Inverness CT -V- Rangers - Preview
Teaser Paragraph:
Should Inverness make allowances for the predicament that the once mighty Glasgow Rangers find themselves in, then we could pay the price for failing to take advantage of the Ibrox clubs plight. If Rangers are forced to cut their coat according to their cloth, then the strength of the Ibrox side could be reduced accordingly and we could benefit from the taxmans interest in Rangers.
The taxman might be knocking on the door at Ibrox, but Rangers are still a formidable force on the park and anyone looking for an easy three points, should reconsider, as I doubt that the Rangers players will hide as quick as Craig Whyte has done. Events off the park are overshadowing this seasons SPL, but for the rest, life goes on and there are still one or two formalities to be ironed out.
As you have guessed, Rangers, as we know them, are the visitors early on Sunday for what should be an intriguing lunchtimes entertainment. Kick off is 12:45 and it's not one to be missed.
Last week saw over 50,000 crammed into Ibrox in a show of defiance and unity, unfortunately the events on the park went a little flat as Kilmarnock ran out 1-0 winners and Bosnian Sasa Papac was red carded. If truth be told, Inverness fared little better in a poor game at relegation threatened Dunfermline. Joe Cardle opened the scoring for the Pars right on half-time, but Nick Ross was on hand to convert a Jonny Hayes cross to restore parity. The result at Dunfermline favoured Inverness more, but the performances of late have left the fans with little optimism for the remainder of the season. Of course, part of this can be attributed to the ongoing injury crisis and the occasional red card compounds this. The rest is down to a lack of depth of quality, evident when we have to use second rate players to cover important positions. That is not the players fault being thrust forward when others drop out, but it shows that living within your means has it's limitations.
Ginger Jaggy has all the inside info on this one..........................................
Make a note of this folks, Sunday 26th of February could be our final clash against the once very dominant Glasgow Rangers.
The beast has been losing its fear factor for years now and this winter Rangers look a mere shadow of their former selves. Rangers with their ugly sister in tow have been stripping Scottish football of any life blood with the majority chunk of any money pouring into and through their hands. Also they have made sure any challenge to their authority has been put down by acquiring the best players from any clubs that have the audacity to challenge their supremacy. The Old Firm are monsters that continue to stamp all over the smaller clubs and they usually get their way, but Rangers got too big for their boots and tried to exert their muscle against a monster even bigger than them. Not many like the taxman but in this case every employee of HMRC is probably now national facebook friends throughout the land. Rangers tried to beat the system and inevitably have been caught and are now paying for this grave mistake. They owe something like £15 million in back tax to HMRC as well as the continued fight over the £50 million. Rangers have been placed into Administration and the case for liquidation is still a distinct possibility. Wherever you sit on the Rangers survival debate, this season will see a new team in the Champions League with Motherwell in pole position for that honour. But more excitingly is that 6th place may carry a window into Europe and Caley Thistle supporters while not getting over excited are still in the hunt for this. But enough of the politics there is a football match to play this weekend.
Inverness are still sitting tenth and after last weekend has made sure that relegation is being kept at arm’s length. For Terry and Mo though it will be a case of trying to push on up the table with Caley Thistle unbeaten in our last six matches (if you discount the two losses to the champions elect). Dunfermline last weekend was not pretty but a point was a satisfactory result after the disjointed show that both teams produced on an awful pitch. Caley Thistle are seven points off sixth place with a game in hand and after Sunday face teams that are in the pack chasing that top six place. Inverness’ next game is against the current occupiers of sixth place Dundee United so that could be the game of the season to make or break our top six chances. But we have Rangers still to play and after the performance in the last encounter back in December and Rangers plight becoming considerably worse since then it is a game that we can look at and say, yeah we can beat them. If Inverness play with the resilience that has been instilled since November then a win is not out of the question.
Rangers as we know are in trouble off the field and that has contributed to the slump in their form since the early part of the season. The Glasgow outfit did have a 15 point lead over Celtic in November but a contribution of Celtic going into unbeatable mode and Rangers dropping points put the blue half of Glasgow 4 points behind at the turn of the year. To add to this Rangers faced Dunfermline only two weeks ago keeping the gap at 4 points but within two days the title was lost as Celtic marched into a 20 point lead. The blue noses did respond by filling Ibrox for the first time in a normal league game in a long time. But the result didn’t match the script as Kilmarnock came, saw and conquered. Looking at the highlights it was no fluke as Killie could have made the margin of defeat much, much worse.
The head to head shows that Rangers have a commanding eleven victories over our three in 20 matches. This is to be expected with the disparity between the two clubs but I don’t expect anyone else has a better record in head to heads against them. The last game though will be remembered for one of the best performances by a Caley Thistle team this season. A 2-1 loss sounds respectable but had we taken our chances in the second half then it could have been a resounding 4-1 win with some absolute guilt edge chances going abegging. But despite the disappointment came pride with a performance that shows we can be a good team with good players on their day. The first league encounter will be remembered for a poor refereeing performance which handed Rangers three points on a plate. The so called foul on Steven Naismith was a travesty which cost us the game. Now that sounds familiar, a referee making a howler to give one half of the Old Firm a win.
We can win this one. Rangers still have good players but with the uncertainty over jobs and such a thin squad to play with, there is no better opportunity to take advantage of the situation, and we have beaten better Rangers sides in the past. All in all let’s get behind our tax paying heroes and see Rangers hand over 3 points and the money in ticket sales that they already owe us.
***Latest Team News***
Inverness have the usual suspects missing. Hogg, Golobart, Shinnie and Doran are the long term casualties. Doran will be back soonest after a series of frustrating injuries. Owain Tudur-Jones has made good progress in the last couple of weeks making appearances from the bench and will be pushing for a start. McKay and Winnall both scored hat-tricks in a kick about at Forres and that will add confidence to their match sharpness. Gregory Tade has resumed training and will be knocking on the door as well, and Steve Williams will come back into contention at the heart of the defence after serving his one match ban.
Rangers don't have their problems to seek off the park, however, on the park they are more settled but Nikica Jelavic has moved on since we last played them and Sasa Papac will sit this one out after his red card against Killie. Longer term absentees are Steven Naismith and Kyle Lafferty, while defenders Lee Wallace and Kyle Bartley are both set to miss out with knocks. Steven Whitaker is not ready to return yet but McCoist is hopeful the international full back will be back in action soon.
By
tm4tj in Previews 2011-12 ·
- 0 comments
- 1,942 views
