There can only be one person to blame

Jenny Geddes Chair said:
I respect the OP's opinion, but just can't find it in myself to blame Gerrard.

Our players are better than those of Hibs, so no matter how they've been trained until now, they should have still beat them.

The right attitude shouldn't be something a manager needs to instill into them.
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Team discipline is exactly what the manager should be instilling in the team. It's that discipline that made things tick last season and it's only discipline that allows the team to follow tactics.

Gerrard may not have been there yesterday but I'm suggesting this season's slump has happened with him at the helm and yesterday was a mess tactically (which obviously wasn't Gerrard's fault) but the lack of focus from the team over the season is.
 
Collective failure. Gerrard saw what was happening earlier in the season but was unwilling to change things. Players have been underperforming since the Malmo games. No point blaming any single individual. Could also point to some of our poorer signings and our lack of youth development as failures by Ross Wilson and our youth coaches.

Collective failure that needs a collective improvement.
 
These Gerrard threads have an smell fo ptsd about them. Time to move on. We are now in the era of GVB.
 
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murdoch5 said:
For me it’s the players to blame. They should be professional enough to play on with a manager or not.

It’s not even the defeat that bothers me - it’s the 3-0 down in 30 mins and then not a fight in the second half that bothers me most.
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They should've been raring to go,given the new Manager was in the stand watching, surely that should've gave them motivation. Gio can't change much at the minute in terms of personnel. I expect he'll give them all a fresh start,I don't know if he's met the players yet, I imagine he must have. We just need to draw a line under the Gerrard crap and back the new man while he gets to work.
 
Gerrard took the whole coaching staff and still some on here give him their best wishes it's like thanking the burglar breaking into your house and stealing all your possessions.
 
JW1988 said:
I don't buy that its solely down to the previous management team.
Of course they have their share of the responsibility but everyone at the club from the board to the exec staff to Ross Wilson through to the players have to take a share of the blame. We were huffing and puffing to the title, we made it undefeated which considering how average we were for the last few months of the season was a monumental achievement. We didn't build on that. We stayed still. We shopped in the bargain basement and it shows. The players look lost, some look disinterested but these are things that a new manager often changes and if not, they'll leave. We have another mini revolution coming our way in the summer with players out of contract etc
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gerrard spent over £40million he wasn’t in charge yesterday but that was his team his players and that yesterday was worse than the semi final loss to Motherwell under Pedro.

gerrard let players like Morelos become an unfit mess. He continued to play McGregor and Davis even though it was clear their performances were not anywhere near good enough, it wasn’t their fault they were old and done.

he continued to keep Patterson on the bench, give the likes of Kelly no game time even when our midfield was rotten.

gerrard had his favourites there was no incentive for some as despite how many games a player was an empty jersey he picked them again.

gerrards record was one trophy in 10 yesterday was on him,

gerrard built a squad that peaked and has been on a downhill slide since the Slavia game at Ibrox.

he torpedoed the ship before he left it to sink.
 
Hibs wanted that more yesterday thats the worry, Gio should be asking who wants to be here.
 
Boabinho said:
And that's Gerrard.

This is all part of a team and squad slump that has happened since we won the league.

Gerrard categorically denied that there was anything wrong when it was all too obvious from the start of the season that the team wasn't firing on all cylinders.

The high press that won us the league last season, with every player defending from the front, was gone. In its place was a bunch of players who didn't seem to know what they were doing any more. Misplaced passes left, right and centre, a defence that everyone knew would let in a goal with the opposition's first attack then having to play catch up in too many games, and umpteen players looking like they've lost all form and confidence.

Add to that question marks over players' fitness, and a lack of discipline and focus, it all seems to follow a pattern that has been going on since the start of the season and therefore is on the manager's watch.

Perhaps his head had been turned by several factors like job offers, or maybe he only had one tactic, saw that had stopped working, and didn't have a Plan B, but as I said on another thread, it looks like he had downed tools from the start of this season and the players followed suit.

Now we've got the likes of Goldson saying the game is over even before half time (which is completely unacceptable), and him blaming the goalkeeper for his positioning for two of the goals. That's a shocking statement from the Vice Captain. If things like this need aired then do it in the dressing room or training ground.

This all reeks of a lack of discipline within the squad and makes me think that Gerrard gettin tae f*** is a good thing and should maybe even have happened months ago. He had either lost interest or had lost the dressing room.

It's most definitely a complete shambles but with some new management, outlook and fresh attitudes hopefully we can rectify this quickly, but it could take some months for GvB to get things moving again.
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Nonsense - that was on the players.
 
GreenockRanger said:
Gerrard wasn't playing last night OP. Our well payed players where, any team can lose a game, but to do it like that is unacceptable. If they don't have the self respect to try there best and be hungry to win every game, then we are in a worse state than I thought
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I realise that Gerrard wasn't there, but the collapse and rot of this squad started ages ago, which is the point I'm trying to make.

Yesterday was a tactical disaster, but there's been more to it than that and it's been going on for a long time.
 
It’s a bit of both.

The players should have the professional pride at least to go and put up a fight yesterday but Gerrard has allowed thing to fester this season.

He can’t escape without blame for what he’s left behind.
 
Yesterdays result was on the team. Gerrard isn't here anymore.

The first goal was a shambles, inswinging corner and the keeper is rooted to the goal line, the defenders running back towards the goal mouth to clear the ball when they should have had Goldson and Balogun in the middle attacking the ball to head it out, Barasic & Tav should have been at either side of them, with everyone else man marking players.

The way they set up to defend that corner was just perplexing and McLaughlin is catching that or at least punching it.
 
Johnnieblue said:
Blaming gerrard solves nothing. The new boss has to act. And act now. Wasting time on what caused the problem is not a luxury we can affored. We need to fix the problem.
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That’s not true.
It’s important though, that he is to blame.
If he isn’t, it can only be the players and that is more frightening.
Funny thing is I do blame the players.
Lack of desire, lack or ambition, lack of professionalism and lack of professional pride.
They have about five weeks to get themselves back into gear.
Actually, that’s not true.
They have until Sunday at the latest, more likely, they have until Thursday.
 
Crouchy said:
Gerrard didn’t stop Balogun or Tav attacking the ball. He didn’t glue McGregor to his line.

Gerrard didn’t tell Tav to drop a yard deeper and miss the offside trap, or have McGregor screw his angles and shrink his arms for the second.

Gerrard didn’t tell Davis to run full pace into the back of a known, budding Tom Daley.

He didn’t put the kids coach in charge who clearly adores a defensive midfielder.

The team were shite. To a man, bar Aribo and a little of Arfield, they were hopeless. The management team were miles out their depths, the players shat the bed.

Gerrard left nearly 10 days prior to that.

Work permits were going to be a known issue. We missed a trick, we extended the process and dragged it out and unfortunately, paid the price.
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Almost all of the things you mention have been the responsibility of Gerrard to resolve, or change.

He sanctioned loans that have left us short defensively.

We ended up with a youth coach in charge because he disappeared in the night.

It’s not fully on Gerrard, but it’s ultimately his team, his players, his lack of discipline. He can’t be absolved of blame, just because he decided to piss off.
 
JW1988 said:
I don't buy that its solely down to the previous management team.
Of course they have their share of the responsibility but everyone at the club from the board to the exec staff to Ross Wilson through to the players have to take a share of the blame. We were huffing and puffing to the title, we made it undefeated which considering how average we were for the last few months of the season was a monumental achievement. We didn't build on that. We stayed still. We shopped in the bargain basement and it shows. The players look lost, some look disinterested but these are things that a new manager often changes and if not, they'll leave. We have another mini revolution coming our way in the summer with players out of contract etc
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Gerrard could have sold a couple of players in the summer and rebuilt the squad to freshen it up but he was happy to go with what we had. We offer Goldson a new contract whilst Gerrard brings Lundstram in on allegedly on 35k a week so it's no wonder Goldson won't sign on for example so stuff like that is always going to cause issues within the dressing room.

I think it's clear from Goldson, Hagi and Arfields interviews recently that all hasn't been well behind the scenes so they are partly to blame for yesterday as well as the players.
 
The state of things at the moment is 100% on Gerrard.

If the leader has the attitude he had, regarding his remit, then its no surprise that this attitude would filter into the squad.

The style of play is on him. The lack of cohesion in the back line is on him. The robotic nature of our play is on him.

Thankfully it's still early enough in the season for the new management team to do something about it.
 
Goity said:
Yesterdays result was on the team. Gerrard isn't here anymore.

The first goal was a shambles, inswinging corner and the keeper is rooted to the goal line, the defenders running back towards the goal mouth to clear the ball when they should have had Goldson and Balogun in the middle attacking the ball to head it out, Barasic & Tav should have been at either side of them, with everyone else man marking players.

The way they set up to defend that corner was just perplexing and McLaughlin is catching that or at least punching it.
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All three goals came from errors down the left side of that defence, the build up to the first was Borna playing a bad pass and then charging out of position to retrieve the ball thus allowing Hibs the space to put the ball down the side leading to the corner, second goal Balogun gets sucked out to the ball when he should have stood off, third goal same happens again with Goldson and Balogun getting drawn towards the ball.
 
Things that go bump said:
These Gerrard threads have an smell fo ptsd about them. Time to move on. We are now in the era of GVB.
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Yes, for how long are we going to have to keep talking about Gerrard.

You just know some people cannot let it go. Threads blaming him. And there will be gleeful threads appearing when Villa lose.

Just…let it go.
 
Bigbluebeard said:
All three goals came from errors down the left side of that defence, the build up to the first was Borna playing a bad pass and then charging out of position to retrieve the ball thus allowing Hibs the space to put the ball down the side leading to the corner, second goal Balogun gets sucked out to the ball when he should have stood off, third goal same happens again with Goldson and Balogun getting drawn towards the ball.
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Yep, agreed that they all stemmed from mistakes on the left, we're really missing Helander in LCB, with him there, that crap yesterday doesn't even arise.
 
Coda said:
Almost all of the things you mention have been the responsibility of Gerrard to resolve, or change.

He sanctioned loans that have left us short defensively.

We ended up with a youth coach in charge because he disappeared in the night.

It’s not fully on Gerrard, but it’s ultimately his team, his players, his lack of discipline. He can’t be absolved of blame, just because he decided to piss off.
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If you’re talking about Katic, he looks like he’s towing a caravan.

Boyle would have embarrassed him yesterday.

He’s not going to make it at Rangers now. He’s slower then before and looks miles off it from the highlights.
 
This is a collective failure. I thought the first 30 minutes last night typified this. Attitudes have clearly nose-dived over the summer and there are players who clearly just want to be somewhere else.

Fine, please just go - you WILL be easily replaced.

The bottom line is that Gio comes into this with no favourites. Everything from our basic setup, training and match day ritual will now change.
 
Crouchy said:
If you’re talking about Katic, he looks like he’s towing a caravan.

Boyle would have embarrassed him yesterday.

He’s not going to make it at Rangers now. He’s slower then before and looks miles off it from the highlights.
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He has done what Waghorn did, bulked up and took away any extra yard of pace.
 
Boabinho said:
And that's Gerrard.

This is all part of a team and squad slump that has happened since we won the league.

Gerrard categorically denied that there was anything wrong when it was all too obvious from the start of the season that the team wasn't firing on all cylinders.

The high press that won us the league last season, with every player defending from the front, was gone. In its place was a bunch of players who didn't seem to know what they were doing any more. Misplaced passes left, right and centre, a defence that everyone knew would let in a goal with the opposition's first attack then having to play catch up in too many games, and umpteen players looking like they've lost all form and confidence.

Add to that question marks over players' fitness, and a lack of discipline and focus, it all seems to follow a pattern that has been going on since the start of the season and therefore is on the manager's watch.

Perhaps his head had been turned by several factors like job offers, or maybe he only had one tactic, saw that had stopped working, and didn't have a Plan B, but as I said on another thread, it looks like he had downed tools from the start of this season and the players followed suit.

Now we've got the likes of Goldson saying the game is over even before half time (which is completely unacceptable), and him blaming the goalkeeper for his positioning for two of the goals. That's a shocking statement from the Vice Captain. If things like this need aired then do it in the dressing room or training ground.

This all reeks of a lack of discipline within the squad and makes me think that Gerrard gettin tae f*** is a good thing and should maybe even have happened months ago. He had either lost interest or had lost the dressing room.

It's most definitely a complete shambles but with some new management, outlook and fresh attitudes hopefully we can rectify this quickly, but it could take some months for GvB to get things moving again.
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Completely disagree, in football people move on all the time it's part of the game. We had a new manager in the stands and our players should've been playing to impress the new manager. Unfortunately the facts are Hibs players wanted it more and we were well beaten.
 
Boabinho said:
Team discipline is exactly what the manager should be instilling in the team. It's that discipline that made things tick last season and it's only discipline that allows the team to follow tactics.

Gerrard may not have been there yesterday but I'm suggesting this season's slump has happened with him at the helm and yesterday was a mess tactically (which obviously wasn't Gerrard's fault) but the lack of focus from the team over the season is.
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what slump? we're 4 points clear. we've lost one league game against Dundee Utd and have been unbeaten in 10 league games since then. where is this slump?

I think people have forgotten all the games we ground out a win last season

what's happening this season is that we're letting goals in. the defence is a shambles

the same players who didn't let goals in last season.

It's because Barisic has regressed to his level 2 seasons ago. Tav similar. Goldson is up his own arse and doesn't care. And Balogun tries but is maybe just not top quality.

That's the problem. If GvB can't sort their minds out (and I suspect Goldson is a lost cause) then we have a major problem.

I'd put Patterson and Bassey in straight away and see how it goes.

EDIT - I forgot - McGregor is done. McLaughlin needs to start
 
With gerrard still there yesterday i think wed have got a similar result if im being honest this team is done,gio has a hard job from now till the transfer window.
 
Boyblue62 said:
Nonsense - that was on the players.
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So you're blaming the lack of quality, discipline and focus from the team throughout the season on the players?
Kylegib said:
Completely disagree, in football people move on all the time it's part of the game. We had a new manager in the stands and our players should've been playing to impress the new manager. Unfortunately the facts are Hibs players wanted it more and we were well beaten.
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I'm trying to address the issues that have been with the team for the whole season and not one game. Yesterday was a tactical disaster but also very obviously there's been a lot wrong with the squad for a long time.
 
Johnnieblue said:
Blaming gerrard solves nothing. The new boss has to act. And act now. Wasting time on what caused the problem is not a luxury we can affored. We need to fix the problem.
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The players are good enough and better overall than the scvm. It needs application a tweak of formation a tweak of personnel, removal of 3 or 4. All that can be done before the end of the next transfer window. No need for mass purchases. The challenge is to reset, remotivate and fight this out until New Year.
 
My biggest fear is that the attitudes of guys like Goldson will rub on to anyone who comes in.
 
Coda said:
Almost all of the things you mention have been the responsibility of Gerrard to resolve, or change.

He sanctioned loans that have left us short defensively.

We ended up with a youth coach in charge because he disappeared in the night.

It’s not fully on Gerrard, but it’s ultimately his team, his players, his lack of discipline. He can’t be absolved of blame, just because he decided to piss off.
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Players were sent on loan because we're skint and can't afford another season of having the same size of squad.
 
Boabinho said:
And that's Gerrard.

This is all part of a team and squad slump that has happened since we won the league.

Gerrard categorically denied that there was anything wrong when it was all too obvious from the start of the season that the team wasn't firing on all cylinders.

The high press that won us the league last season, with every player defending from the front, was gone. In its place was a bunch of players who didn't seem to know what they were doing any more. Misplaced passes left, right and centre, a defence that everyone knew would let in a goal with the opposition's first attack then having to play catch up in too many games, and umpteen players looking like they've lost all form and confidence.

Add to that question marks over players' fitness, and a lack of discipline and focus, it all seems to follow a pattern that has been going on since the start of the season and therefore is on the manager's watch.

Perhaps his head had been turned by several factors like job offers, or maybe he only had one tactic, saw that had stopped working, and didn't have a Plan B, but as I said on another thread, it looks like he had downed tools from the start of this season and the players followed suit.

Now we've got the likes of Goldson saying the game is over even before half time (which is completely unacceptable), and him blaming the goalkeeper for his positioning for two of the goals. That's a shocking statement from the Vice Captain. If things like this need aired then do it in the dressing room or training ground.

This all reeks of a lack of discipline within the squad and makes me think that Gerrard gettin tae f*** is a good thing and should maybe even have happened months ago. He had either lost interest or had lost the dressing room.

It's most definitely a complete shambles but with some new management, outlook and fresh attitudes hopefully we can rectify this quickly, but it could take some months for GvB to get things moving again.
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Agree with a lot of that. Especially about inexplicably abandoning the ‘in their faces’ high press. Every time we adopt it, it works, focuses our intensity, forces mistakes to feed off and protects our defence by keeping the ball in the right half. We do that, we play well ( see as recently as M’well away and even spells against Ross Co).
 
Big Joke New said:
what slump? we're 4 points clear. we've lost one league game against Dundee Utd and have been unbeaten in 10 league games since then. where is this slump?

I think people have forgotten all the games we ground out a win last season

what's happening this season is that we're letting goals in. the defence is a shambles

the same players who didn't let goals in last season.

It's because Barisic has regressed to his level 2 seasons ago. Tav similar. Goldson is up his own arse and doesn't care. And Balogun tries but is maybe just not top quality.

That's the problem. If GvB can't sort their minds out (and I suspect Goldson is a lost cause) then we have a major problem.

I'd put Patterson and Bassey in straight away and see how it goes.

EDIT - I forgot - McGregor is done. McLaughlin needs to start
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There's also the fact that we're not scoring anywhere near the amount of goals compared to last season.

We may be top because Celtic have been trying to bed in a new manager but our form and play has been crap for months.

We can still have a slump in performance and be top of the league, but there have been enough signs that things aren't good for a long time.

To just say that we're four points clear is in denial that our team isn't performing.
 
Some people still can’t accept Gerrard left us in the way he did but try accepting it and moving on.

Yes he can take a portion of the blame but to suggest it’s all his fault is ridiculous. If we had won yesterday would you have been saying that it was all down to Gerrard?

So far this morning I’ve read the reason we lost is all down to Gerrard. The reason we didn’t sell Morelos was down to Gerrard, (despite him saying multiple times that every player has his price) and it’s his fault CG has been allowed to run down his contract. It’s all nonsense.
 
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Players were awful yesterday, but anyone saying that losing your whole management team that close to an important match had no effect is at it.

Gerrard has gone, and we move on, yesterday should be the last link he ever has with the goings-on of the team.

He walked away at a bad time, the players were atrocious, that's the top and bottom of it.
 
That performance and result could just as easily have happened with Gerrard in the dugout yesterday. It’s been coming for weeks.

If we want to play the what if game, then I do feel we might have got closer to salvaging something in the second half with Beale there to help tweak things, and in particular regarding the subs. But %^*& it. They’re gone and we move on.
 
JW1988 said:
I said leaving Hampden yesterday it would only be a matter of time before Gerrard was blamed for this. He's left, we are 4 points clear in the league, we were in a semi final and we have a great chance of knockout football in the Europa League.
Yesterday was all to do with the players and the bizarre coaching set up as well where they couldn't seem to differentiate between their arse and their elbow.
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Couldn't agree more.

Not happy with the way he left us but he got a tune out of some dud players who threw the towel in and thought they were immortal after 55.

Let's hope Gio can get a bit of a fire back in their bellies.
 
bkerr72 said:
Gerrard could have sold a couple of players in the summer and rebuilt the squad to freshen it up but he was happy to go with what we had. We offer Goldson a new contract whilst Gerrard brings Lundstram in on allegedly on 35k a week so it's no wonder Goldson won't sign on for example so stuff like that is always going to cause issues within the dressing room.

I think it's clear from Goldson, Hagi and Arfields interviews recently that all hasn't been well behind the scenes so they are partly to blame for yesterday as well as the players.
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Gerrard doesn’t decide salaries.
He also imo doesn’t have the final say on sales either, he will of course say I don’t want to sell anyone but if the board and Wilson wanted to then we would have sold. We already went on record saying Covid has an impact on us selling as well, the only known bid was for Patterson IIRC but there could have been others in the background.
 
This is on the players. They need to have a long hard look at themselves in the mirror. Playing for Rangers should ensure you give everything you have in every game you play. That is a matter of personal pride in what you do. Not sure how many of our current squad tick the personal pride box these days…. Too interested in their next Lamborghini and wearing top to toe Gucci….
 
Angrybluebear said:
gerrard spent over £40million he wasn’t in charge yesterday but that was his team his players and that yesterday was worse than the semi final loss to Motherwell under Pedro.

gerrard let players like Morelos become an unfit mess. He continued to play McGregor and Davis even though it was clear their performances were not anywhere near good enough, it wasn’t their fault they were old and done.

he continued to keep Patterson on the bench, give the likes of Kelly no game time even when our midfield was rotten.

gerrard had his favourites there was no incentive for some as despite how many games a player was an empty jersey he picked them again.

gerrards record was one trophy in 10 yesterday was on him,

gerrard built a squad that peaked and has been on a downhill slide since the Slavia game at Ibrox.

he torpedoed the ship before he left it to sink.
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He spent over £40m? I’ve not added them up but that seems a huge amount surely it’s closer to £30m
 
SenoraCuellar said:
Did Gerrard cause the malaise, did the malaise cause Gerrard to lose interest? Both intertwined.
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This team has ran its course and where is the money coming from to replace them. Gio will have a limited budget and will hopefully be given player sales to reinvest.

Gerrard will basically have a blank cheque book and will be able to attract a far higher quality of player, due to wages and the league.

To me it wasn’t really a shock he moved. Yes he could have handled it a lot better than he did but I think it was the best decision for the club and for him. The malaise has been there from the start of the season.
 
JW1988 said:
Gerrard doesn’t decide salaries.
He also imo doesn’t have the final say on sales either, he will of course say I don’t want to sell anyone but if the board and Wilson wanted to then we would have sold. We already went on record saying Covid has an impact on us selling as well, the only known bid was for Patterson IIRC but there could have been others in the background.
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Yeah I would be a hypocrite about sales given I've defended on that side with no bids but whilst he might not have a say on salaries it was a player he wanted and sanctioned so he should have known it would cause disruption in the changing room.
 
In fairness that would have happened with Gerrard here anyway.

His cup record was honking.
 
The players are to blame, because their mummy wasn't there to hold their hand whist they were on the pitch, they lost the plot.
 
Things that go bump said:
These Gerrard threads have an smell fo ptsd about them. Time to move on. We are now in the era of GVB.
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What we going to do to Gerrard to hold him accountable?

Haul him in and put him on a performance improvement plan?

You’re right. We need to move on and find solutions without looking backwards.
 
SG definitely takes the heavy portion of the blame for what happened yesterday.

That said, we cannot allow the players to escape such an abject performance. They made that dull c*nt Porteous think he's back to being Maldini.

Piss poor all round, Gio needs to let the c*nts know the honeymoon is over and nobody's place is safe.
 
JW1988 said:
He spent over £40m? I’ve not added them up but that seems a huge amount surely it’s closer to £30m
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Depends on the source, for instance what did we pay for Bacuna ?

but our spend was rumoured to be over £10million, £12.5million and around £15million the previous 3 seasons.

Do you also know what our wage bill was the year before Gerrard came till what it was when he left ?
 
If nobody wanted to buy our players we can't hold a gun to their heads and demand the cash.

Same as the thread about morelos, people saying we should have sold him to lille. If anybody can dig up the posts from that time, then you'll find if they had sold him for 16 mill, this place would have went nuts.

Some still want to spend, but that's not happening unless some win the euro lottery or we sell players. We can't gamble with the clubs future again, we simply have to sell and we will in no way be getting some of the fantasy fees that are quoted on here.
 
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