6 steps to salvaging the season:

Coza said:
1. Balagun plays centre half not Bassey until the end of the season or Hellander is fit. The Bassey experiment is done.

2. Barisic doesn’t see another minute on the park. Bassey plays and if he’s unfit we must have a kid or someone else who can slot in there. He is a lot more useful with his energy in full back position.

3. Midfield we play Jack and Ramsey every game if fit. No it’s buts or maybes.

4. The wingers rigid staying wide policy has to end. Give freedom to them to get on the ball and cut in if they need to. By all means ask they try stay wide but give the attacking ball players some freedom.

5. Mcgregor needs to be dropped for McLaughlin. He looks every inch 40 years of age. I can already see the ‘he made plenty saves last night’ replies from his fans but he honestly looks done to me. The younger keeper in McLaughlin who comes from crosses and has better distribution is the answer for now.

6. Stop this protect the zero pish. We are shit at the back. Play to our strengths. Press opponents high up the pitch and aim to win every game by multiple goals now and accept we will lose some at the other end.


This honestly looks like totally obvious stuff to me but I really fear none of it wil be in our management teams approach to the final 14 games of the season.

We have to play with the mindset we need 40/42 points to win this league. That’s a big ask but we showed last year it’s not impossible. I worry there is an assumption they will drop points too from some quarters.
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Agree with most of that. Borna was poor last night as was the captain. My worry is that regardless of who is playing full back they will be exposed due to GVB system. Wingers are not tracking back and are being instructed to stay wide. The manager is passive and negative can't see how things change unless he changes mindset but all reports suggest he is stubborn.
 
Coza said:
1. Balagun plays centre half not Bassey until the end of the season or Hellander is fit. The Bassey experiment is done.

2. Barisic doesn’t see another minute on the park. Bassey plays and if he’s unfit we must have a kid or someone else who can slot in there. He is a lot more useful with his energy in full back position.

3. Midfield we play Jack and Ramsey every game if fit. No it’s buts or maybes.

4. The wingers rigid staying wide policy has to end. Give freedom to them to get on the ball and cut in if they need to. By all means ask they try stay wide but give the attacking ball players some freedom.

5. Mcgregor needs to be dropped for McLaughlin. He looks every inch 40 years of age. I can already see the ‘he made plenty saves last night’ replies from his fans but he honestly looks done to me. The younger keeper in McLaughlin who comes from crosses and has better distribution is the answer for now.

6. Stop this protect the zero pish. We are shit at the back. Play to our strengths. Press opponents high up the pitch and aim to win every game by multiple goals now and accept we will lose some at the other end.


This honestly looks like totally obvious stuff to me but I really fear none of it wil be in our management teams approach to the final 14 games of the season.

We have to play with the mindset we need 40/42 points to win this league. That’s a big ask but we showed last year it’s not impossible. I worry there is an assumption they will drop points too from some quarters.
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Absolutely. Also:

7) Allow the fucking full backs to go fucking forward!!!!
 
6 points and not one addresses the difference between the Captains last night. Clue - ours shat it. Again.
 
Blutoe said:
That's not true though is it? People were happy because we didn't give Hearts half a million quid, AND a sell on clause for a player who should have cost nothing
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And look where we are now eh.
We should have gave hearts thd 500k the first day of the transfer window.
 
WeAr3Th3Pe0ple said:
Broadly agree with your points - we should also throw in a point about having the management team giving the team creative freedom back and stop having the players only carry out the strictest instructions (I.e we must play out from the back, we must pass the ball 10 times in our own half to move forward) - look at the tims last night, players overlapping all over the place, midfielders covered every inch of glass, multiple passes on at any given point - because their only instruction was to attack and it's upto them as pro's to figure out the best route to goal. And it showed.
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When you nail it like that you should send it to McKay and GVB.

Again, so simple but very effective against us.

I think we have blown it because GVB got outsmarted by Harrold Bishop.
 
Coza said:
1. Balagun plays centre half not Bassey until the end of the season or Hellander is fit. The Bassey experiment is done.

2. Barisic doesn’t see another minute on the park. Bassey plays and if he’s unfit we must have a kid or someone else who can slot in there. He is a lot more useful with his energy in full back position.

3. Midfield we play Jack and Ramsey every game if fit. No it’s buts or maybes.

4. The wingers rigid staying wide policy has to end. Give freedom to them to get on the ball and cut in if they need to. By all means ask they try stay wide but give the attacking ball players some freedom.

5. Mcgregor needs to be dropped for McLaughlin. He looks every inch 40 years of age. I can already see the ‘he made plenty saves last night’ replies from his fans but he honestly looks done to me. The younger keeper in McLaughlin who comes from crosses and has better distribution is the answer for now.

6. Stop this protect the zero pish. We are shit at the back. Play to our strengths. Press opponents high up the pitch and aim to win every game by multiple goals now and accept we will lose some at the other end.


This honestly looks like totally obvious stuff to me but I really fear none of it wil be in our management teams approach to the final 14 games of the season.

We have to play with the mindset we need 40/42 points to win this league. That’s a big ask but we showed last year it’s not impossible. I worry there is an assumption they will drop points too from some quarters.
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Broadly agree with your points, I mentioned on several posts prior to game they Bassey left back and Balogun at CB and Jack in midfield should have been in the team.
I would go one step further in relation to Barisic , for me he wouldn’t ever play again in a Rangers Jersey again , he was a disgrace last night ,he pulled the white flag out after 5 mins.
 
Coza said:
1. Balagun plays centre half not Bassey until the end of the season or Hellander is fit. The Bassey experiment is done.

2. Barisic doesn’t see another minute on the park. Bassey plays and if he’s unfit we must have a kid or someone else who can slot in there. He is a lot more useful with his energy in full back position.

3. Midfield we play Jack and Ramsey every game if fit. No it’s buts or maybes.

4. The wingers rigid staying wide policy has to end. Give freedom to them to get on the ball and cut in if they need to. By all means ask they try stay wide but give the attacking ball players some freedom.

5. Mcgregor needs to be dropped for McLaughlin. He looks every inch 40 years of age. I can already see the ‘he made plenty saves last night’ replies from his fans but he honestly looks done to me. The younger keeper in McLaughlin who comes from crosses and has better distribution is the answer for now.

6. Stop this protect the zero pish. We are shit at the back. Play to our strengths. Press opponents high up the pitch and aim to win every game by multiple goals now and accept we will lose some at the other end.


This honestly looks like totally obvious stuff to me but I really fear none of it wil be in our management teams approach to the final 14 games of the season.

We have to play with the mindset we need 40/42 points to win this league. That’s a big ask but we showed last year it’s not impossible. I worry there is an assumption they will drop points too from some quarters.
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All good points, but I honestly think we are going to have every one of our last 14 games to win this league
 
Coza said:
1. Balagun plays centre half not Bassey until the end of the season or Hellander is fit. The Bassey experiment is done.

2. Barisic doesn’t see another minute on the park. Bassey plays and if he’s unfit we must have a kid or someone else who can slot in there. He is a lot more useful with his energy in full back position.

3. Midfield we play Jack and Ramsey every game if fit. No it’s buts or maybes.

4. The wingers rigid staying wide policy has to end. Give freedom to them to get on the ball and cut in if they need to. By all means ask they try stay wide but give the attacking ball players some freedom.

5. Mcgregor needs to be dropped for McLaughlin. He looks every inch 40 years of age. I can already see the ‘he made plenty saves last night’ replies from his fans but he honestly looks done to me. The younger keeper in McLaughlin who comes from crosses and has better distribution is the answer for now.

6. Stop this protect the zero pish. We are shit at the back. Play to our strengths. Press opponents high up the pitch and aim to win every game by multiple goals now and accept we will lose some at the other end.


This honestly looks like totally obvious stuff to me but I really fear none of it wil be in our management teams approach to the final 14 games of the season.

We have to play with the mindset we need 40/42 points to win this league. That’s a big ask but we showed last year it’s not impossible. I worry there is an assumption they will drop points too from some quarters.
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Pains me to have to agree with your McGreggor part of the plan but all you say is correct.

We need to waken up and soon. It's been a car crash since the winter break. 14 games and I reckon we have to win them all if we are going to retain the title.
 
blue genes said:
All good points, but I honestly think we are going to have every one of our last 14 games to win this league
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Have to win them?

That mathematically doesn’t make sense mate. We would win the league by 5 points if we win every game.

The reason I said 40/42 is it allows room for one draw and would mean they can’t get more points than us.
 
GourockBlue50 said:
Pains me to have to agree with your McGreggor part of the plan but all you say is correct.

We need to waken up and soon. It's been a car crash since the winter break. 14 games and I reckon we have to win them all if we are going to retain the title.
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Jesus not you too. We need to win 13. And we are guaranteed the title as long as the one we don’t win is a draw b
 
Coza said:
1. Balagun plays centre half not Bassey until the end of the season or Hellander is fit. The Bassey experiment is done.

2. Barisic doesn’t see another minute on the park. Bassey plays and if he’s unfit we must have a kid or someone else who can slot in there. He is a lot more useful with his energy in full back position.

3. Midfield we play Jack and Ramsey every game if fit. No it’s buts or maybes.

4. The wingers rigid staying wide policy has to end. Give freedom to them to get on the ball and cut in if they need to. By all means ask they try stay wide but give the attacking ball players some freedom.

5. Mcgregor needs to be dropped for McLaughlin. He looks every inch 40 years of age. I can already see the ‘he made plenty saves last night’ replies from his fans but he honestly looks done to me. The younger keeper in McLaughlin who comes from crosses and has better distribution is the answer for now.

6. Stop this protect the zero pish. We are shit at the back. Play to our strengths. Press opponents high up the pitch and aim to win every game by multiple goals now and accept we will lose some at the other end.


This honestly looks like totally obvious stuff to me but I really fear none of it wil be in our management teams approach to the final 14 games of the season.

We have to play with the mindset we need 40/42 points to win this league. That’s a big ask but we showed last year it’s not impossible. I worry there is an assumption they will drop points too from some quarters.
Click to expand...
It's hard to disagree with your points but I think it's a collective responsibility,Gio sets the tactics which appeared to be let them have possession up until the last third,turn it over and hit on the break.Clearly this didn't work as we couldn't get a hold of the ball.
One other player i would like to see back especially inthese games is Davis,he is the best we have at Reading the game and I am convinced he would ha e intercepted a fair percentage of the passes that were slipped inside and around our full backs.
 
Johnny Yen said:
7. Employ a manager who knows what he is doing?

I half jest of course, the change (for the worse) since he came in has been staggering, if you had said when he was employed, we would be skelped at the Piggery and go 4 pts behind before we next play, you would have been laughed at, but here we are.
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Agreed. Most of OPs suggestions are obvious and should have been implemented already
 
rtan said:
I'm imagining McLaughlin coming and catching that cross at the third.
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All day long. He might cause the odd shocker but I prefer a keeper that comes for corners he can get. This glued to the line approach asks for them to score.
 
I think another issue is that we do have some genuinely good players that are woefully out of form. I’m never sure how that’s fixed. Do you take them out of the firing line and possibly weaken the team further? Do you get them to play through it and trust that they’ll get back to their best?

I’m looking at you, Borna, Kent, Kamara and to an extent Joe.
 
Coza said:
I have always loved borna. Even in his sticky spell pre st mirren I said there was a player there. But he was inexcusable last night. Bordering on looking like a competition winner getting a game.
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It was so weird. I have no idea what he was doing backing off from Abada all the time and letting him run into the box. It was like he had been told don't let him beat you at all costs so that was his sole aim, with the result that Abada was able to continuously cross the ball and pick players out.
 
Coza said:
I have always loved borna. Even in his sticky spell pre st mirren I said there was a player there. But he was inexcusable last night. Bordering on looking like a competition winner getting a game.
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The wee winger from Man U was the worst player on the pitch first half - but nobody calling for him to be sent to the gulag.
 
The Ryan Jack one jumps out at me.
If he is fit he starts, we need to do everything we can to keep him fit.

Actually had a small disagreement with another Bear yesterday who was insistent that Kamara should start.
I told him against that mob it would be Jack every time for me as he adds a bit more steel.
After the 2nd half last night he did actually admit I was right
 
We have a manager that is trying to play his style of play with another managers players.
Compare and contrast with the scum who have a manager who has basically assembled his own players to play to his style.

Even when Fergie first went to Man U he could do fvck all until he got his own pool of players in.
 
cambridgeblue said:
The wee winger from Man U was the worst player on the pitch first half - but nobody calling for him to be sent to the gulag.
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Mainly because he is a kid. It’s no shock the game passed him by and he looked lost. That ones on the manager who picked him and left him on.

It might sound like proper hindsight but it’s in my WhatsApp chat with mates during the game. I’d have hooked borna after 15 minutes and possible Amad too. They were passengers we couldn’t afford.
 
SchtimzRvanFudzHorst said:
I think another issue is that we do have some genuinely good players that are woefully out of form. I’m never sure how that’s fixed. Do you take them out of the firing line and possibly weaken the team further? Do you get them to play through it and trust that they’ll get back to their best?

I’m looking at you, Borna, Kent, Kamara and to an extent Joe.
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We need our stronger characters to help these mentally "weaker" players out over the coming games now to let them build up form / confidence again. I'm thinking of Jack, Davis, Morelos and Ramsey (hopefully) and to a lesser extent Goldson / Tav.
 
So Bassey has a nightmare Saturday, costing us 2 points - all is forgiven

Barisic has a shocking 45min - never play him again

Very good
 
Agree with the exception of McGregor & Borna

Can’t just bomb Borna out completely after a right honking 45 mins and want to play teenagers, proper knee jerk stuff
 
Aww Skew said:
So Bassey has a nightmare Saturday, costing us 2 points - all is forgiven

Barisic has a shocking 45min - never play him again

Very good
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Your argument is all over the place mate, Bassey is a natural left back and a stop-gap CH.

For health reasons, I won’t be watching the game back but the difference in the left back area in the 2nd half was massive
 
Our players seem to have come back from the winter break with the same attitude we had at the start of the season under Gerrard, GvB has his work cut out now to get the team playing well again.
 
I'm sorry but this comes down to Gio. Dave Vos put his hands up after Celtic went 3-0 to essentially say we don't know what we can do. Wake up Gio and coaching team. Sort this out or get out!
 
Burgh-Ger said:
Your argument is all over the place mate, Bassey is a natural left back and a stop-gap CH.

For health reasons, I won’t be watching the game back but the difference in the left back area in the 2nd half was massive
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Bassey is not a left back, he’s played CB all through his youth team has he not?

We were told he was a natural CB
 
We haven't yet beaten any team with conviction. Our goal difference tells you that. This lets go 1-0 up and hold on isn't going to work. You are not Walter Smith.
 
Everything there is spot on OP.

If Gio doesn't do most, if not all of that, he's done.
 
Agree with most of that,
Midfield has to be Jack, Ramsey and I would also bring back young Lowry,
He is raw but takes the ball forward unlike any of our current player's other than Aribo
With regards Aribo I wouldn't move him forward to one of the wide positions supporting Morelos with Sakala as the other one,

Sadly Kent is out of form at the moment and we don't have time to wait,
Helander goes straight back in when fit

Defence that finished the game last night starts on Sunday
 
8. Having possibilities on your bench

last night our bench

McLaughlin, Balogun, Lundstram, Jack, Davis, Sands, Lowry, Itten, Fashion Jr

Do we really need 4 players of similar status? Why not 2 of the 4?

For those that say sands can play right back I take it Zukowski is injured.
 
For me, it’s key that Davis Balogun and Jack remain fit, and if so it’s Davis and Jack as the two sitters. Kamara is a very good midfielder but never seems to dominate in midfield and grab games by the scruff of the neck nor does he like the dirty side of the game….and doesn’t score as much as he should. Which begs the question , where does Ramsey fit in.
 
I’m starting think that Gio has walked in and said forget everything about before, this is the way we are doing it. Fine, if that that’s the hill he wants to die on then fire away.

What he needs to realise and realise quickly is that our full backs aren’t good defenders. If he can’t deal with that replace them or change the system. If he keeps them in he needs to let them get forward. Also, we have the best squad in the league, let them go for it and forget the conservative tactics.
 
I think having a proper CB beside Goldson will be a big help, Bassey was a stop gap and needs moved to the left. The 3rd goals was a result of that defensive disorientation and lets not even mention Barisic….

McGregor needs dropped now, his saves were routine but his positioning at the 2nd was all wrong, his distribution and coming for cross balls gives me the fear.

We need Jack and Ramsey in that engine room pronto, we lost the midfield battle to a guy wearing a mask, an MK Dons player and some Japanese no one has ever heard of.

Roofe isnt a lone striker in a million years, back in you come Alfie.

We missed our core yesterday and you could tell; Helander, Jack and Morelos all massive losses.

Its not all lost but what happens on Sunday will tell you everything you need to know from Rangers and Gio.
 
Boabinho said:
Aye comfortable if you're a class goalie with great positioning.

I'm imagining McLaughlin flappin at thin air as the sixth goal goes in.
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You have nothing to suggest it could have went the other way and McLaughlin keeps 2 out last night, McGregor is finished
 
mark hateley said:
When you nail it like that you should send it to McKay and GVB.

Again, so simple but very effective against us.

I think we have blown it because GVB got outsmarted by Harrold Bishop.
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We haven’t blown it. We have our best run of fixtures this season coming up. If we aren’t in front before the split though …. curtains Gio.
 
Herbie53 said:
For me, it’s key that Davis Balogun and Jack remain fit, and if so it’s Davis and Jack as the two sitters.
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Rangers shouldn't be playing with 2 sitters in any game apart from European away ties.

This is part of the problem.

We should be playing on the front foot.
 
The point about the wingers is the main one for me. Playing with 2 tens with a more solid midfield and attacking full backs worked for us. I understand that teams had sussed it out and it had become a bit stale. But if the alternative is 2 wingers being out the game for long periods and not tracking back then it is the lesser of 2 evils.

As said in previous posts GVB is not going to change so it is all hypothetical. We just have to hope that the players who didn't play the first half last night ( Alfie, Ramsey, Helander, Davis, Balogun, Jack ) will make the difference.
 
Agree with all that but we also absolutely have to cut out the mistakes and lapses in concentration.

That's now 6 goals in 2 games conceded and all of them were easily avoidable. County's goals were embarrassing at the weekend and last night they score from two shots that went completely unchallenged and another where Barrisic impersonates a lamp post when the ball gets played into the box. Nowhere near good enough at our level.
 
104Bear said:
We haven’t blown it. We have our best run of fixtures this season coming up. If we aren’t in front before the split though …. curtains Gio.
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Our best run of fixtures would be great if the team can actually turn up.

I hope for the last 90 minutes GVB has been telling them exactly what is lacking with them.

If team who we know can play, play we will win I just don't feel the confidence that we will come good again. Our times gone.
 
Agree with OP in the most part.

No 4 the wingers have had an element of freedom but neither Kent nor Wright have performed. Hagi in that position wasn’t his strength. Sakala should be given some opportunity and Amad will prove to be a good upgrade at least for a few months on Wright.

No 6 protect the zero. I like ‘keep the zero’, and for me there is a slight variation of the two. Lundstram just hasn’t been the answer.
 
Agree with you OP.

I fear that unless there are good performances against Hearts and Hibs Gio may well lose the support if he continues Warburtonlike with the ‘this is how I want to play and I’m not changing’ mantra. As I’ve commented on another thread he is trying do do something he doesn’t have the tools for, Tav and Borna are not defenders they are attackers, Kamara is not a lone defensive midfielder he needs a dominant player (Jack or Davis) beside him, Kent's not a touch line hugging winger. An analogy could be that his toolbox has only joinery tools in it and he’s trying to fix a car engine with them.
 
We can't even do the basics 5 yard passes left short,players letting their opponents run off them without tracking back and our nonsense when we can't even take or defend a throw in.
 
At halftime we were 3 goals down. We can all imagine what Goldson was telling his fellow pros at this point. Our mentality needs addressed not just the tactics.

For the SPFL i actually quite like the tactic they deploy running themselves into the groud in the first 60. Because by doing so the opposition has to use up their energy too. And then you always see the quality there after.

You see it all the time. The brain is more prone to mistakes when you tire and then the quality shows.

So far not many can argue with their stance. And they have bought payers to do this (McCarthy aside). They replaced players due to being knackered, we replaced due to being useless.
 
Gramps1 said:
1)But you had guys on here happy because we got one up on hearts cause we didn’t pay 100k

Fucking great now
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A lot of posters were happy to be honest and what difference would souttier have made last night.the biggest problem last night was gios tactics
 
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