Tactics can be broken down into two parts; the system you adopt and the personnel you pick within that system.
Walter Smith has primarily used two systems in his second time as Rangers manager. This is the 4-5-1 formation and the 4-4-2 formation. Smith is by nature a very cautious, negative and limited footballer manager. He too often looks to destruct and spoil the opposition as opposed to being constructive and going out to win as a priority.
The aim is to keep it tight and hope our better players can do enough to get a result. In the SPL, because we generally have better players, this theory works to a certain extent. Player for player we are superior so tend to get the better of the opposition. However when we come up against a side of similar ability domestically and in Europe, failure has become a familiarity.
In the 4-5-1, the objective is to sit deep and hit quickly on the break. The pace and danger in this formation comes from the wide positions. You also need a striker who can use his power and skills to bring others into play and keep possession under pressure. Smith though over the years has used the likes of Adam, McCulloch, Lafferty, Davis, Naismith and - in the case of Wednesday night - Kenny Miller. Not one of them is a wide player, all of them were playing out of position. So to play a formation which relies heavily on the wide areas and instead deploy out of positions players who don’t offer the attributes required is absolute madness. As I mentioned earlier, you need a powerful centre forward who can link the play to be effective in attack. Smith decided to ditch players of such ilk as Cousin and Darcheville in exchange for Kenny Miller and occasional lone forward Kris Boyd. Darcheville in fact was paid off in January so we could secure Miller for £2m. Darcheville’s record in Europe is impressive, Miller has not scored a goal for Rangers in Europe since rejoining the club.
Smith actually took himself out of his negative, defensive football and played a 4-3-3 system in Pre-Season this summer to mild success and much in the way of plaudits. He then immediately scrapped this attacking system.
Smith’s domestic formation, the 4-4-2, is equally nonsensical. Smith is known to play two defensive midfielders in the central midfield roles. Totally disregarding the attacking side of the game, again looking to spoil the opposition chances of winning. He has again been known to use central midfielders or strikers in the wide roles, who again bear no resemblance to a wide player.
You also need to be able to change or affect the game from the dugout. A manager can either change formation using a player from the bench or look to replace “like-for-like”. Nacho Novo will more than likely come onto the pitch for either our striker or wide player on the 75th minute. You can set your watch by it. A change of formation or indeed a different player coming onto the field is too much to ask for.
As for the personnel, rarely will a Rangers supporter agree with Walter Smith’s teams election. He clearly has his favourites and will do anything to crowbar them into the team. The likes of McCulloch, Weir, Miller, Lafferty, Naismith and others will play without fail if fit. This must be disheartening for the rest of the squad, seeing players under perform and show how limited they are yet still play week in week out.
The man is, to all intents and purposes, tactically inept. He does not know how to apply a formation to win a difficult game. He too often lacks an understanding of which formations are best suited to win football matches for Rangers. He doesn’t know how to change a game. He does not know how to and often refuses to attack. It’s painful and we the Rangers supporters are the ones paying for it.
He is, in my opinion, the personification of Anti-Football.
There is no method to this madness. But there may soon be an end to it.
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