Ross McCrorie

We have Katic who should have been kept ahead of Simpson
That’s a bit different, is it not?
It’s not as if Katic has been sold to make room for Simpson.
Katic needed games before being considered for a first team place.
Maybe Simpson was only kept because Katic was out.
 
I don't think Edmunson was any better, but we are now all agreeing that Simpson is not up the mark, and has been given a fair few chances now.

Katic before injury was unarguably a better player.

But.. the crazy thing at the weekend was Balogun was sitting in the bench.. why? If he needed rested the was mid week cup game to do that
Katic was dropped before his injury for Edmundson due to his poor form and then the season stopped not long after. He seems to get better the more he doesn't play maybe his goal against them counts towards that but Katic was never going to feature for us this season given how long he's been out.

Balogun in his time with us has had injury issues so needs managed accordingly so that's why Simpson played yesterday. The rotation of Balgoun and Simpson is going to keep happening until Helander comes back. I don't think Simpson is great on what he's shown so far he looks a player that's not played a lot of football.
 
I don't think Edmunson was any better, but we are now all agreeing that Simpson is not up the mark, and has been given a fair few chances now.

Katic before injury was unarguably a better player.

But.. the crazy thing at the weekend was Balogun was sitting in the bench.. why? If he needed rested the was mid week cup game to do that
Has he not only played around 600 mins for us or something?

That's not even 7 games and he's had 'a fair few chances'.
 
I’m afraid we are going to be stuck with Simpson, and all I can really hope is that he improves significantly. Goldson and Balogun must be the preferred pairing though, surely?
I know it’s a point of contention but I would be far happier with Goldson and Katic. I fear we have seen the last of Katic though, and in coming years we might regret that
 
I know hindsight is a wonderful thing but would we have been better keeping hold of McCrorie instead of signing Jack Simpson? I have tried to defend Simpson on here and I know Gerrard see's him as a project player but I just don't see anything to suggest that he is a standard above what we've had in recent years.
They are of similar age but I just think as a product of our academy and also being Scottish, McCrorie may have been a better option to have around. Thoughts?
No.
 
Think Simpson has barely played 30 games of 1st team football in the last 3/4 years?

I'm no football manager but at less than 6ft tall I'd say you have to be a bit of a footballer /reader of the game to make it at CB.

Simpson doesn't seem either.

I'm also unconvinced with Lundstram, but Gerrard named him at the weekend and asked us to trust him.
 
That’s a bit different, is it not?
It’s not as if Katic has been sold to make room for Simpson.
Katic needed games before being considered for a first team place.
Maybe Simpson was only kept because Katic was out.
Katic wasn’t ( out ) he was needing game time that he would be getting now possibly
 
Katic wasn’t ( out ) he was needing game time that he would be getting now possibly
I’m pretty certain that most of us agreed that Katic would be loaned out to get his “minutes”.
Incredibly easy to be wise after the event.
Another thing on this one is that if Simpson were to leave, like Itten perhaps, there’d be an opinion that he “didn’t get a chance” / “didn’t get a run of games” as there has been with, well Itten, for example.
 
No - if we wanted to let Katic go we should have kept ahold of Edmundson.

He wasn't technically brilliant but he was an absolute unit and precisely the kind of player who just works in Scottish football against the jobbers. The number of shitey balls up top they played and Simpson got outmuscled by Tony fkn Watt, who knocked it down and they played off the 2nd balls
 
None of the players mentioned are good enough. McCrorie is too small to be a centre half. Edmundson was nowhere near commanding enough in the air, and Katic doesn’t have the requisite positional sense.

All have good attributes, but none of them have the complete package. Niko’s aggression and aerial ability won’t be enough for him to make it under Gerrard.
 
Hes not good enough for Rangers and hes not good enough for anyone at CB. He was making a rather decent job of midfield for Aberdeen but theyve signed some liability who must play every week so poor Ross is stuck at the back with the clown in front and Calamity Joe behind him.

Whatamess.
 
Too early to make a judgement but we're not in a position to have a wold class player as our #4 CB!!
 
Be interesting to see how he goes at Aberdeen over a season at CB , if that’s where they continue to play Ross . I think he has potential as a defender but there are clearly some issues and learning he has to absorb . He is now 23 yrs old and while the peak years for CD is probably late 20s , see Goldson as an example but there are more , these seasons will be pretty damn important in his career .
 
Big Ross is never a centre half op dont you remember when he played there ?
Yeah I do and I don't think he was good enough, but I think he was better than Simpson has been. My op doesn't come across that way though, so my apologies.
I'm not annoyed at the fact we got rid of McCrorie, because he wasn't good enough. I'm annoyed at the fact that we have brought someone in of similar age who is no better. And with the whole homegrown player thing for European competitions being key, I would have preferred to have kept McCrorie than sign a player like Simpson who we cant even put in our European squad.
I was a fan of McCrorie when he first came through, I think he gave the support something positive to cling on to when we were going through the sh1t show that was the Caixinha reign. Players who are ultimately not good enough for us though have to be moved on.
 
McCrorie Was a young player lauded by some as the next great prospect sadly it failed to materialise for him at Rangers he simply wasn’t good enough
 
I know hindsight is a wonderful thing but would we have been better keeping hold of McCrorie instead of signing Jack Simpson? I have tried to defend Simpson on here and I know Gerrard see's him as a project player but I just don't see anything to suggest that he is a standard above what we've had in recent years.
They are of similar age but I just think as a product of our academy and also being Scottish, McCrorie may have been a better option to have around. Thoughts?

EDIT:
I'm not suggesting that we SHOULD have kept McCrorie, apologies if that's how my OP comes across. My thoughts were based on the fact that Simpson is of similar age and he's been no better than what McCrorie was.
I agree with this one certainly better than Simpson, we have been short in middle of the park plus he would have counted as home grown player with low wages. I also think he would have kept developing...only issue would he have been happy as a utility cover player / bench warmer.
He may not help us create more chances against the low block but counter argument would be he would have helped with some of the weak goals we concede on transition e.g. Dundee Utd and Motherwell.
 
The writing was on the wall for Edmundson after the COVID incident, however would have been a far better 4th choice than Simpson in my opinion. Katic leaving on loan for regular football also better than being 4th choice at Rangers. Need to see how he holds up after long lay off.
 
I don't see Katic, McCrorie, Edmundson or Simpson being at the required level. I would like to see us cut our losses with Simpson (by losses I mean wages before the "we signed him for free" folk start) and try again.

A quick look at that Jarrad Branthwaite, a 6ft 5 left-footed CB with England youth caps and less than a year on his contract with Everton. There might be other reasons he isn't good enough or he's too good a prospect to end up at us, I don't know too much about him, but that profile of player is what we should be targeting IMO.
 
No - if we wanted to let Katic go we should have kept ahold of Edmundson.

He wasn't technically brilliant but he was an absolute unit and precisely the kind of player who just works in Scottish football against the jobbers. The number of shitey balls up top they played and Simpson got outmuscled by Tony fkn Watt, who knocked it down and they played off the 2nd balls

The thing is folk forget why Katic was dropped from the team. It’s all good and well being a unit but when you continually get caught with balls over your head on the halfway line, or that you have a pass rate success of about 50% It’s no use to us.

Gerrard wants defenders who can control and pass the ball, more often than not Katic first touch became a tackle.
 
No we should have kept Katic and put Simpson out on loan.
You mean the Katic who hadn’t played in nearly a year following a career threatening injury? Keep him by all means but we would still need another centre back in addition so sending out Simpson would mean bringing someone else in.
 
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