None the Wiser?
The hype leading up to the St Mirren match was almost epidemic. It was widely recognised this game was one of our most important of the season; yours truly believed it was actually our most critical 90 minutes of the season so far. It had the potential to answer a plethora of questions about Paul Le Guen’s ability to navigate the nuances of the SPL, and particularly his endeavour away from home.
The 90 minutes are up. Rangers fought their way to a narrow 3-2 victory. And the majority of supporters do not feel even vaguely enlightened by this match one bit.
The major team news in the build up was the demotion of both Thursday’s hero Nacho Novo to the bench, and that of Karl Svensson who coped more than admirably with Lucarelli and co. in Tuscany.
Returning to the starting eleven were the esteemed Dado Prso, and the well-rated Bosnian centre-back Sasa Papac, cup-tied for Europe.
Letizi also retained his place in goal ahead of the disappointed McGregor, and Boyd remained the lone striker, supported by two flankers.
The formation, thankfully, remained 4-3-3 and it was hoped we would possess the same fluidity as we’d boasted midweek.
Unfortunately it didn’t quite work out that way.
Today’s game was sporadic at best; yes, Rangers by and large controlled the game and dictated patterns of play. But it was not inspiring. It lacked the overall hunger, heart and quality we’d been privileged to witness in the Uefa Cup.
Indeed, the Buddies opened the scoring when Papac let Sutton away for a pretty free bullet header which Letizi had no chance with, and subsequently immediate concerns about the defence reared their ugly heads again.
While our opponents hardly really threatened, there remained an impotence about our own display – we had plenty of joy down both flanks with messyrs Hutton and Smith heavily involved, but there was a real bankruptcy of chances. Toothless up front seemed to sum us up, and although we scored 3 good goals, we didn’t look creative on the whole.
At 2-1 up, I had genuine fear about the game finishing 2-2. Suddenly my worst nightmares came true and a truly feeble call for a penalty was granted. Letizi dived gamely but the ball squirmed under him and all was square again.
However, in the dying minutes Novo saved our blushes with a dramatic late winner and we left Love Street with all 3 points, and gained significantly on Hearts.
Other than that prize, there was one other major positive to take from this match; Barry Ferguson’s resurgence continues with a vengeance. He was everywhere, and his passing, movement, and dribbling were uniformly the Barry of old. The Barry which had single-handedly dismantled the likes of Parma, Porto and Bayer Leverkusen was in Paisley this afternoon controlling proceedings with a beguiling class and quality we always knew he had. Great to see him back.
But the match itself answered nothing. Prso looked jaded and seems to be struggling for both fitness and form, and the rest of the side bar Ferguson didn’t quite elevate themselves to the level they can aspire to.
Can Le Guen handle the SPL? We just don’t know yet, and probably won’t until around Christmas.
We struggle on gamely.
The 90 minutes are up. Rangers fought their way to a narrow 3-2 victory. And the majority of supporters do not feel even vaguely enlightened by this match one bit.
The major team news in the build up was the demotion of both Thursday’s hero Nacho Novo to the bench, and that of Karl Svensson who coped more than admirably with Lucarelli and co. in Tuscany.
Returning to the starting eleven were the esteemed Dado Prso, and the well-rated Bosnian centre-back Sasa Papac, cup-tied for Europe.
Letizi also retained his place in goal ahead of the disappointed McGregor, and Boyd remained the lone striker, supported by two flankers.
The formation, thankfully, remained 4-3-3 and it was hoped we would possess the same fluidity as we’d boasted midweek.
Unfortunately it didn’t quite work out that way.
Today’s game was sporadic at best; yes, Rangers by and large controlled the game and dictated patterns of play. But it was not inspiring. It lacked the overall hunger, heart and quality we’d been privileged to witness in the Uefa Cup.
Indeed, the Buddies opened the scoring when Papac let Sutton away for a pretty free bullet header which Letizi had no chance with, and subsequently immediate concerns about the defence reared their ugly heads again.
While our opponents hardly really threatened, there remained an impotence about our own display – we had plenty of joy down both flanks with messyrs Hutton and Smith heavily involved, but there was a real bankruptcy of chances. Toothless up front seemed to sum us up, and although we scored 3 good goals, we didn’t look creative on the whole.
At 2-1 up, I had genuine fear about the game finishing 2-2. Suddenly my worst nightmares came true and a truly feeble call for a penalty was granted. Letizi dived gamely but the ball squirmed under him and all was square again.
However, in the dying minutes Novo saved our blushes with a dramatic late winner and we left Love Street with all 3 points, and gained significantly on Hearts.
Other than that prize, there was one other major positive to take from this match; Barry Ferguson’s resurgence continues with a vengeance. He was everywhere, and his passing, movement, and dribbling were uniformly the Barry of old. The Barry which had single-handedly dismantled the likes of Parma, Porto and Bayer Leverkusen was in Paisley this afternoon controlling proceedings with a beguiling class and quality we always knew he had. Great to see him back.
But the match itself answered nothing. Prso looked jaded and seems to be struggling for both fitness and form, and the rest of the side bar Ferguson didn’t quite elevate themselves to the level they can aspire to.
Can Le Guen handle the SPL? We just don’t know yet, and probably won’t until around Christmas.
We struggle on gamely.
posted by RangersMedia @ 4:54 PM
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