League's done for the season. Time to regroup for Phase 2 of the Gerrard era

Drumchapel-Bear said:
Well they're not are they? Last season Celtic bitch slapped us without even getting out of first gear. We got pumped in Europe by a team from Luxembourg.

This season we've beaten Celtic (and not via a flukey win) and we are a bad refereeing decision in Moscow from reaching the last 32 of the Europa League.

So on what planet is this season panning out like previous seasons? We're not good enough or consistent enough yet to win the title but we've clearly improved as a team.
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Plenty similarities; tactically weak, failure to break down opposition, inconsistent, turgid football, failure to make game changing decisions, poor in the transfer market, lacking leadership on the park, only 3 points better off than last season, knocked out the League Cup, all talk, a gap between 1st and 2nd forming, dropped 26 points in 26 league games, failure to capitalise or apply pressure when given the chance.

Gerrard mentioned being miles away in his interview yesterday. He's right.
 
CaptainCourageous said:
It's not the first, second or third match we've constantly sent it long to Defoe.

If that's not what Gerrard wants, then why is it happening all the time. Do some thing about it. Drop the players who continue to ignore tactics and fail to carry out instructions.

While your at it, change the garbage we've seen all season. Pass, pass, back the way, out wide, launch into the box - well off the first man or over the entire box.

A creative midfielder and right sided attacker was needed in January. Barely any creativity in any of Jack, McCrorie, Kamara, Davis and when Candeias is off form (which is a lot of the time) he's a man down.
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We dont start out that way. If we dont get an early goal and teams get settled then it starts after about 30 mins when we get frustrated.

I think Goldson showed with one pass what we were supposed to be trying when he played a nice through ball to Defoe, however he was flagged offside.

Problem being teams get so deep and so compact that we cant play through balls and he cant play on the shoulder so we get forced wide for crosses or shell balls up the park.

Early goal is imperitive.
 
Gibbonbear said:
It's not a case of catching up with the yahoos as you put it , it is about winning games like yesterday which quite frankly we never looked like doing .As for investment we have invested more than teams like St Johnstone, Kilmarnock,Livingstone , Dundee, Motherwell put together and yet all of these teams have taken points from us you could possibly include Aberdeen and Hibs in that equation ,so I don't think that it is solely down to investment . Looking at the game yesterday where I don't think we had a single shot on target reminded me of games under Caixinha and Warburton where we might have dropped points but we would have had something like ten or twenty attempts on goal for I remember arguing after some of these games with mates that if you look at the stats we should have won these games , you could not use the stats argument now for I would struggle to think of a game where we have dropped points and claim to be unlucky apart from maybe the Dundee game .
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I think it’s all to do with what level of investment we get.

The level of investment we have seen in recent seasons will always see us drop points against teams like st Johnston because of a lower level of quality that type of investment brings in.
 
I don't think the League is over yet. If Killie can take something today then we are no worse off.

Yesterday was poor, but if we're still within 6-8 points or so come the split then you never know.
 
laudofan said:
I don't think the League is over yet. If Killie can take something today then we are no worse off.

Yesterday was poor, but if we're still within 6-8 points or so come the split then you never know.
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The problem isn't that they won't drop points mate,it's that we are uncapable of going on a run.
 
laudofan said:
I don't think the League is over yet. If Killie can take something today then we are no worse off.

Yesterday was poor, but if we're still within 6-8 points or so come the split then you never know.
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Of course it’s over, we are far too inconsistent for it to be anything else

Cold hard facts are we are where we thought a “passable” season was st start of Gerrards reign, closer to them than we were and a clear second, least that’s what I kept being told would be passable

Facts are we are 3 points better of than last season and we still rely on a nucleus of players who continue to let us down and have signed many more who don’t have the leadership qualities to be at the club

No doubt yet another massive clearout this summer and on and on it goes
 
laudofan said:
I don't think the League is over yet. If Killie can take something today then we are no worse off.

Yesterday was poor, but if we're still within 6-8 points or so come the split then you never know.
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Fair point but yesterday was another chance to put them under pressure and we blew it once again.

Don’t like talking about the Tim’s but they have a few injury problems also.
If Killie get a point today the title door is still ajar,just
 
Heggy said:
That wee cnut Mcgregor has a knack of scoring important goals as well. He's probably their best plauer
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Yep, he's been dropping deeper in recent games though to play beside Brown but I'd kill for a player like him.
 
Installer said:
7 months, brand new squad, brand new backroom team, group stages of Europa, 2nd in the league, arguably a £3m striker now into double digit £, a right back and captain who could have gone for less than a £1m now worth £8m.

Terrible season, Gerrard should , etc etc etc.

We really do have a support full of spoiled brats.

It's a pity we can't fire supporters.
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a support that was selling out in the Scottish third division with the worst players and management in its history

stop talking the most god awful pish
 
thetoptier said:
a support that was selling out in the Scottish third division with the worst players and management in its history

stop talking the most god awful pish
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What's that got to do with having a spoiled support?
Avg age of the support now was probably brought up in the golden years when we won everything, few bad results in our recovery and it's doomsday.
What we need is patience and a support who don't turn on the team/management team at every bump in the road.
 
valencia05 said:
Barisic bought after he played ok against us for Osijek. £2m
Grezda bought injured from Osijek. £2m

A director of football, a new scouting network, one of the most famous footballers of modern times - and that’s what we spend £4m on?
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Pretty much every member of this forum was delighted with that deal at the time, over the moon.
 
valencia05 said:
Barisic bought after he played ok against us for Osijek. £2m
Grezda bought injured from Osijek. £2m

A director of football, a new scouting network, one of the most famous footballers of modern times - and that’s what we spend £4m on?
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£1.5 million for each as confirmed by our manager .

Why do people keep inflating their fees I wonder ?
 
We are averaging 2 points a game at present - 76 points would be 6 more than last season but not enough to win. I think we might wend up with more than 76 - and let’s not forget we didn’t even manage 2nd last year.

Last season we lost 10 games in the league - we would have to lose half our remaining games to match that.

So we are better but not by enough.Yet.
 
Thank goodness I ain’t the only one thinking this.

We must concentrate on playing players like Davis, Kamara and Defoe who are going to be here after the summer.

Worrall, Coulibaly etc should see less game time just my opinion.

Handed them another league title.

I don’t think I could cope with them winning 9 never mind 10.

Next season re-build should start now.
 
BigJig1872 said:
Thank goodness I ain’t the only one thinking this.

We must concentrate on playing players like Davis, Kamara and Defoe who are going to be here after the summer.

Worrall, Coulibaly etc should see less game time just my opinion.

Handed them another league title.

I don’t think I could cope with them winning 9 never mind 10.

Next season re-build should start now.
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Davis shouldn't be here beyond the summer and with Morelos back, Defoe should be on the bench.
 
valencia05 said:
“At the time” - or even when he looked the part for a few games.
£2m for a left-back who is average at best?
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£2m for a Croatian international doesn’t seem much, World Cup finalists, to put another spin on it.

I reckon there has to be more to come from him. If there isn’t and he’s just got stage fright, then it’s our bad luck I suppose. Clearly got the ability, but that’s only half the battle at a club like this.
 
Barišić is the least of our worries.

He plays more creative balls than the midfield, his delivery and set pieces are better than the wide men. He delivers balls that even Defoe is not anticipating.

He doesn't launch into tackles, and is a bit soft. We had years of Lee Wallace being piss poor defensively, getting caught out time and time again and failing to stop crossed balls, yet he stayed for the journey and is labelled a legend.

Barišić doesn't look fit, he looks like he's playing at about 80% and he's not the only one.

If he was getting ripped consistently in a defensive way then I'd be concerned, but he's not. Lad needs to get fit, find a bit of confidence, form and settle down - he's doing things at 100mph. Settle down, take a touch, compose yourself and man up.
 
Danger Zone said:
£2m for a Croatian international doesn’t seem much, World Cup finalists, to put another spin on it.

I reckon there has to be more to come from him. If there isn’t and he’s just got stage fright, then it’s our bad luck I suppose. Clearly got the ability, but that’s only half the battle at a club like this.
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I don’t know exactly how many caps for Croatia he’s got but probably single figures.

Hindsight can be wonderful but terrible too and £2m for a full-back we didn’t need looks daft now.
 
CaptainCourageous said:
Barišić is the least of our worries.

He plays more creative balls than the midfield, his delivery and set pieces are better than the wide men. He delivers balls that even Defoe is not anticipating.

He doesn't launch into tackles, and is a bit soft. We had years of Lee Wallace being piss poor defensively, getting caught out time and time again and failing to stop crossed balls, yet he stayed for the journey and is labelled a legend.

Barišić doesn't look fit, he looks like he's playing at about 80% and he's not the only one.

If he was getting ripped consistently in a defensive way then I'd be concerned, but he's not. Lad needs to get fit, find a bit of confidence, form and settle down - he's doing things at 100mph. Settle down, take a touch, compose yourself and man up.
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I agree with you and I see the same. However, he’s poor defensively and with Kent in front of him he looks exposed all the time.
 
Big money may not be the answer!

Whether we like it or not, we need patience! Sinclair for them was a big signing but Christie, Forest, Mcgregor, Ajer etc etc are not.

They needed time to improve and be properly coached! We can’t have another summer of 9 or 10 signings
 
Lovenkrands said:
I agree he gets extra leeway because of who he is. We can’t change manager again at this stage though, we have no choice but now to run with it for another season anyway. The count down to their ten though is going to intensify the pressure from the norm.

On the signings, Barisic and Grezda have been huge disappointments thus far. They seem to be this years Mexicans, and we need a lot more from not just them, but given the money spent on them questions need asked.
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Totally agree. Not sure why we keep getting 'rolls royce' chat about Barisic, he's one footed, can hit one good cross out of about 10, always looks to play inside and doesn't look like he's got any fight or desire. I prefer Halliday in there. and Grezda has looked bang average since he played but again we just hear 'give him time, he'll be great once he gets up to speed'.
 
valencia05 said:
I disagree.

Also: Dec 29 and Halliday is getting man of the match awards and plaudits aplenty.
But as soon as Barisic is in anyway fit again he’s first-choice left-back.
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The game on the 29th is completely different to any other game in Scotland. On that day every one performed to a high standard a d carried out their roles to a tee.
 
Installer said:
7 months, brand new squad, brand new backroom team, group stages of Europa, 2nd in the league, arguably a £3m striker now into double digit £, a right back and captain who could have gone for less than a £1m now worth £8m.

Terrible season, Gerrard should , etc etc etc.

We really do have a support full of spoiled brats.

It's a pity we can't fire supporters.
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No, you’re right - it was the supporters who couldn’t beat a St Johnstone team at home who went LLLLL and have had their arse handed to them by Celtic.

Definitely the supporter’s fault.
 
Slickrick said:
The Squad and team always needed much more work done to it. We are screaming for a creative player in the middle. Unfortunatly these players cant win enough football matches and that is worrying.
Ok teams play like its a cup final against us every week but still we should be beating Stjohnstone with any team we put out and its not good enough.
Gerrard has to work out why the players are not reacting to anything his coaching team are saying. To train all week and play like that yesterday is a puzzle.
And for god sake take the arm band of Tav who is never in any era a Rangers captain. Maybe of the park he is ok but on it when the team need him like yesterday he is not calling out enough players.
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Gerrard likes Tav and if you take that armband off him he’ll be discouraged. I agree he’s not a captain but SG has made a rod for his own back with that one.
 
Earth Worm Jim said:
Gerrard gets away with murder purely because of his name imo

He is as much to blame as anyone else for our failure to put up a legitimate challenge. It's February and id say he still doesn't know his 11

4 mill spunked on Barasic and grezda

Only 3 pts better than we were this stage last season


If he wasn't Steven Gerrard would he see a phase 2?
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You conveniently ignore qualification for the group stage in Europa league, nobody agave Gerrard a chance of doing so.

Great effort by him a rookie manager trying to bed in a new team, he will be better for the experience next season that’s for sure.
 
New team with a rookie manager = inconsistency.
Barring a complete meltdown between now and May, I think he's merited a second season and should be judged after that.
My gut feeling is that he'll get frustrated with the lack of funds available, and the difficulty in attracting quality players to Scotland.
 
WATP_74 said:
My gut feeling is that he'll get frustrated with the lack of funds available, and the difficulty in attracting quality players to Scotland.
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The thing is he will know if he doesn't win the league in Scotland he'll never get the Liverpool job. Liverpool won't entertain taking on a manager that can't win a 2 horse race and beat your St Johnstones, Livingstons and Kilmarnocks on a regular basis. He'd need to go to a Wolves or Fulham and absolutely blow expectations out the water to get near the Anfield job.
 
crmpicco said:
The thing is he will know if he doesn't win the league in Scotland he'll never get the Liverpool job. Liverpool won't entertain taking on a manager that can't win a 2 horse race and beat your St Johnstones, Livingstons and Kilmarnocks on a regular basis. He'd need to go to a Wolves or Fulham and absolutely blow expectations out the water to get near the Anfield job.
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Even if he won the league at Rangers, I think he'd need to do the business as a mgr in a better league before Liverpool would consider him.
IMO only way to go from Rangers straight to Liverpool would involve some sort of fairytale European run.
 
Are we allowed to ask questions of Gerrard at any point or is that forbidden?

Christ I love the man in terms of his enthusiasm, but the tinkering of the team all season has been a major issue and cause of many dropped points IMO. It is almost like he doesn't know his best starting 11. Which after this many months is alarming.

Let me say, I'm not suggesting we change managed. But he needs to learn and learn fast. I also expect to read posts calling the OP negative, it's only 8 points etc. But that gap will grow. They know how to win things and in general become consistent for the run in. We honestly don't know how to win at all costs. Painful.

We will be in a fight for 2nd spot and I am not confident tbh.
 
The level of inconsistency after drawing level with the scum points to the mentality of these players they haven’t got the right attitude to be Rangers players drawing at home to St J and not one shot on target says it all pathetic and now we have a real fight on our hands to get second Wednesday is huge now but so was Saturday and look at the way we played it’s happened too often this season for my liking totally pissed off
 
The Predator said:
Are we allowed to ask questions of Gerrard at any point or is that forbidden?

Christ I love the man in terms of his enthusiasm, but the tinkering of the team all season has been a major issue and cause of many dropped points IMO. It is almost like he doesn't know his best starting 11. Which after this many months is alarming.

Let me say, I'm not suggesting we change managed. But he needs to learn and learn fast. I also expect to read posts calling the OP negative, it's only 8 points etc. But that gap will grow. They know how to win things and in general become consistent for the run in. We honestly don't know how to win at all costs. Painful.

We will be in a fight for 2nd spot and I am not confident tbh.
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He has had injuries almost every week to deal with to be fair to him.
 
crmpicco said:
No, you’re right - it was the supporters who couldn’t beat a St Johnstone team at home who went LLLLL and have had their arse handed to them by Celtic.

Definitely the supporter’s fault.
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I think you quoted the wrong post. Where did I blame the supporters for the result?
 
Humbug said:
Apologies if a similar response has been posted beforehand, this is the type of post that is all too prevalent after a poor result not just this season but over the last few.

Far too many posters think there is a magic elixir that will guarantee immediate success while clinging on to where we were 10/20 years ago.
Get this, we have came up through the divisions with many obstacles and issues in our way and for the third time we are looking for a regime change.
The only way we will gain stability and make constant strides forward is with an ethos and management willing to be able to see further than one season.
Patience is required, the manager and his backroom staff will produce what we require and expect, to demand it happens in one season is totally unrealistic. Back the team from backroom to players and all things Rangers and we will get what we desire. Steven Gerrard has put together to best staff and environment for us to make progress in the next couple of years. Sorry if you are not happy without immediate success but we are making massive strides forward no one can deny that we need time to build and progress we have all seen glimpses of what is possible.
I have no doubt that we will come good, not this season but very very soon.

onwards and upwards bears.
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Patience as we inexorably slide into perpetual mediocrity as they cruise to 10 and beyond, picking up the CL money and leaving us away behind as a memory of their historic rivals.

We have 2 seasons to stop them. It is 8 in a fuckin row now. 8.
 
CaptainCourageous said:
Plenty similarities; tactically weak, failure to break down opposition, inconsistent, turgid football, failure to make game changing decisions, poor in the transfer market, lacking leadership on the park, only 3 points better off than last season, knocked out the League Cup, all talk, a gap between 1st and 2nd forming, dropped 26 points in 26 league games, failure to capitalise or apply pressure when given the chance.

Gerrard mentioned being miles away in his interview yesterday. He's right.
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One of the many frustrations on this debate on FF is that every other week Gerrard is saying, players not doing what they should be doing, not doing what we did in training, not good enough, need better quality. Yet when you I and a few others say the exact same thing we are on the receiving end of emotional meltdowns.
I believe that SG understands the challenge he faces and what he needs to have a chance of succeeding, Weather he can 'learn' as a manager or if he gets the financial backing needed to bring in better quality player is unknown but listening to SG's post match comments would put him firmly in the 'pantywetter' section of FF.
He is not convinced the squad has what it takes quality wise or character wise and neither I am!
 
razor said:
We have 2 seasons to stop them. It is 8 in a fuckin row now. 8.
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And there’s literally nothing we could have done about 5 of them which makes the whole thing a bit pointless. People are falling into the Yahoo trap of talking about 9 or 10 when they’ve won 2 against us so far.
 
Jamie Murphy has been a loss this season. He may not have the flair or technical ability of Kent but you know he would have been good for 10 goals a season. And we haven’t replaced the goals of Windass either. Priority next transfer window has to be players with proven record of goals and assists.
 
PalefaceRedskin said:
It’s done when it’s done so let’s just wait and see. I read on here in 2005 it was done when they were 5 up with 4 to play and again after we lost to Dundee U in 2011. People always confuse the day’s frustrations with the bigger picture.

The Manager has been very good in general but I knew when I saw the front three today we would struggle. Defoe can’t hold it up and Candieas is horrible v a deep block. The former was evident v Killie and the latter has been evident all season. He compounded the problems of the initial selection by playing Davis too high.

If we don’t continue to get cheated by refs and the CO ( no laughing at the back) and the manager finds a better balance up top we can still do it. It would be galling if we just hand it to this mob.
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That is the spirit.
The league is a marathon not a sprint.
We have to keep picking away at their lead incrementally and keep the pressure on.
 
Well, for a start we need to stop expecting instant success with every new signing in every new position. What serious teams do this?

Barasic, Grezda, Davis are all internationals who for a variety of reasons haven’t set the heather alite and as seen on this thread for many they are write offs already.

Im not sure any of them have had a run of more than 2 consecutive starts?

This is not how you build a successful football team.
 
We take each game in turn and try to win. We are not guaranteed 2nd which is one of our aims and although 1st looks beyond us we must at least try, the Marvin Andrew's spirit. There are still 2 Scum games left, we've beaten them once so we can do so again.
 
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