Our Midfield can't handle physicality.

SpainLoyal4567

SpainLoyal4567

Well-Known Member
Seen it countless times, its the main problem in our team right now, hopefully the board back the manager and get the meanest looking b*stard they can find, we need an enforcer who'll stand up to the bullies in our league!
 
It's not just bully style tactics.

We saw it with very basic high intensity, energetic midfields from dross like Hearts last season. They were swarming all over and our midfield in two games against them vanished, genuinely looked like they had given up half an hour in.
 
As above, our players put in the tackles, challenges and assaults that the oppostion do (and get away with) and our players get booked or sent off.

It is that simple.

You can see it changes the way our players play.

Our players know it and opposition players know it, hence why when we come up against most teams they fly into tackles knowing nothing will happen and our players are apprehensive.
 
Last edited:
The midfield need to control the game, and use their phsical presence to outmuscle.

The continual cry out for someone to smash an opposition is delightful for the fans and get the blood pumping but going down to 10 men doesn't help anyone.
 
Camby loyalist said:
I've been saying this since last fecking summer!!!!!!

Not just a hatchet man in midfield someone with pace and power to drive the team on and take the game by the scruff of the neck when it's needed.

Obviously not going to be cheap but those players are out there.
Click to expand...

You look our last really successful team, the midfield is the clear difference.

We've got plenty of quality in the other areas, but compare the current midfield to the aforementioned one and it's levels apart: Ferguson, Mendes, Davis, Thomson, Edu... The current midfield options get nowhere near that team.
 
This board is genuienely getting ruined. Anytime someone has an opinion they post a brand new thread. Its a mess.

The same shitey misinformed opinion has been posted 100 times, tore apart 100 times, and posted again.

Try actually watching football, because if you think physicality in the midfield is the reason we drew then you’re clueless, to put it lightly.
 
Its not just the tough midfielder but also a gobby mouthy player who is not afraid to noise up the opposition. All our players are too nice.
 
Jack was sent off 4 times in his first 17 or so games when he signed for us. 3 of those were utterly farcical. That was after just 1 red in 200 games for the sheep.

We aren’t allowed to do to teams what teams do to us, and we certainly wouldn’t be allowed an enforcer type.

I have my doubts about some of our midfielders technical ability, but if we want them to get physical then we need to address cheating referees first.
 
I honestly don’t believe it is about physicality or strong arm tactics. For me, we struggle when our intensity and tempo drops below that of our opponents, and we don’t play against teams who are all sat in front of us.
 
Not popular but their midfield never gets bullied although we have HMS Christie hitting the deck any time he can

they usually have 3/4 Scottish players in their midfield.

in the case of mcrorie, we shoukd have kept him , I’m Also a fan of ferguson , they don’t get bullied either and for Scottish games to win this league this is what would be a useful attribute to have ... not needed fir every game but certainly ones like yesterday
 
MSF said:
This board is genuienely getting ruined. Anytime someone has an opinion they post a brand new thread. Its a mess.

The same shitey misinformed opinion has been posted 100 times, tore apart 100 times, and posted again.

Try actually watching football, because if you think physicality in the midfield is the reason we drew then you’re clueless, to put it lightly.
Click to expand...

Should be one thread for each player.
 
FFS We got a 2 each draw with a team away from home who are playing really well. They didn't boss us even though we didn't dominate as we have recently but that's football. We had chances to bury the game which we didn't take and they tied with a dodgy goal. Despite missing key midfielders we still edged the play in a difficult tie and should have won.
 
We need someone to keep the tempo/intensity high in the midfield. No surprise our best performances are when we play at a high tempo but when it drops so do the points and the performances.
 
MSF said:
This board is genuienely getting ruined. Anytime someone has an opinion they post a brand new thread. Its a mess.

The same shitey misinformed opinion has been posted 100 times, tore apart 100 times, and posted again.

Try actually watching football, because if you think physicality in the midfield is the reason we drew then you’re clueless, to put it lightly.
Click to expand...
I don't know, I think we need someone with a full blown criminal record to take us to the next level
 
crookie_bear said:
FFS We got a 2 each draw with a team away from home who are playing really well. They didn't boss us even though we didn't dominate as we have recently but that's football. We had chances to bury the game which we didn't take and they tied with a dodgy goal. Despite missing key midfielders we still edged the play in a difficult tie and should have won.
Click to expand...

So your saying no real need to panic just yet? :)
 
So we get this absolute beast in midfield, he charges into a tackle and wins the ball, gives it to Jack/Kamara/Davis who pass it back to Helander.

Rinse and repeat.
 
I think we need to have different options available. In certain circumstances having a physical component in the side can be beneficial, while in others, having a more finesse-type of midfield would be the way to go.

It should be remembered that during Rangers most successful periods we always had a mixture of both skill and physicality. Right now, I think the midfield is out of kilter - the lack of a strong physical presence - especially in a league such as the SPL, is hurting us IMO.
 
It doesnt matter who you are up against if you dont have it in you to match the opposing team physically.....you must then be a much better player than them.

Time and time again we lose 50/50 balls and its pathetic/weak. This is how the scottish game works, its physical. Far to often the same problem.

Kamara I've never seen it or understood it, hes weak and loses possession then when he does have possession hes not aggressive enough to drive us forward.
 
He wouldn't last a full game. Look what they have done with Morelos, he is public enemy No1 and our enforcer would be treated the same and therefore miss a lot of games through suspension. Unfortunately, that is the reality of our weakness to tackle (excuse the pun) the cheating from our officials.
 
Our dropped points this season wasn't down to a lack of physicality.

Probably had around 40 efforts at goal between the Livingston and Hibs game with us only scoring twice.

I watched 45 minutes of Thiago for Liverpool on Sunday night. He made more passes in 45 minutes than any Chelsea player in 90. He hit 53 forward thinking passes, 10 split the Chelsea defence. His first pass was a 25 yard first time ball that drew James out of position.

He moved the ball with pace, authority and found his attacking men first time.

Fabinho reads the game well, he breaks up play (not by being overly physical) and he can play an early pass.

Our midfield lacks intensity, the ability to play with their head up and spot that player in space - early. Jack, Davis and Kamara more often than not get bleeding noses in attacking areas, it breaks down, or it's an extra, simple touch or pass.

The midfield tempo at times is brutal, pedestrian like.

I wasn't keen on Zungu but watch his distribution - head up and picked that pass before the opponent is back in position. Johnson of Preston has proven he can score and assist from midfield whether it be a more CM or number 10 role. He can shift with that ball at his feet, he can travel, spot that early pass. He's got positive assist and scoring numbers, he likes that controlled long range effort.

If we lacked physicality we would have kept Ross McCrorie. What exactly would he have added on Sunday?

I'd love to find a budget Fabinho or Thiago and I would put my money on Daniel Johnson missing some of the opportunities we have missed all season, especially the ones from Kent and Arfield at the weekend. Tbh, most players would have stuck away for Arfield miss.
 
Our team cant handle being Achilles scrapped and assaulted without ref protection. Actually by the corrupt lot not doing so they are inviting on us.

Last week alfie could have been out for the season. What will it take before we speak up?
 
Barryhopez said:
The midfield need to control the game, and use their phsical presence to outmuscle.

The continual cry out for someone to smash an opposition is delightful for the fans and get the blood pumping but going down to 10 men doesn't help anyone.
Click to expand...
What physical presence?
 
SpainLoyal4567 said:
Seen it countless times, its the main problem in our team right now, hopefully the board back the manager and get the meanest looking b*stard they can find, we need an enforcer who'll stand up to the bullies in our league!
Click to expand...
Disagree. The ineptitude of the midfield isnt physicality it's the inability to pass forward quickly without losing it, shoot or keep the ball under any sort of pressure.
 
We miss too many chances we never shoot from outside the box players in good shooting positions take the easy option and play it wide.
Roofe would have made a difference up front he's more mobile and his link-up play is better the only good link-up play we had was Hagi and Arfield then he took Hagi off.
 
Always think people put too much emphasis on this type of thing, yes you need to be physical, but that wasn't why we dropped points, we failed to control the midfield due to slack passing and not moving the ball quick enough.

Our midfield definitely needs an addition or two, but with lapses of concentration like with Barisic and Goldson you are going to concede chances regardless of physicality. You want to avoid physical battles if possible by playing through teams, a soon as it becomes physical against teams in our league its a leveler for the opposition.

We had more than enough chances to win the game, if we convert them we score 4 goals, also need to remember that we had 3 first team midfielders out with injury and a referee that wasn't interested in applying the rules.
 
Refs would be rubbing their hands at a tough tackling Rangers midfield. Our problem is when we start games slowly. The opposition then sense we are there for the taking and up their game.
 
SpainLoyal4567 said:
Seen it countless times, its the main problem in our team right now, hopefully the board back the manager and get the meanest looking b*stard they can find, we need an enforcer who'll stand up to the bullies in our league!
Click to expand...
I’d understand this argument if we hadn’t got in front and played decent football and creating chances in the game.
 
Miyagi said:
Disagree. The ineptitude of the midfield isnt physicality it's the inability to pass forward quickly without losing it, shoot or keep the ball under any sort of pressure.
Click to expand...

It is incredibly annoying to see us eventually (and I mean eventually!!) work the ball out from the keeper through all the defenders (several times) and then it gets passed to a central midfielder who passes it (for example) to Borna who is already marked and can only pass it all the way back again.

And if the opposition then come forwards and put our defence under pressure it goes to the goalie who hoofs it up the park.

Which makes you wonder why we don't vary our play that bit (as we've all suggested) and occasionally, very quickly, try some long diagonal balls. Although often classed as "aimless passes", Goldson has some success with them.

But we need them to be quicker. REALLY quick.
We've got players with pace -- use that.

We don't need to be playing like that for 90 minutes !
But it's an option we really need to look to.
As with so many other options.
 
To be fair to the board they have backed the manager to the tune of well over £30m and 36 and counting signings.

For that kind of outlay in a very poor league we should have had a consistent starting 11 in place and be looking to add that little bit extra quality. We can’t keep throwing money at Gerrard every time we get a bad result.

It’s time the manager earned his corn out on the training field and tactically.
 
SpainLoyal4567 said:
Seen it countless times, its the main problem in our team right now, hopefully the board back the manager and get the meanest looking b*stard they can find, we need an enforcer who'll stand up to the bullies in our league!
Click to expand...

The real problem is that they shouldn’t have to.
 
People are over thinking this, I posted on a pre season game thread, we take our chances when on top & the rest will take care of itself, this wastefulness has to stop or we are fooked no matter who we sign
 
Can’t agree. Only games we have been bullied in during the last two seasons have been 45 minutes away to Aberdeen, 20 minutes at Tynecastle in the league and the full game vs hearts in the cup.

Physicality isn’t our problem. Not enough quality to finish teams off is.
 
Midfield physicality is not what lost us that game from what I watched
Missed chances, basic errors when defending and biased refereeing did.
With regards to the midfiled, for me Davis reverted to type AGAIN and was negative in everything he done apart from 1 shot at goal
Why, i don't know but that is how he finished last season & he did it again Sunday with his mind totally pre-set on going back / being safe in advance of receiving the ball.
When he plays that way it seriously hampers the tempo of our game
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Latest posts

Back
Top