Here are my thoughts on where Glasgow Rangers are at:
We all know this is a massive rebuild and as a result there will be many disappointments this season in my opinion. The 1st team isn’t strong enough never mind the squad, you only have to look at the game against Hearts at the weekend to know this. They had a stronger 1st 11 on the park and their bench was considerably stronger, as much as no one will like to admit, it is just a fact at the moment.
For me, Tavernier is done as a Rangers player and needs to be moved on asap. Initially, when I saw Ben Davies for his first handful of games when he came to the club I thought he was decent, but, after Saturdays showing, and a few before that, he is definitely not and will never be good enough to help us lead any sort of charge against them.
The shape of the team needs changed as one up top just doesn’t work for us and Dessers is neither clinical or composed enough to take the vast majority of the limited chances we create.
Scott Wright should be nowhere near a Rangers jersey. We also need guys who are willing to run through brick walls at corners and set pieces to get their nut on the end of the balls that come into the box. When was the last time we scored directly from a corner?
We need at least one if not two more CBs, a creative midfielder and at least 2 more strikers (at least one of these with composure) if we are to have any chance whatsoever of competing this season.
The manager needs to stick a rocket up everyone’s backside and get the team to press, press, press and chase everything down from the 1st kick to the last, all too often we sit off any opposition and let them play their way out of trouble, flip it and teams we are up against seem to be in our faces and go at us the way we should be going at them. Why do we ALWAYS slow the game down? Even when it comes to a throw in there is no urgency from anyone to get the ball in play and catch the opposition on the hop.
For me, and I know I have mentioned his need to sort the style of play out but, there are too many fans too quick to jump on PC’s back and lay blame at his door, the team that cross the white line are the ones the ire should be directed at, if these guys don’t want to give everything for the jersey, then can go, and I am fed up with the players taking the nip because of the criticism from the stands, if they give it everything and lose I can accept that but when they give lacklustre performances, can’t make a simple 5 yard pass, and, think it’s acceptable, then they are not fit to wear the jersey.
Ultimately though, and I know this will be the hardest part for a lot of people, the manager needs time, we have lost a LOT of players, players who were 1st team mainstays, many who should have been shipped out long ago as they simply weren’t of the standard we needed and have had to sign a lot of players to replace them.
The new players need time to bed in, to the team, the squad, the culture, the country and the expectancy to win. This is not going to be an overnight success story and may very well be a long season as a result but we cannot continue to bin manager after manager. I hate using comparisons to that lot across the city but, imagine if they got shot of AP after his first few games with his new look team? They didn’t, they trusted the process (at least their board did even if the natives were restless) and look what it done for them, give the manager TIME!
We were down in the lower divisions years ago and that should have been the point we afforded the time to get the recruitment right, however, everyone or at least almost everyone’s attitude changed as soon as we returned to the SPFL because they immediately would rather have the short win than allow the club to set us up for the long haul, it has taken about 5 managers to come and go before a manager like PC to come in and state what we already knew and that was that the player trading model HAS to change, he is trying to build something good, please give him the time he needs, we will only benefit for the long term if we do that, otherwise, we will be back to where we are this season again and again and again!
I know there will be backlash to this post because some can’t handle the truth but I don’t care, I want the good times back and I for one am willing to take the short term pain for the long term gain, it’s just a question if others can be true to themselves and admit that without it, we will go through this constant rebuilding process in search of instant success every season if we don’t!
Peace out brothers!