Rangers Match Reactions - [merged]

[Yngwie]

And to be honest we got off lightly. After 10 minutes I was saying that our defence was looking really shakey, and that problem continued throughout the game. if we don't replace Dods we will have a relegation struggle this season.

No presence upfront either, but the lack of player availability should resolve itself soon.

Well done Mikey Fraser, an excellent, solid performance, his best yet. Good effort from Richie Hart as well, we at least started to get near their box when he came on.

But Charlie has a lot of thinking to do, and transfer funds will be required.

[CaleyJags07]

Totaly dissapointed with our performance today. Charlie got the tactics all wrong and the defence was terrible and never looked in control and the second goal was shocking and Tokely's backpass for the third goal was unlike him. I hate to say it but we missed Dods today... I know CC was short of strikers but why oh why did he start McAllister he made absoultely no impact on the game at all and putting Wilson upfront at the end was another bad desicion. On the bright site Mike Fraser looked good in the nets even though he conceded 3 goals which were all very good goals. He saved a few shots superbly and was probably our only player who put in a good performance and convincing. It seemed like no Caley player bar Fraser was interested in the game. Even though it is early early days of the season, im sure CC will be not pleased with todays performance at all and the defence needs sorted out as i am sure we will score the goals once we have Niculae, McDonald, Wyness and Bayne all available and 100% fit. CC should stop ersing aboot and sign a central defender because our defence was crap today and McCaffery does not look capable to fill Dods's boots.

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

OK so lets not get carried away and over-critical after a mere 90 minutes - there were postives but just as many warning signs out there today as well. We just did not compete, until we were 2-0 down, although the Huns are a much improved outfit. Undoubtedly the loss of Bayne and McDonald and the non arrival of Niculae played its part and allowed Cruella and Weird to cruise through the game and CC made the most of his substitutions. I can understand his starting X1 but I bet he rues it now.The  blustering wind played its part but lets go with the Smiley's first:

FRASER  :001: :001: :001:  Very nervous start but kept us in the game. One brilliant finger tip save in first half injury times and a few 1:1 leg stops. No chance with any of the goals. Still stays on his line too much fer my liking.

TOKELY  :001: :001: :001:  Roasted by Beesley although as industrious as ever. Thank Gawd he wasnt Ian Black as he would have been hooked by half time. Three definite bookable offences but got off with a yellow.  Suffered from the high line tactics and doesnt have Dods covering this season. Bad mistake fer third goal.

CAFF  :001: :001:  Simply looked lost and out of pace in the SPL. Appeared to be letting Granty go fer evrything and retaining a sweeper type role. Hoofed the ball most of the time and looked very unsure of himself.

GRANTY  :001: :001: :001: :001:  Solid as ever but did not look a comfortable pairing with Caff - often going fer the same ball - as happened clearly at Novo goal. His long throw ins were our only danger today.

HASTINGS  :001: :001: :001: Little chance to shine today but stuck to his defensive task quite well.

WILSON  :001: :001: :001: Given little chance to use the wings due to the conditions and the fact that eveything was mainly hoofed up the middle.

BLACK  :001: :001: :001:  Responded well to a terrible tackle by Boyd and only showed a Tokely moment once and that was disguised - he is learning. Again on the back foot for most of the time.

McBAIN  :001:  :001: :001:  As industrious as ever but "invisible" for long periods. Went to sleep at Ferguson goal.

RANKIN  :001: :001: :001:  As per Wilson. But why is he not taking the left side dead balls??

RORY  :001:  Completely out of his league. Granted that he is only a  lad but loked one paced and clumsy. Needs to be farmed out at a lower level. Why did CC persist in hitting Rory with almost evrything in the first half. What a difference it may have made if he had chested down the cross in the 47th minute.

DENZIL  :001: :001: :001:  Looked fit and eager with some nice touches. Looked equally exasparated with Rory !!

HART  :001: :001: :001: :001: What has he been on this summer ?? Very industrious and tried to pass the ball to feet.

COWIE  :001: :001: Didnt get enough of the ball but looks mobile,fit and quick.

DEANO  :001: :001:  Simply no chance or time to impress.

So it is too early to be analytical but a 4-5-1 would be preferred if the team selection hits us again. The defence looked very shaky at times. We played a high line looking fer offside with huge gaps between the two central defenders and the full backs. Caff looked very shaky and may not be the answer to Dods. Rosscoe and Bazza are not mobile enuff to from the right side partnership. Gawd to we need our strike force back.

Still two away games next, both winnable - so lets see if the lessons have been learned. And from a Scottish point of view Ferguson was immense and McCulloch looks the trimmest I have ever seen him.

[Guest samuelbarros]

0-3.

Well, that was bad.

it's Alan Macgregor I feel sorry for, making that long journey north just to stand and watch when he could have been out on the golf course enjoying himself.

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Fine feckin start to the season.  :33: :33:

Why has my thread been demoted.  :018:

Sum fings never feckin change.  :001:

[kencar]

Pretty much the result I feared but it was the performance that was the most dissapointing. We didn't look interested till we went 2-0  :007:

CC picked the wrong team today I'm afraid.

Think it's safe to say we need another central defender  :rolleyes02:

[SMEE]

We basically played the game with 10 players.............and rory mcallister. The guy is sub standard! A big game like that and he looked dis-interested throught...... a shocking attitude by him. Also........why did they persist in thumping a long high ball to lightweight forwards? you think they would learn that it was not working and try variety.

I also think we have too many lightweight players

[CaleyD]

Fine feckin start to the season.  :33: :33:

Why has my thread been demoted.  :018:

Sum fings never feckin change.  :001:

:popular01: - M :cry08: - :moon2:

:015:

[Guest samuelbarros]

On the bright side, it's not quite as bad as losing the first game of the season at home to a newly promoted St Mirren.

[kencar]

Also........why did they persist in thumping a long high ball to lightweight forwards? you think they would learn that it was not working and try variety.

I'm no mathematician but we seem to adopt a formula where the smaller our forwards are the more we pump the ball up too them  :017:

[Scotty]

I'm no mathematician but we seem to adopt a formula where the smaller our forwards are the more we pump the ball up too them

known as the height and scheidt formula i believe  :015:

[CaleyD]

I only caught the first 25/30 minutes of the game today and my first reaction when I saw the team was as SMEE said above - far too lightweight.  Even Ferguson was bullying our players in the middle of the park!!!

Fraser can't be blamed for any of the goals, there's only so much he can do to keep the team in it and had he been on as bad a game as the back line then we would have been facing 5 or 6 goals against.

The frustrating thing from the little I saw of the game was the number of simple errors we were making all over the park.  Tokely stamped his presence early on then seemed to start sitting off his man too much.  Munro and Caff just don't have the same understanding of each others game as Munro and Dods did (hopefully that will come) and although I haven't seen much positive from McAllister recently it was an error beyond belief to have him playing as the main striker - think I am right in saying that Wyness seemed to be sitting between him and the midfield, it certainly looked like the plan at the start.

I wouldn't want to be in the changing room with CC after the match, although I think part of theblame lies with the way he set the team up the players were the ones out there compounding the problem big style.

[davieB]

We were pish, and for all those that keep saying get off Rory's case......well, he was complete mince today(for a change!). We'd have been better off playing with 10 men, he was that bad. Forget about loaning him out, just get rid of him. Sorry, but the excuses for the guy have got to stop....he's not good enough.

As for the game, we were second to evrything, we wanted an eternity on the ball, and when we did get it we just hoofed it.

If it hadn't been for Fraser it could've been 4 or 5. I thought McBain did well, certainly the best of the rest for me.

I'm not sure the centre of defence was the problem, Hastings and Rosscoe were both rubbish. Hastings got caught in possession far too often, and his passing was awful. Tokely got skinned too many times, and caught out of position too often.

Dennis had some nice touches but was pretty much on his own up front for all the use McAllister is.

Pass marks for.....Fraser, McBain, Black, Wyness, Hart(when he came on).

The rest need to improve dramatically next week.

[Guest Atholl]

Once again home fans told to sit down while the Away end can stand to a man and sing a song containing a sectarian element which I could hear clearly from my seat in the family section with my five year old. I watch with interest whether anything is done to address this anomaly and cancer respectively.

I purchased a ticket for my 16 year old to sit in the singing section yet he was told to sit down for the heinous crime of applauding a home players introduction and debut.

What a farce :018:

[+dumpmaster]

I never like losing a game of football, but to loose the first home game of the season with little or no fight, I find really quite disturbing.We were second to nearly every ball in midfield,we kept on punting high balls into the forwards where they were getting no change from a strong (and tall) Rangers defense.So I thought at half time at least the tactics would change,but no we continued with our pathetic system and in the end we were lucky not to have a shinty score put past us !!

Two plus points though

1 Mike Fraser

2 Ritchie Hart

The rest better buck up their ideas or we will be there or thereabouts come wooden spoon time

[dead_ball_specialist]

Agree with most of that, although perhaps a bit harsh on McAllister, he was no worse than Wyness. Neither of them got any decent service but were equally guilty of failing to hold up the ball when they got it, it kept going straight back.

It was a very poor result but compared to last seasons St Midden debacle, it wasn't a disaster. Points against the OF are always a bonus, we shouldn't be unrealistic with our expectations. Last season's 7 out of 9 against the Huns was a once in a blue (excuse the pun) mooner, it isn't going to happen very often!

Have we ever had a GOOD start to a season? Even back in the 3rd division it took us a while to get going. When we won the 3rd division by 20 points, only 6 games in we weren't even on the radar screen as far as the bookies were concerned.

The difference now I guess is the fact that the club shells out for top of the range training facilities and foriegn excursions. We've all read Charlie and co in the Courier and the Snooze banging on about how well the Italian trip went and what a worthwhile exercise it was - yet come our first fixture we're still caught with our trousers down.

Today our passing was slack (we reverted to aimless punts), we were toothless in attack and like a sieve at the back. (our marking was non-existant)

It looked like we were trying to play the offside trap and we got caught out more than once. A very dangerous game. We were better off when we defended deep - at least it made us hard to break down. Today we could easily have conceded 5 or 6, and had the game lasted another 15 minutes we probably would have.

The most dissapointing thing IMHO was the fact that Sutherland was overlooked. He was our best player in pre season by a country mile and I'm sure he would have made a difference if he'd gotten a run out, even from the bench.

Any positives? Richie Hart and Don Cowie were superb. I reckon they, along with Sutherland, Paatelinen and possibly Marius, can push on and make a big impact this season, especially if the other players are as pants as they were today.

[kencar]

I'll put my scores on the doors for today's performances

Fraser - 7/10. Some good saves and probably our MotM today

Tokely - 5/10. Some crunching tackles and not much else. Less said about the 3rd goal the better  :029:

Caff - 3/10. Very poor display. Will have to do much better

Munro - 5/10. Not up to his usual high standard.

Hastings - 5/10. Worst he's played in a while.

Wilson - 5/10. Pretty ineffective when he was on the wing but did slightly better when he went up front.

McBain - 6/10. One of our better players today but really didn't do much good or bad.

Black - 5/10. Not a vintage performance. Nearly gave Rangers another goal towards the end of the game.

Rankin - 5/10. Another who you'd expect a lot more from. Still feel he's wasted out on the left wing.

Wyness - 4/10. Pretty impotent stuff from denzil. Not his sort of game to be fair

McAllister - 1/10. Need I say more  :029:

Hart - 7/10. Did more than any of the other midfielders when he came on. Should have started

Cowie & Deano 4/10. Not given time to make any impact

[Guest TinCanFan]

Like what IHE and kencar have done here's what I thought of each ICT player:

1. Fraser - Best player on the pitch.  He pulled off some strong saves and looked good throught the game.  ICT would have lost by more had it not been for him. 7/10

2. Tokely - A terrible blunder that to the third goal but looked quite strong at the tackles. 6.5/10

5. McCaffery - He was okay.  Doesn't have the height of Dods which is his downfall. 6/10

6. Roy McBain - Didn't do very much at all. 6/10

7. Wilson - Didn't have his best game but played okay. 6/10

8. Black - One of the best ICT players.  Not as dirty as last season and looked good on the ball. 7/10

13. McAllister - Had a terrible game.  Looked poor on the ball and looked nervous throughout. 4/10

14. Munro - Looked good in the defence and was one of ICT's best players. 6.5/10

16. Hastings - Also didn't have his best game though played some of the passes quite well. 6.5/10

19.  Wyness - Just like McAllister he looked nervous on the ball and looked like he didn't want to get involved. 5.5/10

24.Rankin - Did pretty much nothing. 5.5/10

Subs:

15. Cowie - He did nothing when he came on. 4.5/10

21. McDonald - Showed some good pace but was rarely on the ball and wasn't on for long enough. 5/10

10. Hart - His only shot went miles over the bar but showed a few good moves when he was on the ball. 5/10

REFEREE - Was he a Rangers player in diguise? 5/10

Overall I thought ICT were very terrible and Rangers weren't much better. It's the worst I've seen ICT for ages and need to improve if they want to stay in the SPL.

[davieB]

What did Rory do to get a 1????????

[Highlandbadger]

A dreadful performance all round but some stand out for particular attention.

Why does Charlie persist with McAllister?....someone commented today that he has scored 3 times in 43 appearances...is that right??...even if not, the guy clearly does not have what it takes to play at this level. From what I have seen of Garry Wood, he is a better prospect...time he got a chance.

So Charlie was restricted with striking options but on a windy day still persisted with the long punts up the middle to Rory where Cuellar/Papac/Weir ate him for breakfast. No imagination again. Can't we play anything else other than 4-4-2 ? It's depressing ! Why not have played Dennis on his own up front to run the channels and bring a wide player into the game? Poor Zander is left to warm the bench....again. WHY?  Also where was Paataleinen today?  I thought he could play wide and/or up front....is he going to get a run? It's galling to think that McAllister was selected above him or Zander (or anyone in fact).

And now to the invisible man Mr Wilson. Sorry Barry but you weren't in the game at all today and whilst you have been a great servant to the club I think it's time to move on now before things get embarrassing.

Top marks to Munro,Fraser and Wyness who all fought hard today. Black and McBain were in and out of the match and Rankin still seems to be searching for his best role in the midfield. Hart and Cowie tried hard when they came on and the best laugh was hitting long balls to Dean McDonald when he came on. Does Charlie need to go on a tactics/ideas course ?

If I was Marius Niculae I would be assured of my starting place every week but on the display from some of his colleagues, he may  breathe a sigh of relief if his work permit is denied! :029:

[kencar]

What did Rory do to get a 1????????

Turning up for the game on the right day  :tic01:  :015:

[dead_ball_specialist]

Rory seems to have become a lightning rod for some fans frustrations. 1 out of 10 is ridiculous. It's a team game - even if Dargo had been playing instead of Rory I doubt it'd have made much difference. When you're being man marked by quality defenders built like brick sh*thouses, and not getting any support or even decent service - what do you expect??? All Rory could do today was chase aimless punts over the top and try to hussle the defenders into conceding throw ins.

[SMEE]

Rory seems to have become a lightning rod for some fans frustrations. 1 out of 10 is ridiculous. It's a team game - even if Dargo had been playing instead of Rory I doubt it'd have made much difference. When you're being man marked by quality defenders built like brick sh*thouses, and not getting any support or even decent service - what do you expect??? All Rory could do today was chase aimless punts over the top and try to hussle the defenders into conceding throw ins.

Ach man...stop defending Macallister....its not just about today!

[Highlandbadger]

Sorry, but if this was Rory's first match I would agree with you but there are so many other poor performances to be taken into account and his lack of goals.

He doesn't have it. :009:

[Guest TinCanFan]

I hope Niculae makes an impact because ICT really need it and I think Bayne ws still out injured and his absence for quite noticable in the box.  And where was Pattaleinenn?  He usually brings something the game there was times when I wished that ICT had signed Joinville and kept McSwegan.