We do need to strengthen - don't we?

The Barrel

The Barrel

Well-Known Member
My dear old Grandad tried to explain why we were shit in early 80s to a young me:

"We don't have a good enough eleven and very little on bench....Celtic, Aberdeen, Dundee United have better squads, and less drop off when injuries or suspensions hit home".

So, what about today? Superb romp to 55...and S Cup to come....but where are we beyond the 'starting eleven'? A few bears seem to think we just retain squad, don't sell, and it's a repeat of this season...we have enough.

I was thinking about the categories:

1. Reserves or subs who don't diminish quality at all: we have one and that's Nathan P
2. Reserves or subs who generally do well and don't cause huge drop off: we have so many debates on this! :) I'd name McLaughlin, Arfield, Aribo in midfield (generally, although many disagree), Balogun (generally, although many disagree), Defoe, Hagi
3. Reserves or subs who can be argued over: Bassey, Simpson, Itten

Injuries: Roofe and Jack. Never fit enough for a long run and when fit both seem to be 'recovering fom and fitness' for ages
New guys: only Wright seems likely to push on but hasn't played enough

So imho (ready to be destroyed by incoming flack) is that we need more guys pushing for a place who are as good as guy whose jersey they want....

Thoughts?
 
Making 7 changes would affect most teams in the world tbh. Was always going to be a tough game but about strengthening, yes we do need to because that should be the aim year in year out imo. Midfield is in need of an overhaul coming into the Summer so depending on the transfers out, I think that’ll be the main area we look at
 
We always need to strengthen. We might find that we have to replace players too. The key is to get the right replacements in and continue to look towards improving the squad. The midfield is probably an area that requires improving with a view to the future. We can’t become stale or complacent but then the current management team are miles ahead of us on that.
 
If you have ambition you always need to strengthen and it is best to do so from a position of strength. That is not a criticism of any player we have at present.
Until our top secret sports science succeeds in their cloning project the squad will continue to be made up of players with varying abilities and varying apllication / mental strength. This has always been the case
I can't recall Rangers ever having 20 or so players who could interchange without impacting the performance level. The trick is for it not to impact too much
The squad we had this year was good enough to romp the league and put together a decent run in Europe. Clearly we want to do better so need to strengthen but there is no need to slag off any member of the squad. They have all played their part and I can't recall any perfirmance that suggested any were giving less than 100%
 
We need someone as good as Davis and Jack but that will cost money. I also feel we need a 1st choice RHS attacker as no one has claimed that place yet. These are tweaks that can be done over the medium term rather than panic because we need to stop them winning another league so we are in a great position.
 
You can't just chuck in 6 or 7 guys who haven't been playing regularly then write them off after 90 minutes in an end of season dead rubber.

But yes, we should always be looking to strengthen by improving the starting XI.

Edit - not saying the OP is writing anyone off based on last night but plenty of others have been.
 
We need to strengthen/maintain based on players likely departing and areas that we are light on from constant injuries or strenfth in depth.

We standstill we end up getting steamrolled like they did.

Believing they are years behind, like they did with us, results in us getting steamrolled.
 
Aye we should probably bring in Haaland and Neymar since we drew away at St Johnstone in a meaningless end of season match.

We’ll improve if options are out there or replace if anyone goes.
 
Of course we do, what team doesn't?

Another excellent transfer window this summer will see us in a very strong position next season.
 
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Folk seem to think that our likeliest sales are Kamara, Barasic and Helander because they’re in Euro2020. That would weaken us incredibly on the left.
 
Morelos20 said:
Aye we should probably bring in Haaland and Neymar since we drew away at St Johnstone in a meaningless end of season match.

We’ll improve if options are out there or replace if anyone goes.
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I just got off a flight from Paris to Sao Paulo half an hour ago, and on it I was seated beside Neymar, he told me he would never play at St. Johnstone due to their gash pitch, so your theory might not stand up!!
 
Muzza said:
Always need to strengthen, never ending.
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If you’re not moving forwards you’re just standing still or going backwards.
we absolutely need to strengthen. Celtic will overhaul their team. We have CL qualifiers and also a guaranteed CL slot if we win the league next year to play for
 
Midfield needs an upgrade for next season.

We need more aggression, energy and the ability to carry the ball forward.
 
The Barrel said:
Is 'fine' enough for where we want to progress to?
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In a game where there was nothing at stake for us due to the League being won, then yes it's fine. The seven changes (one of which was the club captain) was always going to have an effect on the performance. The tempo was not there for large parts, though credit in part goes to St Johnstone. Some of that will be down to some players, Roofe, Tav, Itten & Simpson for instance not having too many minutes recently so to that end the game was perfect for them with the cup still to play for.

Individually the players who came in last night are good enough to be in our squad. Had this been earlier in the season, with the league still at stake, there would not have been as many changes.

What has been clear during this season is that all players in the squad can and have contributed to our performances.

As for the point of strengthening? Yes, of course we will over the next transfer window. The best time to strengthen and evolve is when on top. No wholesale signings will be required but 2-3 players coming in who are up to playing every week should do us nicely.
 
We undoubtedly need to strengthen, I think much will depend on who, if anyone leaves, and if so how much money we receive.

Midfield seems a priority with Davis at an age where we can't expect 2 games a week from him, Jack with his injury doubts and Kamara with his CL suspension. Ideally 2 quality midfield additions, but unfortunately the standard required would likely cost beyond what we could realistically afford.

One would maybe argue, even if Morelos stays, for a new forward as well, unless Itten becomes the player we hope he can be and Roofe overcomes his injuries to regularly produce his form of late 2020.
 
Gersfc21 said:
Also St Johnstone are no mugs, especially at home.
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They've won 5 home games in the league this season and last night was their 9th goal of the season at home.

Last night was just a disjointed performance but we knew after Prague the squad needs strengthened. We can't standstill we have to upgrade on players if we are to keep being successful.
 
The Barrel said:
My dear old Grandad tried to explain why we were shit in early 80s to a young me:

"We don't have a good enough eleven and very little on bench....Celtic, Aberdeen, Dundee United have better squads, and less drop off when injuries or suspensions hit home".

So, what about today? Superb romp to 55...and S Cup to come....but where are we beyond the 'starting eleven'? A few bears seem to think we just retain squad, don't sell, and it's a repeat of this season...we have enough.

I was thinking about the categories:

1. Reserves or subs who don't diminish quality at all: we have one and that's Nathan P
2. Reserves or subs who generally do well and don't cause huge drop off: we have so many debates on this! :) I'd name McLaughlin, Arfield, Aribo in midfield (generally, although many disagree), Balogun (generally, although many disagree), Defoe, Hagi
3. Reserves or subs who can be argued over: Bassey, Simpson, Itten

Injuries: Roofe and Jack. Never fit enough for a long run and when fit both seem to be 'recovering fom and fitness' for ages
New guys: only Wright seems likely to push on but hasn't played enough

So imho (ready to be destroyed by incoming flack) is that we need more guys pushing for a place who are as good as guy whose jersey they want....

Thoughts?
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We should be looking to improve the squad every window however the season has gone. You can never stand still.

That mob thought they could get away without improving the overall quality of the squad and its come back to bite them.
 
We have to strengthen. No debate.

We created very few real chances again last night but managed to score a good goal. As the manager said, we conceded a penalty and was lucky it was only one. Take the draw and move on.
 
Regardless of last night, yes we always need to strengthen whnever the opportunity arrives.

We need a midfielder as good as or better than what we have, Davis not getting any younger, Jack injuries (latest news promising) and Kamara will attract interest. Zungu doesn't cut it, so we need at least 1, maybe 2.

Up front, Alfie, Kent probably attract interest, we have Wright who has impressed, Aribo plays wherever, Hagi I really rate, great vision, tireless, real team player, not greatly suited for our system. Itten, developing, but jury still out. Roofe for me has gave us flashes but on balance, not his biggest fan. Undoubted talent, but again, maybe not the right system for him. So depending on sales, we are OK up top, but if we lose 1 or 2 they need replaced.

At the back pretty settled, only concern would be Borna leaving, Bassey has done well, but is he ready for week in, week out, I dont think so.
 
You always improve your squad from a position of strength. It's always the way if you're to maintain success.
 
To get to the next level in European terms we really need to get in two or three match winners that will turned games for us and maybe the prospect of playing in the CL will attract the right calibre of player and as a few have said,midfield will need freshened up. I'm sure the gaffer will be looking to the next stage now. If we can keep the majority of our decent players and strengthen on the back of that, I think we will be in great shape.
 
You can tell it's been a right cnut of a season to try and squeeze negatives in.

Of course we will strengthen in the summer. You think Gerrard and Wilson want us to stand still? Also, the reason we've been so consistent this season is because we finally have a squad of quality and depth and that has made us less reliant on the core.
 
Strengthening the squad is a constant on going exercise it never stops.

noones position is ever safe at a big club like Rangers, it’s what makes us great and keeps players on their toes and performances high
 
Bowery Boy said:
You can tell it's been a right cnut of a season to try and squeeze negatives in.

Of course we will strengthen in the summer. You think Gerrard and Wilson want us to stand still? Also, the reason we've been so consistent this season is because we finally have a squad of quality and depth and that has made us less reliant on the core.
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Beat me to it ya bassa!:)

Of course we will change and, hopefully, improve as part of that process. Gerrard has made that very clear. Standing still in football is not an option.

There are some question marks over some of our recent signings but many of them have been huge successes. That's the nature of the beast. I'm not writing anyone off yet as I believe every one of them has shown they've got 'something' about them. Whether they can bring it to the table at the required level week after week is the only debate.

We will see change again this Summer though. I'd expect to see circa 5 in and 5 out at least, some of them peripheral players but probably a couple of important moves as well.
 
We have made 4/5 changes quite frequently this season without a noticeable drop off in performances and results. Last night we perhaps made a too many changes but this was explained by the manager. We should always be looking to strengthen as a given.
 
Family bam said:
We should always try and strengthen but there ain't no magic money tree.
We would probably have to sell one of our assets.
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For our business plan to be a success we need more youngsters coming through. The likes of Patterson is what we need to step up from the reserves. If we got say 10 million for a player we are not going to buy another 10 mill player to replace the one we sold. So unless the scouting has been helluva good like what happened with Kamara we arent going to get players in of equal quality of those we sell.
 
The difficlty going forward is strengthening while also balancing the books by moving on some of our better players for big (hopefully) fees. It's going to be a balancing act.
 
Bowery Boy said:
You can tell it's been a right cnut of a season to try and squeeze negatives in.

Of course we will strengthen in the summer. You think Gerrard and Wilson want us to stand still? Also, the reason we've been so consistent this season is because we finally have a squad of quality and depth and that has made us less reliant on the core.
Click to expand...
No negatives, best season in recent history as mentioned in OP.
 
cloodie said:
The difficlty going forward is strengthening while also balancing the books by moving on some of our better players for big (hopefully) fees. It's going to be a balancing act.
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Some smart bosman transfers could help a lot with that.

Lundstram, Ryan Gauld, Fashion Sakala all will be available on free transfers this summer in areas we need to improve in and could get let us sell people like Hagi or Kamara for significant profit while not weakening the squad.
 
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