Sink or Swim...

Thursday’s match in Tuscany was a vast result – not only did Paul Le Guen silence his numerous critics with a formation and tactical nous which justified his reputation, but the players produced a hungry performance full of desire and quality.

Both of these aspects have been flaky all season, with intermittent spells boasting them in abundance, but all too often the promise would fade away and leave us with performances and results which scraped the barrel of ineptitude.

The one exception to this inconsistency was the display against Hearts which showed how effective Le Guen and his players could be when they got it right, so it was more than pleasing to see it re-emerge at a time where it could not have been more welcome.

However, the proof of the pudding is the bread and butter of the SPL, and Le Guen knows this as well as anyone. Put simply, he must take the impetus generated by our performance on Italian soil and use it to further our lot on the domestic front.
There is little point in excelling in the luxury of the Uefa Cup yet faltering in the league.

Studious eyes will be on the formation and players picked tomorrow; will the coach opt to stand by the same eleven who served him so brilliantly at the Picchi, or will he change the system to cope with the differences the SPL presents.

Le Guen is genuinely being judged on his ability to awaken a sleeping giant and get it challenging for Scottish honours in a credible and competitive manner again. Being ten points off the lead Celtic have accumulated gives some indication of the stuttering start he has made, and there can be absolutely no doubt the match against St Mirren is our biggest and most important of the season yet.

Win this game, and win it well, and suddenly those supporters with nagging doubts about Le Guen’s credentials start to believe he might be able to sustain a convincing run in the SPL, taking Thursday’s upturn in fortunes forward.

Should we falter, however, and accusations of one-offs or flukes get levelled at Le Guen and those are claims he would find it hard to shake off or even dispute.

Support for Le Guen has returned, and faith is growing, but he has to convince where it really matters. Do that, and he’s won half the battle.

When Daniel went into the lion’s den, what happened?

That biblical tale might be a bit abstract and highbrow to compare with a mere match of football, but Paul Le Guen’s under-fire troops went into the Picchi tonight under no illusions they were the underdogs, and produced as professional and polished a display away from home in Europe as any bear has witnessed for years.

Puzzlement raged as to what formation Le Guen would choose; and when news filtered through that the maligned Nacho Novo would start it spelled rank pessimism on the part of loyal bears, convinced he was finished and past it.

Further to this was the disappointing revelation that Prso was being benched, and that once again Letizi would take his place between the sticks, and you had distinct room for worry and predictions of humbling defeats.

Then we looked at Livorno’s lineup and one realised just how strong this side were; Kuffour, Amelia, Vidigal and of course Lucarelli. Certainly not quite up there with the Milans of this world, but clearly not to be taken for fools.

Enter Rangers – a coach under pressure, players dogged by poor performances and fans divided down the middle.

The script was written for utter despondency to permeate Govan as an effect of yet another performance bereft of quality or fight.

Cue the best show of the season along with our performance against Hearts.

From the off, Rangers had invention, guile, heart, fluidity, hunger, and staggeringly confidence too. Letizi had a shaky first 5 minutes and still doesn’t look like an able keeper for us overall, but the fact he was rarely tested showed just how in control of this entire game the bears were.

We played for the first time this season with a 4-3-3 which reverted to 4-5-1 on the defence, and it worked beautifully. There was a coherency and drive about the shape of the side, and Novo belied his pitiful form to produce a truly heartening display – he ran the right flank and instilled himself as a team player for the first time in maybe a year. His support, along with Buffel’s, for the lone striker Boyd worked wonderfully, and the fact both Novo and Boyd scored was testament to effective link up play and a forward line in tune with each other.

The midfield was also extremely able, with Hemdani mopping up all the attacks Livorno could throw at us, before spraying pinpoint passes out of defence. His partner Ferguson was also heavily involved, and his leadership kept the ship afloat.

Lastly was our superb defence – solid all night and never looked down the barrel of catastrophe, the back 4 repelled everything, and only the cheating of Lucarelli plus Letizi’s inability to hold onto a Kuffour shot led to their brace.

It was a marvellous performance to behold, and Le Guen showed real signs of finally getting the best out of his players.
The ultimate test is whether he can continue what he’s started but in the bread and butter of the SPL.

Well done Paul, you’ve bought yourself some time. Don’t ruin what you’ve started.

Day of judgement?

Paul Le Guen’s Rangers tonight enter the lion’s den for perhaps the first time this season.

They will face Serie A high-flyers Livorno at the Armando Picchi in Tuscany, and the notion that the beleaguered side and their boss are under pressure would be understating the truth ever so slightly.

Since the travesty of Saturday’s dismal defeat at home to ICT, the vultures have been circling around Ibrox, gleefully swooping in on any hint of scraps to feed on, and when news emerged of the bust-up between Le Guen and Bardsley, the vultures found themselves gorged, fit to burst with the feast of catastrophe they were leeching off.

Indeed, things, in many ways, could not presently be worse. No bear is content with this, eager as we are to at least witness progress if not all-out success for the time being. But with every new semblance of disarray comes despair.

In today’s press Le Guen was more than happy to confirm Letizi’s place in goal, as if to suggest defiance in the face of adversity. He is after all, the boss, and what he says goes.
This arguable arrogance was confirmed when he would not confirm if Svensson would start; why reveal one player if you will not reveal another. Unless, that is, his agenda for starting Letizi differs for his motive behind the choosing of other players.

Turning back to the game itself, Rangers badly, badly need a performance. Livorno are 6th and have lost the one game all season. And with one of Serie A’s form strikers in Lucarelli in their ranks, are abject favourites to come out of this one with 3 points. Now, more than ever, Rangers require to forget about the shambolic start to the season and the less than ideal preparation for this match in particular, and stand up and be counted.

Form would suggest we have little chance, and Le Guen’s stubborn tactics would seem to back this pessimism up, but if the players can rally together then maybe, just maybe, we could sneak a lucky point from this game.

From a personal point of view I give Rangers no chance whatsoever, but this article is not about my opinion.

All I can say is best of luck for tonight and please prove me horribly, horribly wrong.

Knives are out

It was a pretty quiet and almost uneventful day on the Ibrox-front – in fact events were conspicuous by their absence.

But at around 10pm this evening rumours were gathering apace about yet more unrest in the camp with the emergence of a disturbing story involving the under-pressure boss and the well-regarded fullback Phil Bardsley, on loan from Man Utd.

The nature of reports being spread like wildfire involved Bardsley, Le Guen, Buffel, and the upcoming trip to Livorno.

Word had it that Bardsley had broken the (Frankly absurd) no-tackling in training rule ridiculously implemented by Le Guen, by engaging in some kind of defiant challenge on Buffel.

Alleged result? Left out of the squad travelling to Livorno and told to stay at home. Subsequent result of this is Bardsley walking out of Ibrox in disgust, and out of the picture for good, so it seems.

It must be reiterated this is still just a rumour at this point and nothing has been officially confirmed by the club, so unless it is, feel free to remain sceptical.

However, apparently being reported on two national radio stations (Radio Clyde and Real Radio) would increase the momentum on the story and give it a little more clout than pure hearsay.

If this story is true it is staggering; that’s the third well-rated player, British based, that PLG has either not fancied or fallen out with. Add Ricksen to that and it seems more and more players are losing faith in the boss.

This doesn’t even begin to explore the quite preposterous ‘no-tackling’ policy allegedly installed from youth levels at Ibrox up the way – debate ensues about whether it has been added at senior levels but Bardsley’s dismissal apparently for tackling seems to verify it. Le Guen is damaging our club the longer he remains in charge. His methods do not work here and he is unwilling to be flexible.

In fact, in the course of writing this article Bardsley’s fall-out has been confirmed by the BBC.

The fourth player to have major issues with Le Guen, Bardsley is yet another who’s well-regarded in general by the fans – Le Guen making all these enemies at Ibrox is categorically killing us the longer it goes on.

Paul Le Guen’s time at Ibrox is looking increasingly bleak.

Feeling the strain...

Another day passes and the pressure continues to mount on Paul Le Guen in the Ibrox hot-seat.

Frustrated supporters disgusted by recent events at Ibrox are split directly down the middle between those who have already lost faith entirely in the new manager, and those who wish to grant him the time they deem he needs to turn the shocking performances and results around.

His cause was not helped by further defiance in his latest interview whereby he stuck rigidly to his stubborn guns of revealing nothing behind any of his decisions and refusing to be drawn on how he felt with regards Letizi’s blunder.

His reply when questioned on it was his usual repertoire of ‘I don’t want to talk about that’, which is one of his stock answers when faced by a probing question he wishes to evade.

The fans are still incredibly raw after yesterday’s horrific result against ICT, and a real sense of disillusionment has enveloped the faithful. Even those who believe Le Guen deserves further tenure are nonetheless feeling the pinch the current state of affairs is causing.

It is a hard time to be a Rangers fan and with a massive game in midweek against the Italian side Livorno in the Uefa Cup, it is pretty fair to say Le Guen has crucial preparation to make; put simply he absolutely has to get his team spot on for the ensuing encounter. With players in varying levels of form, angry fans, and a press baying for blood, Le Guen’s managerial skills are being tested to a greater level of stress than he has perhaps ever previously experienced.

A good result on Thursday would possibly go a little way to appeasing the fans and extracting the vultures from his back, but yet another dismal outcome would further dampen spirits and force even more pressure under the beleaguered boss.

We’re all behind the team; Le Guen, get it right.