous 3 managers.

Honestly I think he’ll be back in Belgium for Christmas 

[JohnMc 2,735]

6 hours ago, CammyF said:

Currently that's correct but we've had Igamane, Ridvan, Propper, Danilo, Sterling Diomande (IIRC) all unavailable this season. It's a continuing trend. 

 

There has been a large turnover but we are still relying on "the old guard" far to heavily. 

 

That means either Clement doesn't rate his signing, they were the wrong signings, they are injured, they are not ready or a combination of all off the above. 

 

However, the discussion on player turnover, starting 11s etc can't mask how poor we are at (attempting) to play football. That's down to coaching.

Players will pick up injuries, particularly with the amount of games we play, we can't expect no injuries. My point is that our injury situation this season is on a par with Celtic's, arguably it's been slightly better. That's an improvement on the last couple of seasons. It's only November, we'll need to see what the winter brings, but in my opinion the injury situation is a bit better, so far, this season. 

 

Domestic football has been poor recently, there's no denying that. 

 

Of the signings made during Clement's time only Igamane, Kelly and Nsiala aren't regular starters. Kelly was always signed as a back up to Butland, no one expects him to start, do they? I don't think anyone has seen Nsiala before or since he joined us, I guess he was a gamble, no idea if it will pay off. Igamane, so far, looks like a poor signing. He's only been at the club for a few months, so far too early to write him off, but he's got a way to go before he's ready. 

Those 3 apart, Diomande, Barron, Jefte, Bajrami, Cerny and Propper are regular starters, most are first choices. Cortes, when he's fit, usually started too. Kasanwirjo is featuring regularly now too. For that reason I think your 'old guard' comment is unfair, we literally don't have any other players to choose, we have to play some of the players who were at the club before Clement. You can complain about the lack of signings, but you can't criticise the manager for not choosing players that don't exist. 

Edited Wednesday at 20:57 by JohnMc

[CammyF 8,017]

2 minutes ago, JohnMc said:

Players will pick up injuries, particularly with the amount of games we play, we can't expect no injuries. My point is that our injury situation this season is on a par with Celtic's, arguably it's been slightly better. That's an improvement on the last couple of seasons. It's only November, we'll need to see what the winter brings, but in my opinion the injury situation is a bit better, so far, this season. 

 

Domestic football has been poor recently, there's no denying that. 

 

Of the signings made during Clement's time only Igamane, Kelly and Nsiala aren't regular starters. Kelly was always signed as a back up to Butland, no one expects him to start, do they? I don't think anyone has seen Nsiala before or since he joined us, I guess he was a gamble, no idea if it will pay off. Igamane, so far, looks like a poor signing. He's only been at the club for a few months, so far too early to write him off, but he's got a way to go before he's ready. 

Those 3 apart, Diomande, Barron, Jefte, Bajrami, Cerny and Propper are regular starters, most are first choices. Cortes, when he's fit, usually started too. Kasanwirjo is featuring regularly now too. For that reason I don't think your 'old guard' comment is unfair, we literally don't have any other players to choose, we have to play some of the players who were at the club before Clement. You can complain about the lack of signings, but you can't criticise the manager for not choosing players that don't exist. 

In my opinion, Kelly was signed to replace Butland but for some reason, we didn't receive the bids we thought were incoming. 

 

Cortes is still unkown, he's hardly featured due to injury so the jury is still out. 

 

Jefte only featured as Ridvan was injured, otherwise Ridvan was our starting left back (in fact the experts in our support had Jefte written off in pre-season). 

 

I can't agree with Diomamde, he hasn't cemented a starring place, he's only playing as our number 10 is playing wide left and our other number 10 is injured. 

 

As you say, we are only in November but we've not seen Ridvan, Danilo, Cortes or Matondo who would all be starters (Clement started Danilo over Dessers).

 

Kasanwirjo is starting to feature but isn't a regular starter. He looks far more comfortable at CB than he does at RB. 

 

I think Clement has signed 11 players, that's an entire team so you can't say there is a "lack of players". 

[CammyF 8,017]

17 minutes ago, compo said:

Honestly I think he’ll be back in Belgium for Christmas 

He should be, but he won't. 

 

With no structure in place to scout / identify his replacement it's pointless sacking him.

 

Also, far too many have bought into this "rebuild" nonsense as an excuse for poor football, poor fitness, being 3rd in a 2 horse race and that it'll take time to challenge domestically. 

 

As I said previously, we're getting exactly what we deserve as we are accepting and excusing mediocrity right through the club. 

 

[Gonzo79 15,279]

1 hour ago, CammyF said:

Oh you've misunderstood again, I wasn't laughing at Lawrence and Dessers.

Clearly, as you're too busy sticking up for them.  🤣

[CammyF 8,017]

10 minutes ago, Gonzo79 said:

Clearly, as you're too busy sticking up for them.  🤣

Nope, you've misunderstood again.... 

[JohnMc 2,735]

11 hours ago, CammyF said:

In my opinion, Kelly was signed to replace Butland but for some reason, we didn't receive the bids we thought were incoming. 

 

Cortes is still unkown, he's hardly featured due to injury so the jury is still out. 

 

Jefte only featured as Ridvan was injured, otherwise Ridvan was our starting left back (in fact the experts in our support had Jefte written off in pre-season). 

 

I can't agree with Diomamde, he hasn't cemented a starring place, he's only playing as our number 10 is playing wide left and our other number 10 is injured. 

 

As you say, we are only in November but we've not seen Ridvan, Danilo, Cortes or Matondo who would all be starters (Clement started Danilo over Dessers).

 

Kasanwirjo is starting to feature but isn't a regular starter. He looks far more comfortable at CB than he does at RB. 

 

I think Clement has signed 11 players, that's an entire team so you can't say there is a "lack of players". 

If everyone was fit and available I don't think Matondo starts, I think Cortes and Cerny are wide and Bajrami goes to 10. Guessing Clement's ideal team is a bit difficult as he's prone to changes that don't always make sense to me. But I think you could guess at Butland, Tav, Souttar, Propper and Jefte, Raskin and Barron, Cortes, Bajrami, Danilo and Cerny as the most likely side. Currently Tav might find his place under threat, Balogun might start depending on who we're playing, Dessers might be number 9 and not Danilo. The point is though you're still looking at at least 5 'new' signings in the starting line up. I really don't think that's relying on the old guard, that's using the resources at your disposal. Dessers is far from good enough in my opinion, but he's currently the best forward at the club so what can we do. Danilo might turn out to be better, in flashes he's looked decent, but none of us know yet. 

 

I get the criticism of our domestic performances of late, we're not entertaining and we're not clinical. I don't think the answer is to change the manager though. I think Clement is a good manager, he's proved that elsewhere. Changing manager every autumn is not the answer to our issues, sure there might be a bounce, the last 3 managers have enjoyed that, but ultimately all ran into the same issues. Someone has to be given time to solve them. There are systemic problems behind the scenes at the club. Until we've key positions filled and everyone is pulling in the same direction it's impossible to judge to how good a job our manager is actually doing. Clement made a telling comment after a match a few weeks ago when he was asked about someone who had picked up a knock, I paraphrase but he said something like 'thankfully that's one of the few jobs I'm not being asked to do, our medical staff will will assess him...'. The inference was I was brought in to do a specific job but that's not how it's turned out. It might simply be excuses or frustrations, or I might be reading way to much into it, but judging anyone's ability while the club is so chaotic behind the scenes is unfair I feel.