Retaining the youth

News has emerged today of two new deals for a pair of our younger players, namely the left full-back Steven Smith and the goalkeeper Allan McGregor.

In Smith’s case it’s pretty decent news. He’s been a stalwart and ever-present in the side this season, and has rarely let us down in the time he’s been established as a first-team player which is over a year now. It could be argued he’s not quite up there with the finer full-backs Rangers have boasted over the years, such as Numan, Ball, Stevens, and Robertson, but he has been fairly dependable if not one of our flashier players. It is the view of some that he would be better off as a more-than-able deputy to a first choice left back of real pedigree, but due to the utter lack of cash at our disposal, purchasing a more illustrious player has not been an option.

We have to hope he matures as both a defender and flanker, and develops further, improving in his position. He certainly has age on his side, being only 21, and his best years are undeniably ahead of him, and conceivably, due to the aforementioned lack of funds, a more ‘glamorous’ signing in his position is unlikely to occur in even the medium term. The only issue surrounding that slot in the team is only one other player in our entire squad can be employed there; that being the currently out-of-action Ian Murray, who’s been beset by some form of arthritis. But even he is only a utility player whose best position is something of a mystery. So there is no real option to replace Smith should he be injured, which is surely a grave concern. Our only alternative would be to switch to a back 3 formation.

Moving onto McGregor, it comes as something of a surprise that these contract negotiations appear to have been concluded in such a swift and timely manner in his case. Speculation surrounding his position has been rife, particularly in lieu of the controversy which permeated his dropping to the bench in favour of Lionel Letizi, but his agent Willie McKay did project a positive vibe regarding McGregor’s desire to remain in Govan. As such, the club acted quickly to tie him up for a further 3 years, but the surprising aspect about the speed at which these talks were finalised is that McGregor remains a rank understudy to Letizi, and presumably Stefan Klos too, who has recently returned to the reserves. Why would the youngster be so keen to remain under the tutelage of a manager unwilling to instil him as the first-choice keeper regardless of his own form? It stands to reason that Allan would desire first choice status, and yet he has signed a new deal which lends itself to the notion that he is content as 3rd choice. Either that, or he has been persuaded by the promise of something which the fans remain in the dark about.

The only curious aspect is that Chris Burke has not as yet been captured on a longer deal himself. As perhaps our most prominent club-reared youngster, Burke has been a fan favourite since emerging 2 seasons ago, yet his contract has not been extended. The reasons for this remain a mystery, and it is hoped his case will be sorted out as quickly as possible.

Lastly for today is a look ahead to tomorrow’s visit from Motherwell. The side we opened our account for the season against, the most interesting aspect of this encounter is being faced again by Ross McCormack, our former youth striker.
It is inconceivable that we fail to extract 3 points from this game, in surely a convincing manner given ‘Well’s close to bottom-feeding status.
Clement is mooted for a place on the bench, but Lee Martin does not return as of yet.
An on-song Rangers should really pummel Motherwell – Le Guen’s rotation system makes it impossible to consider what our starting eleven will be, so predictions are futile, but safe to say we’ve adopted the 4-3-3 formation in the past 2 games, so it seems logical to suggest we will engage this match in a similar manner.

We have a decent run of results building up, it remains self-explanatory that we desire to pursue its continuation.

Confidence and Paranoia

It’s been 2 days since the hard-fought defeat of St Mirren at Love Street and Ibrox saw a particularly quiet Monday.

However, today a couple of (Minor, to a degree) stories broke the monotony and perked our interest.

Firstly speculation surrounding our fine Scottish goalkeeper Allan McGregor surfaced in that notorious red top The Sun, linking him with a move away from Glasgow down to Sheffield to enlist amongst the ranks of Utd. Although next-to-no credibility can ever be attached to this gutter tabloid’s content, there can be little doubt McGregor is a player we should wish to retain and anything mooting him with a transfer has to be watched closely. He is a talented keeper for sure, and while Le Guen has categorically demoted him in status, many supporters, if not all, argue that this is a mistake on the gaffer’s part, and Letizi’s place as first-choice is not on individual merit.

Mcgregor’s agent Willie McKay, apparently speaking on his behalf has conveyed the player’s interest in remaining at Ibrox, however, and has essentially invited the club to keep him.

That said, he must feel horribly hard-done by in losing his place after such superb displays in the first team, and it would be understandable that he might wish to leave our club to gain first-team football in pastures new.

In other news, the long-awaited return of Jeremy Clement awaits. He has fully rejoined the squad for complete training and is catching up quickly in fitness – he is pencilled in for an appearance on Saturday off the bench against Motherwell.
He must not forget though that he faces stiff competition from the 3 players particularly in form – all are in his position of midfield; Barry Ferguson, Brahim Hemdani and Charlie Adam. If Le Guen wishes to accommodate Clement he must drop one of them and that would be harsh at best and downright unfair at worst. But he has already carried out that exact act with a player in form in the shape of McGregor so do not be surprised to see Adam or Hemdani lose their place in the next couple of games.

And further to that is the fact we know Le Guen regards Clement extremely highly given his intense pursuit of him during the summer and instant installation of him into the team – he is a clear ‘favourite’ of the boss and it would be very surprising to see him keep Clement benched.

Second-guessing the manager has proved impossible though, so predicting what action he will take is a lottery.

With regards Saturday’s match itself, well, currently being on a 2-game winning streak is instilling the side with a touch of confidence, sadly lacking thus far. It goes without saying this must be sustained at all costs. Yes, we’re surely dead in the water as far as the championship goes but second place is definitely within our grasp, and with it a CL spot and the trappings which go with the Promised Land.

A victory against Motherwell is critical – one more slip up in the league in the short term could completely vaporise the progress made in the last 2 games.

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.