I know I write this all the time but I really mean it this time: there will not be a full report on this absolutely disgraceful performance by Rangers. This defeat, knocking us out of our best chance of silverware, could be the beginning of the end. McCoist picked the best team available to him – and it was shown up by a side that has even less money than us but seemed to have players who can pass the ball better, move better, were faster, fitter, better organised and more hard-working. Surely Gers fans should expect the last 3 qualities from any Rangers team, no matter what the current situation of the club is? It was all watched by the smallest crowd at Ibrox in ages. The Gers fans who stayed away, unlike me, were probably the lucky ones although I suspect the biased Beeb’s commentators were at their gloating best, making it even more agonising than it was for us who were actually there, suffering.
I’m not talking here in hindsight, but it was obvious to every man and his dug from the kick-off, even before the first goal, that Utd were going to win this one. They started on the front foot, having a go at us while pressing the ball every time we had possession. Just before their opener, McGregor had had to pull off a good save and then we allowed them to fire in 3 consecutive dangerous crosses without closing down the guy delivering them. The third one was bulleted into the net from close range. Where was Goian? Where was McGregor? It was no shock to the Bears, just what the visitors had deserved from their confident play.
Thereafter we huffed and puffed but only created a few dangerous moments in that first half, mostly between the 2 Utd goals. Their keeper had 2 decent saves, from Aluko and Offside Healy but that was it. The killer second goal came from our right where newcomer Celik allowed the opponent to do a 1-2 and get away from him, instead of being alert for the obvious return pass. He ended up trailing the guy by 2 yards and let him run into the danger area. Summed up this guy’s match – or half match!
When we went in 0-2 down at half-time, I suspect most Bears knew that the game was a bogey, considering the way we had been playing. In fact, most might have suspected that Utd would add to their tally. It didn’t happen because while we certainly had more of the possession in the second half that was only because Utd had decided to play it safe and not do anything stupid to let us back into the game. I don’t remember us creating a proper chance.
When Celtic drew earlier in the season at Kilmarnock, they were 3 down with 25 minutes left. Here Gers never even looked like pulling a solitary goal back at any time in that second half. That sums it up! At least McCoist took off the execrable Celik and put on Kerkar at the interval. He was at least a bit better – but I could have played better than the Swede.
Gers had more possession but less threat than in the first 45. Disgraceful. No heart, no energy, no pace, no determination, no never-say-die attitude – it was a shambles. Utd will never have a more comfortable victory at Ibrox than this one.
Most of the Gers players should be ashamed of themselves as they got even worse the longer the game went on. I’d exempt only these guys from my criticism: Bocanegra, Davis, Edu and Aluko. Bocanegra was easily our best defender, playing in his usual fashion but was under pressure by the fact that Bartley was pathetic at right back with Wallace only slightly less pathetic on the other flank. Over a million quid for this guy who has no ball control, no pace, no positional sense! It sums up our summer dealings in the transfer market. Goian was also erratic leaving Bocanegra to try and hold the defence together himself. Even McGregor looked unsure and dodgy at times. While I’m at it, Bartley should NEVER again be played as a right-back. This guy is a liability. He’s too slow and cumbersome for the flank and in this game with 30 minutes left he lost the plot, fouling opponents, getting into a vendetta, mouthing off and eventually getting booked. What’s going on with our coaches? We just “sold” a promising young right-back, McMillan, to Dunfermline while our other two (Whittaker and Broadfoot) are out injured? As for Bartley, he couldn’t even cope with bread and butter centre-half balls, being out-jumped or missing headers. As for his distribution....I can’t even see this guy making it as a central defender at Ibrox, let alone at Arsenal. Hello the Championship for him next season, in my opinion.
In midfield Davis tried to be a captain and lead by example, working hard and showing some decent skill at times but it was all unproductive in the end. Edu played well, working hard and showing some nice touches although his play deteriorated as the game wore on and the errors started to come into his display. Aluko, as usual, was our biggest threat and most creative player. He worked hard, tried to take on opponents, showed great ball control and skill but was outnumbered, having nobody to pay the ball into. I felt sorry for the guy. As for the rest of the bunch........
Papac as a midfielder? Do us a favour, Ally! He was absolutely useless. We had 2 left-backs on that side of the park but at one point in the first half the Utd player ran up that wing towards goal with NEITHER of them to be seen! As for playing left-footed Celik on the right, a la Wylde.....what is it with our “coaches”? Why are we playing guys out of position? The Swede had a real humdinger of a stinker. No wonder he only lasted 45 minutes. As I said last week he looked promising with some nice touches against Hibs BUT we were 3 up when he came on in that game. He didn’t look to have the heart, pace or skill in this debacle. As for tackling....do they not tackle in Swedish football, judging by his and Bedoya’s displays. No wonder he was the only player to sign for us in the window! As for Offside Healy – another non-event! Big donkey, Kenneth must have thought all his Christmases had come at once: we started the season with 4 strikers in Jelavic, Lafferty, Naismith and Healy but by the end of this game NONE of them were on the park! We were playing Little and Kerkar (a left midfielder) up front! And Ally’s telling the papers that Sandaza isn’t good enough for this Rangers team!!!! Wylde came on with 20 minutes to go and made not a jot of a difference. Here’s another young player who has regressed in the past year. Murray Park? It’s a joke!
REF WATCH: All I will say about Willie Collum to sum up his display and attitude towards Rangers is: He can walk in to teach his RE class at St whatsis school on Monday with his head held high.
I have always been a supporter of Ally McCoist and nothing he can do as a manager will taint his legendary status as a player who became a hero. However, I’m starting to think that, no matter the outcome of our financial woes this season, maybe it would be better to have a clear out of the entire coaching staff at Murray Park at the end of the season. The present mob is just continuing in the Walter Smith vein. We need totally new direction and methods. I’m fed up watching practically every wee diddy team coming to Ibrox and passing the ball better, moving better and being better organised, able to close us down quickly and press the ball –something we don’t seem to be ordered to do. As for evidence of set pieces being planned.....We can’t even take a dangerous corner that might lead to a goal. Never mind the need for a new manager, let’s get the managers of St Mirren, St Johnstone, Killie or Motherwell in as COACHES, working under a mastermind of a manager. Without PROPER coaching taking place we are going nowhere.
28th JAN RANGERS 4 – 0 HIBS
As I said in my report in the Aberdeen game “it’s a funny old game”. Last week we dropped 2 points but in this Hibs game we played only slightly better, looked in more danger of losing goals, had Jelavic missing, made around the same number of chances BUT picked up our biggest home win of the season. How right Jimmy Greaves was!
Ally, unbelievably to me, left out new signing Celik despite us being down to the bare bones in attackers. The guy’s been training with us for nearly 2 weeks so surely he was fit enough to start against the team second bottom of the league? Even worse, the manager persevered with this ridiculous Wallace / Papac combination on our left, each interchanging to become the midfielder that NEITHER is. That’s where Celik should be playing. Even worse than worse, he played wan-fit Wylde on the RIGHT of midfield. This left-footed guy had a miserable substitute appearance last week so I couldn’t understand the logic of this selection. If Bedoya, Ortiz or McKay can’t get a game there in this situation then it simply stresses how bad these duds must be! Wylde didn’t disappoint – in the sense that he was even more awful than he had been against the Dons. You know how bad a young player must be playing when the Bears are starting to growl with increasing annoyance as the player makes mistake after mistake. Fans are usually more tolerant of young guys but the crowd was starting to get to the booing stage with Wylde on Saturday. I blame the manager. He shouldn’t be playing an off-form player out of position in the first place.
With a front pairing of David Offside Healy and Aluko most fans were worrying about where our goals were going to come from. Irony or what? Thankfully, and fatefully as it turned out, Hibs were minus their top 2 strikers in O’Connor and Griffiths. If either of these guys had played we would almost certainly have gone behind before we took the lead. Hibs may not have had a great defence but their attacking moves were far more dangerous than those of Aberdeen last week who had 2 shots at goal in the entire game and left with a point.
Rangers started in our usual vein, trying to get an early goal but perhaps with a bit more energy and pace than our start against the Dons. Hibs though looked threatening in breaks, especially up either flank. Bartley is not a right-back so we really don’t want to see him isolated against a speed merchant like Ivan Sproul – and that happened all too often. On the other side, it wasn’t much better with Papac and Wallace being beaten all too easily. On at least 3 occasions a Hibs break could have ended with a goal. Similar runs up our right saw low crosses put into the box that on another day might have been turned into the goal. Twice only a great tackle or block from Bartley prevented a cert goal. The nearest Hibs came was when Soares put Doyle through in the box but the striker didn’t shoot first time which allowed Bartley to slide in and block his effort. Great defending but too close for comfort.
Ironically, it was from one of these dangerous situations that Rangers broke away to score the opening goal. A great run by Sproul up the wing ended with a low cross into our 6 yard box where Doyle was waiting for a tap in. Thankfully, Walace stopped the ball with his foot and hit it off Bocanegra before it bounced away for McGregor to dive on and collect. For once, our keeper showed some quick-thinking and threw the ball out to Edu who immediately passed forward, up the middle to Aluko. Just inside the Hibs’ half, he stroked a perfect pass through the high line of the Hibs defence to allow Davis to burst through and race towards goal. With only the keeper to beat the Irishman made a great job of his finish by sliding the ball coolly home. In a flash, we’d gone from nearly going behind to scoring the all-important opener!
Apart from that, our only efforts on goal in that half had been an Edu 20 yarder that whizzed a couple of feet past the right-hand post and an Aluko effort that went straight at the keeper.
Near the start of the second half Sproul was released up the left, just inside our half, and bore in on goal with Edu and Bocanegra chasing in vain. He slid a brilliant ball across our 6 yard line but Soares didn’t slide in ahead of Wallace to turn it into the goal. Another close shave!
The second goal came about when a ball was lofted straight up the middle by Papac for Healy to chase. Under pressure from Healy, O’Hanlon tried to head it back to his keeper but was too short so the keeper ran out of his area, just, to reach it before Healy but obviously he couldn’t handle so he headed it – against his own defender and the ball bounced off him, landing fortuitously at the feet of Healy who merely had to sweep the ball into the net from just inside the box as the 2 defenders looked on. Comic cuts indeed!
The third was the result of a second booking and thus red card for Hibs’ new boy McPeake. He impeded Edu as he looked to burst through the centre of the defence for a shot at goal. After heading the ball forward to chase, Edu was brought down and after the ritual red card ceremony Aluko stepped up to crack a wonderful 30 yarder into the top right hand corner of the goal. What an effort! Just prior to this Gers had a great penalty claim denied when McPake had practically dived like a keeper to block a Healy shot from the penalty spot. The Beeb’s highlights, naturally, didn’t give us a replay or a different angle or a discussion of the incident! Right after that Edu had a 20 yard shot deflected on to the left hand post.
The 4th , in injury time, came from Davis again. This double must surely increase his confidence although it has to be said, he has been playing much better in recent weeks. A chipped ball from Bocanegra from just inside the opposition half was brilliantly brought down by Davis, on the edge of the 18 yard line. While bringing it under control with one touch from his right foot, he also turned, moved it on with his left and opened up the goal for himself before sending his low, right foot shot into the far corner giving the keeper no chance.
REF WATCH: It’s ages since I’ve seen Charlie Richmond. I think it’s because he had been demoted due to substandard performances. He’s an experienced ref who presumably hasn’t had to be rehabilitated at the Lawwell School of R efereeing. He was alright in this one, booking players when justified. His yellow for Goian was correct as the Romanian had committed a foul but disagreed in too violent a manner for the ref’s liking and got a yellow for dissent. Silly booking that could have cost us if he had committed another yellow offence later. The manager ought to have a word with the player. We had one penalty claim denied but so did Hibs when Doyle went over as if pushed as the ball ran out for a bye kick. Creep Thomson or Brines would have jumped at the chance to give a penalty against us in those circumstances.
So this was a vital win and, for once, an enjoyable experience for the Bears. No biting our nails for the final 15 minutes in this one. We are definitely playing better than at the end of last year so last week’s blip is all the more annoying. McGregor didn’t really have to make a save thanks to last ditch tackling or wayward shooting from the Hibs players. Bartley made a couple of vital tackles in the first half but was too easily beaten by Sproul in the second half especially. Bocanegra was one of our best players. His reading of the game, anticipation and timing are brilliant. Goian seems to be recovering his form although not back yet to early season levels. Papac was better than last week – but that wouldn’t be difficult! Wallace was much the same. In midfield, I thought Edu was our best player, running all over the park, showing great energy and tackling well. He was unlucky not to score again. Davis continues to re-discover his form and hopefully will soon be back to his best. His 2 goals must help that but he also played quite well, apart from that.
Up front, Healy scored but on the whole was useless. He strays offside far too often for an experienced striker and at times his touch is woeful, unable to lay the ball off to keep an attack going. Aluko was Man of the Match and deservedly so. He ran at defenders, showed tremendous skill, deft touches, exciting twists and turns and got past defenders when it looked impossible. He thoroughly deserved his goal but, before that, almost scored what would have been one of the best individual goals I’ve seen at Ibrox in ages. Yes, that’s how good it was! He beat 3 defenders a la Davie Cooper but unfortunately fired his shot wide of the far post. Throughout the game, I can’t remember the last time I saw such dribbling skills from a Gers player. You might have to go back to the days of Laudrup and Gazza. Another bonus was the appearance of newcomer Celik. He looked the part. He was eager, hard-working and seemed to have similar skill levels as Aluko. One run he made up the left was brilliant and as he neared the danger area he picked out a fantastic pass to Aluko, unmarked, on the far side, threading the ball through a ruck of defenders. Let’s hope it’s not a false dawn because we need an attacker capable of doing on the left what Aluko can do on the other side.
Next up, Dundee Utd at Ibrox in the Cup. If Jelavic has gone by then maybe we’ll have another striker in his place but I wouldn’t bet on it. Regardless, we should be able to dispose of Utd BUT I don’t want Wylde anywhere near the team and I want either Papac or Wallace playing but not BOTH! Surely Celik must start and, hopefully with Aluko, he’ll provide the sort of ammunition that even Healy can’t mess up.
21st JAN RANGERS 1 – 1 ABERDEEN
This turned out to be yet another poor result at Ibrox, dropping 2 points for a ridiculous and unacceptable 4th time this season. However, unlike the previous draws against Hearts, St Mirren and St Johnstone this one was unfortunate in that it was daylight robbery. When I’m driving home after any match which we’ve failed to win various clichés go through the mind. “It’s only a game” – that’s when we’ve been outplayed, or played badly, and lost. “It was just a bad day at the office” – that’s when we didn’t play well and nothing went right. “ It was one of those games” – that’s when very little goes for you despite playing quite well - and then the one that applies to this Dons game “It’s a funny old game” – when you leave feeling robbed, knowing that the opposition didn’t deserve to take away anything from the match.
Ally only made one change from the side that won at Perth, recalling McGregor to replace Alexander. I think our keeper only ended up having to make one save in the entire match. The most worrying things before kick-off were the lack of alternatives on a bench containing such duds as Ortiz and Bedoya – and the ref, Brines, 2nd only to Creep Thomson when it comes to refs we really don’t want officiating at our games.
From the start Gers played quite well, passing the ball around competently enough. It was obvious from the beginning that Aberdeen’s players were big, strong, fit and well-organised by Brown and Knox. The trouble was that we were passing the ball around probably too much and too slowly especially across the half-way line when we were bringing the ball out of defence. This allowed the entire Dons team to get behind the ball, camped in their own half, forcing us to try and play our way through the whole team. Our only hope was up the wings.
We were getting no joy up our left but looked much more threatening when we managed to get Aluko into the game and attacked up the right flank. The wee man was taking on the defenders at every opportunity and, for the most part, leaving them in his wake - when he wasn’t being fouled that is. He looked as if he could be the match-winner. He was being ably abetted by Edu, doing a power of work in midfield, harassing the opposition, and Davis who continued with his improving form – although still not back to “normal”. Unfortunately, on our left Wallace was absolutely rubbish, back to headless chicken style while Papac, unusually, behind him was having a nightmare, any time the Dons made progress up that wing. Up front, Jelavic, as if thinking it might be his last game at Ibrox, was busting a gut even when the opposition had the ball whereas Healy was deplorable, giving the ball away and not really involved otherwise. If we are relying on him to score goals once Jelavic goes then we really are in trouble.
By half-time, we realised that this was going to be a tough game. Still, even against a resolute and tough-tackling Dons side we should have gone in at the interval at least 2 goals to the good. In contrast, all the visitors had done in an attacking sense was a few moves that petered out apart from 2 attacks that ended with very dangerous low balls fired across our 6 yard box – with no takers thankfully. I don’t even remember them having a shot AT goal, let alone on target. The nearest they came was when, from a corner, an Arnason header flashed over the bar. Meanwhile a couple of great Aluko runs from the right, into the box, ended with a cut back that, once was smothered by their keeper before it could be tapped home and in another scrambled away by a mixture of defenders and keeper. This was to occur a lot. In one decent move a neat Jelavic touch put Healy through on the right of the box. He should have cut it across the face of the goal but Healy selfishly elected to shoot and it was blasted wide of the near post. After this a free kick from Aluko was headed on in the box by Bocanegra then headed goal-wards by Jelavic but the keeper Brown got his hand to it and deflected it on to the bar and away. Next, Healy did his only decent move of the game when he swivelled and got his shot away only to see the keeper dive to his left and palm it away just as Davis was a foot away from tapping it into the net.
In another good move up the middle, Healy passed to Edu who sent it left inside the box to Wallace but his first-time shot zipped inches past the far post. That was just about his only positive contribution in the match. Then, Davis combined with Edu but the American’s shot, from just inside the box, must have gone inches past the right hand post. That would have been a great goal. Unlucky Edu!
In the second half, it was more of the same. Aluko continued to sparkle up the right, sending some dangerous balls into the box. In one brilliant move Aluko put Davis through inside the box and his low cross whizzed across the 6 yard line with various players trying to get on the end of it. Jelavic, sliding in, was so unlucky not to get his boot on it and divert it home.
Gers kept up the pressure on the visitors’ goal and it seemed only a matter of time before a goal arrived. However, it IS a funny old game and when it did, unbelievably, it was the Dons who scored! Initial blame must go to Healy who lost possession far too easily near the halfway line. Even worse, he didn’t try to retrieve the situation by chasing back. He simply gave up the ghost. Then Davis almost jumped out of a tackle that allowed Clark to motor forward. As Clark raced forward the next error came from Bartley who tackled half-heartedly and let his opponent past him much too easily. As he got nearer the goal, he passed to his left for Arnason to collect the ball. Bartley once again was in front of this Don but he seemed to sidestep the defender and guide a clever low shot past Goian and the diving McGregor and just inside the right post. My initial reaction was that our keeper could have done better but maybe he was unsighted and the shot, after all, was a decent effort.
Thankfully, it only took Gers 4 minutes to equalise. A Papac punt into the box was headed out just to the edge of the area where Edu controlled it and moved forward before shooting. Luckily the ball hit off a defender and spun into the net – the only bit of luck we had in the entire match! Amazingly, after that, the Dons had their second shot of the game and almost scored from a 30 yarder from Arnason which McGregor had to dive and punch away as it looked to be going into his goal.
The best chance for Gers to win it came when Jelavic was sent clear inside the left side of the box. He was onside and raced to the bye-line before looking up and cutting the ball back perfectly into the path of the supporting Edu. From 8 yards out, he opened his body out to side-foot first time into the net, we all thought. Somehow the ball went inches past the right-hand post. That would have been one of our goals of the season.
Gers, with the Bears behind them, pressed for the winner, with the Dons hanging on. Then from a Davis corner on the left Jelavic rose in the crowded box sending his header towards the back post where Bartley, sliding in, was only a foot away from turning it into the net. Just one of those days! In injury time a ball was launched into the heart of the Dons’ box where Bartley headed it down and back to Aluko, just inside the area. His volley looked to be winning the game but the keeper got a strong hand to it and palmed it away. And that was that!
REF WATCH: Iain Brines confirmed what we all know about him. He’ll never give Rangers a break, any time, anywhere. He’s almost up there with Creep Thomson now. Another disgraceful display where he allowed Gers players to be fouled and had the Bears howling their outrage the more he did so. This guy didn’t need the Lawwell School of Refereeing to show him how to ref Gers’ games – he’s a natural. I sincerely hope McCoist and co always give him the report to his supervisor that he richly deserves.
So a terrible result despite a decent enough display. A break or two and the 3 points would have been ours. Making it even worse, Celtic won, undeservedly, against St Mirren. In this match Papac had a nightmare, as bad as I’ve seen him. Wallace wasn’t much better. Hopefully, with the signing of Celik ( supposedly a left winger) we’ll see the end of this nonsense where Ally has been playing 2 left-backs. Our best players were Edu, Aluko and Bocanegra. Bartley, as I’ve said before, shouldn’t be at right-back so let’s hope the Estonian guy, Jaager, is signed and plays there next week. Jelavic tried hard, had no luck but played as if he knew he was going and wanted to leave us on a high. Pity! Healy.....please, please, get him out and another striker signed, even on loan.
Next up it’s Hibs at Ibrox. The title hasn’t gone yet but we really need to keep winning and hope Celtic slip up at last. They can’t keep winning every week, can they? We have to win every league game until the next Old Firm match at Ibrox in March to keep a challenge going. Meanwhile the Cup is looking our best bet – if we can dispose of Dundee Utd in 2 weeks time.
14th JAN. ST JOHNSTONE 1 – 2 RANGERS
The most important change in the side was an enforced one with McGregor being injured and Alexander taking his place. Fleck dropped out to allow Davis back and we so looked to have the strongest side available to Ally. On the other hand, dud Ortiz was on the bench with fellow inhabitant from Dudland, Bedoya. The biggest negative though, pre-match, was the sight of Creep Thompson as ref. My fears proved correct – see ref watch and match report.
In the opening 10 minutes nothing much of note happened. Saints had more of the attacking play, mainly ending with punts into our box, especially from the left from Craig. Meanwhile, Gers were hardly getting up the other end. A couple of decent Wallace runs up the left got him into the box only for it to peter out as the ball ran over the bye-line but that was about it. On the whole, Gers were just far too pedestrian. Then, Bartley and Craig indulged in some handbags at high noon but the ref booked neither – although the Saints guy had deliberately tripped up Bartley as he was running away from him with the ball. Cert yellow but...ooops...Creep Thompson only gave the foul to Gers. Similar foul on Jelavic later ended also with no yellow!
Then, in the 13th minute, surprise, surprise, first booking goes to Goian, in midfield, sliding in SLOWLY to block the ball, the opponent got to it first and was JUST touched by Goian. Immediate yellow! Absolute disgrace! 3 minutes later a great Davis run up the middle saw him put Healy through on goal but his low shot from the 18 yard line went a foot past the right-hand post. Great chance wasted! After 20 minutes, the stats showed 50/50 possession.
Then in the 22nd minute Gers opened the scoring. Healy was fouled a yard inside the Saints’ half. Davis quickly took the free kick, a couple of yards from where the offence had been committed, but actually in the GERS’ half of the park, thus further away from the home side’s goal. Aluko strode up the middle and into the box. He skipped past a couple of defenders and shot for goal. His effort was slightly deflected by a defender but as it travelled goal-wards Jelavic, just onside, stretched out his boot and turned it into the net. Cue half an hour of ESPN “debate” about this “controversial” goal! See Bear Talk for more on that!
From then till half-time Rangers looked much more comfortable although Sandaza was the most dangerous home player, running at our defenders and dribbling past some of them far too easily at times. He was also putting himself about a lot and at times diving and trying to get our guys booked. Talk about putting himself in the shop window? Looked more like he was hoping to catch the eye of Loser Lenny!
In the 24th minute Goian had to go off for treatment after he rose for a cross and got the back of Davidson’s head right on the nose with the blood flowing freely. Don’t even remember if Creep Thompson gave a foul for that or not. Then in the 31st minute a really high boot from Anderson caught Jelavic on the head. He compounded his offence by shouting his dissent at the ref and then shouting and gesturing at Jelavic to “get up”. Didn’t make any difference as Creep Thompson STILL didn’t get the merited yellow out anyway. A minute later a free kick from Healy was deflected by the wall but went straight through to Enckleman. In the 36th minute another free kick from a similar position, this time, from Aluko, again went straight through to the keeper. A minute after that, we should have scored again. Aluko ran up the middle and into the box. Some great trickery and footwork inside the box saw him send a neat pass to his left to Jelavic. His shot unluckily was saved by the foot of the keeper and bounced away to safety.
In the 38th minute came the home’s side’s first shot on target when Craig hit a low, weak shot from 20 yards that Alexander gathered comfortably. In the 40th minute Jelavic had a claim for a penalty but ESPN didn’t even bother to replay it later so I don’t know how good a shout it had been. In the 41st minute a cross from Craig out on the left was met by Haber at the back post but thankfully his header went well past the far post. That should have been a warning to us because in the second half that’s exactly how the home side equalised, albeit somewhat fortuitously. A minute before half-time Edu did well to dispossess Morris in midfield to then almost put Jelavic through but his run was intercepted and ended.
So, at half-time I was reasonably pleased as we had taken control of the game and the home side wasn’t really causing us problems. Alexander, thankfully, was having next to nothing to deal with. Still, I expected a reaction from Saints and a nail-biting second half unless we could get that second goal. I should have expected no less when it comes to Gers away just now.
In the 49th minute we almost scored that second. Another great run up the middle by Aluko ended with him sending a lovely pass to his left for the supporting Davis, just outside the box. He controlled the ball, got into the box and should have shot but he dallied slightly. This allowed the defender to slide in and deflect the shot just past the post. Typical of this ref and his mates, incredibly, they awarded a bye-kick before changing their mind and giving the correct corner. From that, Goian headed and saw his effort headed off the Saints’ goal-line.
In the 52nd minute a great diagonal pass from deep by Goian found Jelavic inside the box. He brought the ball down well with his chest but his first-time low volley went well wide of the near post. In the 56th minute a bad foul on Healy by Robertson – and it looked quite vicious – didn’t get the deserved yellow. Then, a minute later, in midfield, Sandaza tried to get Goian sent off. He hit the ball past Goian, to his right, and then simply ran straight into the Romanian who was only a couple of feet away from him and totally motionless. How he was expected to get out of his way is anyone’s guess. Cue Burley telling us that it could have been a second yellow – aye, right!
By now Gers seemed in control with the home side not really threatening. Then shock! In the 66th minute a cross from Craig on the left touchline ended up at the back post. Haber jumped abpove Papac but his tame downward header was going to be easily collected by Alexander, only to see the ball hit off the chest of Bocanegra and trundle into the goal. Talk about bad luck! Even worse was to come when the replays showed that Haber had actually pushed Papac in the back before jumping for the cross. Of course, there was no way Creep Thompson would have seen that, nor his useless linesman on that very side. A minute later this same linesman allowed Sandaza, clearly off side, to collect a pass and run towards the Gers goal, send across a neat pass into the path of Robertson whose low shot from the 18 yard line whistled just past. What a blunder that would have been if it had ended in a goal. Still, we wouldn’t have heard much about it as it was only Gers the victim.
In the 72nd minute we saw another ridiculous Rangers booking when Edu saw yellow after merely bundling into Sandaza as the two men took a tumble. Absolutely shocking! In the 76th minute Gers should have scored again when a great Aluko run up the middle ended with him pass to his right to Healy, inside the box. His shot was decent but the keeper got his fingertips to it and diverted it to the back post. There Wallace should have headed into the net but the defender got his boot to it as it bounced up and cleared a split second earlier. Could Wallace have thrown his head at it? Probably!
On 80 minutes, Wallace came off for Kerkar and within a minute Gers had scored. An Aluko free kick from deep out on the right saw Davidson, in the crowded box, on the 6 yard line, head the ball towards his own goal. The keeper got a hand to it and deflected the ball on to the bar but as it bounced down Jelavic was first there to turn it into the net from 2 yards out. Great poaching! A minute later, Healy came off and dud Ortiz came on to have........ another forgettable 10 minutes in blue. In the 82nd minute it looked like another good shout for a penalty when Jelavic was brought down but Creep Thompson waved play on. Just after that a good Davis shot went low but just past the post.
The final action of note came in the 87th minute when Creep Thompson unbelievably booked Kerkar after he and his opponent, going for the same bouncing ball, banged into each other! This guy would never dare book a Celtic player for the “offences” that gained the 3 Gers players their yellows in this match. Absolute disgrace of a ref, not even pretending now to be “fair”!
3 minutes were added but thankfully Rangers saw those out with no mishaps. A good 3 points won - but the hard way.
REF WATCH: As the above report shows, hopefully, this creep had yet another one of those games which he gets away with continually. In victory, it’s about time that Gers management complained about his performance. I hope they’re doing it via the report they have to submit after the game. We keep letting him off lightly in terms of no criticism ( just remember last season’s League Cup Final for instance) It didn’t hurt us in this game but just wait till the next Old Firm one or other vital match! Meanwhile the Gers fans, especially at Ibrox, should give him the kind of reception that lets him know what we think of him.
So a good 3 points and with our next 3 matches all at Ibrox ( the 3rd being Dundee Utd in the Cup) then a trip to Dunfermline before Killie at home, surely we can build up a run of wins and get some momentum going again? In this game, most of our guys were at least competent. Alexander didn’t have a proper save to make and the defence was fine apart from Bartley who really looks out of place at right-back. That’ll cost us eventually. Maybe we should be hoping that we sign this Estonian right-back Jaager and get him in immediately. Aluko was the Man of the Match, quite rightly, as every time he got the ball, he ran at opponents and obviously had the beating of them with his dribbling. Edu was alright and Davis as the game wore on got better although he is still not back to his normal standard. Wallace started well but faded early. We really need an Aluko out there on the left, not a full back. Jelavic scored the goals so well done but Healy hardly figured. He was largely anonymous. All I can remember is his bad miss early on and his shot in the second half that had to be saved by the keeper. Not a great contribution when we’re toiling as a team!
Next up the Sheep at Ibrox followed by Hibs. Failure to win both would be a disaster for Ally.
8th JAN. ARBROATH 0 – 4 RANGERS
I’m not going to go into the nuts and bolts of this cup win. Suffice to say, it was a much more comfortable victory than most Bears would have dared to imagine prior to kick-off. Ally played his strongest possible side, persevering with Bartley at right-back in among the usual defence while putting Fleck in place of the suspended Davis. The recovered Jelavic was back beside Healy up front.
Thankfully, the match was over as a contest within 21 minutes. By then Gers had created a 2-0 lead and it was a matter of how many and how many guys might get injured as the home side got stuck in. They were allowed to do this courtesy of another disgraceful display from ref Callum Murray who allowed umpteen fouls on Gers players to go unpunished. As early as the first minute Falkingham, in midfield, slid into Bartley with his studs up. It was a similar tackle to the recent Lampard one that caused such controversy due to the lack of a red card for the Chelsea man. Murray didn’t give even a yellow. In fact he didn’t even speak to the offender. It was left to Bartley to tell the guy off with a smile and a few words that showed him he knew what he’d tried to do to him.
In the 2nd minute Healy should have got us off to the best possible start in such a venue when Jelavic headed the ball down to him inside the area. Healy met it just outside the 6 yard box and hit his effort wide. Sitter! Even worse was to come when a great Aluko run into the box saw a brilliant cut-back – the type that strikers dream about – put right on to the boot of Healy whose sclaffed effort was blocked easily. Absolute sitter! So, Gers should have been 2 up within 5 minutes and on easy street, Arbroath. We almost rued those Healy misses because before we did score the opener, the home side could have scored twice.
First a nothing pass up our left saw Bocanegra slip on the rainy surface allowing the Abroath guy to run in on goal but shoot hastily as Goian slid in on him. Thankfully, the low shot went past the far post although I think McGregor would have saved it had it been on target. After this a headed clearance out of our crowded box ended with the ball landing right in front of an Arbroath player whose volley, as the ball bounced up, glanced off Edu, closing him down, and went flying goal-wards. The alert McGregor leapt up and palmed the dipping ball over the bar. Apart from one more dangerous cross that was all that Arbroath “created” in the entire half.
The opening Gers goal was neat after a good piece of play between Edu and Jelavic who did a nice 1-2 through the middle, just outside the box. Edu’s final pass into the box, right into the path of Healy, was perfect. The striker had been played onside by the left-back and he slipped the ball coolly past the keeper. Third time lucky! He missed another great chance after that when he totally mis-hit his shot after being set up by Jelavic again. By the end of the game I reckon Healy could easily have had 4 goals.
The second goal again came from a Jelavic involvement. This time he combined with Aluko, reversing their normal roles. Jelavic, out on the right, collected the ball and passed into the centre to Aluko. He sent a brilliant, first-time return ball back to Jelavic that allowed him to race into the box on the right. Jelavic sent a great low ball across the 6 yard box where the defender Wedderburn, between Edu and Healy, had to stretch out a leg to prevent either from netting but he only succeeded in putting it into his own goal. Game over!
Gers should have had a penalty when Wallace was brought down racing into the box but the linesman had wrongly waved his flag for offside. Aluko, playing well, with the beating of his opponents, had two great runs that ended with shots that had to be saved well by the keeper. So by half-time, I reckoned that Gers should have scored 6 or 7.
As the second half started, everyone knew that the next goal would set the course for the rest of the game. Should the home side score it might create an anxiety among the visitors that could turn this into a traditional David and Goliath cup tie. It didn’t happen. In fact, Gers should have finished the opposition off within a minute of the re-start. A great move ended with a tremendous Jelavic cross from the right which Fleck, racing into the box, met with his head 6 yards out. Unfortunately, he must have a head like a threepenny bit because he sent his header the direction he’d been diving in and the ball went 3 yards wide of the right-hand post.
When the killer goal came it was the result, yet again, of neat interplay between Aluko and Jelavic. Inside the crowded box, Aluko kept possession well then sent a beautiful reverse pass between defenders for Jelavic to run on to and fire his low shot in off the left-hand post. Gers had other decent moves after this but they came to nothing and we probably got a bit too casual, knowing that we were into the next round. Later Bartley got injured in a tackle and looked ok after treatment but was wisely subbed by Ally, bringing on Jordan McMillan. The lesser-spotted Kerkar and Wylde also came on eventually for Wallace and Edu.
Indeed, Kerkar got his first goal for the club before time up. A decent move saw the ball moved from left out to the right for Healy. His sent in a cross that was of the lobbed variety and Kerkar, coming in off the left side, volleyed it with the side of his foot high into the net from 8 yards out. And that was that.
REF WATCH: Callum Murray is not only the number one pupil of the Lawwell School of Refereeing, he has now become a professor, teaching the other refs how best to shaft Rangers. Every time this guy officiates at one of our games he should be hounded by the Gers fans. As mentioned above, he should have booked that bad foul on Bartley in the first minute but didn’t then in the second half that same player, on the edge of his own box, caught Edu on the ankle with his studs. Another obvious booking – we didn’t even get a foul. To cap it all, in the 90th minute he booked Bocanegra for a tackle that wasn’t even a foul! As the guy chased the ball up the right, Bocanegra came across from the centre and sliding in got the ball, sending it away for a shy. I couldn’t believe it when Murray gave a foul but even worse when he booked the American. The replays clearly showed it had been a great tackle, in fact, a text book one in how to win the ball by sliding in. Even ex-Celt Andy Walker expressed his disbelief that the ref had given a foul, let alone booked the guy. A booking here was of no consequence but it could come back to haunt us in later rounds of the competition. For me, that summed up this ref. Starting with that infamous Old Firm cup tie last season, this particular ref has obviously decided to opt for an easy life in refereeing circles by giving Gers absolutely nothing in games. Watch out for him from now on.
So a comfortable win without most of our players setting the Angus heather on fire. The defence was alright but, one save apart, I can’t remember McGregor having anything to do. Edu wired in well and Wallace and Aluko did well up either wing. Aluko especially deserved praise for his efforts. Fleck had less influence than he had against Motherwell in his last match. Up front, despite his opening goal, Healy suggested that he won’t be the guy to score our goals if Jelavic goes and Lafferty is missing for a couple of months – far too profligate in front of goal. Jelavic still not up to scratch but scored a neat goal and could have had another couple I thought. Looked a bit more lively than of recent though.
We’ve got a tougher away day next week when we go to Perth. We’ll need to up our game for that one. Let’s hope we get a home draw when it is made on Monday. That would be a rarity. In the past 20 years or so we have hardly ever had a Scottish Cup game at home, unless it’s been a replay. The way things are going, we need a bit of luck right now.
2nd JAN. RANGERS 3 – 0 MOTHERWELL
As Jimmy Greaves once said “ It’s a funny old game!” As I drove to this game I was thinking that we had ended 2011 in a disastrous fashion but hoping that a new year would bring a new surge of confidence and enthusiasm from our players. So, you can imagine my feelings when I heard the team news that Jelavic wasn’t even in the squad. My first thought was “ Here we go. They’re keeping him safe from injury because they’re in the process of flogging him to some English club.” Then, later, it was revealed that he was “injured”. As if to give this more credence, we were told how he had had a fitness test ahead of the Old Firm match and that this was a continuation of the injury he was carrying in that game. To make matters worse, we heard that Healy was playing then, once the game had started, to make matters even worse, Lafferty was stretchered off within 5 minutes thanks to what looked like a hamstring injury. So 3 of our 4 strikers now injured! At this point, you’re probably wondering where the Jimmy Greaves’ quote is applicable. Well, funnily enough, this ended up being our best display for months probably and the first time we’ve scored 3 goals since the start of November!
The team selection was worrying in that, apart from the missing Jelavic, Broadfoot, covering for the injured Whittaker, was also out “forcing” Ally to play Bartley at right-back. He was like a fish out of water. Young McMillan should have been slotted in there rather than coming on as a sub late in the match. The Northern Ireland partnership of Lafferty and Healy got no opportunity to prove itself as Lafferty was injured very early on. So, Fleck was brought on and most Bears just couldn’t see how Gers were going to score at all, let alone 3 goals eventually!
At least we started the game at a good pace, showing plenty of energy and drive while actually passing the ball around quite well. Thankfully, the visitors didn’t cause us any problems near our goal. They passed it around well, as we would have expected, but it was all done in midfield with big hammer-thrower Higden up front on his own. Wallace on the left and Aluko opposite were our best players, driving at the ‘Well defence and creating danger. First, Aluko started off on a great run when he collected the ball on the right touchline, half way inside the ‘Well half, spun his opponent, darted forward beating 2 more defenders then slipped a neat pass into the 6 yard box to Healy whose effort was blocked by the diving keeper. Twice Wallace raced past the defender on the wing having been set up by nice passes and got in brilliant crosses that didn’t end in goals due to great defending. In one instance, Healy was on hand for an easy header into the net but Craigan got his head to it first. In another, the defender booted the low cross to safety when Healy should have been more alert and made his run to the near post ahead of the defender. On the other side, a couple of low Aluko crosses had to be cleared before a Gers player got on the end of them.
Then, just before we scored, Healy missed an absolute sitter. A great Papac cross from the left went right on to his head but the striker, unmarked, only 6 yards out in the centre of the goal-mouth, headed the ball awkwardly downwards only to see it bounce up and past the post. Thankfully, neither Healy nor the Bears had long to wait before the Irishman rectified his error. On our right, Bartley started the move by sending the ball up the wing. Fleck dummied it, allowing it to run forward for Edu to chase up the touchline. The American did well to shrug off a challenge that I thought was a foul. Then he drove into the box and slipped the ball into the 6 yard box at the near post. Healy, with his back to goal, took a touch and turned his marker before prodding the ball over the line. Now I started to believe that we could win this one as Motherwell had been showing no threat and our midfield and defence was the strongest part of our side. Before the goal I just couldn’t see us scoring but now we had something to hang on to.
Funnily enough for 5 minutes or so after the goal, ‘Well came back into it with a couple of dangerous attacks ending in threatening crosses that came to nothing. First, Lasley did a neat back-heel that let Hammell clear outside our box on the left. He sent over a low dangerous cross that was met beyond the back post, at the edge of the 6 yard box, by Higdon, sliding in. Luckily, he couldn’t control his effort and it flew well over the bar. Then, on the next occasion Murphy, out of the left, was put through to the edge of the box and sent a neat, curling shot towards goal, with the strong wind behind it. It flew a couple of feet over the bar as it was heading for the far corner and I doubt if McGregor would have reached it had it been on target. That was the nearest the visitors would come to scoring throughout the game. Just after that, Gers completed a brilliant inter-passing move up-field that ended with the ball at Healy’s feet on the edge of the box. He should have passed it to his right where Aluko was unmarked and would have had a clear shot at goal but he elected to shoot and his effort was weak and straight at the keeper, Randolph. As the half-time whistle blew most realised that Healy should actually have scored a hat-trick by then. We hoped that we wouldn’t regret his misses.
So, at half-time, I reckon most of the Bears would have been happier than they could have expected just after kick-off. This was the best we had played in weeks, if not months, and the third placed team in the league weren’t justifying that position. Could we keep it up though? Thankfully, we did. ‘Well though started like a new team with Humphrey and Daley who seemed to be fast, attacking players having a go but it came to nothing especially after Gers scored the vital second goal in the 55th minute. On the other hand, Gers also stepped up the pace from the re-start and did get results.
First, from an Aluko corner on the right, Bocanegra had a header cleared off the line. He met the cross on the 6 yard line, unmarked and sent his downward header towards goal. It was going in but hit off the feet of Hateley who didn’t seem to know much about it as he stood just inside the right-hand post. The second goal wasn’t long in coming though and a beauty it was. Edu won the ball with a sliding tackle in the centre circle and passed to Davis. He drove forward before passing forward to Fleck who immediately made the return pass to him. Davis then did a great pass to Aluko who did a 1-2 with Healy to his right. As the ball was returned to Aluko he dummied and opened up space for himself for a shot at goal. Then from right on the 18 yard line he cracked a beauty with his left foot, low into the right-hand corner.
The next great Gers move brought out the best in Randolph with a brilliant save. Fleck, near the centre circle, sent a lovely pass out to the left wing for Davis to run on to. He raced towards the area and did a neat 1-2 with Healy putting himself just inside the angle of the box. His great right foot shot was heading for the far, top corner but the keeper pulled off a magnificent save. Pity, because that was just about the best thing Davis has done in weeks. The next close thing – and great keeper save – came from his own player. A nice Wallace low cross into the 6 yard box was deflected desperately by Hutchinson and was going into the net but the keeper dived and palmed the ball to safety.
The third goal was started again by Wallace. Deep in his own half, Edu won the ball yet again and fed Fleck. He instantly passed up the left wing for Wallace to run strongly on to it. After charging forward he sent a low ball into the 6 yard box for Healy but the striker made a mistake and let the ball run under his boot. Hammell, sliding in, only half-cleared it and the ball was picked up by Aluko just inside the box on the right. He darted forward, beat his opponent and from a tight angle had a decent shot at goal which was parried by the keeper. The ball went beyond the back post where Wallace got to it and tried to send it across the face of the goal. Luckily, Craigan, only 2 feet from the goal-line, had a swipe at it but could only thump it into his own goal.
Gers kept plugging away for more goals but the nearest we came was near the end, from the sub, the lesser-spotted Moroccan creature, Kerkar – remember him? Think we only bought him to keep Bougherra company! A great move started with Fleck passing to Davis who passed up the left to Kerkar. From a difficult angle, he had a shot that was parried by Randolph but the ball came right back to Kerkar. His next effort at a cut-back was again blocked by the keeper but this time the ball landed at Fleck’s feet 8 yards out. His shot was blocked by a few ‘Well bodies, throwing themselves in front of it, as if their lives depended on it. Wish those moaning, paranoid Celtic fans could have seen that, for a team that “wasn’t trying”!!!!! This time the ball bounced out of the area to Aluko who controlled it well and then sent a great 20 yard effort a yard past the right-hand post.
And that was it. No more goals but for once the Bears were leaving Ibrox happy with what they had seen – if now worried about our striking situation.
REF WATCH: Another graduate from the Lawwell School of Referees, Euan Norris would receive cum laude for this display. Thankfully, there were no possible penalty claims at either end, otherwise he would have given ‘Well theirs and denied Gers, if the rest of his display is anything to go by. Again, here was one of those refs who let the opposition foul Gers players seemingly at will. I could give you dozens of examples but here are 2 identical ones that defied belief when they resulted in no action. In each half, on either side of the field, the second, right in front of me, Wallace was taken out by a “professional” foul. In each case, Wallace, charging up the left, did a great 1-2 with his team-mate and as he ran forward to collect the return pass was cynically bundled to the ground, off the ball. Not just a foul but an obvious yellow card. Norris’ decision? Nothing! He completely ignored it! Both linesmen did the same. Unbelievable – especially when you remember that Rangers get all the decisions! Finally, his bookings of Edu and McMillan in the 2nd half for tackles that weren’t even fouls took the biscuit. This guy’s double glazing is safe once again!
So, a good win and a much better display than we have seen at Ibrox, especially, in ages. Dare I suggest the corner is being turned following the last disastrous few weeks? The defence was better although Bartley will never do at right-back against a good team. Young McMillan should be in there if none of the other right-backs is available. Edu had a good game, winning tackles the way he should always be doing. Davis had his best games for ages although still not back to his normal form. Wallace had his best game yet for us and Aluko got the crowd going every time he was on the ball as he ran at players and dribbled past them in a manner reminiscent of Willie Henderson, dare I say? Healy linked up well a few times and got his goal but he should have had a hat-trick. He won’t do as our main striker if we don’t recruit more in the coming weeks. Come on, Ally and Whyte, spend the money on at least ONE proven striker.
28th DEC. CELTIC 1 – 0 RANGERS
Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse......it did! This was an abject, gutless performance from most of our players and if it keeps up there’s an awful lot of stick coming their way from the Bears in the near future. This was so dreadful a display that I can’t bring myself to go over the ashes. I know I’ve written this before but this time I mean it – so, sorry.
I didn’t expect much from this game prior to kick-off but two things gave me some hope, at least for a draw. One was the terrible conditions, with torrential rain and a gale blowing. I thought that this might make it harder for Celtic to do as much damage to us. Secondly, when I saw their team selection, I believed that if ever we had a chance to score at Parkhead, this should have been it. Their normally dodgy defence looked even ropier than usual and IF we had only attacked it, we should have got some joy. A central pairing of incompetents, Rogne and Mulgrew was there for the taking while a mediocre midfielder, Ledley, was playing out of position at left-back. Add Championship standard Matthews and Gers really should have been confident about doing real damage to the home side. Add the fact that Ally picked Aluko and I was expecting a better effort from our side in an attacking sense than eventually transpired. On the downside, donkey McCulloch was picked and with the cumbersome Wallace made up half our midfield. Not encouraging! When I heard that Broadfoot replaced dozy Whittaker, I was in two minds as I couldn’t decide which one would cost us more dearly. As it turned out, it was Broadfoot – although he, on the whole, wasn’t among our worst performers.
Most of our “threatening” moves came in the first 20 minutes or so. In the 6th minute, Aluko ( who had been looking lively) sent over a left footed cross from the right to the back post where Wallace headed down and almost on target. The ball hit off the post and away. Like most I thought that was it but later replays showed that the ball had actually crossed the line before Forster had somehow managed to scoop it away to safety. For once, you couldn’t blame the officials for not spotting it as it could only be confirmed by one camera angle ( and on the goal line at that!)
Our only other first half efforts came when a corner found its way to Jelavic just inside the box, out on the right side of it and from a tight angle he blasted well over the bar. Then 4 minutes later an Aluko corner on the left was headed down by Jelavic, into the 6 yard box, where Bocanegra tried to turn it into the net but the ball bounced up awkwardly and hit off his knee before spinning past the goal. If only........
As for Celtic they had had a few shots from the edge of the area but worryingly McGregor didn’t seem to be able to hold on to them, only managing to parry them initially. In one instance, the Greek Geek had the ball in the net from the rebound but was shown to be offside when Brown had made the original shot. Lucky escape for McGregor!
After 20 odd minutes, the possession stats showed it 55% in Celtic’s favour but as Gers did less and less as in attack that changed relentlessly so that by half-time it was 60% to the home side. I was glad just to get to the interval unscathed, hoping that our management team would see that too many of our guys were absolutely anonymous. Davis was as bad as he’s ever been, McCulloch wasn’t even tackling opponents and Wallace after his near-goal had totally disappeared. Aluko was getting no service despite the fact that he had looked dangerous early on so he had faded from the scene. As for our strikers, Jelavic and Lafferty, I could have played in central defence against them.
Of course, there was no change from McCoist as the second half started – and seemingly, no difference in the attitude, work-rate, lack of guts from most of the Gers players either! It only took 6 minutes for the deadlock to be broken and the game more or less won, the way we’d been playing. It was all down to Broadfoot. First, he let Forrest ( Celtic’s most dangerous player till that point) run in from the left and have a free shot at goal from 20 yards. Referee Collum, despite McGregor’s protests, decided that the keeper had tipped it over the bar. It didn’t look like that to me but then again Collum had been giving Celtic just about everything they’d asked for. From the resultant corner, Ledley, behind Broadfoot, rose above him and headed in easily from 5 yards out. Terrible goal to lose. And all down to big Kirk!
The rest of the game was a non-event. Celtic didn’t do much but then again they didn’t have to. That was one of the most annoying aspects of this game – Celtic didn’t actually play well. Having said that, we didn’t exactly bust a gut trying to retrieve the situation. That was the thing that angered me most. Ally took off Aluko, of all people, when Wallace and McCulloch were contributing zilch – plus Davis, but with him, you can at least hope a moment of skill might create something so he has to be left on. Who came on? Wylde! He was duly played out of position on the right of midfield and contributed the square root of zero. Then, in the 79th minute, McCulloch, slightly injured, and Wallace came off to make room for Edu and Healy. All the Irishman contributed was a yellow card for a foul on Forrest.
Jelavic had a weak overhead kick on target, just, and.......well, that was about it. This was a shameful capitulation. Even when the board went up to show 5 minutes injury time, it didn’t give me any hope as we just didn’t look like doing anything. We couldn’t even get a decent punt into the box which in conditions like this might have led to a mistake and maybe a goal. You’d have thought that our guys could at least have got the ball into the area but no, nothing like that even happened. In the end, I was glad we got away with a 1-0 as if Celtic had played well we really would have been demolished.
REF WATCH: Willie Collum is a fast learner. How to make your life easier in 3 easy lessons. For the past week I’ve heard nothing but Celtic fans on the phone-in shows telling us what a bad ref he is and how he should never be refereeing this game. All this on the basis of his penalty award against them last season when Broadfoot went down at Parkhead! I liked him until this season but now it seems to me that he has decided that he’s been getting too much grief from his R.E. pupils in his RC school presumably and that he doesn’t have to try too hard any longer to prove how “impartial” he is when it comes to officiating at Gers’ games. He gave Celtic just about everything in this game. He allowed the big Greek Geek to barge into Gers players and bundle them over and simply waved play on but when a Rangers even brushed an opponent, out came the whistle. I lost count of the number of fouls on us that he just ignored. In one instance, he even gave a foul for Mulgrew near our box when the replay showed that he clearly dived and hadn’t been touched by his opponent. Even Davie Provo, commentating, stated that he hadn’t been touched – no outrage about it, of course as these guys save this for Gers players diving.
So a pathetic effort from most of our guys. The keeper got away with any errors but he didn’t look assured. Maybe the conditions didn’t help him but I’ve been worried about his displays for the past few weeks anyway. If we can get millions for him next month, take it. The defence wasn’t too bad. Bocanegra was our best player by a country mile. Bartley was better than he has been this season and Papac was Papac. Broadfoot’s 2 errors cost us the goal but he wasn’t actually that bad. In the second half he was on the ball more and going forward than the likes of Davis or Wallace – which tells you all you need to know about their display. At least he showed up and tried his best although he was always a worry when Forrest was running at him. McCulloch should never have been played. After what he did against St Mirren he should have been dropped as a punishment, not appealed for so that he could appear in this game! He did nothing apart from crock ned Kayal....hey, maybe that justified his inclusion after all!
Davis has been rubbish for months now. He’s another guy I’d sell next month if someone offers us enough money. By the way, I noted Davie Moyes and Hodgson in the stand no doubt there to give Jelavic the once-over. On this display they wouldn’t offer 8 million buttons for him let alone pounds. I’ll be amazed if they come in with an offer after this pathetic display from him. Ditto Lafferty. This was him at his worst so I don’t need to elaborate on that.
So 2 points behind a poor Celtic team with a crap manager. Can it get any worse? Well, yes, it WILL – unless our guys start to play somewhere near their abilities. I noted Craig Whyte in the stand to witness this humiliation. Let’s hope, if he really DOES have any money behind him, this might be enough to convince him that he needs to open that cheque book next month – or he’ll be looking at Celtic doing The Treble.
24th DEC. ST MIRREN 2 – 1 RANGERS
Firstly, Merry Christmas to all my readers but that will be the end of my goodwill to all men. Where do I start with this debacle? It was so bad, for various reasons, that I’m not even going to go over this disgrace of a “display” in any detail whatsoever. Beaten by Celtic’s second team is hard enough to take but to lose 2 guys to red cards before the Old Firm match is just pathetic.
I always knew that we’d be up against it considering the way we’ve been playing over the past 2 months and following the recent draw against the Saints at Ibrox, but my worry increased even before kick-off when I saw Ally’s team selection. For the past 2 weeks we have missed the creativity and danger that Aluko can provide on the right wing. We’ve been bemoaning his absence. So, what does Ally do now that he was available again? He puts him on the bench and plays wan-fit Wylde out on the right – when this guy has been bad enough in recent weeks on the left where his left foot is sometimes at least useful. As expected, the guy did nothing and I mean NOTHING until he was hooked due to circumstances presumably in that first half. Add the fact that the manager is persevering with having 2 left backs in the side plus McCulloch and the Bears had to wonder where we were going to create anything from. MANAGERS KNOW NOTHING – and McCoist is the same as the rest of them! Then add the driving rain and wild wind and an unknown “up-and-coming” ref in Steven McLean and I just knew we were in trouble.
And so it proved. Even before McCulloch was sent off, St Mirren were the better team, outfighting us, out-passing us, keeping possession well and having the lion’s share of possession. Our guys ( apart from Bocanegra and Goian) seemed all at sea. It was a replica of Saints’ previous display in the 1-1 at Ibrox. Do we learn nothing? Even worse, every man and his dug knows that ex-Celt McGowan is their best player and the man who makes them tick, running the show. So why did have a free run of the entire park? Why didn’t our manager delegate someone to shadow him and tackle as soon as this guy got the ball? MANAGERS KNOW NOTHING. We even gave McGowan a couple of free shots at goal from 20 yards out before he scored what proved to be the winning goal.
Despite this, Gers should have opened the scoring in the 7th minute when Davis put Lafferty through on goal. Lafferty, on a good day, would have scored. In this game though, he put his low effort past the far post by a foot or so. Amazingly, despite the run of play, Gers DID score only 3 minutes later and from an entirely unexpected source – Wallace. A great Papac pass ( his ONLY decent one of the match) inside the defender allowed Wallace to run on to it and into the box. He was tackled but managed to keep going and just as another defender slid in to tackle he prodded the ball into the goal. I couldn’t believe it – a goal up and playing crap!
Still, I should have known it was going to be “one of those games”. In the 13th minute Carey ( another Celtic man) committed a bad foul on McCulloch when he followed through after McCulloch had kicked the ball away. I’ve seen reds given for this but ref McLean wasn’t even going to BOOK the guy until the linesman called him over and described what had happened. This wouldn’t be the last we’d notice Carey as he charged about playing as if his life depended upon it. He had another couple of “late” challenges that resulted in fouls but no more yellows (ironic when we saw what happened to Goian later in the game)
Then in the 23rd minute the entire course of the match was transformed thanks to the said Carey and Lee McCulloch. At a Gers’ corner, in a crowded box, Carey went down as if thumped by the great Ali. Replays showed that he was behind McCulloch and grappling with his arms around the Ranger. McCulloch, trying to free himself, caught him on the back / side of the head. He didn’t even “swing” an elbow. The player went down as if shot, holding the front / top of his head. Mmnnnn....wonder how that happened? It was the sort of jostling that goes on in the box throughout every game but, surprise, surprise the “saint” made the most of it and the ref sent the Ranger off. I trust that those at Ibrox will be watching for similar incidents in future that don’t get punished and alert the SFA’s Compliance Officer. So with ¾ of the game left we were down to 10 men. Merry Christmas!
One positive out of this negative was that Wylde was hooked immediately and Edu brought on. At least he contributed something in the remainder of the game – although he still didn’t play well. On the other hand, who did? Lafferty moved from partnering Jelavic to playing wide right midfield. So a 4-4-1 might still have been good enough to take the points if our guys were playing well BUT the majority haven’t been for weeks now. At this point, I thought if we could get to half-time with our lead, we might hang on and get a 1-1. By the whistle, of course, we were behind and all but down and out.
The equaliser came in the 43rd minute from some guy called Mooy who beat Bocanegra too easily and then Whittaker even more too easily before lashing it past McGregor off his near post. Terrible defending with lackadaisical tackling the cause. Even worse, in the 46th minute the little creep McGowan scored. Jelavic was far too easily dispossessed out on our left. The ball was passed to Van Zanten and his pass, under no pressure, put McGowan through in the box. Goian was slow to react and the midfielder slotted the ball past McGregor. Trouble!
So, away from home, conditions terrible, 2-1 down, down to 10 men and everyone bar Bocanegra and Goian playing crap. It wasn’t looking good, to say the least. At least Ally put on Aluko from the start of the half and we saw what we should have been witnessing from the start of the game. At last we had a guy running at the opposition and taking players on. In the 49th minute we nearly equalised due to this. Aluko ran at defenders, beat one at the edge of the box and shot at goal. His low effort went a foot past the near post. A minute later, we had another good break but eventually the ball went to Whittaker and from 20 yards out he shot wildly over the bar. Pathetic! Even worse, 4 minutes later we should have equalised when Davis ran up the middle and sent a great pass through for Jelavic to run on to inside the box. All he had to do was put it into the net but he shot to the near post and it went past. An absolute sitter – especially for a striker of his class. There and then I knew we had had even a draw!
Having said that, just 2 minutes after that we had another chance to score. Again it came from a brilliant Aluko run into the box as he drove at defenders. He beat an opponent who tried to foul him but he kept going and got his shot away, from a tight angle, only to see the ball go past the far post. Had to laugh at ex-Celt Andy Walker, commentating. The bhoy is now psychic. To quote him on this incident Aluko “ thought about going down. You can see it in his mind”!!!!!
St Mirren after that didn’t play anywhere near as well as they had in the first half but they didn’t have to. Gers probably had the majority of possession but we never again looked like scoring. We even tried bringing on Bartley for our best player, Bocanegra, and played him up front as a striker, keeping just Whittaker, Papac and Goian at the back. What a joke! What was Ally thinking about? We could barely get the ball into the box anyway! Goian was booked for a silly tug out on the wing ( a justifiable booking) and then to end a positively terrible day at the office Goian got a second yellow for something that wasn’t even a tug on the opponent’s jersey. If THAT constitutes a booking the game is really in trouble. Have lost count of the number of times I’ve seen this DONE to Gers players with no resultant punishment. Well done, ref McLean, your Celtic mates will no doubt be buying you drinks tonight in the local.
REF WATCH: Steven McLean, another dud on the way up in the Lawwell School for Referees. I’ll be watching this guy in future with great interest and see if he continues to dish out red and yellows the way he did in this game – but I wouldn’t bank on it.
So a dreadful day in terms of the weather, the result, the performance, the 2 reds when we least need them. Now, we REALLY need to get at least a draw on Wednesday at Parkhead. I hate to think of the team McCoist will put out for that one. What price he brings back Davie Weir and plays him with Bocanegra AND Bartley in central defence? As for giving Aluko a run at the dodgy Celtic defenders, I can’t see Ally being brave enough in his team selection. On the bright side, at least McLean won’t be the ref for that game. Can you imagine this guy if he ever gets an Old Firm match?
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE.
17th DEC. RANGERS 2 – 1 ICT
What to make of this game? Talk about walking a tightrope. Gers were lucky to escape with all 3 points in this one. Apart from an exciting 15 minute spell at the start of the second half, when we should have wrapped the game up, all the exciting incidents after that, to the despair of the Bears, were around the Rangers’ goal as our midfield and right side of defence seemed to crumble in a worrying fashion.
Ally had Papac available again but ridiculously played Wallace at left-back while putting Papac in as a holding midfielder in a 4-2-3-1 formation. So with Goian out, ill, Bartley partnered Bocanegra and Papac with Edu made up the 2 holding midfielders with the 3 in front of them Bedoya, Davis and Wylde. Poor Jelavic was left up front on his own again. Lafferty and Bendiksen, 2 guys who should have started, were on the bench.
In the first half Rangers passed it reasonably well but, once again, it was all too pedestrian. There was no zip, no urgency and the final ball or attempt at a cross was very poor. Who would have thought a month ago that I’d be saying, “How we missed Aluko”? In contrast, ICT were as organised as you’d expect, kept possession well and passed it around while looking quite dangerous on the break, using speedy counter-attacks. They put a couple of dangerous balls across our box but McGregor didn’t have a save to make nor a proper shot anywhere near him. Most of the dangerous moves seemed to be coming up our right where Whittaker was easily beaten or, too often, posted missing. He was having a shocker in defence and, little did we realise that he was going to be even worse, and costly, in the second half.
Meanwhile keeper Esson only had the one real save to make during that first half. It came in the 10th minute from about the only decent cross made by Wylde throughout the entire match. He lofted the ball over into the box where Whittaker, of all people, rose powerfully like a centre-forward and headed the ball down and goal-wards. Unfortunately, Esson dived to his left and pulled off a brilliant save to foil him.
At half-time, the Bears were not happy, as much from the pathetic performance of the ref Bobby Madden, as our players.I was of the opinion that the first thing Ally had to do was get Bedoya off. Does his name mean “empty shirt” in Spanish? He was absolutely shocking but mostly in that he was totally anonymous. He wasn’t tackling, passing, running into space, covering opposing players – completely non-existent. He could have gone off with no sub taking his place and it wouldn’t have affected our display one iota. For those who moan about Edu, at least that guy never hides and puts himself about, trying hard, covering the entire park, no matter how badly things are going for him. His American pal was the opposite. The way we’re playing right now, we just can’t afford to have passengers. Not surprisingly, Ally kept him on until he seemed to get injured early in the second half and that meant Lafferty came on and at least influenced the proceedings from then on.
So what do I remember of that nerve-wracking second 45? Well, at least Gers started it with a much increased tempo and new belief in themselves. We had the visitors on the back foot from the off and should have had the points wrapped up before ICT actually equalised. Here are some of the incidents that should have led to goals. A corner from the left was headed down well by Whittaker ( leaping again like a centre-forward) but the ball crashed off the bottom of the left-hand post. In a brilliant sweeping move up the left, Lafferty found himself bearing down on goal with only the keeper to beat and from 12 yards out, he managed to put his low effort, aimed at the far corner, just past the right-hand post with the keeper beaten. Actually, he could have passed the ball to his right where Jelavic was unmarked and would have had a simple tap in. When we did score, it came from a totally unexpected source – Carlos Bocanegra who, later, would deservedly get the Man of the Match award for his stalwart defending. I thought, as a cross came into the box that the defender had fouled Jelavic but the ball bounced off his chest and fell in front of Bocanegra who, as he was being fouled, scooped it into the net like a striker. Great quick feet and vision.
After that we had two cleared off the line, or just before the ball reached the line, going into the goal. Twice we had the type of situations that you always hope for when you’re bombarding a team; in a packed area, the ball was half-cleared away but landed at the feet of a Rangers player, right in the centre of the 18 yard box; in the first instance, Bocanegra kept his shot low and on target but he perhaps should have blasted it rather than a side-foot effort. He didn’t and the effort was blocked and then cleared. Later, an identical situation found the ball landing at the feet of Lafferty whose shot was blocked but bounced back out to the feet of sub McCulloch who, like Lafferty, kept his shot low and on target but tried to side-foot it home. Again, this was blocked before it could enter the net. In another hectic incident, just outside the crowded box, Jelavic was badly fouled but the ref played on and the ball went to Papac who, from about 30 yards, crashed a fantastic shot off the crossbar. You could practically feel it shake up in the Govan Rear! So, with a bit of luck, Gers should have been about 5 or 6 up at that point – and then ICT equalised. So, if you’ve been reading in the papers that poor wee ICT were hard done by and could have been 3-1 up at one point later in the half, just remember all those chances that Gers spurned because you ain’t going to read about them in the papers.
So, just when the Bears were feeling more confident about winning this game by a few goals, the roof feel in and the visitors scored! It should never have happened for a few good reasons; firstly, Jelavic was badly fouled with one of the scissor tackles that sees the defender aggressively wrap his legs around the opponent’s ( it should have been a booking in fact) but the ref waved play on but with the striker lying in pain on the deck, ICT attacked us, refusing to put the ball out of play; then we got possession and WE didn’t put it out either; then they got it back and attacked us up our right. Whittaker was beaten so easily by Tade that he should be docked a week’s wages. In fact, add his later errors and it should be a month’s! Tade cut into the box and sent a low ball across the face of the goal where sub (and ex-Gers reserve) Andrew Shinnie expertly diverted it into the goal.
Cue the rockiest spell I’ve seen Rangers have this season. What other chances do I remember ICT having? Well, from a free kick on the left, the ball curled right into our crowded 6 yard box where the loathsome Foran headed it home. Thankfully, the offside flag went up to save our blushes. When you see the inconclusive tv pictures, it looked touch and go but perhaps the correct decision. Then a long, low punt into our half saw the dozy Whittaker, in midfield, slide across, launching himself at the ball to cut it out. Of course, he missed it and that allowed McKay to run on to it, dash towards the goal, round McGregor who had come off his line and then….miraculously hit it off the base of the near post. What a let-off! In a later incident one of our guys, out on the left, can’t remember who, chipped the ball to Whittaker who was standing in the middle just outside our box. Dozy Whittaker, at his absolute worst, under no pressure, tried to chest it down and control it. He succeeded in chesting it down to his feet but fell on his backside at the same time thus allowing an ICT guy to rob him of the ball, left with only the keeper to beat. I was so shocked I can’t even remember how we escaped from that situation. I think maybe the guy hit his shot just wide. All the danger to Gers was coming from Whittaker’s area of the field….no surprise there then! To be truthful, he wasn’t getting any aid by having the equally useless Wylde in front of him, playing right midfield. In another move Hayes was in on goal, coming in from our right. He shot from 12 yards out and McGregor saved it but the ball re-bounded, straight back to Hayes. Instead of shooting immediately again, Hayes cleverly dummied the keeper and took it past him and then, only 5 yards out, sent his effort goal-wards. While we were groaning at the loss of another goal, Wallace somehow popped up, sliding in and miraculously managed to scoop the ball away before it crossed the line. That’s the best contribution this guy has made since he joined from Hearts.
After that I don’t remember ICT making a decent chance and, thankfully, Gers scored our second to gain the 3 points shortly after their last chance. It started with a Bocanegra pass from just inside the Gers half. The ball was sent up the middle for Davis to collect. He gathered it and ran forward in his characteristic fashion. It was the kind of incisive run that he has been lacking too often in recent weeks. He passed it forward to Jelavic but the striker oh so cleverly dummied it so that the ball was allowed to run on to the supporting Lafferty. The big man reached it before the out-coming keeper and sent his shot beneath him and into the net. Cue celebrations and relief all around the stadium.
Still, it was the usual nervy ending to a game when we’re only one goal up on any visitors. The crowd sensed that ICT could snatch yet another goal practically every time the ball was punted into our area or moved up-field from either wing. Thankfully, unlike in the St Mirren match we managed to see this game out.
REF WATCH New up-and-coming dud ref, Bobby Madden, showed that he is being well-trained by the new super-duper SFA School of Refereeing, supervised by Lawwell. Last week, this guy cancelled the game at East End Park due to fog but before kick-off the pitch was completely clear of the aforementioned fog, much to the disgust of all the punters who missed their game. This time, Madden refereed this match as if he was still in a fog, as if he couldn’t see what we were all seeing in the stands. He was an absolute disgrace – and yet the phone-in shows are full of ( Celtic) callers suggesting that he is another pro-Gers ref! What a joke! I lost count of the fouls, especially on Jelavic, that this guy waved on. He was ably assisted by the linesman in front of me at the Govan side. In one move Jelavic, in possession, was racing up the touchline right in front of me and the ICT guy was grabbing his shirt and trying to wrestle him to the ground – which he did. The linesman’s flag goes up and the whole of the Govan goes crazy……..because he was indicating a foul FOR Inverness! Incredible!!!!
So a good 3 points considering what might have happened. It is still worrying though that our key players are off form with the Old Firm game coming up. Bocanegra deservedly got the Man of the Match award and hopefully big Goian will return for the St Mirren game. We need these two together if we are to win those games away. Whittaker had an absolute nightmare. Hope it was a one-off but I suspect not. Bartley didn’t have a good game either but he has only played a couple of games this season. Thankfully, Wallace had his best game yet for us, making some good runs up the left in the second half. As for the midfield? Edu, again, nothing was coming off for him but at least he kept trying. Wylde was pathetic. Time to “rest” him. To think a more talented midfielder like Hutton was farmed out to Thistle. At least he’s back and will be available from January. Why do we need headless chicken, Wylde, racing up the wing when the pacy, skilful, dribbling Aluko can do that from now on? Bedoya, you know what I think of him…….another dud like Ortiz. It doesn’t say much for our “scouting staff” or Ally, when we’ve signed guys like these 2 plus McKay who can’t even get a game! In the second half, Davis did some good things but is still not right. Too often his final cross or pass was deplorable. Papac should never be in midfield, end of. Jelavic tried hard but no service, no joy. Lafferty came on and did better than most of them.
Regarding the upcoming Celtic game, I hate to think what kind of formation and team selection Ally and co will come up with. If we gift them the initiative by being ultra-cautious we are doomed…..doomed, I tell you.
10th DEC HIBS 0 – 2 RANGERS
Gers at least gave me an early birthday present of 3 valuable points, if nothing else. This was yet another average away display but, at least this time, emerging with full points. I was apprehensive when I saw Ally’s team selection and formation. For me, playing 4-2-3-1 with McCulloch AND Bartley as holding midfielders just reduces our attacking threat too much. That meant our “creativity” was down to the off-form Davis ( he had another poor game) Edu and Wylde. Come on, we’re never going to create many chances from them the way things are going right now. At least the defence looked stronger with the return of Bocanegra and a proper left-back in Wallace. The other pre-kick-off worry I had was the sight of the ref – the useless Iain Brines who is the next worst after Creep Thomson, as far as I’m concerned.
It was a pleasant surprise to see the Gers start off brightly, on the front foot and, for most of the half we had the majority of possession while the home side did very little until the final 10 minutes of the half. We were passing it about well and with a bit of pace but we just couldn’t do anything with the final ball. We had no cutting edge, no threat. At least we seemed to be closing down the opposition better than we have been doing in recent months. In the 8th minute Edu was given an absurd yellow by dud Brines when he had slid in to block an attempted boot up-field. By the way, this was Gers’ SECOND foul in the match.
For the first 35 minutes this was the best passing display I had seen us manage for ages. In the 23rd minute, on the edge of the box, Edu went up for a cross and down again as the Hibs defender put his arm into the back of his neck / head. He needed attention for a couple of minutes. It was much worse than the “foul” on the Greek Geek up at Inverness recently that ended with the ICT player being sent off. Brines – play on. 6 minutes later in a Gers’ breakaway up-field, Davis was blatantly fouled but again the ref ignored the foul and let Hibs take the ball to start a dangerous counter-attack. Unbelievable!
In the 33rd minute Wotherspoon was rightly booked for pulling Edu back as he burst away from him. 5 minutes later Bartley went into the ref’s book as he slid in on O’Connor in midfield. O’Connor had committed more fouls than anyone on the pitch at this point! So, by the 39th minute Gers had committed a grand total of 3 fouls but had had 2 yellow cards!
In the final 10 minutes of the half, Hibs started to come into the game and got more possession, going forward more. This had probably come about as Rangers had dropped the pace of their play and were passing it around in far too leisurely a manner. On the 45th minute Hibs should have gone ahead, totally against the run of play. For the first time, Sproul, out on the left, beat Whittaker and made for the bye line. He cut the ball back towards the 6 yard line and Wallace, coming in, had the easiest of clearances when all he had to do was boot the ball away. Unfortunately, he couldn’t even manage that and he had a fresh air swipe at the ball, ended on his backside while the ball trundled to Griffiths who missed a sitter by shooting tamely straight at McGregor who gathered it as if it had been a pass-back. What a let-off! Still, it would have been an injustice if he had scored at that point. So, at half-time, I was desperate to see either McCulloch or Bartley replaced as both had been anonymous and had only succeeded in reducing our attacking options. We even had 2 strikers on the bench – young Bendiksen and the lesser-spotted Healy. Who? I hear you ask yourself. Don’t worry, he didn’t get on anyway.
The second half started off badly with a reversal of the first half as Hibs were on the front foot and we were looking vulnerable for the first time in general play. Indicative of this was when Bocanegra rightly received a yellow for a professional foul after the Hibs player, on the right touchline, had easily run past Wallace and then Bartley in quick succession when either of them should have stopped him with a sliding tackle. In the 55th minute Bartley, who had been ill and a doubt prior to the game, was subbed for Bendiksen and, within 4 minutes, this change had paid off. In an attack, just outside the box, Bendiksen flicked the ball up and forward over the defence to see Wallace, of all people, run on to it and challenge Hart for it as it bounced. He managed to dispossess the Hibee right on the touchline and as he turned to run towards goal the defender grabbed him by the arm to haul him down. Brines, a few yards away with a clear view, could hardly not give the penalty. Jelavic hit his effort low and right into the left hand corner sending Stack diving the wrong way.
3 minutes after the goal and Hibs almost equalised from a free kick out on the right that was flighted into the box where Jelavic missed it to allow Hanlon a free header from close range. Thankfully, it flew over the bar. The big Croat was close to going from hero to zero there! Then in the 68th minute it looked as if Gers had wrapped the game up with our second goal. A corner from the right was sent in by the left foot of Wylde and Jelavic, with some great movement, managed to get between two markers to head down and into the net from 6 yards out. At this point, with barely 20 minutes of the match left, Gers had had 2 attempts on target and 2 goals!
From then on we looked more assured and gave the home side few sights of our goal. In the 77th minute, just outside the Hibs box, Edu made a great tackle and dispossessed his opponent. The ball went to a Rangers player who started to head for goal but the ref blew for a Hibs foul. Even ex-Celt Craig Burley, on commentary, said in exasperation, as he watched the replay “ Oh my God! Where’s the free kick in that?” That summed it up perfectly.
The last fright Gers got in the game came in the 79th minute when a cross from the right side of our box was deflected badly by the boot of Whittaker causing the ball to fly up and towards the Gers’ goal. McGregor showed his class by nifty footwork that saw him scramble backwards and with one hand flick the ball away from just under the bar to safety. In the 88th minute, Ally, taking no chances with Edu already on a booking, subbed him and put on dud Ortiz. This guy, even in 4 minutes, only did two things, and both were errors! First he collected the ball in midfield, under no pressure, with plenty of time, he could have started an attack but the forward pass he made, intended for Bendiksen, gave the youngster no chance and the defender intercepted it. Then later, in the centre circle, in our half, he gave the ball away starting a Hibs attack. Really! You couldn’t make it up!
Anyway, the game drifted to its conclusion and the main thing was that we had gained the 3 points in a game that could have proved much more difficult, bearing in mind it was new manager Fenlon’s first home match.
REF WATCH: You all know my low opinion of dud Brines and he was no better in this match. At least he didn’t shirk from giving us a penalty and he had no contentious decisions to make that might have gone against us.
In this game, it was good to see Goian look more like his old self. Maybe the re-appearance of Bocanegra beside him gave him more confidence. The American also had a good game - his booking apart. Wallace started well but faded long before the end although he was responsible for the penalty so credit for that. Whittaker didn’t attack as much as he normally does but was solid enough apart from the one time when Sproul got past him to the bye line – although that could have been fatal. In midfield, again, worryingly, Davis was poor, poor. He constantly misplaced passes and gave the ball away when under no pressure – so unlike the REAL Steve Davis. His forward runs were few and far between, especially when you remember that we were playing 2 holding midfielders so that he didn’t have to worry about losing the ball on one of his characteristic runs forward. McCulloch and Bartley contributed very little and our side is weaker if BOTH play in it. Wylde tried hard but his crossing left a lot to be desired although his corner did result in the second goal. Young Bendiksen did well, working hard, moving around well, running into space, taking a pass and returning it before moving on to get the return again. This guy looks to have skill and a bit of vision – unlike Wylde who only has pace. Poor Jelavic, isolated up front, where nothing came off for him, getting next to no service and certainly not in decent areas of the park. Yet he ends up the hero with 2 goals. Can’t wait until he finds his form and we have other team-mates setting up chances again for him.
So a great 3 points at a tricky venue. Next up, ICT at Ibrox then St Mirren away before the Old Firm game. Celtic go to Udinese on Thursday and have to win but then they play in-form St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park on the Sunday. Here’s hoping the Italians and the Saints can do us a turn and put them on a downer before we play them.
3rd Dec RANGERS 2 – 1 DUNFERMLINE
Unlike our previous couple of games, I have mixed feelings about this one. On the positive side, this was the best we have played for quite a while but on the negative side we couldn’t get that third goal to put the opposition away and were left, as happens too often, biting our nails. We really made hard work of what should have been a simple task. Still, with the conditions terrible – cold, windy and at times very wet – we should be happy with the 3 points after dropping 5 out of the last 6.
At least Ally started with an attacking line-up by relegating McCulloch to the bench. We don’t need a defensive midfielder when playing opposition such as Dunfermline. In my opinion the Pars are the worst side I’ve seen at Ibrox this season. Practically every other team that has visited has out-passed us for large parts of the game but not the Pars. In the first half they seldom got up to our end of the pitch and certainly did not employ a swift, counter-attacking style as most sides do nowadays. Even before I saw Dunfermline, I thought that they would be the team to get relegated and now I’m sure of it.
Anyway, back to Ally’s line-up; he sprang a surprise by not recalling the fit-again Lafferty but, instead, gave young Norwegian Bendiksen a run out, playing off Jelavic. I say young but apparently the guy’s 21 but has been plagued by injury although the coaching staff have high hopes for him. Bartley came in beside Goian at the expense of Perry so that cheered me up pre-kick off and Wylde resumed after suspension on the left side of midfield with Aluko on the right. Edu and Davis made up the rest of the midfield and both played better ( especially Edu) than of late.
Gers nearly scored within the first minute. A decent run up the right by Aluko and into the penalty box saw him cut it back into the 6 yard box for Jelavic but the striker swept his first time effort past the near post. Should have done better. Not surprisingly the BEEB didn’t bother showing this in their highlights package. Nor did they show Aluko’s next run and dribble to the bye-line inside the box where we had a good claim for a penalty waved away by Conroy the ref. Surprise! Surprise! as Cilla used to say.
Our next chance came when Davis, just outside the centre circle, in the Pars’ half, chipped the ball forward into the box for Jelavic to run on to and head. Unfortunately, because of the angle of his run, he couldn’t get the proper direction on it and it flashed a yard past the left-hand post. Next Aluko cut inside and passed to Wylde who had drifted into the centre. From around 25 yards out he drilled a decent shot at goal that forced Gallagher to dive at full stretch and palm the ball away to his left. The opening goal when it came in the 21st minute was real comic cuts. Whittaker, attacking as usual, teamed up with Bartley, just outside the box and tried to force his way into the penalty area. The ball fell to Potter who passed it back to keeper Gallacher. He tried to blooter it out but he merely succeeded in hitting the ball off Keddie, sending it looping back into his own goal. What a bit of luck, at last!
7 minutes later the game looked to be safe when Conroy gave a penalty for a foul on Aluko as he dribbled into the box and was surrounded by 3 defenders. Hardie, being one of those, he was adjudged to have clipped Aluko’s heels as he went away from him. There were no out-raged protests from Hardie or his mates so the ensuing, media-inspired “controversy” was surprising, led by the Beeb’s highlights, of course. The cameras didn’t prove anything as in one shot the ref is in the way of the incident but in the angle from behind the goal it looked to me that Aluko’s heel was slightly caught by Hardie. It was certainly nothing to do with Hardie’s hand touching Aluko’s back briefly, as Sheep fan Rob McLean tried to make out. Aluko did make sure he went down dramatically, to say the least. Maybe he had learned from his previously denied penalty claim. Needless to say, Lawwell’s new SFA Compliance Officer might “have a look at it” and see if he can suspend Gers Man of the Match for a couple of games for “simulation”. What annoys me is that if you get done for this during a game, the ref flashes a yellow card so why is it a 2 game ban if the ref has missed it? Anyway, how could the useless Conroy have “missed it”? He was 5 yards away, with a clear, uninterrupted view of the incident, at a good angle, so what did he see to make the call? The television images don’t show us anything extra that the ref couldn’t have seen.
So, it looked like the Bears were going to have an enjoyable game at last to witness. Then, within 2 minutes the visitors had scored. This was a disgraceful goal to lose. Hardie, inside his own half, sent a 50 yard diagonal pass out to our right where Whittaker was........missing! Where was our errant back? He was in the Pars’ half as well and about 10 yards behind Cardle who ran on to the pass. So, Whittaker at fault but, even more so was Goian who should have been covering for his team-mate. As it was, the big Romanian eventually went across to confront the attacker as he cut inside, into our box. There followed a pathetic non-tackle as he seemed to half-heartedly stick out a foot and then withdraw it as if scared of giving away a penalty allowing Cardle to have a sight at goal. His low effort was accurate, but not exactly a rocket shot, and beat McGregor at his near post. Not the keeper’s finest hour either!
As they had done previously Gers continued to pound the Pars with wave after wave of attacks but our finishing wasn’t up to the mark. A great, speedy interchange of passes between Davis and Jelavic ended with Davis shooting from a slight angle, 8 yards out, only to see his effort parried by the keeper. Then a Davis header, just outside the box, put Wylde through but his shot, with his right foot unfortunately, went past the far post.
So, at half-time, the Bears weren’t exactly happy, knowing that the match should have been done and dusted by then. Gers should have been 4 or 5-1 up. The second half started in the same fashion as the first had ended with Rangers striving for that elusive third goal that would make the fans sit back and relax. Until the final 20 minutes it was all Gers but the goal just wouldn’t come. Aluko made some sparkling runs up the right, to the delight of the crowd and showed great skill. At times he combined well with Whittaker, a good sign for the future. However, he’ll need to learn when to make a pass and not hang on to the ball too long. Still, it was a breath of fresh air to see a Rangers player now actually capable of dribbling past opponents with pace.
Here’s a few of the chances I remember us making in the second 45. A great Wylde run up the left saw him go past the defender and send over a decent cross. Unforunately the ball hit off the top of the head of a defender which changed its flight on its way to Jelavic who did well to generate any power on his header which went inches over the bar. Unlucky!
Later Jelavic would have another header that didn’t have enough power ot direction on it to beat the keeper who saved comfortably. In between, a great move ended with a pass to Jelavic in the box but the striker couldn’t quite gather the ball at his feet and the chance was lost. After that a great move up the right involving Whittaker and Aluko exchanging passes saw Whittaker hit a low pass into the box where Bartley, on the penalty spot, looked certain to score. His shot, though, hit off the back of a defender and spun up and over the bar. The ref, a few yards away, gave a BYE KICK! Only after the linesman had intervened was a corner awarded.
In among all this, the Pars had started to look a bit more dangerous on the break, especially up our right with Whittaker getting a harder time from Cardle out on the flank. The scorer managed to get past the back a couple of times and once a cross to the back post found Barrowman drifting in and volleying towards goal. Thankfully, it went past the far post but he should at least have managed to get it on target. Whether McGregor would have saved it is debatable.
Then we had sub Lafferty, on for Bendiksen, wasting a decent chance with a weak effort. He even had colleagues to either side he could have passed the ball to as they had better angles than he did to shoot. Next, keeper, Gallacher’s best save of the match came from a Jelavic effort who must have thought he had scored. Just outside their box, Edu cleverly robbed the defender of the ball and passed in-field to Lafferty. A few passes later, with the crowd screaming for a shot, the ball came to Edu again who slipped a neat pass to his left to Jelavic, unmarked, inside the box. His low, right foot shot looked bound for the far corner but the keeper dived and palmed it away to safety.
Gers continued to attack but the keeper wasn’t called into real action again as his defenders blocked shots or put in timely tackles to save the day. As time wore on, the crowd, and some Gers players, seemed to get very nervy. We were reminded of the St Mirren game and how that had ended – and THEY had played much better than the Pars. We even resorted to trying to waste time (as we had in that St Mirren game) by taking the ball into the corners. Then in the 88th minute it was almost disaster. A corner from the right saw Keddie rise, unmarked, about 10 yards out, and fire his header a couple of feet over the bar. McGregor was right underneath that spot but would he have saved it? I’m glad we didn’t have to find out. And there were no more scares, thankfully, in the added on time.
REF WATCH: Dud Steve Conroy has always been up there with Thomson and Brines, as far as I’m concerned. He had a deplorable game committing error after error. Still, at least we did get one penalty from him, even if he had denied an earlier, better claim. He kept his cards firmly in his pocket although he correctly booked Goian in the second half for a “professional” foul midway inside his own half when the opponent raced past him. There was a covering defender to tackle the guy so Goian needn’t have panicked and fouled him. But, the way the ref had been performing, I wouldn’t have been amazed if he had shown (incorrectly) a red at that point.
So, what to make of it all? Let’s start with the positives: Edu had a good game and next to Aluko was our best player. The wee man himself promises much so let’s hope he delivers as he’s the type of player we’ve been needing. Now that he is a Ranger, he’ll realise that he’s fair game for the Celtic fans with laptops who are already out to get him as a “diver”. Cue moral outrage from the Celtic fans on the phone-in shows over the next couple of days. Those same people who have forgotten about the McGeadys and Petrovs of this world. Bendiksen did more good things in this match than the likes of Ortiz and Bedoya in all their games put together. He looked skilful, cool, l with some vision, as well as a hard-working player. Little wonder he received a good reception when he was eventually subbed. Davis, until the final 20 minutes, had his best game for ages but then he seemed to get apprehensive, missing out on tackles and misplacing his passes. Still, much better than in previous games. Let’s hope he has turned the corner in terms of form. Wylde was his usual, with no sign really of any improvement in his crossing although he did have a couple of decent shots at goal. Jelavic missed a few chances but will come good eventually. I notice the hacks are trying to drum up a story about how “off form” he’s been. Ignore them. It’s more a case of how little decent service he’s had over previous weeks. Goian was a bit better too but still made a few errors, crucially, at their goal. Let’s hope his form is returning as we’ll need him in the coming games.
So, 4 points clear, with 2 away and 1 home game before the Old Firm match. We must win all of these. It will be a struggle in every one of those, starting next week at Easter Road, but at least we showed some good signs against the Pars. Let’s hope we can continue like this but with more chances being taken.
27th NOV KILMARNOCK 1 - 0 RANGERS
If you thought I was disgusted and angry after last week’s debacle then multiply that by a hundred for this game! This was a truly awful match. I suspected as much when I saw that Bocanegra was injured and Ally played Perry while the useless Broadfoot was at left-back in the absence of Papac and Wallace. With Weir again injured what was the matter with Bartley in central defence? So our defence had 2 central defenders and 2 left-backs missing at the same time. A recipe for disaster. Having said that, all our problems are stemming from a mis-firing midfield just now. Our midfield at least had a winger in new singing Aluko but, on the downside, McCulloch was back in there. So, with Edu in there and Davis rubbish right now there was no creativity in midfield whatsoever. I thought that last week had been coming ( and that was only a draw) but THIS result really was what we should have expected.
Apart from a chance in the first minute, the first half was mainly a non-event. Aluko cleverly slipped the ball to the right for Davis and he sent in an early low ball into the 6 yard box where Jelavic unfortunately tried to slide in and bundle it over but made a total mess of it. We hardly had a decent forward move let alone a shot at goal. Killie had a couple of dangerous, pacy crosses into the box and a couple of half-hearted claims for a penalty but that was all they did until the last 5 minutes of the first half.
We were playing very poorly but at least had the consolation of seeing that the home side was playing even worse! In the second half though they got better and we didn’t – with disastrous results. 26 minutes after our initial chance, we almost threatened when a good move ended with Whittaker almost getting on to the end of a Jelavic header on but the keeper got to the ball first. In the 40th minute Harkins went down, looking for a penalty but the replays showed that he was going down having stumbled before Broadfoot put a hand on his back. In the 43rd minute young Kane Hemmings, on for the injured Lafferty, had a shot from 20 yards but it was straight at the keeper who could only parry it away. In the 45th minute a long thrown in from Jelavic went into the box and was collected by Aluko who was fouled. It should have been a penalty but the ball fell loose to McCulloch and his shot went into the side netting.
This was truly dreadful stuff. We were sluggish, had no energy, no drive, no pace and weren’t passing it around well. We were running as if we were on ice. It was the casual style that teams usually employ when you’re 3 or 4 up and playing out time. It was disgraceful. We weren’t pressing the ball or getting close enough to the opponents. There was no threat in the final third and once again the entire midfield was just non-existent. Aluko had a couple of decent runs but was too easily dispossessed and didn’t get enough service. Whittaker was actually our best attacker although, in defence, it was from his flank that any Killie danger was coming.
At the start of the second half, for about 5 minutes, we looked more up for it, as if they’d been given a talking to by the manager. It didn’t last long. Soon we had the sight of a backwards Jelavic header crashing off our own crossbar with the keeper beaten. Then, after this came our nearest thing when Hemmings sent a neat pass out to the right side of the box for Aluko to gather. He went past the defender and sent in a low cross / shot that was cleared off the line by Fowler. It really had started to look like one of those days. By now I was settling for a 0-0 and a 5 point lead over Celtic.
In the 64th minute a good Killie move saw Heffernan put right through on McGregor as Goian toiled behind the striker unable to catch him, having been caught too far up-field in the first place. By now the big Romanian was having a very poor game. Added to his performance last week, I’m now starting to worry – especially with Bocanegra and Weir now injured. Anyway, Killie’s top striker was bearing down on McGregor and it looked like a cert goal. He shot but the keeper spread himself and managed to get a strong hand on it and parry it to safety. Maybe that could be a turning point, I thought...but not a bit of it. We plodded on until the manager made a substitution. He did the right thing in taking off the ineffectual Edu but put on the dud Bedoya. He should also have taken off the plodding McCulloch who looked a spent force.
In the 78th minute, Aluko, on the right of the area, fired a ball into the 6 yard box, begging to be put into the net. Bedoya had a swipe and missed it but the ball continued through a ruck of players and ended up hitting off the far post before being scrambled away. Now you really know it’s going to be one of those days. As if to confirm this, within 90 seconds, Killie had scored what turned out to be the winning goal. A header back into the area following a cleared corner saw Pascali, totally unmarked and looking offside, head the ball backwards into the goal. McGregor, I thought, should have come out and challenged for the ball anyway but he didn’t. Replays showed that Aluko had been on the post and had been too slow to come out and play Pascali offside. So when the ball was played into the box, as the rest of the Gers defenders moved out, Pascali was probably just level with Aluko. What a way to lose our unbeaten league record this season!
Fleck later came on for Aluko but it made no difference to the play. Gers just seemed incapable of creating anything and we were not even attacking as if our lives depended on it – surely the least the Bears can expect? Then in the 88th minute we should have equalised and at least salvaged a point and our unbeaten record. In a good move Davis passed the ball to his left, inside the box, where the unmarked Bedoya collected the pass. 8 yards out, under no pressure, with no defender near him and the keeper on his line, he tried to side-foot it into the far corner and made a complete mess of it, hitting it low and off the keeper’s body. When you’re struggling and need a goal you really need your players to capitalise on what was the easiest chance of the entire match! This guy, like Ortiz, is a dud. Well done, Ally – or the “scouts” who are identifying our transfer targets!
And that was it! 3 precious points dropped but more worryingly, most of the team playing very poorly. We had nobody on the bench to come on and make any difference. Young Hemmings was as good as most of the experienced players. Jelavic tried hard but barely got a decent pass in a dangerous area of the park. He’ll jump at the chance to go in January should an offer be accepted. Lafferty was Lafferty when he was on the park. Enough said! New boy, Aluko – too easily dispossessed, not strong enough but might be forgiven since hasn’t played a real game since May. He and our keeper, for me, cost us the goal. Midfield – absolute disgrace. No need for more comment. Defence not as sound with no Bocanegra, Papac and Goian looking ropey, again. Broadfoot? Total donkey! Pass marks to Whittaker and McGregor and that was it.
REF WATCH: Alan Muir was alright. He could have given us a penalty but had also denied a lesser, earlier claim by Killie so was probably unwilling to cause controversy at that point. Mainly kept his yellow cards in his pocket and refereed well enough.
This was the first Killie win at home against us in 17 years – and that says it all! Of the players who were missing today, do we have ones who can turn things around? I suspect not. 11 first team players played no part in this match for various reasons: Weir, Bocanegra, Bartley, Papac, Wallace, Wylde, McKay, Ortiz, Healy, Ness, long-term, Naismith and now Lafferty injured – we need some of these to be available in the coming weeks. We will especially need our defenders available and playing well by the time we reach the next Old Firm game at Parkhead or, playing like this, it could be a disaster. Our 2 trialist Indian strikers were watching this game from the stand and looking frozen at that. I wonder what they made of such a shocking display? Surely we must have young Scots strikers at Murray Park who could cope better with the SPL in winter than 2 Indian guys? If not, why not?
We must, and should, win our next 4 games: Dunfermline at home, Hibs away, ICT at home and St Mirren away. If we don’t win ALL of these, then we won’t need administration to deduct 10 points from us and lose us the title; we’ll be doing it by ourselves on the park.
19th NOV RANGERS 0 – 0 ST JOHNSTONE
If I start this piece by telling you that I was firmly in “it’s only a game” mode as I drove home from Ibrox then regular readers will realise just how bad this match was. Bears who have been to the last few Gers games or even read my reports on them will know that this had been coming. I say “this” but actually that term usually refers to a defeat – and this wasn’t! By some miracle, we managed to avoid dropping all 3 points. It gave new meaning to the club’s big deal they made out of “Thanksgiving Day” in honour of our American players! It’s not often I write that the visiting side was better than us and deserved to win but, in this case, it’s true. Most teams this season that have come to Ibrox have played better passing football than us, kept possession well, been well-organised and hard to penetrate BUT have offered next to nothing in the final third. Saints had all of that BUT, in that second half, created dangerous moments and a few chances, two of which brought out tremendous saves from McGregor. In contrast, their keeper, Enckleman only had one real save throughout the entire match!
With various injuries and suspension, Ally didn’t really have much choice in the side he picked and, on paper, his team should have been far too good for St Johnstone. Unfortunately, this match was played on grass. Since most of the Gers players who were missing ( Naismith apart) were defenders these absences can’t be blamed for this disgraceful display and result. Ally was almost forced into playing a really attacking team but it didn’t attack in an effective way. The defence was the usual apart from Broadfoot coming in for Papac / Wallace. Jelavic and Lafferty were paired up front and the midfield was the usual apart from Bedoya and McKay playing on either flank. The bench was worrying as there seemed to be nobody there who could come on and make any difference to the proceedings. McCulloch, Fleck and Ortiz are not game-changing players.
I’m so disgusted by this game that I refuse to re-live it by going into great detail about it. In the first half, both teams passed it about well with Gers, as you’d expect, playing more in their final third and looking more dangerous with Whittaker our best attacker in that half. The visitors passed it about well but didn’t threaten apart from one move near the end of the half when a pass into the box was over-hit otherwise it would have created a great goal-scoring chance. As for Gers, we had a couple of half-chances, one especially when, inside the box, Davis seemed through for a shot but hesitated, passed it backwards to Lafferty who tried to pass it into the goal but found defenders’ bodies thrown in front of him to block his effort. Indeed, Lafferty and Whittaker had been our best players in that first half.
If the Bears had found the first half disappointing then the second was to become a nightmare. Right from the start, it was as if the new Saints manager, Lomas, had told his players to have a real go at us as we were there for the taking. How right he was. They played the same great possession football but this time it was being done inside our half! Our normally reliable defence started to look really ropey, not helped by the fact that the midfield was non-existent. In one move, lone striker, Sandaza, who had a great game, cut us open up the left and sent in a brilliant cross for midfielder Davidson. As the ball came over to him, unmarked on the 6 yard line, we groaned knowing it was a cert goal. Then, what a miracle! McGregor got his finger tips to the header and pushed it over the bar. It was worthy of Goram. What a save! What a relief! Later in the half, our keeper made another great stop and around these saves the visitors were causing all sorts of mayhem especially up the flanks. The Bears’ hearts were in their mouths for most of the half as we awaited the inevitable goal against us. We just got worse and worse as they got stronger. Few Gers fans expected us to score the way things were going but most were bracing themselves for a defeat.
Our one effort that nearly brought about a goal came when a diagonal cross into the box saw Jelavic head down to the far corner but Enckleman made a great save and stopped it going over the line by getting one hand to the ball and holding it there. Instead of Gers piling on the pressure, in the hope of scoring, it was the visitors who looked dangerous in the latter stages. Disgraceful! Even worse, too often we were relying on the long ball and punting it up to Jelavic most of the time. Again, I felt sorry for the guy. Lafferty who had started brightly went from bad to worse and lapsed into his usual erratic self. His body language was worrying when he had been fouled; the ref would play on and instead of getting up and chasing the opponent, he’d hold his arms out, pleading. In fact, once, instead of chasing the opponent who had fouled him, he ended up chasing the ref, moaning about not getting a free kick!
This was a truly awful display by most of our players. We were out-thought, out-passed, out-fought by our opponents all over the pitch. No Gers fans could have complained if the visitors had gone away with all 3 points. You could feel sorry for Jelavic and Lafferty because they got next to no service throughout. The defence looked dodgy, apart from McGregor and Bocanegra who got the Man of the Match award – quite rightly. Big Goian made more errors in this game than in all his other games combined. I hope he’s not in for a loss of form – especially with Bartley and Weir now out injured again. Broadfoot was poor and the crowd let him know it. Whittaker was below par in the second half but got no protection from his midfielders. This is where we lost our way. Our midfield was an absolute disgrace.
Before the second half, I suggested that we would be better putting Whittaker in right midfield and moving McKay to full back as Whittaker was the one capable of racing forward and taking men on before getting a cross in. Davis had a shocker of a match – his worst EVER in my opinion. He kept giving the ball away, needlessly, he jumped out of tackles, he was marking nobody when they had possession and just didn’t look the same player. Edu reverted to the player who annoys the Bears so much but, having said that, he was still probably the best of our midfielders. THAT says it all! At least he never hid and tried his best. As for McKay and Bedoya – I still haven’t seen that much of them but I have made up my mind. I hope that I’m wrong but I think that, like Ortiz, they are duds. McKay is a busy wee player and tries hard but doesn’t actually DO much when we have possession. Then, when we are defending, he isn’t putting in tackles or winning the ball either! As for Bedoya.....if he had been subbed earlier and Ally hadn’t replaced him, the fans wouldn’t have noticed any difference! Talk about anonymous! I’d forgotten that he was on the park! He was an empty shirt – and that’s something that Gers can’t afford and the fans just will not tolerate. Surely even wee Aluko must offer us more up the right wing than this Yank? Even Fleck produced more after he had come on as a sub in the second half.
REF WATCH: Up-and-coming ref Euan Norris showed that he’s singing from the same Peter Lawwell hymn book as all the refs nowadays in the new, “improved” and “transparent” SPL set-up. Is Lawwell in charge of assigning all the refs for the SPL matches? Up at Inverness, one, Stevie O’Reilly, with the score at 0-0 sent off the ICT player and ALL the pundits agreed it was a nonsense, a blunder of the greatest magnitude. Still, never mind, it turned a difficult game in Celtic’s favour! Back to Norris; we can’t blame him for the dropped points as there were no penalty claims or controversial incidents. He got most the bookings correct, as I remember it BUT this was a drip, drip performance par excellence. In fact it was deluge, deluge. In any 50/50 tackle he gave the foul to the visitors. In the first 15 minutes he allowed Gers to be fouled while blowing for just about anything that MIGHT have been a foul on a Saints player. Poor old Lafferty could hardly believe some of the fouls on him that were allowed to go unpunished. You know how bad the ref has been when the Bears break out in ironic cheering when a ref actually awards us a foul! In one incident, in the second half, the ball was put out for a shy. Before it was taken, 2 subs were put on taking up quite a bit of time. By the re-start hardly anyone, including me, could remember how the ball had come to be put out for a Gers throw-in. It was thrown to Broadfoot who hesitated, not knowing what to do. He obviously didn’t know if he should be hitting it back to the Saints players or continuing with the play and attacking their half. It all ended messily with the enraged visitors surrounding Broadfoot, shouting at him, jostling him and generally showing their annoyance. The ref’s decision? He books Broadfoot and ONE St Johnstone player! Why Broadfoot went into the book is anyone’s guess as he was the offended party. Still that summed up this ref’s performance.
So a bad day at the office – with the only redeeming feature being that we kept our unbeaten record in the league. Too many players are off form right now, especially Davis, which is the most worrying aspect. Next up a tough away game at Killie. That should be our hardest game in the run-up to the next Old Firm match. We will have to do much, much better than we did against the Saints.
5th NOV. RANGERS 3 – 1 DUNDEE UTD
It might have been fireworks night but this match certainly didn’t produce any for the Bears. We won’t remember, remember this damp squib of a game. You know what? I’m sorry, dear readers, but I’m not even going to review this match in any detail so disgusted was I by the display – and at home at that. You know, in our last home game we dropped 2 points in injury time to St Mirren but we still played BETTER in that match than we did in this game! At least in the St Mirren game we made enough chances to bury the opposition. As Jimmy Greaves always used to say, it’s a funny old game. This was a disgraceful display from Rangers who were totally out-played by the visitors. Too many of our guys looked off the pace and inferior to their opponents. We didn’t even have anyone on the bench who could have come on and changed the flow of the game in any way whatsoever.
Even before the kick-off, I was annoyed and worried when I heard the Gers’ line-up. Previously, I had been cheered up by the news that McCulloch was out injured, believing that we would revert to playing 2 strikers. Not a bit of it. Ally just swopped Bartley for McCulloch as our “defensive” midfielder. We were later told that Lafferty had failed a fitness test. What’s been going on at Murray Park in the past week that we’ve ended up with more injuries and haven’t even played a midweek game? As for Healy, our only other striker, no mention of him. He didn’t even make it to the bench. So that left Jelavic – and, as I said to my son, I couldn’t see any other Ranger scoring if he didn’t. Thankfully, he did – and won the points. At least we’ll get to see McKay at last, I thought. On the down side, Ally was persisting with Wallace and Papac. You know my views on that!
So Ally went with this ridiculous 4-1-4-1 set up, in a match, at home, against a side that has been poor all season and had lost half of its best players in the summer. Talk about gifting the initiative to the opposition! For once I can honestly say that when Gers opened the scoring it was totally against the run of play. Dundee Utd had had the best of the possession AND, unlike most visitors to Ibrox had posed a real threat. They had 3 decent chances in that first half: one a miss by Daly, the next a save from McGregor and the third a great saving tackle at the back post by Papac. Add numerous dangerous moves up either flank and no wonder the fans were unhappy, despite being in the lead eventually. Considering we were playing 2 defenders in midfield, how come a few times, the opposition were allowed free shots at goal from 20 odd yards out and / or allowed to run straight up the middle?
When we scored from the Jelavic header it was a real relief but it didn’t really change the way either side was playing from then on. McKay contributed his one positive move of the entire game when, out on the right, he swung in a deep cross with his left foot. Jelavic, behind Donkey Kenneth, jumped up and unchallenged, headed brilliantly into the net.
In the second half, it was Jelavic again who created the second goal by passing brilliantly into the path of Wylde who had come on in the first 45 for the injured Wallace – which was a blessing in a way. Wylde, playing on the right, was running inside the box when he was crudely fouled by Dixon. Stonewall penalty. I didn’t like Jelavic’s slow run up to take the kick but he put it in the corner having sent the keeper the wrong way. So, that should have been it....but it wasn’t. Utd refused to give up and kept plugging away. When big Kenneth was roaming upfield, attacking, it told you all that was wrong with the Gers midfield in this game. It was the central defender who was allowed to punt a cross into the area for Daly to head home. The ball travelled so far and so slowly that I thought McGregor could have come for it but he didn’t and stood rooted to his line as the header drifted into the far corner. This goal also showed up the fault in Bocanegra’s game that I have mentioned umpteen times ie. he will usually be out-jumped by big attackers. That goal put the cat among the pigeons and the Bears were left on edge again as we wondered if a repeat of the St Mirren game was on the cards.
Thankfully, the 2 goal gap was restored when Whittaker did a great bit of work up the right flank before sending in a wonderful cross. To us, it looked like a fantastic diving header by Jelavic, getting in ahead of Kenneth, had secured the points but we later heard that he had actually missed the cross and the ball had hit off the defender and into his own goal. Who cares? But for Jelavic’s effort that cross wouldn’t have ended up in the net.
All that was left was the silly sending off in injury time when young Wylde foolishly kicked out at Flood who, for the entire game, typical of an Irish ex-Celt, had run around as if his life had depended on tackling Gers players. Television showed that Flood had rushed towards Wylde and forcefully booted the ball away from his toe, angering the Gers player who then kicked out obviously thinking he had been lucky to avoid being kicked. Big Bartley took it upon himself to “remonstrate” with the opponent and, for his pains got a yellow, with Flood, for the aftermath. So a poor ending to a poor performance with the only saving grace the 3 points.
REF WATCH: I’ve never liked Brian Winter but in this game he was alright. He was correct with the red card for Wylde but had to have his attention drawn to it by the linesman on the Govan Stand side. Pity that same linesman hadn’t been so eagle-eyed earlier in the half, when Papac had been elbowed in the face right in front of him. Everyone knows that Papac is a big, gentle, quiet, uncomplaining sort of guy so when he was so annoyed that he complained to that linesman and showed him what had happened by gesturing AND continued to moan, then you know something had happened. His reward? A yellow card from the ref!
This was a truly terrible performance. McGregor looked ropey at times, lacking focus and most of the midfield was absolutely rubbish, being out-played by the Utd midfielders. In general, our defence was fine. The problem was that the midfield was allowing the opposition in on top of it. Goian had a decent game as did Bocanegra, despite the goal. Papac was steady and, in my opinion, Whittaker was our best player – although the Man of the Match award went to Jelavic. This was Whittaker’s best game for ages. After a shaky first 10 minutes or so, he went from strength to strength, attacking well and, more importantly, making quite a few great tackles that mopped up dangerous situations. Davis had another poor game as did Wallace before he went off. Bartley looked rusty but could be forgiven as he hasn’t played for 3 months almost. He didn’t contribute much at all. McKay was a big disappointment to me. I wanted to see what he could do. He worked really hard and ran himself into the ground, popping up all over the pitch BUT he hardly got a tackle in. He always seemed to be just a fraction away from the ball or the opponent. He made the first goal with his cross but that was it. He will really have to do much better than this. Edu was maybe the best of the midfielders but wasn’t as effective as he has been recently. As for Jelavic....where would we be without him? Took his goals well, worked hard and had to do it all by himself as he didn’t get any support whatsoever from his midfielders. Long balls up the middle saw him win the header but there was nobody to get on the end of them! I felt sorry for the guy.
At least we won this game without playing well - but the same can be said for the 2 matches prior to this. One of these days we will come a cropper unless some players start showing a bit of form. Thankfully, we have a 2 week break for Internationals. Then our next game is St Johnstone at home. Let’s hope we come back with a renewed energy and form to keep the gap at 12 points until the next Old Firm game.
29th OCT. ABERDEEN 1- 2 RANGERS
This was yet another great away result stemming from a below par performance. In really wet, blustery conditions, with the Dons fired up as usual to have a real go at Gers, it was always going to be a tough game. Ally, mistakenly in my opinion, stuck with the negative 4-1-4-1 system, reducing our attacking effectiveness by playing McCulloch and Papac, again, in midfield. Why are we playing these two in there when Ally supposedly bought genuine midfielders in the summer in the shape of McKay ( on the bench) Bedoya (nowhere to be seen) and dud Ortiz ( nowhere to be seen) At least Jelavic took his place again as the lone striker with Lafferty on the bench.
The first half was similar to last week’s game at Tynecastle – but without the attacking threat thankfully that the Jambos had posed last week. The home side started on the front foot and had the bulk of possession, having a go at us with some relish. However, like most teams we play, they were only good up to a point – and that point was the final third of the park where they ran out of ideas most of the time. Still, worryingly, we were doing even less as an attacking force.
By the end of that first half, there had been little goal-mouth action at either end and I can only remember McGregor having to make two saves while Gonzalez had none. McGregor’s first came in the 9th minute when a 40 yard speculative low effort from Arnason (already booked) was on target and forced the keeper to dive and parry it away, not looking too clever either when doing it. Later, Clark was put right through on goal, at an angle, and McGregor, belatedly, came off his line to block the shot. The ball spun out and Mackie tried to get on the end of it but when down when tussling with Goian. Penalty claim from the Dons fans and Faither Broon but all the tv pundits said that it wasn’t a penalty. For once, they were right. Ref, Willie Collum was a couple of yards away with a clear view of it so he should know.
Meanwhile, in that first 45 minutes the nearest Gers came to scoring – and we should have succeeded – came from Papac. Sub, Lafferty did really well out on the right, controlling the ball, making space for himself on the touchline and sending over an inviting cross to the back post. The ball bounced on the 6 yard line just in front of Papac who dived forward to head it just past the post. He really should have scored – but at least he was in there to try.
The only other thing of note in Gers’ terms in the first half was the bad injury to Steven Naismith at the 20 minute mark. He stuck out a leg to tackle Milsom but was late by a fraction and caught the opponent on the shin / ankle resulting in the guy needing treatment and having to be subbed. I heard the pundits later saying it could have been a red card. Absolute rubbish! ESPN, as usual, trying to get a Gers player “done”, after various replays, slowed the action down to the most miniscule time frame possible, to make it look like a worse “foul” than it had been. You see Naismith catching the guy’s leg - but in real time we’re talking about a fraction of a second when the ball was there to be won and both players were going for it. Naismith was looked at by our doc, played on for a couple of minutes and then went down as if shot, with nobody near him. It looked bad. It looked like another cruciate. I expect it to be the end of his season – and he was having his best one yet for us. If so, maybe Ally will have to offer a contract to this Swedish guy Sise who’s been training at Murray Park this week, if he's even half-decent.
Thankfully, from the start of the second half, Rangers, like the weather, brightened up. The rain stopped, the sun started shining and we started off on the front foot, passing it much better than we had until then. Even so, by the end of the game there still hadn’t been that much goal-mouth action. We scored in the 57th minute through Lafferty and what a good finish it was. A Gers move looked to have been broken up just inside the Dons’ box but the ball went to an Aberdeen player just outside the area. He was well tackled by Edu and the loose ball fell for Davis. He cleverly slipped a pass to his right for Lafferty to run on to and from around 12 yards out, at an angle, the striker hit a lovely, crisp low shot into the far corner of the goal. If only he could shoot like that consistently!
Within 10 minutes Rangers were looking good when a Jelavic penalty extended our lead. It was the striker who had cut the ball across the face of the Dons’ goal for Papac, of all people, to run on to and net. But as he got in front of Mackie, tracking back, the striker, sliding in took him out. Stonewall penalty. Because of a defender between Papac and the goal Mackie escaped with a yellow rather than a red card. Jelavic drilled his penalty straight down the middle but with enough height on it to ensure that the keeper wouldn’t save it luckily with his legs, as we’ve seen so often.
From then on, Rangers controlled the game but didn’t really create much. Then from the 75th minute onwards, the home side came back into it thanks to Gers seeming to be happy to hold what they had. With only 9 minutes left, Ricky Foster scored a fortuitous goal, thanks to his former team-mate, McGregor. He cut in from the left, was allowed to have a shot at goal from about 20 yards out and somehow McGregor allowed it to slip through his hands and into the net. A goal worthy of Rab Douglas! McGregor was obviously far too cocky and casual and that’s why he conceded such a goal. Let that be a lesson to him!What a pity that Gers’ run of not having lost an away goal this season should end in such a fashion. The last away goal we lost was in the final game of last season at Kilmarnock – and even that was a deflected free kick! Still, I suppose we had to concede an away goal at some point this season. Seemingly if we win our next away one at Killie it will equal a Gers' record set up in the Struth years, in 1928. Is that tempting Fate?
So, for the next 8 minutes, plus 4 added on, we had a nervy ending, especially remembering what had happened a few weeks ago at Ibrox against St Mirren. Thankfully, the Dons didn’t create anything and even had Fallon, their bruiser of a striker, sent off in injury time for elbowing big Goian in the face. He had already been booked anyway but this was a straight red. So, it was something of a relief when the final whistle went. It was a great 3 points but disappointing to lose that goal in such a manner and, even worse, to lose Naismith, for who knows how long?
REF WATCH: Willie Collum, like Murray, is one of the best refs. Still, in this game I thought he should have booked Clark for a bad foul on Goian, putting him up in the air while following through with his tackle plus, later Mawene should have seen yellow. He also booked Jelavic near the end when all the striker did was to stick out his leg, while lying on the ground, to try and swipe the ball away but just, and I mean just, caught the opponent. No wonder Ally was furious at that!
Once again we didn’t play well in an attacking sense but came away with the points. In my opinion, the best man in the side was Dozy Whittaker who didn’t have one dozy moment in the game. He was one of our best attackers and the Bears even started singing a song in his honour – after he had done a bit of showboating that was worthy of Messi, beating a couple of opponents in a confined space with a piece of nifty footwork. Edu was our best midfielder while Davis again was anonymous, having a forgettable match. Having said that, it was his clever pass that set up our first goal and that’s why we can never leave him out of the side. One spark of skill from our most creative midfielder is all it takes. The defence was its usual, goal apart, with Wallace making a few decent runs up the left without the final pass being good enough though. McCulloch didn’t do a lot and Jelavic had too many long balls punted up to him in that first half. Lafferty worked hard and took his chance well but there was no way he was Man of the Match. The Dozy One had surely been that!
So, well done to the guys for winning this one. With Celtic slipping up at home against Hibs, we now have a 12 point lead which, in my opinion, in reality, is a 9 point one. In November, we play Dundee Utd and St Johnstone at home so I expect full points there while next Sunday Celtic, after a European game, go to Fir Park to take on the team ABOVE them in the table. If ‘Well can win that one, we really will be looking good – HMRC willing! Our toughest game in November comes at the end of the month when we go to Kilmarnock. If we can win all our matches prior to the next Old Firm game at Parkhead we really will be looking good and Lenny’s Losers might be minus a manager!
23rd OCT. HEARTS 0 – 2 RANGERS
This was a brilliant win for the Gers – but not a great performance. Still, yet another away win AND without losing a goal, shouldn’t be sniffed at – no matter how it is achieved. So we’ve played 12 matches in the SPL, 6 home and away, won 10 and drawn 2 without even losing an away goal, let alone dropping a point. Apparently, that’s our best start to the league in 9 years.
Without Jelavic, out with a bug and only on the bench, Ally went with one up front in Lafferty. Strangely, he played Wallace AND Papac on the left with Papac in midfield. Crazy! Managers know nothing! I’ve said weeks ago that these two should never play in the same side, unless it’s a dire emergency. But, if they do, surely it’s obvious that Papac should be at left-back as he is a more reliable defender while Wallace is a better attacking back? Our manager does the opposite! So, we start with a full-back in midfield, made even worse by playing McCulloch as a holding midfielder. So that left Edu, Naismith and Davis. Davis had a very poor match while Naismith did little other than score the first goal. So the fact that we won is even more amazing.
For the first 5 minutes it was looking really grim as Hearts started on the front foot, as we’d expect, with Gers barely able to get out of our own half. As early as the 3rd minute Whittaker out on the right touchline committed a silly foul on Ned Black. The wallflower wouldn’t disappear though and in the 7th minute Black cynically tackled Edu as he was racing up the middle. It was a tackle typical of Black and should have got a yellow but ref Murray didn’t give it. Instead, he booked Whittaker 2 minutes later after another silly challenge on Templeton in midfield. Now the Dozy One was walking ( or should that be tackling?) on a tightrope.
With 15 minutes gone, it wasn’t looking good. By then, the stats were showing that Hearts had had 60% possession. In the 19th minute we actually had a shot at goal when a McCulloch effort looked to be bending into the top right corner but the ball hit off the face of Webster and sent him to the ground, dazed looking. Thankfully, he didn't regain his senses and imagine he was still playing for Rangers! A minute later and, amazingly, Gers took the lead. Whittaker intercepted well inside his own half and went on one of those runs of his, straight up the middle. He got past 2 or 3 defenders as he raced to the edge of the box and, finally, when surrounded by 3 Hearts men and was tackled he managed to slip the ball forward into the box for Naismith. The striker merely ran on to the pass and cracked his low shot into the net from around 16 yards. It has to be admitted it was against the run of play. But who cares?
In the 22nd minute, Templeton should have been booked for a cynical foul ( worse than Whittaker’s) on Davis out on the right touchline but again Murray didn’t get his book out for a Jambo. In the 26th minute came Gers’ closest shave yet when Papac did brilliantly to dive in and block a shot from Stevenson at the junction of the 6 yard box. Might have been a goal from that range. Then 2 minutes after this Templeton was tackled by Whittaker – always going to be a nail-biting moment. For me the replays showed that Templeton actually dived, once Whittaker had stuck his foot out but not touched the player. He seemed to be trying to get the defender a red card. Thankfully, Murray wasn’t fooled but he didn’t book the attacker either. However, 2 minutes later it was Grainger who was rightly booked for a tackle on Edu.
In the 35th minute, with Gers looking more comfortable, Edu couild have increased our lead. A clearance header by a Hearts defender landed just outside the box and dropped for Edu who controlled it well. He made space for himself by taking the ball to his left before having a crack at goal. Unfortunately, it went well wide and high. In the 42nd minute, a pass through the middle saw Stevenson, between Bocanegra and Wallace, running on to it and towards goal. Inside the box, Wallace managed to get a foot to the ball before the Jambo could shoot and, with McGregor off his line, the ball trundled towards the empty goal. Thankfully, with the keeper scrambling back, it went a foot past for a corner!
Only one minute after that, we saw McGregor’s first real save of the game when a 20 yard Skacel shot had to be parried away by the keeper. When a cross went into the Gers box a minute later it had looked dangerous momentarily but Stevenson was then booked for having handled the ball as it reached him on the 6 yard line. So at half-time I was delighted to be going in with a lead but, unless we improved, I couldn’t see us keeping Hearts out for another 45 minutes. Hearts had been the better team, making more chances and looking more dangerous. Too many Gers players looked off the pace and / or were anonymous, especially key men like Davis. Our midfield was deplorable apart from the hard-working Edu. Thankfully, the defence, especially Gioan and Bocanegra were playing well.
We might have scored right at the start of the second half but Lafferty, largely anonymous until then, made a complete mess of it. A ball into their box was only half cleared by Grainger and it went straight to Lafferty’s feet. His first-time effort was badly miscued and went nowhere near the Hearts goal. This might have ended up being his only shot at goal in the entire game! In the 57th minute, with Hearts in our half, attacking, Templeton slipped, allowing Gers to take possession. 3 or 4 of our guys started to race up-field in a counter-attack but the ref pulled the play back so that the Jambo could get treatment – and it wasn’t even a head knock! This incident to me summed up Murray’s display in this game. Anything that disadvantaged Gers seemed to be his mantra.
With 28 minutes left Jonsson was allowed a shot from the edge of the box and McGregor dived to save but it spilled away from his grasp. When the loose ball was picked up by Mrowiec he and 3 other Jambos were rightly flagged offside. 3 minutes later, Hearts should have equalised thanks to a great Templeton run up the left. He beat Goian and cut into the box. Then as Whittaker slid in to tackle, he sent his cut-back into the centre of the box for Mrowiec, totally unmarked. The Jambo took a touch and then fired his low shot a foot past the post with McGregor beaten.
In the 68th minute Goian was booked for a “professional” foul in midfield on Templeton as the winger turned brilliantly to elude him. It was the Romanian’s first yellow in the SPL apparently. Deserved – but a vital foul maybe! In the 71st minute, Jelavic and Wylde came on for the ineffectual Lafferty and Papac in a like-for-like swop. Within 2 minutes, with his first touch of the ball, the big Croatian had scored. Talk about inspired substitutions! Bocanegra, on the half-way line, punted a high ball up the middle, into the Hearts’ box. Jelavic watched it all the way and as it came down he volleyed it low into the far corner from 10 yards out. He made it look so simple! For the first time, I thought that Gers might actually take all 3 points here.
With 15 minutes to go, McGregor made 2 great stops in succession. Inside the box, Stevenson blasted a shot at goal that the keeper parried. The ball rebounded right back to Stevenson and his first time shot again had to be blocked, this time, by the keeper’s foot. Brilliant from McGregor. With 13 minutes left, Broadfoot came on for Whittaker – just in case! Then in the 82nd minute Black was, at last, booked for yet another of his cynical tackles. How he managed to survive that long is beyond me. His manager immediately subbed him.
The only incident of note to happen after that was when a Hearts player kicked Wylde ( I think) on the shin, off the ball. Don’t know who it was because ESPN only showed the incident from the waist down! Their commentator merely commented that it wasn’t Strictly Come Dancing. Typical! Make a joke about it when a Ranger is the victim! No analysis of it either – unlike the Naismith incident. Wonder if the SFA’s Compliance Officer will have a look at it? Not holding my breath!
REF WATCH: I have always rated Calum Murray, along with Willie Collum, highly. But he must have had a Road to Damascus moment since last season. HIS revelation? To get on in ref circles, give Gers as little as possible. Just copy Creep Thompson. The number of fouls he let go unpunished by a yellow was unbelievable. You would have thought that Ned Black was a relative, so lenient was he on this guy. Add ignoring the Jambos’ constant gestures for yellows to be brandished and he didn’t have a good game.
So, a great 3 points won. Even more impressive was the fact that we did it with the likes of Davis playing poorly along with 4 or 5 others. Next up is Pittodrie where I expect a similar sort of match but, hopefully, with our guys playing much better. Hearts are a much more dangerous side than the Dons so hopefully our main worry will be in creating chances. At least Jelavic should be totally fit for that one.
18th OCT. RANGERS 1 – 0 LIVERPOOL
Since this was a friendly I’m only going to write a general review of last night’s game. When the match was announced a couple of weeks ago I thought it was a good idea for 2 reasons: it would bring in much-needed revenue in the absence of European football ( assuming 50,000 would turn up) plus it would give Ally a chance to give some fringe players game time. Unfortunately, the financial reason didn’t come to fruition as I reckon we were lucky if 20,000 turned up last night. I haven’t seen a paper yet that has given the attendance so I’m just guessing from my viewpoint in the Govan Rear. Thankfully, the other reason paid off – and in spades. The fans got the chance to see the likes of McKay and players like Weir got a run-out. A bonus was actually beating Liverpool AND thoroughly deserving to at that!
Ally sensibly gave a complete rest to Naismith, Goian, Bocanegra, Edu and Wylde while the likes of Ness, Papac and Bartley were still out injured. So, it was nowhere near the strongest Gers side fielded. Still, Broadfoot at central defence apart, the defence looked ok with Whittaker, Weir and Wallace making up the rest of it. The midfield comprised Ortiz, Bedoya, Davis, McCulloch and McKay with Jelavic up front on his own. So, it looked a decent enough team. Likewise Liverpool weren’t at full strength but they fielded the likes of Glenn Johnson, Agger, Aurelio, Rodriguez, Carroll and Bellamy. In the second half, they also brought on big money signings in Jordan Henderson, Downing, Adam and Kuyt. So it was a good side that we managed to beat. This was especially gratifying when you consider the fact that at the start of the second half off went McGregor, Davis, Whittaker, Wallace and Jelavic while on came Alexander, McMillan, Perry, Fleck, Lafferty. Then during that second half Bedoya went off to be replaced by Kerkar, McCulloch replaced by McCabe, Bendiksen for McKay and Healy for Ortiz. At least I think those were the substitutions. I’ve never known so many to take place even in a friendly. I reckon EVERY Gers sub was used – all NINE of them.
It looked like it was going to be a long night when Liverpool kept possession for around the first two minutes of the game with Gers players getting nowhere near them. Then, once we got our first bout of possession we were off and running. For a friendly it was a very enjoyable game with both sides passing the ball around really well and showing great movement off the ball. Why couldn’t we have played like that against St Mirren on Saturday? Liverpool impressed everywhere but up front. When you see the big brute that is Andy Carroll, who did nothing but a close header near the end, you have to wonder why they paid £35 million for such a “striker”. On the other hand, wee Bellamy, getting jeered from his first touch to last one, looked like he was fired up to put one over on us. He roamed all over the place, desperately trying to score but thankfully was only allowed one incredibly embarrassing ( for him) wild shot, nowhere near the target!
Apart from our goal, what do I remember of efforts at their goal in that first half? Well, Ortiz blew a decent chance ( no surprise there then) McKay should have scored with a close-in header that went well past, a great move ended with a cut-back that was destined for a tap-in before the Pool defender deflected it for a corner and Whittaker combined through the middle with Bedoya before dribbling past a couple of defenders and firing a net-bound, low shot that the keeper Doni did really well to dive and palm round the post for a corner. Liverpool’s relief was short-lived though as, from the resulting corner, in a crowded box, McCulloch managed to fire the ball over the line to score what would be the winning goal. After we had opened the scoring, Davis should have increased our lead when he was put clean through on their keeper. Doni came off his line and Davis chipped it over him beautifully but he’d put too much on it and the ball landed on the roof of the net. What a goal that would have been!
So, at half-time the Gers fans were well pleased with the score and the performance. Few would have believed we could keep our lead when we saw the changes Ally had made at half-time. So, it was a nice surprise that in the opening quarter of the half it was Gers who twice should have scored. First a brilliant move ended with Lafferty, on the left edge of the box, showing great maturity ( not a term used often for him) by adjusting his body shape and trying to pass the ball exquisitely into the far top right corner of the net. It clipped the bar and went over. So unlucky! Minutes later, from a corner, half-cleared, Weir, of all people, sent a brilliant shot goal-wards, only to see it shave the bar. That might just have been the best goal of his entire career if it had gone in. After that, I'm convinced that Gers HAD scored although the ref and linesman denied us that legitimate goal. In a crowded box we managed to fashion a chance that seemed lost but the ball went to Lafferty on the left of the 6 yard box. He should have scored easily but his shot went to the near post where the keeper blocked it - partially, right at the post. It squirmed away from him and over the line. From my view at that end of the Govan it looked a goal. Ref Collum couldn't see from his position but the linesman should have been able to award it. He didn't! Just as well it wasn't a "real" game.
Liverpool put on subs to try and save the game and in the last 15 minutes or so they looked more threatening but it would have been an injustice had Gers not won this one. That Carroll header went inches past and Downing forced Alexander into his only stop of the night while a Henderson shot hit off a Ranger and could have gone anywhere but thankfully went past by a yard for a corner. For the mainly young Gers players in that final quarter of the game to look so comfortable against many illustrious opponents was a real credit to them.
REF WATCH: Willie Collum kept the game flowing and could have booked a couple of players, by the letter of the law, but contented himself with a word in the players’ ears. Andy Carroll dived, trying to get a penalty near the end and Collum motioned to him to just get up and get on with it but in a real game this would have been a booking.
So this was a really worthwhile exercise in my opinion. To win was a bonus, for me, as I’ve seen us play Liverpool 3 times in friendlies and this is the first time I’ve experienced a win. My first occasion was almost exactly 30 years ago in December 1981 when Liverpool came to open the Govan Stand officially and they beat us 2-0 with now-manager Dalglish playing in that one. Then, 3 years ago they cuffed us 4-0 in a pre-season friendly that was painful, to say the least. So this win was a welcome surprise – even more so since we deserved it.
It was great to see Davie Weir get some match-time as well as McCulloch who really needed it. I saw Matt McKay for the first time in the flesh and was horrified – at his size! He is tiny! On the brighter side, he looks to have some pace, a nice touch, a work ethic and grit and determination to succeed. Let’s hope he might be our new Alex McDonald. Don’t think he should be stuck out on the left of midfield, though in Wylde’s position. One thing I can say is that HE should always be in the side before dud Ortiz. This guy couldn’t even perform in a friendly like this so when will he be able to show anything? Our defence played well and even Broadfoot was alright, first in central defence and then at left-back. You’ve got to give the guy credit for such versatility. I thought McCulloch was actually quite good with Bedoya showing some neat touches. Still reserving my judgement on him though. Davis had a quiet game while Jelavic didn’t get much service to impress or otherwise.
Of the youngsters who eventually came on, nobody was a failure – even failed boy-wonder Fleck. He showed great appetite and a few nice touches. You have to wonder though what’s happened to him when you see the progress of the likes of Wylde and Ness. McMillan at right-back was good as was Perry beside Weir. Kerkar, McCabe and Bendiksen all looked confident and did some good things so that was promising for the future. Only Healy, who came on for 5 minutes, didn't impress in any way.
So, lack of a capacity crowd apart, this was a good exercise. I feel better about some of our fringe players should we have to play them in some SPL games. Our next friendly is in Hamburg so let’s hope we’re getting a good fee for going there at the end of November. Then, in the new year, I hope we’ll be looking at clubs who have been eliminated from Europe with a view to more Ibrox friendlies. This one was an enjoyable experience, not something we’ve been able to say about games at Ibrox too often recently.
15th OCT. RANGERS 1 – 1 ST MIRREN
I’m almost speechless – or, should that be write-less ? - as I try to make sense of this match at Ibrox. At 2 o’clock I was over the moon, as the cliché goes, but by 5 o’clock I was deeply in it’s-only-a-game mode. Earlier, at 2, Celtic had been 3-0 down at Killie and latterly we had been one up on Saints. You know the scores by 5.55.
This was just about Gers’ worst display and result in the league this season. To fail to beat St Mirren was appalling, especially after Celtic had dropped 2 points earlier and must have been in despair. Simply, we let Lenny and his Losers off the hook. Thinking about this Gers’ game though has left me in 2 minds about the result’s fairness. On the one hand, we should have been at least 3 or 4 goals further ahead by the time of the visitors’ 93 minute equaliser but, on the other hand, Saints had passed the ball around and kept possession much better than us for the majority of the game. If you don’t analyse the match in too much detail, and you’re a “neutral”, you’d say that Saints deserved their point. They had even created a couple of dangerous moments before they did manage to equalise. However, Gers’ profligate finishing earlier was what really determined the fate of the points.
Ally had brought back Naismith, after suspension, for Bedoya – a no-brainer. However, the American wasn’t even on the bench. Very strange! He also had to use Wallace at left-back as Papac returned from Bosnia with “ a virus”. Not for the first time! How unhygienic must that country be? Maybe Papac should have stuck to his decision not to play for his country again? Young Ness was also missing due to a groin injury, a worrying trend in his fledgling career so far. Still, the team didn’t look to be weakened by the 2 changes. However, a look at the bench seemed to suggest that we had no-one to bring on to make a difference should things not be going well. The likes of McCulloch, Ortiz and Broadfoot aren’t going to bale us out of tricky situations and those were the guys ultimately used as subs for the ineffectual Edu, Wylde and Wallace. In fact, many, later, would blame Broadfoot for the equaliser.
We started the match in the correct fashion, on the front foot and with a bit of energy and pace. The visitors looked a bit nervous for the first 10 minutes and things were looking good. From a Wylde corner on the left, Lafferty missed an early chance when the ball landed at his feet just at the junction of the 6 yard box at the near post but he smacked the ball first time and the keeper parried it at point-blank range. He really should have scored. Next up, Edu had a clear header from close range and it went past the right-hand post. The Bears weren’t pleased, to say the least. Next, a good move ended with the ball being passed in front of Davis in the centre, 20 yards from goal but his effort was weak and went a yard past the left-hand post. Then, after our initial flurries, St Mirren started to get their act together and, unfortunately, for us, never looked back, sticking to their game plan while passing the ball around competently and moving into space beautifully. Maybe it’s an exaggeration, but they reminded me of Spain. Their passing was excellent and the way they made space for themselves made us look silly. We helped, as had Scotland against the Spaniards, by being off the pace and not closing them down quickly enough. Plus, when WE had the ball, they were very quick to close us down and harassed us continually.
In the first half, wee Hasselbaink, with his great pace, looked a real threat and seemed to have the beating of Wallace when he went up the right wing while looking dangerous when trying to thread his way through the middle via wall passes with the likes of former Ranger Steven Thompson. Having said that, McGregor was only called into action once or twice during that first half, thanks to good defending from Bocanegra and Goian. The “save” I can remember was a Hasselbaink cross that McGregor had to dive forward to punch away from the incoming opponents at the 6 yard line.
The Bears were not a happy bunch at half-time but the appearance of legend Gazza to do the draw and be interviewed ( which now we could actually hear, thanks to the modernised sound system) cheered everyone up. As we’ve seen many times in the past, the Gers fans never forget their heroes and Gazza got a magnificent ovation. He joked about playing but I don’t think he could have been any worse than Wylde and Edu were on Saturday!
Maybe he gave the players a pep talk after that because within 3 minutes of the re-start Gers had scored the opening goal. It was all down to Lafferty’s energy and persistence. He had been moved to the right wing with Naismith going into the central position. He fought for a ball out on the right touchline, was getting fouled, was dispossessed but got it back and drove into the box. He sent a decent cut-back into the middle but the ball was half-cleared, straight to Jelavic just inside the box. His low, first time effort fizzed into the far corner. Great start to the second half, putting us in the ascendency again. Now, as usual, we had to find that second goal to kill off the opposition – just as in the previous 2 home games where we managed it (against Killie) but failed ( against Hibs) Our failure though in this game would eventually cost us dearly.
Killie still threatened and had 2 chances in quick succession. First, as they swept up-field, through the middle, Edu slid in to tackle but only managed to push the ball back towards his own goal straight on to the path of Thompson who was offside but obviously no flag because the ball had been played by a Ranger. As he raced into the box and looked certain to score, Whittaker, of all people, made a brilliant sliding tackle to push the ball away for a corner. I never thought I’d say this of Whittaker but it was a tackle worthy of Tam Forsyth. Still, from the corner, defender McAusland rose above Bocanegra to send a drooping header just over and past the Gers’ goal. That should have been a wake-up call for us.
After that, McGregor had to clutch a dangerous cross coming in from the left and in another attack had to have a couple of attempts at grabbing dangerous loose balls that could have landed at the feet of attackers. Meanwhile Rangers should have finished the game. First, a good move saw Naismith cut the ball back to the 6 yard line for Jelavic but his pass was probably just a foot behind the striker so he had to stop his run forward and that meant he couldn’t get enough force or direction on his shot but the keeper still had to make a great block with his feet to save a goal.
Later, Jelavic had a bad miss when the ball came to him at the end of a good move and he seemingly couldn’t make up his mind whether to shoot or pass the ball to a team-mate and the chance was gone. In another sweeping counter-attack, Davis made a characteristic run through the middle and as he got to the edge of the box it was 2 on 2 and he had Jelavic clear to his left. If he had slipped the ball to him, as he usually does, it was a goal. Instead he elected to shoot and the keeper dived and saved. What a waste! We had another such occasion when it was 4 Gers v 2 defenders and again Davis made the wrong choice so the chance went abegging. A bad day at the office for out captain!
In the 3 minutes of added on time we tried to keep the ball in the corners at the Saints end and largely succeeded but then in the dying seconds we allowed their keeper to start a move from their own box. The ball went to McGowan out on the left. He cleverly saw right-back Van Zanten totally clear out on the right wing and sent a brilliant pass right to his feet as he ran towards our box. Where was our left-back we were all wondering? Well, it was sub Broadfoot who was nowhere to be seen. He was actually inside the centre circle when McGowan played his pass out to the flank where he should have been! Van Zanten sent a low, pacy ball into our box before he could be tackled and ex-Ger Steven Thompson sliding in, instinctively stuck out a foot, hit it before Bocanegra, but with no real control and saw the ball slip inside the far post. Disaster! Gers barely had time to re-spot the ball before the final whistle sounded.
REF WATCH: As I’ve said before, never trust a ref whose name consists of two surnames. Crawford Allan was poor but played no part in Gers’ downfall. He missed all sorts of fouls on Gers players and especially missed the antics of Jim Goodwin who ran around like a headless chicken in a demented fashion having a go at any Gers players who came anywhere near him. He seemed to be waging a one man war against us. The crowd reacted at one point in the second half as he seemed to have an off-the-ball go at Wylde but the ref and linesman on the Govan side “missed” it. The Bears gave this guy pelters every time he went near the ball from then on, until he was subbed. I didn’t know his name until it was announced then. He was just the nutter of a bald guy in the stripes to me. The Beeb in its highlights didn’t show anything either. Surprise! Surprise! In fact, Sheep fan Rob McLean sat in the studio with Goodwin as his “guest”. It turns out this guy is Oirish! Now there’s a surprise!
So a bad day for us. Hardly anyone played well in blue. The defence, apart from Wallace, was alright. Wallace just doesn’t look the part despite a couple of better displays as a late sub recently. Our midfield was dreadful. Davis was voted Man of the Match. What a joke! He was very poor, making wrong decisions that cost us goals. Edu went back to his previous pitiful displays, Wylde was atrocious with poor attempts at crossing and Naismith was below par. Lafferty was the best of our attacking players and he kept trying to create something before and after he had made our goal. Jelavic was also below par. You have to wonder if International duty took it out of some of our players as many looked knackered well before the final whistle. Still, that's no excuse for such a display. When you see a wee diddy team passing the ball around the way the Saints did, you wonder why OUR coaching staff can't get our guys to do the same.
Next up we have 2 difficult away games at Tynecastle and Pittodrie. I will only forgive the dropping of 2 points against St Mirren if we win BOTH of those games. It won’t be easy as both opponents have started showing a bit of form now. Come on, Gers, let’s do it.
1st OCT RANGERS 1 – 0 HIBS
This was a great 3 points to win but, boy, did we make hard work of it. Ally picked the best side available in my opinion by dropping dud Ortiz from Tuesday night’s game and replacing him with Bedoya on the right of midfield. I’ve seen enough of Ortiz to know he’s a dud but I haven’t made up my mind yet about Bedoya. I’m willing to see what he has to offer once he gets his chance but I must say he doesn’t seem to have pace nor can he dribble past players. However, he does seem to have a nice touch, good ball control and a willingness to work hard so there’s hope for him yet.
On Tuesday Killie suffered a worse defeat from us but I thought that, on the whole, they played better than Hibs did here. Hibs did pass it about quite nicely but not as well as Killie had done in midweek. They also had to rely more on their keeper Stack than Killie had done on theirs. On the other hand, in the second half, Hibs posed more of a threat to us as they mounted a few clever and very quick breaks that could have caused us danger but for some good defending from our guys. Players like O’Connor, on current form, and the speed of Sproul always had to be watched and, thankfully, our defenders were up to the job.
Still, in the 90 minutes, I think that the visitors only endangered the Gers’ goal on 3 occasions. In the first half, a Sproul shot from the 18 yard line had to be parried by the diving McGregor but, to me, the keeper should have saved the effort more comfortably than he did as it seemed to squirm out of his grasp and go past for a corner. In the second half, a Hibs corner was only half-cleared and the ball was crossed in again from the right. Hanlon, unmarked, on the 6 yard line sent in a good header but it smacked into the side-netting. Phew! Then a punt up the middle saw Bocanegra and Agogo jump for it. I am convinced that the American was fouled but the ref played on. The ball went to O’Connor who quickly passed it to his right, in front of Agogo. The guy was offside ( and television proved this later) but the flag didn’t go up. All of a sudden the striker was running in on goal with only McGregor to beat and Gers were looking down the barrel of a deficit. Thankfully, McGregor had come out and managed to block the shot with his body. The ball bounced away to the left of the keeper, heading for the bye-line. By the time the striker had reached it and shot we had a defender and the keeper back on the goal-line but Agogo hit his effort into the side-net anyway. The worst moment in the match for Gers!
As for Gers’ efforts throughout the match, I lost count of the number of saves made by Stack when we had players one-on-one with him. Wylde had our first real chance when a lovely Davis pass, slid between the defenders, put him into the box with only the keeper to beat. Unfortunately, the keeper had come off his line and Wylde’s shot hit off his legs. Bad miss! Wylde had another chance later when Jelavic brilliantly headed the ball down to him just inside the box. Wylde took a touch but then blasted his shot over the bar. The Bears were not amused.
Jelavic was next to miss – although I would say it was a great save rather than a bad miss. Lafferty, of all people, did a lovely chip over the defence right on to Jelavic. He controlled the ball and shot, all in an instant, but the keeper had come off his line so quickly that, by the time Jelavic shot, he was only a yard away from him and so the ball bounced off the keeper’s body and away. Tough luck!
Next a low Lafferty free kick from around 25 yards out skidded past the wall and Stack had to dive to his left-hand post to turn it round and save a goal. Then came our best chance to open the scoring. Davis chipped a great pass over the defence for Lafferty to run on to, inside the box. The keeper raced off his line but Lafferty got to the ball first before Stack diving in front of him took his legs away. Stonewall penalty! There seemed to be a bit of an argument between Whittaker and Jelavic as to which should take the penalty but the defender won and spotted the ball. I would always let a striker take a penalty before a defender any day but, to be fair to Whittaker, he has made a good job of penalties in the past. This time, however, he blasted his effort over the bar like a rugby kick. We debated whether or not Gers had in fact a designated penalty taker and post-match I heard McCoist say that they have decided not to nominate one as in some games that guy could be having a nightmare when a penalty crops up. They prefer that a player on form, and confident, should just nominate himself. Sounds sensible – but didn’t work here obviously.
At the start of the second half Hibs looked livelier going forward and had a more potent attacking threat, as if they had gained some confidence from the half-time score-line and had decided that they could get something from this match. That’s when they had their only 2 real chances of the game. However, Gers recovered their composure and gradually pushed Hibs deeper and deeper with their attacking moves. This was helped by the fact that the injured Bedoya had been replaced at the interval by now-fit Jamie Ness who went on to have a good 45 minutes. We need a player like this in midfield so let’s hope he can stay fit for the rest of the season.
We thought that the Gers had scored when Ness netted but it was ruled offside. It was a great burst up the park started by Edu in our half. He passed to Jelavic who raced up the left. He passed inside to Edu who passed it to Ness who hit it out left to Jelavic who then cut the ball back for Ness to score. The linesman put his flag up when Ness had passed to Jelavic but, if you look at the tv replays, there is a defender in the middle who stands nearer the 18 yard line than Jelavic when he gets the pass. It should have stood. So much for Gers getting all the decisions!
When the goal came it was at the end of a sweeping move. Gers moved the ball from the left to the centre where Ness slid it out to the right where Wylde took possession. His chip into the box was, for once, very good. Jelavic and a defender, jumping up, both missed the ball but Lafferty had run in behind them and from about 4 yards out simply side-footed the ball home. The relief inside Ibrox was palpable! So, all Rangers had to do now was get a second and finish the match off. Try as they might, they just couldn’t get that killer second goal and with a side like Hibs you’re always biting your nails whenever they break up-field in the dying minutes.
Davis brought about the save of the match from Stack when he cut in from the left and, just inside the box, unleashed a brilliant effort that was going in to the top right corner before the keeper got to it to palm it away. After that, in a crowded box, the ball was partially cleared to just beyond the penalty spot where it was controlled by Jelavic but his low shot was not strong enough and straight at the keeper. He really should have scored from there. He was unlucky after that when the keeper made his one error of the game fumbling a long-range shot that bounced out where jelavic ran in and tapped it into the net. The offside flag went up again. I hadn’t noticed where the striker had been when the initial shot had gone in and the Beeb didn’t show the incident on their highlights ( surprise surprise!) so I’m not sure if he had been offside.
Near the end, another Davis defence-splitting pass put Lafferty through on goal. However, the angle was quite tight and Lafferty could only prod the ball against the keeper’s legs at his near post. There was no doubt that the keeper was indeed Hibs’ Man of the Match. Gers would have been on easy street by half-time if it hadn’t been for Stack.
REF WATCH: Ref Stevie O’Reilly certainly had the Bears howling thanks to an inept display where obvious fouls on Gers players were allowed to go unpunished. At least he did get the Lafferty booking for “diving” correct so we can’t complain about that. No penalty claims by either side and the 2 contentious offside decisions against Gers were the same linesman’s fault – the same one who, in the first half, let Hibs run on when it should have been offside.
This was another decent display by the team. Firstly, I must congratulate Edu. Wylde got the Man of the Match award but for me Edu was miles better. In my opinion this was the guy’s best performance in his entire time at Ibrox. He looked a different player than the one we’ve come to moan about. Instead of being easily shrugged off the ball, HE was shrugging opponents aside, holding on to it and getting away from markers. He was all over the pitch and, for once, outshone Davis who did some good things but wasn’t his usual self. Great to hear the crowd backing him and hopefully boosting his confidence. Nice to see Ness back and making an impact. He has a great left foot and can pick a pass out. If fit, he should play before the likes of Ortiz or Bedoya. Once again the defence looked good, especially the central defenders although it was obvious once more that Bocanegra will be out-jumped in the air when up against a big opponent like Agogo or O’Connor. Jelavic and Lafferty played much the same as on Tuesday, neither firing on full cylinders. Lafferty missed another couple but at least scored while Jelavic should have scored but his luck was out – or rather the keeper was at the top of his game.
So 10 points ahead with Celtic playing at Tynecastle next day. The Bears left the Stadium in fine fettle. Fast forward 24 hours and Gers fans were feeling even better as our rivals lost 2-0 to Hearts so, at worst, Gers are 7 points ahead when Celtic play their game in hand. With a 2 week gap until we play St Mirren at home, things are looking good just now. Only Bartley really is still injured and he might be playing again by then. Where he would now fit into this side remains to be seen. Bocanegra’s position is the only possible vulnerable one but the guy has been playing well, using his experience to good effect. Bartley could be used as a defensive midfielder in certain games but we don’t need to do that much ( if at all) now that we don’t have Europe to worry about. Ally seems to have some options now so it’s looking good at this point.
27th SEPT RANGERS 2 – 0 KILMARNOCK
This Gers’ performance was like the curate’s egg – good in patches. In the absence of Naismith, Ally was forced into one change. Unfortunately he put the dud Ortiz in, playing him on the right of midfield. This guy still did nothing to make the Gers fans believe he will be anything other than a dud.
We at least started the match in the correct manner. It was as if the manager had reminded the players of how they had begun the final game of last season at Rugby Park when we simply blew the opposition away in the opening minutes. This time, for 3 or 4 minutes we were on the front foot as we set about the visitors with pace, power and real intent. However, for the next 5 or 10 minutes Killie got a foothold in the game by playing some neat passing stuff and keeping possession really well. They certainly passed it about calmly but, thankfully, had no threat whatsoever. Any time they did threaten to get too near the Gers’ goal guys like Goian and Bocanegra snuffed out any potential danger easily. In fact, all I can remember happening at the Rangers’ goal was one break when the Killie man was allowed to race up our left flank and from 40 yards out send in a low, pacy cross that flew across our 6 yard line with only 2 players in the vicinity – Bocanegra and an attacker, neither of whom got anywhere near the ball.
As for Rangers we were profligate in front of goal. Here’s what I can remember: a great Davis burst through the middle ( as he did to great effect against Dunfermline) ended with him inside their box, with a team-mate either side of him and only 2 defenders in front of him. Unusually for him, he made the wrong choice. He could have slipped his pass either side and it would have been a cert goal but, instead, he elected to try and dribble past the opponent in front of him and lost the ball completely. Unbelievable!
Later a slack attempt at a pass-back by a Killie defender across his own 18 yard line saw an alert Jelavic stretch out his leg and bring the ball down beautifully. As it bounced up, the striker volleyed it goal-wards and it looked as if it whistled just past the post. Great effort! The worst miss of the half ( in fact, of the match) came from Papac who missed an absolute sitter. From a great passing move he was put through on goal with only the keeper to beat from around 8 yards out. Everyone jumped up to cheer the goal – and he hit the ball off the keeper. Good save – or bad miss? I go with the latter.
Next Edu blasted a 20 odd yarder that looked good but was rising all the way and went a couple of feet over the bar. Then from a corner Jelavic almost scored a replica of his goal against Celtic. In the crowded box his downward header bounced up and would have gone in but for a good save from the keeper. Near the end of the half, Lafferty should have scored with a header from 8 yards out but, unchallenged, he managed to put it wide of the target. Apart from these obvious chances, Gers were getting up both flanks quite well but the final ball into the box was deplorable. Wylde especially was particularly guilty of wasting promising situations. I lost count of the number of times he sped past his opponent and wasted the opportunity by over-hitting his cross or hitting it off the first defender. The crowd, by the second half, was really getting quite annoyed with him as this continued. Meanwhile, on the other side, I could hardly believe the sight of dud Ortiz actually trying to run at his opponent and get past him. He had neither the pace nor the trickery to get beyond the defender but, hey, at least he was trying something. His fancy step-over attempts, with no progress made, however, left the Bears cold. Even worse, his “crosses” were as bad as Wylde’s and, quite a few times, he had found himself in more promising positions where a cut-back properly done would surely have resulted in the opening goal.
So, at half-time we went in 0-0 but we should have been 2 or 3 up. We suspected the second half might become a bit of a struggle unless our crossing and / or finishing improved considerably. We started well again and laid siege to the Killie goal. In one move, inside a crowded box, a move started by a typical Whittaker dribble inside ended with the ball finding its way to Lafferty at the far post. This time, it looked a cert goal. However, like Papac in the first half, the striker contrived to hit his shot off the diving keeper Bell at his near post when it looked much easier to score!
The goal that we thought would never arrive came 25 minutes from the end. A great surging Wylde run up the left abruptly ended when he was scythed down just before he could make it into the danger area. Quite a while passed before the free kick could be taken, not helped by the fact that Wallace was subbed for the dud Ortiz. Practically every player, bar McGregor, was inside the Killie box awaiting the anticipated flighted free kick from Davis. However, the wee man tried something different and very clever. He rolled a lovely pass into the box where Jelavic had run away from goal and hit it first time into the net from 12 yards out. Brilliant thinking – and finishing!
The next 2 minutes proved to be exciting – to say the least. First, Killie nearly, undeservedly, equalised. From a corner on the left the ball was sent into the crowded Gers’ 6 yard box where McGregor, under pressure, made a mess of it and rather flapped at the ball, missing it completely. Harkins got his head to it and his effort smacked off the crossbar and out towards the 18 yard line. Some desperate scrambling by Gers players eventually found the ball going out to Davis on our right. He took it forward before sending his pass up and in-field to the supporting Edu. The big Yank burst forward and completed a one-two with Wylde who was also supporting this great breakaway. Next, Edu shrugged off a couple of tackles and got into the box to be on top of their keeper who had come off his line. The ball ended up going across the 6 yard line where the energetic Wylde had reached allowing him to take a touch before turning the ball into the unguarded goal. Fantastic breakaway goal. Well done, Edu especially.
We had other chances to totally kill the opposition off but again failed to take them. The best one came when a great one-two through the middle between Jelavic and Davis left the Irishman running into the box with only the keeper to beat. He blasted his shot though off the keeper again and it went for a corner. Another sitter! Near the end, Jelavic was also put right through on the keeper after he surged past the last defender but he was at a slight angle. He could have taken the ball nearer to the goal but he elected to shoot right away and with only the keeper ahead of him he smacked the ball wide of the near post when a more controlled shot might have been better.
In the final 10 minutes or so, Killie looked more threatening, now that the match was safe for Gers. In a couple of moves they were almost through on McGregor but in each case a timely tackle, from Wallace and Whittaker the second time, snuffed out any possible danger. Bedoya got the last 20 minutes to show what he can do but he never really got the chance. So the game ended as a 2-0 going on 8 type. The Bears went away happy and hoping that the Hibs game on Saturday will be easier than this one was.
REF WATCH: I’ve always said that Willie Collum and Callum Murray are our 2 best refs – despite both of them costing us dearly in various games at different points over the past two seasons, especially against Celtic. However, Collum here had a shocker of a match. I had to look twice when he first came nearer the Govan to make sure it actually WAS him, so bad had his decisions been. He constantly let Killie fouls go while always penalising Gers’ ones. He missed a blatant penalty when Wylde was in the box and was body-checked off the ball as he ran for an intended pass. At least when he booked Ortiz that was correct as the dud had decided that he couldn’t keep up with the big lumbering central defender as he ran up the touchline near the half-way line so the Spaniard simply barged him over the line with no intention of going for the ball. Sums Ortiz up! On this display, I’m starting to worry about Collum. Post-match heard the Killie manager say that Collum had gone into their dressing-room to "congratulate" them and apologise for booking 4 of their players! Wonder if he dared enter the Gers' dressing-room? Have Lawwell and co managed to get the refs to come round to their viewpoint now?
So a good 3 points and another clean sheet. McGregor had nothing to do and the defenders in front of him were good when they had to be. Whittaker again is improving so that’s heartening. Papac was...well...Papac – steady as always but missed an absolute sitter. The central defenders Goian and Bocanegra have formed a decent partnership and always look calm and assured – unlike Majstorovic and Loovens. Big Goian is like a rock. At one point a Killie guy was racing towards him with the ball and the Romanian just waited and at the right moment stuck his boot forward and took the ball away from the attacker. How the crowd cheered! I’m starting to wonder now how Bartley, when he’s fit again, will get into this side. Davis, compared to Saturday, was night and day. He had a poor game and was caught too often in possession or making the wrong choice of pass or movement. He seemed dozy at times, reminding me of Whittaker at his worst. Edu had another good game and his confidence must be growing by now. Wylde had a lot of possession and made some great runs up the left but far too often his crossing was deplorable. He really has to sort this out or there’s no point in him being in the team. Ortiz is a dud and always will be. To think that this was Ally’s first signing! Who scouted this guy? Was John Brown or Neil Murray? I don’t have any confidence in either of these guys. Up front Lafferty was at his most frustrating, running into people, making the wrong decisions, straying away from where he should have been. Should have had 2 goals as well. Jelavic still isn’t firing on all cylinders but scored a great goal and always worked hard. I was worried though in the first half about his body language when he was fouled or thought he had been. I don’t like to see players moaning at refs, just get up and chase after the defender or close them down. Wallace on for 20 odd minutes had his most impressive spell yet for the Gers in my opinion. I was really pleased to see him driving forward and getting stuck in with some decent tackles. Maybe he had been carrying an injury and the past few weeks rest have done him the world of good. After all, he’s Ally’s most expensive signing – and, in the opinion of most fans, over-priced at that!So 7 clear of Lenny’s Losers with Hibs at Ibrox next and a chance to go 10 clear before Celtic go to Tynecastle. I’d play the same side - with the exception of Ortiz in midfield. Surely Bedoya is due a start there? Hibs are poor just now but there were that when they beat us 3-0 at Ibrox last season so let’s not slip up – especially as we have the International gap followed by another home match against St Mirren
24th SEPT DUNFERMLINE 0 – 4 RANGERS
For this vital game after the debacle of Falkirk, Ally reverted to his “normal” line-up with Edu and Davis in central midfield accompanied by Naismith and Wylde on the flanks, strikers Jelavic and Lafferty ahead of them. The first worry was that Iain Brines was the ref. The only one worse than him, in Gers terms of course, is Creep Thomson. Still this turned out to be a great result but, in my opinion, only a good performance, nothing to go crazy about.
For the first 5 minutes the Pars looked quite good as they passed the ball around but, as for most of the match, they never really did anything in the danger area, the final third of the park. Suits us! Our opener in the 8th minute came from a corner on the right that was met perfectly by Bocanegra. This guy hasn’t looked good in the air defensively in the games I’ve watched so far but he managed to get his head to the cross without really having had to jump but he guided a lovely, accurate header inside the right-hand post. His biggest problem was the wrestling attention he was getting from Jason Thomson as the ball was flighted in. That should have been a penalty anyway but Brines was never going to give it. Proof of this came later when the same guy had Bocanegra again in a wrestling clinch, holding on to him and preventing him from running on to a cross. No action from the ref. In fact, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen opposition players grabbing our guys so blatantly inside the box at corners. They were doing this all the time – and getting away with it. It was almost as if they had been coached to do this when defending.
The second goal, that all but finished the game, came from a McGregor punt up-field. Jelavic picked up the second ball deep inside their half and ran inside, towards the middle before laying the ball off to Edu. He took a touch before amazingly having a go from 25 yards out with his left peg. What a goal as the ball flew just inside the left-hand post despite the despairing dive of Gallagher. You just have to savour these because the guy doesn’t do it too often. That seemed to put Gers on easy street.
Indeed, during that entire first half I can only remember the home team having 2 “chances”. The first was a header that looked quite harmless but had to be flipped over the bar and the second was a long-range shot that forced McGregor to dive to his left and parry away. If he hadn’t, he really would have been slated for another booboo though. Meanwhile Wylde might have scored but his low shot from the left was blocked partially by Gallagher before he had to turn and dive on the ball before it went over the line. Plus Davis really should have scored at the end of a great sweeping move that ended with Jelavic chipping a beauty of a ball inside the box right on to the head of Davis who had followed up his run. Unfortunately, his header was totally mis-directed and went yards wide. A sitter - but almost forgivable since it was Davis and thus not his forte.
Just before half-time we got our biggest scare – but it wasn’t from a Dunfermline move. It came when big Goian seemed to land badly on his ankle and looked to be in great pain. From the way he was acting I thought it was a really bad injury – especially when he was stretchered off. Thankfully, Broadfoot, warming up, was recalled and after a couple of minutes the big Romanian, our best defender now, came back on. He also came out for the second half which was a big relief and played out the game. This is one guy we just can’t afford to lose while Bartley and Weir are still injured.
So we went in 2 up at half-time and had been playing competently enough with the defence looking sound when called upon. Davis apart though, our attacking players just weren’t doing the business. Jelavic and especially Lafferty were pretty anonymous as was Naismith whose main action was to draw attention to himself by “elbowing” McCann in their box. The tv people kept showing the incident and describing it as an “elbow” but in my opinion it wasn’t. As the cross came into the box you could see McCann grabbing Naismith ( as the Pars defenders had been doing throughout the match) Naismith, wrongly, had a swipe backwards with his arm (not his elbow) and, to me seemed to, just, catch McCann with his hand on the face. If the incompetent Brines had seen it he would probably have shown the red card. So, expect Naisy to be called in front of the new version of the video panel to explain his actions. No doubt he’ll get a ( deserved) one game ban but he may even get a 2 or 3 game one. If so, Gers should be watching carefully in future to see how Celtic players and others are treated after such incidents.
Dud Ortiz replaced Lafferty ( apparently injured) at the start of the second half. At least this allowed Naismith to get more involved and Jelavic also played a more prominent role in the proceedings. Within 5 minutes of the re-start, Gers had really killed the home side off with a great third goal. Just inside our half, Ortiz played a simple pass forward to Davis. As is his wont, he raced forward, straight up the middle – always a great sight for Gers fans. Just outside the box he played the perfect pass for Naisy. The weight on it was brilliant and it allowed Naismith to race between two defenders, run on to the ball at the 6 yard line and clip it first time with his left foot past the keeper who had come off his line. Simple move but oh so effective. That’s how football should be played!
During the rest of that half Gers could have scored more than the one goal that was added to our tally. A fantastic Jelavic free kick brought out a brilliant save from Gallagher who flipped it over the bar. Near the death a similar Davis free kick saw the keeper dive to his left and parry the net-bound shot away for a corner. A great chip over the top found Naismith in the box but as he controlled it before shooting he was surrounded by a couple of defenders and the keeper and unfortunately ran straight into one of them. Whittaker had come into it more as an attacking force. In a trademark run forward, he beat a few opponents, cut inside and unleashed a shot that was sliced past the far post. Great effort though. Minutes later a clearance bounced up right in front of him, well outside the box and he met the ball perfectly with a tremendous volley that their keeper had to dive and save from being a brilliant goal.
Even sub Bedoya who had come on 15 minutes from the end for Wylde did well when he controlled a long pass out on the left wing, cut in, made space for himself and had a go from the edge of the box. Unfortunately the ball hit off Jelavic who had got in the way and was offside. When the 4th goal did come it was a thing of joy. Big Goian, inside his own box, headed the ball out to Davis, just outside the box. The captain just did what he does naturally – he collected the ball and started to drive forward with it. He began running up the left but then cut in to the centre and raced towards their box with the Pars players retreating. Jelavic and Naismith ran up different channels, confusing the defenders and at the right moment Davis slipped the ball to his right, in front of Jelavic just outside the 6 yard box. The Croat could have shot from an angle but cleverly saw his partner who had stayed onside and was lurking on the 6 yard line towards the back post. His low pass was so good that even I could have finished so Naismith wasn’t going to miss such a tap-in. Brilliant move from defence to a goal in seconds!
So a convincing win after a difficult midweek. I can’t imagine that many Bears would have expected such a score-line beforehand but that just makes it all the better. That’s now 5 consecutive away games where we haven’t even conceded a goal let alone any points. Great work and long may it continue!
REF WATCH: Dud ref, Brines had no effect on this game, thankfully. It was played in a good spirit and didn’t have to be controlled as such. No debatable decisions to be made because of this. However, he did ignore / miss the continual grappling and wresting of Pars defenders on our players inside the box at corners etc. Plus he missed the Naismith incident that will definitely have consequences for the player later this week. The new, improved, quicker disciplinary procedures will probably mean that Naisy wil miss the Killie game at Ibrox on Tuesday. Let’s hope that’s the only one considering the scoring form he’s in right now.
So a great 3 points, with 3 home games next up. The defence was competent enough although it really wasn’t called upon very often. Davis had one of his best games for the club. He was inspirational, almost like Barry Ferguson at his best. He was all over the park, defending when necessary but also providing our main spark in an attacking sense. Pity he didn’t get the goal that his contribution deserved. His forward runs, straight up the middle, are the most exciting thing Gers fans ever see. Praise is also due to my perennial targets of criticism, Edu and Whittaker. Both cut down on their errors and did some really good things in this match. Whittaker, after a terrible start to this season, looked like he was getting a bit of form back and showing more confidence. Now I’d like to see him attacking up the right more often if indeed he has got his confidence back.
I still think our best attacking option is Jelavic with Naismith playing just off him. Both are very clever players who can time their runs to perfection, especially Naismith as he comes from deeper positions thus causing defences all kinds of problems. Lafferty, as this game showed, is still too inconsistent. Also we need to utilise Wylde’s pace more and he needs to start getting in some much better crosses into the box. I heard some hack say on radio that apparently at Murray Park the coaches are working on this with the boy. Let’s hope we start seeing the fruits of this soon because it could be a great weapon for the team.
So, Killie, Hibs and St Mirren all at Ibrox next. 9 points there and we will be looking good – especially if the likes of Bartley, Weir and McKay are fit by then.
21st SEPT. FALKIRK 3 – 2 RANGERS
There will not be a “proper” report on this game for 2 reasons: I have not seen any of it but merely read various accounts in the papers; I’m too disgusted to think about it any longer than I have to.
I’m firmly in “ it’s only a game” mode but at my age it’s about time that I started to believe that. I think I’m gradually getting there. The past few days have shown what being a fan is all about. I’ve gone from the highest of the highs to the lowest of the lows. This was “only” the League Cup ( the most minor of the trophies available) so it should be no big deal but, to lose to a lower league side is always unacceptable for Rangers. I’m old enough to have suffered from the shock Scottish Cup exit to Berwick in 1967 but an even worse defeat, in my opinion, came in the Le Guen era when St Johnstone knocked us out of the League Cup at Ibrox. This Falkirk defeat is up there, maybe just slightly behind that one.
When I heard the result, my first thought was that Ally had played an under-strength side and, although he did, it wasn’t THAT far off our best. The players in the team should have been miles better than Falkirk so it all comes down to attitude and the manager seems to be admitting that the correct frame of mind just wasn’t there against the Bairns until we were two down in the second half. I had hoped that Ally wouldn’t go down the Walter route of giving the reserve keeper a cup outing, just to keep him happy - but he did. Reading the reports, we lost the first two goals to headers but I’m not sure if that was down to Alexander or the central defenders. The winning goal from a free kick seems to have been fumbled by Alexander according to the reports I’ve read. Still, McGregor did the same on Sunday. Anyway, the defeat can’t be laid at the door of the keeper solely.
Ally’s team showed 4 changes from the Old Firm match: sub keeper, Bedoya, Healy and McCulloch all coming in as well. That side, with the right attitude, should have sweep Falkirk away but according to the manager himself, especially in the first half, the players were too complacent, lackadaisical in their approach. We seen it all before, haven’t we? Worryingly, if winger Bedoya can’t make any impact against the likes of Falkirk, it doesn’t augur well for the rest of the season. As for Healy – why we gave this guy another year’s contract is beyond me – and most other Gers fans. I also note that the man from Oz, McKay is injured already! What the hell to Rangers do to players in training?
On the plus side, we did have the grit to come back from 2 down with 10 minutes left to equalise but, on the other hand, we blew it in injury time. Let’s finish on a positive note: the title is our main priority this season. Winning 4 in-a-row ( and maybe seeing the back of Loser Lenny) is vital. With no Europe and no League Cup now, we have no distractions and should have a big enough squad to cope with league games only – if the attitude is right. This absolutely shocking result will, hopefully, be a spur to the players on Saturday when they go to East End Park. Surely they won’t fail to win against the Pars? If they don’t, Ally will be under real pressure from some of the Bears. After that, we have 3 consecutive home games against mediocre opposition. Still, any opposition is only mediocre IF the Gers players go about their business with the correct attitude. Let’s see what that’s like on Saturday.
18th SEPT. RANGERS 4 – 2 CELTIC
A great victory and second half performance in this first Old Firm derby of the season sent the Bears home happy. Personally, I couldn’t wait to get home from Ibrox to watch my recording of the entire game. When I heard the team selected by Ally, my one reservation was the inclusion of Edu but, hey, even he was better than I had expected and made fewer errors than usual. Well done, son. I was also disappointed that neither McKay nor Bedoya were on the bench. Still, cheering me up was the sight of that Celtic defence with ropey Loovens in there plus 2 newcomers to Old Firm matches in Wilson and El Khadoori. Also, their midfield had no wingers with Loser Lenny going with 3 cloggers out of his midfield 4 ( Broon, Kayal and Mulgrew) and, as an extra bonus, he played the Greek geek, Samaras – much to the annoyance of Celtic fans, I bet. The one fly(man) in the ointment was that Creep Thomson was the ref!
The first half was a very scrappy affair with not much happening in either penalty box. Neither keeper had much to deal with at all. Both sides passed it about well enough – until they got to the final third and there the final cross or pass was mainly ineffectual. A dicey pass-back to Forster almost caused the lanky keeper to be closed down by the eager Lafferty but the ball cannoned off him to safety. At the other end Samaras tried a long-range, first time effort that flew wildly over the bar and later, from a corner, a Loovens header in the box went out for a shy so bad was it.
The Gers opening goal came from a poor clearance from new bhoy, Kelvin Wilson. His mis-hit effort went straight to Naismith, just inside the box. Naisy hit an absolute belter into the top far corner giving the keeper no chance. Gers should have capitalised on that but, instead it became even more of a midfield battle with Celtic gaining more and more possession. Still, they didn’t really threaten McGregor – and then they equalised. To his credit, it was the much-maligned Brown who created the goal was a lovely disguised reverse pass to Hooper. When you see it on television, you can see he fooled his opponents by using his eyes, looking to the right while sending his pass in the opposite direction. You might also note that dozy Whittaker was a yard or so off Hooper when the ball went through to him. Having said that, big Goian should have been on the striker anyway. So, between the two of them, their deadliest striker was allowed time for a free shot at goal. Even so, from my angle, I thought Hooper’s placed shot might have been saved by McGregor as it swerved in at the far post. Maybe I was being hyper-critical of our keeper. If so, I was justifiably annoyed at him a few minutes later when Celtic unbelievably took the lead.
Left-back El Khadoori took a pass 25 yards out, totally unmarked and was allowed a free shot at goal. If you see it again, watch Whittaker, standing 5 yards off him and not trying to close him down. Still, we can’t blame dozy Whitto for this one as the tame shot could have saved by me. This time, however, our reliable keeper somehow managed to let it slip between his hands into the net. Disaster! It reminded me of the Ray Clemence boob at Hampden all those years ago when a Dalglish shot trundled into the England net. Off the top of my head, in over 50 years of going to Gers games, I don’t think I can remember a worse blunder from a Gers keeper – and that takes in all the keepers I’ve seen from Niven, Ritchie, Martin, Neef, McCloy, Kennedy, Walker, Stewart, Snelders, Thomson, Woods, Goram, Charbonnier, Klos, Waterreus and Letitzi. And for it to happen in an Old Firm game made it a million times worse! Still, I had to agree with Naismith’s comments in his post-match interview when he said that McGregor had saved them often enough in the past so his team-mates owed it to him to reciprocate for once. Happily they did.
However, when the teams went in at half-time, I would have settled for a draw at the end of the game. Then, came the second half transformation. Suddenly, we were closing them down better, getting in their faces more and, when we were in possession, going forward with more pace and intent. Wylde, who had been largely anonymous in that first half, was now a real threat to them with his runs up our left. Ditto Davis through the middle. Even Whittaker and Papac started to get forward much more. We signalled our intent early on when a brilliant Davis volley from 20 odd yards crashed off the Celtic bar with the keeper beaten. Then, a neat piece of quick inter-passing inside the box ended with Lafferty through on the keeper whom he prodded the ball past and into the net. I didn’t jump up because I had seen the linesman’s flag going up and, my initial impression was that he had got it correct and that we had nothing to moan about. However, driving home, listening to the radio reports and then seeing it on tv it is clear that Lafferty WAS onside. Even worse, we were 1-2 down at that point. Just as well for linesman Francis Andrews that it all turned out right in the end.
Still, all this and our general attacking play kept the momentum going in Rangers’ favour. The Bears were starting to believe that the situation could be turned around. It duly was. A Davis corner from the right saw Jelavic out-jump Loovens and Brown with a great leap to head the ball forcefully down sending it shooting up and into the goal past Forster and a defender on the line. Between this equaliser and the third goal, Gers should have scored another couple – and both times it was Lafferty who was the culprit.
First a great cross in from Wylde out on the left saw Lafferty out-jump El Khadoori ( as his physique dictated he should have) but he got underneath the ball and his header flew miles over when a proper technique would have seen it buried in the net. Then, in another duel with the Moroccan, Lafferty, for once showed some football brains by anticipating that the Arab would try a header back to his keeper. He duly did, Lafferty pounced but sent his shot past the far post when he had bags of time to control the ball and do a million things with it before hitting the net. Just after that, Celtic could have taken the lead with basically their only chance in that second half when a corner kick was headed by Loovens on to the far post before bouncing away to safety.
Nevertheless, the big striker soon made up for his misses when he eventually did hit the net to put Gers in front. Yet another pacy, dangerous cross from Wylde, out on the left, found its way into the box.Jelavic was diving in to get his head to it but Mulgrew ( Celtic’s best player on the day) managed to get his head on it first. It hit off Loovens’ arm and landed at Lafferty’s feet. His first effort was blocked by a combination of Loovens and Wilson but Lafferty collected the rebound and kept his composure by taking the ball to the left to create some space before sliding his shot through the keeper’s legs. Watching it again on tv, it was hilarious to see Loovens scrambling on his hands and knees, trying to block Lafferty’s shot with his HEAD!
With 15 minutes to go, Celtic’s uphill task was made even more unlikely when Mulgrew received his second yellow – at last. Having been booked in the first half for a tackle from behind on Naismith, with the ball well gone, he was already lucky as I’ve seen Creep Thomson send Gers players off for such tackles in the past. Then he had another few fouls in the second half that went unpunished before even Thomson couldn’t ignore his final one on Davis. Ally tried to “console” Mulgrew as he passed him on his way to the tunnel. I wouldn’t have bothered, Ally. You won’t get any appreciation for it from that mob. Can you imagine Loser Lenny doing that? Na! More like he’d be giving the Gers player an earful!
In the last 10 minutes, we should have been on easy street. First Naismith missed a good chance after a sweeping move up-field that ended with a shot from 18 yards that the keeper had to save at least. Then, from yet another Wylde cross into the box, Edu, unchallenged, missed his header from 6 yards out but as the ball went beyond him there was big Goian at the back post. Unfortunately, his side-foot finish went past the far post as he was bundled into the side-netting. It took until injury time before Gers finally felt safe.
A minute previously, Wylde had taken the ball into the corner to waste some time and now he did it again. However, this time, somehow, the ball made it to the edge of the box where sub Healy tapped it sideways to Davis. His cross into the box was perfection and it allowed Naismith to run from deep, unmarked, to side-foot the ball past the stranded Forster. Great goal! All that was left now was for the Bears and the players to celebrate.
REF WATCH: Creep Thomson didn’t influence the game in any way, thankfully. He had no controversial penalty decisions to make and he controlled the players well, booking where necessary and generally doing well to keep a lid on things although, for an Old Firm game there was relatively little aggro.
So a brilliant 3 points that puts us 4 ahead of Celtic. Our defence was in the main competent with Goian and Bocanegra reliable although, having said that, in the first half, the American was out-jumped all the time by Samaras. Why Goian wasn’t marking the Greek geek is beyond me. Early on, it looked worrying on our right as big Mulgrew 2 or 3 times actually dribbled past Whittaker. If HE can manage that, what would a proper winger have done? Still, Whittaker did recover from that and especially in the air dealt well with some long balls up our flank. He could have got into their half more though. Ditto Papac who was as steady as ever considering he has been out for most of the season already.
All our midfielders improved throughout the second half and showed a grit and energy that is always necessary in these games. I thought that Naismith was our best man despite the sponsors awarding it to Lafferty. He was everywhere, jumping for headers, tackling ( and not getting booked for a change) running at the Celtic defence and linking well with his team-mates. His 2 goals were a bonus. Lafferty worked hard and really should have had a hat-trick. I didn’t think Jelavic showed his true form but he tried hard and did score the equaliser.
3 of our next 4 league games are at Ibrox – to Killie, Hibs and St Mirren with an away trip to Dunfermline next Saturday. We SHOULD win all of those and go into the October international break in a strong position with hopefully most of our players back fit and our new ones thoroughly bedded in. It can only get better as far as I’m concerned.
10th SEPT. DUNDEE UTD 0 – 1 RANGERS
As I wrote in Bear Talk, I was away on holiday when this game was played so while you poor souls were suffering yet another piece of drudgery, winning ugly, I was at least enjoying myself on the beaches of Rhodes in 30 degrees. I think I got the better deal. Therefore I can’t really comment much on the match as I just contented myself with zooming through my recording of the game to see how it had gone.
First of all, it was great to get a win at Tannadice – something we’re now achieving regularly after years of draws and the occasional loss. I was disappointed when I saw Ally’s team selection. Firstly, it was good to see that Goian was fit again but on the other hand we were forced to play Broadfoot at left-back. Jelavic being absent shocked me but as long as he’s ready for the Celtic game that’s the main thing. I was really disappointed in the midfield though. Being away, I don’t know the circumstances but I couldn’t believe that Ally was still playing that dud Ortiz instead of Bedoya plus Edu was still in there. I’m assuming that Ness is still injured. It’s a pity because he’s starting to look injury-prone and I consider him our most creative midfielder after Davis. I had hoped that McKay might have started but I don’t know when he arrived in the country and joined up with his team-mates etc.
The goal was a beauty. Wylde, out on the right, sent in a brilliant, pacy cross with his left foot and there was Lafferty to bullet his header into the net from close range. In the first half, ref Callum Murray could have given a penalty against Goian but didn’t. It depends on your allegiances, I suppose, in deciding if he was right. He only got one look at it and even I’m not sure after a few viewings and angles. It did look as if Goian stuck his leg out and Swanson made sure he fell into it so maybe a booking was deserved. Still it was a dangerous thing for the big Romanian to do. The likes of Creep Thomson WOULD have given it!
In that first half we passed the ball around well enough but didn’t have a cutting edge. It all went astray in the final third. Still, Naismith missed a sitter when he shot just past the post. In the second half, he could have scored a couple as well. In the first half the home side had a couple of long-range shots, one of which was deflected just past while the other “chances” they created came from corners where big hammer-thrower Kenneth sent a couple of headers just over the bar. The annoying fact was that they were “free” headers as Broadfoot who’d obviously been told to mark him, lost him each time. That’s why we can’t afford to play this guy at centre-half. I noted it wasn’t until the 70th minute that Goian took over this task. Could Ally not have made that change much earlier when it was obvious what was happening?
Of course, the game was changed after the half hour mark when Russell stupidly got himself sent off for putting his head towards Broadfoot’s. For a start he had actually fouled Broadfoot who was running with the ball but then when they went head-to-head he motioned as if to butt him. Thankfully, Broadfoot didn’t do a Lafferty and go down like a ton of bricks otherwise the papers would have had him as the villain of the piece. He merely touched his face and grinned in bemusement which was the correct thing to do in the circumstances. So, after that, it would have been a disgrace if Gers hadn’t gone on to win the match. So 4 consecutive away wins without losing a goal - and we haven't had our "proper" defence available yet! That at least augurs well.
REF WATCH: Callum Murray is still one of our best refs although he seems to crumble at Parkhead in Old Firm games and give in to the outraged roars of the home support. In other games, I don’t worry about his judgement though.
So, from what I saw the defence was alright with Goian and Bocanera looking assured and McGregor having little to do. Whittaker was his usual dozy self with some poor attempts at crossing and giving the ball away far too easily. When is this guy going to find some form? In contrast, Broadfoot, out of position, was one of our better performers, especially going forward. Right now, he should be in the Whittaker position. In midfield, dud Ortiz, on the right, was totally anonymous, contributing nothing. Even more worrying was his body language. When he was being tackled ( and sometimes fouled) he would stand or kneel with arms outstretched as if appealing to the ref for "protection". Not in this league, senor! If you're not going to get stuck in, then you have no chance of succeeding here. That's what I expect from the Aussie, McKay. Wylde worked hard but his crossing ( apart from at the goal) was absolutely shocking. I hope our coaches are trying to do something about this weakness every day. Edu was Edu. Davis was our best player by a mile. Naismith did some good things but missed a few chances while Lafferty at least scored but was left isolated too often.
So, next up Celtic. We’re a point ahead and a win would be a bonus at this stage of the season. Hopefully, they’ll be coming back from a tiring defeat in Madrid and we’ll have some of our players such as Jelavic, Papac, Wallace, Bedoya and McKay available. Let’s stuff them.
28th AUG. RANGERS 2 – 0 ABERDEEN
So early in the season and already another game that I don’t really want to re-live, so painful was it. I’m in agreement with the guys in the stand around me – we don’t pay big money to see this sort of stuff that is supposed to “entertain” us. Who would think a 2-0 win against the Dons could be so depressing? A crowd of only 44,000 for a Dons game can be considered low and should serve as a warning to McCoist and Craig Whyte.
I was disappointed, of course, as soon as I heard the side that Ally had picked. There were only 2 changes from the Maribor game on Thursday and one of those was enforced due to the injury to Wallace. The other was the return of Naismith. At least the dud Ortiz was left on the bench following yet another anonymous display in Europe. If he can’t make an impact against the likes of Maribor, he has no chance in the rough and tumble of the SPL.
Early on, a long ball from Broadfoot, deep in his own half, was headed neatly on by Jelavic for Lafferty to run on to. He ran just inside the box with 2 defenders closing him down but managed to get his shot away. The ball flew a couple of feet over the bar. That’s the type of chance that he’s got to take consistently. Then a pacy Wylde cross into the box bounced up and hit off the arm of Milsom. No penalty, from Brines. No surprise there then. Soon after, Jack, attempting a pass-back, gave the ball away to Wylde and he galloped forward before having a shot at goal that ended up being more of a cross into the box so pathetic was it.
The opening goal in 15 minutes stemmed from Naismith, inside his own centre circle, passing the ball up the centre to Lafferty. He collected and ran forward with it before threading a nice pass through defenders for Jelavic whose first time flick forward put the ball in front of Davis who ran to the edge of the box and just dinked a lovely effort to the diving keeper’s left and inside the post.
Next a great corner from Wylde on the left saw Goian rise above his marker just around the penalty spot but his powerful header was 3 feet over the bar. Should have scored. Then a neat move saw the ball go to Edu inside the box. He took the ball forward and should have shot but instead he tried to turn past the defender who actually tripped him up ( when you see the tv replays) No penalty from ref Brines. As the Dons tried to take the ball up-field it was intercepted by Bocanegra who passed up the left to Wylde. He ran forward before sending a great cross into the box. To his credit, Edu had got up and stayed in there so he was handy, at the corner of the 6 yard box, to head goal-wards. It should have been a goal but unfortunately, his header had power but not the direction and it flashed past the far post.
Gers dominated in an attacking sense but the visitors were passing it around neatly and keeping possession well. Thankfully, they were showing no threat up front whatsoever apart from a couple of wayward very long-range shots and a header that went well over the bar. When they were defending, they managed to get every player behind the ball, making it very difficult for us – not helped by the fact that we were too often too pedestrian in our movement. There was a zing, an energy missing from us. Naismith seemed to pull up at one point with a pulled hamstring or something similar. He got treatment but, to my surprise, he came back on. He seemed to hirple around after that with no freedom of movement and I was amazed when he came back out for the second half. I was certain newcomer Bedoya would have replaced him. He wasn’t having a good game prior to that but afterwards he was absolutely deplorable and should never have been on the pitch still to tap in the second goal.
The worst thing that happened to us came when Vernon clattered into big Goian as he jumped to head the ball away in midfield. Brines gave a foul but no booking. The Romanian limped around for a while longer before going off, about a minute before half-time. I suspected it might be bad when he didn’t even wait for half-time to see if 15 minutes of physio might help. This guy had been our best player. He was imperious – not a word I’ve used often for Gers players in recent years. He looked like the rock Ally could build our defence around for the next few years. He reminded me of Terry Butcher at his best in the 80s – and you can’t praise anyone more highly than that! As the teams went in at half-time, I hoped that the defence that now consisted of Whittaker, Perry, Bocanegra, Broadfoot, would not be too adversely affected. Unfortunately, my fears were well-founded. Without Goian those defenders looked all at sea, especially at the start of the second half when the visitors gave it a real go and only McGregor saved us.
At the start of the second half, as I had feared, our makeshift defence almost gave away the equaliser. A huge punt from the edge of the Dons’ box bounced half way inside the Gers’ half. Both Perry and Bocanegra went for it as it landed and merely succeeded in banging into each other. Youngster Perry made a mess of kicking it and that allowed Vernon to pounce and race towards goal. It looked a certain goal. Thankfully, McGregor came running out of his 6 yard box and diving in front of the striker he forced him to go wide of goal. So wide did he go that he ended up on the bye-line with 2 Gers defenders and McGregor again in front of him. Vernon was forced to pass back the way and the defenders swamped the supporting Fyvie so that the move petered out without even a shot at goal. The whole incident stressed the danger of playing a novice in there plus the importance already of the missing Goian.
As if gaining encouragement from this, it heralded Aberdeen’s best spell of the game as they threatened to score in the following 10 minutes – something they hadn’t done in the whole of that first half, and wouldn’t really do again. Next a free kick 20 odd yards out was tapped to the side for Arnason to have a go. He blasted his shot low past our wall but it went a yard or so past McGregor’s near post. Just after that, a neat Dons passing move ended with a cross sent in from the right. Bocanegra rose with his opponent and got his head to it but somehow the ball ended up floating backwards towards the Gers’ net. McGregor made a wonderful save at the far post as he scrambled before diving to his right and somehow palming the ball away. Gers couldn’t clear their lines and the ball ended up with Aberdeen who started another attack. Just outside the box the ball was sent to Vernon who fired a good shot at goal. McGregor had to parry it but the ball went straight out to the centre of the box where Foster, racing in ahead of any defender, dived headlong at it just outside the 6 yard box. Amazingly, what seemed a certain goal – wasn’t. The ball hit the top of the bar and went over. It doesn’t get any closer than that! If the Dons fans hated this guy for going on loan to Gers last season, they’ll really detest him now after that miss. Thanks, Ricky.
Minutes later, McGregor had to make a stop at his near post from close-range and then Fyvie had a pop from around 25 yards that luckily was straight at the keeper. That was the end of their “chances” I’d say. Still, this didn’t mean that WE got any better. The fans were really disgruntled as we had to watch Aberdeen dominate in terms of possession especially from back to midfield although it petered out in the final third thankfully. We were standing off them too much and letting them play through us. It was reminiscent of the Celtic cup tie at Ibrox last season when we were a goal up and seemingly happy to let the opposition play in front of us and try to pass their way through us. It’s always a very dangerous tactic – if “tactic” it was. The Bears were furious watching it. They were convinced that it was only a matter of time before Aberdeen scored. Of course as time wore on, everybody ( the players included ) got more and more nervous.
In amongst all this, Wylde made a characteristic dash up the left and sent over a wayward cross that looked to be going in the goal at the far corner only to smack off the bar. What a jammy goal that would have been! Our nerves should have been put to bed before the end when a great move up our left saw a nice Jelavic low cross into the box which Naismith cleverly dummied as he realised sub Bedoya was running in behind him. However, the American’s first time, low shot from around the penalty spot, went a yard past the post. Again we should have scored. More agony ahead for the fans. Then Edu had a decent crack at goal from 20 yards but the low shot flew just past the far post.
When the clinching goal came it was injury time and at least it put the Bears out of our misery. A Broadfoot forward run was abruptly stopped by a foul 25 yards from goal. Davis stepped up to take it and his reasonable effort was on target but should have been dealt with better by keeper, Gonzalez. The ball bounced off him and Naismith was alert enough to get there first with the easiest of tap-ins. Game over - at last!
REF WATCH: As usual, Brines refused us a stonewall penalty. He booked Edu unjustly after ignoring umpteen Dons’ fouls but at least the yellow for Naismith WAS deserved and obvious. He had lost the ball, missed a tackle to get it back then chased after the opponent and bundled into him from behind with no chance of getting the ball. This guy is picking up more bookings than our defenders and silly, needless ones at that. The manager has to have a word with him.
So a good 3 points to put us back to the top of the table. However, this type of display will drive away even more fans. Hopefully, with the 2 week International break it’ll give us some time to get our injured players back fit. We really need Papac back plus Bartley and it wouldn’t hurt to have Weir handy as a sub when we really need help at the back. He’s been out for over a month now so how much longer will it take for a hamstring to heal? Let’s hope big Goian will be ok for our next game – a trip to Tannadice. He has been the only new recruit so far who has looked the part.
Against Aberdeen, Goian was our best player, always steady, assured, in control. McGregor got pass marks. Bocanegro looked good at left-back but not so good as a central defender which is worrying. Broadfoot, in the second half especially, had a nightmare game. He looked miles off the pace, was caught out of position, mis-controlled simple passes, missed tackles and gave the ball away. Hey, he was just like Edu. Perry made one bad error, was ok in general but has a tendency to just boot the ball away aimlessly. Whittaker didn’t look any better than pre-injury. Davis was the best of a bad lot in midfield while Wylde tried hard to run past the defenders although his crossing was poor. That’s something the coaching staff have to improve on. Lafferty and Jelavic were ineffective and seemed to lose heart as the second half went on. Sub Bedoya didn’t get much of a chance but he did a couple of good things although he missed a good chance. Not sure that he looked like a winger who will run at defenders – and that’s what we really need.
So, the transfer window shuts this week and I’ll be surprised if Gers sign anyone else. I’m not holding my breath. The hacks are saying that Ally is still looking for a striker. Craig Whyte has probably spent a couple of million net – not what he promised. If it all goes pear-shaped later in the season the Bears will not forgive him as readily as they will the legend that is SuperAlly.
25th AUG. RANGERS 1 – 1 MARIBOR
There will be no detailed report on this disaster of a game as I simply cannot stand to re-live it. In my humble opinion, this dire result is up there with the Kaunas one as among the worst European ones at Ibrox in my 50 years of going to see Rangers. I’m sickened, disgusted, shocked, angry....add any other suitable adjective you care to. If I tell regular readers that driving home from Ibrox I was firmly in “it’s only a game” mode then you’ll all know just how badly I was hurting. Games like this you just have to put down to “one of those nights” and forget about it as quickly as possible.
Ally’s team was maybe as good as he could muster although personally I would always play young Hutton before Edu or Ortiz any day of the week. However, I could see where he was coming from. This was a night for experience, most fans would have agreed. Add Broadfoot at right-back and we had 3 players in there that I would not normally want in a Gers side. At least he kept faith with Wylde who had apparently just signed a new 5 year contract. The boy turned out to be one of our few successes. I might have known it would turn out to be a bad night when I saw it was Edu's picture on the cover of the programme!
Where do I start with my general comments? Well, I reckon that when Maribor scored just before the hour mark, it was their FIRST shot at goal! And I mean AT goal, not on target. Sorry, I’ve forgotten a free kick, a very long-range effort that must have hit row Z at the back of the Copland. The guy was given a free shot at goal and his low effort, for me, should have been saved by McGregor as he dived to his right. It was hardly a blockbuster of a shot. It was only after that, when all looked lost, that Gers seemed to muster up the required pace, effort and pressure to really have a go at the visitors.
In the first half, we had missed 2 sitters. First a free header by Edu , right in the centre of the box, 8 yards out. His header went tamely straight at the keeper. Then right on half-time, Lafferty was put straight through one-on-one with their keeper and he hit it straight at him. Disgraceful miss! Before that, he had already missed in a similar situation. We also saw a couple of Jelavic headers go past or over. It was becoming one of those nights.
In the second half, just before they scored, we should have opened the scoring. A great passing move up the right found Davis heading towards the 6 yard box. He had beaten an opponent to open up the goal and, with only the keeper to beat he should have smacked it into the net but, for some unaccountable reason, he elected to PASS it to the side for Lafferty who didn’t even get the pass as it was intercepted. Unbelievable decision-making from our captain! It was to prove so costly too!
After they scored we made umpteen chances inside their crowded box. Bocanegra, fighting and scrambling inside the 6 yard box, equalised with 15 minutes to go and, as it turned out, we had 20 minutes to get another to push the tie into extra time. Our best chance came when Healy was clean through with only the keeper to beat – again. From 6 yards out, he managed to hit it off the keeper – again, when it seemed impossible not to score! Even in injury time we had an effort cleared off the line – and maybe even with the help of the defender’s hands. No chance of getting a penalty though with this ref!
That was our last chance. So the men from Maribor go through. They were a workmanlike side and fought hard for their result but really they should have been well beaten. They passed it around well enough and were well-organised but they never threatened – goal apart. The most annoying aspect of their display was that in the second half especially they would go down at the merest touch – and stay down. They tried to get our guys booked and most importantly to them they wasted as much time as possible, breaking up our rhythm when we had a bit of momentum going. They made ONE chance and took it. We must have made 9 or 10 and took one. That’s the difference between success and failure in Europe.
So a real sickener. What can I say about our lot? Well, I’d only give 3 players pass marks. Goian was our best man followed by Bocanegra and Wylde. The big Romanian looks made for the SPL and I think he’ll do well for us. As for Bocanegra, my first sight of him dismayed me because he didn’t look that tall and seemed very slight for a central defender. For the first 10 minutes, he looked quite nervous and hardly won a ball in the air but he got better and better as the game progressed. He has a neat left foot and likes to play the ball out of defence. He reminded me a bit of “Jocky” Bjorklund. Remember him? If he turns out to be half as good as the Swede I’ll be a happy fan. When Wallace had to go off injured the American was moved to left-back and young Perry came on. Even at full-back I thought he did well and I wouldn’t be worried if circumstances meant that he had to play there occasionally in future. McGregor hardly had anything to do but when he was called upon, ONCE, in my opinion, he failed us. He is worrying me this season – must be that new mega-bucks contract, like dozy Whittaker.
Our only other success was Wylde who showed the necessary drive, pace and enthusiasm to try and open up the defence with surging runs. At times his crossing could be better but at least he was making an impact. Contrast him with Ortiz and Edu who had absolutely terrible games. As I’ve said before, this guy Ortiz is a dud. We all know it. How come the coaching staff can’t see it? Who recommended this guy to us – his agent? He trundled around, largely anonymous, not tackling, not passing, not even covering an area of the park. With him and Edu it was as if the Gers were only playing with 9 men. Edu was Edu - which means lack of ball control, missing tackles, being in the wrong place at the wrong time etc. One thing in his favour compared to Ortiz – at least he didn’t hide. He kept trying and tried to redeem himself when he made an error – which was often. But this guy just can’t hack it in a Gers shirt. He was very lucky that the Bears didn’t really get on his back considering some of his mistakes. I can only hope that when Ozzie McKay and yank Bedoya are available we see as little of Edu and Ortiz as possible this season.
So 2 useless guys in midfield therefore it didn’t help the cause that even Davis had a poor game, making wrong choices and even giving the ball away when under no pressure at times. When our most creative player plays like this we really are in trouble. If Edu was Edu, Broadfoot was Broadfoot. Poor crosses into the box from promising positions, giving the ball away – it was all there as usual. As for Wallace, he didn’t look convincing either before he went off injured. He seldom attacked up the flanks which is what is required of any Gers full-back. Even Papac has learned to do that over the years. This might be yet another one of those guys who looks good playing for an Edinburgh side and then can’t hack it at Ibrox when the pressure is on. I knew we had paid too much for him when he signed but even then I thought he was better than he has shown so far.
Up front, Jelavic and Lafferty were disappointing. In the first half, neither got any proper service so could be forgiven. Lafferty started quite brightly but eventually faded badly, missing a couple of great chances. He became the Lafferty of old that the fans considered a waste of money. As for Jelavic, he never really got any chances set up for him and was smothered by the defence for most of the time. It just wasn’t his night either.
REF WATCH: Isn’t it typical that when you’re up against it, the ref turns out to be a stinker, intent on proving that he isn’t a “homer”? This guy was from Macedonia. Am I not right in thinking that this was part of Yugoslavia, just as Slovenia was, until a few years ago? Please can we have an English ref next time, UEFA? Anyway, his name was Stavrev, not to be confused with the term “star ref” because star ref he certainly wasn’t! We didn’t get one break from this guy the whole game and he did his best to accommodate the Slovenians’ play-acting and time-wasting tactics. The worst kind of Continental ref. Enough said!
So out of Europe and it’s still August. How humiliating is that? NO consolation that Celtic are also out. In fact, I wouldn’t put it past their jammyness that UEFA will kick Sion out of the tournament due to the “ineligible” players they are in dispute about and re-instate Celtic. On a pessimistic note, I reckon, a lack of European football will cost Rangers around £6 million this season. That’s money we still need, Whyte or no Whyte. It will be interesting to see if the club breaks even in the accounts at the end of this season. If so, that would seem to show that at least we are being run properly again.
Finally, on an optimistic note, no European football means fresher players, less chance of injuries or crowded fixture lists and a better chance to win the league again. With direct entry to the Champions League next season the ultimate prize, we simply have to win the title. Otherwise, we’ll never appear in that tournament again the way things are going. We seem to have better players than Celtic so let’s go out and prove it.
21st AUG. MOTHERWELL 0 – 3 RANGERS
Despite the fact that Well haven’t beaten us for over 9 years, this eventually turned out to be a much more comfortable win than the Gers fans had any right to expect, considering the circumstances: we were returning from a European tie abroad – never any easy thing to do; we had suffered a shock last minute defeat in that game; we were playing the full-of-confidence league-leaders at Fir Park; Creep Thomson was the ref; we had half our first team squad missing. Out injured were: Whittaker, Broadfoot, Papac, Weir, Bartley, McCulloch, Beattie and Ness; Edu was suspended while the 3 newcomers Bocanegra, Bedoya and McKay were ineligible due to visas being needed. That’s 3 full-backs and 3 central defenders missing! Hopefully, it doesn’t get any worse than that in terms of lack of manpower for Rangers throughout the remainder of this season. If Well can’t beat us at home in this situation it’ll be another 9 years before they beat us anywhere.
Youngsters McMillan and Perry made up half our back four so I fully expected them to be our weak links but in fact they were among our better performers. Ross Perry coped well with hammer-thrower of a striker Michael Higdon and Jordan McMillan didn’t let the side down. Another surprise inclusion was Gregg Wylde whose position on the left allowed dud Ortiz to play in his rightful position of the right of midfield. He still doesn’t look the part. So we played Lafferty up front with Jelavic and had Naismith and Davis in between the two aforementioned midfielders on either side.
We could have scored in the 2nd minute when a Davis free kick saw Jelavic head it just over. What a start that would have been! In the 9th minute a Wylde corner on the right again was met by the head of Jelavic but again he sent it over the bar, well over this time. A minute later, a Law shot was allowed from around 10 yards out on the left but McGregor saved competently. From the clearance, Gers surged upfield with Davis leading the charge. Inside the box, he put Lafferty through on the left but the big striker tried to bend his low shot into the far corner but it was too weak and straight at keeper Randolph. Last season at Killie he buried that type of chance in our brilliant 5-1 win.
In the 19th minute, Gers took the lead. From a Davis corner on the left Jelavic rose to get his header in. The ball hit off Higdon as it went towards goal then it hit off the head of Naismith standing a few feet from the goal-line before it flew in. Naismith gets the goal but it really was all down to Jelavic. A minute later, Gers almost added to the score when Wylde tried to curl a great effort into the far corner from just inside the box but it was deflected over by the head of a defender. In the 34th minute, a great Gers’ break saw the ball eventually passed from a surging Lafferty to Naismith inside the left side of the box. Naismith was a bit tardy and his shot was deflected over for another corner. From that corner, Jelavic again won the header but sent it over again – not his day really!
In the 37th minute Well fans thought that they had equalised but it was chalked off immediately. From a clever low corner on the left the ball was shot at goal and hit off the boot of Murphy before bouncing up and hitting his elbow. This allowed the ball to drop at his feet so that he could prod it home from a couple of yards out. Thomson at least got that decision correct. In the 41st minute Hutchinson fouled Lafferty and was rightly booked. Unfortunately, a minute later, McMillan was correctly booked for a sliding tackle.
Just at the end of the half, another Gers’ break ended with a decisive goal. As usual, it was Davis who started the drive forward. He passed to Ortiz in the centre of the park and he took the ball forward before sending a nice pass to his right for Lafferty to run on to. That was just about the best thing this guy has done so far in his time at Ibrox. Lafferty didn’t make a mistake this time as, from a difficult angle, he drove his low shot across the keeper and just inside the far post. Killer goal, I hoped. While I remember, Ortiz did ONE other good thing in this game when he made a crucial tackle inside the box. If he hadn’t made that, the Well player might just have had a clear shot at goal. Still, Ortiz was largely anonymous, yet again, in this game. Hutton was sitting on the bench and I think he would have contributed more than the Spaniard.
From the start of the second half, Gers looked as if we were trying to kill the game off totally so I was pleased by that. We took the play to the home side and in the first minute both Jelavic and then Ortiz should have fired shots on target but both were blocked. 4 minutes later, a brilliant break up the left ended with Wylde being a bit too greedy and firing a shot at goal rather than passing into the box. Unfortunately, the ball went wide of the near post. In the 57th minute, Lafferty, out on the left of the box, took a great pass down and fired a low shot towards the far post but he was being really optimistic here and it didn’t trouble the keeper.
A minute after that, another good passing move up the right found Lafferty crossing to the back post for Wylde but his shot was deflected for a corner. 2 minutes later, Ortiz, with a simple and obvious pass, sent Naismith into the box. His shot was decent but he swerved it past the far post – in contrast to the goal he scored from a similar position at Fir Park last season when we won 5-1. In the 62nd minute, Well nearly got a very lucky goal when Humphrey out on the right tried to cross but made a total mess of it. However, somehow the ball ended up crashing off the bar at the far post as McGregor watched it helplessly.
2 minutes after this, it was Gers’ turn to hit the bar. A typical Davis drive up the centre saw the Well defenders backing off so Davis just kept running forward. Around 20 odd yards out he decided to have a pot-shot and his effort looked net-bound but smacked off the bar and over. What a great goal that would have been!
In the 71st minute, another great Gers’ breakaway saw the ball moved up the right with Lafferty sending it to Naismith who passed to Jelavic inside the box on the right. He chipped it to the back post where Ortiz, on the 6 yard line, had his effort blocked from close-range. The ball bounced up and to the other side of the goal where Naismith, only a few yards out jumped up but headed it over the bar. Should have scored! A minute later, Lafferty was unjustly booked for a nothing tackle on the Well player as he tried to stop his run 30 yards out from goal. Typical of Creep Thomson.
In the 74th minute Fleck came on for Lafferty and did nothing. Lafferty, however, had put in a great shift, working hard and scoring a good goal. He obviously isn’t match-fit yet but he did well considering. 13 minutes from time, Higdon, for once, was allowed a free header and the ball went further inside the area for Lasley to try and prod it home but Jelavic, of all people, was right beside him to block it.
6 minutes from time any hope of a late Well recovery was well-and-truly ended when Wylde scored a great solo goal. Davis collected the ball deep inside his own half and chipped a beautifully-weighted ball forward into the home half. Wylde ran from just inside his own half and nodded the ball further forward before chasing after it and keeping ahead of the chasing defender. Once inside the area, he fairly lashed his low shot into the far corner. He was immediately subbed – and got a great reception from the Bears at that end of the ground. Offer this guy a decent contract immediately, Smith, as this boy does more for us than the likes of “boy wonder” Fleck. So, a great victory and, as a bonus, Celtic lost at home to St Johnstone allowing us to go top of the league and a point ahead of them.
REF WATCH: Creep Thomson shouldn’t have booked Lafferty but didn’t do much else wrong. At least he saw the hand ball from Murphy and disallowed the Well goal. It was a fair and good-spirited game anyway so there was no need for Thomson’s normal input.
Well done to the Gers youngsters who performed competently in this tricky game. Big Goian was also very steady although I wasn’t impressed by Lee Wallace. Too often he looked slow and unaware. He frequently gave the ball away and was run past far too easily. If Papac was fit, I’d have him at left-back until Wallace shows he can cope playing for the Gers. Davis was our best man and most creative player, making some great surging runs up the middle. This is him at his best and what we need to see more of in every game. Naismith, playing beside him, worked very hard and was back in defence making tackles one minute then up in the opposing box the next. Great shift. Pity his finishing was off although he will be credited with the first goal. Wylde did well but his final cross must be better and more consistent. Ortiz again looked slow, lacking heart, commitment, energy – all the qualities Gers’ midfielders MUST have in the SPL. He didn’t even close down the opposition as he should have. Jelavic didn’t have a great game and his free headers, or maybe I should give him credit for “winning” them, went astray every time. He faded in the second half as well. A worrying sign!
Still, a great day in the end as Celtic lost at home to one of the wee diddy teams while we won our THIRD consecutive away SPL match without conceding a goal in any. Now on to Maribor at Ibrox followed by Aberdeen at home on the Sunday. Two wins and the world will be looking a much more delightful place to the Bears.
18th AUG. MARIBOR 2 – 1 RANGERS
I didn’t see this game, thankfully, but the result and the way it was “achieved” is frankly disgraceful. I have only seen the goals and the 2 we conceded were awful. Listening after the match to the Beeb’s Chic Young and Billy Dodds they sounded shell-shocked. To sum up their views, Gers should have won this game out of sight and it is simply incredible that the home team actually managed to win, even if it was in injury time. Both pundits said that Rangers should wipe the floor with this mob at Ibrox – but, I’m not as confident as the “experts”.
Gers actually opened the scoring with a vital away goal ( and that might turn out to be crucial now) scored by dud Ortiz. Broadfoot did well up the right wing and actually beat his opponent just outside the box before sending a nice low cross into the box that was met on the 6 yard line by Ortiz who prodded it home. That should have given us the confidence to go on and secure the game. However, at half-time, Ally subbed Lafferty for Naismith because once again Naismith had picked up a silly booking and the manager was worried that he might pick up another yellow. If he can’t trust his players to watch their step after getting a yellow then he should be fining or dropping them as a punishment – especially if it means changing the shape of the side which, apparently, until then, had been successful. According to all the pundits ( and even the opposing manager) that was what changed the course of the game!
As for Maribor’s 2 goals, the first can be put down to sloppiness from Edu and McGregor with the keeper maybe a bit less culpable. Edu, just inside his own half, somehow managed to boot the ball out for a throw-in to Maribor just yards from our own bye-line! Then to compound his error, when the ball was thrown to the feet of Ibraimi, Edu stood a yard off him, allowing him to shoot at goal from just inside the corner of the box. The low shot was certainly well-hit but McGregor dived down to his near post and still it went in. He shouldn’t be losing goals like that even if the attacker hasn’t been closed down.
As for the second, in injury time, that was a disgrace. Again, from just inside our own half, the ball was booted against an opponent and went backwards towards the Gers goal, going out for a throw, level with our 18 yard line. Wallace could have booted the ball away but elected to let it go out thinking it would be a Gers’ throw-in. Typically, it was awarded to Maribor and while Wallace trundled along the touchline, holding the ball that he had thought was going to be a Gers’ shy, the home player was thrown another ball to take the throw while Wallace, ignorant of this, trotted along with his back to the play. He had to throw the ball away and chase the play. However, the goal didn’t stem from this. That attack was partially cleared before the ball was picked up by Mezga. On the right, he ran at Wallace and nut-megged him. Running round him to get inside the box, Ortiz was caught flat-footed and didn’t even cover or chase after the attacker. Bocanegra had to come across to close down Mezga who sent a low ball into the 6 yard box. Broadfoot stretched out a leg to deflect it but missed it and Velikonja cleverly back-heeled it into the net. Disaster! All this in the 92nd minute! Pathetic!
So, what do I make of it all? Well, before the game, I was really disappointed when I heard Ally’s team selection. Talk about being a disciple of Walter Smith! I couldn’t believe it when he threw in Lee McCulloch and left out youngster Ness. McCulloch has hardly played this season due to injury while Ness was easily the Man of the Match at Inverness. Is Ally going to be like Walter, unable to trust younger players in big games? Having said that, the side picked should have been good enough. At least Bocanegra played as the paperwork had managed to get through in time. As for playing Lafferty in the second half – here is another guy just back from injury. In fact, this was Lafferty’s first competitive game of the season. Not a time to be taking such a risk I’d suggest.
So, although a 1-0 win at Ibrox next week will be enough I won’t be counting my chickens, as Colonel Sanders used to say. We will need to really go at them and play at a great pace, trying to sweep them away the way we did Killie at the end of last season. Chances made will have to be taken. We can’t afford to be profligate in front of goal. Only if we get to 3-0 would the Bears be able to relax during this game. Failure to go through would be a disaster in terms of future income and available funding for new players in the coming year. Let’s hope for a full house of Bears roaring on the players as has happened in the best of Euro nights down the years.
So, next up “high-flying” Well, as the hacks have been saying, at Fir Park. As usual, this will be a tricky task, especially after returning from a European tie. Let’s hope Ally gives the new winger Bedoya a start in this one. Plus get Ness back in there. The quicker we see the back of the likes of McCulloch and, especially, Edu the better. Just heard that we have been granted a work permit for Oz star McKay so the sooner he gets over here the better but I fear it won’t be until after the International break.
13th AUG. ICT 0 – 2 RANGERS
For once Ally played the side that I would have but, then again, with our various injuries, he didn’t have much choice. The defence looked capable enough with Bartley and Goian in the centre and Broadfoot and Wallace the backs. Right now, injuries or not, that might be our best defence anyway. In midfield, there was a surprise recall for Ness who became my Man of the Match – good call, Ally. The usual suspects made up the rest of the team.
At least we started this match in the correct manner and were on the front foot from the whistle, taking the game to the home team. In the 2nd minute we had a reminder of what young Ness can do when he sent a brilliant pass inside the right-back for Wallace to run on to. Unfortunately, his cross was his too hard and went too far ahead of Jelavic surging towards the goal. Less than a minute later and I thought that we HAD scored. Ortiz did well out on the left and eventually, shrugging aside his opponent, sent in a dangerous low cross. Edu, racing in, should have scored but his touch merely helped the ball further towards the back post where Jelavic deflected it into the net. Replays showed it was a touch-and-go decision and you couldn’t really blame the linesman for putting his flag up. Some you win, some......
So, the early stages were encouraging for the Bears as we were dominating possession, looking lively and attacking well. In the 6th minute a great Gers passing move up the right involving Ortiz, Broadfoot and Naismith ended with a cross into the box that had to be booted away by hammer-thrower Ross Tokely. It took until the 8th minute before there was even a hint of a threat from ICT and it was only a mere hint. Doran received a pass in our box and held it up,but, before he could turn and shoot Goian stepped in and dispossessed him of the ball, starting an attack for us in the process. 2 minutes later Hogg and Naismith went for the ball deep in the home box and it ended with Naismith getting to the ball but getting Hogg’s head planted on his own. As the ball went out to the edge of the box it fell to Ortiz, looking promising, but the ref blew for treatment to the two players’ head knocks.
In the first 15 minutes, Sky showed the stats that revealed Gers had had 70% of the possession – and mainly in the home half of the park. In the 19th minute we had end to end stuff with chances at both ends. First, a neat passing move saw the ball move between Ness, Bartley and Jelavic who was then fouled at the edge of the box. The free kick was blocked by the wall but rebounded to Ness whose decent low shot was then deflected for a corner. The ball went out of the area where the ICT player was too strong for Ortiz and took possession before racing right up the centre. It was embarrassing watching Ortiz chase after the guy but never looking like catching him and tackling. Eventually the ball went to the right before it was sent into the middle for Doran, 20 yards out, with Ortiz still behind him, to have a low shot that was too weak and straight at the diving McGregor. Gers immediately raced up the other end and Edu should have done better also as he sent another weak shot from inside the box, straight at Esson.
In the 26th minute, Bartley who had looked rather casual at times, was booked but I thought it was very harsh. One minute later, new ICT right-back Piermayer should have got his second yellow for yet another bad-looking foul on Ortiz but the foul was awarded and nothing else happened. In the 32nd minute Gers’ injury woes continued with new central defender Bartley suffering what looked like a groin strain. Just what we need right now! Hurry back, big Davie. In the 36th minute Gers had yet another decent passing move that ended with Davis slotting a pass through for Wallace to run on to but the back’s cross was poor and wasted.
In the 39th minute, Ortiz combined well with Edu and the big Yank, yes, I said, yank, somehow, amazingly, dribbled past a couple of players in the box and chipped it into the centre where Jelavic got his head to it but the ball drifted away from goal after it had hit off the arm of Hogg. Penalty? Not with this ref I thought. 3 minutes later, Jamie Ness dispossessed an opponent just outside the ICT box and sent a lovely curling shot that was always rising just over the bar. Good effort. Seconds later, an ICT break ended with a low, pacy ball across the face of our box that was missed by inches by arch-Gers’hater Ritchie Foran after it had eluded 3 of our defenders as well.
In the 43rd minute, Edu was undeservedly booked for a tackle on Tokely where he didn’t actually touch the guy whose diving reaction caught the eye of the ref and resulted in the yellow. One minute later and Gers had 2 claims for a penalty in the same movement. First, inside the box, Edu hit the ball goal-wards and it hit off a defender. It then continued forward and hit off Tokely’s elbow. It appeared to me that Tokely actually moved his arm out and towards the ball to block it instinctively. No penalty! Wasn’t looking like our day in such matters!
So the half ended and for all our possession we had nothing to show for it. Ness was, by miles, the best man on the park but the rest of our midfield was under-performing. Davis was having just about his poorest game in a blue shirt with Edu being Edu - but even he was better. Ortiz had started brightly enough but then faded to his usual ineffectual display. Naismith was anonymous after his head knock apart from jumping out of a couple of tackles. The defence on the whole was ok and basically untroubled for an away game. Wallace had spoiled promising moves with poor crosses and Broadfoot wasn’t even getting up his wing. The problem was that we had next to nobody on the bench who could come on and change the game, give us a cutting edge. Still, I nearly fell off my seat at the end of the interval when Maguire interviewed McDowell and asked what the management wanted in the 2nd half. Our Assistant Manager said “ Same again!” Aw naw!
Even less happened in that second half - goals and sendings-off apart! Then we got our first break when hammer-thrower, Tokely conceded a penalty in the 58th minute. A good passing move ended with Jelavic putting Naismith through on goal. Just as he was about to shoot he was tackled. Penalty was my first thought. However, when you watch umpteen replays from different angles, it’s not as clear cut. Tokely did get a foot to the ball as he slid in on Naismith from behind and the side but he seemed to take the man first. The ref can’t be blamed if he DID get it wrong as he didn’t have the luxury of slo-mo replays to help him. I’m still not sure so that says it all. The hammer-thrower was shown a red and Jelavic sent Esson the wrong way. Surely a more comfortable game was now in store for us?
In the 62nd minute Naismith should have scored but his low shot from 20 yards was weak and straight at the diving Esson, similar to ICT’s effort in the first half. Then in the 66th minute it was game over. Following a corner, a cross came into the crowded box from our left but was over-hit. At the far side of the box big Goian got himself in front of Aldred and between the opponent and the ball. Inexplicably, Aldred seemed to just bundle him over from behind with the ball going out of the box. Again, Jelavic stepped up, hit the ball towards the same side but, this time, Esson decided to go that way and he fisted the ball away. Fortunately for us, Edu was the first to follow in and he sent the rebound into the net.
Minutes later the travelling Bears could be heard singing, “ We want more penalties, we want more penalties....” to the opera tune of “La Donna et mobile”. In the 72nd minute Gers had the best move of the match with a sweeping movement from deep which saw Jelavic with a lovely touch, hold off an opponent and then send the ball through for Naismith to race towards goal. He got into the box, stepped past a defender and then prodded a shot with the outside of his boot towards the far post. It had beaten the keeper but went well wide unfortunately. Bad miss!
With 17 minutes left, the reluctant -to -stay -at -Ibrox Wylde came on for the hopeless Ortiz. One minute later and Edu was off. This time his challenge deserved a yellow as he slid in towards the ball and his opponent’s foot with his studs showing. Silly challenge! In the 79th minute Gers had a decent passing move that finished with Jelavic, on the right of the box, chipping the ball to the other side of the box where Davis was totally unmarked. He collected the ball, took a touch and then blasted the ball well wide at the near post. A miserable effort that summed up his day.
In the 88th minute Tansey lunged at Naismith and caught him badly. It should have been a second yellow but he got away with it. That was the last of the “action” and the game ended with no more talking points.
REF WATCH: Euan Norris has never impressed me in any match I have seen him in since he started getting SPL matches. At least he eventually gave Gers the penalties after denying earlier claims. Still, like Edu, a couple more ICT players could have seen a second yellow.
So a hard-earned 3 points but that’s the main thing. Ness was a stand-out for us but, strangely, big Goian, although very competent, got the Sky Man of the Match. Worryingly, Bartley is now injured so let’s hope Weir can be fit for this Thursday in Maribor. Too many guys today were well below form especially players like Davis, Naismith and Ortiz. Going forward, we didn’t get enough out of Broadfoot and especially Wallace whose crossing was ineffective. Edu was slightly better before his silly sending-off. We really can’t afford any more injuries though with the next 2 games away to Maribor and Motherwell. More bodies needed urgently. Get a move on, Gordon Smith.
6th AUG. RANGERS 1 – 3 CHELSEA
I’m not even going to go over this game at all as it was such a humiliating experience. Even when Liverpool tanked us 4-0 in a pre-season 4 years ago, it wasn’t as embarrassing as this “contest” was yesterday. Over 47,000 fans turned up to see this game but the only happy ones at the end would have been the thousand or so Chelsea ones. Thankfully, Gers and Chelsea fans are Blues Brothers so our humiliation was made slightly more bearable by that fact.
The Bears probably realised that we could be in a bit of bother when we saw the starting line-ups. Chelsea had most, if not all, of their superstars on show – Gers had the likes of Jordan McMillan. Our “normal” defence was missing entirely, apart from McGregor and even he went at half-time. So our back 4 consisted of McMillan, Bartley (hooray) Broadfoot and Wallace. We started with a 5 man midfield of Naismith, Davis, Edu, Hutton and Ortiz, leaving Jelavic up front alone. Even this defensive formation wasn’t enough to stem the Chelsea tide.
Amazingly, we opened the scoring and held on for quite a while. It was a great goal at the end of a flowing move that started with a typical Davis run up the middle, great pass to Naismith whose cross to the back post was perfect for the brilliant Jelavic header. From then on, though, it was totally downhill. Chelsea dominated the match and I’d love to see the stats because their possession overall must have been at least 80%. They scored 3 fine goals – 2 beauties from Sturridge and could / should have scored more – even allowing themselves the luxury of missing a penalty from Lampard.
Since the English season doesn’t start until next weekend, I’m assuming Chelsea are behind Gers in terms of pre-season preparation. If so, the mind boggles because they were faster, stronger, fitter-looking than us and, naturally, miles more skilful in every position. If that was them at their peak, then the question I’d ask is how come Rangers looked so lacking in sharpness 2 weeks ago when our season actually started and even now that we’re into the new season? What does the Chelsea coaching staff do to prepare its players for a new season that the Gers’ lot obviously don’t. Or, am I being too harsh here? Is it just a question of the quality of player available to both clubs?
The Chelsea players must have enjoyed this “work-out” as it was a competitive match played in front of a big crowd but, for most of the time, must have seemed like a training exercise. The Chelsea guys stroked the ball around and moved into space, keeping possession while we seemed to be chasing shadows. Once they went ahead the Gers crowd went silent and stayed that way on the whole as there was nothing to shout about. In fact, from my memory the only shot we had on goal in the second half came from Fleck from over 20 yards out, straight at Cech – and that was in the 88th minute! So the “entertainment” for the fans consisted mainly of watching how a good team can pass the ball around and move into space while showing a great work ethic, getting all its players behind the ball when not in possession of it. Let’s hope our management and players at least learned something from watching Chelsea. As for the Bears, it reminded us that our club exists on a different planet from the truly big clubs like Chelsea. We should be happy just to get into the Europa League and not embarrass ourselves while picking up some much-needed extra millions. Our main priority has to be winning the league but even to manage that this season Ally will need at least another 3 or 4 players in before the end of the month. We MUST get in another central defender ( the Hungarian hopefully) and a winger ( maybe this Verhoek) That should be our priority.
So how did the guys who played actually do? On a positive note, this game proved once again that we do have TWO good keepers. It also proved unfortunately that Jordan McMillan will never make the grade at Ibrox and that Broadfoot is never a central defender. Big Kirk, pre-season, has been shooting his mouth off about wanting to be a first pick this season and not just a squad member; how he might have to leave the club permanently or even on loan if he doesn’t become a first choice. Who would take him? would be my first question – unless he goes back to the St Mirrens of this world. In this game, he had a nightmare. I reckon he did about 2 decent things in the entire game but made so many errors including a gift of the second Chelsea goal where he stupidly tried to dribble past Sturridge just outside his own box when he was the last man. How amateurish can you get? He also got away with a push on the back of Torres when the striker was right through on goal. Anti-Gers ref, Craig Thomson, must have been dreaming about Celtic at that point when he failed to notice it! So, in my opinion, if in the team, Broadfoot should only be used at right-back. For example, with Whittaker so bad just now, he should be played there. However, it would need to be a dire emergency before I would ever play him in central defence.
Bartley only got 45 minutes which was understandable but he did alright, using a safety-first policy – not trying to dribble out of defence. McMillan was out of his depth and Wallace was disappointing both defensively and in a lack of forward aggression. As for the midfield, I know it’s very early days and I really shouldn’t say this but sometimes, it is so obvious that you have to wonder about a manager’s judgement – Ortiz is a dud. To me, just as with Rothen or Beasley or Mladenovic, it is obvious that he won’t cope with the SPL and the pressure of playing for Rangers. He had a nightmare of a match. In fact, I reckon he was lucky he wasn’t booed off when he was subbed late on. No energy, aggression, over-hit passes, an inability to tackle – it’s hard to imagine what our management saw in this guy to sign him. The most notable thing he did in this game was to start the Chelsea attack that led to the missed penalty. Not only did he half-heartedly chase after his opponent but he ended by fouling Drogba that gave them their penalty. He will contribute zilch in the coming season.
As for the rest, Davis was the best of them even though Hutton somehow, miraculously, won the Man of the Match award. Edu was Edu – enough said while Naismith tried hard but few things came off for him. Up front, Jelvic worked hard but cut a forlorn figure the longer the game went on. Scored a great goal though. The second half was an even bigger farce as Ally rang the changes: from the start, on came Healy for Jela and now I understand why this guy has rarely figured in Gers’ games. He looked overweight, was slow, lacked energy or commitment and continually ran into offside positions when everybody could see that he was miles offside. He didn’t appear to look at where the defenders were so that he could play on the shoulder of the last one. It was embarrassing. Why have we given this guy another year’s contract with money so tight? On the subject of which, the lesser-spotted Beattie was on the bench but even in such dire circumstances, Ally didn’t give him any game time whatsoever. What does that tell you about this dud? Also, from the re-start, on came Ness ( fit again I hope) youngster, Ross Perry came on for Bartley and I didn’t even know who he WAS, having missed the announcement. Plus, failed boy-wonder, Fleck strolled around doing very little of consequence. The one bright spot was in the last half hour when Bendiksen, the young Danish forward / winger came on and had the fans shouting with a few great runs at the Chelsea defenders on our right flank. With all these changes and youngsters now in the Gers side it was almost a miracle that the final score was only 1-3 especially when Chelsea had brought on the likes of Anelka and Drogba. I was happy just to get away without a real mauling.
REF WATCH: Creep Craig Thomson was in benign mood for this game. He could have given Chelsea a couple of penalties before the one they were eventually awarded. Still, he’s probably saving those up for the SPL or the game against Celtic he’ll no doubt ref at some stage this season.
Next up, ICT away. Hopefully, the injured players like Goian and Weir will be available as well as Papac. With a bit of luck, dozy Whittaker will be injured. Dare I hope also that we might have signed somebody else by then? Come on, Mr Whyte, do the business that is obviously so needed.
3rd AUGUST MALMO 1 – 1 RANGERS
This report will, of necessity, be short since I didn’t see the game, only some of the key incidents. I think the omens were there for a Gers’ exit – even if we forget about that first leg defeat. We spent the week appealing to UEFA so that Goian could play, they miraculously overturn their original decision – and then the guy misses the game anyway with a hamstring injury! Priceless! Even worse, we only have 3 proper central defenders right now and TWO of them are injured for such a vital game. The injured Weir has hardly missed a game in 4 years so his absence was sod’s law. Even, even worse, we end up with only NINE men on the park. In other circumstances a 1-1 draw would have been a brilliant result.
McCoist probably played the only side he could have so we can’t really moan about team selection then. Personally, after his start to the season (especially in this match) I’d leave out Whittaker for the foreseeable future and put Broadfoot in there as he is a more reliable, steady defender. We don’t need an attacking back on the right if everyone else in the team does his job. I’d rather have a reliable defender at right-back.
In this game, Whittaker was at his doziest, managing to get himself sent off in the 20th minute. He had possession of the ball and the opponent took his legs away from behind. Should have been a yellow card for that guy – but, surprise, surprise, it wasn’t. Whittaker then picked the ball up and threw it from a few feet away, hitting him on the arm / shoulder. The guy flung himself back down on the ground holding his face! The Russian ref, only a few feet away with an unimpeded view, must have seen where he was hit but got out the red card anyway. Maybe that’s the punishment for throwing the ball at an opponent, no matter how softly or where they’re hit. I don’t know. The point is it was so stupid of Whittaker to do it in the first place. See Beat Talk for my comments on dozy Whittaker.
Amazingly, shortly after that, Gers scored the first goal that was always going to be crucial. Edu, out on the right, sent in a great left footed cross to the far side of the box where Jelavic brilliantly volleyed it into the far side of the goal. At least the tie was now all square although Gers were down a man thanks to Whittaker.
The next vital point came in the second half when Bougherra was sent off for “elbowing” his opponent in the face. It was hard to tell but it looked like his forearm and when you do that in Europe, you’re asking to be sent off – although “British” players are more likely to be punished thus than foreigners in my opinion. Anyway, the opponent lay out on the turf as if unconscious for so many minutes that you’d have thought he’d been pole-axed by Mike Tyson. That meant it would be inevitable that the Swedes would get their goal to go through eventually. Before that, amazingly, their Brazilian right-back, Ricardinho, was sent off for a second yellow. He clearly elbowed Jelavic in the face and should have got a straight red but the ref merely saw THIS one as a yellow, albeit, his second one.
With 10 minutes left the home side got their goal. From a corner a header was well saved by McGregor but the ball came back from outside the box and the Hamad, not closed down, blasted his unstoppable shot into the right hand corner of the net. Thereafter Gers had a couple of late, half-chances but blew them. Sums up this entire tie.
REF WATCH: Russian ref, Bezborodov, looked like Steve Conroy – and at times acted like him towards the Gers players. Booked Naismith for an innocuous “foul” but had previously let the Swedes away two or three times with worse ones. In injury time, in 2 separate incidents, he even booked Jelavic and Papac for “dissent”. Didn’t matter in this game but could come back to haunt us if we GET into the Europa League later on.
So no Champions League money this season. At least our current financial situation isn’t as dire now so that money isn’t as vital but I’ll miss seeing the best teams. This season winning the title is more important as it will result in direct entry into the Champions League next season. That has to be our aim. With that in mind, Whyte and co had better sign a few more players before the transfer window shuts. We must win the league and, if we can do reasonably well in the Europa, then that’s as much as we can ask for in my opinion.
30th JULY ST JOHSTONE 0 – 2 RANGERS
Firstly, apologies for the lack of reports on the first 2 games of this season but I was away, unexpectedly, on holiday, as I've mentioned in Bear Talk.
Hooray! Our first win under McCoist! The 3 vital points were eventually secured in a more comfortable fashion than we could have hoped for before this match had started. We might have a new manager but the legacy of Walter obviously lingers on. Ally is also now playing guys out of position. We started with Papac in midfield and Wallace at left-back. Meanwhile a genuine midfielder that we have just paid money for ( Ortiz ) was left on the bench. I’ll state here and now – we should NEVER play both Papac and Wallace on the left side of our team at the same time. The only occasion for this to be valid would be if we are playing 3 at the back with 5 in midfield. Then Papac should be one of the central defenders with Wallace the left wing-back. I can see this being the system for away European matches and it might actually work BUT they should never play together in a 4-4-2 setup. Furthermore, near the end of the game, young Wylde came on for Edu ( poor as ever) and we ended with THREE left-backs on the park. Disgraceful!!
Anyway, we started this game quite brightly and might have scored in the 2nd minute. Whittaker robbed a defender of the ball just outside the Saints’ box and honed in on goal. His shot from a tight angle was decent enough but keeper Enckleman palmed it over for a corner. From the resulting corner kick debutant defender, Goian should have scored from a header but made a total mess of it and the ball ended up in a scramble inside the 6 yard box before the ref blew for a home foul.
A minute later, Edu let his opponent run away from him deep inside the Gers half. Veteran left-back, Callum Davidson ran inside and had a pop from long-range causing McGregor to dive and parry for a corner. In the 5th minute a brilliant, defence-splitting, long ball from Goian in his own half saw Naismith run on to it inside the box but he couldn’t quite get on to it unfortunately. In the 9th minute a decent Whittaker cross from the right into the box was volleyed by Naismith 10 yards out but the keeper saved comfortably. A minute after that, Gers’ target, Murray Davidson should have scored. Papac carelessly lost possession 20 yards out from his own goal and a quick one-two saw Davidson shoot from a tight angle 10 yards out. Thankfully, the ball went well past the far post.
In the 17th minute we saw the best move of the game till that point. It started with Edu, on the right, moving into the centre before releasing a pass to Jelavic. He laid it off neatly backwards to McCulloch who swept it out to the left to Papac. Papac sent in a great cross where it was met perfectly by the head of Jelavic. His header was good but Enckleman, diving to his right, parried it for a corner. In the 24th minute it was almost Jelavic again. A great Davis chip from deep, into the box, saw Jelavic running past the defence and getting a boot to it but he could wrap his foot round the ball enough and the chance was lost.
In the 27th minute another St Johnstone chance arrived – thanks to dozy Whittaker. A harmless, poor pass was sent into the Gers box and Whittaker, unchallenged, with the ball at his feet, could have done a thousand things with it. What he did though was to lose the ball to an opponent who sent a cross to the 6 yard line where Sheridan’s header was, thankfully, weak and straight at McGregor. Whew! 3 minutes after this and Gers went ahead. Wallace took a free kick out on the right with his trusty left foot and sent in a brilliant in-swinging cross – the type that is murder to defend. Naismith found space inside the box, despite it being crowded and his header was perfection as it flashed low into the corner giving their keeper no chance. This type of Wallace free kick could become a great attacking weapon for us this season – as can his long throws into the box. Let’s hope we make good use of them.
From then on Gers looked much more assured and in control of proceedings. 2 minutes from the interval we nearly scored again but it would have been a freak. Out on the right Whittaker sent in a cross that was in-swinging but it was over-hit. Still, it nearly drifted into the net at the far post with all the defenders beaten.
So, at half-time I was reasonably happy although it was obvious that we still have too many guys not match-sharp as yet. 4 minutes after the re-start and the game was basically over when Rangers scored a second. It was the culmination of a great move too. Davis picked the ball up just outside his own half and dashed up the middle in characteristic fashion. Deep inside the opposition half he sent a great pass forward to Naismith who ran forward before releasing a perfect pass for Jelavic to run on to. The big Croat was almost bundled over but managed to get into the box and send his shot fizzing past the keeper at his near post. Brilliant finishing!
Thereafter, there was not much to report by way of decent chances as Gers closed the game out. In the 72nd minute Rangers, under pressure, inside their own box, managed to get the ball out when Whittaker, on the 18 yard line, passed forward to Jelavic. The striker collected the pass and ran straight up the middle, into the opposition half. Naismith also made a supporting run up the middle and at precisely the right time Jelavic passed the ball for Naismith to run on to as he went past the defender. Inside the box, he shot first time but the keeper had come off his line expertly and narrowed the angle, allowing him to deflect the shot with his legs. Great move!
With 15 minutes left Ortiz came on for the strangely subdued McCulloch and proceeded to make a few good runs into the box, playing on the left. In the 78th minute a good low drive from Jody Morris from the 18 yard line flashed past the far post with McGregor diving, just in case. It was maybe the nearest Saints had come in the game. With 8 minutes left, Wylde came on for Edu. Seconds later a Rangers’ punt up the middle from defence saw Jelavic head the ball on and towards the box. Ortiz chased it and should have scored from inside the box but the keeper again had come off his line and managed to smother the ball.
In the 89th minute Wylde should have scored on the end of a great move. From just outside his own box, a typical run by Davis ended with him passing to his right to Wylde who had made a brilliant supporting run from the right side of Gers’ midfield. His shot from just inside the box though was tame and straight at the keeper. What a pity as it would have been a fitting conclusion to the match.
REF WATCH: Relative newcomer Alan Muir was alright. The fact that he was largely anonymous was a good sign. He didn’t have any big decisions to make and only booked a couple of players. Perhaps his booking of Papac for a high boot in the second half was a bit harsh but that could be my only complaint about him.
So a good win at a venue that always poses us problems. Hopefully by the time of our next league game ( away to ICT ) most of our players will have found their sharpness. I think that’s all that is missing – as well as a better team selection and formation. Wallace impressed me in this game and if comes to a choice between him and Papac at left-back then Wallace gets my vote. Why did Ally shell out all that money if he isn’t seen as a first choice? I’ve already explained the only situation that I would use both in a Gers side. It could be a handy option in an away European game (should we have any this season) but failing that I would go for Wallace every time unless he’s suffering from a loss of form. He is a more aggressive, faster and naturally attacking back than Papac with better crossing ability as well in my opinion.
Big Goian in central defence didn’t really have much to do but what he did was competent and, in fairness, you shouldn’t really judge a new player after his first game - and an away one at that. Bougherra also had a quiet game while Whittaker started in dodgy fashion but made fewer errors as the match went on. Edu and McCulloch were average, if that, even. But thankfully, Davis got more impressive as the match wore on and showed some great touches and driving runs that can create so much. Up front, while not totally looking at their sharpest, Jelavic and Naismith seemed to form a decent partnership although I’d prefer Jelavic to have a different partner, to allow Naismith to play off the front 2 and be even more dangerous coming from deeper. Ortiz looked slightly better in the 15 minutes he was on the park but he still didn’t look like the box-to-box, strong-running player that we were told about by the hacks when we signed him. Again, it’s early days but I hope he doesn’t turn out to be another Rothen.
It’s obvious that we are still crying out for a proper winger. If this Dutch guy, Verhoek is one then we should be breaking our piggy-bank to get him asap. That and another central defender has to be our priority. The Hungarian playing for Anderlecht should be our number one target in my opinion. As I’ve said before I don’t care about Goodwillie. He’s not a player we should be desperate to get. The papers today are claiming that Bartley will get the green light at the weekend to come to Ibrox on another season-long loan deal. That would be another good move as far as I’m concerned. As for Cuellar – if he won’t commit himself to us NOW, then just forget him.
So, next up is our trip to Sweden. It will be an interesting test of Ally as a manager when we see his selection and tactics. It was also show us what the players are made of. In all honesty, I can’t see us getting through. My hope now is that we are more up to speed when we have to play in the final qualifying round of the Europa League AND that some of our targets have actually been signed by then!
90 MINUTES 