The Cup Final must see a radical change in how we play that lot

It was widely said on here that old firm games are won and lost in the midfield. Their midfield is vastly superior to ours so we had to stunt theirs, which we failed to do again for the third old firm game under PC.

Sterling has to be in there to nullify McGregor’s free pass at running and dictating the game for a start off. Then we have to play Raskin and Diomande alongside him. It was tantamount to stupidity to have Lawrence to try and pick him up yesterday in all honesty.

Leckie talks absolute drivel normally but his article today was actually bang on the money regarding us; we are a poor second to them.

PC still has credit in the bank having dragged us back into the race but it could and probably should have been an even better picture for us this season league-wise. As it happens, we’re going to finish at least six points behind them.

If we do make the necessary changes, we can still win the Scottish Cup, which would mark a second trophy of the season and give us confidence ahead of next term, especially given the large scale changes coming in personnel this summer but it we do what we did yesterday and expect a different result, we’re setting ourselves up to fail.
 
We need to have the bravery to try and keep possession of the ball. Stop with the bullshit constant long ball.

All we’re doing with that is hoping our strikers take their limited chances and theirs miss more.

Not very wise considering strength of our forwar line.
 
It does feel like we have to do something different, but I fear it's akin to moving around the deckchairs on the Titanic, i.e. the players simply aren't good enough at the moment.
 
Firstly stop allowing firearms onto the pitch, that way we don't shoot ourselves in the foot. Secondly shake up the team, tactics and style. They'll be so shocked we'll be two up before Rodgers stops smirking. Thirdly and my favourite shoooooot on siight at their goals.
 
To be honest even if we do set up differently, I have no confidence in this team’s ability, attitude or just straight up balls to go and beat them. A radical change in system doesn’t make Dessers any better at pressing, Lawrence any quicker, Tav less likely to lose a man at the back post etc.

Celtic barely got out of second gear yesterday, even when we had 11 men on the pitch. This team are beat before they leave Ibrox against that lot.

I’ll be watching it, but to be honest I’m totally apathetic about it. Looking forward to the end of the season and seeing the back of most, and hopefully all, of the core group of shitebags and crocks. Fingers crossed a few others that we’ve signed under Gio and Beale join them too.

Too many players stinking the place out and continually letting the fans down. Can’t wait to see the back of the vast majority of them.
 
The squad doesn't have the personnel to radically change how we play in three weeks. We have one fit striker, a variety of jobbing wide players and most other realistic options barely match fit having hardly played in recent weeks. The only two line up changes are likely Ridvan for Borna, and Raskin has two league games to make Lundstram's jersey his, other than that the team is going to pretty much pick itself barring any unexpected injury returns.

Never mind the Celtic games, if this squad was capable of a radically different way of playing football in general we'd have seen it already, Clement certainly isn't watching some of the shit we've suffered this year just for a laugh. Unfortunately, injuries and limited quality in the squad generally means we have limited scope to do much different, barring any slight tactical tweaks.

FWIW, every single Old Firm has been tight this year and I genuinely think that for all our flaws we're probably a) due a bit of a rub of the green in one, like scoring first and b) if nothing else we've proven we're a good cup team in Europe and domestically this year, and seem to manage these occasions better than league games. I'm not overly worried about the cup final, it will take care of itself and I think we've got every chance of nicking it, but win or lose it doesn't change anything about what's required going into the summer.
 
Tbh I think we will see much the same with the same end result unfortunately.This squad is a spent force and don’t have one last effort in them.
 
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muttley said:
This tentative and worried outlook must end.

I don't even care if we play 2 strikers and launch high ball after high ball into their penalty area.

Our entire system must end today.

This nonsense cannot continue.
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We’ll still be stuck with the same losers, so all he can do is try and come up with a shape that gives them a bit of belief.

It’s time he started managing the players he does have rather than playing a system for players he wishes he had.
 
Lawrence shouldn’t start against a quick side, for me Lunny and Borna are dead men walking. They don’t give a shiny shite whether we win lose or draw. I don’t think PC has a clue how to beat them, he hopefully is watching other games where diddy teams have taken points of them.
 
Ron Swanson said:
We’ll still be stuck with the same losers, so all he can do is try and come up with a shape that gives them a bit of belief.

It’s time he started managing the players he does have rather than playing a system for players he wishes he had.
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If we don't see something different it'll be the same result.

Imagine getting in, sparking your first Aldi brand can and seeing a 4-2-3-1 with Lundstram starting and some oddball on here saying they are glad Sterling is at right mid to 'protect Tav.'
 
Wordy_Rappinghood said:
If we don't see something different it'll be the same result.

Imagine getting in, sparking your first Aldi brand can and seeing a 4-2-3-1 with Lundstram starting and some oddball on here saying they are glad Sterling is at right mid to 'protect Tav.'
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I’m honestly sick of saying we need to do something different, mate.

I was moaning like %^*& before the game at Ibrox about how we needed to win the midfield first and foremost.

If he goes again with the same shite for the Cup Final I’ll be doing a self-imposed ban before I get the official perma-ban:))
 
Clement could change it all he wants for the final, anyway you slice or dice it he simply doesn’t have the right players at his disposal to make much difference to what will be another miserable afternoon no doubt. Even if we were to win the cup by some strange turnaround in the dynamic of this fixture I honestly couldn’t say I’d be too fussed, obviously I would rather win than not win but as we’ve been royally kicked in the nuts again with the title in our grasp only for it to be cruelly swiped away from us in the final few weeks, I say If we avoid a hammering it will probably be the best we can do with these guys. The mismanagement in the boardroom after 55 has brought us down to this level with no end in sight it seems.
 
Teddy bear said:
It's mental how we manage to go away in Europe and compete against better teams than Celtic.
Then completely fold at the piggery.
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Its because its happened so many times arses handed on a plate.Gerrard changed the mentality there.We have morphed into cannon fodder there again recently, a joke for our club.
 
I’m struggling to believe this team has it in them to win the Cup Final, of course we hope and pray that we do but the whole negativity around the club and the players certainly doesn’t fill me with much optimism. Same players, same silly tactics, I’m just so fed up watching dross and players are becoming unlikeable. We need a massive clear out and as far as the manager along with Alex Rae etc are concerned let’s just say I’m worried!
 
PT98 said:
It'll no doubt change nearer the time but I don't think I've ever been as apathetic about a cup final or old firm game.

The sooner it and this season is over the better
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Think most see how the game is going to go. Same as the rest this season.
 
muttley said:
They know how to play us before a ball is even kicked, mate.

We fall for it every single time.
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Muttley as one of the more sensible people on here - you have absolutely nailed it.

Somebody leaked the team giving them an easy night's sleep knowing that they were facing same old same old.
We are predictable all over the park whether it is attacking lumping in crosses that don't beat the first man or at attacking corners - no plan other than to go into their box and cross the ball.
Clement really needs to earn his corn over the next few weeks - losing the final is not an fn option but we need something different.
Archie Stevens is going to be twice the player McCausland is and 100 times the player Wright is. Start the lad!
 
The celtc midfield in particular googly eyed wee cunt McGregor had/ have the run of the midden. even at Ibrox. Every time we play them it's the same it doesn't help of course the protection he gets from the officials on the rare occasion we actually challenge but we seem to just let him float about as if we're terrified of him. Same goes with oddjob we don't , or can't get near him . Our captain is terrified of him and gets bullied far too easily. Now O'Reilly is running into dangerous scoring positions , unchallenged as if he's invisible. If these instances aren't addressed then it will be same result until they are. They bully us all over the park., and P.C. must address it if he wants us to start winning again especially against them.
 
Our players need to be able to play the clement way better than Rodgers team play his way.

Or you accept that they are better tuned than we are at the moment and you set up to negate them
 
mac192 said:
If Lundstram starts, my belief in Clement as a manager will be undermined significantly.
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I agree with this he should not even be in the squad. Last year we had Kent and Alfie masquerading around not giving a feck not again please.

For the record I believe We must give Pc time to build his team and stamp his style on his players. Lots of threads on how many and who need to go the ones that stay will be his call these calls are as important as the new players coming in.
 
muttley said:
This tentative and worried outlook must end.

I don't even care if we play 2 strikers and launch high ball after high ball into their penalty area.

Our entire system must end today.

This nonsense cannot continue.
Click to expand...
The senior players as he calls them can't change and if selected as he probably will continue the rot.
 
Rangerista said:
Correct!

I'm not advocating "get intae these fenyan b@stards!" as our battlecry, just players that'll say "let's make these chaps know they're in a game".

We need a 180° change in attitude and if some players aren't able or willing, they need to go.
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The usual suspects can't I am afraid mate.
 
I agree with the OP. I’ve been following Rangers since 1968 but I’ve never known us to have such a poor run against them as now. How we change it with the current squad I don’t know.
 
Someone in another thread mentioned our front line yesterday could have been Cortes Danilo and Sima.
I could cry
 
muttley said:
This tentative and worried outlook must end.

I don't even care if we play 2 strikers and launch high ball after high ball into their penalty area.

Our entire system must end today.

This nonsense cannot continue.
Click to expand...
I predict there will be zero change. Phil looks a guy who does not compromise. You 100% bang on though
 
muttley said:
This tentative and worried outlook must end.

I don't even care if we play 2 strikers and launch high ball after high ball into their penalty area.

Our entire system must end today.

This nonsense cannot continue.
Click to expand...
Absolutely,when we finally had a go inthe last 10 minutes they were flapping big time.Get in their faces from kick off and dont give them a minutes peace.
 
We can’t just launch high balls. That’s what we already do and it’s rubbish. It’s not proper football tactics.

We need to press them as a team, be aggressive and have our own form of proper passing attacks.

They are better technically and it shows - they passed us off the park in triangles whilst we just blootered it long at every opportunity.
 
muttley said:
This tentative and worried outlook must end.

I don't even care if we play 2 strikers and launch high ball after high ball into their penalty area.

Our entire system must end today.

This nonsense cannot continue.
Click to expand...

Won't chnage

clement doesn't know how to
 
ClubFootZzZ said:
The squad doesn't have the personnel to radically change how we play in three weeks. We have one fit striker, a variety of jobbing wide players and most other realistic options barely match fit having hardly played in recent weeks. The only two line up changes are likely Ridvan for Borna, and Raskin has two league games to make Lundstram's jersey his, other than that the team is going to pretty much pick itself barring any unexpected injury returns.

Never mind the Celtic games, if this squad was capable of a radically different way of playing football in general we'd have seen it already, Clement certainly isn't watching some of the shit we've suffered this year just for a laugh. Unfortunately, injuries and limited quality in the squad generally means we have limited scope to do much different, barring any slight tactical tweaks.

FWIW, every single Old Firm has been tight this year and I genuinely think that for all our flaws we're probably a) due a bit of a rub of the green in one, like scoring first and b) if nothing else we've proven we're a good cup team in Europe and domestically this year, and seem to manage these occasions better than league games. I'm not overly worried about the cup final, it will take care of itself and I think we've got every chance of nicking it, but win or lose it doesn't change anything about what's required going into the summer.
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We were playing a far better style of football up until the end of February than we’ve seen from us since.

The things we were doing well then with largely the same personnel have disappeared at an alarming rate of knots.

You have to hope Clement knows why that happened and what he needs to do to get us back playing that way, but all the evidence right now suggests he doesn’t.
 
You’d have to stubborn (or certifiable) as hell to start the cup final with the same midfield as yesterday, I guess we only have fan media to ask PC about the zero mobility of Lundstram and Lawrence.

Just to add another wee kick to the chuckies, EVERY Rangers player yesterday bar Lundstram (22k pw vs McGregor’s 37k pw) is on more money than their Celtic equivalent.

Rangers starting 11 ~ 250k p/w, Rhats 11 ~ 200k p/w.
 
We need to stop our main offensive tactic being to cross into hopeless forwards.
Need to focus on beat a man and shoot from outside the box.

Yesterday , at kick off, you could see their midfield 3 was better than each of ours. So we can only hope that whoever gets the call, they up their game considerably on the day.
 
HandsomeHead said:
We were playing a far better style of football up until the end of February than we’ve seen from us since.

The things we were doing well then with largely the same personnel have disappeared at an alarming rate of knots.

You have to hope Clement knows why that happened and what he needs to do to get us back playing that way, but all the evidence right now suggests he doesn’t.
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Take your point but I don't think the style has changed much since Clement has came in. You have to expect after a few months of seeing it though that other teams will work out how to limit our strengths, and I don't think he's had the options in the squad to mix it up since February/March to remedy our dip in form, especially with the Sima/Cortes injuries.

Honestly there is some fair criticism that can be levelled at Clement, but 95% of the position we're in is the inconsistent playing squad. I'd love to say we're underachieving, but looking at our squad it's quite the opposite conclusion I have to reach.
 
We seem to start off to contain instead of looking to impose our game on them.

I just don't understand when it's 11 v 11 we sit in and allow them to dictate and when we find ourselves a man down and a goal down we find a bit of resilience.

This has to stop from the first whistle.
They don't have exclusive rights to press and they are there to be got at.
This has to be addressed for Hampden.

I'm sorry but if this continues on this day i want a new manager in place.
 
muttley said:
This tentative and worried outlook must end.

I don't even care if we play 2 strikers and launch high ball after high ball into their penalty area.

Our entire system must end today.

This nonsense cannot continue.
Click to expand...
It won’t
Because Clement has had 7 months to change how we play and he hasn’t managed to come up with anything close to attractive attacking football.
 
nublu2u said:
You’d have to stubborn (or certifiable) as hell to start the cup final with the same midfield as yesterday, I guess we only have fan media to ask PC about the zero mobility of Lundstram and Lawrence.

Just to add another wee kick to the chuckies, EVERY Rangers player yesterday bar Lundstram (22k pw vs McGregor’s 37k pw) is on more money than their Celtic equivalent.

Rangers starting 11 ~ 250k p/w, Rhats 11 ~ 200k p/w.
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People don’t always like to hear it on here, but they are a very well run business. There is clearly a wage structure, succession planning and so on. Their managerial appointments are selected to provide minimum disruption to the playing squad - someone to fit the style/system already in place and not disrupt it too much. Transfer wise, they generally follow a robust model and sell assets when timing is right.

We are a long, long way off of that. Like anything a well thought out structure needs to be put in place, processes followed and results will come in the end.
 
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